Well, here it is, folkz, chapter 5. I had originally had some of this typed out already with the intent of making it chappy 4…but decided otherwise when I had a few other ideas pop into my head. Hope you guys enjoy.

Chapter 5: A New Day, New Missions…

If it had been anyone else…they'd be dead right now. Very few people could take a punch from the Fifth Hokage of the Leaf Village full on and live to tell the tale. Thankfully for him, he was one of those few people.

Tsunade stood in her last attack position; her arm outstretched with a smoking fist. The look on her face was one of unmistakable irritation as she peered through the four, man-sized, and shaped, holes in the walls near the women's bath house. At the end was a man with wild, white hair, practically wrapped around a light pole with a rather large lump forming on the back of his head.

"I really wish he would grow up one of these days. I'm getting tired of having to do that every single morning. …Pervert."

As Jiraiya slid slowly back down to terra firma, people passed by completely unfazed, going about their daily routines as if nothing happened.

…Just another day in Konoha.

At the training grounds within the confines of the Hyuuga Estate, Hinata was busy with her own morning routine. Her prowess with the Byakugan was still far behind her cousin's, and her fighting skills were still lacking. She had to get stronger, she just had to. She had to find a way to catch up to Neji.

Even though she and Neji had become much closer over the years since their fight during the chunin exams, more like brother and sister than cousins, she still viewed him as a sort of rival. Or perhaps more like a goal…a personal measuring stick to compare herself to. Neji had become the pride of the Hyuuga Clan, a fact that she was very proud of, yet she still saw herself the unworthy heiress…the weakling.

He'd taken their kekkei genkai to new levels and his fighting ability was top-notch, mastering skills and jutsu normally restricted to main house members and even creating entirely new ones. And ever since her father began personally training him, his skill grew by leaps and bounds. Whether Neji knew it or not…he was a source of inspiration to her, much like Naruto in some ways. His ability was something she strived for.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the last voice she expected to hear.

"You seem to be getting better, Hinata. It appears that I may have been mistaken when I left you in the care of Kurenai all those years ago."

Hinata stiffened up at the voice of her father before she turned to greet him.

"Oh…g-good morning, Otou-san. …Wait…w-what did you say?"

Hiashi seemed to ignore her question as he sat down at a nearby bench. He looked at her with that same look he'd always given her; one of cold indifference.

"Hinata, come. Sit down. I have something I wish to discuss with you."

As she sat down, she couldn't help but notice an odd scroll she'd never seen before resting in his lap.

"Hey, old man! Have you seen Naruto this morning?"

Teuchi nearly jumped out of his skin when Kiba popped his head through the shop curtains and practically yelled at him from the top of his lungs. Fortunately, he didn't have any customers at the moment, so at least there wasn't a mess to clean up, too.

"Hmm…now that you mention it, I haven't. That boy is usually in here by now ordering god knows how many bowls of ramen and working poor me and Ayame half to death trying to keep up! Haha!"

"Damn! 'Kay…thanks! Later!" And just like that, he was gone.

'Hmm…I wonder what that was all about. And just where IS Naruto? It's really unlike him to not have been here already. Ah well…back to work.'

"Damn damn DAMN! If I don't find that pain in the ass soon, Tsunade-sama is gonna have my balls in a sling, for sure. DAMN you, Naruto…where in the hell ARE you?!"

Kiba had the unfortunate luck of entering the Hokage's office to deliver some clan reports from his mother to her. Nothing new there…he'd done it several times before. His mom always said stuff like "If you're gonna take over this clan…you need to get yourself into the habit of doing things like this." He knew it was bullshit. She just didn't want to get off of her ass and go herself. But, she was his mother…what could he do? This time…he walked into it big time.

(((Flashback)))

"Lady Tsunade, here are the wee-"

"KIBA! I want you to go out and find Naruto, RIGHT NOW!"

The Hokage's desk audibly groaned when Tsunade slammed her fist down on top of it. Kiba was sure if those four legs could move, it'd be running out of the room right now yelping like a dog with his tail cut off.

"Um…ma'am? But…I just came to give you these reports…?"

(((End flashback)))

What happened after that almost made him wet himself.

"Man…that woman is scary when she's fired up like that, eh Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked in response. Kiba's poor ninja dog actually HAD lost his bladder control and peed on the Hokage's floor. That…really didn't help much.

'Oh man…that was one of the worst nights of my LIFE! I think that stupid fox tried to KILL me, last night. Worst. Night. EVER!'

Naruto groaned as he worked out the stiffness in his muscles from his late night "sparring session", as Kyuubi…er...Kurama…had called it, though he thought of it as more like a near massacre. He'd learned very quickly that the kitsune was not going to be a kind, gentle teacher, but rather a master of torture and torment. True…some of the stuff the fox did was pretty damn cool, but it would have been much cooler if he hadn't been on the receiving end of any of it.

After wiping out off the crud that always seems to form around your eyes at night, Naruto finally sat up and took stock of where he was. He was still in the middle of Konoha Forest, where Kurama had taken him last night to "train". And it was already past 11 o'clock. "Oh man…I musta just passed out where I stood. Geez…"

! "KUSOOO! I forgot about the mission! Daaammmnnnn….Tsunade-baa-chan is gonna kill me!" Naruto quickly gathered himself and took off like a shot towards the Hokage's building!

30 minutes later…

Naruto was nursing a newly swollen cheek and lump on his forehead, courtesy of Tsunade and Sakura respectively. It was bad enough that the old crone clocked him one as soon as he got in the door for being late, but Sakura crowned him for falling asleep during the briefing!

"Geez, Sakura-chan. Did you have to hit me, too? It's not like Granny's punch ALONE didn't hurt enough, yanno!"

"Well…if you weren't trying to fall asleep standing up…I wouldn't have had to hit you, baka! And by the way, what were you doing last night to make you so tired?"

Naruto had to think fast. "Uumm…training?" He mentally kicked himself. 'Oh yeah…like that's really gonna fl-'

Sakura just shook her head. "Yeah…that sounds about like you. Once you get started on training, you just forget about everything else."

'Wow…I can't believe she bought that!' thought Naruto.

'Wow…I can't believe she believed that…' thought Sai.

Over the years, Sai had learned to see through many of Naruto's ruses, though his friend still did often confuse him. He'd learned a lot about friendship and connections during his time with Naruto and Sakura as part of Squad 7, but he still had a ways to go before completely understanding them. Even still, he knew his friend was hiding something, but decided that now wouldn't be the best time to pry.

Besides, he couldn't shake the feeling that they were being followed. He couldn't be sure how many and how far behind they were but whoever he/she/they were, they were very good at remaining hidden. He couldn't sense any chakra at all, and the only thing he would ever see was like catching a mirage from the corner of your eye. Turn to look at it, and it's gone.

"Something wrong, Sai?"

"I thought…No…It's nothing, Kakashi-senpai. Just keeping an eye out, that's all." He replied with his well practiced smile.

Kakashi knew better, but decided it to leave it at that…for now. He had a feeling this mission was going to turn out to be an interesting one, to say the least.

Hinata almost couldn't believe it. As far back as she could remember, this was the longest time she'd ever sat down with her father and had a civilized conversation with him. Not once did he make a degrading remark or comment as to her "less than acceptable" performance. Even still, she couldn't help but retain some degree of nervousness around him. She felt that the tide could turn at any moment. That this brief moment of father/daughter setting could end at any mo-

"Tell me, Hinata…what do you remember of your mother?"

"Father?"

"You're mother…how much of her do you remember?"

She sat and thought for a few moments, trying to recall what few memories she had of her. She was still just a little girl when her mother passed away.

"I remember her smile. It was always so warm and caring. And she always knew what to say to cheer me up whenever I got sad. She was the nicest person I'd ever known."

Hinata looked over to her father.

"Why do you ask? We've never talked about mother since she died, and I've never heard any of the other clan members mention her either. Why is that?"

"Your mother was a strong woman, Hinata. Strong in her will, and strong in her beliefs. She advocated for changes in our clan that displeased the elders greatly, although they could do nothing to her due to her status as my wife. All they could do was to block her every move to keep things as they have always been, which aggravated her to no end."

"What kind of changes? What could be so bad that the elders would try so hard to stop her and not let them happen?"

"The clan's usage of the Caged Bird Seal for one…she hated that mark. She thought it cruel to brand so many of our clan with it and turn them into "lesser" members. To her…we were all Hyuuga. No greater, no lesser than one another."

Hinata had to agree with her mother's stance. She too, detested that accursed seal, and wished for nothing more than to find a way to rid her clan of that loathsome mark forever.

"OK…but even if the elders didn't agree with her…why doesn't anyone ever mention her? She was your wife, after all."

It was a rarity for her to see any kind of expression on her father's face beyond his normal indifference. But…for just an instant, his demeanor faltered and his usual coldness broke. It was a look of both sadness and anger.

"They forbid it. After her passing, the elders decreed that no member of the Hyuuga clan so much as mention her name, and that she was to be forgotten. Of course, no one could ever forget such a woman."

The more she heard, the more she disliked the clan elders, not that she'd grown to be particularly fond of them to begin with.

"They did that just because they disagreed with her? That's cruel!"

"That was only one, out of many reasons."

Hiashi held up and showed the scroll he had holding to Hinata.

"This was another reason."

She gave her father a questioning look. What could be in that scroll that could have been so terrible?

"Father?"

"The clan elders believed that only the strongest of our clan should be able to lead it. That goes for both the clan leader and their spouse. Your mother was much like you in many ways. Her skill, as yours, in our Gentle Fist was what they considered to be 'wholly inadequate for her position'. So she did what they thought was adding insult to injury. She created an entirely new fighting style based upon the Gentle Fist. To them, this was a disgraceful act to Hyuuga tradition. An unforgivable sin."

Hinata couldn't believe her ears. Her mother…created a fighting style?

"She…did?"

"Yes. She called it the Gentle Dance of the Hazy White Moon. It combined the principles of the Gentle Fist taijutsu with her own unique set of movements. The end result was graceful, dance-like style that could effectively and simultaneously defend and counter-attack from virtually any and every direction."

Hiashi took one of his daughter's hands and placed the scroll in it. He smiled as she looked at it with wonder.

"Gentle Dance was never a proven taijutsu, your mother passed away shortly after she felt it was completed. But…I believe that it would have been an equal to Gentle Fist…if not superior on some levels."

"Really? But…then why give this to me? I'm-"

"Hinata! Do NOT finish that sentence!"

Hinata jumped at her father's sudden harshness.

"G-gomen, otou-san." She said as she lowered her gaze to the grass.

"It's my fault you feel that way, Hinata. But I'm going to do what I can to rectify that mistake. I'm going to teach you your mother's style. You're going to learn the Gentle Dance, and prove it's worth, and yours, to everyone."

"You're going to teach me? But…I thought you said mother created it?"

Hiashi cracked a sly grin as he leaned down to her ear and whispered…

"Who do you think helped her make it?"

Hinata smiled.

The hours passed, as they always do, and the sun eventually set over the Hidden Leaf Village. People said good nights as the retired to their homes and families and settled in for the night.

Some in the village could hear a voice as a lone man and his faithful companion wandered the streets.

"DAMN YOU, NARUTO! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUU!?"