DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Naruto", "Hunter X Hunter" or any other anime that may be read as the story goes further.
3. Slips and Home Truths
Sarutobi was trying his best not to 'throw the towel in' and just raise his hands up in surrender. He was getting tired of all the mountain load of paper work and the complaints from the Civilian Council. If he heard from them one more time, he was going to end up killing someone or burning something important.
A soft knock on the door shattered his mental ranting and entered Umino Iruka who was his secretary for the weekend since his original secretary was on sick leave.
"Hokage-sama, Teams 7, 8, 10 and Team Guy are here." He said and the old man nodded.
The teams marched in and stood in one straight line in front of the Hokage.
"I called you all here for a very important joint mission. I wish that I didn't have to send you but your jounins are needed for this mission specifically and you twelve might be able to help bring this mission to an early completion." The Hokage spoke and everyone listened.
"Half an hour ago, a mission scroll from the Water Country came and requested help from Konoha. They need all the ninjas we could spare to help them push off an invading enemy on their borders. The Water Country assures that if we send genins along, you all will be paid as if this was an A-rank mission even if it was only a C-rank. That is how desperate they are." He explained and wondered if Naruto would say anything.
"I'm surprised that the Water Country, with all that pride of not asking for help, asked the FIRE COUNTRY of all others for aid." Naruto spoke up and got nods from a few others.
"I was surprised at first but the scroll itself had the mark of their Daimyo and their Hokage so I think they are serious in their request, Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said as he sighed.
"Team 7, 8, and 10 along with Team Guy, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to aid the Water Country and clear their borders of all threats." The Hokage said with his commanding voice and got a united answer.
"Hai. Hokage-sama." They answered except for four individuals who merely nodded.
Everyone then left the office to return to their homes to pack. They were told that it may take two-four weeks until they complete their mission so they were to pack as best as they could. Naruto discreetly dismissed his private group and went back to his home to pack.
An hour later, everyone met at the front gates and set off to their mission.
The whole trip went surprisingly easy. The first week of travel was smooth and clean. They had ran into a few bandits but it was not a problem. Naruto and three others kept a low profile as best as they could and only showed what they normally did when they were still in Konoha.
Three more days passed and they had reached the borders of the Water Country. A group of three jounins were on guard and Kakashi gave them the scroll from their Hokage. The jounins led the Konoha nins to their Hokage's office for debriefing before showing them the apartment where they would be staying for the meantime.
They were given one day to rest and get acquainted with the main city of the Water Country. It was easy enough and they (the Zoldyck Squad) already found the flaws to the city's defense. It stunned the others a bit when Naruto turned serious when he gave his report to Kakashi, Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai.
The Hokage was informed immediately and the repairs were instantly done.
Nearly a week and a half had passed by when Naruto and his team had finally slipped thanks to Kiba's actions.
Kiba was on the front lines with Naruto, Lee, Sasuke, and Neji when Kiba had been too arrogant. His opponent got passed him, caught the blond off guard and nearly stabbed Naruto if it weren't for Hinata who had appeared out of nowhere.
"This is why your ass will be dead before this year ends, Inuzuka!" Hinata cursed at her teammate, totally forgetting that she was supposed to be the shy type.
Chouji and Lee and instantly defeated ten opponents each to reach Naruto and Hinata who was still seething with fury.
"Your arrogant for all the wrong reasons and during all the wrong times! How the hell do you think you'll survive to even take the chuunin exams?! You flea bag loving brainless cretin!" she yelled at Kiba once more who was paling when she threw several kunais at a few enemies that hit them dead center on the foreheads.
Lee opened one of his chakra gates and punched the ground to give the rookies time to flee and get to safety. Chouji had already scooped his Captain into his arms and was already running with Hinata in front and not worrying about Lee since it would be obvious that the other would cover the rear.
The other rookies were in shock as they ran, following the usually shy girl and Chouji into the city were they already had set up a regrouping center for the front line fighters.
When they got there, Chouji slowly placed Naruto down and Hinata rushed to her taicho's side to check him over. She did a few scans with her eyes and found two broken ribs, a dislocated arm, and a few cuts on the blond. She turned to Lee and Chouji.
"Lee, I need a bowl of hot water and a clean towel. Chouji, get me a bottle of alcohol, antiseptic, and bandages. Hurry." She commanded and got nods from the other two who instantly shushin'd away. The rest of the rookies just stared in shock some more. Gone was the shy and timid girl they knew and before them was a cold, hard, and commanding Hinata.
However, Sasuke also noticed that the two who had left used a high chuunin low jounin technique which they did with ease. He knew instantly that something wasn't right but he had no idea what it was yet. Before he could think and further, Lee and Chouji returned with the items they were ordered to bring and Hinata began to carefully take off Naruto's upper clothing to heal him.
Naruto looked like he was in pain, which he was since he had two broken ribs and all, but no one heard him complain one bit or even whine. It was surprising but they were on a serious mission. And the rest used it as an explanation for the blond's attitude.
When Hinata finished healing Naruto's broken rib, Chouji wrapped the bandage around his captain for show. They knew that the Kyuubi would heal him even if Hinata didn't do anything. But this play was needed. When everything was done, Naruto was sitting up on the bed he was placed in.
Hinata on the other hand was in front of Kiba who was paling majestically.
"You piece of shit! If it weren't for your stupidity, none of this would have happened! If you weren't being to arrogant in front of your enemy, my taicho wouldn't have been hurt! If anything had happened to him I would have killed you right then and there, Inuzuka!" Hinata hissed at the boy who wanted to disappear so bad.
"Hinata, enough." Naruto commanded with a tone that made everyone turn to him, staring in shock. All but three others.
"But Captain—" Lee tried to but in but Naruto held his hand up.
"I said enough, Lee. I am alive and survived the minor casualty." Naruto said as he sighed when Chouji scowled.
"Please don't call it that, Captain! You could have been seriously injured! Or worse! You could have been killed thanks to the idiots actions!" Chouji protested, shocking the group and getting nods from Hinata and Lee.
Naruto simply sighed once more.
"I know. But I am alive now and what happened, happened. Next time, it won't happen again." Naruto informed them coldly and got nods from his three.
Hinata sneered at Kiba as she walked away to stand behind Naruto and Lee and Chouji were busying themselves with moving things around for the whole group to have room. Everything was quiet until Sasuke opened his mouth.
"What she called the Dobe… Taicho… Why is she calling him tha-" Sasuke asked but stopped when Hinata attacked him and punched the raven haired boy directly in his stomach, causing him to fall to his knees in pain.
"Call him 'Dobe' one more time and your brother will be the last remaining Uchiha in this planet." She warned him as she pulled his head up by his hair.
The others were stunned but no one else moved. The three seconds later, their jounin senseis came in and scanned the faces of their genins. Hinata instantly released Sasuke and stood up, walking back to where she was standing before the Uchiha insulted her taicho.
"Did we just miss something?" Asuma asked his fellow jounins.
"It seems that we just did." Kurenai said as she saw Kiba looking pale as the boy stared at Hinata who had an angry look about her. It surprised the genjutsu mistress to see her shy student have such an expression on her face.
"Alright. Someone start explaining what happened." Asuma said and the eight genins gave him blanks stares while four others rolled their eyes.
Sakura finally found her voice and began to explain what had happened, starting from the time Kiba nearly got Naruto killed to Hinata punching Sasuke for calling Naruto a 'dobe.
"Then you guys came in." she finished and the jounins were still trying to digest the information they were just told.
Shikamaru was giving Chouji a calculative look. Shino and Neji were analyzing Hinata and Lee while Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto.
The jounins finally snapped out of it and turned to the four that was on the spotlight.
"Starting explaining Naruto." Kakashi said and got hisses from Lee, Hinata, and Chouji.
"Enough." Naruto told them off before turning to Kakashi.
"The answers you want at the moment are the ones I cannot give. The time for them will come soon. You will not press for them and that is not a request." Naruto answered as he stood up and Hinata was instantly by his side.
Before anyone could speak or react, a jounin came in and called for them for help.
"About a hundred enemies are close to the city gates! We need to block them off and hinder them from entering the city!" he said and ran back out.
Naruto shifted and turned to his three.
"Come. We need to finish this and head back home. The longer we stay here, the more vulnerable Konoha becomes." He told them as he faced the others.
"Please don't get in our way. We were sent to end this mission faster." Was all he said and all four left the room.
A few moments later, the rest ran after the four and came just in time to see the enemies coming and hear Naruto's order which made every ninja both foreign and Konoha shiver in fear.
"Kill them all." He ordered coldly as a chakra sword appeared in his hands.
The answer he got made the Konoha jounins freeze on their spots.
"Hai, Killua Taicho!" they answered and vanished as their captain vanished as well.
Out of nowhere, the masks of the Zoldyck Squad appeared and the four young ninjas began to decapitate, stab, sever, and kill the enemy ninjas. The others were just shivering in fright as to watching all the blood splutter and gush out from the bodies of the falling enemies. No one was sure which was more frightening: the enemy nins who were starting to be cut down or the four 'genins' who were doing the cutting.
Half an hour passed and what was left of the enemies were taken to prison. There wasn't much since the rest were killed and beheaded by the four genins alone.
No one dared to speak to the four when they got back to their quarters.
"I'll prepare a bath for you, taicho. Please wait a moment." Hinata said as she bowed and went to the bathroom to prepare Naruto's bath.
Lee and Chouji were inspecting their things and preparing clothes for themselves when Hinata came back and Naruto had disappeared into the bathroom to bathe. She then prepared Naruto's clothes and then turned to the others who were there but was just staring. She hissed and they all looked away.
Neji was wondering just what happened to Hinata to have her act the way she did. And why she was calling Uzumaki 'taicho'. Neji wanted answers but Naruto's words made it clear that they weren't answering any just yet.
"Will none of you—" Sakura was about to ask but all three of the Zoldyck Squad glared daggers at her and she closed her mouth instantly.
"The Captain said that none of you are to press for answers, Haruno. You're said to be the brightest of our batch and yet you can't comprehend such a simple order?" Chouji sneered at her which made Sakura blush in embarrassment.
"It can't be help that she has that title knowing well she knows nothing beyond that of what contained in books. If the Captain didn't hold back, he'd have the title she carries around. With the title in her hands, it actually means nothing, Chouji. Let it go. The Captain will not like us verbally assaulting them when he is not here." Lee told his companion calmly which stunned the others.
Lee wasn't shouting like he usually did. The rest turned to Gai who had fainted due to shock.
The room was silent as Lee and Chouji guarded the door of the bathroom. A few minutes later, Naruto came out with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, revealing a well-toned and blemish-free tanned skin. When Naruto turned around Kakashi saw the tattoo on his back, just above his bum: the tattoo of the Zoldyck Squad. But what got him curious was why it was there and not on his arm like the other three who were now wearing sleeveless clothes, showing their branded arms.
Hinata helped Naruto changed into his clothes while the boy showered together to save time. Five minutes later, they were out and Hinata showered next. She too didn't last five minutes and was out and dressed when she walked to her taicho's side.
"Now that our mission here is over, we can all finally head back in the morning." Naruto said and the jounins nodded.
"We leave at sunrise." Kakashi said and turned to leave the Squad alone since it was already obvious that he wouldn't be getting any answers from them.
Answers that will have to wait until they return to Konoha.
Jason: Read and review.