EDIT: Sorry if this puts another message in your inbox, but I wanted to make a slight change and mention one thing.

First, I switched the order of the scenes so it would flow better. Thank you Deathmvp.

Second, I forgot to mention before, but I really want to get this out there. You know that new song by Jason Mraz and Colby Calit (however you spell her name) called "Lucky"? Well, that the theme song for this chapter. I suggest re-reading the chapter while playing it. :)

A/N: Yaaaaay! I haz updated-ness. Fun.

Lalalalalalalala... It's spring breeeakk.... but it doesn't feel like spring where I live. It's all wet and rainy and cold. DX

A side note: If you guys want to check the most current status of this story, then go to my DA page, which has the same name as my authors account. Every time I update my Journal there, which is ALOT more often than this obviously, I put the most current status of the next chapter at the bottom. So if you're like OMG I WANT MOAR STORY NAO WHEN IS THE NEXT CHAPTER COMING OUT!!??!?!?!!1!!!11 (like a few people I know XP) then just check there, and it will tell you.

This is a little note from my friend when she came over one day... :)

The friend of the author says to send many good reviews or she will come after you with heavy objects. Flamers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.

XD I love you Gwen.

Happy reading!

And of course, Naruto isn't mine. If he was, I would force him to smex me. |3

Chapter 20 – Pushing It

It amazed Naruto how much he had grown over the past two years. When he had first met his grandmother, his head had barely passed her shoulder. Now he stood tall enough that his eye level was a good bit higher than hers.

"I'm going to miss you Baa-chan." He hugged Izumi tightly right outside Yoshi's cottage.

She wrapped her arms around her only grandson with just as much force. "Me too." She saw Hinata out of the corner of her eye with a corner of her mouth lifted slightly in a smile. She unwrapped an arm from Naruto and gestured for Hinata to join. "Ohhh, come here you." She made the two a three-way hug. "I'm going to miss you both so much." Izumi sighed into their shoulders. "It will be boring without you guys around." She pulled away. "Kneel, both of you."

The two teens did as they were instructed. She placed her middle and forefingers on each of their brows. "As instructed by Hanshi-Dan Myuri-sama, I announce you both to be halfway to being First-Dan level masters of Kenbu-Do. You posses knowledge and skill enough to pronounce you as such. Take this knowledge with great honor and continue to practice in the forms passed down for generations." She stepped back with tears in her eyes. "Congratulations." Izumi pulled them back up into crushing one-armed hugs.

"Gran..ma…breathe…air..." Naruto gasped.

"Oh, sorry." She released them and looked from one to another with a sad smile. A tear slid down her cheek. Izumi leaned in and kissed Hinata on the forehead. "I love you as if you were my second daughter. Remember to take care of yourself." Both women glanced at Naruto, although for different reasons. Next Izumi went over and kissed him on the forhead as well. She then whispered something in his ear that made his eyes widen the slightest bit. Izumi tilted her head forward and raised her eyebrows as if she was saying "Right?"

She stepped backwards, and bowed to Yoshi. "Domo arigatou, Yoshi-kun." She took one last look at her students and family and was off running.

"Bye!" the three remaining people yelled after her until she disappeared into the trees completely.

As soon as she did, Naruto just stood there trying to figure out the double meaning behind his grandmother's parting words.

I don't care if you're my grandson. She had said. Give Hinata-chan the best care she could ever ask for. She needs you more than she lets on. If you don't you have me to answer to.

Since Naruto showed no signs of moving just yet, Hinata turned to Yoshi. "So…now what?"

"I'm curious." he began. "Do you know how you got the Nibi sealed inside you?"

If he was a dog Naruto's ears would have pricked up.

"I don't know the specifics, but the Niibi stumbled upon my clan and I when we were traveling to Lightning Country to settle a debt between them and my father over me. Apparently, they thought that she-"

"The Nibi is a girl?" Naruto turned around to interrupt.

"Yes. They thought that she was going to kill them so they sealed her in me since I was the youngest there."

"Why didn't your sister go? She would have been better suited to have the Nibi."

"Hanabi-san was a newborn baby and wasn't strong enough to travel yet. I came because then it would seem more convincing that my father died, instead of my twin uncle who really died in his place."

"How do you know that that was the time that it happened?" Yoshi questioned.

"That was the only time I have ever been in Lightning Country so that had to be it. And before you ask me, my demon told me this while I was out."

Yoshi scratched his chin. "Interesting." He walked back to the cottage and stood on the porch, facing them. "As the first lesson in your Bijuu training, you will jointly build your own house but you won't use your hands. You will access your Bijuu's chakra and build that way."

"What?!" the teens yelled simultaneously.

"It's too dangerous for me! I lose a lot of my self control when I let him out!" Naruto protested.

"I don't even know how to access the Niibi….Why can't we use our hands anyways Yoshi-sen-…kun?"

"Seeing whereas there is not enough room for the three of us in my humble cottage, this doubles as a lesson for you guys in getting to know your demons better, getting used to feeling and using their chakras, and manipulating their chakras effectively."

"But I still have no idea how to get to the Nibi in the first place." Hinata mumbled.

"I-I'll show you." Naruto turned to her. "Its q-quite easy, actually." He smiled at her.

She immediately picked up on his stutter. He never stuttered. That was her thing. What was up with him?

Yoshi checked the position of the sun. "Well, you guys better get cracking. Even if the day is young, you still have to harvest the lumber and the rest of the raw materials and then build it. I am giving you kids two days." He walked towards the cottage.

Naruto had never taught anyone before, save for Konohamaru, and that wasn't exactly teaching that he did. It especially was no sort of mind searching either. His lack of experience made him nervous. What he had to teach Hinata was on an entirely different scale and level.

Yoshi was just standing on the porch with his weight on one leg and his arms crossed, as if he was waiting for them to do something. Which he was.

Naruto saw him out of the corner of his eye and grabbed Hinata's wrist. "Follow me."

He really had no idea where he was going. Just somewhere secretive, private and away from someone's prying eyes. Somewhere she could concentrate.

They walked with him leading, her trailing behind him for over five minutes through the woods. Suddenly the trees opened up and there was another ten feet of bare ground before it dropped off as a cliff. The mountains beyond were huge, majestic and just plain breathtaking. The sunrise highlighted the edge of a nearby peak, making the edge of its snowcapped top look like it was on fire.

"Wow." Hinata gasped.

"Yeah." he breathed. His hand slipped down her wrist. He was about to hold her hand but caught himself and stepped in front of her. "Umm…" Thinking quickly, his eyes searched the small clearing. "Get on this rock, over here." he said as he walked over, going into teacher mode.

Hinata lithely leapt up onto the large boulder. "The meditating position?"

"Yup."

She sat cross-legged, pressing her palms together and closed her eyes. His voice came from behind her shoulder. "Um, usually, the Kyuubi's chakra is near my chakra center, so I would start looking for an access point to your Bijuu's chakra there. I can't tell you exactly where or how to find it. I found the Kyuubi for the first time on my own when Ero-Jiraya pushed me into a bottomless pit and forced me to use the fox's chakra to save myself. But seriously, I don't think you would want to do that." He laughed at the end.

She felt him leave and settle next to a tree and on the ground nearby. "If you need any help, I'm right here for you."

Hinata hoped for a double meaning behind his words.

She took a sharp, deep breath and turned her conscious focus inward. It was different exploring her own chakra system rather than someone else's. She did as Naruto suggested and looked at her chakra core. Surprisingly, there were small, foreign chakra passageways delicate intertwined around her core, but each time she picked one up and tried to follow it back to its source, the thread broke. There were many threads around her core, so she had many tries, but soon those were running out and she didn't know why they were breaking.

She tried to be gentle with how she handled the last twenty or so threads. When the next few tries failed as well, Hinata realized that when she explored these foreign passageways, she was putting her own chakra through them and they were breaking from the strain and since it was her chakra that was the alien chakra.

Hinata abandoned trying the get to the Nibi that way. She searched her mind for the cave that housed the demon, and came up with her only memory of it. She visualized the cold rock wall, the dark wet floor, imagining herself walking her passageways again.

"Nibi!" she called out in her head. "Where are you?!"

"Right here, kitten."

Hinata spun around and found herself face to face with the giant gate.

"Um, hi."

"What do you want?"

"I need your chakra."

The cat chuckled. "Anything else?"

Hinata raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You're just going to give it to me like that? No sort of deal or task that I have to complete?" Her tone was disbelieving.

"Your task is to not get yourself killed and avoid battle if at all possible. If you die unnaturally as in someone stabs you, then I die too. When you die of old age, my spirit is freed of you and I can continue living. That is the only thing I require of you."

"Well, that's not exactly a deal…" Hinata mumbled.

"It is. You should know this since you are a kunochi. Every single ninja mission has its risk of death."

Meanwhile, Naruto watched her. To anyone else it looked like she might never move again, except for the slight crease on her brow that popped in and out of existence, giving her away. It was kinda cute too how a corner of her mouth turned downward into a sort of small frown, he decided.

She had changed since she had first gone with him to the Uzumaki clan. At that time, she was short like they both used to be, slightly round faced, soft and fragile looking, nervous and unsure about everything and quiet. Always so, so quiet. Sometimes, he hadn't even known she was there until she spoke or made a sound.

Then, at some point, she had started to change. She became stronger, more sure of herself. He didn't exactly know when, but he had started to notice her. He became conscious of her every move, listened to her every word. He began to speak to her more and open up about himself. Sure, it was awkward, but she eventually found her own voice and talked to him.

Thus, they became best friends.

He observed the way her body moved when she breathed. His eyes followed the delicate lines of her face, down her jaw line and to her chin. She had grown and matured into a beautiful woman he thought. Her body was curved gracefully and she was, even in stillness. Her pale cream skin contrasted perfectly with her long dark hair that now blew in the wind across her face.

But they were only friends, both of them wanting more from each other and yet neither of them knew it.

Ah, the shame of their unrequited love.

Naruto closed his eyes. What had Izumi meant? Hinata needed him more than he knew? That was impossible. She liked him as a friend and nothing more. Sure, he demonstrated this to her every time they shared a hug. But what if he hugged her tighter? Like this Hina-chan? My Hina-hime?

She smiled, closed her eyes and buried her face in the crook of his neck and sighed deeply, breathing in his scent. "Mmm."

His lips brushed her hair. "I love you." he murmured. His heart jerked a funny way as he said it.

She pulled back to look at him. Unhooking an arm from around his neck, she swept his long bangs out of his eyes. Naruto's breath was taken away when she smiled. "I know." she said. "I love you too."

His head tiled down and she tilted her head up, both of them closing their eyes. The distance between them got smaller… smaller… smaller.

And right before their lips touched, Naruto woke up.

Everything was the same, except the sun was maybe a bit higher in the sky. The wind still blew; Hinata was still on her rock, finding the Niibi within her.

Naruto tilted his head back, resting it on the tree trunk and took a deep, shuddering breath. He grabbed his hair and groaned. As much as it was wrong, he wanted his daydream to go on.

He looked up into the tree, examining its small pine needles and watching the branches bend with the wind. The gentle movements were rhythmic, calming him and soothing his frustration.

"Hey." Hinata's head appeared over him.

He flinched, surprised. "Found her?"

"Yup." Her mouth popped on the P.

Naruto scrambled to his feet and suddenly remembered his dream. "Um…" Embarrassed, he bent over and brushed his pants off to hide his blush. "Can you bring out her chakra yet?"

"Oh." She looked off to the side. "No." she admitted, blushing.

"Did you even find or feel the chakra? 'Cause that's really weird if you didn't…" He spoke the last part towards the ground, scratching the back of his head.

She stood there, thinking. "What if…"

He looked up. "What if what?"

Hinata was shaking her head before he even finished. "Never mind. You wouldn't like it anyways."

"No, tell me."

She sighed. "I thought you could put some of the Kyuubi's chakra in me and that would kick start the Nibi's chakra."

His reaction was just what she had expected.

"See. I told you that you wouldn't like it." she mumbled, looking away.

Then surprisingly; "No, it's a good idea. I can see where you're coming from with this."

Her head snapped back up. "Really? You wanna try it?" her voice took a worried tone. "You're not worried about what happened last time… we did something like this?"

"Well, last time, the seal wasn't weakened."

"Good point." Hinata said and took a deep breath. "So you're absolutely sure you want to try my crazy idea?"

Naruto nodded. "Positive. Get back up on the rock like how you were before."

She got back up onto it and sat cross-legged again. He got into a front stance, placed his left hand over his right in front of her stomach where her chakra core was, and looked up at her. "Ready?"

"When you are."

Naruto, trying to control the flow, brought the Kyuubi's chakra up to his hands and tried to channel it straight out to her. His palms began to glow a bright orange. He kept glancing up to her face and tried to gauge if she need more or less from it.

It felt weird having chakra of a different nature in her. It twisted along the chakra passageways that she had found not two hours ago and opened them up, unfortunately with a bit of pain too. Figuring that it would be best to have all of them open and finding where they all were, she waited until her body was completely saturated with the demon chakra.

Naruto was beginning to get worried. Over five minutes had lapsed of him just pouring the chakra into her. It would have calmed his nerves if she had told him beforehand how much she wanted or needed. Finally, the command came.

"Okay, that's good."

He stopped the flow, stepped back and hoped she could make this work.

Hinata moved the Kyuubi's chakra along her passageways to her hands, down to her feet and back. It felt odd, that was for sure, kind of like having something furry tickling the inside your veins.

"Naruto-kun?" she suddenly asked.

He was startled. "Y-yeah?"

"How do you do that cloak thing?"

"The…The what?" He sounded utterly confused.

"The thing that you do when the Kyuubi's chakra covers your whole body."

He was uneasy with telling her, but he did so anyways. "Let the chakra go into your human chakra passageways and take over your whole body."

Hinata relaxed, letting the chakra overtake her like a wave from the ocean. And pretty soon, she was glowing reddish-orange.

Naruto jumped back when he saw her cloaked in the energy. He glanced up to her eyes but thankfully, they were still lilac through the orange.

Hinata looked at her new right hand as she opened and closed it. "Cool." She stood and placing her palms together, pushed the chakra out of her body in all directions. It only took her a few seconds to run dry, but she kept on pushing and pushing.

And there it was, coming up on the heels of the Kyuubi's chakra, filling its own chakra passageways for the first time.

Hinata literally exploded blue. Her nails quickly grew long and sharp, her long pigtails flew out behind her and her eyes changed, just like his did. They turned a shocking yellow and when she closed and reopened them, her normally pupil-less eyes each had a slit, just like a cat.

The Nibi's chakra didn't take any form. It molded around Hinata's body like a second skin. She crouched down on all fours and swiped at the rock she was on. Chunks sprayed everywhere, making her smile impishly at her newfound strength.

Hinata glanced up at Naruto and nearly fell off the rock laughing. His expression, a mix of awe and surprise, was hilarious.

"Whaaaaat?!" he yelled blushing.

Grinning, she leapt off the rock and landed on all fours, a testament to her new affinity. "You just being you." She turned towards they way they had come before. "C'mon. Let's go show him."

Naruto returned the smile, happy to see her so enthusiastic about this. He brought out the Kyuubi in the full fledged one-tail form and crouched down. "I'm gonna getcha." he growled.

"Pfft. Highly unlikely." Hinata was off like a shot, running on all fours like the new cat she was, towards their new teacher.

Naruto wasn't far behind. He would let her win this one.

The first explosion was all the notice that Gaara needed that a foreigner was in the village.

He was out and about with Sakura. She had been given a second term as an ambassador by Tsunade because she had been accepted as a sort of motherly figure in Suna. Both of them froze and shot each other panicked glances.

"An attack?" she asked.

"Yes." He wrapped an arm around her waist and formed a handsign with his free hand. The sand swirled around them and immediately teleported them to the top of the Kazekage tower. "Where is the enemy and what is his nature?" he ordered.

A Jounin rushed over and kneeled. "Kazekage-sama, the single man is in the sky. He rides upon a bird. We do not know if the beast is a summons or something else."

Another blast came from nearby.

Gaara's arm tightened around Sakura. His head snapped up to search the night sky until he spotted the invader near the moon. "Fire the defense ballistae. See if you can shoot him down."

"Hai, Kazekage-sama!" The Nins that had gathered dispersed in all directions across the rooftops. A building on the other side of town exploded, sending more debris into the air.

Sakura stared worriedly at the young man that still held her. He kept looking at the night sky, following the enemy with his eyes.

"He's come to get me." he growled under his breath. "I knew it."

She gasped. "Who?"

It was a moment before he answered. "There is an organization named Akatsuki that is spread out across the Ninja World. The members are all S-ranked Nins that have defected from their villages for one reason or another. The aim of the organization is to acquire the Nine Bijuu of legend." His eyes snapped to another spot in the sky. "And this man wants Shukaku."

"No…" Sakura breathed. Another explosion went off. She looked to where Gaara was looking. There was a great bird that twisted and turned in the sky. The man that stood on its back didn't even seen to notice. It looked like he had something white in his hands.

"I had a run-in with him once before." Gaara recalled. "He looked just the same then as he does now."

She knew that he had rarely left Suna for some things and they were definitely not missions. So where had he met this man before? "H-how did you defeat him last time? Can't you do it again?"

His voice took a hard edge. "I didn't. He ran away. He was outnumbered." He pulled her into a hug and rested his chin on her head. "If I do end up fighting him, I promise I will come back." His vicious eyes never left Deidara as he sealed his pledge. "I promise."

Sakura pressed her face into his chest. "Thank you." She pulled back and stood next to him, taking his hand in hers.

He looked down at her, alarmed. She was smiling up at him with her brows pinched together and squeezed his hand to reassure him.

A corner of his mouth lifted up into a sincere smile. He couldn't help but feel elated right now, despite the dangerous situation. He squeezed back as he felt a deeper connection form between them.

The unspoken "I love you" didn't need to be said right now. One look into each other's eyes was enough.

They shifted to stand closer together and turned back to the aerial battle that was unfolding in front of them.

A/N: GOMENASAI! GOMANASAI! I AM SUCH A BAD AUTHOR!! If you were expecting a massive Gaara/Deidara fight, I'm sorry! You see, I wrote the NaruHina part first and didn't have any moar energyz to write bigginormoussupaawesomefightscene aaaand I settled for some friggin fluff. Eh, you knew it was coming and they were getting together at some point :P THE FIGHTNESS WILL HAPPEN NEXT TIME! I SWEARZ UPON MY NINDO DATTEBAYO!!! Anyways the story can't afford for there NOT to be a fight scene lol

And since I quit spring track, that means more time to write and hopefully the chaps will come out fasterrrr!..... (if I don't procrastinate XD )

Until neeext time,

IBP

Next Chapter: The fight unfolds, bringing Gaara to face his toughest opponent ever. Yet when Deidara pulls a cheap but devastating move, the Kazekage is ready to destroy everything in his path.