Chapter 17 - Under the Crescent Moon
"Oh, Tobi is back!" White Zetsu remarked, as he saw his boss coming out of the swirling pattern. "You're alone?"
"I am. Konan didn't accept my proposal. Still, Amegakure is now ours again." Madara announced.
"I see." Black Zetsu said, before taking his attention back to the herbal medicine he was preparing. "I should be done in a moment."
"Actually, you should be the one to deliver that." Madara told to his second in command. "They'll believe it to be real if you're the one to deliver it."
"Perhaps. The way you made your proposal should have scared her. You know, hitting her and all..." Black Zetsu remembered. "Speaking of which, how's your new arm?"
"Just fine. You did a good job." Madara complimented Zetsu, while he stretched his new left arm, the one Zetsu made for him after the Raikage got rid of the old one. The plant-looking shinobi closed the medicine pot and nodded to Madara. "Ok, time to go. I want you to find me target number 3."
"Number 3, huh?" White Zetsu let out a devious smirk. "Are you intending to make a harem, Tobi?"
"Tell me you didn't just say that..." Black Zetsu mumbled.
"Ahah, while it's a quite suggestive idea, I don't intend to do that." Madara didn't seem upset by Zetsu's remark. They walked out of the Mountain's Graveyard, until they reached the only tree in a four mile radius. "Do it."
"Hai." Zetsu approached the tree and his black half merged with it, leaving the white part outside.
"I hate this! How come I'm always hanging outside?" White Zetsu complained.
"Because this is my ability. Not yours." Black Zetsu answered in a more aggressive tone he expected. With the white half mumbling about how unfair it was, the black half focused on the land, until he found Madara's target. "In the border of the Land of Fire with the Land of Wind, 10 miles south from the Land of Grass."
"Good. As expected from you Zetsu. I'll be leaving then." Madara complimented Zetsu once again, while the black half came out of the tree and before the swirling pattern appeared again. "When I come back, I expect her to be waiting for us."
"Yes, Madara-sama." Black Zetsu forced the white one to bow, while Madara disappeared.
"Damn it! I hate when you do that!" White Zetsu started to complain again, causing his other half to sigh.
Naruto was staring to where the girls went. They had left for awhile and he was feeling nervous. He wanted to speak with Hinata but didn't know what to say. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up, seeing Nawirama by his side.
"They're girls. They always take a long time doing what they do." Nawirama told Naruto, before sitting by his side. The only Genin of the team seemed to be even more upset since Nawirama's arrival. "You can talk to me if you want to. Keeping things to yourself isn't going to help."
"I'm sorry Nawirama-taichou. I shouldn't have doubted what you said earlier." Naruto said while looking down, feeling worse as he remembered how he doubted Nawirama earlier.
Flashback
"Sorry, I'm late." Kakashi, with his characteristic eye smile, rubbed the back of his head as he arrived to the meeting point. "There was this old lady..."
"Liar!" Sakura and Naruto both shouted, their eyes blank and two accusatory fingers pointed towards Kakashi.
"Geez, too loud." Shikamaru mumbled, as he felt the start of a headache.
"I, well, I think it's nice of Kakashi-sensei to help an elder." The innocent Hinata tried to defend Kakashi, but Sakura started waving her hand frenetically.
"Wrong! I bet he was reading one of those perverted books of Jiraiya-sama!" Sakura accurately threw her words, causing Kakashi to sweatdrop.
"Darn, there goes my reputation..." Kakashi thought as he saw Hinata blushing and putting her hands in front of her mouth, while Sakura explained the contents of the books.
"Hey guys, sorry." Nawirama waved as he arrived. In fact, he was the last one to reach the front gates. "There was this old lady..."
"Don't pull Kakashi-sensei on us Nawirama-taichou! There's no old lady!"
"In fact there is, Naruto." The surprised Nawirama answered. "I was visiting mom."
End of Flashback
"Oh, don't worry about that Naruto-kun. I know you like my mother a lot and I take no offense about what you said, but you have to admit that she's an old lady. A very old one by the way." Naruto chuckled by hearing Tsunade's son talking about her like that. If she ever dreamed...
"He seems pretty sociable now that he isn't trying to kill me..." Naruto thought. "How is she?"
"I went there with Shizune in the morning. That's why I was the last to reach Shikaku's office. She says that mom's stable and that her chances are very good." Naruto seemed relieved to hear that and smiled to his team leader. "I went back there after lunch and once again lost track of time."
"I'm glad to hear that, Nawirama-taichou. I really miss baachan."
"Yeah, mom's great." Nawirama sighed and tried to look serious. "Naruto, stop with the taichou or sensei things. I don't like it. Just Nawirama, ok?"
"Ok, Nawirama-ta..." Naruto smiled before staring back to the place from where the two girls should be coming out.
"That wasn't the only thing troubling you, was it?" Nawirama stared to where Naruto was staring as well. "My senpais already told me about Hinata liking you and you seem to like her too, so, why don't you talk with her about it?" Nawirama asked, causing Naruto to stare in shock to his taichou.
"How does he know that I...oh wait, Sakura..." Naruto frowned before answering. "We talked yesterday. I told her that I want to know her better because I'm still not sure if what I feel is..." Nawirama nodded as he was speaking. He knew that this was hard for Naruto.
"I saw you didn't trade a word during the trip. I think you can't keep without talking with her. That will only hurt both of you." Naruto looked at him. He didn't want to hurt her so he agreed that he really should do that. "I'm not saying to talk about how you feel yet. Just talk. Ask things about her. When you feel ready, tell her."
"Eh, your advices on this are way better than Pervy Sage's. He would just tell me to go and..." Naruto stopped and blushed by remembering Jiraiya's 'mentoring speeches'.
"Pervy Sage, huh?" Nawirama pondered that for awhile. "Good nickname if it is for Jiraiya-sama..."
"Oh yeah, you knew him, right?"
"A bit. He was the one who gave me most intel about the village. He even taught me one thing or two."
"You know Nawirama, the first time we met, something was telling me that I shouldn't fight you and now I know why. Thank you, you're great." Nawirama opened his mouth for a second and looked down before answering.
"I'm here always you need to talk kid." Nawirama assured and they both traded a similar silly grin. Nawirama then put both hands behind his head and let himself fall back into the grass. "Geez, Shikaku's right."
"About what?"
"Women are troublesome...I just asked for some water." Nawirama sighed and Naruto laughed for a long while, something that made Nawirama a lot happier.
"Nothing, huh?" The disappointed Shikaku let himself fall into his chair.
"Ibiki tried everything, but he didn't say one word. That's saying something." Inoichi explained. "As for my Mind Reading Jutsu...well, he was prepared for it. His mind was completely closed. It's impossible for me to remove the barriers in it. He did a better job than Pain."
"That's really something." Shikaku rubbed his chin for a second, enough time for him to have an idea. He quickly snatched some files from the far left end of his table and started to search for a name. "I sent Choza and a large portion of my ANBU to the Root's underground base. We made Danzo's men surrender and they've all been imprisoned in special cells. Then, I sent some Hyugas and Inuzukas to search for evidence, but the only thing we could find was this."
"That's bad. We can only judge him for what he did at the summit, then." Inoichi stated before looking into the files. "The names of Danzo's men?"
"Every single one. We confirmed." Shikaku nodded. "There were 10 men missing, besides the two that disappeared in the summit. The 10 should have been carrying out missions."
"Were? Did we find them already?" Inoichi questioned.
"Two were following Anko. She killed them when they attacked her. I suppose the others are going after Kabuto." The Sixth answered. "As for the two bodyguards, I've made a circle around their names."
"Torune Aburame and Fu...Yamanaka..." Inoichi mumbled the last name.
"You think it's possible for him to know a jutsu capable of blocking someone's mind the way it did to Danzo's?" Shikaku asked.
"I think there's something in the old Yamanaka scrolls that can." Inoichi answered with a confident grin. "I'll have to do some research, but when I find it, I'll be able to break the jutsu for sure. I'll start right now."
"I thrust you on this, Inoichi." Inoichi nodded and turned towards the door, but Shikaku interrupted him before he left. "Try to finish it by today. Tomorrow you and Ibiki will start interrogating the Root ANBUs."
"Geez, what a drag..." Inoichi couldn't believe he was going to have even more work. As he opened the door, Yamato and Guy were standing in front of him. "Good luck. Perhaps you'll only have an A-Rank mission after this meeting."
"What was that about?" Guy asked to his partner who shook his head.
"Beats me." Yamato said before knocking on the already opened door. "May we, Hokage-sama?"
"Come in." Shikaku quickly put the Root documents aside and anxiously stood. "I know Anko was been brought back safely, along with Iruka and Genma. What about Kabuto?"
"We...we lost him, Hokage-sama." Yamato nervously informed his village leader, who seemed disappointed. "He summoned a chakra-suppressing worm snake, that was too fast for us too follow. He crossed the border with the Land of Hot Water and..."
"You couldn't follow him, because Kabuto isn't being hunted by the Land of Hot Water, so you couldn't enter their territory." Shikaku concluded and sighed. "I don't know why Kabuto isn't considered a S-rank criminal yet. With all the Akatsuki business going on, it will be difficult, but I'll work on that. Once he's considered one, we'll be able to search for him in any country."
"Take your time Hokage-sama." Yamato spoke. "Kabuto is not much of a threat."
Flashback
"Fire Style: Hand of Flames" As soon as Kabuto landed on the ground, Anko performed the hand seals and shoot another flame stream from her right hand. Kabuto got up quickly however and performed a set of seals as well.
"Water Style: Hand of Waves" A water stream came from Kabuto's right hand and clashed with Anko's jutsu. Neither of the jutsus had the advantage. Then, Genma appeared behind him with a pair of senbons on his hand but Kabuto blocked them with a dissection blade while struggling to mantain his Water Style jutsu working. Kabuto jumped out of the way and Genma did the same to avoid the incoming stream of flames.
End of Flashback
"According to Neji, who was watching the battle with his Byakugan, Kabuto's attacks were weaker and his movements slower than expected. At a moment, Anko's Hand of Flames defeated his Hand of Waves." Yamato continued.
"A Fire Style jutsu defeated a Water Style one of the same level..." Shikaku once again rubbed his chin.
"If it wasn't for the snakes, Anko-san and the others would win. For that matter, it was only because of the snakes that he escaped." Guy added. "We both spoke about this during the trip back to Konoha and we think his body must be rejecting Orochimaru's remains. Neji even said Kabuto's chakra and Orochimaru's chakra were too disturbed, like they were battling for superiority."
"His body rejecting the remains...There may be the chance we'll die because of them." Yamato further said.
"I don't think he's rejecting the remains." Shikaku said, after a minute of reflection.
"What?" Guy asked and traded a worried look with Yamato.
"I think this is just a phase of a transformation. The remains must be slowly taking over Kabuto. That will make him more like Orochimaru and stronger than ever. It just happens that until the transformation is over, he'll become weaker. Yet again, it's only until it's finished." Shikaku exposed his new theory. "Even if your theory is right, you forget that Kabuto is one of the greatest medical ninja alive. He will delay the side effects until he's completely transformed, or remove the remains before they come too dangerous for him. I think you underestimated him."
Flashback
"Boys, that's enough. Let me and Yamato-san make him surrender to the influence of justice." Guy stepped forward.
"Oh, come on, Guy-sensei! We didn't even warm up yet!" Lee tried to convince his mentor to let them take care of Kabuto.
"I actually agree with Lee this one time, Guy-sensei." Neji supported Lee's point and Shino also nodded in agreement.
"Eh, you should let the boys fight. I think they're already stronger than you." Kabuto kept the argument going on, so he had a little bit more time.
"You're being a bit overconfident boys." Yamato told them. "Even though we made some interesting discoveries about his powers, he's still Kabuto."
(...)
"About damn time! Summoning Jutsu" Kabuto shouted, as he slammed his palm into the ground to summon the huge blue snake, Jadoku.
End of Flashback
"Damn...We should've been more serious. We wasted too much time." Yamato frowned and stared to the floor. "Not only the boys, Guy and I too, we were all too careless."
"Kabuto, like his master, does many experiments in humans and don't think for a second that he will stop just because of this. Now was the right time to get him since he's weakened." Shikaku stood from his chair, seemingly worried.
"Hokage-sama, please don't blame this mistake on our students' flames of youth." Guy tried to reason with Shikaku. "It was my and Tenzo's fault that we let him escape."
"I won't punish anyone Guy. I just hope that I'm wrong..."
"Hokage-sama, I just came from the hospital." Shizune entered the office without knocking. "Anko has been treated and is already standing. Genma woke up but has to stay there for awhile until he completely recovers from his sprained back. The biggest problem is Iruka...Anko said that Iruka got hit hard in the torso by Muda's tail. Almost every rib was broken and some muscles ripped. He's out of danger now but he will have a hard time until he's completely recovered."
"Ouch, poor Iruka. I'll visit them later." Shikaku's worried look disappeared, a smile appearing in its place. "I hope that by then he's awake to receive some good news."
"Can we go, Hokage-sama? I would like to speak with my students and also to see Anko-san and Genma-san." Guy asked and Shikaku allowed. Both Jounins bowed and left towards the door, but Yamato stopped for a moment.
"I'm very sorry for what happened, Shikaku-sama."
"Don't worry, Yamato. The important thing is that those three are safe now." Shikaku said with a smile.
"Oh, we forgot about something." Yamato suddenly remembered what they found during their hunting trip. The Wood Style user delivered a pair of scrolls to the Rokudaime. "In these scrolls are sealed the corpses or what remained of 9 dead Root members that we found. Two were killed by Anko and the others by Kabuto."
"Anko had already told me about them...Thanks, Yamato." The ANBU slightly bowed before closing the door. Shikaku returned to his chair and sighed. "What a drag..."
"What's wrong, Hokage-sama?" Shizune worriedly asked.
"For a first day, it has been too troublesome already...Kabuto escaped, Inoichi couldn't find anything in Danzo's mind and, to make things worse, three Jounin were injured and 9 ANBUs were killed." Shikaku revealed. "I wonder where is the 10th..."
"Did you...did you receive any news from Team Kakashi and Team Nawirama?" Shizune tried to know.
"No Shizune, I didn't, but we'll know something by tomorrow." Shizune still looked worried. "Don't worry, you more than anyone should know how strong he is. They will all come back safe."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Shizune gave a weak smile and turned to walk out of the office.
"The sun has set. They should have been here by now." A male ANBU with a ponytail spoke to his team leader. He had a red coloured tattoo on his right upper arm.
"I know that Towa, but we can't leave until they find us." The leader, a woman with long purple hair, answered.
"Someone's coming." The other female ANBU, the one with long blond hair put together by six senbons, said. Shortly after, the teams from Suna and Iwa appeared in front of them.
"Sorry for the delay. We had some...trouble, before we started our mission." Ittan spoke and the two Sand Siblings didn't miss the jab of the Iwa Jounin.
"That one is..." The ANBU leader had her eyes focused on the man with red markings on his face. Seeing their leader's reaction, the other two ANBUs traded a worried look.
"Well, we should go back to Konoha then. We still have to report to Hokage-sama by tonight." Towa spoke instead of his captain, trying to hurry things up.
"Yes, you can now go back to...Ugh!" Baki was interrupted by a hard kick to the face from the ANBU leader. Neither Towa nor Komachi's eyes were able to follow her dash. She took off her mask and drew her sword. Yugao started to run towards Baki again but was stopped by Kankuro's chakra strings.
"Let me go!" Yugao shouted to the puppet master. "I'll kill you right here, Baki!"
"This is my chance!" Kurotsuchi took advantage of the situation and slowly walked away from the group.
"Who do you think you are to attack our team leader?" Temari demanded an answer.
"Who I am doesn't matter. Finally I'll be able to avenge Hayate Gekko, the man your leader killed the last time he was in Konoha!" Yugao's voice was almost to the point of being a screech.
"The invasion of Konoha..." Kankuro thought. "Sorry lady, but we can't..."
"Very well, you can kill me Yugao. Release her, Kankuro." Baki ordered, before letting himself fall to his knees, his head hanged down, waiting for the touch of Yugao's sword.
"Don't do this, Yugao." The female ANBU tried to reason with her leader.
"Shut up, Komachi! I've been waiting for this for too long!"
"I don't know what went on between you both, but this won't solve anything!" Kizu stepped forward.
"This will only create dissension between our villages." Ittan slightly bent, ready to slam his palm into the ground, so he could save Baki with a Earth Style jutsu.
"I won't release..." Kankuro was once again interrupted but this time by a scream that came from behind them. Everybody turned to see Madara Uchiha with a knocked out Kurotsuchi on his right shoulder.
"You!" Temari shouted before summoning her iron fan. "Give her back!"
"Aaah aah, I'm in no mood to fight! I just wanted to talk with Kuro-chan but she's too hot-headed like her brother Deidara-senpai!" Madara was jumping around in front of them, using his Tobi voice. Kankuro immediately activated a scroll and summoned the puppet with red hair that wore a white vestment. "Is that...? Ohoh, hey Sasori-senpai! Long time no see!"
"Secret Red Move: Machinery Triangles" Sasori's head dettached and the puppet launched triangle-shaped blades from its neck and palms but all passed through Madara's body. "Damn it!"
"Kankuro..." Temari whispered to call her brother. Komachi threw dozens of senbons but every one of them passed through Madara's body.
"Ahah, itchy itchy!" Tobi giggled without apparently noticing Towa and Kizu moving behind him. The tattoo on Towa's right arm was already spreading to the rest of his body, while Kizu was motioning for a sword slash.
"Chakra Flowing Tattoo: Drill" Red chakra leaked from the pattern in Towa's right arm and formed a large drill around it. Towa's piercing attack and Kizu's sword slash passed by Madara's body as well.
"Surprise!" Tobi hit a thrust kick in Kizu's jaw, sending him flying. Then, he it Towa in the jaw with his elbow and followed with a spinning kick that sent him some meters away as well. All of this was done with Kurotsuchi on his shoulder. By kicking Towa, the Akatsuki leader turned his back on all other shinobi. Suddenly, Tobi backflipped over the senbon threwn by Komachi. "Be careful ANBU-san, you could have hit Kuro-chan with your itchy itchy needles!"
"This is bigger than the two of us." Baki said as he saw Madara turning to them once more. "If we don't put our differences aside, then neither of us will leave this place alive. We'll have to team up."
"Grrr...this means nothing Baki!" Yugao said as she pointed her sword from Baki to the Akatsuki Leader. Baki stood by her side and prepared to fight him as well.
"We have to find a way to take her from him so I can attack with my Wind Style." Temari explained to her brother.
"It may just pass through him but it's our best option, right?" Kankuro asked and his sister nodded.
"Aahah Kuro-chan, Suna's big mean shinobi-san and Konoha's miss ANBU-san are getting mad at Tobi..." Tobi babbled as he put Deidara's sister on the ground. "Why? Isn't Tobi a good boy?"
"Is he really Madara Uchiha?" Komachi asked doubtfully.
"Don't let him fool you! He took out Towa with just one kick." Yugao remembered her fellow ANBU who nodded.
"Wind Style: Violent Wind Palm" Baki performed the seals and a gust of concentrated wind advanced towards Tobi who was struggling to make up a decision of how to counter until he started to dig a hole with his hands before hiding in there. "Tsk...He's hiding like a mole..."
"So his style is Earth, huh?" Yugao channeled her lightning chakra into her katana and started to run across the battlefield, dragging the blade across the ground. A big fissure opened and Tobi popped out of there.
"Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu is used by channeling earth chakra into the soil to change earth into sand so the user can dig it and hide in there." Baki analyzed the jutsu used by Madara. "With the field covered with earth chakra it was easy for Yugao to cut through it with her lightning chakra. Wind Style: Blade of Wind" Baki gathered wind chakra around his right forearm before waving it, releasing the chakra in the form a huge blade of wind.
"Aahh! The powerful wind blade that can't be blocked! I'm done!" Tobi screamed in horror as Baki's jutsu was about to hit him. At the last second however, Tobi's body disappeared and the wind blade continued to move until it vanished. Tobi chuckled as he appeared some meters farther from Kurotsuchi. "Fooled ya!"
"Catch!" Yugao launched her lightning chakra enveloped katana like an harpoon but it also passed through the Akatsuki's body without hurting him.
"Right on!" Kankuro capitalized on Madara's distraction to sneak near the place where he had dropped Kurotsuchi. The puppet master used the long cable that Sasori had coiled around the pole in his stomach to pick the kunoichi. Two seconds after Yugao's katana had passed through Madara's body, the Akatsuki leader appeared to grab the cable with his left hand as it was about to reach Kurotsuchi. "No way!"
"His jutsu is amazing! It's like he can move at the speed of light!" Temari thought in amazement but also fear.
"You've been testing my patience for too long." Everybody shivered as they noticed the change in their opponent's voice. Now, nobody doubted they were in the presence of the one Madara Uchiha. The swirling pattern appeared in Madara's right eye and started to suck Sasori's cable into it, pulling the puppet towards him. "I'll start with you, Monzaemon follower."
"Let it go Kankuro, or you'll be sucked too!" Temari worriedly shouted to her brother.
"I...I can hold...Aahh!" The whirl pattern started to spin faster and pulled Sasori by its cable and Kankuro along with it. Yugao rushed forward and thrusted the lightning surge in her hand to break the cable, stopping Kankuro and Sasori from certain doom. As they were getting up, Madara kicked Yugao in the gut, sending her flying against a tree. Then, he picked Sasori by its left wrist and swung it against the puppet user, knocking him back. Komachi started to pick more senbons from her hair but Madara appeared in front of her and punched her hard in the gut, knocking her also.
"Damn it! Wind Style: Whirlwind Fist" Baki shouted and punched in Madara's direction, releasing a compressed whirlwind towards him.
"You were doubting I was Madara Uchiha, weren't you? Then how about...Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu" Madara spat the fireball against the whirlwind and just before they connected, Ittan slammed his palm into the ground, causing the soil where he, Temari and Baki were standing to go upwards. The fireball turned into an enormous fire whirlwind that burned until it reached the natural wall raised by Ittan. That didn't stop Madara however, as he appeared in front of both men and grabbed them by their throats, lifting them into the air. "You can't do anything, can you girl?"
"You monster!" Temari shouted as she knew he was right. She couldn't attack as long as someone was near him and there was the chance she wouldn't hit him if she tried to. Baki and Ittan struggled to breathe until they fainted. Only then Madara dropped them. "I won't go down easily, Madara!" She shouted, but instead of coming in her direction, he was walking towards Kurotsuchi to pick her up.
"It would be a waste of time to both of us, girl. You know that. See ya!" Madara said before using his space-time jutsu to send himself and the Iwa kunoichi to the Mountain's Graveyard.
"That...monster..." Temari thought as she dropped to her knees and furiously punched the ground.
"I sure had some fun. I'll find the others tomorrow." Madara said, before putting Kurotsuchi in a bed. A figure in the shadows opened her eyes, her back layed against the wall. "Then, when all our new friends are gathered, we'll move to our new hideout."
Anko layed back on the chair with a bottle of sake on her right hand and a plate with her favourite dangos on her lap. For some strange reason, she was having a hard time swallowing the dangos and could only do it with the help of alchohol. She looked at the bottle for more but it was already empty.
She looked to the other side of the room. Genma was already sleeping. He tried to walk out of the bed when he learned that Kabuto escaped but his back was hurting too much. The nurses even threatned to knock him out if he didn't calm down.
Anko's left hand was all bandaged up as it was her torso. Her ankle was already recovered though. She didn't feel pain anymore, perhaps because of the alchohol excess, but she felt some itching in her belly that she was having a hard time trying to deal with.
In front of her, Iruka was sleeping peacefully. He had a hard time breathing earlier since that's a very hard thing to do with a broken rib and Muda had broken almost every single one of them. Anko thought that she should be the one in the bed instead of him, as she picked his hand.
"Why are you always doing this Iruka?" Anko whispered. A tear rolled down the face of the woman known as having a stone in the place of her heart.
"This is no good. How can I fight the Akatsuki without sleeping for two straight nights?" Naruto woke up only a few minutes after falling asleep and he couldn't do it again. The blond slowly stood and opened the tent carefully so he wouldn't wake Nawirama. After closing it, he stretched and put on his jacket. He stared at the crescent moon for awhile before a sneeze called his attention. He looked to his right side and saw Hinata laying against a tree and watching the stars. He stood there for awhile looking at her. She wasn't wearing her normal lavander jacket but pnly a black top over a short sleeved mail.
"Put this on or you'll get a cold." Hinata jumped as she wasn't expecting to hear his voice. She looked at him and saw him handing over his jacket.
"Oh! Th-thank you N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said while putting his jacket over her shoulders. She was so sure that everybody was already sleeping when she came out.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Naruto sat down against the tree.
"Y-yes, I mean no, I mean...I couldn't sleep..." Hinata answered in a clumsy way, causing Naruto to chuckle. She seated by his side and both stared to the stars for awhile. "I'm happy to see that you're feeling better. You were acting weird the entire trip."
"Yeah, I talked with Nawirama for awhile. He's great." Naruto turned to look at her at the same time she did, resulting in both blushing and Naruto rubbing the back of his head.
"Y-you can talk with me about what troubles you, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata shyly said while she played with her fingers.
"I don't want to bother you, Hinata. It's all good now. Don't worry with me." Naruto grinned at her.
"O-of course I do. I don't want to see you sad." Hinata said while looking down.
"I don't want to see you like that either Hi-Hina-chan." Hinata stared at him without caring about hiding her blush. "Uh, why did you call me that yesterday?"
"Huh?" Hinata blushed even more and turned once again to the sky. "You called me Hina-chan so I came up with Naru-kun for you. You don't like it?" Hinata nervously looked at him again.
"I do Hina-chan." Both smiled at eachother and Naruto noticed how beautiful she was while smiling. While looking at her, he noticed that she was shivering. By instinct Naruto put his right arm over her shoulders but she squeaked. The blond immediately took off his arm. "S-sorry Hinata. I saw you shiver so... Maybe it's better to..." Naruto was about to stand when Hinata grabbed his arm.
"I, I don't mind." Hinata once again blushed. "I just w-wasn't expecting that." Slowly, Naruto wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head against his chest. After some minutes Hinata yawned and Naruto who had his eyes almost closed looked at her.
"Perhaps we should go to our tents. I you fall asleep and I take you to yours, Sakura will kill me on the moment." Naruto whispered regretfully. To his surprise, Hinata groaned. She was almost sleeping and wasn't paying attention to what she was saying or doing. Naruto helped her to stand and they went to their tents. Before entering, they stood there looking at eachother.
"I really liked this moment. We should do it again sometime." Naruto grinned at her.
"Thank you, I liked it too." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and blushed before saying. "Good night Naru-kun."
"Sleep well, Hina-chan." He watched her entering her tent before doing the same.
"Uh, not...not now Zu...Zune-chan." Nawirama sleep-talked. Naruto chuckled while he closed the tent before laying down. Relieved by understanding what he was feeling a little better, Naruto finally fell asleep.
Next Chapter: Killer Bee vs Kisame
-Nawirama13