Chapter Three

Naruto was sitting on the cold ground with his back against the even colder stone of Konoha's great wall. Ahead of him the main road of the village stretched out all the way to the Hokage's office, though it was still too dark to make it out over such a distance. To his left was the huge wooden gate, which had opened nearly half an hour ago to welcome the first travellers and traders.

If we had left right when it opened we could have been miles away by now, he thought. What's taking her so long?

Hinata still hadn't shown up, even though she definitely knew about the planned time of their departure. Naruto wondered if something had happened to her. Perhaps she had fallen sick again – in that case, the mission would have to be cancelled unless they could find a replacement, and Naruto was sure he would go mad if he had to spend more time locked up in the village.

He shivered.

I'm freezing here. We should have heard from her by now even if something had happened...

He looked at the figure to his right, who was leaning calmly against the wall.

"Hey, Neji, can't you use your Byakugan to look for her?"

Neji Hyuuga was only a year older than Naruto and most of the others, but he was the only one to have become jounin so far, and for good reason. He was extremely talented, even for a Hyuuga, and most of his techniques he had taught himself simply by observing others. He had good insight in battles, was strong and quick to respond, looked after his team members and fulfilled every mission to the best of his abilities. On the downside, he was always serious and quiet, and sometimes overly strict. It was often impossible to tell what was going on behind his white eyes, and it made it hard for people to consider him a close friend.

His practical nature was reflected by his appearance. He was wearing wide clothing for easy movement, and all of it was a simple white except for his black sandals and a greyish brown piece of cloth that was tied around his waist and covered his upper legs. His long brown hair fell down to below his shoulder blades and was tied together at the bottom instead of just behind the neck, as was more common. His eyes had of course the huge white pupils of the Byakugan, and their serious, penetrating gaze was somewhat disconcerting at times. Right now it was fixed on where the road reached the small square before the gate.

"Activating the Byakugan costs a lot of chakra," Neji said. "I'd rather not waste any energy before we even start our mission. Besides-" he nodded to where he was looking, "-she is already here."

He was right. She had just entered the square from one of the smaller roads, and was now looking around to find her team.

"Finally."

Naruto jumped to his feet excitedly.

"Hey, Hinata!" he yelled. "Over here!"

Hinata heard him, found the source of the voice and made her way towards them. The closer she came, the more Naruto realised there was something odd about her, and when she stood in front of them trying to catch her breath he suddenly knew what it was.

She's so pretty, he thought, surprised by the realisation. Was she always like this? Or has she changed so much?

It wasn't that Naruto had never seen pretty girls before; when you trained under the Pervy Sage Jiraiya you couldn't avoid meeting some. He was experienced enough to tell when a girl was pretty and when she wasn't. But he had never before felt that a girl was pretty, and it was a feeling he couldn't really grasp. He'd have to think about it later.

"Hinata-sama. You are late," remarked Neji.

It was merely an observation, not a reprimand. Hinata took it for one anyway.

"I'm sorry, Neji-nii-san. I overslept..."

She tried hard not to look at Naruto, then glimpsed at him once and started blushing immediately.

"N-Naruto-kun... it's good to see you again..."

"Hinata! You've changed a lot," Naruto said happily. "I bet you've become a lot stronger as well. I have, anyway – hey, I'll show you some of my new moves soon, would you like that? And you can tell me about your adventures and I'll tell you about mine. You'll never believe it, there was this one time... what, Neji?"

Neji had laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "The catching up will have to wait until later. We'll have to make up for the lost time by moving at a fast pace for a while, during which we won't be able to communicate a lot. We will eventually slow down and adjust our speed depending on how well you manage, Hinata-sama, since you only just got better. Any questions?"

He looked from Naruto to Hinata, who both shook their heads.

"Then let's go."

He turned around and ran through the gate. Naruto give Hinata an encouraging smile before following him. Hinata breathed out slowly.

That wasn't so bad...

She looked around, gave the village a final look. She wasn't sure why. Then she started running.

For several hours they travelled at high speed, flashing by the other travellers out on the road and throwing up dust in their wake. Whenever the road reached a fork, they would take the right-hand road, until they travelled almost directly south. Unable to have a proper conversation, each of them was subjected to the isolation of their own thoughts.

Naruto was still trying to get his mind around what he had just felt. Did it have anything to do with Hinata or was it just a coincidence that he had felt it while looking at her? He could impossibly tell, and it bothered him as he wasn't used to not knowing how he felt. He thought he knew about all the feelings he was likely to have – in general terms, love for his friends and hate for his enemies; happiness, most of the time now, while misery had taken up the first part of his life; comfort but also pain, which was pretty common for shinobi; sadness and determination, gratefulness and annoyance, relief and shock; he knew all of them. And yet he couldn't identify this feeling. Eventually he decided to put it to the test. First he focused completely on how he felt at the moment, becoming aware of everything that was going on inside him. Then he turned his head and glanced at Hinata, who was running behind him. And there it was again – a strange sensation in his stomach, a slightly faster heartbeat, a hint of nervousness. She saw him looking, and blushed, and he quickly looked ahead again, more confused than before.

Hinata was also thinking about her feelings, but strangely enough she felt better by the minute. Seeing Naruto again hadn't been nearly as dramatic as she had feared it would be, and she was already getting used to his presence. The familiar feeling of happiness and confidence that he gave her were slowly returning, and she was more grateful than ever for being allowed to travel with him. About the mission itself she thought little. It looked like a particularly safe and easy task, which was a nice change of pace, and if they didn't run into any trouble it would give her a chance to rest up and recover completely.

Around noon, Neji signalled for a halt, and they left the road to look for a clearing where they could rest up. They found one, a small open area between the trees, covered in grass and moss and bathing in sunlight. Neji, who carried most of the food, gave everyone a bento, a traditional and easy to carry lunchbox, but Naruto disappeared in the bushes and returned a few minutes later with a grin on his face and handfuls of blueberries, which he offered to the others.

Neji thanked him politely, but Hinata was flattered that he would share with her.

"Naruto-kun..." she said shyly. "Thank you... I didn't know you knew the forest so well..."

Naruto's grin widened.

"Yeah, well, I have a nose for that sort of thing, you know. If there's food out here you bet I can find it!"

Hinata nodded happily.

"You are really amazing, Naruto-kun..."

Then she remembered something, and started digging in her own backpack until she found a small paper bag.

"Um... would you like to have some melon bread?"

She offered him the bag with both hands, her arms outstretched as if to keep as much distance between them.

"I made it just for you..." she said softly.

She blushed, keeping her gaze carefully on the ground.

Naruto looked surprised for a moment, then smiled and took the neatly-folded bag.

"Thank you, Hinata. You said you made them yourself?"

He opened the bag without waiting for a reply and took one of the sweet buns, examined it carefully with the air of an expert, then ate it. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Hinata!" he exclaimed. "These are fantastic! How did you make them? I've tried making my own so many times but they never turn out right! Tell me your secret, no wait, let me guess! Um... is it.. the temperature? No, that can't be it... the amount of flour? No, impossible... um..."

The rest of the lunch break went by quickly, with Naruto constantly talking about his experiences with melon bread and Hinata nodding and saying "Yes", "Definitely" and "Amazing!" whenever Naruto paused for breath. Neji ate his lunch in silence, not interacting with the other two, and eventually he stood up, signifying the break was over.

They had planned to travel at a slower place during the afternoon, but Naruto's presence and the lovely weather gave Hinata so much confidence that she proposed to keep moving fast, which was met by surprise but also approval from her teammates.

And so they kept running, following a road that branched off less and less and became smaller the further they got from Konoha. Occasionally they would still pass through villages, but these also got smaller and the intervals between them got bigger. Eventually they stopped in one for a few minutes and Neji explained it would be the last bit of civilisation they would see before reaching their destination.

"We still have quite a way to go," he said as he rolled their map open on the ground and pointed out their location, "but unless we go all the way to the coast we won't find any more villages near this road. We will pick up some final supplies here and see how far we get before sunset."

Naruto looked over his shoulder.

"Hey, but we've come pretty far already! We've covered about a third of the distance by the looks of it, so then we can be there in... two days."

"I'm afraid not," said Neji. "From here on out the road will get worse, sometimes even completely disappearing for a while, and we won't be able to move that fast between the trees. Besides, the weather may change for the worse, or we may be attacked or harmed in any other way that would delay us."

"Geez, way to look on the bright side. We'll probably be just fine."

"Maybe." Neji shot Naruto a serious glance over his shoulder. "But as the team's leader, I am responsible for our collective safety, and I must always prepare for the worst."

"I know that, but staying optimistic is important too. We'll travel faster if we keep our spirits up, I swear it!"

Neji shrugged. "You be the optimist then, I'll be the realist. Let's not waste any more time here."

They bought some extra food at the only store in the village, then left again at full speed. As Neji had predicted, the road soon became even smaller and less well maintained, and it started winding so much that sometimes they would travel west or east instead of south. Still, they did not dare leave the path for fear of losing their way in these unknown parts, so instead they had to move at a slower pace to deal with the constant twists and turns.

They kept going for an hour or two. The afternoon was drawing to a close now. The sun hid behind the trees, but the temperature didn't drop yet, and in spite of herself Hinata started to feel fatigued. The lack of sleep and the travelling began to take their toll; her responses were slower, her speed dropped and her vision blurred from time to time. Eventually Neji saw there was no point in continuing, and they looked for a place to set up camp, which was easy as the forest was still littered with small clearings.

It was getting dark now, but after a few attempts Naruto managed to light a small fire that provided enough light and heat to keep them comfortable. Meanwhile, Neji put up the small tent Naruto had been carrying; it would not rain that night, but it would probably be cold, and next to that a tent would keep them safe from most wild animals that might skulk in the forest.

Hinata didn't do anything. She sat motionless against a tree, completely worn out. As long as they had kept moving she hadn't felt how tired she was, but once they had stopped the exhaustion hit her with its full force. She was cold and shivery and didn't even have the energy to move closer to the fire.

I really overdid it today, she thought vaguely. I'll have to take it easy tomorrow, but that will just slow us down... I don't want to be a burden anymore. I've been a burden long enough... and I've changed. She yawned. I think you saw a little of how I changed today, Naruto... I won't give up anymore. Not as long as I have you... with me...

When Naruto came to check on her she was fast asleep. He watched her for a few moments, then smiled. He was about to carefully pick her up and put her in the tent when he heard a soft cough behind him. When he turned around he looked into Neji's impassive eyes.

"I will take care of her, if you don't mind," he said calmly, before walking past Naruto and gently picking Hinata up.

Naruto was embarrassed. What had he been thinking, anyway? Of course, to him Hinata was just a friend, but to Neji she was also the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan, much higher in rank than he could ever hope to be and destined to rule over him eventually. It would be completely inappropriate if a guy like Naruto, who didn't even come from a respectable family, would carry the heiress around like that in front of her own family.

Stupid, stupid! Use your brains, Uzumaki! You're lucky he stopped you in time, or this could have been a real crazy situation.

He sighed and sat down near the fire, but immediately veered up again. Something had caught his eye.

What was that? A reflection?

He moved his head up and down and sideways, trying to see it again – there.

He walked to the other side of the clearing, pushed some bushes aside and knelt down in the dirt. His fingers searched the cold ground, meticulously examining each square inch until they found something small and hard. He carefully picked it up, then brought it back to the light of the fire.

It's... it's a...

His eyes widened in horror. He looked back at the bushes in panic, then started and spun around as he heard a voice behind him. But it was just Neji, who looked at him with a frown.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?"

Naruto was at a loss for words. Instead, he held up the small metal object, clearly visible now in the light of the flames. It was a kunai knife, and it was covered in still liquid blood, which dripped slowly on the ground.