Chapter 14:

Hinata was having trouble keeping up with Naruto. But in all honesty, so was Jiraiya. The blonde boy had been so excited at the prospect of learning a new Jutsu that he was bounding through the forest at top speed, dodging all manner of foliage to reach his goal.

Hinata watched him, a small smile playing on her lips. Jiraiya watched her, a small smile playing on his lips. Yup, she was smitten with him.

Jiraiya, contrary to popular belief, was actually very observant. Years of 'research' led to fantastic stealth training. But there was also the information gathering, the idle gossip of women in the bathhouses, the hot-springs. Some of his most valuable leads had been discovered while he was peeping. Jiraiya was a super pervert, that much was true, but he was also an information broker, gatherer, and a Sannin.

And so, this led to the obvious conclusion that she was smitten with the blonde. But, he didn't know if it was a crush, or something more.

Of course, what most didn't know is the fact that Jiraiya had another reason to come here. In all honesty, he wanted another student. Why? He honestly didn't know. Naruto was good and all, but he needed to train someone calm, someone who wouldn't call him a Pervy Sage. Someone to hopefully keep the blonde level headed. That person was her.

Of course, it would not be the way he had trained, or would train Naruto, no. Naruto would always take priority. Hinata would be his pet project. She would help with the training he had in mind today.

If there was one thing, however, that Jiraiya knew about Naruto, it was this; he was as thick as a brick wall.

Now, Jiraiya wasn't a paedophile (they needed to be at least over eighteen before he would even consider looking at them) but he could tell Hinata was beautiful. Big, lavender eyes, filled with warmth, milky soft skin and not to mention her long blue hair. Add in the large amount of curves, and you have yourself Hinata Hyūga. How Naruto had not jumped on that, he would never know.

But, of course, somebody else did know. A rather bizarre person, to say the least.

Jiraiya watched Naruto fight with Gai for a long while. It was obvious he was outmatched, but he was improving. With the training he had in mind for him today, he would soon become very powerful. His eyes darted across to the young Hyūga heir, who was practicing her Gentle Fist movements. She had noticed him, without using her Byakugan to boot. It certainly was impressive. Yes, he would do some training with her too.

He stood up from his crouched position but paused briefly as he went to bite his thumb to commence the summoning ritual. Oh, he was being watched. By… Oh, interesting!

Jiraiya swiftly turned around and crept away from the training area before proceeding to walk into the forest.

He had walked quite far away from the camp, the sounds of sparring fading, before he stopped. He stood in a small clearing, with large, tall trees blocking the sun's rays. It was a rather cool area, and a great place to do some writing. Jiraiya made a mental note to come here to plan his next book, after her had gathered the source material, of course.

However, he was not here for that now, as someone had subconsciously wished to have a meeting.

A figure dropped before him, his eyes dark and cold. "Sasuke," Jiraiya greeted.

Sasuke didn't respond, just kept his gaze fixated on the Sannin. "I thought you were training with Kakashi?"

"That's not important," He finally spoke after a moment, "But you need to do something for me, old man."

Jiraiya cocked his eyebrow up. "Really? Are you asking, or demanding?"

"Demanding."

Jiraiya let out a laugh, "Well, I've got nothing better to do, let's hear it."

"You write those filthy books that Kakashi-sensei reads, right?"

"You not a fan?"

"Quiet you filthy hermit, let me finish. If you wrote those books, you obviously know something about love, right?"

The glint in the Sannin's eyes was downright mischievous. "So… you finally decided to admit your feelings to Naruto?"

Sasuke's mouth popped open and his eyes went wide, before he started gagging. "N-no," He stuttered slightly. Wow, he made an Uchiha stutter. Next, all he had to do was make a Hyūga and an Aburame do the Tango and his life would be complete.

"So, you and Kakashi-"

"Quiet!" Sasuke roared, his eyes pulsating with fiery anger.

Jiraiya waited for him to continue, when he didn't, he took the opportunity to tease him once more. "What, you and Gai-"

The Sannin dodged a punch sent his way, laughing gleefully all the way.

"I'm just kidding brat," He held his hands up in surrender as Sasuke prepared to make hand signs, "I was only teasing. Now, what did you ask me?"

He tapped his chin in thought, and walked briskly over to Sasuke. "So then brat, tell me," He poked Sasuke in the stomach, "Who do you like enough that you came to 'The Love Doctor: Jiraiya!?"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "It's not about me, you warty asshole, it's about the Dobe and the Hyūga."

"Naruto and Neji? I didn't really think that was…"

Jiraiya leapt out of the way of a fireball, before briskly putting out the now smouldering trees with a Water Jutsu. "Okay, okay," He wiped the tears from his eyes, "Hinata and Naruto, right?"

With a nod of affirmation, The Toad Sage shrugged his shoulders. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Kami, this guy was almost as annoying as Naruto. Almost.

"I want you to help get them together. Train them both or something, I don't care."

"Oh, but you do, don't you Sasuke? Why else would you want to help them?"

"It's for the mission," Sasuke retorted coldly," Hinata's constant stuttering and feinting around Naruto is a constant distraction and a nuisance. It needs to be taken care of."

"But, that would mean you would be a team-player, almighty stoic badass." Jiraiya smirked. Sasuke resisted the urge to use that once a day use of the Chidori. His restraint was slowly slipping.

"You see brat, I think you do care about Naruto. You just don't want to admit it, you want to help him. Make him happy. That's so sweet."

Sasuke went to do the hand-signs for the Chidori but Jiraiya held up his hand as his face turned serious. "I'll help. I'll try and get them together. To be honest, how the brat's not jumped on that, I will never know."

"You better pervert, otherwise I'll grind you into dust."

"Yup, you do care."

With a parting glare of malice, Sasuke leapt off into the trees.

Jiraiya smirked before tapping his chin. Interesting. Very, very interesting. Training just got a lot more fun.

When they arrived at the small clearing, Naruto was pretty much shaking with excitement. "Hehe," He grinned," Let's learn a new Jutsu!"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and gestured for Hinata to go stand near him. "Okay," He began, doing some stretches. "Today, I'm going to try and teach you a very special technique-"

"What's the technique Pervy Sage!?"

Jiraiya shot Naruto a steely glare before he continued, "In fact, this technique was used and created by the Fourth Hokage!

Naruto's mouth popped open and Hinata let out a small gasp. The Fourth Hokage? One of the greatest ninja's that ever lived!?

If Naruto was excited before, he was insanely happy now. You could feel the happiness and joy radiating off him. Jiraiya braced himself…. Here it came….

"I'M GOING TO LEARN A TECHNIQUE THAT THE LEGENDARY FOURTH HOKAGE CREATED! BELIEVE IT!"

With a roar to match Gai's, he fist pumped in the air happily. Hinata watched him, her cheeks tinted with a pink blush.

"Jiraiya-sensei, wh-what shall we d-do then?"

Jiraiya smiled. One of them was smart enough to listen, at least. "A good question Hinata. First, allow me to demonstrate the technique."

Jiraiya lifted his hand upwards slightly. For a second nothing happened, then a swirling ball of blue energy appeared in his palm. The Toad Sage rushed forward and slammed his palm into a tree trunk.

"Rasengan!"

The tree was utterly obliterated, splinters of wood flying in all directions. When he was done, he turned to admire his students. Naruto's mouth was on the floor while Hinata's big lavender eyes were filled with curiosity.

"S-sensei," She began, tapping her two fingers together, "You didn't use any hand signs…."

Jiraiya nodded his affirmation. "Yes, that is correct. The Rasengan is an extremely useful technique, as it can be used with absolutely no hand signs whatsoever. Perfect for a quick attack. It is also a power tool, capable of destroying even the hardest of structures. I'm not, however, going to tell you how it works or what its true capabilities are quite yet. Instead, I am going to give you some challenges. These three steps are needed to be able to use the Rasengan. Here."

Jiraiya reached into his pack and threw Hinata and Naruto both a water balloon. "The first step," He began, but was soon cut off as Jiraiya got a face full of water. Naruto laughed loudly and uproariously and Hinata barely managed to suppress a small giggle.

"Right," Jiraiya gritted, chucking Naruto another water balloon. "Your first step is channelling your chakra into your palm and making it spin in one direction. I presume, Hinata, that you've learned water walking and tree climbing?"

She nodded, and he smiled, "Great! The way to complete this challenge is to burst the water balloon, but only use your chakra and spin it. Nothing else."

"Alright Pervy Sage, we've got this! Right Hinata!?"

"Y-yes." Hinata called out shyly.

"Great!" Naruto exclaimed, clasping his hand in hers, "Let's go practice."

With that, the blonde dragged the long haired beauty away from their sensei. Jiraiya chuckled. Hopefully Hinata would provide the brains that would allow Naruto to progress far quicker than originally intended. If Jiraiya's calculations were right, by the end of the week, they would at least both be on the third stage. Kami, he was getting soft in his old age.

Two hours. Two hours of constant training and Naruto still hadn't gotten it. He had tried multiple times to spin his chakra in one direction, but every time he did, he couldn't keep it going for very long. It was frustrating.

What annoyed him even more was the fact that after the first hour of training, Hinata had managed to conquer the first stage! Sure, he was happy for her, and all, but here he was unable to complete the first stage, while she was going on with the second.

Pervy Sage had explained to her that, coupled with the spinning of the chakra technique she had just learned, she would now need to produce a stronger concentration of chakra to add to the spin of chakra, effectively making the Rasengan a powerful force, like a hurricane. Hinata was practicing with a rubber ball and it looked significantly harder than the water balloon. But, he was still on the first stage. He needed to improve.

"N-Naruto?"

The blonde Kyuubi vessel snapped out of his thoughts and stopped channelling chakra to the water balloon. He turned and faced Hinata. She blushed slightly, but asked, "Wo-would….. you like so-some help?"

Naruto opened his mouth and closed it again. Did he want help? Hinata was really good at this, and he needed to improve.

"Okay!" He yelled exuberantly," Teach me how to burst the balloon."

Hinata nodded. "C-can I take a l-look at your ch-chakra network?"

When Naruto nodded, she activated her Byakugan. She regarded his pathways with curious eyes. "T-that's weird," She began, "Th-there's two types of ch-chakra there. On-ones blue and the other's o-orange."

Naruto's eyes hardened slightly. "Is that why I can't do it?"

"I do-don't know. T-try doing the water balloon technique a-again."

Naruto did so and channelled chakra into the water balloon. He began trying to spin it in one direction. As hard as he tried, his chakra kept going one way and then the other. He growled in frustration.

"I-it seems as th-though the two chakra ty-types are p-pushing each other back, so i-it makes it im-impossible to channel ch-chakra in any particular di-direction because of th-them fighting ag-against one another."

Naruto nodded his understanding and silently cursed the damn fox to oblivion. Stupid furball screwing up his training.

"Wh-why don't you t-try separating yo-your chakra ap-apart, so only one r-remains?" Hinata suggested.

"But how would I know which one to separate?"

"D-does the orange ch-chakra feel any di-different?"

Naruto concentrated hard. Not re- wait, wait…. Yeah, there was something there. It felt just a tad warmer. Not by much, but noticeable nonetheless.

"Yeah, the orange chakra's a bit warmer than the other one."

"T-then try and u-use that as a m-means of separation. Focus on ex-extracting the warmer ch-chakra away and focus on b-bringing in the co-cooler chakra."

Naruto nodded, a lopsided grin on his face, "Thanks Hinata, you're the best!"

Hinata's face turned bright red.

Atop a tree, Jiraiya watched as his student, with a new found vigour, picked up the water balloon and tried again. She was the brains and he was the brawn. Yeah, definitely by the end of the week.

The subtle splashes on the concrete floor were beginning to get on Sakura's nerves. Her pink hair was a rancid mess, covering her face like a wet dog.

She shook a little from the cold and turned over to try and get comfortable on her bed. How long had it been now? A couple of days at least?

A soft humming was emanating from the end of the room. Sakura was too tired to open her eyes, or smack the young girl around the head. These last few days had been boredom intensive. However, under the insistence of Tali, and her own will, she had begun to train. It was simple, really. Tali had recommended to her that she begin channelling chakra into her hands and feet and release it in small bursts, causing massive damage. She said a teammate of hers could do that effectively. And so, Sakura had set about trying to do it. It was rather difficult, even now she could only channel a miniscule amount of chakra into her hand. Her strength was already decent, yet as hard as she tried, she could not make a dent in the wall or even crush a rock. It was very frustrating. Of course, the food situation wasn't helping either.

Kami, she wanted to rip her hair out and eat it. As if on cue, her stomach let out a low growl.

Her emerald eyes flicking open, she managed to catch the drip on her nose. She frowned at it.

"Can't sleep?"

Sakura's eyes flitted over to where her cellmate sat crossed legged on her bed.

The blonde, while looking tired, still kept a constant smile. It reminded her of Naruto. Only without the orange.

"Yeah," She muttered, rubbing some dust out of her eyes. "Anything happen while I was asleep?"

Tali shook her head, a soft yawn emanating from her mouth. "Nothing. We haven't had food in two days."

Sakura's stomach responded to that with a harsh growl. The pinkette frowned in discontent.

"Cheer up."

Sakura's head snapped upwards. "Cheer up?" She asked incredulously. Was this girl on drugs? How the hell could they cheer up?

Tali nodded her smile ever present, "It could be worse."

The pinkette's teeth were gritted together as she held back a growl. "Yes, but that doesn't mean we've got it good now!"

The blonde's eyes widened slightly at Sakura's tone of voice, but quickly changed narrowed. "I never said that. I said it could be worse."

Sakura sighed. Fighting wasn't going to get them anywhere. Tali seemed to know that too, as her eyes regained their childlike demeanour. She leaned back against the stone wall, her soft hum returning.

Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose slightly, before lying back on her lumpy bed.

"Get up."

Tali hissed into Sakura's ear. Almost instantly, the bubble gum haired girl's eyes were open. The room, if possible, had gotten darker, signifying that it was night time. How long had she slept?

"What's going on?" Sakura mumbled with a tired yawn.

"They're coming. I can hear their footsteps. Get up. Now."

With that, she retreated back to her own bed, and lay down. Soon, Sakura could hear it too. The pounding of footsteps on stone, the rumbling laughter.

No sooner as she went to rise up, the door to their isolated room swung open.

His face was covered with a black mask, obscuring all of his face minus his piercing blue eyes. The light from outside was almost blinding, Sakura had to cover her eyes. When the light faded, she removed her hand.

The man leered over her, his eyes revealing a touch of malice.

"Looks like you're the only one awake," he purred. Oh, Kami no.

Sakura let out a squeak of fright. He wouldn't… surely not?

The man's hand went to her chest and pushed her down on the lumpy bed. Sakura's breath escaped her as the man sat on her stomach. He leaned down, his mouth inches from hers. "Shh, I'll make it quick."

Sakura tried to scream, but a kunai was soon placed at her throat. "Quiet." The man hissed, his blue eyes becoming more maniacal as the seconds went by.

This would be it then. The man would have his way with her and then there would be nothing left. She would always remain a prisoner. She couldn't even try to fight him off, she was so weak. Her training thus far had been pathetic. She would never be able to-

"Tali," Her weak cry made the man chuckle.

"She's not going to move."

Sakura, out of the corner of her eye, noticed Tali's blue eyes watching the whole scene. She wasn't going to help.

Tears began to fill the pinkette's emerald eyes. The cold metal against her throat was making it hard to breathe. The breathing that was allowed was ragged and fierce. She couldn't take it much longer.

The man's fingers trailed down her top, until they reached the hem of her pants.

"Get off of me!"

With as much strength as she could muster, Sakura tried to force the man to move. The kunai was pressed deeper into her throat, she could feel warm liquid trailing down her neck.

With a yank, Sakura's pants were down, revealing white underwear. The man's eyes glinted with lust and his hand made its way down-

The sound of rushing water soon registered in her pounding ears. Tali had turned into a puddle of water that soon soaked her bed and the floor. The man noticed this too and his eyes widened. "Water cl-"

He was cut off midsentence as a thud was heard. The man's blue eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell off Sakura limply.

Tali stood at the edge of her bed, her face not the picturesque thing it once was, but a determined grimace.

In her hand, she held a kunai, the blunt end dripping with blood.

Sakura let a singular tear fall down her cheek but quickly wiped it away.

Tali walked over to the downed shinobi, and checked his pulse. "Still breathing," She muttered to herself.

She then turned him over so he was lying on his back. With her kunai, brought it across his throat.

Sakura let out a startled gasp as she saw the clean line across the Shinobi's neck. "What…. Did you do!?"

Tali absentmindedly flicked the kunai under her bed, and shrugged. "I killed him."

"Bu-"

Tali's brow's creased slightly. "You are a shinobi, right?"

"Yes-"

"Shinobi kill. I don't like it and it's obvious you don't like it. But, that's our way-"

She didn't get to finish her speech, as the door too their cell was roughly kicked open. Someone dashed in, shoving Tali hard against the wall. The girl let a cry of pain that was soon doubled twofold as a kunai was slashed across her back. Sakura couldn't see very well because of the blinding light that emanated from the doorway.

"Bitch!" The figure sneered.

Sakura sat there in shock. From what she could tell, this woman wore an attire she recognized. Sound Shinobi attire.

The woman's purple hair reached down to her waist, her eyes obscured shadows. She was tall, much taller than Sakura and Tali.

The woman, without warning, grabbed Tali by the hair and slammed her forcefully to the ground below. The blonde let out a sharp hiss as pain flooded her back.

"Hm," The woman muttered, pressing her foot into Tali's ribs. "Benjiro was a waste anyway."

She raised her foot, and slammed it down hard into Tali's stomach. Blood exploded from the young girl's mouth and she coughed weakly.

The woman stepped off of Tali, leaving her clutching her injured stomach. Casting a glance in Sakura's direction as she walked out, she smiled. Her grey eyes shone with a taunting edge. "Good girl. That's how a prisoner should behave."

Sakura caught the glint of a headband as she moved towards the open door.

She exited the room and slammed the door shut with such a force she swore it shook the room. Sakura shuddered.

The room now seemed darker as Tali lay hunched on the floor, next to the dead body of Benjiro.

Sakura let the tears flow freely.

"Don't…. cry…. Sakura."

Tear filled emerald eyes met blue ones, filled with some semblance of warmth through the pain. "I got…. What we needed."

Sakura quickly wiped away the tears that kept cascading and her eyes widened as she caught sight of what Tali was on about. Clenched in her bloody palm, was a key. A key to their cell.

"Could…. You help me up….?"

Sakura snapped out of her brief paralysis and helped the injured girl back onto her bed.

The candlelight was dim, yet it showed what it needed to perfectly. Five figures knelt before someone, their eyes downcast to the floor and bodies rigid.

A soft yet menacing laugh pierced the darkness.

"What is it you wish, my master?"

The voice belonged to the one in the middle, who raised his eyes up. A serpent gazed back at him. "I have a task for you," He chuckled darkly.

The man bowed his head once again. Of course, but, a mission like this….. he hadn't been needed in a long time.

"I need you all to collect something for me. A person, to be exact."

Huh, they were finally going after him? But, surely it was not time for that-

"Give them the brief."

The man snapped to attention instantly, a listened as another stepped forward.

"You will be capturing a member of the Rimen clan, of Magumakagure."

All of the five figures nodded. "Of course."

"The target's name is Kataki. Our intel, from what we can gather, is he is at least Chunnin level. Exiled from his village. But he's not going to be the main problem."

At this, the main figure raised his head again, like a silent question.

"The main threat will be the people with him. Most are stragglers, but some…. Well, some old friends are there. Utsuro, and Fenris."

The serpent chuckled. "Ah, so that is what she goes by now, is it? Six was a much fitting name for her, but Utsuro will do, and my darling Fenris…" The serpent let out a deep long chuckle.

"Yes master. What shall we do with them?"

"Kill them. They are of no use to me any longer."

A nod from the main kneeled figure. "Is that all, master?"

The other man giving the debrief shook his head. "No, there is one more thing. Their 'sensei', is Itachi Uchiha."

This caused all the kneeled figures to bristle. Wait, the Itachi Uchiha?

"Expect heavy resistance, but the cost of failure will be your lives. Other instructions have already been placed in your travel packs. Dismissed."

With a blur, the five figures disappeared from view.

The serpent licked his lips. "Kukuku…. I wonder how well our beloved shinobi shall deal with the likes of the Sharingan…"

The two other figures retreated into the darkness.

Dark had fallen. Yet, a boy in orange leapt about in victory. He had been at this for so long, so goddamn long! But, he had finally gotten the first part down. Finally.

It took ages, but with Hinata's help, he had gotten it. He leapt about with joy, a sun-splitting grin on his face.

The sky was a dark blue with the moon glittering brilliantly against the sky. The stars twinkled every once in a while, congratulation the bouncing boy on his accomplishment.

"Woohoo!" Naruto cried out happily. "Hinata! Did you see…?"

The trailed off and stopped jumping.

Hinata lay slumped against a rock, her eyes clothes and her breath shallow. She was asleep.

Naruto cocked his head to the side. She looked so…. Pretty. The way her skin shimmered with milky whiteness that perfectly showed off her creamy soft skin. Her hair, long and dark blue was sprawled down her back.

The blonde smiled slightly. Then frowned.

He didn't want to wake her up, that would be rude. But, how was he…

He grinned. Of course, that was the answer!

Naruto quietly strolled over to the sleeping beauty, and with as much carefulness as one such as Naruto could muster, picked her up bridal style.

"This is what Kakashi-sensei did to Sakura one time, so I should do it to Hinata, right?"

He shrugged, and began the walk back to camp. If the Pervy Sage was still around…. Naruto was going to enjoy ripping him in half.

But, what Naruto didn't see, was Jiraiya sitting atop a branch, a soft smile adorning his features.

"Yeah, totally interesting."

Hinata felt odd when she awoke. She was in a different position to what she remembered….

Her pale eyes widened and she stifled a soft gasp as she saw Naruto's tanned face above her. Was he… carrying her!?

The sheer thought of it sent chills up her spine and her pale face instantly turned a crimson red. Oh Kami, oh Kami, oh Kami…..

She slowly began breathing in and out and did it as quietly as possible, so as not to distract Naruto. Or, rather, make sure he didn't notice her. He was oblivious, his eyes dead set on the path ahead.

Hinata figured that he was carrying her back to camp and her heart swelled. He was carrying her because he wanted to, so he didn't have to wake her! Her heart deflated, however, as she realised that he would probably do the same for all the other girls. That was Naruto.

But, boy, was he warm. The night was definitely cold, but he felt so warm. She could feel his muscles contract and move as he walked.

She let out a dreamy sigh as she pretended to snuggle closer to him in her sleep. She would indulge this fantasy. At least, for a little while.

Naruto turned his gaze down upon her as he walked, and for some reason, his heart seemed to beat faster as she snuggled deeper into him. As they both made their way back to camp, both were grinning from ear to ear.