Chapter dedication goes to lil.ramen.lover, my faithful reviewer/pm'er. Thanks for the motivation!

Author: Feral Panda Chick

Summary: Sasuke and Hinata have finally returned to Konoha after six years away from their beloved village… but there's still work to be done. With Orochimaru and Akatsuki still on the loose, will they their happiness ever be anything but fleeting?

Rating: T/PG-13, to be safe. Probably for language, at some point.

Pairings: NaruHina (definite), AsuKure (definite), NejiTen (definite); SasuSaku/HanaKono OR SakuLee/SasuHana

Warnings: None, for now.

Prodigals

Chapter 06

Of Course!

"Begin."

One simple word, but Hinata and Sasuke were already flying into action, into a well-rehearsed routine. They were both grinning as they ducked and dodged, spun and flipped. This warm-up was like the beginning of a dance – it was a prelude to the rising action.

Suddenly Sasuke landed and drew his katana. Hinata slid to a stop and, humming the same tune that had put the volcano to sleep, summoned herself a sword out of the earth. The ground pulsed and earth shot up into her hand. Molten lava was writhing around the blade, hissing and steaming, until it slid off, leaving a perfectly formed katana, nearly identical to Sasuke's own.

"Show-off."

She smirked. "Face it, Sasuke. I do everything you do… but better."

He scowled and rushed her.

Thrust, thrust, parry, dodge. "You're being awfully arrogant."

Dodge, sidestep, up-swing, thrust. "Why? Do I remind you of yourself?"

Forward-thrust, slash, down-swing, dodge, slice –

Hinata frowned at the tiny cut on her cheek, which began to bleed stubbornly.

"You do, actually. Besides, you know I'm a better swordsman."

"Swordsperson."

"Whatever."

"Want to up the ante? Let's see if you can fight as well under pressure."

"Let's do it."

They leaped away from each other.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," Sasuke muttered, clenching his tattooed left forearm as he slammed it to the ground. There was a large poof of smoke as well as hissing noise. Five snakes had appeared within the arena; they were huge, and all black but each with different undertones – green, indigo, blue, red, and yellow. However, this was much to the chagrin of many audience members.

"What is playing at?" hissed Shizune, sounding a bit like a snake herself. "That's tantamount to declaring allegiance to Orochimaru!"

"It is not," said Tsunade calmly to her assistant. "The summons do not take sides. They fight for those they give their respect to, and no one else. They only turn against their summoners in extreme circumstances." Gaara, the Kazekage, watched this exchange with silent interest. He was remembering his first chuunin exams, and the invasion he had helped to initiate in the middle of them.

"If you say so, Tsunade-sama," mumbled the brunette. "But others may question his loyalties."

"I quite agree. I wish I knew what he was trying to do with this little stunt."

The Hokage continued to squint down at the snakes, and found they looked strangely… different… than she was used to…

She shook that feeling off. She hadn't fought alongside Orochimaru in decades; who was she to know what was different or unusual? She looked over to the Kazekage and focused on him to make the feeling of unease disappear even more.

"Care to make a wager, Kazekage-sama?"

Hinata smiled. "This is turning into a nice little spar. And since this is for the good of Konoha… I don't feel too bad showing off a little bit!"

Backing off even farther so the snakes would not take advantage of her, Hinata closed her eyes and hummed quietly. Then, she took a deep breath and blew out a huge gust of wind, followed by a long column of fire. Next she stamped the ground and water arose out of a gaping hole, followed by a large amount of earth. Finally, she clasped her hands together above her head, and, in a flash, as if she was some sort of human conductor, lightning struck her, and at once shot away from her hand in a long arch, and then curling back around her in an animal-like countenance.

All five of Hinata's "summons" suddenly reared up to face Sasuke's own, taking on vaguely serpentine shape. The crowd cheered wildly for her and her elemental snakes.

"You're basically rendering my summoning useless."

"Yep."

"Sometimes… I really, really hate you."

"Oh, shut up and fight."

At once the snakes attacked their counterparts, hissing and biting viciously. Hinata and Sasuke clashed right in the middle, ducking and weaving in between the striking heads and fangs of the snakes in a masters' dance. The crowed oohed and ahhed accordingly. The Rookie 9 was watching with avid interest.

"Chidori Nagashi!"

Hinata dashed out from under the battling snakes and away from the modified Chidori, scampering effortlessly through the fray. Sasuke followed. They continued their swordfight; the yellow-hued black snake managed to destroy the water snake before it fell from exhaustion, un-summoning itself back to its own dimension.

Now Hinata was in retreat; she had abandoned her sword altogether. She ran directly up the wall and began to run, parallel to the earth. Sasuke was following her progress on the ground, katana at the ready. Suddenly, he slid to a stop.

"Chidori Dangan!"

The sounds of a thousand chirping birds filled Hinata's ears as a blast of lightning came rocketing toward her. She pushed off the wall to meet it.

"Hotaru no Kaiten!"

Hinata spun in midair just as the Chidori Dangan was about to hit her, and for a moment it appeared as though it had devoured her. However, it soon became clear that her aerial Kaiten was deflecting the attack in all directions. Eventually the blast died away, and Hinata was left, twirling gracefully, until she, too, had dissolved into nothingness.

A wind clone! Damn it! I thought she hadn't mastered that yet!

There were whispers and gasps. Kaze bushin were notoriously hard to master; as wind was the most offensive element out of all of them, the chakra was difficult to force into one form for an extended period of time. However, it appeared that Hinata had that particular skill down, and to an impeccable degree.

Behind – he turned around and his katana pierced her shoulder and she hissed before disappearing in a cloud of dust. Tsuchi bushin - Dammit!

-

Heh, Hinata thought with a silent snicker. He'll never catch me.

She struck out at Sasuke again, only to see that she had been fooled by her own trick. A bushin, eh? Damn.

Without warning, Hinata felt Sasuke's hands latch on to her shoulders and he began to stare into her eyes with his own blood-red orbs. His grip was vice-like and for some reason she couldn't break away, though that usually wasn't a problem for her. Stupid Sharingan!

"San-en no Jutsu..." Hinata heard Sasuke's triumphant whisper. "Speak no Evil -"

She clutched at her throat instinctively, before trying to respond. Nothing came out.

"Hear no Evil –"

The crowds' cheers cut off instantly. Hinata was glaring at Sasuke in disbelief. Where had he learned this technique? And it sounded vaguely familiar. She had a bad feeling she knew what was coming.

"See no Evil." Sasuke's voice echoed around in her head; she was sure there was some sort of spiritual or mental connection to the attack.

Everything faded to blackness. Hinata felt a long, low growl in the dark corners of her mind. The Gobi was not pleased either, apparently.

"Well? How does it feel to be reduced to hearing only my voice?"

If that's your plan, dearest Avenger, then please kill me now.

He ignored her little jibe and continued their mental conversation. "From now on and until this attack loses effect, that is all that you will hear. And since I won't be talking – that would give away my position – you won't be hearing much."

And where, may I ask, did you learn such a technique?

"From Monk Iwagetsu... Now what did you call him? Crackpot old man? Lousy, good-for-nothing fraud?"

He IS a fraud, Sasuke. He's no prophet or psychic or anything like that. Just a fake and a former ninja.

"Hmph We'll see how you feel once I win this fight."

His last warning echoed around her mind until finally it faded away as well. She hissed in pain as he caught her shoulder on his katana; she could still sense chakra, but it was too slow.

Hakkeshou Kaiten!

She performed the technique on a grand scale, using her chakra to lengthen the reach of her Kaiten. Next, she used the Gobi's chakra to heighten her senses of smell and touch, the only two still available to her.

Sweat, metal, fire, a hint of tomatoes… Sasuke. Fifty meters to the north-west, waiting for my Kaiten's energy to die down so he can attack no doubt.He cut the air with his sword as he re-drew it; the subsequent blast of wind made it to her nose. He's getting ready to attack.

The snakes are directly opposite him; I have to avoid those, or else I'm done for. There was a tremble in the ground; Sasuke was walking toward her with even, measured steps.

Fool.

Sasuke was stalking Hinata ever so carefully. His clone was sure to give away its position soon, and Hinata would attack it, leaving him open to take her down. Figuratively, of course. One of his three remaining snakes had slithered over and he was perched on its head, waiting for the perfect moment.

There was a flash of black, and the Sasuke clone was dispersed. Sasuke himself flew into motion, leaping toward Hinata with equal speed. His eyes widened as she didn't move; instead, she let herself be hit.

What is she – poof. A clone? The firm leather grip of his sword was torn away from him and thrown towards the closest wall, where it landed with a dull thunk. There was a cold press of metal on his neck.

"You've got a lot to learn, Sasuke-kuuun," she said, drawling the suffix. Her voice was a little louder than she usually tempered it, but that was to be expected since she couldn't hear. "In every aspect that clone was perfect… except that it smelled like a clone, and not you," Hinata's voice purred into his ear.

Fuck. Can I ever catch a break with this woman?

He wrenched himself out of her grip and turned to study her, searching for a weakness. They'd been partners for years now, and he still hadn't beaten her on a consistent basis. She simply had too much chakra from a much too-helpful demon with chakra control that was much too precise. Anyone who knew the scale of Hinata's power and skill knew that to beat her at all was a major feat; but the Avenger was not about to take that blow to ego – that is, losing to a girl - lightly, let alone take it lying down multiple times.

Her eyes were blank and unfocused, for once actually being blind as opposed to simply looking like it. At least part of his jutsu was still in effect. He clapped his hands loudly; she didn't turn at first, so she was still deaf. It took a split-second longer than her norm, but she rotated so that she was facing the direction from which the noise had come. Hinata's nose and sense of touch were her biggest allies now. She could feel the gust of air when he moved and could smell him on the wind, thus pinpointing his position.

"I'm getting a little bored," she said suddenly. "Can we finish this soon?

Sasuke gave her a look before he remembered that she was blind. "Do we have to?"

"Oh, quit your whining. You're such a spoilt brat sometimes."

He was about to retort with 'I am not' before thinking better of it. "Fine," he grumbled eventually.

Hinata slid into a Jyuuken stance. Sasuke readied his right hand. Blue-white lightning began to crackle in his palm as Hinata activated her Byakugan and began to move her hands in a motion that her teammates and Naruto found familiar.

"Shugohakke Rokujyu Yonshou!"

"Habataku Chidori!" The blue glow in his hand intensified so that everyone in the audience was forced to squint.

Sasuke started to sprint directly toward Hinata, the sounds of flapping wings filling the stadium. Hinata stood firmly, arms twirling around her to form a chakra shield unlike any other. The layers built and built until at least a foot of pure chakra was between her and Sasuke's massive, deadly attack. He was so close to hitting the barrier – only ten feet – five – three – two – one – there was just a fraction of space left between them now –

The explosion was on the scale of a mini-Kyuubi, which was definitely saying something. The noise deafened spectators; the bright blast of light as their energies clashed blinded everyone watching; and the ground rumbled dangerously. The earthy floor around them was being disintegrated with the sheer power behind their finale. After a full minute of explosive, blinding power, all noise and motion stopped.

The dust, hanging in the air from where the ground had been nearly vaporized, cleared. Hinata and Sasuke were clearly in an exhausted condition in the middle of a huge crater that had formed from the backlash of his attack and her defense. Neither of them looked as though they had enough energy to continue; both of the two ninja were all chakra'd out, panting on the ground.

And then, at the exact same moment, Hinata and Sasuke managed to haul themselves up and rushed the other in unison. However, with their impaired vision, the collision was less than impressive. They ran right into each other, knocking foreheads with a dull thud before keeling over, unconscious.

There was dead quiet.

"You're joking," said Sakura, in complete disbelief. Next to her, Ino, Chouji, and Kiba were openly gaping. Naruto seemed to be restraining laughter with great difficulty. The end result was a strange choking noise like a cat attempting to rid itself of a hairball.

Shikamaru trudged forward, certain that this was not another ploy – at least, certain for the moment.

"Double knockout," he called up to Tsunade.

Gaara and Tsunade were staring down at the field with a puzzled expression.

"Oh, they just did not," said Shizune at last. "They collided on accident! What insanely bizarre luck!"

"Well, I did tell them to put on a show," said Tsunade, grinning at last. "Well, Gaara, since neither Hinata nor Sasuke won, I think we can safely call off our bet, don't you?"

Gaara nodded silently. "This has been an interesting tournament, Hokage-sama," he said, silently thanking the gods that he hadn't had to pay the large sum the Hokage had proposed in their wager. "I will depart back to Suna when Masato has recovered."

"He fought admirably."

"I couldn't agree more." Gaara privately thought that he might promote the boy to chuunin; he was a hard worker, a steady ninja, and had an excellent proficiency for his blade. The fact that he had lasted as long as he did against the Uchiha was proof of that. Of course, Tsunade didn't need to know all that. Even allies had their secrets.

"Congratulations to all of your Shinobi, Tsunade-sama. I am sure that the Chuunin Promotion Committee will have a lot to look over."

"Indeed. I hope your travels are safe, Kazekage-sama."

Meanwhile, on the arena floor, Hinata and Sasuke were having a miraculous recovery.

"Wow, I'm as good as new! It's amazing what a hit to the head'll do, eh Sasu-chan?" Hinata's surprised voice was just a tad over-exaggerated to be true, and Shikamaru wasn't stupid.

"So you threw the match," said Shikamaru shortly. Sasuke shrugged as the crowd began to cheer wildly for the excellent match.

"Yes. We feel that exposing all of our trump cards in one go isn't the best option for us. We're conserving all the best for later."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but grinned slightly as the crowd started to cheer for the two winners – or losers. "I'm sure Naruto will be glad to hear that."

Sasuke's smirk was a mile wide.

-

The Rookie 9 was alternately celebrating for their friends and laughing hysterically at the comical victory that had just been achieved. When Hinata appeared among them, their volume increased, and Naruto was the first to speak.

"Awesome! I can't wait to spar with you and Sasuke, Hinata-chan!"

"That was an amazing match, but I think that the end was my favorite part," said Ino cheekily.

"I know Sasuke's been called a knock-out, but that was totally ridiculous!" Kiba rolled his eyes. "Ugh, I really wish you woulda beaten him, Hinata-chan. Team 7 gets all the glory around here!"

"We do not!" Sakura leapt in to defend Team 7.

"You have the Hokage's apprentice and the Hokage's surrogate brother and all three of you are apprenticed to Sannin," said Neji shortly. He had just appeared at Hinata's elbow. "Of course you're given special favors… and all the fame. Hinata-sama, excellent match. This is for you." He slipped what looked like a little note into her hand and she stashed it in the sleeve of her shirt.

"Thank you very much, Neji-nii."

"Good job," said Shino, injected the slightest bit of feeling into his words. "I was very impressed with your progress."

Hinata flushed prettily; she had always admired Shino, and his opinion meant a great deal to her. Naruto noticed – of course.

"Hinata-chan, Hinata-chan, do you always spar with Sasuke like that?" he asked to take her mind off of her teammate… which was a rather ridiculous idea since most of her thoughts revolved around him, anyway.

I can't think like that now. He's a committed man.

"-having a discussion about who your kiss was for."

"Eh?" Hinata popped out of her dream world.

"The kiss you blew after your match with that Yuugito chick. Who was it for? We had quite a little debate you see…" Kiba was grinning devilishly as he said this.

Hinata looked surprised and allowed her eyes to drift over her classmates. All of them were smirking except for Naruto, who had a tiny blush on his face. A sudden idea formed in her eyes as she looked over at her sensei, who was smiling proudly at her as she bounced Sachiro on her knee just behind where Naruto was standing.

"Well, Naruto-kun, who did you think it was for?" Hinata purred, somehow still managing to seem demure and classy while she sauntered over to him. She stopped just short of their chests brushing. He gulped.

"I – um, that is to say… er…" Even though she wasn't touching him, he could feel her presence so close to his own, and he was reacting to her. He wanted to be closer to her, but somehow, couldn't get his feet to move.

"I thought it would be fairly obvious, didn't you?" Her voice was less demure and more sultry now; he could see Kiba from the edge of his vision, leaning in to catch her words.

His eyes widened. She couldn't possibly mean –

"Clearly, that was a kiss meant for someone very precious to me."

His heart skipped a beat.

"…Sachiro!" Bypassing the stunned blonde cheerfully, Hinata swooped down and kissed Kurenai and then her son on the cheek; Kurenai, Kakashi and Asuma were smirking. Little Sachiro giggled, but it sounded more like a cackle to Naruto. Hinata turned around to address her former classmates and their teachers.

"Sasuke and I have to meet with the Hokage in a minute, so I'll see you in a few… ja!"

She blurred into motion and moved toward the Kage box. Naruto was standing stock still, apparently unable to move.

"Soooo… Naruto…" Kiba put on his sleazy game-show host voice. "The girl you liked just totally burned you in front of all your friends… and your teacher… and your friends' teachers! What are you gonna do next?"

A stream of babble came out of Naruto's mouth as his thoughts recollected themselves.

Did HINATA just do that to me? Did HINATA just totally prank me? Did I totally just FALL for it like an IDIOT?!

Kiba and the others continued to try and get a rise out of him, to no avail. He was lost in his own little world for at least another full minute before he spoke again and made sense.

"…she's so amazing!" cried the blonde out of nowhere, looking as if Christmas had come early – and he had gotten the exact thing he wanted.

"Hokage-sama!"

Hinata and Sasuke had appeared in the booth, both of them smiling (or, as in Sasuke's case, smirking.)

"What did you think?" asked the jinchuuriki girl cheerily. "We've been working on the routine for the past two weeks, and I thought that it all came together rather nicely… though at the end, one of us was supposed to win. Oh well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers, ne? It all turned out okay in the end."

"I have a question out of pure curiosity," said the Hokage, the gambling addict within her hungering for answers. "Which one of you was supposed to win?"

"I wanted it to be Sasuke," said Hinata at once. "That way, people would underestimate me, which would lead to my ultimately having an advantage of surprise over them, which I like to have."

"It's strange, because the last time we did a spar of about that same caliber, Hinata was the loser. So something must've happened in the interim." Sasuke's face was vaguely contemplative. Both of them incorrectly judged Tsunade's expression as one of thinking. In reality, it was a cover-up for her pout.

Damn! Good thing they tied, because my money was on Hinata.

"Well, you both performed wonderfully. Welcome to chuunin-hood. Before I can officially promote you to jounin, though, you have to go on some missions… though you'll need a jounin guide for your first official mission as chuunin…"

"Who did you have in mind, Hokage-sama?" Hinata had a very bad feeling about this…

The blonde smiled. "Why, Uzumaki Naruto of course!"

Do you know what day it is today? International Review Prodigals Day! So get in the spirit and press that little button, wouldja?

Chidori Dangan – Bullet Chidori.

Hotaru no Kaiten – Kaiten of the Firefly.

San-en no Jutsu – Jutsu of the Three Monkeys. Those three monkeys are the 'hear no evil', 'speak no evil', 'see no evil' monkeys of Japanese mythology.

Shugohakke Rokujyu Yonshou– this is Hinata's attack from the waterfall girl/Kamizuru Bee clan filler arc. Lit: Guardian of Eight Divination Seals: Sixty-Four Strikes.

Habataku Chidori – Flapping Chidori (one thousand birds).I'm not sure when Sasuke uses this, but it is an official move, just like the Shugohakke above, and unlike Chidori Dangan, Hotaru no Kaiten and San-en no Jutsu, the three of which are mine. If, for some reason, you want to use my lame attacks… please ask first, okay?