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 therefore can only make make believe stories about them and dream about them being real. Sigh.

Authors Note: I want to give my sincerest thank you to Kira777 for kicking my butt back into gear. Recently I've been having trouble coming up with the rest of the story, but thanks to that nudge I'm working on my story again. I kinda skipped the D-ranked missions and went strait to their C-ranked one. So to all my fans, here you go!

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Chapter 6

"Come on old man!" Naruto wined as he and his team stood before the third Hokage's desk. Kurenai flinched a little as Naruto said it but didn't comment. "I'm tired of doing only D-ranked missions! They're boring!"

Hinata had to agree with him, for the last few weeks they had been doing missions that frankly exhausted and bored them all. From gardening and baby-sitting, to walking dogs and catching that darn cat that always manages to escapes its owner. Hinata didn't know how long she could handle doing missions that didn't help Naruto, or any of them.

Shino could almost hear Hinata agreeing with Naruto in her head, and frankly he did too. The missions were fine and everything but they were bored, they needed something to keep them busy.

"And why do you think you need a higher ranked mission?" The third said, smiling behind his locked fingers. His elbow which rested against the table already had a few papers marked with C-ranked missions, he was waiting to see how long it took before they got desperate.

"Because," Naruto whined. "My skills are getting rusty!" He looked over to Hinata and Shino and pointed to them. "Even they agree with me, right guys?"

Shino nodded slightly and Hinata manage to stutter out a quiet 'Hai'. Kurenai herself was close to putting her own opinion in herself but refrained.

Genma who was standing behind the Hokage with his stonic face, had to keep himself from snickering. This was almost the same thing that happened yesterday, except with a different team.

"Iruka," The Hokage said, looking down at the chunin to his left. "What do you think? Should they get a C-ranked mission already?"

Iruka who was watching Naruto and how he acted toward the others was slightly surprised when the Hokage said his name and jumped a tad bit. "What?" He looked at the Hokage to see him smiling slightly. "Oh the mission thing, well I say it should be up to their jounin instructor. She is the one that trained them and she's the one who knows their strengths and weaknesses."

Iruka himself wouldn't believe he was saying that if it wasn't for the fact that he watched a few of their training sessions when he didn't have to teach. Not to mention when they took that test, he was able to watch it with the third Hokage through the third's crystal ball.

As Naruto and his friends gaped in shock at the teacher, Kurenai stepped forward. "Hokage sir, I think that my team is able to handle a C-ranked mission."

"Really!?" Naruto shouted, gaping at his Sensei with shock. Hinata and Shino was just as surprised as he was, staring at her with wide eyes. "Wahoo!"

"Calm down Naruto," The third said calmly and was surprised when he did. "Taking it into consideration, I think that they are ready." The Hokage started to shuffle through some papers on his desk.

"Lets see, the escort mission was already given to team 7..." But before he could continue an outburst from Naruto stopped him.

"Wait, Sasuke's team got a C-rank mission before us?!" Naruto was furious, why did they get one before them?

"Yes, Kakashi suggested it." Kurenai rolled her eyes at that, of course he would think that considering the Uchiha survivor is on his team.

"Ahh here's one," he said picking up a mission that he had already chosen for the team. "All you have to do is transport a scroll to a village on the outskirts of fire country." He said handing the paper to Kurenai, "It should be relatively easy and won't take more than a week."

"Thank you Hokage sir," And with that she escorted her students out of the room. She let out a breath of relief as they walked down the stairs.

"Yes! We will finally be able to leave the village!" Naruto shouted in joy, literally skipping down the hall. "We'll finally have something to do!"

"Calm down Naruto," In which he actually did. "This isn't a field trip." He stopped jumping around but the grin remained in place, Kurenai didn't think anyone could wipe that smile off his face.

"Okay, I want you guys to go home and rest. The mission starts tomorrow, pack yourself a bag of food and things you'll need for the week were away." Her students nodded, "Oh and don't forget to pack bandages and things, were going to start our chakra training on the way there."

"Chakra training?" Naruto asked, as ever the only clueless one.

"She's going to teach us how to control our chakra Naruto," Shino spoke up and Naruto nodded his head in understanding.

"Now that you understand get on home, meet me at the villages gates at 6 o'clock tomorrow." She watched the horror descend Naruto's face and could predict what was coming.

"In the morning!?" Naruto burst out, "I'm barely able to get up at 7!" And he wasn't kidding, he has trouble getting out of bed in the morning.

"Well get over it, if your not there tomorrow morning your not going." She watched his face droop but it had to be done, and she wasn't kidding.

"You are dismissed so go home and get some sleep," And with that her 3 students jumped off, to prepare and sleep. She too headed home, a bad feeling passing through her. She felt that this mission wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed, she continued home to prepare herself for the next week. Sending out a silent prayer that her feelings were wrong.

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Hinata was worried, she looked down at her watch again before looking down the road again. After a few more minutes, she repeated the whole process again which didn't go unnoticed to her teammate or sensei.

"Calm down Hinata I'm sure he'll be here on time." Kurenai said, placing her hand on her shoulder hoping to calm the distraught girl.

"Yeah, he still has 5 minutes." Shino said, hoping that his words helped. Hinata smiled slightly in gratitude, but the feeling of worry remained.

As the minutes slowly dissipated it was almost time to go, Kurenai didn't want to but they had to leave soon. "Well, its time for us to depart," She said sadly turning to leave. "We can't wait any longer for him." As they started to walk out of the gates a shout caused them all to pause and turn.

"Wait for me!" Naruto shouted running as fast as he could, "Not late yet!" As he landed beside them he bent resting his hands on his knees. His face was red from exertion and he was panting heavily. Hinata smiled, happy beyond imagination that he made it. Shino smirked, knowing that he would've made it no matter what.

"Naruto, nice of you to join us." Kurenai said smiling, glad that he arrived on time. "We almost had to leave you behind for a minute there."

"Sorry, a couple of people slowed me down on the way here." Naruto apologized, striating from his hunched posture. "But I made it on time," He said showing them the time on his watch, which indeed showed 6 o'clock on the dot.

"Well now that your here lets get going," And with that they departed. Kurenai smiled at Hinata's obvious happiness, they were all glad that Naruto made it.

As they proceeded down the trail they each did their own thing. Naruto of course was talking about being out of the village and many other things. Hinata was watching Naruto out of the corner of her eye and blushing every time Naruto talked to her. Shino was staring strait ahead but managed to see the transactions between his teammates and smiled. Kurenai was walking ahead of the group planning out their training regiment for the day.

They traveled all day, not really in a rush. It was coming close to sunset when Kurenai finally stopped them for the evening.

"Okay team, today I'll teach you the fundamentals for learning to control your chakra." Her students lined up in front of her, paying rapt attention to her. "First you must concentrate on finding your chakra, and bend it to your will much like you do when you use jutsus'."

All her students nodded, sitting cross-legged before her. She was surprised, she'd thought that Naruto would try to interrupt with questions but no he continued to sit quietly.

"After you control it center it on the soles of your feet, make sure to keep a constant flow and you can do this." She said, walking up the nearest tree.

"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed as his sensei came to a stop on the bottom of a tree branch. "That's so cool!" Hinata and Shino nodded in agreement, that was pretty cool.

"Now before you guys try," Kurenai said staring pointedly at Naruto. "You have to understand that you have to use exactly enough chakra to keep you on the tree."

"What do you mean?" Shino asked.

"Well if you put to much chakra into it you will get blasted off the tree, and most likely get hurt pretty badly. But if you don't put enough chakra into it, you'll just slide right off."

"So when can we get started?!" Naruto was eager to get started.

"It's too late today so We'll set up camp and then you guys can get started on training in the morning." There was a look of sadness coming from Naruto but she ignored it. "Naruto go gather some wood for a fire," Naruto nodded. He left for the forest, his form getting swallowed up by the trees.

"Hinata search for water nearby and fill our canteens." She tossed the girl the canteens. Hinata caught them and nodded, she activated her Byuakugan and looked around. When she found a river she took off in that direction, walking into the forest.

"Shino, help me get the tents up." Shino nodded walking over to help. They finished putting one up pretty quickly and was halfway done with the second one when Naruto came back into camp carrying a armful of sticks and twigs.

"Guys I'm back," Naruto said dropping off the pile of wood he managed to accumulate. "Hey, were is Hinata? I crossed a river when I was gathering sticks so she should've been back by now."

Kurenai looked up from completing the tent. "Why me and Shino get the last tent up and start the fire you go and find Hinata okay Naruto. I don't want her to get lost on her way back."

"Okay!" Naruto took off in the direction of the river. Disappearing once again into the forest. When Naruto was out of ear shot Shino turned to Kurenai.

"Hinata has her Buyakugan, she shouldn't have any trouble finding her way back from the river." Shino said to his sensei.

"Oh I know," Kurenai said with a smile. Shino finally understood and smiled slightly getting back to finish setting up the tent. So he wasn't the only one to noticed his teammates crush huh? Shino chuckled to himself at his friends predicament.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked as he arrived at the river, looking for his missing teammate. "You out here?" He looked around a little, still unable to see her.

As Naruto came around a bush he yelped as he tripped over something, it took a bit to register that the something was

the canteens that Hinata was sent to fill. He picked them up, they were all full but were was Hinata?

"Hinata? Were are you?" He dropped the canteens as he heard a rustling of fabric behind him coming from the river, he turned around quickly his eyes searching the darkness.

What he saw however surprised him, it was Hinata coming out of the river. Only she was soaked to the bone, pulling herself from the river. He ran over to help her, "Hinata are you ok?"

Hinata who wasn't expecting to see Naruto squealed and let go of the bank. Thankfully Naruto was there, he grabbed her wrists and pulled her the rest of the way out. "N-n-naruto-kun!?" She stuttered out in more than nervousness, she shivered as the pre night air hit her soaking body.

"Thank God I got here when I did," Naruto said lifting her arm over his shoulder. "Are you okay Hinata?" Hinata however was to close to Naruto to speak, so instead she just stood there shivering her face as red as a tomato.

Naruto who noticed her shivering let it go, picking up the canteens with his other arm he wrapped them around his torso. He held Hinata up, her arm over his shoulder. He was getting wet but ignored it, helping her back to camp.

Hinata who was to cold to resist stumbled along with Naruto until they reached the campsite. Kurenai looked up from the fire in time to see them stumble into camp.

"Hinata!? What happened?" Kurenai ran over to take the shivering girl. Naruto took the canteens off himself and laid them beside the tent. "Naruto what happened?"

"I went to go find her and found her coming out of the river." Kurenai sat the shivering girl before the fire, and went to retrieve a blanket.

As Kurenai wrapped her in the blanket, Naruto started to boil some water in a pan he brought. "Thankfully our new outfits are waterproof and insulated, hopefully that'll warm her up faster."

"I did notice your outfits looked a little different," She looked at the orange on his outfit. "But I thought I said to get something that wasn't bright, even though this orange is a little darker."

"Well you see this fabric is very unique," To show her he injected some of his chakra into the suit. She gaped in surprise as it turned into the same exact color of his surroundings. "I can still keep it my favorite color!"

"Interesting," Kurenai said absently as she went to helping Hinata. "Hinata how are you feeling?"

"G-good," Hinata said. Drying her hair with the blanket, as she removed it her hair fluffed up. Naruto had to stop himself from bursting out laughing, he instead focused on his bag as he dug for some instant ramen.

Shino who was watching the entire scene sat silently in the shadows. Glad that Kurenai had sent Naruto off to find Hinata.

"Hinata now that your feeling better can you tell us what happened?" Kurenai asked as Naruto finished preparing the instant ramen, he handed a cup to Hinata. She accepted the cup along with some chop sticks, nodding a quick thank you.

"I-I was g-getting some w-water, a-and w-was about t-to leave w-when I-I fell in." She said taking a bite of her ramen, sighing in content when it helped to warm her up.

"Here Kurenai sensei," Naruto handed her a cup, then poured one for Shino. "You too Shino." Shino walked over and accepted the cup before sitting around the fire. Naruto made one more for himself before sitting down beside Shino to eat also. "I brought enough ramen with me to last me for a month," Naruto said proudly.

"Yes but Naruto if you don't eat anything else you'll never grow." Kurenai smiled as she looked at Naruto who had a look of horror on his face. "You body need a balanced diet to be able to developed properly. Do you want to remain short forever?"

"No but..." Naruto said, afraid to believe it. "But I love ramen," He said sadly.

"Kurenai-sensei's right Naruto," Shino informed him. As minutes went by Naruto seemed to get more depressed.

"I-it's not that b-bad N-naruto-kun," Hinata tried to comfort him. "Y-you can s-still eat ramen," Naruto smiled slightly but it was gone as fast as it appeared.

"Fine," He said testily. "I'll eat different food other than ramen." Because he really didn't want to end up short forever, even Hinata was as tall as he was.

As everyone finished their dinner Kurenai informed them to get some sleep, they were to start their training in the morning and needed all the rest they could get. As Naruto and Shino got one tent, Kurenai and Hinata got the other. They were all unaware that from the shadows they were being watched.

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"Okay guys, today we are gong to take a break from the mission. We have plenty of time so today is all about training to control your chakra. You guys ready to start trying to climb trees without using your arms?" Kurenai said, standing in front of her students.

"Yeah!" Naruto shouted jumping up, and pumping his fist in the air. "I can't wait!" Shino just sighed and nodded his head.

"Hai," Hinata said.

"Okay then, I want you all to pick a tree and try to climb it." She watched as the 3 went about finding a tree, making sure that they all remained in her sight.

Hinata chose one that was about average in size and Shino chose one that was just a little taller, Naruto however had to chose one of the tallest in the forest. She sighed at Naruto typical behavior.

"Now I want all of you to try to climb your tree without using your arms." As she watched Naruto was the first to attempt to climb his.

Naruto stood about four feet from the tree in a pose for concentration, blue chakra swirled around him. He opened his eyes, a look of determination on his face. He took a running start at the tree, jumping toward the tree.

As his feet connected with the tree however he was blown backwards with a loud blast. As he went flying backwards the tree had a spot on the tree completely absent of bark.

"Ouch," Naruto managed as he got up, Hinata who had ran over to him stood back a little. "Guess I used to much chakra," Naruto managed before standing up.

"Yes you did, try what you did again but use less chakra." Kurenai coached with the patience of a saint.

Naruto nodded and concentrated before trying to climb the tree again, as his feet connected with the tree he managed a few running steps. But as he got just a little higher he started to slid and fell down landing on his back with a loud thud.

"Ouch," Naruto repeated as he got up off the ground, stretching his back a little while cringing. "Guess I didn't use enough that time." He commented dryly.

"Getting closer Naruto," She turned to the other 2. "Well are you guys going to get started?" She said looking at Shino and Hinata.

Shino and Hinata who were a little apprehensive after the failed attempts of Naruto looked at her with uncertainty. She smiled reassuringly, but it did little to help. They both faced their tree and started to work on climbing it.

A few hours later Shino stood atop the highest branch on his tree, watching in amusement as Naruto glared up at him. Shino manage to make it to the top while Naruto haven't even made it 12 feet off the ground yet.

Naruto took off running again, stepping on the tree he went up about 12 feet than fell back to the ground. Lucky after his 8 attempt he learned to move his body around to land on his feet, he actually learned it from watching Hinata.

Hinata herself hasn't even made it more than 4 feet, she felt hopelessness consume her. If it hadn't been for Naruto shouting encouragement she wouldn't of even made it this far.

Naruto who was resting for a bit watched Hinata as she seemingly gave up, he got up and walked over to her. Hinata's eyes widened when Naruto sat beside her, a blush automatically appeared.

"Hinata don't give up." Naruto said turning to her. Hinata couldn't bring herself to look at him so just stared at the dirt, Naruto however saw it as not listening. "How about we make it into a contest?!"

Hinata looked at him in shock as he stood up and announced it, she could tell by his face that he was being serious. "I-I'm not g-good enough," She said. Naruto just shook his head.

"Of course your good enough, if you keep trying your hardest you'll eventually get it right!" Hinata looked a little hopeful but it still wasn't enough, that's when he remembered what she said yesterday. "How about if you win I'll eat something other than ramen!"

"B-but what i-if y-you win?" She asked him, he could tell she wanted to try now. Evidently all it took was to get him to stop eating ramen so much. Is it so fascinating to make him eat healthy food?

"If I win you get to eat ramen with me," He told her with a smile. She nodded slightly with a blush on her cheeks, saying that she'd try. "Okay then, whoever reaches their top branch first wins!"

"B-but your tree i-is t-taller, wouldn't t-that count as c-cheating on m-my part?" Naruto looked puzzled at that, he turned to look at his tree compared to Hinata's.

"How about this?" He said and threw a kunai at a branch on his tree which was level with the top of hers. "So now we have the same goal." Hinata nodded that she agreed and Naruto smiled.

Naruto moved back to his tree and looked up at it. Now that he was in a contest he really couldn't slack off and rest, he sighed but got ready anyway. With a running start they both ran for their tree's, hoping to get to the top.

Shino who was watching the whole thing smiled, glad that someone was able to push Hinata into trying. He watched on as both slowly but steadily made it closer to the top. Naruto had a lead on Hinata but not by much, only about 3 feet, even Shino was surprised by her progress.

Kurenai who came back from gathering food landed beside Shino, not all surprised that he made it to the top. She looked down at her 2 remaining students as they ran at the tree as though their lives depended on it. "What happened?"

Shino who knew that she was there merely turned around, "Naruto engaged Hinata in a contest to see who can get to the top first."

"Really? What's the wager?" Kurenai was honestly curious, what could Naruto use to make Hinata want to go against him in a contest?

"Well if Hinata wins Naruto has to eat food other than ramen, if Naruto wins Hinata has to eat ramen with him." Shino almost smiled at the look on Kurenai's face.

"Oh this is priceless," Kurenai said, taking a seat and watching the contest. This could be a very entertaining thing indeed, she watched as Naruto fell from a very high distance.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to move his body in time and landed with a thud on his back, "That's going to be a nasty bruise tomorrow." Kurenai said absently, Shino only nodded in agreement.

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As the sun set below the tree line Kurenai added a stick to the fire. She hadn't made dinner yet for she knew Naruto and Hinata was still out there, and will be till they reached the top. Her and Shino had already eaten dinner so all they had to do was wait for the other 2 to arrive.

She looked up as Shino walked into camp, "How they doing?" He looked as emotionless as always but she could see just a glimmer of a smile.

Shino sat down, "Well they are getting real close, only about a dozen feet away." Kurenai smiled at that, surprised they are still able to go on.

"Who's winning?" Kurenai asked as she stirred the fire a little, letting off embers into the air. Kurenai watched as they floated into the air before extinguishing.

"Last time I looked Naruto," Kurenai nodded as though it was expected. "But only by inches, Hinata almost caught up to him by the time I left."

"I think Naruto will reach it before Hinata, he has more endurance than Hinata." Kurenai replied, smiling slightly at the fire.

"Nope," Shino said abruptly causing Kurenai to look at him.

"Why do you say that?" Kurenai said with a slight frown.

"Naruto might have endurance but Hinata has determination," Shino replied.

"Well we'll just see when they're done," Kurenai said.

"If I was you I'd start making their dinner, they should be done by the time you finish cooking." Kurenai nodded and started to prepare their food. By time they were done they'd both be starving.

When the food was done, a rustling in the brush to their left revealed an exhausted Naruto carting an equally exhausted Hinata with him. They both had smiles on their faces, accomplishment written all over their faces.

"About time you guys get back," Kurenai said as Naruto and Hinata sat around the fire. "So who won?"

"Hinata beat me!" Naruto said happily and the shy girl blushed when they looked at her. "It was so awesome, she only beat me like by an inch!" He said with pride.

"So Naruto no ramen for dinner tonight, I made you both food that is good for you." She said handing them each a plate of fish, with rice and berries.

"Man," Naruto said with a fake pout. "I was hoping that would go into effect tomorrow." Hinata started to feel guilty for taking ramen away from him.

"Give it up and eat, your body will probably be happy for the nourishment." Kurenai scolded him, hoping to stop Hinata from feeling guilty.

"Okay," Naruto said eating his food. "I'm just happy to have food in my stomach!" As they proceeded to eat they talked happily about random things that crossed their minds.

Hinata who was eating her food and watching Naruto felt a sudden chill run down her spine. She quickly looked behind her, her heartbeat quickening.

'Buyakugan,' she whispered and looked around but seeing nothing but wild life and bugs.

"Hinata?" Kurenai asked the obviously distracted girl.

Hinata turned around while deactivating her Buyakugan, as she finished turning she came face to face with 3 curious looks.

"I-it's nothing," She said eating more of her food. But for a second there she was sure someone was watching them. She let it go, not wanting to seem paranoid.

In the darkness of the trees a pair of glowing blue eyes watched the 4 talking and interacting. A feral grin stretched across it's face, the teeth glinting in the darkness. Soon, it thought. Very soon.

End Chapter

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