Holy mother, this is a long one. Seventeen pages on a word document! I was really on a roll!

Naruto does not belong to me, and I'm glad of that, now that I think about it. All you followers of Shippuuden anime and manga, I'd change it up a lot and then it would lose its prestige as being a good story. So, these characters don't really belong to me… at all. All their paint-ball guns, Hinata's Porsche, one of Sasuke's shirts and Hanabi's electric blue nail polish belong to me though…

The woods were quiet, with the obvious exception of the cracking of twigs and brushing of leaves as the Boom Squad passed. Far from being intense, for Hinata this was just boring. They moved slowly, trying to make their way on the edge of the forest so as not to walk into an all around trap. Every now and then they would send Akamaru on a small scouting mission, just to make sure there was no one in the area they were about to walk into.

We're playing defensively… Tenten thought quickly, casting a glance at Kiba who was at the head of their group. This is what we get for making Hinata the princess! Everyone here wants to protect her, so we aren't even thinking about attacking!

As if echoing her thoughts, Hinata cleared her throat lightly. "Kiba-kun… this won't work."

Kiba turned to face her, his aviators reflecting the sun. "What are you talking about Hina?"

They all stopped walking to look at her curiously. She blushed at having all the attention all of the sudden. That's what I get for speaking up I suppose.

"Well… t-this game will not get anywhere if we just keep to the sides. It… it hasn't even started really and we're already on defense."

Kiba leaned one hand on his hip as he looked at her. Everybody else except for Tenten frowned, casting their glances at their self-elected leader.

"She's right!" Tenten called, throwing the hand not holding her rifle up in the air. "We shouldn't be living in fear that Hinata is going to get hit, we should be going forth to end the game sooner!"

Although they didn't feel like admitting it, Kiba, Neji, Shino and Lee knew she was right.

"Fine we—"

A small rustling from twenty feet into the forest cut off Kiba's statement. In a flash, all of them raised their guns and pointed them at wherever they thought it was coming from. The tension was now so thick it couldn't even be cut with a knife. Kiba slyly moved so he was in front of Hinata, motioning with his hand behind his back for her to crouch down.

Going down to a level that was a foot below Akamaru's head, she rubbed his neck softly, assuring herself more than him. She was definitely no longer bored. From her position she could see through the forest of legs in front of her to look at the bushes. Was that a flash of pink she saw?

Pink. Three guesses who it was, and the first two don't count…

Suddenly a shot ran out, followed by a small scream. Tenten had seen Sakura too and with her impeccable aim, shot into the dark foliage successfully.

Sakura, sporting a bloody-looking explosion of paint smack-dab in the middle of her chest, stood and tried to run, her white and blue armor sufficiently slowing her progress as she tried to dart through the trees.

Neji's face shone with a determined grin as he started to run after her, quickly becoming swallowed up by the thicket of green leaves. Kiba made a move to follow but was stopped when Tenten grabbed the back of his armor, growling as she pulled him back.

"NO!"

Kiba gasped for breath, starting to fall backward as Tenten's throw propelled him further back than he anticipated. He hit the ground hard, causing Hinata to go to his side, muttering "Kiba-kun!"

Tenten had apparently assumed the role of leader now. It seemed that Kiba didn't seem up to it. "Do not run after them! We need to think this out actually, instead of just running blindly in like that baka just did!"

"Tenten…" Hinata softly muttered, suddenly worried about her cousin. This was all being put into perspective for her; Neji was running into a trap!

The brunette was now pacing, keeping a constant eye on the trees.

"Okay…okayokayokay… Lee, come with me, we need to back him up." She was wringing her hands, with her rifle now slung over her shoulder with the strap across her chest. Her brown eyes were set with an odd fire. This really was her zone. "Kiba, Shino, start heading north. We'll meet back up with you guys. We were bound to split up anyway."

"Hai… don't die Tenten." Kiba muttered, picking himself up and cocking both of his guns.

Tenten just smirked as Lee started forward. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

Hinata's hands were getting sweaty, making holding on to her gun taxing. She couldn't deny how scared she was now. After Lee and Tenten had left in the direction Neji bolted, a stony silence had quickly ascended.

Something didn't make sense though. Hinata knew that their strategist was Shikamaru, the uncertified genius, and she also knew how he thought. Traps were his specialty.

How did she know? It was embarrassing for her to admit, but Hinata truly loved video games, strategy ones in particular. Advance Wars was a personal favorite, which required her to control different types of troops and use them to siege another person's base. Using artillery and long range was her specialty. Just to add a little more nerd to her whole persona, Hinata played online, fighting and beating other players. Funnily enough, through some careful deduction, she realized that Shikamaru played as well.

He always narrowly defeated her, excelling at using Fog of War to set traps for her infantry units and raining hell from mountainous and forested terrain. Something she knew was that he would not risk giving away his position for just one unit, in this case Neji. There was an underlying motive for the Sakura ploy…

He wouldn't do this… something's wrong. She thought, suddenly wary of her surroundings. Was that a rustle in the leaves?

No, it couldn't be!

"Kiba-kun, we need to move!" She cried, standing quickly. Her attempt to pull him along was proving futile as he just stared at her. If her assumptions were correct, Sakura had left, leaving one or two people still there, waiting for their chance.

"It's a trap for us!"

As she said this, blue shots started coming from two spots. She tried to make a break for it, but knew she couldn't go in the open. "Kiba, move!"

Kiba and Shino were stunned, unable to do anything. The former could only watch in horror as his friend was quickly made into the target, receiving five hits in no time. It had been a silent assassination. The rain of shots started on Kiba, who was brought back to his senses as one hit his chest.

More or less picking her up, Kiba started running along the fringe as Akamaru went into the area where the shots were coming from, barking his booming bark. It all stopped, giving Kiba a chance to book it on out of there.

"Hinata…-pant- how did you know-pant- that it was a trap?" Kiba panted, still pulling her along as he ran. If he weren't wearing his sunglasses, it would have been obvious how scared he was now.

"I… well… Shikamaru always uses traps, and he never goes after one unit in particular." She started explaining, looking over her shoulder to see if they were being followed. They weren't. "So he must have planned to wait until we lost half of our team before taking out one of us at a time."

Kiba stopped short, looking at her oddly. He seemed as if he wanted to question her but she just grabbed his hand and pulled him eastward into the forest, away from the edge. "They… I think they heard what Tenten said, so they must be expecting us to head north."

He just nodded, dropping her hand and starting to full-out sprint. Kiba was now confused for Hinata was suddenly busting out all these strategic ideas that no one would have thought she would even think. She said it all in her quiet, soft voice, so it wasn't as if she was possessed or something of the like. It was weird.

"Slow down Kiba…" She muttered getting tired of the pace they were cruising at. He stopped and leaned against a tree, glancing warily around his surroundings. Dropping to the ground, Hinata tried to catch her breath, painfully aware of how loud she was being.

It was a while before he spoke. "We should stop moving. Stay here for a bit and think of a plan."

She nodded, mentally cursing the armor for being so heavy and bulky. They were in a thicket heavy with trunks good for cover from enemy eye. Hinata lied back onto one of the trees and brought her knees to her chest as she thought. There were no sounds apart from the wind blowing through the trees.

The sun shone brightly through the leaves, casting beams of light in fun patterns down on them. A single spot was on her hand, warming it a little. She tried to grab at it, smiling when despite her quick snatch the spot was still very visible.

"Hey, Hina…" Kiba muttered, lifting up his shades to cast her a smirk. "Don't worry about anything, I'll protect you."

"J-just about as well as you protected Shino?"

Somewhere further northeast, Tenten and Lee were streaking through the trees quietly, trying to reach Neji. Shit, of all the people to run, it had to be the one who was on Track!

Lee looked over at his friend quickly, tilting his head down as if asking for permission. Through some odd sort of mind link, she knew he wanted to run ahead, considering he was much faster than her. Nodding, she slowed to a jog as he bolted ahead, quickly darting out of sight. Dropping down into a crouch, Tenten began on her own personal reconnaissance mission.

It was dangerous sure, but she was fully capable of taking care of herself. Her plan was to find Shikamaru, who was undoubtedly the strategic mind behind it all. If Neji had just stayed put, we wouldn't have been separated like this! We would have just taken out Sakura and stayed in a group. Fuck.

Once the lazy genius was found, she would personally take him out, thus chopping off the head of the team. Pretty full proof plan.

Her wandering had taken her to a hilly area of the zone. Maybe that's their base. She wondered, dropping even lower to the ground, making herself nearly invisible. Going into a military crawl, she pulled herself up the hill, using the trunks as hand and footholds. Adrenaline surged through her veins as she reached the top and saw a familiar pineapple-top hairstyle. He's here.

Shikamaru, clad in white and blue armor and with a little handgun at his feet, was sitting on a rock; talking to someone she couldn't see. With any luck, he was the royalty and Tenten would win this for the Boom Squad.

"You got Shino, but Hinata and Kiba got away?"

What!? What happened? She thought quickly, risking perhaps being seen as she crawled closer, hiding herself under a large fern. How did he know?

"What's your progress?"

Fuck! They have headsets! She realized quickly, finally getting a glimpse of his face. That's how they're so organized!

Silently taking her gun off of her back, she placed it neatly on the ground before grabbing at her belt. She thanked Lee now for having the forethought to bring walkie-talkies, even if it was only one set. She had placed the other one with the cache she left for the royalty, in case they would need it.

If I can figure out what frequency they're on… I can listen in on what they're saying. That'll be more useful than knocking out Shikamaru immediately. Wincing at the spike of noise it made once she switched on the walkie-talkie, she deliberately locked it so it was constantly listening to others, but not picking up any sound from her end.

The first notch on the frequency counter was nothing, as was the second and third. She got excited at the forth one, but then realized that it was just picking up on a radio station nearby. Come on… work for me… She silently willed, chancing a glance at Shikamaru, only thirty feet away.

At the seventh one, she heard a familiar, low voice. Sasuke was trying to talk to Sakura.

"Sakura, Sakura! Where are you?"

She responded, but it was blurry as she was running. "I'm not sure." There was a huge amount of fuzz that blocked out what she said next, but Tenten thought she heard Neji.

"I'm like… uh…. 100 feet away from the trap now… Lee's with him and they're both fucking fast… SHIT!"

She thought she heard Naruto respond. "Sakura-chan, what happened?"

"I'm at four hits guys… they keep shooting!"

"Just make it to the trap." Sasuke muttered back.

"Yo forehead," Ino called loudly, making Tenten hasten to turn down the volume. "Don't mess up now… Naruto and Sasuke-kun can take them both out if you just get to them!"

Chouji then grunted in agreement. "Shikamaru, me and Ino are making our way back… Kiba sent Akamaru to distract us and then he got away in the opposite direction, so we didn't follow either of them. Smart dog…"

Tenten saw Shikamaru smirk. They're coordinating their attacks flawlessly… Shikamaru needs to be gone. But I need to know what happens to Lee and Neji.

"I see you Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered quietly. "Start zigzagging, it's harder for them to hit you. Saw them do that in 28 Weeks Later."

"Oh yeah," Ino responded, laughing. "That was some scary shit. Can't wait for the next one, right Sasuke-kun?"

Tenten shook her head at Ino's ever-constant flirting. Seriously, it was impossible for her to switch off.

There was a small silence where nothing was heard before Sasuke called the shot. "Alright, Naruto, start shooting… now!"

As he said that, there was a cacophony of sounds over the headsets as they all heard the trap being set off. It sounded as if someone had let off some firecrackers right next to the microphone. Those sound fully automatic! Those must be some major league toys… She thought bitterly, wondering where they had gotten them.

When it was all done with Tenten waited anxiously for someone to say something. She had heard a small click over the radio, but what did that mean?

"Sasuke… hey Sasuke!" Shikamaru called, obviously as impatient as she was. "Troublesome guy… hey, did you get them?"

"Yeah, Lee and Neji are down."

"But Sakura-chan got her last hit… she turned off her radio when she was out. They're all in the middle zone now, with Shino."

Tenten let out a little moan. That's what you get for running baka! She was glad she hadn't followed Lee, for she would have ran right into the trap.

"It's three against five now…" Chouji muttered.

Not for long…

Grabbing her trusty paint-rifle, Tenten propped the barrel on a root to hold it steady. She aimed directly for the main headset piece in Shikamaru's ear. This'll hurt.

Her finger found the trigger lightly as she rearranged herself. This gun had to be re-cocked after every shot, but she could do it. Getting up and lugging around the armor would burden Shikamaru, and as a plus he didn't know where she was hiding. She couldn't only shoot once, for he might not be the prince.

This is for Neji and Lee! She squeezed the trigger quickly, striking him exactly to disconnect his headset. As he shouted out and put his hand to his ear, she cocked it again and hit him in the arm, then again on his back as he turned and tried to run. One more expertly aimed shot got him in the back of the knee causing his leg to crumple, which in turn tripped him up.

Getting up quickly, Tenten ran swiftly to her fallen target who still needed one hit. He looked back at her, brown eyes on brown. Tenten held up the rifle and looked through the sights, making her accuracy more than 100 percent. "You're out Shi-ka-ma-ru."

The last shot pelted him right on top of the thoracic vertebra, the blood-red paint bursting explosively.

"Shikamaru!" Tenten turned on the spot 180 degrees to see Ino and Chouji about 50 feet away. Ino raised her rather large gun and pointed it at her.

"Shit," Tenten muttered, cocking her gun and letting loose the shot straight at Ino, who screamed as it hit her gut.

She's too slow on the uptake… Tenten muttered, getting off another shot on Ino before having to evade ones from Chouji. I've got to get out of here. She was afraid of Chouji, not wanting to cross him. Turning back around, she bolted out of the area, but not without receiving a hit on her back, probably from him. Sliding down the steep hill, she tried to zigzag the best she could, hearing shots rain down on her. An explosion of blue suddenly appeared not five inches from her right hand as she grabbed a trunk and swung herself around it. Need to head north, that's where I told them to go…

Peering around the trunk, she saw Ino and Chouji staying on the top of a hill, wary of a possible trap. Shikamaru was slowly making his way down to the circle of people who 'died'. He saw where she was and stuck his tongue out, at which she just flicked him off. Tenten was relatively safe now.

Kiba and Hinata, however, weren't so lucky. At about 4:30 pm, Sasuke and Naruto came and stopped 20 feet from them. They were apparently awaiting orders over their headsets…

Shit, why didn't we think of headsets? Kiba thought angrily, holding his hand over Hinata's mouth to cover up her ragged, terrified breathing. He leaned over to her and whispered in her ear as softly as he could.

"Don't move."

"We could beat them… it's only two on two." She whispered back, removing his hand with her own. A scary thought, but it was true. They could, with luck beat them.

"They could have reinforcements covering for them…"

She nodded and bit her lip. I should just leave all the planning to Kiba-kun...

"What? Shikamaru got out?" Naruto's ringing voice trumpeted, obviously angry.

Kiba quickly pressed his whole body on top of hers, covering her and taking up less space. She blushed quickly, not knowing what the hell he was doing. "Kiba-kun?"

He just shushed her quietly, his shades falling off and landing in her lap. She clutched them gently, wanting to hold onto something that wasn't the best friend who was practically straddling her.

"Tenten? You only hit her once and she got away?" Sasuke asked, presumably into his headset.

This is good; we'll get some information. Kiba thought quickly, waiting for more.

"Ino, Chouji, head in our direction, Tenten is good enough to pick you off if you stay in one place. We still have the advantage here." Naruto said, taking over Shikamaru's position of playmaker.

I guess Neji and Lee got Sakura after all… they just got hit as well. Kiba realized. So it's four against three.

"I'm assuming Hinata is their royalty…" Sasuke muttered, his voice closer than it was last time. They were moving around the clearing. What if he saw them?

Naruto laughed, "Of course she is!"

Under Kiba, Hinata felt herself get angry. They all thought she was a princess too?

"We're in this area with a bunch of thick trees, it's sort of near the center… kind of. North-ish." Naruto stated, and they could hear them sitting down.

Ok, so both Kiba-kun and Tenten have only four lives left… Hinata thought, trying to make sense of this all. I have one. We have no idea what their statuses are. Now all four of them are grouping up here, and we can't really run because it'll make too much sound.

She waited for Naruto to start talking about something before speaking in a whisper. "What do we do?"

Kiba didn't respond. She waited a few moments before frowning and muttering, "We n-need to get out of here."

He slowly pushed himself off of her, moving at a turtles pace as he stood up. "I know what I'm doing. Once I run in, make a break for it, okay?"

She did not know what he was planning to do, but she didn't like it. "What are you going to do?"

He didn't respond; he only raised both his guns. Her anxiety was building to epic proportions now.

"Kiba-kun… you can't! You… you'll get hurt!" She whispered frantically, standing and grabbing at his chest armor. He couldn't leave her after giving his word like that.

"Hina…"

"N-no! You said… you said you'd protect me!"

"I am."

He answered with such passivity that she almost started crying. Why am I getting so emotional all of the sudden? This game is metaphorical… that's what it is!

All he did was bump his forehead against hers affectionately, as he always did. "Live on."

It happened so quickly. Kiba jumped out of their spot and started raining hell down on Naruto, who was right in front of him. He shouted a war cry as Naruto got a hit on him, holding both guns up, channeling Vincent Valentine. He was enraged, and quickly got five hits on the blond, his rival, and the one person he wanted to knock off. Now it was just about taking as many people down with him as he could. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke had been ready for his onslaught, which was probably the reason that the blond got out.

As he turned to Sasuke, he had four hits, the fifth, sixth and seventh hitting him square in the chest by Sasuke's shots.

Hinata was frozen, unable to run as was instructed. I could take out Sasuke-kun right now… but should I? I might not even be able to aim; my hand's shaking so badly.

She was a few seconds from leaning into view and shooting the dark-haired man, but then Ino and Chouji ran into the scene, with the former screaming something that had "Sasuke-kun!" in it.

Casting one last terrified look at her fallen comrade, Hinata picked up her little handgun and bolted north. She ran faster than she had ever before, thinking they were chasing after her. Spurred on by that thought, her speed now rivaled that of Sasuke and Neji's…

Tears were welling up behind her opalescent eyes out of aggravation and sadness for Kiba's sacrifice. This really was a war now. What do I do? I have no idea if Tenten got out or not, but if she is still alive, I should be trying to find her. Even still, what can we do against them?

Deciding to stop, she settled herself into a trunk after attaching her gun to her hip. Without anything better to think about, she pondered what Shikamaru had done exactly, before Tenten took him out. He must have sent a group of three to find them, and once that was achieved, made it seem like it was only one person, thus lowering their defenses. After Neji, Lee and Tenten ran after Sakura, the two who remained hidden went for Shino.

Why Shino? If they all knew it was me via headsets, why didn't they just knock me out right off the bat? She wondered, looking up into the foliage. One answer presented itself; it was because there was no fun in that. If the game had ended in only an hour, a lot of people would be angry for making such a big deal about it.

So, Tenten, Lee and Neji ran after Sakura, which was also apart of Shikamaru's plan. There was another team of two who set up their trap in an area Sakura ran to, and once they entered would get shot up. It could be assumed that Shikamaru was alone based off of Tenten knocking him and only him out.

One of the remaining groups of two probably were making their way back to Shikamaru when they saw Tenten and opened fire, but she had gotten away. Now there were three of them who were in a group, hunting for her and wary of Tenten. Fun stuff.

That wouldn't have been too bad of a situation if Hinata weren't one of the survivors. She was afraid of shooting her friends, and afraid of getting hit herself. Tenten was the expert at these things; she was most certainly not.

For the first time all day, Hinata heard some birds chirping merrily. It calmed her a little, enough for her to maybe shut her eyes and rest up. This was just a stupid game anyway.

Bad move.

Unluckily for our resident princess, Chouji had seen her dart away from her hiding place. Meaning that they were certainly hot on her trail, gun toting and figuratively out for her blood.

Her eyes were heavy, threatening to fall and send her into the dark and pleasant abyss that was sleep. She might have a nice dream, maybe with Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun…

That incident had been stuck in her mind like a thorn, one that spawned multiple roots that made doubly sure that it would stay there. When she shut down at the end of the day, when her mind was defenseless, the vision of the two gorgeous guys all over each other just popped up.

But, she reminded herself, thinking about that was not so outlandish; I mean she was a girl, a teenage girl.

"Hinata…"

Hinata was drawn from her musings by a familiar voice. Opening her eyes, she was greeted with the sight of her friend.

But right now her friend was an enemy.

Ino was sadly smiling at Hinata, towering above with her gun in her hands. Two splotches of red paint were visible on her armor, shining in the sun that peeked through the trees. With her long blond hair and dark blue eyes, Ino was truly beautiful. Someone Hinata had grown up comparing herself to. And now here she was holding a gun to our heroine. Hah.

Said heroine didn't really register what was going on. She was still dazed and didn't realize that Ino was about to shoot her.

"Trust me, I don't want to do this…" Ino muttered, showing her friend a little smile. "But I told Sasuke-kun that I'd be the one who gets you. He's expecting it you see."

There was a mounting fear installing itself inside of Hinata. She was at gunpoint; she was about to lose the game, to let down everyone on the Boom Squad.

No.

But why couldn't she move?

Ino cocked her gun loudly. "I can't let him down, No hard feelings right Hina?"

Hinata was frozen in fear, unable to move or put forth any reaction. Kiba sacrificed himself for me… this is pathetic! He did all that only for me to let my guard down and get cornered…

"Game over." Hinata shut her eyes as Ino made to pull the trigger. There was a shot and a cry, but no hit. She felt nothing impact her armor and certainly nothing made contact with her skin. Opening one eye slowly, she noticed a great mess of red paint on the tip of Ino's gun, near the edge of her barrel. What happened?

Looking as angry as Hinata had even seen her, Ino was glaring at something, someone who was out of sight.

Another familiar voice rang out from somewhere to her right. "You were always one to put bros before hoes, Ino-chan…"

Tenten!

"Nice way to use your last shot…" The brunette now walked into view, holding out her rifle menacingly. "You had her three feet in front of you, and your gallant shot hits a foot above her head."

Hinata quickly looked over her shoulder and saw a huge spot of blue over her right shoulder. Not exactly a foot away, more like five inches…

Tenten shot at Ino's barrel, which made her aim off! Hinata realized quickly, smiling weakly at her savior. She didn't even remember that she had a gun and could take out Ino without any trouble. The three of them stayed in their spots for a few moments, waiting for another to make the first move.

Suddenly a silent shot hit Tenten in the shoulder, followed by another in the chest. The brunette tried to dart behind a tree to avoid them, but then realized that was a bad idea as more shots came from a different angle.

Reinforcements… Hinata realized quickly, her heart pumping painfully. She had been saved again! That occurrence had been like an electric shock through her body, giving it energy to actually move. In doing so, she stood quickly and started to make a break for it past Ino.

From out of nowhere, Akamaru came pounding towards her barking loudly. Without prior planning, without even thinking about how the dog might react, she grabbed the makeshift collar and threw herself onto his back.

Tenten, now taking hits from unseen enemies from both directions, knew she was done for. She was out of shots and out of luck. "Hinata, run!"

Her scream echoed in Hinata's ears, making her lie flat on Akamaru in order to be more aerodynamic. I have to get out of here, I have to survive. Tenten, Kiba, Shino, Lee and Neji-niisan have all fallen to give me this chance to survive and I will not mess this up!

As they sped off, Hinata noticed that she hated the armor. It was heavy and sweaty and bulky. She navigated Akamaru northward before stopping and dismounting to regain his strength and for her to come up with a plan. But first of all, the armor had to go.

"So much for safety…" She muttered to Akamaru as she loosened up the strings that secured the armor, undoing the knots with her skilled little fingers. When done with that, she heaved it with all her strength, aiming for the nearest clump of ferns.

Hold up! I can use this! She thought quickly, managing to hold onto the armor by a string as she tried to stop her throw. He sudden move brought the bulky plastic right back at her, and she only just managed to sidestep it before it completely decked her. It skidded on the dry ground for a few feet, creating a small cloud of dust.

I'm ashamed of myself. That was just embarrassing…

Walking over to it, she grinned sadistically, glad that it was experiencing some torment after afflicting her so! Even though it was just an inanimate thing… Hey, everybody is allowed to unnecessarily wish ill onto a stupid object once and a while, even Hinata-hime.

After she was finished with her bout of anger, she picked it up lightly and strolled over to Akamaru, biting her lip as she got down to the nitty gritty. How am I going to do this?

She untied the bindings that held the whole thing together and laid it out on the ground flat. If I tie this here, and then move this…

After a few motions of trial and error, she finally figured it out. Showing a brief display of designing brilliance, Hinata had managed to create nothing short of a suit of armor for her… Kiba's white dog. The dog's chest was covered by a piece that wasn't too big to hinder running, as were the plates on the thighs of his front legs. There was a small, triangular plate on his head that she managed to fashion into half-a-helmet, covering his forehead and dipping slightly between his eyes.

To finish it all off, she removed the long ribbon around his neck and ripped about a fourth of it off, taking the smaller piece and tying it around his tail for looks. She took the longer piece and, with clever weaving, managed to create a pretty improvised set of reins.

And now I have a war stallion.

Once done, she sat down and tried to think things through. All of her fear had been lost as she went from a scared princess mindset to a survivalist one. I need to win… They all think I'm so precious… I have to go and confront the problem, and then win. They shouldn't have underestimated me!

With that heartening thought in mind, she slipped the slip of paper out from under her armband. The southeast part, next to a large rock by a river… I won't stand a chance if I can't make it there, but first things first…

She felt a change coming over her. A sense of daring and heroism was coursing through her veins. She boldly decided to tie up her hair like Ino had always done, in a high ponytail. After that was done she unwound the red ribbon on her arm and instead wrapped it around her forehead holding her bangs out of her eyes.

I need to be fearless like Kiba… as level-headed as Tenten… as cool-looking as Akamaru!

She still had Kiba's sunglasses in her pocket and took them out lightly. After glancing at her reflection in the lenses, she rubbed them clean on her shirt and put them on, smirking as she did so. She looked like a mercenary now.

Now I have to find those supplies, and then… then it's time for the little princess Hyuga to go Rambo on their underestimating little butts!

Tenten put her chin in her hand angrily as she sat in the pen. Her fellows were Kiba, Neji, Lee, Shino, Sakura, Shikamaru and Naruto, all of whom were getting bored.

"She can't survive…" Neji muttered, lying on his back as he looked up at the cloudless sky. He glanced at his watch, registering the time as 6:47pm. "She might as well just surrender and avoid getting hurt."

"She's got Chouji, Ino and Sasuke hunting after her…" Sakura muttered, glancing at her now abandoned headset. "I don't know how she can hold out for long."

"You shouldn't underestimate her…" Tenten sighed, switching hands that held her chin. "Princess Boom Squad is now mounted."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

Tenten smiled a knowing smile. "She rode out of the last fight on Akamaru's back, cruising at literally inhuman speeds. Heh, she said it herself 'Let's win this together'…"

The Boom Squad knew she was referring to Hinata talking to Akamaru before the game commenced.

"It's not going to make much of a difference though…" Lee muttered. "What can she do?"

They were all silent for a few moments. "Just believe in her." Shino mumbled from where he was, leaning against a tree.

"Never underestimate a girl with a gun. In her case, many guns."

They all shot Tenten a look at she said this. As if on cue, Naruto's headset crackled with an incoming message. He had obviously forgotten to turn his off.

"Um… hello?"

"Speak of the devil, it's Princess Boom Squad." Naruto said, laughing as he prepared to respond. Shikamaru slapped his hand down, warning him not to with a face that obviously said 'you got out, dumbass…'

"W-well… I just wanted to say that… um… is anyone on?"

"We hear you Hinata," said Sasuke over the channel.

"Oh… well, hi there."

The circle of 'dead' people listened eagerly, now all listening to the nearest headset. None of them spoke out of respect for the rules.

"Hi," Chouji answered back, laughing.

"How'd you get a radio?" Ino asked lightly, echoing everyone but Tenten, Neji and Lee's thoughts.

"The Boom Squad left a cache of stuff in case… in case I ever have to go on my own… there was a walkie-talkie in it." Hinata's voice was so soft and sweet; it was hard to believe that she was running for her 'life' through a forest. Or so they thought…

"Surrender!" Sasuke shot, his low voice devoid of any emotion.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Hinata laughed. "You... you wish to surrender to me? V-very well, I accept."

The ex-warriors who were listening in on the conversation all laughed. It was admirable how Hinata could still be funny while having three people hunting for her very life. In the game of course...

None of the still-living Team Awesome responded immediately. Sasuke finally broke the silence but continuing what he had started to say. "We don't want to have to shoot you."

"Actually… actually I…" They all heard her take a deep breath. "I'm here to say that I will not back down!"

They all were surprised at the level of force and power in her voice as she said that. It was if she suddenly turned into Kiba. She seemed to get stronger and stronger as she willed herself on.

"You guys better fear for your lives, because I can't bear to look un-cool by giving up! No one is safe, even in numbers, when Akanata is loose! Over and out!"

There was a small silence before Sakura started laughing, having been the only one to ever see Hinata in this state before. When she put her mind to it, the mild-mannered heiress would fight to the end.

"Well Kiba…" Naruto laughed, clapping his friend on the back. "I think it's safe to say that Akamaru belongs to Hinata now. They've combined."

Kiba was in shock. Never in front of him had she ever shown such determination before. It was a change that he didn't see coming, but liked it.

"Don't worry… they might think you're fragile but I know better."

"When the time comes, you'll show them what you're made of."

"The best burn brightest when circumstances are at their worst."

"Live on."

Maybe Hinata had actually listened to what they had been saying to her this whole time. He felt accomplished, as if he had created this hunter. My little Hina, off to destroy people… it's a proud day indeed.

Now armed with two more guns and a sniper, Hinata felt ready. She looked at her reflection in the brook and laughed at the oddity of it. Her tank top was small, but she didn't care about modesty right now. Her navel was showing, as well as a good portion of her hips as Kiba's pants hung low. She had attached her old little handgun to her thigh, her two new guns to her belt, and the sniper rifle was slung across her back, the strap sitting nicely over her chest. With her hair pulled into an Ino-esque high ponytail, the red headband and too-big aviator shades, she just emanated badass.

Something was missing though. What was it that always completed the look of the mercenaries in all the movies? Oh right, a toothpick.

Having no such thing, Hinata searched around the clearing for a small stick, and when she found none, went for a little, white, five-petaled flower, sticking it in her mouth and smirking. I feel like Solid Snake… a really girly Snake…

In the state she was in now, running off of sheer frustration and her rare but incredibly persistent will, she was invincible. But the remainder of Team Awesome did not know that, so they cockily attempted to hunt her down. They must have thought that her speech over the walkie-talkie was complete farce. Little did they know that they were slowly shifting from being the hunters to the hunted.

It would take some paint to the face for them to realize how deep of shit they were now in.

AKANATA, GO FORTH!

I hope you guys got the 'The Princess Bride' quote I slipped in there. ;)

Ok, so I know that I planned to split this game into two chapters… but here I am at the end of two chapters and I haven't even gotten into 'Hinata will kick all asses' mode yet!

So, a third will be coming. And trust me, it will be HELLA long. The longest one in the three as I flat out REFUSE to make this into a four-piece paintball match...

I tried to make this sort of reminiscent of, in the anime/manga, Hinata standing up to Neji in the chuunin exams and gaining courage to face up to her fears. It is also a lot like the Bikochu arc in which Hinata makes an independent stand, and Shino says 'believe in her.'

Thus, this really is Hinata's personality coming forth, only a little more Sleeper Cell style.

SO! Review please, because lately I have been starting to feel like you guys don't really like this fic as much as you did before since I'm not getting as many reviews. For the people who do almost every time, thank you so many times my mouth break if I said them all.

Scenes from the next episode!

Unexplained fear is often the most horrific of all.

But alas, just because she was cute did not mean he wouldn't shoot her in the face.