Title: What could've been

Author: Kurotsuki-Tenchi

Fandom: Naruto

Pairing: NaruXHina,

Genre: Action, Romance and a little bit of comedy.

Rated: M for Language, violence, and sexual content.

Disclaimer: All Naruto characters and stuff belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and therefor can only make make believe stories about them and dream about them being real. Sigh.

Authors Note: I've made it to Chapter 3 and man and I am happy, love you all who are actually reading and enjoying my story. Remember critiziums allowed, actually I encourouge it, builds character I say. Anyway to keep you from being bored heres the next chapter.

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Chapter 3

Kurenai jumped through the trees stealthily, smiling as she put distance between herself and her students. Their discussion running through her head, they were pretty smart to say the least. She stopped running and rested on a branch, feeling as though she was far enough away she dropped her genjutsu she was using to shield herself from Hinata's Buyakugan.

She was slightly surprised that her new team actually formed a plan and added all their abilities into the mix. They even managed to recall enough information about her to form a plan of action, and now they were going to test her abilities and then gather at the same place to compare data. That was chunin level teamwork that they were performing and yet they were only a newly formed genin team. She was impressed to say the least.

She was surprised when Shino stood up and took the leadership role, even more when the other two followed his directions. She was sure Naruto would object to Shino taking the lead and yet he let him, he must respect Shino if he allowed it.

Now that she thought about it, if Naruto and Sasuke was on the same team than they both would've fought for dominance. The Hokage was right, Sasuke doesn't listen to others suggestions and thinks that he is always right, Naruto would've clashed with him badly. Shino actually listens to others suggestions and takes them into account so Naruto doesn't feel unincluded or unimportant.

The one thing that stood out to her was Naruto's ability to summon shadow clones, she was immensely impressed that he managed to learn such a difficult jutsu in one night.

As she heard the tale tell rustle of leaves about 20 meters away, she prepared for what was to come. She whipped out a kunai and blocked the incoming shurikan with a flick of her wrist. This isn't what she expected, she actually thought that Naruto himself would attack her.

She quickly jumped to the left when a fist came at her, she turned and punched the blond in the stomach. Guess her hunch was correct after all. He poofed out of existence just as another volley of shurikan came at her, she jumped up into the higher branches and crouched.

She took out a few shurikan and threw them into a bush to her right, Hinata yelped and jumped into a tree avoiding the deadly projectiles. Just as the shurikan left her hand, a couple of kunai came flying at her head. She ducked and kicked another Naruto clone just as it came close enough to hit and it poofed out of existence.

She was fighting off a few Naruto's when she felt a blow to her shoulder and felt her whole left arm go numb. She jumped away to see Hinata standing in the signature fighting stance of the Hyuga with her Buyakugan activated.

She was surprised that the shy girl would attack her, she didn't pay much attention to her because she didn't think Hinata would come at her. She rotated her shoulder painfully, her mistake for underestimating the girl.

"Hinata, I didn't think you'd bring your gentle fist into this," Kurenai said, throwing Kunai at the Naruto clones who were running at her.

"Y-you said to come at y-you as though w-we were trying to k-kill y-you," Hinata said, running along the tree branch she was on. "And I-I am."

Kurenai smiled, it looks like little Hinata was getting a boost in confidence, and her stuttering seemed to have lessened even with Naruto around. She jumped out of Hinata's striking range as she got too close, it wouldn't be good to be hit like that again.

She used her right arm to elbow a Naruto as he attacked from behind, then ducked as another jumped at her face. She quickly spun on her feet and brought her foot around to kick the blond in front of her. She was surprised when this one didn't poof from existance like the others, and instead went flying into a tree. Did she hit the real Naruto?

As she walked over to him she saw a blur from the corner of her eye just as Hinata attacked, she moved her body just in time to avoid being hit. But as she moved she felt a slight brushing on her side and looked down, Hinata's hand managed to graze her side.

As she jumped onto another tree she felt tingling in the area where Hinata had almost hit her, it seemed it doesn't have to be direct to still be effective. She looked down just as the Naruto she thought was real poofed from existence, how did he manage to keep that one from disappearing?

She looked on in shock as a wave of about 10 Naruto's attacked, she quickly jumped in the air and threw all of her kunai at the wave of orange. As they all poofed out of existence she crouched and readied herself for attack, but as she looked around she noticed that Hinata was gone and so were all the Naruto's.

Just as soon as the attack happened it had ended, she sat down to rest for a few minutes. She rubbed her left arm and injected chakra into it, hopping to return feeling for the next bout of fighting. As her arm started to tingle from feeling returning, she stood up and put a genjutsu on herself to hide from Hinata's Buykaugan. She collected her weapons and theirs, they could come in handy and stored them in her weapon pouches.

Time to see what the kids will do now. She jumped off toward their meeting spot, her arm still tingling painfully. She had to remember Hinata was a force to be reckoned with, and this wasn't child's play.

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

As Hinata and Naruto arrived at the meeting spot they weren't surprised to see Shino there, they were surprised however to see that he was already writing in the dirt.

"Hey Shino were back!" Naruto yelled as they crouched beside their teammate. "Did you gather enough info?" Shino looked up at him.

"I manage to watch most of the fight, I want you two to tell me what you learned first so I can compare it to my findings." Both Hinata and Naruto nodded.

"I-I looked at her w-with the Byuakugan a-and discovered hidden pouches o-of weapons located u-under her c-clothing." Hinata reported, "T-there are a-approximately 3 pouches; 2 on h-her waist a-and one on h-her left thigh, e-each containing 10 shurikan and 5 kunai." Shino nodded approvingly and wrote the info on the ground.

"I discovered something interesting but I'm not sure if its useful," Naruto spoke up, "She uses kicks more than punches with direct combat." Naruto stated, rubbing his chin. Shino nodded and wrote 'leg based taijutsu' next.

"S-she was able to sense m-me even when I-I was hiding m-my chakra." Hinata supplied, remembering when her sensei threw those shurikan. "S-she knew I-I was there the e-entire time."

"Not unusual for a jounin, many can sense your chakra even when your shielding it." Shino commented writing 'chakra sensitive' on the ground.

"I also discovered she was hesitant to cause any real damage," Naruto said, remembering the trick he used to expand his clones lifetime. Kurenai-sensei thought it was him and went to check on him, which gave Hinata the perfect time to attack. Shino nodded and scribbled down a few words.

"That is pretty much what I gathered, but I managed to find out a few things that you guys didn't mention." Shino said, standing up and looking at them.

"Really? What did you discover?" Naruto asked, his voice full of curiosity.

"It seems as though she doges more than deflect incoming projectiles," Both Naruto and Hinata nodded. "Meaning she usually doesn't fight close combat and uses Genjutsu to ensnare her enemies."

"But she didn't use genjutsu on us," Naruto pointed out. "Maybe she was hesitant to use it against us because were still genin."

"No I think she might have discovered that that wasn't the real battle and decided not to use it yet." Shino said, and Hinata nodded in agreement. "While were on the subject do any of you know how to break a genjutsu?"

Hinata nodded and he turned his gaze to Naruto just in time to see him shake his head. "I was never taught how." Naruto replied sheepishly.

Shino sighed, "To dispel a genjutsu you must expel chakra around yourself to disrupt it," He showed Naruto the hand sign and taught him how to do it. "Now if you get caught in a genjutsu that you cant break or one of your teammates do, than you have to have another teammate to help. All you have to do is inject your chakra into them which disrupts their natrual flow of chakra which in turn dispells the genjutsu."

"That should be easy right?" Naruto said and Shino nodded, even Naruto couldn't miss that up. "Okay than what else did you discover?"

"She seems to have trouble blocking oncoming objects from her left side," Shino said, showing them exactly where by using Naruto as an example. "When you attacked her about here," Shino stood about a foot behind Naruto's left shoulder. "She reacted a good two seconds slower than the other times." Naruto nodded when he realized it was true.

"That's how I-I was able to hit h-her with m-my gentle fist, s-she couldn't react fast enough to block." Hinata mumbled.

"She was also surprised that you attacked her," Shino told her. "She underestimated you because she didn't see you as a threat." Hinata's face fell at hearing that.

"That's very useful!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed. "If she doesn't expect it, than that gives you a distinct advantage." Naruto turned to Hinata with a smile. "You have your own secret weapon!" Hinata blushed when Naruto smiled at her and a small smile graced her lips, Naruto was always able to make everything right.

"That's the majority of what I learned myself," Shino said as he stood up, taking the kunai out of the ground as he went. "Did both of you memorized everything we discussed?" When both of them yelled out a 'Hai' Shino nodded and kicked the dirt, erasing the words he wrote down.

Hinata looked at the position of the sun, "I-its getting late," She looked at her teammates. "W-we have to act fast." Shino nodded in agreement.

"So now all we have to do is form a super cool attack plan that we use to defeat our sensei with and complete this challenge!" Naruto yelled out, his voice excited.

"Calm down Naruto," Shino said. "If she is near, we don't want her knowing what our plan is." Naruto looked at him, realization dawning on his face.

"Gomen," Naruto said, his voice almost a whisper. "So do you have a plan yet?" Hinata and Shino was surprised that he could talk that quietly.

"As a matter of fact I do," Shino said, the other two gathered around him. "This is how we will attack..."

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

Kurenai almost smiled as she walked away from the group of genin, she didn't want to hear their plan. She wanted to see what they came up with in actual battle, she didn't want to ruin the surprise. She was quite surprised that they discovered so much about her fighting style in such a short time, and they discovered a weakness she didn't even know she had.

She came to a stop in a slightly large clearing, she was impressed with this new team it had to be the best she had ever been given. As she waited she contemplated on what her options for use of genjutsus on her genin team could be. She would want to use something that can effect each of them, and she had the perfect idea on what she'd use. She smiled, they were going to have a very abrupt wake up call.

It didn't surprise her when a sudden orange blur appeared in her peripheral vision, she moved slightly to the right and stuck her foot out. Naruto tripped on her foot and suddenly went barreling into the ground, she wasn't very surprised when he poofed out of existence.

"Trying that old trick again? Not to original Naruto." Kurenai ducked when another Naruto came flying at her, he ended up face planting into the ground.

She heard a rustling and looked down, she was surprised to see a stream of bugs eating through the cords holding the scrolls. She brushed them off and jumped away, but just as she landed Hinata ran at her. She jumped away again but she barely had time to recover before Naruto jumped at her again. Kurenai ducked and watched in amusement as he went flying into a tree nearby.

She was frantically coming up with strategies she could use, because if she didn't separate them soon she would be in big trouble. Not even she could take on all three at once coming at her.

She jumped into the air as Naruto tried kicking her feet out from under her, she smiled when she saw Naruto get angry at himself for missing. She was at the top of her jump when she sensed it, she managed to move enough to avoid Hinata's gentle fist strike that was aimed at her left arm. As she landed on the ground Naruto was getting up and Hinata was recovering from the fall, she smiled.

"Almost got me that time," She ducked as an arm passed where her head was just a second ago. "Finally coming out to play Shino?" She turned and kicked him, but as her foot connected with his form he dissolved into bugs. She couldn't stop a shudder from escaping her, that was just disgusting.

She spun on her feet suddenly and kicked an incoming Naruto just as he leapt at her back, he went poof just as another Naruto jumped at her.

She ducked and formed some hand signs, just as she finished she disappeared. Naruto and Hinata looked around wearily, trying to pinpoint her position.

"You guys are pretty good but..." She appeared behind Naruto. "I'm better." She kicked him in the stomach sending him flying into the bushes.

"N-naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled, Kurenai smirked. She had a feeling that that was the real Naruto and Hinata's yell proved what she thought.

"Just as I thought," She turned to Hinata and before the pale eyed girl could react she formed hand signs and trapped the girl in a genjutsu. Her plan was going off without a hitch, step 1 separate them so they couldn't help each other. She created two shadow clones and sent them off into the direction were Naruto landed and were she knew Shino was hiding.

Step 2 was to capture them all into a genjutsu, she left the pale eyed girl standing in the clearing with a vacant look in her eyes as she went after the other two.

It didn't take her long before she found the blond fighting with her shadow clone, she crept up behind him and laid her hand oh his head. He immediately went stock still as he fell for the genjutsu, his blue eyes staring into space much like Hinata.

Two down one to go, she walked to were she knew Shino was battling her other clone and jumped onto a branch above him. She'd seen how the other 2 fought but she didn't have much information on how the Aburame fought, if she jumped down and attacked it could be a mistake.

She formed some hand signs so she could perform her distance genjutsu, as she focused on the boy she was surprised to see bugs flowing around him. So that is his fighting ability, Kurenai thought trapping Shino in a genjutsu too. He suddenly froze and all the bugs flew back to him, entering his clothing. Kurenai shivered, the Aburame had always managed to creep her out.

As her and her clones watched the three genin, she waited it was only a matter of time before the test was over and if they didn't escape the genjutsu before then... Lets just say she was going to have a lot of laughs.

o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o

Inside the Genjutsu's:

Hinata

Hinata looked around her in confusion, her pale eyes continuously scanning her surroundings. She seemed to be in some kind of dimensional plane, she looked into the vast darkness that surrounded her. The plane seemed to stretch on forever and yet there was nothing in sight... only darkness. "H-hello?" She called hopping that someone would hear her, her voice echoing eerily.

When there was no answer fear flooded her, a shiver ran down her spine when a chilling breeze brushed past her legs. She wrapped her arms around herself hoping to ward of the chill, she started to walk hoping to find some way out.

Hinata almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a whisper behind her, almost too quiet to hear. She jerked around half expecting to see something but was surprised when she saw nothing.

"Hmmm..." A voice breathed out behind her, she froze when she actually felt the breath on her neck. She spun around again searching the darkness for the source but saw nothing.

"W-who's t-there?" Hinata called out, fear making her soft voice shaky. She wasn't all that surprised when no one answered her. "C-come o-out a-and s-show y-yourself," She stuttered out weakly, shivering slightly from fear.

A rustling had her turning around again, her eyes widened when she saw a dark figure approaching her. She looked as hard as she could but couldn't see who it was, even with the Byuakugan she couldn't see through the darkness. As the figure got closer her fear escaladed, she retreated from the figure slightly her arms held in front of herself in a clearly defensive manner.

"Hinata," It whispered in a low husky voice, she froze when she heard it speak her name. How did it know who she was? She looked at the figure as it approached. When it finally got close enough for her to see who it was she gasped.

"N-naruto-kun!" Naruto's cloths were torn as though he was in a battle and he was walking with a slight limp, his feet brushing the ground. She ran over to the boy, her fear forgotten. "N-naruto-kun! w-what happened to y-you?!"

She was surprised when he looked at her, his eyes were different, softer. His blue eyes were looking at her with such longing that she gasped.

"Hinata," Naruto whispered again and his hand grasped her wrist. She blushed when he touched her, she wasn't used to Naruto being so close to her. She instinctively jerked her arm back, she wasn't used to Naruto touching her either.

"W-what a-are y-you d-doing?" Hinata said, her stutter more pronounced than usual. Her blush deepened when Naruto tugged her toward him. "N-naruto-kun?" Her voice died off when Naruto grasped her other wrist.

"I have something I need to tell you..." He leaned in to whispered in her ear, "It's very important that you know." She shivered when she felt his lips brush her ear.

Hinata was panicking, Naruto was so close to her and he was touching her. Her blush intensified again, her face a crimson red. Naruto just continued to stare at her with blue hooded eyes, a somewhat serious look on his face.

She took a step back, hoping to distance herself from Naruto in hopes she didn't faint. But as she moved her foot got trapped behind one of his and she tripped. Her eyes widened when she fell backwards, Naruto who was still grasping her wrists got pulled along her. They both tumbled onto the ground, Hinata laying on the ground and Naruto on top of her.

"Hinata," Naruto whispered again, his face getting closer to her own. Her eyes widened when she was nose to nose with the blond. Just as their faces were about to touch, Hinata flush darkened and she screamed...

Shino

Shino stared around him, his brow furrowed a little. Where was he? He looked at the room he was in, not larger than seven by seven with tan walls and a dull grey carpet. He looked down at the table he sat at and noticed there was tea steaming slightly.

He looked up suddenly when a door opened, he was sure that it wasn't there just a minute ago. Two figures walked into the room, he recognized the first one as his dad but he didn't know the second.

"Ah Shino," His father started seating himself in front of Shino, "I would like you to meet a dear friend of mine." The man bowed before sitting down, his long brown hair falling into his face.

"Father," Shino looked at him. "Who is this man and why is he here?" His father frowned at the rude question but the man just smiled.

"This is a leader from another clan in Konoha, his name is Kenta Kunshu and I asked for him to come here." His father replied, the guy waved and smiled again.

"Why am I here? And why is there another clan leader here?" His father seemed to frown thoughtfully at that, Kenta just smiled knowingly.

"Shino when you come of age you will take over the Aburame clan," His father started. Shino nodded, he already knew that. "And it is Aburame custom that you marry the day you take over the clan."

Shino frowned suddenly furrowing his brow, he never heard of this custom before. "What do you mean father? I have never heard of this."

"It is not to be told to heirs until they reach the age of 12 for certain purposes." His father said. "And it is custom for the legal guardian of the heir to choose their future spouse and I have chosen a wonderful heiress for you to wed."

Shino looked down, he was getting married against his will. He had always feared that this would happen, he just hope it wasn't anyone he knew like Hinata. If he had to marry her than he'd feel horrible for taking her away from Naruto.

"Who is she?" Shino asked, his voice barely a whisper. His father raised his eyebrow, he didn't think that his son would take the news this bad.

"It is against the rules to say the name or the clan of your future wife, the first time you will meet her will be on your wedding day." His father replied sadly.

"But just tell me it isn't a Hyuga," Shino said suddenly. "Can you tell me at least that much?" He looked at his father almost pleadingly.

"It isn't a Hyuga, but that's all I'm aloud to say on the matter." He looked at Shino with a curious look when he sighed in relief. "Any reason you don't want to marry a Hyuga?"

Shino smiled sadly. "One of my friends is a Hyuga and she is the heiress but she loves someone else who is also a friend of mine."

"Ahhh," His father said. "You were afraid of separating those two." He nodded knowingly. "When I married your mother I was in love with another woman." His father sighed sadly. "I kind of wished I didn't have to impose this law unto you."

"Its ok," Shino said. "I'll wed her even though I don't want to." Shino stared at his father. "If its for the good of the clan than I'll do anything."

His father smiled sadly and Kenta who he forgot was there nodded approvingly. That's when it hit him, why was that man here?

"One more thing dad," Shino said, gaining his fathers attention. "Why is he here? It seems strange to me that he's here in the first place."

His father started to sweat, "Well you see its important that another party that's not from the clan has to witness the telling of the wedding ritual and I chose my friend Kenta."

Shino looked at him skeptically, he was sure his father was lying but he let it go, it wasn't his business after all.

He froze when he heard a scream, he looked to see if his father heard it but it looked as though he didn't hear a thing. He looked around him again and his surrounding seemed to blur as he looked around for the source.

That's when it hit him, he must be under a genjutsu! He fought to break it but it was no use, he waited hoping for one of his teammates to release the genjutsu before it was too late...

Naruto

Naruto stared in confusion at his surroundings hoping to figure out how he came here. The hall he was in was lit by an unknown source, the carpet a rich deep red with spirals in it. As he walked down the vast hallway he was slightly shocked to see full length mirrors down the walls reflecting the sky blue wallpaper and other mirrors on the opposite wall.

He started walking again, thinking that maybe there would be an exit at the end of the hallway. As he looked ahead of him the hall seemed to stretch on forever, further than he could see.

A flash of color caught his eye in one of the mirrors, he walked over to investigate it only to gasp upon seeing it. There in the mirror was Iruka-sensei, standing stock still with his back strait and his arms held stiffly beside him.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the mirror, "What are you doing here?" But the form didn't answer him, he just stood there as though he was a painting. When Naruto looked closer he could see that the Iruka-sensei in the mirror wasn't real, it was almost as though he was just an apparition.

He continued to walk down the hallway looking at the mirrors more closely, now he could see people in those mirrors, some he knew some he didn't. He stopped when he saw a mirror with Sasuke in it. "Sasuke-teme," He muttered disdainly and continued to walk down the hallway.

When he came to a mirror he froze and stared at it, the man looking back at him was none other than the fourth Hokage himself. He had seen pictures of him and the Hokage monument but they were never this detailed, this apparition was as clear as day. His blond hair stood in spikes and his blue eyes stared ahead of him determinly, along with his white robe with red flames he stood as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Naruto stared at the man who defeated the Kyubi, he had started to hate the man who sealed the Kyubi in him and ruined his life. But looking at him now he couldn't stay mad, he did it to save the entire village after all.

He continued down the hall but froze at the next mirror beside the fourth Hokage, he stared at the woman intently. He almost shook when he felt the feeling of familiarity descend upon him and yet he knows he's never met this woman.

She had red hair that was almost a dark pink, and green eyes. He felt tears threaten to spill and he didn't know why, it was as though his being felt the need to weep for this woman.

He wiped off the tears and looked at the woman one more time, she stared at him with the same stonic face as the others and yet he could almost see a look of kindness on her face. He shook his head and continued down the hall, not feeling as hyper as usual.

Hours later Naruto sighed as he stopped and rested, it seemed as though he's been walking forever. He looked at the mirror to his left to see a boy about his age, he looked closer at him. The boy had bright red hair that went everywhere and turquoise eyes rimmed with thick dark circles. He was dressed deferent than him and carried a large gourd on his back, Naruto's eyebrow raised when he noticed the Kanji meaning 'Love' on the boys forehead.

He was about to start walking again when he noticed something funny about that boys mirror, all the others backgrounds where reflections of the other wall and yet his wasn't. He looked closely when he noticed it was different, it looked as though there was a sandstorm brewing in the back ground.

As Naruto focused on it more closely he saw two yellow eyes appear in the sand, he jumped back a little when they blinked. As the sandstorm settled he saw a massive figure appear, Naruto was shocked when it looked to be a giant raccoon like being made of sand.

Naruto blinked and backed up from the mirror, he continued to walk hoping to distance himself from it. He proceeded down the hallway, glancing at each mirror in passing. He smiled when he saw Shino's, it had the same stonic look the real one has.

A few minutes later he came to a dead end, and one single mirror occupied the wall. He blinked when he saw the dark haired girl that was his partner. He stared at her with confusion, why was she on this one wall alone?

He examined her mirror more closely and noticed that unlike the other mirrors the frame on this one seemed more sophisticated and elegant with sweeping vines that curved and spiraled. He looked at Hinata herself and frowned. The original Hinata would be hunched over a little, her eyes would be down cast and her face would be flushed a little. This one however looked like a statue, standing rigid with a stonic look on her face.

He was about to reach for the mirror when a sudden scream racked the air, he looked around him sharply. He frowned when he recognized the voice as Hinata's.

"That's right!" Naruto yelled out, remembering that he was in the middle of a test. He looked around him, "This must be a genjutsu then, and Kurenai-sensei must've put it on me!" Naruto fought to come up with a way to break the genjutsu, he had to help Hinata!

End Chapter

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