Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the associated characters, locations, jutsu, etc. The only thing I own is the plot of the story. If there is any plagiarism of any form it was completely unintentional.
Capture at Once
Hinata couldn't believe what she was reading. For some reason a group of shinobi started kidnapping people who are never seen again. And now their next target was HIM. Her heart started racing and a couple of tears threatened to come out.
"Hinata, come on." Sakura took the book from her and pulled her out of the alley by the hand. When they were out she turned to face her. "This is no time to worry. We still have enough time to find him first. If he had his face still in the book it means that they haven't found him yet." Hinata wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"You're right Sakura. We have to find him! But first..." She turned to look at the small girl who was a couple of steps behind them. "Hey, what's your name?"
"I'm Irelia."
"Irelia, that's a beautiful name." She smiled at the girls and she smiled back. "So Irelia, where are your parents?" The little girl's expression suddenly changed to sadness. She lowered her head and spoke in a shaky voice.
"My mommy and daddy left for a mission a long time ago but they never came back. Granma has been taking care of me but... I miss them." She started to cry and once again Hinata hugged her, but this time she lifted her up and held her in her arms.
"Come on, let's go find your granma." They started walking through the town until Temari spoke up.
"Say Hinata... Do you even know where to go?" Hinata stopped dead in her track, she turned around and laughed nervously.
"Gomen, Temari-san." She gently shook Irelia to wake her up. "Irelia-chan." She moved a little and opened her eyes slightly. "Where is your granma?" She rubbed her eyes and blinked a couple of times. She looked around and motioned for Hinata to let her down. When she was on her feet she grabbed Hinata's hand and started to run through the streets.
"It's this way, my granny lives by the big trees!" Irelia guided them through the market and various streets of the town, and eventually the found themselves in the farming district once again. Then rows of various fruit producing trees became visible in the horizon, and at the other end stood a small wooded cabin. When they got closer to it the front door flew open and an elderly woman ran out towards them.
"Irelia! Irelia!" The little girl let go of Hinata's hand and ran towards her. The woman opened her arms and lifted the little girl in the air.
"I was so worried!" The woman lowered her and started to examine her. "Are you okay? Does something hurt?" Irelia shook her head and pointed back towards the others.
"The mean man tried to hurt me, but this nice lady helped me." The woman recognized her immediately.
"Oh its you! The young lassie with the lavender hair." She took her hands into her own and bowed down. "Thank you, thank you so much!"
"It was no problem really, but... Who was that man? It seems your granddaughter knew him." The womans expression changed to one of shock. She then sighed and turned back towards Irelia.
"Irelia, my dear, go play inside." The little girl nodded and obediently entered the house. When she was gone the old woman turned to Hinata and continued speaking. "As all of you might know by now all of the shinobi left this are due to safety issues. At first the town was pretty much unchanged but one day THEY showed up. They said that they would kill anyone who doesn't do as they say. Pretty soon they started taking money, food, clothing, in some cases they even kidnap people right off their homes. None of us has the capability to fight back. We are defenseless."
"But why haven't you asked for help from Suna or the Land of Rivers?" Sakura asked but the woman just shook her head.
"You think we haven't tried? Someone tried to send a letter hidden in a fruit cart a couple of years ago but they found it. The man was hanged in the middle of the market and they said that anyone who tried to do that again would follow the same fate. Since then they have been thoroughly searching everything that comes in and out."
"But why don't you sneak out?" This time Kakashi was the one to ask the question but the woman again shook her head in denial.
"We can't." She rolled up the sleeve on her right arm. Engraved on her forearm was a small jutsu formula. "They put a big barrier around the whole town, these prevent us from leaving. If we cross the barrier we will be shocked to DEATH!" The woman fell to her knees and started sobbing. 'My husband, I lost my own husband." She was crying on the ground. Hinata knelt down beside her and took her hands into her own.
"We will help you." The woman smiled kindly at her.
"You are far too kind but... I can't ask you to do something so dangerous." Sakura stepped forward with a determined expression.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing while they keep on causing trouble. We are going to stop them."
"This town is still a part of the Land of Air. It is my duty as a shinobi from Suna to set things straight!" Temari said. Hinata smiled at her friends and then looked at the woman.
"Don't worry we are going to stop them," She then got up and helped the woman to her feet, "you have my word." Then she turned around and together everyone left back to town. On the way Kakashi approached Hinata.
"Hinata." She turned around to look at him.
"Yes Kakashi-sensei?"
"It seemed that that woman knew you from somewhere. Where have you seen her before?"
"Oh yes. I umm.. When we were looking for leads on Naruto I passed through the farms and she approached me with a letter." She walked a few more steps before she realized something. "Oh yeah! The letter!" She dug her hand into her pocket and gave the piece of paper to Kakashi, he read it several times before he handed it back.
"Do you have any idea what it means?" Hinata looked down at the paper.
November 31st
00:00
Golden Chest
A-31
"I guess that 00:00 is referring to a specific hour?"
"Midnight." Temari said.
"Most likely, but what about the other lines?" Kakashi asked.
"November 31st? That makes no sense! November only has 30 days. Leave it up to Naruto to write gibberish." Suddenly Hinata seemed to remember something.
"Actually, Sakura-san, I think I know what he means. You see...
FLASHBACK
It is the winter season in Konoha, pure white snow blankets every corner of the village. All of the children are outside building snowmen and there are sweet smells lingering in the air. We can see two people walking through town in winter attire. They are Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata. They seem to enjoy each other's company as they are both laughing while walking.
"I tell you, we were laughing so hard that milk was actually shooting off my nose." He made weird movements with his hands and Hinata was laughing at his story.
"Naruto-kun I don't believe you." He laughed with her and they kept on walking while chatting about their daily lives. Eventually they reached a park that was completely covered in snow. Naruto ran to it and started to play around like a child.
"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" He didn't stop his games, he just laughed even more.
"I am playing Hinata-chan! Come on, you too!" He pulled her along to the middle of the park where he stopped, dropped to the ground and started to make snow angels.
"You seem to like snow a lot!" Hinata said. Naruto sat up and started to collect snow in his hands.
"Snow is one of the few things that reminds me of my parents. Mom would always complain that it was far too cold to go out, but Dad would always play with me." He looked straight at the ground. His lip started to tremble and a single tear fell to the ground. Hinata was about to say something, but he wiped it off. "But, the thing I remember the most is November 31st."
"Naruto-kun, November only has 30 days." Naruto shook his head from side to side saying no.
"Not on leap years. I know most people say February gets that day but, my dad loved winter so much that he decided to add one day to November. People would always get confused but, you know... I liked it. Anyways..." He stood up and offered her his hand. "Come on, lets go grab a bite to eat. I'm starving!"
END FLASHBACK
"Huh.. So we have to find snow?" Sakura asked.
"Impossible, this place might be on the border but it is still the Land of Wind. Snow doesn't fall here." Temari said.
"Did you do anything special that day, Hinata?" Hinata once again started to think.
"Well as I said he treated me to lunch, he said that he wanted to have a last good time, I now know what he meant." She was about to get lost on her thoughts but Kakashi stoped her.
"Focus, we have no time to loose!"
"So we only need to find a restaurant. Knowing Naruto he would pick ramen." Sakura said but Hinata shook her head.
"That day we didn't go for ramen. He said that he didn't want to annoy me with so much of it. We instead went for... Dango, I think."
"Well there is only one place in the village that sells it!" Kakashi said.
"But what about the other two lines?" (Golden Chest, A-31) "The place is not called Golden Chest! And the address is certainly not A-31."
"Well, for now that is all the information we have, so lets head there at night and just hope that we are on the right track."