Darn, short chapter again. Well, I won't force myself to write longer ones if it isn't working. Hope you don't mind. Personally, I think the story is progressing too quickly. Do you think it's progressing too quickly?

Chapter 2

Oblivious to the chaos they had left their village in, Hinata and Neji made their journey through the forest in silence. The plan was to search the area around Konohagakure first, before moving on. It seemed Neji had taken a liking to Tonton over night because he insisted on holding the pig as they leaped through the trees. The sun had risen fully now, and it was turning out to be a very hot day. Neji stopped in a clearing and Hinata landed down next to him, wiping sweat from her forehead. Maybe the thick jacket had been a bad idea.

"We'll split up here and meet back when it gets dark. Keep in touch with this." Neji pulled out a pair of headset communicators, and Hinata put one on. They each activated their Byakugan and went off in separate directions, stopping once they had reached the range for the communicators.

Hinata leaned under the shade of a large tree where she would be shielded from the brutal sun. She leaned her head back against the tree trunk and to all eyes and appearances, closed her eyes and fell asleep. Of course, as the veins stretching around her eyes indicated, she was searching around the area with her Byakugan. The farther she had to look, the more concentration it took, and she simply could not do it while on the run. Her mind's eye searched as far as it could go, but she saw no sign of Sasuke, or anyone else.

"Any luck, Neji?" Hinata asked, raising the mouthpiece to her lips.

"Nothing, fortunately. It would be worrisome if Sasuke were this close to Konoha. Let's move farther." Neji said, and Hinata heard a distant oink in the background that could only be Tonton.

They slowly moved more and more away from the village, meandering towards the border. The process of stopping and searching with the Byakugan was painstakingly tedious, and under the hot sun, Hinata began to feel irritable and bored.

"Neji, what does Tsunade even think Sasuke is up to?" Hinata asked, after several search shifts had passed. Her eyes were beginning to feel a bit strained after so much constant use. Not wanting to tire herself out too much, Hinata released her Byakugan with a sigh of relief, and took a little break.

"If you ask me, I think Sasuke knows something we don't. Why else would he leave Madara and go off on his own? If he has any hidden allies, we need to know quickly so we can prepare for it." Neji said sharply, as if chiding Hinata for questioning their mission. Hinata turned red—gratefully no one was around to see it—and did not say anything for a long time.

"Is Tonton okay?" She asked after a while, completely bored, knowing that in a few minutes she would have to continue searching.

"Tonton is aslee—" Hinata gasped, leaped to her feet, and twisted around. The sudden movement dislodged the headset and it fell to the floor. Hinata found herself staring into the dark green eyes of a medium-sized black snake. She released a breath of relief. It's just a snake! For a second I thought it was an enemy ninja… She shook her head at her mistake, and picked up the headset. Not wishing to disturb the snake any more, Hinata relocated to a different tree. She tried to shake herself free of the feeling that the snake's eyes were following her and slipped the headset back on.

"Hinata? Hinata!" Neji's voice was too loud in her ear and she flinched.

"I-I'm all right, I just dropped the headset. Stop shouting, you'll wake up Tonton." Hinata said quickly, and laughed nervously.

"Don't worry me like that Hinata!" Neji continued sternly, his voice barely any softer than before. "What made you drop your headset?"

"I just…saw a black snake behind me and it surprised me a little, I guess." Admitting it out loud just made it all the more pitiful. She could imagine Neji's expression.

"Didn't you see it coming with your Byakugan?" He replied incredulously.

Hinata's face was burning again. "I…was just taking a short break." She answered in a tiny voice, completely embarrassed. "I had my Byakugan released."

"Activate it again, Hinata, and look around carefully. Do you see anything strange?" There was a hint of panic in Neji's voice, and Hinata activated her Byakugan quickly. The snake was gone, completely gone.

"Does it mean anything?" Hinata asked, after telling her cousin this. She had searched as far as she could reach with her Byakugan, but there was no sign of any other ninja. And not one black snake. That could mean that the snake had no chakra signature for her to see with the Byakugan, or that it had somehow gotten far enough away that it was no longer visible, even with the Byakugan. She ardently hoped it was the former.

"I'm not sure, Hinata, but let's meet together just in case. There's a small farm nearly in the middle between us. Come straight there."

Hinata ran through the forest to the farm, puzzling over what had just happened. How had that snake disappeared so quickly? Something seemed wrong, but she couldn't quite remember what.

Then it came to her. "Neji, doesn't Kabuto use a snakes summon?" Hinata asked, insides twisting with dread. Had she just been watched by the enemy without noticing anything? But no, many people used the snakes summons, Anko for one, and Sasuke. But then again, if it was Anko's summon, she would have let Hinata know. And if it was Sasuke…well, that wouldn't have been very good either. Hinata paled. "Neji?" She asked again, more insistently. What was he doing?

There was no answer, not even an oink. Hinata called for him again and again, each time with a heightening feeling that he was in trouble. She felt faint with fear and her knees were shaking so much she felt like they would buckle at any moment.

Don't collapse now! She told herself. Naruto would never falter if one of his comrades was in danger! Faster than she ever had before, she tore through the forest in search of her cousin and Tonton.

Kakashi was not pleased. He had been looking forward to this mission, and had prepared for it, despite what he let his students think. But he could never break that long time tradition: always arrive at least an hour after the agreed-upon meeting time. Well, he'd paid for it this time, Kakashi mused, rubbing the back of his neck. Just as he had decided it was time to join his team and head out, Shizune had rounded him up and told him that the mission had been cancelled altogether. Naruto had looked particularly mutinous, and everyone was keeping a close eye on the kid so he wouldn't slip away. They were just making their way back to the Hokage tower and Naruto could not stop complaining to all who would listen.

"Why is the old bag doing this? I want to get Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, as loudly as ever. Sakura finally cracked and hit him against the head hard. Naruto flew back into poor Sai. In the resulting chaos, Kakashi slipped away silently and made it to the Hokage tower without any further interruptions. Before Shizune had taken Kakashi to join with Naruto, Sasuke and Sai, she had told him that Tsunade wanted to speak to him alone. He began to climb the stairs to her office, taking the steps two at a time. He had no idea what was going on and it irked him deeply. Tsunade had a lot to answer for.

He didn't bother knocking and strode into the office, only stopping when his toes brushed the front of her desk. Tsunade looked up from her paperwork to give him an irritated glare, but beneath it he could sense she was worried about something.

"Close the door." Tsunade said tightly. The door shut before Kakashi had a chance to react. Shizune released the doorknob and stood facing them with her arms crossed.

"I think you owe me an explanation just as much as you do Kakashi." Shizune said stubbornly.

Tsunade's eye twitched. "Very well. But you might not like what you hear."

Hinata's chest heaved as she looked around carefully with her Byakugan. She had arrived at the farm Neji was talking about, but there was still no sign of her cousin or Tonton anywhere, only a handful of farmers working the fields. Suddenly a loud noise like thunder rang in her ears. Hinata shrieked and her hands flew immediately to her ears, which were covered by the headset. Her eyes widened. Was there noise coming from Neji's end? It almost sounded like someone had blown into the mouthpiece.

"Hello? Hello?" Hinata called, her voice desperate to the point of hysteria. What could have happened to him? "N-Neji, are you there?" There was no reply, but for a second Hinata thought she heard strains of whispers coming through.

"Hello?" Hinata's heart nearly stopped when she heard someone speak. It wasn't Neji. The voice was a girl's, sounding quite young, but it was hard to tell over the communicator.

"Wh-Who's this?" Hinata asked coldly. Why did this person have Neji's communicator?

"I'm the farmer's daughter, that's who I am." The girl said, and no matter how poor the sound quality was, Hinata could not mistake the tone of high disdain in the girl's voice. "I found this boy here. Is he your Neji? He had this device around his head. Aren't I clever? I figured it out."

Hinata's heart lifted so immensely that her chest cavity felt emptied of it all together. She interrupted the girl's babble. "Yes! Oh, yes! Is he all right?" She asked anxiously. "Where are you?"

"Mm, you should come quickly. He doesn't look too good." The snobby girl didn't sound worried at all, simply bored. "If you follow the path leading away from the farm, you should find me pretty quickly."

"Th-thank you!" Hinata located the path and rushed down it back into the thick forest. Absentmindedly, Hinata thought of how strange it was that the girl had known that she was standing in the farm.

Tsunade finished telling Kakashi about the farce mission she had almost sent his team out on. If he was angry at being tricked, she could not see it. However, Shizune behind him did notice the stiff tension in his shoulders. The Copy Ninja was pissed.

"What made you recall our mission then?" Kakashi saw Shizune lift up her head in interest and did his best to sound nonchalant. It wouldn't do to lose his temper in front of the Hokage. He wasn't angry at being tricked. More, he was angry that Naruto and Sakura had been tricked. The two wanted to bring Sasuke back to the village more than anything. He knew sometimes the Hokage had to make hard decisions for the good of the village, but this just seemed wrong in so many ways. Not to mention, sending only two young ninjas with hardly enough experience after Sasuke seemed downright careless, even if it was just a tracking mission.

"I think the enemy found out about the missions I was sending after Madara and Sasuke." Tsunade answered quietly, as if she knew what Kakashi was thinking. "There was a snakes summons there." She pointed out the window but Kakashi did not turn his head to look. The patch of exposed skin on his face was flushed red with anger, and the look in his eye was chilling.

Kakashi couldn't take it. "Do you have any idea what the enemy could do with that kind of information? Snakes summons. It could be Sasuke. It could even be Kabuto! We…they…" He took a shaking breath and forcibly made himself calm down. When he spoke again, his voice was much quieter. "We have to find Hinata and Neji now, before they're killed." They had to assume that Kabuto or Sasuke, or even both knew that at this moment there was a tracking team sent out after Sasuke's team. A Hyūga tracking team. Which meant that Sasuke could plan against being captured. It left Neji and Hinata in a very vulnerable position. Whether Kabuto knew that Kakashi's team had ended up not going out on their mission was still unknown, but the potential danger to Hinata and Neji had to be addressed first.

Tsunade nodded grimly. Kakashi had never blamed her outright, but the weight behind his words was unmistakable. She felt guilty enough to be sick, but now was not the time for that. She had to fix this before anyone got hurt. "The only capable ninjas we have available are your ninjas, Kakashi. Get Naruto, Sakura and Sai and find them. Use your ninja dogs, you know what to do."

Kakashi was halfway to the door already. Shizune slipped quickly aside, shooting a worried glance at Tsunade, who was holding her head in her hands.

The moment Kakashi opened the door, Sakura collided into him. Her cheeks was pink and stained with tears. Sai was close behind her, his face more ashen than usual, the beginnings of a black eye beginning to spread.

"Naruto…" Sakura choked. "They took away Naruto."

Hinata nearly tripped on the uneven path, but she forced herself to keep going. Now she was sure she was definitely hearing faint whispers from the headset. Was the farmer girl with others? I can't trust her. Hinata acknowledged grimly. Blinding, overwhelming instinct told her that this girl was probably leading her into a trap.

So? You know it's probably a trap. Why aren't you going in the other direction? An ugly voice inside Hinata's head remarked. Hinata pushed it away. Even if there was only the slightest chance Neji was with the girl and her unknown companions, she would find them. But it would not do to go in unprepared. They were very close, she could tell. With her Byakugan Hinata could see signs of nearby chakra. Hinata made herself stop in the shadow of a tree, and draw upon her chakra. Almost immediately, the girl's voice rang in her ears again.

"Are you coming already?" She asked impatiently. Hinata frowned. So they were watching her, even as her hands began to glow blue with chakra. The girl had seen her stop moving towards them, and was checking to make sure she didn't suspect anything.

"I'm c-coming." Hinata made herself say. "J-Just a bit t-tired, that's all." She purposefully made her stutter more pronounced. The weaker they believed her to be, the greater her advantage. She had found out long ago how she could use her inborn timid mannerisms to her advantage. People underestimated her naturally. Done preparing, Hinata took a deep breath and walked briskly away from the tree. A bit farther down the path and she was in a bright clearing in the forest. In the middle of it, lying in a pool of blood, clearly dead, was Neji. It's not real. The moment seemed to stretch on for decades. It's not real. Hinata saw his torn and bloody face, and his blank eyes.

The voice in her head was ignored. Like the Hyūga she was, she could only trust her eyes. Hinata heard herself scream, and felt herself run towards him. Even as she did, she came to her senses and realized she had been tricked. But the time it took to dispel the genjutsu was all it took for the enemy to swoop down on her. The illusion of Neji's dead body disappeared as she twisted sideways, narrowly dodging a slash made by the most enormous sword she had ever seen. The boy holding it was her age, dressed in purple with white hair and a shark grin.

Hinata swiveled and formed a chakra barrier around herself to block a blow from behind her. She had seen the orange haired boy come at her just in time with her Byakugan. The immensity of his chakra distracted her eyes, and, caught unawares, she felt a presence land behind her quicker than lightning. Hands grabbed her arms and twisted them sharply behind her back. With her Byakugan, Hinata was able to see a pair of red Sharingan set in the face of a man who was no longer familiar to her.

"Hyūga Hinata." Uchiha Sasuke said softly. "Welcome to Team Taka."

Review, or the devil take you. Thanks for everyone who reviewed last time, I really appreciate it. I'm having fun jumping perspectives like this, but I understand if it gets pretty annoying, so after I set down some more important setting points hopefully the perspective-hopping will die down a bit.