Naruto opening his eyes to see something that made him groan and close them again. Gaara's smug face right in front of him spinning a camera around on a finger by the string. "What do you want?"
"Nothin'," he said with a grin that belonged more on a Cheshire cat than a raccoon-dog. "Just wondering if I should show this little picture to Din or not," he said before catching the camera and pocketing it. "And in other news, while you were gone yesterday, our partners arrived."
Naruto stretched as he uncurled himself and said, "Yeah, who are…they?" Konan still hung on his arm. Pulling it a little, Konan just hugged it tighter. "…Gaara, you still keep a crowbar on you? I think I need it to get my arm back."
"Um…" He set a belt pouch on the ground and pulled the strings loose and opening it. It was a small pouch at first but as he loosened it, it opened even more until it was the size of a back pack. Bending down into it, he started grabbing things and throwing them out. "Swords…axes…large stone…sword that goes in said stone…the Eye of Tyr?" He stood up while looking at the sapphire gem stone. "Hmmm," he said before tossing it behind him. "Holy Avenger…unbreakable disk shield…" he tossed it aside as well. "Gold gauntlet with several gems inside it, nice artifact. The Infinity Gems, I believe. When did they get in here?" He tossed that back too. "Hindo's Doom, nice katana. Hey, do I still have… There it is, Hindo's Hand as well."
Naruto looked at the growing pile and said, "Are you sure you aren't a packrat instead of a raccoon-dog?"
"Last time I check," Gaara said with a shrug. "Bag of corpse dust. Hey, a moon blade! Wonder what else is in here!" He was about to dive into it when Naruto cleared his throat.
"Ahem, a crowbar?"
"Oh, right. I think I found that a just a little bit ago and…ah…no, that's just a bent sword. Got to get that fixed."
Naruto sighed but nodded. "Clean up your mess, Gaara, and get that bag cleaned out."
"Nah," Gaara said while sticking out his tongue and pulling down his eyelid before putting it back. "So, the other team," he said with a grin. "We got a Ryu, an Uzumaki, and a Rand with a Sora as the team leader."
"Nice, so who are they?"
"Uzumaki…Aisha," Gaara said with a grin.
"Oh no, not one of the berserkers," Naruto groaned.
"Oh yes, one of the Berserkers," Gaara replied. Berserkers are those that throw themselves into a berserk rage when in battle. The worst of them often losing track of who are their enemies and who are their friends. They are sorted into Lodges and each lodge is known by a particular name. The greatest of these lodges are able to shapeshift into their lodge spirit when in combat. Aisha is of the Ctarl Lodge and the spirit animal is the snow tiger.
"Okay, who's next?"
"Rand Perrin."
Naruto looked at him oddly. "The…wolf talker, blacksmith Rand Perrin?"
"The same," Gaara replied.
Wolf talkers were of all clans both Prince and Touched but unlike most others, they do not choose to be a wolf talker, they just are. Golden eyes like a wolf, they see, hear, and smell better than any man, even a person's emotions. They talk to the wolves through speech that no one, not even Bleu nor themselves understand as it is little in the way of talking. They also possess the ability to enter a dream world. The world all people enter when they dream. Most slip in and out without even noticing. Wolf Talkers can use it to meet even with their brothers and sisters on the other side of the world. Thought is reality there, believe it is real and it is. Perrin is a prince and wanted to be a blacksmith ever since he was a boy. Hours in a forge has shaped even the normally large Rand clan member huge by any standard with arms thicker than even their legs. Obviously his favorite weapon is a hammer, a smithing hammer at that. Naruto heard with one swing of it he broke a boulder over ten feet across.
"Sora Dinzt," Gaara continued and Naruto let out a low whistle.
Picture a man with a tongue that could charm the devil, a voice as melodious as any angel, dashing good looks, hands that could do anything, mindset that said he could do anything, and the opinion that he is the Dragon God's gift to all women. The man is a swashbuckler, two swords, two daggers, or any combination of the two there is, fancy clothes that he claims will never get the blood of his opponent on, wide brim hat with an outlandishly large weather in it, and enough magic on his person to cause those that can see the aura they put off to go blind. The worst part, the very worst part, he could do all of it and get away with it in most cases. Naruto never saw anyone run faster than that man when he actually stole a kiss from Deis right in front of Rei.
"And who's the last."
Now Gaara really grinned. "Princess Ryu…Talon."
"…Hold on a second. We get all those big hitters and then we get Talon," Naruto asked. Putting his hand over his eyes, Naruto dragged it down and sighed. "At least we have another healer."
Ryu Talon, quiet, meek, mousy Ryu Talon. Unlike most Ryu princesses, she had no wings and she was teased for this. She instead had a tail and fins for ears with reptile eyes. Her tail and fins had a mirror polish like quality, meaning she was a mercury dragon. Quick talking, witty, devil may care bunch. She, on the other hand, spoke softly and slowly, took her time, and rarely did anything exciting. To make her even more of an oddball, she was an elementalist shaman. Controlling the elements to fight or heal.
"Any good news," Naruto asked.
"Yeah, Din has already seen you but was too tired to really notice. Temari said you look real cute together though," Gaara said with a grin.
"That's something, I guess," Naruto told him before rolling back over. "Go away," Naruto said before swinging his tail around and flicking him across the nose.
"Just get up before Deis makes you," Gaara said with a laugh as he left.
—oo000oo—
When Naruto finally got Konan awake and to give him back his arm, Naruto went in the dining room for breakfast. There, he saw the four new comers. The largest, Perrin, was easily larger most adults outside the Rand clan even if he was only fifteen. Like all male Rand, his head looked like that of an armadillo. Armor like plates were on his back and shoulders. Perrin wore smithing leather brown pants, boots, and a blue leather shirt that didn't cover his arms. And just like Naruto had heard, his eyes were gold with a half wild look to them. He was trying to sit comfortably on a chair and failing with his hammer resting at his feet.
Uzumaki Aisha didn't bother with a chair. She was the oldest there besides the adults being almost seventeen. In size she was the second tallest reaching six foot four inches. Her fur was brown though Naruto didn't know if it was dyed that or natural while her hair was white and long, reaching beneath her butt tied in a large braid with a heavy metal ring at the end. Also unlike most Uzumaki, she was strong not lithe, having worked out insanely so that her favored weapon would be even more effective. Her own fist, claws, and if needed fangs. She wore a deep red, skin tight pants, calf high white leather boots, a green shirt skirt combo that didn't cover her shoulders or above her breast, a bell collar around her neck, gold bracelets on her wrist, a gold headband and a mithril breast plate and shoulder pads that had plates extend down her arm. Actually, now that Naruto thought about it, that was exactly what Konan had taken to wearing. "I can't wait to get started," she said eagerly. "I'm going to collect at least a hundred of their headbands for the glory of the Ctarl Lodge! Right off their foreheads!"
Sora Dinzt, there he stood in all his glory. His wings were brown on the backside and white with a few black stripes at the ends of the feathers. Starting from the bottom, he wore brown, high leather boots that could click loudly on the softest carpet or make no noise at all on the hardest floor. Fine red satin trousers, a silk white long sleeve shirt, a blue cotton vest, brown leather gloves with gold trims, a gold dragon brooch on a cloak that shifts colors in regular sight and those with night vision and heat vision, a black eyepatch with a pearl in the center over his left eye, though at the moment, it was on his eyebrow and not his perfectly fine eye, and a ridiculously large wide brim blue hat with a feather that stuck out two feet atop his cleanly shaven head. "Calm yourself, Aisha, you'll have a few days yet until you can start beating the unholy hell out of these ninja."
And where was Talon? "…Um…You shouldn't be so…eager to fight," the voice a Talon said from off to the side. It took several seconds of looking but Naruto spotted her almost hiding behind Perrin. She was slight, frail looking and the smallest there of the older teens, even smaller than Kankuro. Her hair was blond and in a braid too, hanging to the middle of her back. Her ear fins and tail was mirror polish mercury, and while she was pretty, it was in a cute way, her skin pale from always being inside. She wore a white dress with no sleeves that was ankle length. "M-Morning, Naruto-k-kun." She was unsure of herself and had the tendancy to not strike at all or too much.
"Morning Talon," Naruto said as he made his way to the table to eat. "Heard from the Old Man Hokage that the finals are a month after the second exam. We'll be here a while."
Deis frowned but continued to eat. "N-Naruto-kun, what is K-Konoha like," Talon asked.
"…It can be alright but those moments are hard to find in my opinion. A lot of people that have the holier than thou attitude. They…have gotten so used to being the strongest ninja village that, I think, they're getting complacent and lazy. If you threaten that image…they will try to hurt you for it. And they have no problems calling us…" Naruto grimaced but forced himself to say it, "sub-humans."
Everyone in the room bristled at that word. "I am saying this once and once only," Deis said suddenly. "We will not cause an international incident. We attack no one before the exam."
"Yes, Lady Deis," they all said.
"They attack you…have at it," she finished earning a smile from some of them. "But make no mistake; they will antagonize you to make the first move. Don't." She said nothing else. Uzumaki Deis had given an order and she expected it to be carried out without hesitation by everyone, including Dorogan. Those that knew of Deis's legendary temper, most everyone but the children, knew they would never disobey her.
"Deis said it yesterday so I will say so again," Dorogan spoke up. "You go nowhere without telling one of us, and I would prefer if you don't go anywhere without a partner."
"Nya! I'll go with Naruto," Konan said, latching onto his arm again.
Naruto sighed, "Konan, I don't feel like playing while here." Everyone looked at him when he said that, Talon was really blushing at it while Konan was grinning and Dinzt was giving him thumbs up. Din actually look shocked speechless with her mouth gaping. Naruto was grateful that his fur hid his face because of how much he just began to blush. Pushing away from the table, he calmly walked to the door and said, "Kaasan, remember when I was younger and I used to say I don't like girls? Situations like this never happened back then."
"That you realized," Deis corrected with a laugh. "Dorogan, there was this one time when Naruto and Konan were eight and they…" Naruto sprung from the door faster than any could see as soon as he heard the words 'Naruto', 'Konan', and 'eight'.
He covered his mother's mouth and said, "Don't even breathe a word of that."
Konan blinked trying to remember what she could be talking about then it hit her. "NYA! I remember now! I saw Naruto's…" Naruto's tail wrapped around her mouth, cutting off the rest of what she was about to say.
"What," Din demanded. "What did she see!"
"Nothing," Naruto told her. "Nothing," he said again while looking to his mother and then Konan right in the eyes. Deis crossed her heart when he looked to her. Konan instead bit his tail. "Ouch! Konan, say it!"
"Nothing," she said with a giggle before leaving the table.
"Oh no you don't, Konan, what did you see," Din demanded as she went after her.
"And with that, I'm going for a walk," Naruto said before walking out that door and closing it behind him.
"I'll follow him, maybe give him some training in using two daggers at once," Dinzt told them as he pulled down his eye-patch over his right eye and adjusted his hat on his head.
—oo000oo—
Naruto went for a walk out in the forest where he could be alone. He didn't want to chance meeting any of his friends or the ninja for the exam. He had been walking for a while and the hackles of his fur were finally easing down when he felt three ninja's running through the trees heading for him. Diving into some bushes, he was in a good place to see them run right by. If they even noticed him at all, they weren't interested in him. Naruto got out and was about to leave when he realized something. The three were all chunin from the vest they wore. What was wrong about it was that they weren't chunin vest of Konoha. Naruto thought about just forgetting them but after a moment turned after them. "Mistake, Naruto, it's not your business," he told himself after starting after them.
A few minutes of running and Naruto came to a river. The three were high up in a tree branch and watching someone. Someone who had turned to see him from where she was on the shore. She was Naruto's size wearing a large coat with short hime hair, lavender eyes without pupils, and blue ninja pants and sandals. "H-Hi, am…I bothering you?"
Naruto shook his head. "No…I smelled a river so I wanted to go swimming. May I ask what you're doing here, miss…"
"My name…is Hyuuga H-Hinata, Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked at her oddly. "Do I know you?"
She shook her head no. "We met as school a…few times be-before you changed but…never really talked."
"Well, I'm glad to meet you. And what are you doing so far out here?" Away from ANBU that would be watching out for people like those three.
"I'm…trying to get stronger."
"I see," Naruto said, looking her over, making her feel a little uncomfortable. "You're a ninja."
"I am…though not a very good one." Naruto tilted his head at that. "Heh, my father and clan calls me useless and weak."
"Should you be telling me this?"
"Why would you care," she said almost bitterly. "The end of the day…you'll put me out of your mind. End of the exam and…you go home and never think or see me again." She sounded sad, hurt, and tired.
Naruto looked at a log and sat down on it, stabbing Cutter into the ground next to him. "…I may not like Konoha much…but I'm willing to listen if you're willing to talk." Naruto did his best not to look up to the three that he could feel were getting frustrated with him. The longer he stayed there the more their thoughts would drift to thoughts of violence against him. The definitely want Hinata.
"…" Hinata sat on the log a bit away from him. "My father hates me…I know he wishes I wasn't part of the clan. My sister dislikes me and…sees me as a burden." She was on the edge of tears. "My mother, the only one that ever showed she loved me is dead… And my cousin hates me because…when I was three I was kidnapped and his father was killed because of it."
Naruto frowned as the dam finally overflowed and the tears came out. Naruto pulled a handkerchief out and offered it to her. "…Life sucks," he said with his head down. Still crying, Hinata looked to him. "My father…my biological father was the…Fourth Hokage," he muttered, making her grasp. "My mother was the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. Both were S class shinobi and well respected obviously."
"My mother…told me stories about her," Hinata whispered.
Naruto could feel them as real interested in him now. The thoughts of violence were gone. "Something she probably didn't say is that she was once the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yokou before it escaped and when it did, it killed her doing so. My father, to save the village, sealed the Kyuubi inside me, his son." That got them to focus on him completely. "He just asked two little thing in return, nothing big really. For my godfather to raise me and the village to think of me as a hero."
"But…" Hinata's tears had stopped by now. She was remembering all the harsh, even cruel, treatment he had received from adults while he lived in Konoha.
"But they treated me like a monster and I had no one to care for me," Naruto finished for her. Worse, the bastard that is my godfather is my father's teacher, Jiriaya of the Sannin. And I hope he rots in hell.
"You shouldn't…" Hinata said weakly.
"You're right, I shouldn't but I do. Then I changed into this and what do I find out? Everything. So I hightail it from here and head to Uzu no Kuni. That's when life stopped sucking for me. There, I have a family. There, someone was able to take out the Kyuubi without killing me. There, I'm loved not hated, differences are embraced, and everyone is given a chance to find what they are special at and not just told what to be special at." Naruto turned to her and smiled. "You know who my kaasan is now? Uzumaki Deis, the woman that came here and wanted to kill the Hokage for getting her daughter killed. Technically she's my obaasan but she's my kaasan now. Hey, how about I introduce you to her," Naruto asked, jumping up to his feet and holding out a hand.
Seeing they were about to leave, they finally move. Naruto grabbed Cutter and held it in a block for the ball of lightning heading for both him and Hinata. A few feet from them, the ball lightning hit a barrier and vanished, Cutter had activated his anti-energy field. "What's that," Hinata said, falling back afraid.
"People here to capture you, I'm guessing," Naruto told her. "Come on out, you're jutsu won't work right now!" Quieter, he said, "I've negated chakra use around me. Stay there and you can't fight with it."
"I can't really fight," she replied, her eyes widening at the three Cloud Chunin that had dropped down.
"Uzumaki Naruto was it," the one to the right asked. "We're so happy to meet the son of the Fourth Hokage."
"And the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero," the one on the left finished.
"Nice little surprise," the center figure went on. "The Council told us the girl would be here undefended and we get you as well."
"Wrong, you haven't caught us yet," Naruto growled. "How about you come and get me?"
They spread out around him and were about to attack him when Dinzt dropped down from the sky. "Three against one, so unfair, three against one," he said in a scolding tone. "So, since they have started it, how do you want this to go, Naruto," he asked him.
"…I want to know just who the council they're talking about is," he replied. "Leave them alive enough to talk."
"Okay. I'll take the two closest to me, you take the other one."
"Well, since you're offering," Naruto said before running at the third. Before he even moved, daggers were flying through the air, dozens of them, right at the two. They had jumped out of the way, heading to Dinzt.
Naruto slash Cutter in line to take the man's arm off only for him to jump back and hold a kunai in the path to block it. A steel weapon not enhanced by mana, much less chakra, could never stand a chance against the bokudo. Cutter sliced right through the blade like it wasn't there. The man widened his eyes and jumped back before trying another jutsu. Like before, the lightning hit the barrier and vanished. 'You only have a few more seconds! Take him out NOW!' Seeing as he was too far to get with Cutter, Naruto drew a dagger and threw it. Its aim was perfect, catching him right through the wrist, cutting blood veins and nerves while locking the hand in place.
Dinzt continued his hail of daggers, getting more from somewhere aside his person as it looked like he didn't carry any weapons on his belt or otherwise. The two didn't even notice he was herding them up close to him. He didn't even bother trying to dodge the jutsu they fired at him. Each one seemed to head right at him a moment before getting pulled off the path and then into the dragon brooch. When they were moments away from his branch, he flicked his hand for another dagger to appear, slipped it around his brooch, and through it at the tree, another brooch, this one round, taking its place. "Red!" The dragon brooch's eyes turned red before the two landed on the branch and activated it. Fire burst from the dragon's mouth, destroying the branch, trees in front of it for ten feet, and knocking the two flying into the air and to the ground. The one closest the brooch didn't get back up. The one farthest from it forced himself back to his feet in pain and glared at Dinzt while grabbing a sword from his back.
"Oh, that's how you want to play," Dinzt asked while flicking his wrist, summoning two more daggers to his hand as he flew up to the branch and retrieved the dragon, once more saying, "Red." Coming down to the ground, he held the daggers to his lips, whispered the magic words, and they extended into rapiers.
Naruto rushed the ninja and he felt his chakra just slip away from him. Stumbling back, he tried to get away but this time, Naruto slashed down and sent a blade of mana at him. He tried to jump out of the way and would have if he had his chakra to help him. He didn't get away in time and lost a foot to it, coming down to the ground screaming in pain. Seeing him worrying about his wounds, Naruto turned to the other man and smiled. Dinzt had everything under control. The two blades were dancing back and forth on the ninja-to and Dinzt appeared to be barely trying as he was using a showoff style instead of an actual one. It was all flashy moves and footwork meant to demoralize them or make them think they were better than they are. Dinzt even threw his blades in the air and danced out of the reach of the ninja-to to catch them. Rolling his eyes, Naruto just pulled free his second dagger and threw it with the accuracy as the first dagger. It entered the small of the ninja's back, right above the pelvis, in the center of the spine. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. "If you were done playing," Naruto said to him.
"Nah, he wasn't really a good partner anyway," Dinzt dismissed while dropping the blades. Looking around, they and Naruto's blades were the only ones around. None of the daggers he threw before were there anymore.
"…H-How did y-you do, do that," Hinata stuttered out.
"Because the Uzu are the best at what we do," Dinzt told her. "At whatever we do," he finished at he stepped away from the swords as they too vanished. Crouching down by the man with a severed spine, he grabbed his chin and said, "Who sent you here?"
"Do whatever you want, I'm never going to talk," the man swore.
Dinzt looked to Naruto. "Seems he's never going to talk."
Naruto looked to the others. "You two feel the same?" The man gripping his stump leg nodded even as he tried to stop the bleeding. The other guy just moaned. "Guess they're not going to talk either." Dinzt threw the man's face to the ground and got behind him, pulling out the dagger there. "I suggest you talk."
"Forget it," he swore.
"Wrong answer. Hinata, would you please come with me?" Naruto held his hand out to her and Hinata placed her hand in it. She came close to him when everything went dark for her. Naruto eased Hinata to the ground, a needle in her neck inducing sleep. "Sorry. Go ahead Dinzt." Naruto looked away and tried to drown out the screaming. No mercy for the merciless. But he made sure the other two watched. What Naruto didn't see was Dinzt cutting into the man's spine from above his shoulder blades and down below her ribcage. Naruto could barely hear a breaking sound and then the man gasping for air as he struggled a moment before the struggles stopped. Naruto wasn't a fool, he knew what that was. A demonstration of what would happen if they stayed silent. Dinzt didn't even want him to answer, not a word because nothing they said could be trusted. Shuffling behind him said Dinzt was cleaning up the mess. A look in the eyes of the man with no foot saw horror. Naruto went over to him, jerked it out, and crouched down before him.
"Next one will be worse. Do you know what will happen if we were to drop you into a pit full of punji sticks? Particularly filthy ones that had been covered with crap and feces? You won't die…right away. Believe it or not, you won't even die within a week if you don't move too much. But the wounds will become infected, you'll be in a good amount of pain first." The man looked away from the body to stare in Naruto's eyes, swearing to kami they were inhuman. "Then it will be utter agony as your major organs begin to shut down one by one. When you finally die you'll have been in so much pain you'll have lost your mind to it. You'll be delirious, hallucinating, messed up in all sorts of ways. Finally your heart will just stop. Your body, if it wasn't already a meal for insects and rodents, will be eaten and made a home for some creature or another. Of course the pit will be covered up so you'll never be found. Some boulder or something that won't let someone in but still let air in. Your body won't be found, your family will never know what happened to you except that you went out and never came back. Maybe think you were killed on the mission, maybe think you abandoned the mission and your village." Naruto reached out and wiped the blood on the blade on his pants. "People may mourn. Then not so much, finally none at all. People will go on without you, you'll be forgotten by your village, your friends, and then finally your loved ones. All while your body rots in the cold, dark, hole in the ground." Naruto stabbed the tip of his dagger in his leg in and then out, making him cry out. "Well?" The man was breathing hard, he was scared out of his mind, he just watched a friend of his die, he just got told in graphic detail how he would die, and these two creatures looked at him like he was less than nothing and that they would not think twice about it. A look to the dead man again and tears began falling.
"I don't want to die…not like that."
"Then tell us," Naruto told him. "And the truth, lie and we will sense it and kill…him, making you watch again." Naruto motioned to the man with burns. To him, he didn't doubt that they had become some sort of mythical figure from hell so in his blood deprived mind he would believe it.
"…There's an elder…in the Hyuuga. He wants her gone…oh god…he said she comes here alone. Don't kill us, please."
Dinzt and Naruto looked to each other with a frown before Dinzt tossed a healing potion to him. "Drink it, it will heal your wounds," Dinzt ordered. "Take you're your friends and go. Tell the elder you succeeded; tell your leader you failed. Hold the foot in place while drinking it and the potion will take care of the rest." Doing as instructed, the flesh sewed back together and on uneasy feet, he hobbled to the bodies, picked them up, and left. "…Her own family sold her out."
"We can't let her go back," Naruto told him. "Not to that, they'll kill her for sure. If not they'll kill what's good inside her."
"…Wake her, explain what he said. I'll get out one of my disguise kits."
Naruto moved to Hinata but stopped. "What did you do to him?"
"Do you know what a blood eagle is," Dinzt asked, not looking at him.
"No."
"Make sure to never find out," Dinzt replied.
Naruto shivered and removed the needle. Hinata began to stir and saw Naruto. "Did…I faint or fall asleep?"
"Only a little," Naruto told her, helping her up. "Hinata, the council he spoke of is your Hyuuga Council."
"No…" Hinata covered her mouth at the thought of it. "They wouldn't…I mean they try…so hard to keep the Byakugan…from getting into the hands of…anyone…"
Naruto held out a charm and it began to speak. "There's an elder…in the Hyuuga. He wants her gone…oh god…he said she comes here alone." Hinata began crying again as she fell forward, unable to stand. "I'm sorry," Naruto told her. "I'm so sorry."
Dinzt found what he was looking for and came behind them. Tapping Hinata on the shoulder with a wand, purple appeared on her skin and her clothes changed until she was an exact copy of Konan. "Didn't think just adding wings would work," Dinzt said with a shrug.
"This is fine, no one knows Konan here. They'll never know the difference between a quiet one and a loud one." Naruto turned her to Konoha and began walking to their hotel.
—oo000oo—
Opening the door, Dinzt walked in first and Naruto came in. Konan was about to jump on him when he saw herself following Naruto. "…Nya? Naruto replaced me quite literally."
"Oh no, one Konan is enough for the world," Naruto replied. "Kaasan, Dorogan-san, can you come here?"
Dinzt tapped the wand to Hinata's shoulder, returning her to normal. "Lady Deis, Lord Dorogan, I give you Hyuuga Hinata, Princess of the Hyuuga clan," he said with a bow.
"H-Hi," Hinata said looking to everyone. "…Dinzt-san, wasn't your eye-patch on the other eye?"
"What are you talking about child," Dinzt asked her, the eye-patch on his left eye now.
Din rolled her eyes and said, "His eyes work perfectly fine, he has a different reason for wearing it. Now why are you here?"
"Hinata here is the unwanted princess of the Hyuuga," Dinzt told Deis and Dorogan. "And we all know the easiest way to clear the path to the throne."
"Assassination," Deis muttered.
"Or kidnapping," Dorogan said, narrowing his eyes on Dinzt.
"Hey, I keep telling you I didn't know she was a princess at the time and she was coming with me willingly," Dinzt protested, pointing a finger at Dorogan.
"Kidnapping isn't far off," Hinata muttered. "An elder of my clan…sold me to the Cloud." She was looking down at her feet but then remembered something. "How did you make me look like…uh, Konan-san? That wasn't an illusion."
Temari flicked her wrist, making a ball of fairy fire, a non-burning flame of any color, this one being green, float above her hand. "It was real." She twisted her fingers around, making the flame dance on them. "It was a minor polymorph spell to physically change you into something else. It would've worn off in about ten hours."
"Twenty," Dinzt corrected, "my wands are better than most."
Temari nodded to him and then looked back to Hinata. "The more advance ones never wear off and the best can never be broken."
"We can't leave her here," Perrin said as he entered the room, having heard everything. Hinata stared at him as he seemed even more bizarre than the others. "Ahem," he coughed when he thought she looked long enough.
"Gomen…sir," Hinata said, dropping her head into a bow.
Perrin nodded and went back to watching quietly. He rarely said anything because he rarely had anything to say. He was a blacksmith, he knew how to make all kinds of things even working mithril into a weapon or armor that had its own enchantments without magic spells. He didn't even pretend he had a care for politics or warfare. So he kept to his business and out of others. This exam was a fight and he was told that if he did it, it would help protect Uzu. A fighting exam… He saw little to pride oneself in at being good at violence. His opinion, the day you stop hating a weapon is the day you throw it away.
Hinata began to look nervous that he said nothing and just watched her. "Don't mind him," Aisha said, walking forward. "He never talks unless it's to his forge, hammer, and anvil."
"There are many finds of people when it comes to talking," Deis said suddenly. "Like good men who believe actions speak louder than words. And like blowhards that can't stop tooting their own horn."
Aisha spun around, fur standing on end, and said, "What was that! I'm a member of the Ctarl lodge! No one speaks to a Ctarl warrior like that!"
Deis straightened and said, "Sit," in a commanding tone. And Aisha lost her bluster and sat down, afraid she might have pushed things too far. Deis nodded and turned back to Hinata with a smile. "Well, how about you sit down and maybe I get you something to eat or drink? Then we can talk about what you would like to do."
"Uh…thank you," Hinata said as she moved to the table and took a seat. Hinata watched Deis as she moved around. Deis went over to the stove and began to cook up some eggs. "Um, can I help you?"
"It's quite alright," Deis replied.
"But really…you shouldn't just for me."
"Sweety, I enjoy cooking. My husband Rei enjoys cooking as well, used to say it was the closest he would ever come to being a magic user. He used to do it all the time but when he married me, I took over."
"But…"
"But why? Why not accept help or ask for it? If I need help I will ask for it. But I never need help, ever. If I wanted help, I could conjure them up right from the air or if I want the finest food and wine you will ever taste, I could conjure that up to. So why do I do this?" She put two eggs over-easy and a few slices of bacon on a plate and set it before her. "Because I like to do things without magic. Just one of those things people do. And I love the taste of things that are made with care instead of on a whim. Naruto-kun is getting good at cooking too."
"Kaasan," Naruto whined. "Now I'm never going to hear the end of it from Konan." Hinata looked at how they interacted and giggled. So much fear over people that while powerful were just like everyone else. All except one thing…
"Is it…like that…" Hinata whispered.
"What," Din asked her. "What's like that?"
"When I…when I was…her, I felt so…"
"Different," Naruto offered. "Alive?"
"Everything was," Hinata said. "I almost wish I was still… But I can't."
Deis sat down and made a shooing motion to everyone else, meaning she would handle this. "Hinata, do you know which elder it is?"
"No."
"Is there one that particularly dislikes you?"
"No, they all hate me about the same from my father to everyone else. Not even my sister likes me."
Deis blinked in surprise, "No one?"
"No one. The Hyuuga clan is divided into two parts. The Main family and the Branch. The Branch is subjugated by the Main and treated like second class citizens at times. They're glorified slaves. They exist to protect the main family while the main family…they keep them in line with a seal that causes pain and even death. It's barbaric. My father is the clan leader and I saw him use it on his brother for looking at him hard. All for…these eyes, these forsaken eyes." Hinata had dropped her face down to stare right at her plate only for Deis to reach over and lift her head back up.
"Your eyes are as beautiful as you are. Let me guess, you hate hurting people and have never used that seal. People see you as weak." Hinata nodded softly. "Eat your breakfast dear." Hinata ate it slowly and listened to her. "Hinata, you know who I am in part, right?"
She nodded, "You're Naruto-kun's grandmother. I also heard that you threatened the Hokage."
"I am and I did. What you don't know is that I am a thousand years old and my word in Uzu no Kuni holds much sway. I can't order something to happen but if I say something, it usually is listened to. No, if you want, I would be more than willing to find you a place to live in Uzu."
"You…would do that for me? You don't even know me."
"I don't but any person that can prove trustworthy of even one of the Uzu is welcome there. You have been with us for a good part of the morning and you haven't gotten anyone mad and even made friends with some. My son even saved your life. With Dinzt's help but that's but that's beside the point. So, do you want to?"
"…I'll never see my family again?"
"Unless you want to," Deis answered.
"Will I be left to fend for myself?"
"Heaven's forbid, no! You're only a child! I don't understand what these ninjas are thinking asking a child to take lives but that is their culture. You'll be adopted by one of the clans and a girl as sweet as you are will be adopted fast."
"What…will I do there?"
"What do you want to do," Deis asked.
"I could do anything?"
"Within reason of course but yes."
Hinata was quiet a moment before she asked a question that she had been wondering. "Are those wings…can they fly I mean?"
"Yes, they're real and can fly."
"What's it like?"
"Oh, it's torture when they shed and the old scales don't come off, it really itches, but aside from that…flying is the most wonderful thing ever."
"I wish I could fly…"
"Hinata, even if you don't have a pair of wings you can still fly. Just need to learn how."
"…I will," Hinata said after several moments of silence.
"Good. And honey, there is just one little thing. Not everyone in Uzu looks like us. There are some that looks just as normal as you. So people will not stare at you for being odd."
Hinata sighed, "That's a relief."
"And they are also all given the chance to be one of the Woren, Shell, Dragon, and Sky tribe."
"You mean…"
"Yes, there are some that were once of the Touched and are now one of the like me. I could…if you want." Hinata's eyes were wide at that. No one would ever recognize her again even if she were to look her father right in the eyes. "I could take you there right away; no one would even know you're missing until this evening. And as far as they will know, I will never be gone. You will have just…vanished. Taken by Cloud if you will."
"…Thank you," Hinata said, feeling relief and grateful. She would literally be free from this. "I want to help people. Heal them and…help, that's all I ever wanted." Hinata was actually beginning to cry. Deis did the one thing she knew would help, she hugged her and let her cry like a mother would hug a daughter.
—oo000oo—
In that passing week, the Uzu kept close to each other. Well, Perrin didn't really bother with it but none of the others were out of sight of one another. Dorogan didn't want to say it but someone as ideal as Hinata to disappear while they were there. To much a chance for them. And like Dorogan suspected, ANBU did come knocking on their door. Deis looked at them and told them to get out of her way or she would turn them into frogs. Luckily before the entire population of Konoha's ANBU were turned into amphibians, Naruto said, "Get the Old Man, him to me or me to him, we'll clear this up." Naruto told him simply, they did not kidnap Hinata nor did they know where Hyuuga Hinata was. He told him straight up and Sarutobi believed him. He never noticed the envelope and the recording from a Cloud Chunin. Oddly enough, there was a storming of the Hyuuga clan that week, rumors were wild but fact was tight lipped.
Naruto, Konan and Din, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari, Talon, Perrin, and Aisha all were in the den the morning of the first exam waiting. Naruto couldn't help it; he was playing with a dagger, spinning it around his hand without really watching it. Temari was slowly rolling her right hand around, making a woman made of air dance in step with it. Perrin was drawing up plans for a new puzzle box for children to play with and in all honesty would have preferred to do that than go through this exam. The most nervous one there was Talon and like it or not, she was the one they were afraid of. When a person is levelheaded they made good decisions and used only as much force as needed…most of the time. Talon had the tendency to…over react. Well, no one could argue she got results.
Dinzt entered the den with a smile and said, "Ready?
"Of course we are," Aisha said, jumping to her feet. "By the end of the day, the Ctarl Lodge will have seen battle once again! Let's go!"
"R-Right," Talon said, jumping up and holding her staff tight.
"…If the time has come," Perrin said before putting away his pencil and paper.
"Damn right it has," Aisha shouted, slamming a fist into her palm.
"Not quite," Dinzt said, bring Aisha back down to earth. "The Exam itself begins in an hour and a half. Even if you take your time going there, you'll still have an hour."
"Then why ask if we're ready," Aisha demanded.
"So we will have time to study them," Din stated.
"Longer we're there, the more ready we are," Temari said as well.
"The more they can study us," Naruto countered. Sasuke flashed through his mind. "Actually, that sounds even better. Maybe some of them will get it through their head that it isn't a good idea to fight us."
"Or you want them to know how hopeless it is to do so," Dinzt offered and smiled at his shocked look. "I know that face, Naruto-kun. That is the face of someone that has sworn to kill somebody they really hate."
"Naruto-kun," Din said softly, surprised that her friend could even feel that, much less want it.
Naruto didn't look at anyone, not even Dinzt, when he said, "Uchiha Sasuke…he has insult not only all of Uzu, he dared to…command my kaasan to give over her ring focus to him so he could get power and demanded why it wouldn't work for him as if he was cheated." Naruto crossed his arms. "I don't particularly care to do it but I'm going to." Standing, he pulled his daggers out to check their edges before sheathing them and grabbing Cutter. Walking over to the door, he looked at Dinzt as he still blocked it.
"By all means," he said, stepping to the side.
When Naruto walked outside, Konan blinked and said, "Nya! What are we, scared kittens!" She sprung to her feet and ran after him.
"Wait for me," Din called as she opened the window and flew out it.
Temari shrugged and stood up, summoning a staff made of white wood that looked like two serpents twisting together with a crystal egg held between their mouths. "Uzumaki, always doing things the hard way. Brothers, get ready please."
Kankuro, already wearing his armor, went in his room and came out with his Hammerthyst. Gaara on the other hand just waited for him to come back out. "Gaara, get ready," he said to his brother.
"Oh fine, fine," Gaara said before standing from his chair, setting his grass conical hat on the table, before throwing a smoke bomb on the ground. It barely covered him and when it cleared, Gaara was in his armor reaching for his hat again.
"Show off," Kankuro grumbled as he stood next to Temari.
"Not that hard," Gaara replied while grabbing Temari's shoulder before all three vanished in a teleport spell.
Dinzt looked after the missing trio before looking to the others. "Anytime you're ready and remember don't be late."
When he was about to walk back out the door, Talon spoke up. "Um…Mister Dinzt sir…where will…you and…"
"Where will I be?" Talon nodded and he chuckled. "To prevent the team's sensei from interfering, they are to be waiting inside a room during the first test. Which I better get to. Good luck you three and watch out for each other."
"We will," Aisha said as she pulled them to their feet and out the door.
—oo000oo—
The teams from Uzu were the first ones there, beating out even the instructors. Some of them were an impressive bunch, others….like Talon, were as imposing as a mouse. Something any Uzumaki could tell you, even a cornered mouse will fight back. That being said, as imposing as Talon could be, the one everyone was watching carefully was Perrin. He sat on a table with his team sitting on the chairs around him. But no matter how imposing they were or weren't, they were all the object of scrutiny. They all made sure to watch those that entered in some way to take measure of them. Naruto wasn't impressed by most of them and could only hope that they would be eliminated without dying. Really, Naruto was watching out for the Uchiha. He saw many of interest including one that stared at him. Something familiar in her scent.
He had almost given up on the Uchiha when someone else of interest entered. He could've been Hinata's brother, same eyes, same hair, almost the same face. A Hyuuga. He stared at him, and the Hyuuga stared right back. Naruto watched him a moment before he said, "Heard some trouble hit the Hyuuga."
"Could be said that the cause was the Uzu," he replied.
"Could be said a lot of things," Naruto countered. "Your…sister went missing?"
"No, my cousin. No loss really…" He said the wrong word apparently because every one of them focused on him with their own type of glare. Some like Aisha was seething with a bloodlust while Gaara walked over, his gold-black raccoon-dog eyes looking into his dangerously narrowed.
"What was that," Gaara asked. "One of your family, your cousin, is missing and possibly dead or worse, and that's all you have to say?"
He didn't back down and said, "No. Getting killed is the best thing Hinata could have done for the Hyuuga Clan."
"…I had someone like you in my family. He's dead now and not even his children miss him."
"And who was that, as if I care."
"The Kazekage," he replied, catching the attention of any that was listening. The Hyuuga stilled and looked at him. "No one that was his family misses him. No one from his village misses him as a person. When I found out he was dead…I shrugged it off. He was family and I hated him. None the less he was family and I never wished him harm. What is your name?"
"Hyuuga Neji."
"My name is Deis Gaara and I am going to beat the bloody hell out of you."
"If you are fated to fight me you are fated to lose," Neji replied.
"Whatever," Gaara told him before walking away. He was leaving when Sasuke, Sakura, and this other boy with short black hair walked in.
"All the players are on the stage," Naruto said on seeing him.
"The let the play begin," someone shouted from the front of the room. Several men wearing the same clothes appeared with a man wearing a bandanna on his head in front. "Everyone come up, turn in your forms, and take the seat number given to you." Naruto looked away from Uchiha to look at the instructor and follow his orders. There would be time for the Uchiha and it would be soon.
—oo000oo—
Author's notes: another chapter bites the dust. For those that have read my stories before, they will know Talon from 'Sound of the Jinchuuriki', the Dragon Tribe member of the Konoha Outlaws. Quiet, meek, no confidence in herself, can't really hurt anything until she changes into a dragon the size of a bijuu. Uzumaki Aisha is of course a reference to Aisha Clanclan of the almighty CtarlCtarl Empire! Perrin…is a blacksmith. Dinzt…well, if you get a chance, look up Jarlaxle and read some of the things he does.
See you space cowboy.