Author's note: Chapter 53 finally here. It was harder to write than expected. Next chapter might take a while, once again I have to write the whole arc and then divide it into chapters. And the next arc is hard to write for some reason, which is odd because it's full of scenes I wanted to write for a long time.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The prison~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hinata and Kiba made their way through the prison, dragging Shino's unresponsive body with them. As they walked past the occupied cages, the prisoners moved towards the grates, looking at them and some of them calling to them.
"Help us!" "Don't leave us here!" "Take us with you!" "Please!"
"We can't leave them here, Kiba-kun," Hinata spoke.
"We have to get away," her teammate said, but he didn't sound very convinced. He wanted to help these people too, but the sounds of battle coming from behind told him that they should get out of here fast. "The others can help them later."
Hinata had to admit that it was true, but she didn't like it. She hated the feeling of being stuck in a cell, waiting in dread for whatever nasty thing their captors had in store for them. She wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. And, she thought as she heard a loud explosion from where their rescuers were fighting, if they ran into trouble on their way, they'd be screwed.
"If we free them, they can help us against the Sound ninja," she pointed out. Now Kiba had to admit that it was the truth. As much as he considered himself an awesome ninja, he couldn't forget how he had fared in their last fight and he didn't even have Akamaru here this time.
"You're right," he said. "There are the keys," he pointed at the far end of the corridor. Then he ran over there and picked the heavy keyrings. He threw one to Hinata and then they started unlocking the cells.
"I'm free!" "Thank you! Thank you!" "I'm getting out of here!" "If I bring you to Orochimaru-sama, I'll get back in his good graces!"
"What?!" Hinata exclaimed shocked at the last statement. Before she could do anything else, she was hit in the head so hard she saw stars. She fell to the ground.
"Hinata!" Kiba shouted. "What are you doing, you bastard?"
"What does it look like?" the man replied grabbing the dazed kunoichi by her hair.
"Let her go!" the Inuzuka demanded.
"No."
"We just saved you!" the genin tried to appeal at the man's conscience, but it turned out he had none.
"Your mistake," he shrugged.
"I'm going to kill you!" Kiba screamed. "Shikyaku no Jutsu!" His nails hardened into claws and his face became feral. "Tsuuga!" He jumped and started the signature jutsu of the Inuzuka clan. The furry tornado flew at the man. But Kiba still had a long way to go before he became any proficient with it. The man dodged easily and punched the boy as he flew past him. Kiba crashed into the wall, his head pounding.
"You're a hundred years too early to take on me, puppy," the man scoffed.
But Kiba's charge had one positive result: it forced the man to let go of Hinata. The girl scrambled to her feet. Her fingers went through the necessary seals. They felt sluggish, but she managed to complete the sequence before the man turned to her.
"Byakugan," she said. Immediately she could see his chakra circulatory system. He was just a step away. Her hands glowed with chakra and she attacked.
Unfortunately the man was a seasoned fighter and sensed her attack before it could land. He whirled around. Hinata's fingers still delivered a painful hit, but they failed to close any tenketsu. Then the man's hand closed around her wrist and yanked at it painfully. She was thrown forward, right into Kiba. The two genin landed in a heap. Hinata's Byakugan deactivated. She had no energy to keep it on anymore.
"Somebody help us!" she cried desperately. Sure the people they had freed would help them in turn. But nobody did. They were too busy taking care of their own hides. Most of them had already run away. One walked over to the two genin.
"There's three brats and two of us," he observed. "That's more than enough for us to get back into Orochimaru's good graces."
"Bastards," Kiba growled. He was ignored. He hated being considered insignificant. But what could he do? His strongest attack had already proven ineffective. But lying down wasn't something he wanted to do in this situation. He was an Inuzuka, a genin of Konoha, and he wasn't going to accept his fate lying down. So he abandoned all strategy and attacked blindly. It went about as well as could be expected. The man kicked him in the stomach mid-jump, sending him flying into the closest wall. The Inuzuka boy slumped down.
"Kiba!" Hinata shrieked. Seeing her teammate's fate made something in her snap. She charged blindly too, yelling furiously. Somehow she still mustered enough chakra for a Juuken strike. And by some miracle she actually managed to connect before the man kicked her away too.
"You bitch!" he shouted, the pain in his side making him furious. He stalked towards her.
"Don't kill her or Orochimaru-sama won't forgive us," the other man stated, but he was ignored. The two genin saw there was nothing they could do. The man was going to kill them in his rage. They could just sit and tremble as he approached them.
Then he suddenly stopped, an expression of surprise appearing on his face. He turned around even as blood started seeping into his clothes. He was just in time to see a little blond chuunin charging at him.
Naruto was glad that his Wind chakra charged kunai had hit home and that it had been enough to stop the man. With Orochimaru's creations one could never be sure whether a wound was serious or not. Quite often the answer was 'not.' Even this man was still standing with an injury that would have killed a normal person. But it still slowed him down. He barely lifted his arms in defense when Naruto charged at him. His block was ineffective. Naruto was using his Whirlwind Fist and the rotating Wind blades cut deep into his forearms, taking out huge chunks of flesh and bones. The man just stared in disbelief at his now useless stumps. Naruto finished him off by a strike to the head. Then Hana tore out his throat to make sure, despite the fact that his brain was leaking out of the hole in his skull.
In the next moment a high-pitched sound sent them all to their knees. The Konoha group lay on the ground, not sure which way was up and clutched at their hurting ears. Just what was that? They got their answer soon enough as they saw the other former captive walking towards them, his arms positioned to unleash another sound attack if need be. His lips were moving, but nobody could hear his words. Their ears were ringing too much. They all wondered whether they became permanently deaf.
Naruto was the closest to the man. He knew that it was up to him to act and he'd have to do it soon or the man might unleash another attack. And the young ninja didn't know whether he'd be able to withstand it. The question was what he could do. He doubted he'd manage to grab his sword and slice the man in half in time. And if he wanted to use a ninjutsu, he probably wouldn't make it either. Taijutsu was out of the question, his sense of balance was completely off. That left only one thing he could do.
He took a deep breath and Screamed. The man countered with another of his sound attacks. The two techniques nullified each other.
Then a kunai flew by. The throw was wide and the man didn't pay it any attention. He advanced another step. Naruto pushed himself to his knees. His sense of balance was still off, but at least he now didn't confuse up and down anymore. The former prisoner just smirked and lifted his arm again. Then an explosion from behind threw him forward, straight into Naruto. The chuunin took the opportunity. He grabbed the man's neck and concentrated his Wind chakra into his palms. Blood flowed from the cut jugular. Naruto then stabbed the man for good measure. Then he threw the corpse away and stood up.
"I got him!" Kiba exclaimed. "Hey, sis, did you see my awesome work with the Exploding Tag?"
"I saw," Hana replied. She didn't sound as proud as the younger Inuzuka thought she would. "And do you see that?" she pointed to the epicenter of the explosion. The walls there were cracked and purple glass-like shards littered the ground. "You nearly brought the ceiling down on our heads. Be more careful with the Blast Notes next time. And don't borrow my equipment without permission again."
"Sorry," Kiba apologized. "How could I know this base is so shoddy?" He pretended he didn't hear the part about taking Hana's Exploding Note.
"Stop it," Naruto interjected. "We have to get out of here before it collapses and we end up stuck here."
Nobody protested. They grabbed the unconscious Shino and headed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Escape tunnel~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guren was breathing heavily when she finally reached the passageway leading out of the base. This day had been a huge fiasco. But as long as she could deliver the Hyuuga and her teammates to Orochimaru-sama, the fallout wouldn't be so bad.
But as she walked through the hallway, she realized that it wasn't going to be. The men she had tasked with transporting the captives lay dead on the ground. So the Konoha ninja had found them before they could collapse the tunnel behind them. This wasn't good. She wanted to run after the Leaf group herself and wrestle the three genin from them and if possible add some more specimens for Orochimaru-sama to experiment on, but the rational part of her mind insisted that it was impossible. She was at the verge of collapse due both to exhaustion and blood loss. She probably wouldn't be able to defeat the three genin, much less whoever had rescued them.
Her eyes narrowed. 'So you think you've won,' she thought. 'But it isn't going to be so easy. You aren't getting out of here alive.' Then she laid her hand on the wall. She sent whatever chakra she had left into the stones. They responded to her immediately. She had set up the whole base to be that way when she had created it with her Shouton power. Then she gave the walls an order. She smiled grimly as they cracked in response. Yes, the Konoha ninja won't be leaving alive. She didn't wait to see the results of her handiwork and limped away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Base hallways~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The group wasn't moving as fast as they wanted. Though Naruto had created clones to carry those who couldn't walk on their own, namely Shino and two of the Haimaru siblings, they still had two genin with them and Hana's injuries were sowing her down considerably. The boy just prayed that they wouldn't run into a Curse Seal monster or some other result of Orochimaru's experiments who happened to be actually good at fighting. He was the only one still in fighting condition and even he was battered a lot. Fortunately it seemed that they had already defeated most of the base's forces on their way in. Though they still encountered a few opponents, they were chuunin level at best. Naruto could deal with them even in his current fatigued state.
Then a cracking sound made everybody snap at attention.
"What was that?" Kiba asked, looking around. Hinata tried to activate her Byakugan, but was too tired for that.
"Something's breaking," Hana spoke. "It sounds like stone or glass."
"Glass? Here?" her brother questioned. Naruto paled. He remembered where did he see something resembling glass here.
"Could it be the walls breaking?"
"You mean..." the older Inuzuka started, not finishing her sentence. Her point was made obvious by the crack suddenly appearing in the ceiling.
"The base is going to collapse!" Naruto yelled. This was bad. He could deal with enemies, but having the structure bury them alive would be too much. And though he assumed they were close to the exit now, they couldn't exactly take the same way they had fallen through on their way in and had to search for an alternate route. That could and probably would take too long.
"Run!" Kiba screamed in fright and took off through the corridor. The rest of the group followed him, having no better idea.
They raced against time as more and more cracks appeared around them. The base could collapse at any minute. They came at an intersection and Kiba sprinted straight through, completely missing the upwards-leading stairs in the corridor on the right.
"Wait!" Hana screamed, but the genin was too panicked to listen. Maybe he couldn't even hear her. Naruto just created a pair of clones, making them appear close to the desperately fleeing child. The two clones grabbed him. Kiba bit one and dispelled it in his panic, but the other one managed to pick him up and carry him back to the group, who was already climbing the stairs.
Once they reached the top, they could feel fresh breeze.
"The exit's near!" Hana exclaimed, trying to restore hope in the group. They didn't have much of it. The walls were already cracked so much that it was a miracle they were still holding together. But with their goal almost within sight, everybody found some last reserves of strength and sprinted faster.
They almost made it. They could already see the faint light coming from outside. Then a figure stepped into their path and it was obvious that it wasn't one of their comrades.
"Go away!" Naruto yelled rushing at him. The man showed no intention to obey him. In fact, he looked determined to bar their escape with all his power. Naruto drew his sword. As he neared the man, he slashed with all his might and Wind chakra extending his blade greatly. It sliced deep into the man's chest. But he refused to fall. As Naruto was about to pass him, he grabbed the boy's arm, stopping him in his track. Only then he collapsed, right under the feet of the rest of the team. It caused a mass-tumble.
"Bastard!" Kiba shouted, stabbing the man with Hana's borrowed kunai. It was pointless, as the man was already dying. Then the ceiling finally collapsed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Command center~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Thanks for the rescue," Tenzo sighed wearily. It had come in the nick of time. He wasn't sure he could have lasted another minute.
"Can you stand?" Kurenai asked.
"Probably," Tenzo shrugged.
"We should take care of your wounds first," Hotaru suggested. Her teacher was still bleeding and if he passed out of blood loss, it would cause problems. She reached into her equipment pouch and took out a roll of bandages. Though she was no medic, she could at least slow down the bleeding.
"We have to find my students," Kurenai said. Though she could see the need to take care of the other jounin's injuries, she was beside herself with worry. She had now seen enough to know that they had been captured by Oto forces. And that meant being in Orochimaru's power. The tales of the traitorous Sannin's experiments scared her to the core. She tried not to think about what the sick bastard might have already done to her poor students. The only thought that prevented her from panicking was that it seemed that Orochimaru himself wasn't present here.
"I haven't seen them," Tenzo said.
"And we have to find Hana and Naruto too," Hotaru reminded them.
"They can take care of themselves," the Wood user said.
"You couldn't take care of yourself," the purple-haired kunoichi pointed out while tying the bandages.
"I think these were the strongest fighters in this base," Tenzo speculated.
"Hopefully," Kurenai said. Nobody had anything to say to this.
A little while after that Hotaru tied the last knot.
"It's finished," she announced.
"Then let's go," Kurenai decided. She was getting impatient. The whole group stood up, Tenzo a bit shakily, and headed for the only exit from the wrecked command room. Before they could reach it, they heard the ominous sound of glass cracking. Repeatedly.
"What's that?" Hotaru asked, drawing her kodachi. She couldn't see any hostiles, yet there was a profound sense of danger in the air. And more sound of glass cracking. Then something fell from the ceiling. It was a piece of crystal. It was shortly followed by another. And another.
"The ceiling's going to collapse!" Kurenai realized. The cracks were now very visible. And then the doorway crumbled. There was no way they could make it out now.
"Mokuton: Wood barrier!" Tenzo shouted, using what chakra he had still left to form a protective cocoon around them. He prayed that it would be enough even as he heard the ominous rumble signaling that the ceiling finally gave way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Rubble~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto grumbled as he threw away a large chunk of soil with grass.
"We were so lucky," he commented. "Were there any more earth above us..."
"We'd be dead," Hana finished his sentence. "But don't be so fast with the lucky part. My wounds opened again and we have to dig up Haimaru and Shino and Hinata." Kiba was sitting next to Hana, coughing and trying to get the dust out of his eyes.
"I know," Naruto sighed and summoned chakra to create four Kage Bunshin. They immediately started removing the soil. They found Hinata first. The girl had her eyes closed and a bump was forming on her head.
"Hinata!" Kiba cried worriedly. The girl didn't respond. Hana checked her over.
"She's going to be alright," she concluded. "She's just knocked out." Kiba sighed with relief and began hovering over his teammate.
One of the Haimaru dogs was next. They found him because he was trying to dig himself up and disturbing the soil above him. The moment Hana and Naruto's clones removed the dirt he climbed up on his own. Beneath him lay one of his brothers, too injured to get out on his own, but the two chuunin pulled him up without much trouble.
Finding the third one took a bit longer. Fortunately the two freed dogs showed them where to dig. They found the big dog draped protectively over Shino's body. They both seemed so still that for a moment the rescuers doubted whether they were still alive. It turned out that they were, but their condition was serious. Not only they were buried the deepest, but also the longest.
"They need to get to the hospital," Hana informed her companions. "I can't treat them well enough here."
"And you need to get to the hospital too," Naruto pointed out. "And we're in no shape to travel."
"Where's Akamaru?" Kiba asked. "We can't leave him here."
"And where's Tenzo? And Hotaru?" Naruto added.
"And Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba added. "Akamaru! Hey, Akamaru! Where are you! You said you left him at the exit," he said.
"This isn't where we came in," Hana replied.
"Are you sure?" Naruto questioned. "The landscape changed so much." It was true. There was now a crater where the underground base used to be.
"I'm sure," Hana stated. "We're further north and a bit to the east."
"So where's Akamaru?" Kiba demanded.
"I think somewhere over there," Hana pointed right across the crater filled with broken trees. It seemed nigh impossible to get across.
"Alright!" Kiba exclaimed and ran into the devastation. Naruto sighed and followed after him. He couldn't allow the genin to run around alone when there might still be enemies around.
The wrecked forest was easier to move through than it seemed at the first glance. It was still harder than running through a regular forest, but there were still spaces between the branches a ninja could jump through and branches and trunks to step onto. The two boys were making a good time.
"Akamaru!" Kiba called when he thought they might be getting close. "Akamaru! Where are you?"
Finally a soft whine responded.
"Akamaru!" Kiba cried in relief and ran in that direction. He was so overjoyed that he ignored everything but his partner. Naruto, following a few steps behind him, didn't have senses as fine as an Inuzuka, but he still detected a suspicious sound.
"Wait, Kiba!" he called, but the genin ignored him completely. Maybe he didn't even hear him. He was so concentrated on his partner.
Akamaru whined again and this time it sounded distressed.
"Everything's going to be alright, boy!" Kiba assured him. Naruto disagreed. This situation wasn't alright. He sped up and tackled the young Inuzuka to the ground.
"What the hell?" Kiba demanded as he landed face down in the dirt. He was answered by a pair of kunai flying in their direction. Naruto used his kunai to knock them down from the air.
"So you noticed me," a voice spoke. There was a rustle of leaves and a young man, or rather still a teenager, with an Oto hitai-ate walked out of the foliage. In his left hand he was holding Akamaru by the scruff of his neck. The puppy was struggling to get free, but couldn't do much in his position.
"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted desperately. "Put him down!"
"I don't think so," the Sound ninja shook his head. "Now put your weapons down or this mutt dies."
"You bastard!" Kiba growled. He looked ready to charge at the enemy, but the fear for his partner's life was holding him back. The Oto shinobi just sneered viciously at him.
"You have five seconds," he spoke, raising his right hand with a kunai to Akamaru's body. In the next second three kunai charged with Wind chakra hit him. Two pierced both of his wrists, forcing him to drop Akamaru and the kunai, third went through his neck, severing his spine.
"That's how you do it," Naruto said. "But you made a nice distraction, Kiba."
There was another pained whine, informing them that Akamaru didn't land safely.
"Akamaru!" Kiba ran to his partner, completely ignoring Naruto's lecture. The chuunin sighed. Kiba really had a one-track mind, but that wasn't surprising, considering how Hana always was if one of her dogs got hurt.
"You should be careful," Naruto lectured the dog user. "We told you there might still be Sound ninja around."
"Akamaru, are you alright?" Naruto shook his head. The genin really wasn't listening.
"Let's get him to Hana," Naruto said. That finally got through to the boy. "And don't run off again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The broken forest~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The broken trees lay all around in awkward angles. Their leaves were still green, but soon they'll begin withering and crumbling. They were already dead. Eventually new trees will grow in their place, but the devastation would be obvious for decades to come.
One young tree didn't know that it wasn't its time to grow and flourish yet. It shot towards the sky with amazing speed, quickly turning from a tiny seedling into a giant tree. It looked out of place among the devastation. Then its trunk split and out fell a man. He remained motionless among the broken branches. Not long after him two more figures followed out of the tree. Both of them immediately knelt next to the man.
"How is he?" Hotaru asked.
"I'm no medic," Kurenai answered, "but I'd say complete chakra exhaustion. That type that takes weeks to recover from at best."
"That's bad," Hotaru mused.
"It's no wonder," the genjutsu mistress said. "He's been through a tough fight, then he had to protect us from the base collapsing and then he created this hollow tree to allow us to get out. Frankly I'm amazed he lasted this long."
"Good thing he did." Hotaru shuddered thinking of what would have happened if he didn't. Being buried alive wasn't something she wanted to experience. Ever. "So what now?"
"We still have to find my students," Kurenai stated. She didn't want to think of the possibility that they might be already dead or dying under several tons of soil and crystal, but her too logical mind insisted that it was the most likely possibility. If that was so, there was nothing she could do for them. No matter how much she wanted to dig through the whole area with her bare hands. There was just too much ground to cover to be humanely possible. Hotaru was entertaining similar thoughts, only she was worrying about her teammates.
"What are we going to do with him?" she pointed at the unconscious Tenzo. "We can't leave him here and we can't drag him along through this." She pointed at the mess of tree branches all around them.
"Then you stay with him and I'll search," Kurenai decided. She didn't wait for an answer and took off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Outside the base~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was almost evening when the two groups finally found each other. Dragging Tenzo to the camp Hana had set took a bit longer, so by the time everybody was at one place it was already dark. Their group was in a sorry state. They could only hope that they wouldn't be attacked, because they had only three people who were in the state to put up a fight.
Hinata awoke shortly after the teams were reunited. Hana, who by now was about to succumb to her injuries and exhaustion, checked her over briefly and declared her healthy enough. Then she enlisted her help in taking care of the wounded. But with their injuries already treated, there was little to do beside sit and watch for some change in their condition. Soon everybody who could went to sleep, only those who were on guard duty remaining awake.
Hinata sat nearby the sleeping people, others, looking like misery personified. She obviously needed someone to comfort her, but Shino was still unconscious, Kiba had fussed over his injured sister and her dogs until he exhausted himself and fell asleep and Kurenai, as the person in the best condition, was doing her best to provide security for their small camp. Naruto realized that it was up to him. He walked up to the girl and sat down next to her.
"What's wrong?" he asked. She sighed and looked down. For a moment it seemed she wouldn't answer, but then she spoke.
"I'm sorry I messed up," Hinata said, looking like a kicked puppy. Kurenai-sensei had tried to cheer her up earlier, but it had little effect.
"What do you mean?" the boy inquired.
"I told Kiba to release the prisoners."
"You just wanted to help."
"It was naive of me," Hinata said, her eyes downcast. "I really thought they'd be grateful to us..."
"Don't feel so down about it," Naruto advised her. "It was a logical assumption. But Orochimaru's people are fanatics. Logic doesn't apply to them."
"I should have known. I've heard about that, but..." she trailed off.
"It's one thing to hear about it and another to live through it," Naruto said. "Some things are hard to believe until you see them with your own eyes."
"I nearly got us killed," Hinata said.
"That happens to everyone," Naruto said. "You survived, so you can learn from the experience." The girl nodded, but she didn't look convinced.
"I failed our first C-rank," she said after a moment of silence. "Father is going to be so disappointed.
"What do you mean, you failed the mission?" Naruto questioned. "It was a trap from the beginning. It was impossible to complete. And there were four of you, five if you count Akamaru. Every one of them could have noticed the trap but didn't. Don't take responsibility for everything that happened."
"If I just used my Byakugan, I could have spotted the trap."
"As I said, there were four others who could have spotted the trap. Don't blame yourself. And even if you did spot the trap, then what? Weren't there too many enemies for you to defeat?"
"We could have avoided them."
"Maybe, maybe not," Naruto shrugged.
"I should have been better." Hinata was still depressed.
"You did well," Naruto tried to cheer her up. "You downed that one man so they couldn't carry you away before I got to you."
"I still feel it wasn't enough. I should have been able to take him down. I'm a Hyuuga. The Main Family. I'm supposed to be strong. To complete all missions without trouble."
"It doesn't work that way," Naruto said. "Unpredictable stuff happens all the time. Do you want to hear about how I messed up on my first C-rank?" Hinata looked a bit interested, so he told her. The girl listened attentively. She made a horrified gasp when he got to the part where he fell off the cliff. "Don't look so scared," Naruto told her. "I'm still here." Hinata nodded.
"I wish I were as strong as you," she said forlornly.
"It isn't fun as it sounds," Naruto replied. Hinata looked at him questioningly. She didn't like the expression in his face when he said it. As if he was recalling something unspeakably terrible. She wanted to ask, but something told her she rather shouldn't. She most certainly wouldn't like the answer.
"How can I be strong?" she asked instead, just to break the awkward silence. She immediately wondered why did she say this of all things. She? Strong? Everybody agreed that she was weak, and that included her. Being strong was an impossible dream.
"First you must believe you can be strong," Naruto answered. Hinata found herself listening attentively. Maybe he'll say something that'd actually work? "If you believe you'll fail, then you'll fail."
"How can I believe I can be strong?"
"Uh..." Naruto scratched his head. He wasn't very good at giving sage advice and he had already met his quota for today. "Just think of all you've accomplished. Then think of what more you can do." Hinata looked down. She hadn't accomplished much. Naruto realized that he had said the wrong thing, though he didn't understand why. But he felt he should do something before the girl broke down crying. He did the only thing that came to mind: he hugged Hinata around the shoulders. The girl stiffened for a bit and then blushed deep red. Naruto couldn't see it thanks to her hair covering her face. "You are strong. Don't forget it."
Hinata's heart sped up. A boy was hugging her and telling her nice things? What was it? Could it be... she didn't almost dare to think about it ... that he liked her? No, Hinata told herself, he barely knew her. He was just being nice and trying to cheer her up. She shouldn't read more into it. But she had to admit that this was like a scene from a fairy tale. A hero had saved her and now he was sitting next to her. All that was missing was a declaration of love and then they would live happily ever after. Only this wasn't a fairy tale and there won't be the happy end. Or even the declaration of love. Once they'd return to Konoha he'd leave on another mission and she'd have to return to her clan, to her father's cold eyes and Neji-niisan's hateful ones and Hanabi's condescending ones. This fairy tale moment will become only a distant memory. But it was a memory she was going to cherish, that much she knew for sure.
Then Naruto let go of her and Hinata felt a sense of loss. She wished he'd hold her longer, perhaps even never let her go, but it wasn't to be. He didn't like her that way. And why would he? She was just plain little Hinata, not strong, not beautiful. But she hoped that Naruto would do it again.
She wanted to say something to bring the fairy tale moment back, but she was interrupted by a whine. One of the Haimaru triplets moved in his sleep and that made his wound hurt. Hinata walked over to him and patted his head trying to comfort him. The dog soon quieted down. When the animal fell back asleep, Naruto was no longer in the camp, having left to patrol the surroundings. Hinata sighed. Of course he wouldn't stay with her, he had other duties to attend to. They belonged into different worlds. But she still hoped she'd see him again. Even if it was from a distance.
Shino woke up the next morning. He felt groggy, but Hana was certain that he'd recover fully. The young Aburame was feeling down because a part of his hive died as a result of whatever the Sound jailors had used on him. But enough of his kikaichuu had survived for the colony to recover. And as a nice bonus some of those he had spread all over the base went undiscovered and now could supply valuable info about the enemy. Especially the general location of one of Orochimaru's bases sounded useful.
Shortly after that they were approached by another Konoha team who had noticed the cloud of dust caused by the base collapsing and came to investigate. That helped the teams solve the problem how to get back to Konoha when they had so many wounded. Everybody was grateful for it. This nightmare of a mission was finally over.
That's it for today. and this time without a cliffhanger for a change.
Next time: The gears of wars shift. And many characters make a reappearance.