Naruto paced around his room, a deep set frown wrinkling his brow as he thought about the day's events, it had been six months since he started at the Academy and everything was going smoothly, Hinata had gained a lot of confidence and she had asked him to train her, he had accepted and they met a few times a week, he was surprised when he learned they had a shared Nindo but he was happy someone else thought like him and this is where his current state stemmed.
A few days earlier…
Naruto blocked another strike and used Hinata's momentum to flip her, he twisted in the air landing deftly as she rotated breaking his hold on her arm and charging him again, he ducked under another attack before taking her legs out from under her, she caught hold of his collar and pulled him over, the rolled along the ground Naruto supporting his weight on his hand's slightly above her, he chuckled a bit 'Was she always this beautiful?' Naruto thought wondrously a large smile split his features before he shook his head, trying to clear it, they were so close all he would have to do was lean in and his lips pressed against hers before he realized he had moved, her lips were so soft against his it took most of his willpower to jerk his head back and jump to his feet.
"S-S-Sorry Hinata!" He practically shouted in his haste losing the suffix as he ran away from her.
The girl hadn't moved, she brushed her fingers against her lips a small smile played out on her face, she was glad she didn't faint 'Naruto-kun kissed me!' She would have jumped for joy, if she had not being lying down and if he hadn't just abruptly run off. She sat up and frowned 'He kissed me? Why did he run away? Did I do something wrong?' Her mind asked the questions quickly and she shook her head and rubbed her forehead slowly 'No, I am sure this is something Naruto-kun need's to figure out himself.' she hoped he didn't think she hated him as she left the training ground, the same giddy smile still plastered on her face.
Back to the present.
And that is why Naruto paced around his room, in his own mind trying to determine why exactly he had kissed her and why he wanted to do it again, he still remembered the smell of lavender that wafted off of her and he shook his head again 'No, this is wrong isn't it? I stole her first kiss…Well at least I assume it was her first, it was mine too but that doesn't make it any better!' He gritted his teeth and shook his head as he stepped out of his apartment, he went to the only place that helped him think clearly his father's old hideout.
He sat in a standard meditation pose, 'all right calm down, now you kissed one of your only friends, you want to do it again which mean you like her…What you don't know is if she hates you or if she likes you back.' Naruto nodded and took another deep breath before something caught his attention, it was a flicker of someone Chakra signature, he frowned there shouldn't be anyone out here, it was only there for a split second before disappearing. He shook his head 'Probably some ninja's on a training exercise.' Dismissing it from his mind as he stood up, he wanted to talk with the old man, maybe he could offer him some advice.
As Naruto walked he continued to think about the Chakra signature, it was still suspicious 'If they were Leaf ninja coming back from a mission, they would use the front gate, it could be a training exercise but then why would they mask their Chakra.'
One of his father's rules floated to his mind.
Always' trust your instincts.
He knew something was off, every part of him screamed to look into it further, he decided he would inform the Hokage about this first, village safety came before anything else, he also had an overwhelming urge to go check on Hinata and he didn't know why.
Hinata barely managed to stay on her feet due to tiredness, she didn't really like sparring with her cousin but her improvement was clear when she had actually managed to strike him, he was so surprised, the look on his face still made her smile. 'Naruto-kun's training worked.' she thought a bittersweet happiness set in, she hadn't seen the blonde in a few days, she knew why but she wished he would hurry up. She was so tired she didn't feel the presence of the people around her till it was too late, the struck her lightly on the neck and she collapsed.
The offender caught her "All right let's go."
As Naruto neared the Hokage tower, the feeling only got worse, specifically when he saw a white haired Anbu member flying over the rooftops 'They would only move that fast if…' Naruto stared intently at the window's of the third's office. Focusing his Chakra Naruto ran up and stayed low under the window channeling a small amount of Chakra into his ears so he could hear inside better.
"Please try to remain calm Hiashi-sama, we have every available ninja out looking for her right now." The voice was Sarutobi's.
"My eldest daughter is kidnapped and you tell me to remain calm!" The other voice snapped, Naruto stifled his gasp "I will go and join the search parties myself."
Naruto looked over the rooftop's, he left his tools in his apartment and there was no way he could do anything without them, he gritted his teeth and ran towards his home. 'Hinata you better be alright.' He thought furiously.
In the midst of confusion, sort out all possible scenarios. Get the facts straight and come up with your own conclusion.
Naruto had a pretty good idea what was going on, Hinata had been kidnapped likely to be held for ransom or for her Bloodline trait.
Never act impulsively. Gather necessary information before taking action.
Naruto slammed his pouch onto his leg and unclipped his weights, diving from his balcony he continued towards where he had felt the signature earlier that day, 'If they came into the village from there, likely they would leave the same way, it's the least guarded one because of the mountain ranges.' He continued to try and set up their plan in his mind, the more he knew about them they easier this fight would be. Naruto landed on top of the wall and extended his senses, hoping to get a flicker of their Chakra. He found it, the faint Chakra signature of someone who was asleep or unconscious that meant it was likely Hinata, masking his own Chakra he bolted forward.
He stopped on a high branch, his Chakra still masked three cloud Ninja were camped out below him, they probably thought they had gotten far enough, one was awake while the other two slept, his eyes scanned around till he found Hinata, he was blindfolded and tied to a tree, she looked unharmed, he let out a relieved breath as he continued to study the ninja's in front of him. He felt around his pouch, counting what he had, 'Three of my paralysis tag's, damn it I knew I should have drawn up more.' Naruto silently cursed, that ruled out using Senbon to try and attach them, there was too high a risk the Ninja's would deflect or dodge which means he had to get close. Judging from their appearance, the Ninja in front of him were tired, whereas he was only slightly winded, he thanked his stamina and the weights.
When you have the upper hand, press it to the limit.
So he would attack them quickly, they were likely on edge awaiting an attack so he would conceal the fact they only had one opponent, he crossed his fingers and spawned a few dozen shadow clones, the spread out around the group.
Deception is one of the most valuable assets of a ninja.
Another thing he had to do was make sure this battle did not drag on too long, these ninja had to be high Chunin mid Jonin, to take a mission like this infiltration. He would need to end this battle quickly and decisively.
When you make the first move in a battle, Hit hard and fast.
His eyes narrowed, he was in the best position he could be in.
Naruto moved slightly closer, each ninja had a short Katana strapped on their waste and the sentry scanned he surrounding brush periodically. Naruto inhaled slowly and imitated a bird call, the hail of shuriken launched at them. The sentry shouted and the other two bounded to their feet weapons to hand almost instantly deflected the deadly rain, Naruto's clones continued the assault.
"Form up!" One of them shouted, the three turned swiftly connection their shoulder to guard all angles, Naruto smiled in the current situation they had left the perfect gap in between them, in a swirl of leaves he was in the small gap, he removed a tag from his pouch and slammed it onto the first of them to react before kicking the other two away, channeling a bit of Chakra into the seal, the man convulsed suddenly and fell to the ground, Naruto wrapped another tag around a Senbon and uttered a silent prayer as he sent it flying towards one of the surprised ninja, it struck him in the back and he let out a cry of pain before the seal activated, he fell to he ground with a soft thud. Naruto leapt away from the last one who had recovered. Naruto gritted his teeth.
Things don't always go according to plan. Adapt and respond to the new situation.
Naruto pulled two Kunai from his pouch he tossed on and charged, the man deflected it easily before blocking Naruto's next attack the two locked for a moment before the man broke it and swiped at Naruto's head, Naruto dropped low and flipped backwards avoiding the follow up attack, he tossed another kunai and pulled a smoke bomb from his pouch, throwing it into the ground he used the smoke to make another clone, before jumped back up into the tree and preparing the tag. He focused on the clone more making it a little strong and harder to beat. the man rushed it, the clone ducked and weaved before the man attempted to run him through, the real Naruto smirked from his perch 'Got you.' He thought triumphantly, the clone raised his hand, the sword going right threw before locking his grip on the cloud ninja's hand, the clone grabbed the man and locked him down as Naruto threw the last tag attached to a senbon, it hit the man in the leg and Naruto channeled his Chakra, the man stopped moving and his tougher clone dispersed. Naruto dropped back down and panted, his Chakra usage catching up to him. He ran over to Hinata, cutting the ropes and pulling the blindfold and gag out of her mouth, he sighed in relief when she looked at him in surprise. He pressed his forehead against hers and inhaled deeply the familiar scent filling his head 'She is all right…Safe.' he thought a smile on his face.
"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata's worried tone made him open his eyes, she was looking at his hand. A trickled of blood flowed from the now open wound.
"It's all right it's just a scratch," Naruto reassured, he wasn't lying but she still looked at him worriedly "Hinata-chan, are you alright did they hurt you at all?"
Hinata shook her head "N-no, t-they left me u-unharmed."
Naruto sighed in relief "I'm glad I managed to catch up to you."
Hinata let a few tears fall from her eyes "I-If wasn't so w-weak t-they never would h-have got me i-in the first p-place."
Naruto cupped her cheek and gave her a warm smile, he rubbed the last few tears away from her face "You are not weak Hinata, You are one of the most beautiful and strongest people I know."
He breath caught and she looked up at him.
"I'm sorry I reacted like that the other day," He bowed his head slightly, she smiled and let a small laugh escape her she gently raised his head so she could look into his eyes again.
Blue met pale lavender for a minute they stayed like that,, Hinata's hand resting lazily on his cheek.
"I'm glad you came to save me Naruto-kun." She said genuinely "If it was anyone else I wouldn't be able to do this." she added leaning forward and placing a long kiss on his lips, his hand moved and tangled in her purple locks, they pulled back after a moment to breath. Naruto leaned his head against her again and smiled.
"I'll always come to save you Hinata-chan….Always." He stood up, picking her up bridal style he jumped back into the tree's, moving towards the village. she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly and rested her cheek against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
"Anything from any of the units?" Hiashi demanded angrily, he had joined the search for hours before coming back to see if there was any news.
The Hokage shook his head "Nothing yet, we will find her Hiashi."
"Father!" Hiashi's head snapped around as Hinata ran into the room, followed albeit a little slowly a rather pale and bleeding Naruto, the cur on his hand was a little worse than he let on, Hinata wrapped her arms around her father tightly. Who returned the embrace wholeheartedly, looking over the girls head at the aspiring blonde ninja, he mouthed a thank you.
Naruto nodded, smiled and bowed "Hokage-sama, you will find the three cloud ninja's that are responsible east of the village. "
The Hokage nodded recalling a team of Anbu to go and collect the perpetrators "Well after such an ordeal our young Heiress must be tired."
Hinata nodded sleepily and Hiashi gathered her up in his arms, giving Naruto another thankful look as he left. The Hokage turned back to Naruto as the door closed "Now let's have a look at that hand while you explain."
Naruto fell heavily into the couch in the office as Sarutobi began to bandage up his hand, Naruto began recounting what happened, leaving out the kiss and his sort of confession of course.
Sarutobi nodded "Well on behalf of the leaf village I thank you for your fast thinking and action Naruto."
Naruto smiled and yawned loudly "You think the leaf village will let me sleep for awhile?"
Sarutobi chuckled and nodded "I will take care of the rest don't worry."
Naruto nodded appreciatively before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, it only took a few minutes before he landed heavily on his bed, he didn't even bother removing his pouch he just let his exhaustion take him.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I am still undecided on the Japanese or English names for the Jutsu's your opinions seem to be split down the middle I am leaning towards English, just because it is easier for me to write but I am still thinking.