A/N: Here we go, here we go, here we go again, oh here we go again! Hopefully this chapter is a bit more interesting than the last one.

A fortnight had passed since Naruto's undeniable proof of his hunter identity had surfaced and he had made a certain amount of progress. He could now split in two and stay that way for nearly ten minutes before he was forced to reattach. Sasuke had been training him to use his father's weapons in between bouts of exercising his power. Naruto had found the sturdy dagger infinitely preferable to a sword; it was lightweight, durable in it's uses and perfect for a quick strike.

Naruto had been rather put out the first time he had practiced with the throwing knives however. Sasuke had set up targets at varying heights around the domed arena wall and then pulled out a set of throwing knives he had borrowed from Tenten. After showing Naruto the best way to handle them for an accurate hit he had performed a complicated flip in midair and hit every one of the targets, dead centre.

"I thought your weapon was your sword?" he had asked grumpily.

Sasuke had merely smirked however. "Just because my preferred weapon is the sword doesn't erase the need to be adept in other areas. Itachi always lectured me on the importance of being able to improvise. If I am separated from my weapon I need to be able to use any weapon available or even make my own."

So although Naruto mainly practiced with his own weapons Sasuke made sure that he had, at least, handled various others. Sasuke had shown him the correct way to hold each of them and what the basic strikes were, something which would be important later on.

"When facing an unknown opponent we can at least have a little knowledge of their weapons and how they may strike at you," Sasuke had told him logically.

His teacher, as Naruto mockingly called him, had even gone as far as to bring volunteers to the arena to share their own experience. Naruto had seen some amazing mock battles in the past week. Tenten and Lee had been glad to go head to head, Lee with his nunchaku and Tenten her sansetsukon(1). They had fought so vigorously that Sasuke had asked them to slow down and show Naruto the basics of their movements before continuing. In the end Tenten had pinned Lee to the ground with her staff under his chin after tripping him by sending wooden throwing stars flying at the backs of his knees. She was a formidable opponent as various flying weapons orbited her during battle, flying in to attack whenever there was an opening controlled, of course, by her telekinetic ability. Naruto had nearly been hit by one of the practice throwing stars after Lee had used his superior speed to dodge the ten or so madly rotating objects that had flown at him. Luckily Tenten had commanded it to stop in midair just before it made contact.

Naruto had also been treated to a tutorial on the correct handling of sai by Sai himself. The strange man had apparently named himself after the weapon when he no longer remembered his birth name due to amnesia. It seemed the coven was full of people with strange or tragic pasts. Naruto supposed he should have expected it since discovering that a war raged under everyone's noses. War always led to suffering and families were often broken up. The sai had turned out to be surprisingly strange to handle; Naruto had initially tried to hold them like he would his dagger before being corrected. They were durable, yes, but it would be an unnecessarily complicated process to become well practiced in their use.

Overall Naruto was glad when he was allowed to fight with his dagger. It was such a simple weapon with so many possibilities. He had just retrieved his throwing knives from several targets that he'd managed to hit and a few he hadn't, when Sasuke descended from the steps where he had been reading one of his heavy books.

"I think that's enough for now, why don't we go for lunch?" said Sasuke moving to take the targets down from their hooks on the curved arena walls and using a hooked pole to remove the ceiling ones.

"But I'm still missing some of the targets," protested Naruto.

Sasuke gave him a pensive look. "You've made a lot of progress."

"But I still need to improve."

"You have your whole life to improve. In two weeks you've learnt the basics of self defence and even mastered striking back to a certain degree. Not to mention controlling your powers. It's more than most people could manage."

"Ah, 'cause I'm special, eh?" said Naruto with a satisfied grin.

-0-

"You're special because you have hunter blood in you. Which of course makes you no more special than me or anyone else here," lied Sasuke.

It was a true enough statement designed to deflate Naruto's ego but at the same time something about it nagged at Sasuke. Of course Naruto's fighting instinct and the remarkable way he learned the necessary skills at such speed could easily be attributed to his hunter blood. No, what bothered Sasuke was Naruto's surprisingly firm grip on his powers. He had warned Naruto against the pull of demonic magicks which everybody felt and fought against but as far as he could tell Naruto had so far felt no such pull. Although this was in some ways a blessing Sasuke was not so naive that he could believe it would remain this way. Sooner or later Naruto was bound to come across the same decision they all had to face and he had a nasty feeling that should the dilemma present itself later it would be even more formidable than normal.

"Hmm I suppose so. I still wouldn't mind training some more."

"Have you finished packing?"

"Well... no."

"Then training is over for today. Go and pack, I'll tidy up and meet you in the kitchen."

Sasuke had been called to Tsunade's office as soon as he'd returned from his hunting in the early hours of yesterday morning. She had invited him to sit as she settled into her tall chair behind the dark wood desk. Sasuke usually knew why he was being summoned so when he was in the dark he took it as an ill omen.

"I'm sending Naruto away to Hyuuga forest to complete his training," she told him simply, as if she were merely informing him of his next target.

"What in demon's name?!" burst Sasuke, unable to contain himself. "You entrusted his training to me and now you want to pack him off to the mountains?"

It wasn't as if he really cared about Naruto but Sasuke felt that after she had forced him into his position as Naruto's teacher she could at least let him see it through. He had invested a great deal of hard work into the matter and didn't want his... what? Student? Trainee? Apprentice? ...Friend? Whatever Naruto was to him he heartily objected to handing his training over to the Hyuuga's!

"Don't worry, Sasuke, you'll be going with him," Tsunade said pleasantly.

Sasuke gaped. Well that just hardened his resolve. "No." He flat out refused to go and live with the damn Hyuuga clan.

"Be grateful, isn't this what you keep bugging me about? The chance to live and train on the surface?"

He knew she was perfectly aware that gratitude was the last thing on his mind. "I've been asking you to let me return to the Uchiha home now that I am stable again."

"Didn't you have another relapse just recently?" she asked shrewdly.

Sasuke didn't pause, "That's not the point-" he tried.

"No," she cut him off, "The point is that the estate is not safe, as you well know! That place would need constant guards, a feat which you alone, no matter how strong, could not accomplish. Now enough of your childish protests, you are going to Evergreen Forest along with Naruto and by the time you both return I expect him to be a fully fledged member of this hunt!"

"You're sending him there to get initiated?" asked Sasuke, suddenly glimpsing a hint of reason in her ridiculous plan.

"Partly, but I made this decision based on the valuable fighting experience he can gain from training with the head of the Hyuuga household. I'm sure you've heard of Hiashi's abilities from Sakura and Ino's time there. It's simply the best place for Naruto to train and you could do with getting out of the city for a while. Try and see it like a holiday if you will, the countryside and mountain air should do you some good. I expect you to come back a looking a bit more... animated. I'd say the same for Naruto... but I don't think I could handle it. You'll be leaving early tomorrow morning with Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru and Tenzou who has business nearby. Pack for a couple of months."

Sasuke was quite frankly appalled at how long he was going to be forced to spend in the company of the Hyuuga family. She wanted Naruto to be a fully fledged hunter by the time they returned? Sasuke had no doubt that Naruto could achieve that in the allotted time period. Sasuke sighed, he had thought Naruto would only have to visit the lake in the Hyuuga forest for his initiation, had even hoped Naruto would be permitted his initiation ceremony on Uchiha ground. The prospect of spending the next few months in the company of the Hyuuga clan was thoroughly depressing for Sasuke so by the time they were ready to depart he was in a foul mood.

-0-

Naruto was so excited. He was going to meet Neji and Hinata's family, he was going to train with the head of the clan as well as Sasuke! But what Naruto was most looking forward to was being above ground, he longed to feel the breeze ruffling his hair, see the vast open sky and watch the sun make it's journey from east to west. He missed being above ground; the novelty of a secret underground lair wore off rather quickly.

They were to depart in the early hours of the morning, when the streets were quietest and the scum of the city had sated their animalistic needs. So after their midnight lunch Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji and Shikamaru gathered in the lounge with their bags in tow, Shikamaru's being rather smaller as he was only joining them for a few days.

Apparently Shikamaru and Tenzou were visiting the town near the Hyuugas' place to sort out some trouble. It hadn't occurred to Naruto before now that lived elsewhere but he supposed it should have been obvious, as all things are once you know the answer. Most demons lived in densely populated areas so most hunters did the same. Sasuke had obviously noted his surprise over the matter as he informed Naruto that 'watchers' were positioned in smaller settlements as well as all over the city, and it was their job to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity and notify the main coven. It all seemed very organised to Naruto and he would have been surprised at how smoothly things operated if he hadn't known how old the system was. The fact that a large proportion of the watchers were people with no magical qualities whatsoever was a bit harder to grasp. This world operated in absolute secrecy yet there were people trusted with the information so that they could be the eyes and ears of the hunters. The watchers, Sasuke informed him, were usually people who had stumbled into their world by accident, much like Naruto had. People who had been rescued and didn't want to just forget the ordeal or the people who had unknowingly built a family with a hunter.

"Ready to go?" asked Shikamaru, snapping Naruto out of his reflection.

Heaving a military style duffle bag over his shoulder Naruto followed their group to the spiral staircase. Sasuke had told him to pack for a few months so Naruto had packed everything he had acquired over his time at the coven, including the new clothes the girls had continued to gift him despite his protests.

"You need clothes and since you can't go and buy them yourself we'll just have to do it for you. Oh come on Naruto, this will look gorgeous on you!" had been Sakura's argument when he tried to give the gifts back, unwilling to accept anymore charity. But Naruto had to admit he liked the clothes they had chosen and since they obviously enjoyed dressing him up he had allowed it to continue. He suspected their persistence had something to do with the way Sasuke refused to accept the same kind of treatment.

Upstairs Juugo greeted them as usual and they made their way through the quiet club. Everything was packed away from the previous night making it seem rather creepy. Instead of heading out of the front entrance they went behind the bar and through a door labelled 'Employees Only' to a lounge with a large number of computers.

"Well having internet connected to an underground labyrinth would be a rather suspicious request to make of an internet service provider," said Sasuke when Naruto questioned it.

"So you don't live in the dark ages?"

"Only down there."

Outside Naruto stood in the sheltered car park, empty apart from an old but powerful looking motorbike and several overflowing dumpsters. It wasn't exactly the wonderful first sight Naruto had been hoping for after resurfacing. They were still in the dark hours before dawn and the dumpsters really stank. Neji led them across the road to a nearby set of garages beneath high rise flats. The garages were filled with an odd assortment of cars, they were all so different Naruto couldn't guess what type of people lived in the tower block. Some of the cars were shiny and new, others old and battered, some sleek, or off road. Naruto eyed a giant motorbike with some longing.

Tenzou was waiting for them beside a old black jeep complete with blacked out windows and chipped paint. "Like our collection?"

"You own all these cars?" asked Naruto in astonishment.

Tenzou laughed, "Certainly not; they belong to the coven, for Hunter's who require them. This is the biggest garage though there are a fair few in the dockyard along with a few boats."

"Boats?!"

Tenzou just laughed again and helped Hinata climb up into the passenger seat. Naruto looked again at the motorbike and wondered if he could persuade Tsunade that he required that one. Sasuke opened the boot to reveal a long seat that faced the rear view window. Naruto clambered in after Sasuke with some difficulty and Shikamaru tossed their bags in.

"How are you two getting there?" asked Naruto; there wasn't enough seats in the small jeep.

"I'm riding with Shikamaru," said Neji nodding towards the motorbike leaning against the back wall of the club. "We'll take a different route and Hinata and I will watch for danger."

As the jeep roared into life Naruto strapped himself in and Sasuke carefully placed his 'umbrella' in his lap. Naruto looked out of the window as Tenzou drove onto the road to see Neji mounting the large motorbike behind Shikamaru. At first glance they appeared to be boyfriend and girlfriend as both were wearing bulky jackets that disguised their figures and Neji's long hair was flowing out of his helmet and down his back.

Naruto chuckled a little. "They look like a couple," he joked, nudging Sasuke.

"They are," he replied without looking.

Hinata giggled from the front seat, "3 years on Neji's birthday."

Naruto made a small noise of surprise and recalled a comment Kiba had made on Neji's birthday about Shikamaru 'keeping him busy' while they prepared the party. It was nice to see that a relationship could succeed in this world of constant fighting. Perhaps Ino and Sakura could get over their arguments some day and be like them. Naruto looked sideways at Sasuke. He wondered if Sasuke would ever enjoy such a stable relationship; the Uchiha was so cold all the time and never gave any indication of wanting company. Sasuke was surrounded by people who seemed to like him but at the same time he was all alone. It made Naruto sad to think of Sasuke always being alone, it was an all to familiar story.

The journey out of the city passed in near silence, neither Sasuke or Hinata were natural conversationalists and Tenzou was listening intently to an old police radio.

"Isn't it illegal to listen in to police channels?" asked Naruto as they were leaving the city.

"We have permission," said Sasuke, still staring out of the window.

"So you work with the Police force?"

"No, just the few who know about us."

"Who's that?"

-0-

Sasuke shrugged, "Kakashi's partner is pretty high up and he said we could use them. I think it was Shikamaru's friend that sorted it though. They know it's for a good cause but it's our protection that really persuades them to bend the rules."

"They'd lose their jobs if they were found out?"

Sasuke nodded, still listening to the Police officers sending their messages. There were only radios in the Hunt's cars but he'd taken it upon himself to learn all the codes for future use and was now cycling through them in his mind. There was a 'disturbance; possible assault' being reported down by the docks. Tenzou grabbed his phone from the dashboard and tossed it to Hinata.

"Call Kiba, he should be able to check it out before patrol cars reach them."

"What's going on?" asked Naruto as Hinata quickly relayed the message to Kiba who had obviously picked the phone up straight away.

"This is our system for dealing with the problem, it's not as effective as the Police but it's the best we can do whilst operating under the radar. We hear something that might be demonic in any way and we call the Hunter who's territory it is."

Kiba called back ten minutes later to tell them that an early morning workman had had a run in with a werewolf. "I broke them up of course."

Hinata bit her lip, "Are you okay?"

"Course I am! I sent that mutt running with his tail between his legs! Not that he had a tail... since it isn't the full moon."

"Are werewolves dangerous without the full moon then?" whispered Naruto who had apparently also been using his special hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Yeah, but they're not blood thirsty, just really bad tempered. They don't transform fully until the full moon when they have to hunt. They're a lot stronger than any normal human though... and a lot more hairy."

As the jeep cruised along the quite roads outside Konoha City Sasuke leant back on the sofa-like seat. The monotony of driving always made him tired and he'd been out for a last hunt in the city early in the night. As they drove past increasingly rural scenery the horizon grew lighter. The road was taking them higher and at one turn Sasuke could see all of Konoha stretching out around the mouth of the great river which they followed towards it's mountain origins. Sasuke and Naruto were perfectly positioned to watch the sun rise through the rear window. The sky was streaked with pink and grey clouds as the suns first rays hit the vast ocean.

But Sasuke had lost interest in the spectacle. Instead he was looking at Naruto's face which had lit up even more so than the sky. Naruto watched with a rapture that surprised Sasuke but kept him riveted. He seemed to receive a burst of energy as the sun rose so that his skin took on a healthy shade of tan and his blue eyes sparkled with it. It was as though Naruto was seeing something infinitely precious for the first time and Sasuke knew that, for Naruto, living underground had been torture. His sunny disposition had distracted perhaps even Naruto himself from the adverse effects of living in the dark but Sasuke suspected that living at the coven constantly as Sasuke was forced to do would not be possible for Naruto. The darkness would eventually erode his bright soul. This was someone who lived in the sunlight.

(1) Sansetsukon/3 sectional staff: Three short wooden staffs connected by chains/rings so they can be swung around in a lot of very complicated moves. Sansetsukon are quite difficult to master but I guess that just proves how good Tenten is, ne?

A/N: I'm glad I still enjoy writing this story. Hope you still enjoy reading it! Please review, ja!

-Yasu