Journey of the Three Failures

by Kurouga of the Ink and Snow

Uzumaki Naruto's defeat at the hands of Hyuuga Neji changed the course of history. Now an outcast Naruto, Hinata, and Lee must flee Konoha to become stronger, and ultimately save the very village which scorned them. Strong Naruto, Hinata, and Lee. Dark!Neji, Nice!Hanabi. Epic length. NaruHina. COMPLETE!

8. Where Loyalties Lie

J3F\\\ Journey of the Three Failures

Chapter Eight

I'm baaaaack!

Huge thanks to elongation, Cheeky Tiff, Doom-Chan, Omega the Darkness, WinterMission, soundless steps, The last blue Rose, Magically Inclined, MaNgA aN AnImE pErSoN, broken-Angel-requiem-Soul, aki6, Rena the pirate jedi wizard, Chakram Soldier, T-Biggz, Exiled Rain, Chewie Cookies, Naybi, Kitsune Raider, chibi heishi, narutos vixen, and everyone else who's reviewed, favorited, or alerted!

You might have noticed, I have another story now – and it's not a Naruto story (I know, I surprised myself)! If you're a fan of Kurau Phantom Memory, please check it out!

Sigh… I'll be 15 soon. I feel old :'(…

Tee-hee! Looks like I've got my first two flames! :) Oh, and in other news, I finally have a profile icon! I'm all proud of myself, I edited the pic to make it clearer, and – okay, anyways, moving on! I think this chapter turned out pretty nice, I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: No, I do not own NARUTO. I am simply unleashing my imagination, thank you.

---

Journey of the Three Failures

Eight: Where Loyalties Lie

Lee リー

"Kid, you need sleep."

"I will not. I must remain awake … in case anything happens…"

"Ya' look like a mess! Have you been up all night?"

"Hai, I have… but I am just fine…"

The toad raised an eyebrow (or where eyebrows would be if toads them, anyways) as I yawned for a full five seconds. "I would wake you up if anything changed," he pointed out, "Honest…"

I checked Hinata's pulse again; it was faint but steady. No change. "If something were to happen to either of them due to my carelessness … I would never forgive myself…"

Her heart had stopped earlier. I had continued CPR for five despair-filled minutes after I had believed her gone, full of denial and desperation. Then, incredibly, the girl had given a gasp and a shudder, eyes snapping wide open a moment before drooping shut. Her heart had restarted, and at the same time she had started breathing on her own again. I had a hunch that the full moon was in some way responsible.

The girl now slept peacefully, her skin in the moonlight nearly as white as the bandages on much of her body. After her condition had stabilized, I had gotten my first chance to check her over for injuries from battling the Akatsuki. I could not imagine how it had happened, but several patches of wood splinters had littered her body (even without counting those that she had clearly begun removing before I woke up); the worst of which had stretched almost the length of her arm and contained some splinters several millimeters thick and half an inch long. Glad to be doing so while she was unconscious, I had spent an hour meticulously picking even the tiniest of them from her arms, legs, hands, and back, applying anti-infection ointment as I worked. After that I had carefully cleaned a number of scratches and cuts, and then medicated and bandaged light chakra burns.

Naruto… he had had a few extremely light chakra burns, but by the time I had finished tending to Hinata's more serious injuries, the boy was virtually unscathed.

What on earth happened…? I wondered for not the first time. "Please … could you keep talking to me, Gamakichi-kun? It would help me to stay awake…"

The toad sighed. "I guess what I'm wondering here is just who you three are – what you are. What's even going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"None of us toads have been summoned in a while; we were wondering what's up. I mean – who's that kid who summoned me, anyway? Why do y'all wear headbands, if you're apparently missing-nin? Not to mention, I saw some pretty freaky stuff happen earlier… Man, I just really wish I knew what happened to old man Jiraiya…"

"…Jiraiya? You mean Lord Jiraiya … the legendary sannin?"

"Yep, that's the one. Do you know how confusing this summoning business gets? I mean, two months ago the guy summons me and doesn't say nothing but follow him without getting seen, cuz 'something's up.' So a little later he's going for a walk with the Third out in the forest, and outta' nowhere the old guy attacks him!"

I was very much awake now. "Wh – what happened next?"

"Long story short, the hermit ends up getting ko'd and drugged with something, and then he's handed off to a bunch of Sound ninja who pop up! And then – oh boy, was it hard keeping up with them! I was sore for–!"

"Gamakichi-kun!" I gasped, shocked, "Please…!"

"Right, right, so then the Sound guys take him real far away to the middle a'nowhere, and they head down a hidden passage in the ground. Pops thinks it's probably some kind'a prison…"

"Yes – yes, I agree!"

"So then I went to get a closer look, and one of the Oto-nin came out and cursed up a storm when 'e saw me! He ran at me, and I skedaddled outta' there on the double. I told the rest of the family, and they agreed that the next time one of us was summoned, he had to alert Konoha! But … this is about the first time anyone's been summoned since then, so … yeah. Kid, you okay there?"

I was kneeling in front of the toad, fingers interlocked, my chin almost on the ground, hanging onto every word. "A-and… Do you think … you might be able to … find this prison again…?"

"Yeah, no problemo … Why?"

"…"

"…Kid–?"

"YATTA!!!" I exclaimed joyously, picking him up raising him into the air, jumping and dancing and laughing gaily.

"Hey, h-h-hey! Cool it!" he protested as I kissed his slimy cheek.

"Gomen – but do you realize what this means?!"

"Maybe I would, if someone wouldn't mind filling me in already!!"

"Ah! Of course!" I said, setting him down. "This is just such wonderful news!" I went on to explain everything – from all we knew about Oto's takeover and Konoha's situation, to the imprisoning of the high-level shinobi, to the brewing civil war, to the unique position Naruto, Hinata, and I were in right now. We talked for thirty minutes, during which time he pointed out on a map where he would estimate the prison was and we continued to exchange what we knew.

"I ought to get back and tell everyone about this. Have Blondie summon me when he wakes up, alright?"

"Right," I said, nodding.

"See ya'!" he chirped, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Unbelievable… I thought. If we can just save Lord Jiraiya, we may have a chance of combating Orochimaru!

A long moan brought me back to the present.

"Hinata-san…? Are you awake?" I whispered.

"Uhh…" Her eyes cracked open, and shut tightly as she moaned again.

"How do you feel?"

"Uhhh…"

"Do you remember all that happened yesterday?"

She was silent a very long moment, and her mouth formed a slight scowl of concentration. Then she nodded weakly.

"…Worst … birthday … ever…"

---

Hanabi ハナビ

"My Byakugan… I just know it would have been helpful."

"Save it, kid. It's too dangerous for you and you know it. Besides, it's a little too late to change plans now."

"I know…"

I realized it was about to start, and gazed toward the main village. Kiba counted quietly to himself.

"I'd say in about three, two, one…"

The marketplace and the areas around it – which would be at this time beginning to bustle with morning activity – went up in smoke as all at once hundreds of smoke grenades were set off by roughly seventy New Konoha shinobi.

"Bingo," Kiba whispered as alarms promptly went off in the area. Surprised Oto-nin flocked toward the scene, where they would be finding about fifty of those seventy angrily 'fighting' each other and causing as much ruckus and superficial damage as possible. The two of us watched silently from our hidden position in the treetop as at least three dozen Oto chuunin and jounin rushed from the prison, sprinting past us and racing over rooftops once they'd reached them. The Inuzuka pressed a button on his radio.

"This is Hound to Shadow, Hound to Shadow!" he whispered quickly. "Bait taken – the flock has left the nest!"

"Byakugan!" I whispered, heart hammering against my ribcage. "Six crows just within the gate, two hawks and two crows barring an entrance ten yards further back," I reported, and watched as the high wall's shadow – lengthened toward the prison by the sun behind us – darkened instantly as a shadow crept from a bush along the outside of the wall and connected to it. The two jounin on guard jumped, only to be quickly overpowered by five speeding figures clothed in black. In the next moment the eight captured chuunin were taken down by them as the shadow retreated.

"Dango to Team Shadow, all clear!"

"Shadow to Team Dolphin–!"

"Dolphin to Shadow, all clear, backway is open!"

"Right. Remember, in and out in seven minutes, without getting seen! Move in!"

"Roger!"

The five figures who had taken out the guards rushed through the entrance, and Shikamaru, Chouji, and Sakura – identically masked and clothed in black – swiftly raced from their hiding place and followed after them, vanishing from view.

"So…" I said nervously.

Kiba nodded, placing a hand on my head. "Now we watch and wait. And pray."

For five minutes all was silent as Kiba and I kept watch. Finally, feedback came from one of the squads coordinating the riot.

"We're cornered, flock is in the net and none the wiser. Stage two is go in three, two…"

I turned my back on the direction of the riot, and Kiba did as well. And we knew every New Konoha shinobi at the riot was at this moment shutting his or her eyes – and fifty hidden light bombs that had been rigged throughout the area the previous night were going off at once.

"Success," crackled in after a moment, and I sighed out a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

"Shadow to Dolphin and Dango – two minutes to get your squads back to the surface."

"Dango to Shadow – I'm gonna take a different route and map more ground."

"Dolphin to Dango – Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I'm sure I can be out in time."

"Shadow to Dango – go ahead."

It looks like they pulled off the scouting mission. Now all they have to do is get away before the Sound realizes anything's up–

"Hold on! Dango to Shadow – I can hear torture going on over here!"

Goosebumps rose on my skin, and as I met Kiba's eyes a message passed between us: Just as we feared.

"Shadow?!" she whispered, "My squad agrees! Just give us the ok, and we'll go in–!"

"And you'll what?! Emotions don't play a role in the mission, shouldn't you know that?! We're not to be seen!"

"I don't plan on being seen!"

"Dolphin to Shadow – I agree with her!"

"No, don't do it!"

"Too late, brat!"

Speechless, the two of us exchanged another look.

A second later an alarm went off.

"Kuso! Dolphin, do you also have a set of keys?"

"Hai!"

"New plan, start unlocking as many cells as you c–!!"

"Shadow? Shadow, come in!"

"Shadow 2 to Dolphin and Dango – Shadow's out cold! Don't try to unlock any cells, something's rigged!"

"Shimatta! Dolphin's already down!"

"Shadow 2 calling the retreat! Just get out!"

"Mwrr…" Akamaru whined.

"Shh, quiet, boy…" Kiba muttered, eyes trained on the prison gate. The pup whimpered again, trembling and fidgeting in Kiba's jacket. He ducked his head down, removing himself from view.

Something told me to turn my head, and I gasped at what I saw. "Kiba-san!" I squeaked urgently, grabbing his arm.

He followed my eyes, visibly paling in an instant as he spotted the problem. Just as his trembling hand reached for a kunai, the man threw a glance his way without breaking stride.

Kiba's eyes widened as a sharp noise of surprise shot from his mouth. Frozen stiff, he toppled backwards; I grabbed his hand, but his weight easily pulled me out of the tree with him.

My eyes scanned the ground as we rapidly approached it, focusing on a bush. Concentrate! my mind screamed – and it blurred instantly nearer.

I found myself suddenly entangled in branches, and Kiba flopped on top of the bush next to me, still in a daze. There was no time to congratulate myself on doing it without the seals and flickering someone else with me; matters a great deal more pressing needed tending to.

"Hound 2 to Shadow, Dolphin, Dango!" I squeaked – and hesitated a second as I realized this person hadn't been given a codename. "Falcon – Eagle – Ugly-face-Phoenix – aw, screw it! Pull out through a backway ASAP! Orochimaru himself is moving in!!"

---

Lee リー

"Four hundred!" Finishing the last push-up, I rolled onto my back and permitted myself to take a short rest. Panting softly, I gazed up at the cloudy sky.

Hinata-san said she does not want to go through that again – that she must master the curse by the next full moon… She has gone off to train on her own for a bit, but I cannot help wondering … how upset she is about the horrible thing I almost did yesterday…

"Maybe it was my imagination … but she seemed to take off in a hurry…" I sighed, shutting my eyes.

A sound tickled at my ears, and I got up with a start. I relaxed as I saw it was only Naruto; he had finally woken, and was currently sitting upright where he'd been lying in the shade of a tree a few meters away. He was facing the other direction and had yet to notice me, and I watched curiously as he slowly held an arm out in front of him. He seemed to be observing it like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen, and then lowered the arm and lied the other hand over his belly. Soon after he drooped visibly, like a sad, wilting flower, and let out a long, quiet sigh.

"So that's it, huh…?" he whispered.

"…Naruto-kun?"

He flinched in surprise as I knelt down at his side, and I was further befuddled as the boy slowly turned and stared at me in shock. The healthy glow of his skin vanished as color swiftly fled his face, and he slowly reached out, lying a tentative hand on my shoulder as if to confirm I was really there right in front of him, but with such hesitance that it almost seemed he was hoping, even praying I was not. He stiffened, softly shaking his head.

"No…"

"Are you alright?" I asked, disconcerted by his odd behavior. "You look faint…"

My friend's eyes glistened with excess moisture, and for an instant they were filled with such anguished sorrow that my own heart was wrenched at the sight. He threw his arms around me and wailed out:

"They killed you, too!"

Wh… Is he delirious…? "Um… Na–?"

"It wasn't supposed to h-happen like th-th-this!" he blubbered, "It was the Ak-katsuki, w-wasn't it? Kuso! I'm sorry! I'm s-s-so sorry, Lee!"

"Naru–!"

"Is Hinata here, t-too?"

I hesitated, realizing that correctly answering 'yes' might not be the best thing to do at the moment. However, my momentary silence was interpreted–

"Why?!" he bawled, long and doleful, and I sweatdropped.

"Let-me-speak!!" I snapped, pushing the boy to arm's length. He sniffled.

I sighed. "Naruto … you do realize that you are alive?"

His mouth fell open as he processed this, and in a few seconds he slowly pointed a finger. "…You mean we're all…? You, Hinata, and me…?"

I nodded, and suddenly he was very happy to see me.

Naruto embraced me again in a bone-crunching hug, and he shed youthful tears of joy on my shoulder as he vigorously slapped me on the back a few times. "We did it!" he screamed, releasing me and leaping high into the air, both arms upraised in triumph. I smiled and looked on as the younger boy danced around the clearing, leaping and laughing and crying and even cartwheeling once in an ecstatic high. "Yatta!" he cried. "Who cares how, but I'm alive! I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive, and I'm STILL gonna be Hokage, believe it!!"

"N-Naruto!" A pink-faced Hinata stood across the clearing, and took a small step toward him. "You're r-really okay…" she whispered, eyes big. I would not have thought it possible, but Naruto brightened further as he met her eyes.

"Hi, Hinata-chan!" he said, ever so tactfully.

Breathless, the girl started walking toward him. Tears collected in her eyes as her pace briskened, and she broke into a run. "Y-you're okay!"

"I feel great!" he said, beginning to walk forward himself, "It's all thanks to you–!"

SMACK!

"Oww!!"

"That was for trying to give yourself up!"

"H-Hinata–?!"

SMACK!!!

"And that was for trying to get me to kill you!" she cried, still in tears.

Naruto drooped, sporting matching red slap marks on his whiskered cheeks. "So I guess you're pretty mad at me?" He cringed away as she cried out in frustration and prepared to slap him again – however, she instead decided to lunge into him and grab him in an embrace.

"Of – course – I – a-a-am!" she bawled against him, and soon enough she too was laughing and crying all at once. "H-how could you be s-so selfish...?! Y-you stupid idiot…" I heard her add in a whimper.

And as Naruto wrapped his arms around her, one hand softly patting her back, I soon noticed a new pinkness dusting gently into his already reddened cheeks.

---

Hanabi ハナビ

It had caught me. The cursed phobia had captured me yet again, squeezing my bones to jelly and sapping my strength away until I was left a trembling idiot.

The teams hadn't been able to retreat out of the other exit, as another lookout squad had reported two dozen Oto-nin gathered to block that escape. Anko had resolved to hold off Orochimaru while the others escaped, to atone for ruining the plan. More Oto-nin swarmed through the main entrance, and two Konoha backup squads had moved in to ambush them from behind. They all successfully escaped with the backup help – but disaster struck when the group of fleeing shinobi exited the prison walls. Someone tripped a wire, and the group was caught in a crossfire of kunai knives.

I'd seen two die instantly. Kiba had prepared to rush out to help. Then, in a second wave, hidden Oto-nin had revealed themselves atop the prison wall to batter the group with a rain of shuriken. Even in the instant before the Inuzuka jumped to shield me, I had glimpsed it.

So much of it.

Blood.

I was dimly aware of the arm around my waist, the rapid tak of two pairs of sandals against the village streets, the sound of soft panting. My mind was in the month before, spying on a meeting, being discovered, chased, cornered by several who despised me…

And further back, three years ago, the horror! Fear never to be banished from my mind – the icy flames of terror that blazed and razed through a young heart when–!

"ACK!" Kiba crashed to the ground, and me with him.

"Kiba!" Sakura cried to the unconscious boy, and as she looked up she flinched. I slowly pulled myself from under his arm, and turned to see an Oto chuunin standing behind me.

He chuckled. "Heh. They scatter like vermin…"

As Sakura reached for a kunai, a second chuunin flickered in to capture her arms behind her back.

"Careful, little girl," the raven-haired woman crooned tauntingly in her ear, "somebody might get hurt…"

The man punched her hard in her stomach, and as the woman released her Sakura fell to the ground.

"S-Sakura," I whimpered.

The man turned toward me. "Run along, kid, if you know what's good for you," he said, walking up to tower menacingly over me.

"No!" I cried in a panic, and my palm shot out to his abdomen.

"AH!" he yelped, backing away a few steps. "Kuso, you stupid brat! That stung!"

"What are you doing?" A grey-eyed chuunin wearing rectangular glasses appeared with his arms crossed, speaking in such a tone that he could have been talking about a ball of lint. "There are more mice to be caught. Best we hurry."

"Tch. Yeah, whatever–." His eyes widened. A hand covered his mouth, and he coughed several times. His eyes shut, and with a horrible sound the fit ended in a cough that sent red splattering past his fingers.

My stomach threatened to reject its meager contents, backflipping at the sight. My heart pounded frantically in my chest, and I embraced myself. It was very hard to breathe.

"What did you do to me?!!"

There's some … on my face…

The world faded in and out of focus. My ears buzzed. My skull throbbed with my rapid heartbeat. My knees were hitting the earth. Water dripped off my chin. I wanted to scream. Three years ago. She and I had been sparring, when–

"Hanabi!"

–"Hanabi-chan!"–

I looked up, too confused to register a thing. The man was withdrawing something from his shuriken holster.

Sakura lunged past him, throwing her arms around me.

CHING!

The sound of metal on metal.

"Wh… What?" The older girl turned around, moving away enough that I could see past her.

The three Sound ninja looked surprised. There was a big shuriken sticking out of the ground just in front of us. Demon Wind – yes, that was it. A few normal shuriken were scattered on the ground behind it. They must have been deflected–

"HYAAAAHH!!"

With this ferocious battle cry of rage, a black-clothed figure slammed a heel into the back of the man's head. His face was swiftly introduced to the dirt.

"You won't touch her!!" the masked shinobi roared furiously, glowering at the other two shocked Oto-nin.

"Why, you…!" The woman drew back a fist, and he slipped outside of the punch, caught her wrist, and broke her arm without hesitation. The resulting cry was cut short as a foot flew up, connecting with her jaw and sending her instantly into unconsciousness.

Suddenly very alert, the grey-eyed one raised two long kunai in a ready stance. The masked man shot toward him; the Sound ninja quickly moved his arms across himself and swept them outward again in a calculated, practiced motion that scissored his kunai in a decapitating slash.

But the masked one, seemingly reading his thoughts, anticipated the move rapidly. He blurred with speed; suddenly his hands were on the ground and – from safely below the slash – his foot was shooting into the man's abdomen.

"OH!" Feet still under him, he was knocked five yards. One of his sandals had just barely reached the earth when a fist smashed against his face. His body bounced and rolled ten yards before his back met a wall, and he fell limp.

The masked figure's fist slowly fell into an open hand at his side. And he began to walk away.

Sakura stood, taking a few steps toward him. "W-wait!" she called. The shinobi paid her no mind, and she began to run. "Stop! Hold on, please–!"

She froze.

Our savior was behind her, hands in his pockets, facing the other way with their backs inches apart. He spoke in a low voice, quick but not rushed.

"Sakura. Naruto is alive – him, and Hyuuga Hinata, and Rock Lee. And they're still fighting."

"H-how…?" she breathed, unblinking. She turned, and he was gone.

A chilled wind blew, and after several seconds her outstretched hand fell.

"…Who are you?"

I shakily stood up, and took a few wobbly steps. "Sakura–?"

My foot had splashed into some kind of liquid on the ground. I looked down.

My stomach finally decided to empty itself, and I promptly blacked out.

---

Neji ネジ

I heard as he flickered onto the rooftop behind me.

"Ohayou."

"Explain yourself. Now," I demanded, turning to face his back. He removed his mask as he turned his head, casting a slight, challenging scowl my way.

"I was good and convincing, wasn't I…? Hey, you alright, Hyuuga? You're white as a sheet today."

"I don't appreciate you undermining my authority."

"Oh? Would I question the 'authority' of the elite Hyuuga Neji-sama?"

"I heard every single word. I'm certain you're aware of your direct orders not to–,"

"So what are you going to do about it, sir?" he spat the word, rounding on me.

I raised an eyebrow. "…Are you looking for a fight, genin?"

"I thought you'd never ask, Hyuuga. I've been thinking it's about time someone knocked you down a notch."

"You're weak – you do realize that, my dear foolish subordinate? Or would you like a reminder?"

He rounded on me, glowering icily. "How about you climb all the way down from your pedestal for a minute so we can settle this here and now, like shinobi?!"

"Hn. A minute's all I'd need to put someone like you in your place. Amusing as it would be, however, we are allies. Whether we like it or not, the fact is we mustn't take such unnecessary action as fighting each other at times like these, when our enemies also reside within the walls. I'm perfectly willing to leave it at that if you will."

He was silent a moment, and nodded curtly. "…Fine." He whirled and began to walk away. I turned my back and did the same, sighing inwardly.

The fool…

Fwoosh-smat-tak.

I smirked back at his glowering eyes and seething scowl, holding his wrist so that he could not move the kunai, the kunai intended for me, that now rested at his own throat. It had taken the space of a second for me to whirl, neutralize his pathetic attack, and turn again so that his feet now balanced perilously on the edge of the rooftop. My own strength, my hands on his wrists, were preventing him from toppling to his death.

"So you thought when you suggested we settle this like shinobi … that I wouldn't realize your true intentions, hmm?"

"Kuso … you…!"

"Careful, genin. Your life is in my hands; it's quite a way down, wouldn't you agree?"

"Tch…" His kekkei genkai relaxed, and I smirked.

"Good boy." I pulled him toward me.

THUD!

"GAHK!!"

The knee in his stomach knocked him off the rooftop. For a nice, too-brief moment I allowed him to think I'd actually let him fall; then I reached out and snagged his ankle, turning and flinging him back to safety.

He got to his knees, wiping his mouth on his shoulder as he hurriedly scrambled to his feet and took a defensive stance, glowing red with fury at such humiliation.

I waved a dismissive hand. "We're done," I said flatly, walking up to him. "Now I'm going to let this one go, but be aware that my tolerance for your recalcitrant behavior is quickly wearing thin." I stopped at his side, casting a look at the shorter boy from the corner of my eye. "Screw up again, and I won't treat treachery so lightly. Understand?"

He held my gaze for a full ten seconds, and then turned his head aside. "Hn…"

"I didn't quite hear you–,"

"Go crawl in a hole."

I frowned. Shaking my head, I continued past him. Malice was all too clear in his enraged eyes, in his voice, in his very posture.

"Genin."

"…Yeah?"

"I wouldn't advise it. Fair warning: You will lose."

I heard a sharp intake of breath, and I knew I'd nailed his thoughts on the mark.

Smirking to myself, I flickered away.

---

Naruto ナルト

"Okay!" I said, shifting my weight back and forth between my feet as I glared at the tree ten yards away. The two watched from the side, waiting curiously. "I already knew that when Kyuubi opened the link, I'd have to relearn my chakra control over again. I promised it'd be one of the first things I did once we were connected again – to see just how out of whack my chakra is, how far off I am."

I formed the seal Hitsuji, focusing my chakra. It flared up vibrantly, electrifying me. Way too much, I thought, shutting my eyes as I concentrated on finding the right amount to channel to my feet. Let's see… The amount I used before the link was severed… that was right about…

"It … it still feels like too much…?" I muttered quietly to myself. Okay then … I'll try half this much, and just see how it works. "Alright! Here goes!"

I began sprinting, and I was shocked by how it felt. I felt light; I nearly overextended, and I realized my weights weren't on. I quickly adjusted as I ran, but it still didn't seem quite right – not the same. Nonetheless, I reached the tree and ran up its side. After two steps, I added the chakra–

THUMP!

"Ow!"

"Naruto-kun!"

I rolled onto my side, fingers interlocking over the back of my neck where a bump was already forming. What the heck?!

"Itai…" I hissed. "What just happened?"

"On your third step you shot straight into the ground," Lee supplied. "I suppose your chakra is a great deal more powerful than you remember?"

"Must be it… Oh, I need to put my leg weights back on, too. For some reason that sprint felt totally weird… Bushy Brow? Hey, what's the matter?"

"Lee-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Y – your … your leg weights…"

"What about them–?"

"You are wearing them."

"……Right now??"

"Yes, right now!!"

"…Really?"

"Look!" he said, frustrated, grabbing my ankle and lifting my pants leg himself. I gasped as the weights were revealed.

"N-no way… That's – impossible…" I shook my head frantically, looking at the two. "What the heck is going on?! This doesn't make any sense!"

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata cried.

"What?!"

"Look at me!"

I looked into her pale lavender eyes. "What is it?"

She leaned closer. I nearly started in surprise as she reached out, hands resting on either side of my face, and my pulse quickened for some reason. She gasped, stunned. "Y… your eyes…"

"My eyes?" I said, raising my hands and feeling around them as Lee leaned in beside her. "What, what's wrong with my eyes?!" I asked, scared.

"I th-thought – I thought it w-was just the light before, b-but…"

"Just tell me, please!" I cried, growing more terrified with each beat of my racing heart.

"They're … purple."

All three of us were silent a moment. I think a crow called out in the distance.

"My eyes aren't purple. They're blue. Aoi."

"No, I'm telling you. They're purple. Murasaki."

"………Right now–?"

"YES!! Go look at your reflection in the water!" she cried, troubled, standing and pulling me by my hand to follow her. Lee joined us as we hurried to the steam, and I knelt at the edge of the slowly flowing water.

Staring back at me was a wide-eyed blonde with messy hair and whiskered cheeks. He wore a blue sweatshirt, an orange vest. Residing on his forehead was the hitai-ate of Konoha. But this youth couldn't possibly be me, for his eyes were a deep, beautiful tone of indigo purple.

Shocked, I reached out to touch the face of the reflection. Only when a reflected hand met mine at the surface could I bring myself to accept it.

The purple-eyed boy was me.

"S… sugoi," I breathed. I grunted, suddenly feeling faint and lightheaded, and my reflection swayed dizzily.

"Catch him before–!"

SPLASH!

At the time, I would have defined the day of Hinata's thirteenth birthday simply: The day we fought the Akatsuki and came away with our lives; the day I first learned of a feeling called love; the day I resolved to die rather than succumb to my inner demon, and by some freak stroke of luck survived.

But in time, a mere eventful day of my life began to reveal itself as something more. In time, I began to come to grips with what it truly meant.

Further down the road, I would look back on that day … and it would be known to me as the day that I, Uzumaki Naruto, was reborn.

---

This time for sure!

"Woah!"

I backflipped, landing on my feet and falling onto my rear. Sighing, I glared at the latest of the charred, lightly smoking footprints left on the tree bark. The surface always repelled me so sharply that I would never stand a chance of marking the height with a kunai; however, these likely more accurate marks conveniently made up for this. Not that I was getting any higher.

It hadn't taken long to conclude that my chakra was far more intense and massive than it had been even before the Kyuubi had cut our link. I wasn't totally sure why this was, but one fact was growing painfully clear: as of now, the smallest amount of chakra I was capable of utilizing was too much to climb a tree.

"How is progress coming along?" Lee asked as he walked up, and I shook my head. I'd adjusted to running, anyways, but that was about it. "Why not take a break? You have been at it for some time, and I was about to go catch some fish from the river. Would you like to join me?"

"Why not," I said, getting up.

We walked together, heading out of the clearing we were camped in; I noticed we would be walking past Hinata, who was studying her seal book in the shade of the trees. In seconds I felt like I could hear my own pounding heart in my ears, and despite the chilly weather my face was growing warm. Why did I feel this way? My throat felt tight as I gulped and gathered up my courage. Finally, I raised a hand to wave. "Hi…" I trailed off as the girl, without looking toward us, closed the book and stood up before we reached her. My hand fell as she began to walk briskly in another direction. I sighed quietly, shutting my eyes.

"Oh!"

I looked to see in an instant that Hinata was slipping on some dead leaves, beginning to fall forward, and though she was ten yards away I turned and unconsciously reached as if to catch her.

Poof.

"…Woah," I remarked, shocked.

The shadow clone had flowed into existence executing the same move I had, albeit in perfect position. One of its arms was under Hinata's, holding her up, and the other lied across her back. The clone looked as surprised as I was, and I could imagine why; I hadn't even had the time to think of creating a kage bunshin to help her.

"Nice job!" Lee exclaimed to break the silence, slapping me over the back. Blushing, the bunshin gently helped Hinata back to her feet and dispelled itself.

"Hinata, you alright?" I asked, jogging up to her. I picked up her seal book for her, and the red-faced girl tentatively accepted it. She nodded.

"Th-th-thanks," she stammered out, not meeting my eyes.

"Don't mention it," I said with a weak laugh, and rubbed the back of my neck. Awkward… "Just … be a little more careful, y'know…? Um, yeah … we're – gonna go catch some fish!" I said, hurrying from camp with (dragging) Lee in tow.

---

I tossed a fist-sized rock into the air and caught it again.

Time to see what I can do…

I threw the stone in a high arc, and looked at where it was to land. It was second nature now; with hardly a thought a kage bunshin appeared to catch it.

The clone threw it again and dispelled itself, and at my will another popped up and caught it. The stone was thrown again, and I thought a quick message to the next replication that was to appear; it threw it high into the air, and I focused a moment. Another copy caught it at the peak of its flight, throwing it again. Another snagged it in the air, and after it another that threw the stone to me. I caught it, and grinned as I nodded to myself.

"I'm gonna take the Shadow Fist to a whole other level."

---

But before I did that…

"Stupid tree!! I'm just getting started!"

Three seconds later I was on my back for what felt like the thousandth time at least. Growling, I sat up.

"You do not think it is time for a break?"

"Bushy Brow? When did you get here?" I shook my head. "No, I'm not relaxing until I get this thing down!"

"You have been doing the same thing all day. No offense, but when you begin talking to the tree I believe it is time for some rest."

I sighed. "What'll I do? My Kageken Shadow Fist is coming along just great, but I'll never be a medical ninja – I'll never be much of any kind of ninja – if I can't even master basic chakra control…"

There was a thoughtful look on Lee's face. "Naruto-kun, the problem with controlling your chakra lies in its intensity and its amount, does it not?"

"Yeah," I answered.

He picked up a twig, and cleared leaves from a spot on the ground with a few sweeps of his hand. With the stick, he drew a line a few feet long in the dirt between us. "Here – let us say that this line represents a person's chakra." He drew a short tick mark at each end. "This end represents a huge amount of energy … and this one is no chakra at all. Now, the tree climbing technique requires a fairly small amount of chakra, right?"

"Understatement…" I grumbled, though I was paying close attention.

"There is a certain range of chakra output to perform the move acceptably – from the least one can expend to still stick to the surface, to the most one can use without being repelled by it. Do you follow?"

I nodded as he marked off two more lines near the 'zero' end of the scale, about five inches apart.

"However, with the greater intensity of your chakra, I suspect that on this same scale you would both need to use a lesser amount and focus it within a significantly narrower range." He drew in the dirt two more marks an inch apart, even nearer the start of the line than the other two.

"Aww," I moaned, "how am I supposed to do that? I'll bet I'm landing somewhere around here…" I pointed to the low end of the normal range. "And I can't use any less without not using chakra at all!"

"Wrong!" Lee said. "Chakra cannot be looked at that way. If this is zero and this is one, there is always one-half lying between them, and between zero and one-half is one-fourth, and between those an eighth, and those a sixteenth…" He must have seen it on my face that he was losing me. "What I am saying is that there is virtually no limit to how precise your chakra control can become! Normally people don't need to master any less chakra than this, but with enough concentration your chakra can be cut down infinitely smaller. And if you fine-tune your control to such a degree as to gain mastery over a truly miniscule quantity of it and control your chakra in increments of that quantity, manipulating a set amount of chakra should never be beyond you again!"

"That … kind of makes sense, Bushy Brow! But still, how'll I learn to actually do that?"

"Well, while your current method may prove useful again later … for now, you ought to seek a new approach."

"Hmm… a chakra control exercise even simpler than tree climbing?"

"In your case, I would suggest practicing a jutsu that requires very little chakra … one that will not work correctly if overdone–,"

"Lee, you're a freakin' genius!" I exclaimed. "I know a perfect one!"

"That is excellent! I am glad to have helped. Remember, patience is a virtue. Train hard, and I am certain you will succeed, Naruto-kun!" He stood up, about to get back to his own training.

"All right! I'm mastering this in no time!"

"Oh, and Naruto-kun? Apparently you will need to master your chakra before we go anywhere populated."

"Huh? Why's that?"

"Hinata-san told me to tell you she can sense you a mile away."

---

Come on … focus. A little less…

The first step to mastering my chakra turned out to be overcoming most dreaded enemy.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Thirty half-dead looking illusory copies appeared around me. As I was about to dispel them and try again, something caught my eye.

An hour of practice had yielded this: among the depressing bunch of pale replications, a few were almost normal-colored.

---

I turned over the rock in my hand.

So … if I imagine the shadow clone appearing in the act of throwing the rock…

I pictured it, and a kage bunshin popped in with a hand outstretched. The copy's stone fell straight to the ground before it dispelled itself.

But… if I go through the motion myself…

I drew back my hand, and then lashed it forward.

And create the shadow clone in the exact moment I'm about to release…!

POP.

A pair of stones soared into the air together, arcing identically in their flights. At the same moment, side by side, they met the ground.

I smirked at the shadow replication beside me, and he smirked back and voiced my thoughts.

"Then momentum is retained."

---

I sighed. Hours of steady improvement had resulted in this – if I created ten clones at a time, all were only slightly discolored and able to stand … but not to move. For the last fifty or so attempts, I'd come up with the exact same result.

I dispelled the motionless, sickly copies. I could create fifty functioning bunshin effortlessly; I could conjure forty perfect ones with ease, thirty with just a moment of concentration, and just earlier that day I had mastered twenty. But now my progress had halted. Why was ten such a solid wall to me?

"…'Patience is a virtue,' huh…?"

My feet had carried me to the base of an enormously tall tree. My hand drifted up, resting on a charred footprint.

"Far from healing … I'd probably sooner end up burning someone I tried to treat…"

I pulled my hand away, observing a palm smeared with black dust. Taking a deep breath, I turned and sat down, resting my back against the great tree's trunk.

"Mastering any medical ninjutsu is about control. Precision."

My eyes shut.

"And the smaller a fraction of my chakra I can master … the greater the precision I ultimately can wield."

My hands met in the sign of the ram.

I will get this right.

Chakra flared up within me, the same as before yet also very different. Energy that had once been a rolling blue river, bountiful yet gentle, was now inexplicably purple, violent and wild rapids.

Slowly I reined it in, drawing aside the tiniest thread of the power I could. I willed it into a tiny, workable little sphere of energy.

Then, focusing intently, I siphoned some of it back into the now tamed river.

And so it began.

---

"I have never seen him so still before… Do you think he is alright?"

Try to scrape off too much, and I would accidentally release it for sure. Not enough, and… this would take quite a while.

I didn't care how long it took, though. I was going to master my own chakra.

Something cold touched my nose. Another, my hand. The cold stuff went ignored.

---

Tk-tk-tk-tk-t-t-t-t-t-tk-tk……

Something warm gently pressed against my forehead.

"That is not good…"

The sphere was very small now. It was a flame – a flame, the size of a gnat. One rash move, one unwise stroke of the fingers of my will, and I would crush the gnat. It was very small.

I focused even harder. I crept closer, I stretched it thinner, and it seemed larger. Every detail of the little flame grew clearer – but there was far more detail still, I knew. No limit existed.

I prepared to make the next stroke, but I hesitated. My concentration was slipping, beginning to falter, the hand of my will unsteady and shaking as was my entire trembling body.

At my side – warmth. Life.

And a moment later, the other side as well. Very warm. The warmth seeped into me, chasing the cold from my bones.

When my teeth quit chattering, the fingers of my will, patiently suspended motionless in preparation – flowed in for yet another careful stroke, even more painstaking and controlled than the last.

---

…

…

…

"………It's time."

My eyes opened as I said this, and the two on either side of me opened their eyes as well.

"You guys…!" I said, surprised.

"Do not mention it," Lee said. "Now, do you not have something to do?"

I nodded. I released the tiny, glimmering droplet of chakra I'd spent the last hours sculpting, allowing it to disappear back into the river.

Lee stood up and gave me a hand, which I accepted. On my feet again, I nearly stumbled, but he and Hinata helped me.

"Careful," Lee said, "You have not moved in about ten hours."

"T-ten?!" I knew I'd been at it for a while, but…

I looked up, and in the distance I could see the sun was soon to begin setting. I'd started this morning; it was true.

"I'm fine," I said in a moment, and their steadying hands moved away. I took a deep breath, let it out, and then strode forward through a powdery down of freshly fallen snow. I inhaled again, and my hands clapped through seals. I narrowed in on and expended the amount of chakra I needed to – not more, and not less.

Air bullet!

A sphere of wind hurtled twenty yards and impacted a tree, chipping off splinters of wood and scratching up the bark where it hit.

I focused a bit of chakra as close as I could to that former droplet's amount, falling fairly near it and expertly shaping it down a little further in three more seconds. With this truly minuscule portion of my chakra, I wove three more signs and chose to skip ten altogether.

"Clone Jutsu!"

A lone illusory doppelganger appeared before me, its clothes of correct shade and a healthy tone to its skin. I turned to face the two.

"Identical?" the bunshin and I asked together.

"I cannot tell you apart!" Lee said, flashing a thumbs up.

At my will, the copy sprinted ten yards, drew a kunai, and crouched into a stance. I let the bunshin fade out of existence.

I held the sign of the ram. In a few moments I'd concentrated in again, gathering a bit of chakra as close as I could to that absolute low I'd just mastered, the smallest bit of chakra I could manipulate.

I grinned. "Here I come, stupid tree!"

Lee and Hinata stood aside to watch. I sprinted to the great tree, prepared to channel the chakra to the soles of my feet. I reached the tree, rose four steps … and slipped.

I wasn't repelled. My foot had slipped!

I kicked away with a little more chakra, flipping to land on my feet. The adrenaline was pumping; success was inches away, and there was no way I was letting it elude me now.

I sprinted forward. Let's try five times the minimum!

I raced upward along the trunk, rising above a mosaic of countless scorched footprints. But at eight steps I began to lose traction.

Just a little more chakra!!

"Excellent work, Naruto-kun! Brilliant!" Lee called when I reached the top twenty seconds later.

I chuckled, flashing a V-for-victory sign. "You guys look like ants from up here!" I hollered, and they laughed. Smiling, I looked toward the sunset.

And tomorrow … I'll summon up Gamakichi, and we'll save the Pervy Sage!

"Naruto-kun!" Lee called.

"What?"

"We did not want to disturb you; you meditated through lunch and dinner! Do you not want to eat?"

I grimaced as my stomach groaned and growled. "You know, that doesn't sound like a half-bad idea!" I said, starting for the ground.

---

Could it be she really had been avoiding me the last few days? It must have been easy if she really could sense me a mile away – but now that I could conceal my chakra, she hadn't detected me coming from behind.

The wind blew at my back, and a second later I saw her start in surprise. No way – could she have really…?

She began to get up.

"Hinata!" I called, and she stopped. Once more finding myself gathering my courage, I jumped to stand beside her on the branch she was on. "May I join you?"

She turned her head, and my breath caught. Her skin … and her face, and her eyes… In the moonlight, has Hinata always looked so…? Why am I just noticing…?

"S-sure," she murmured, sitting down again. I nodded and sat next to her.

A broken blanket of wispy clouds drifted across the night sky, lit a grayish blue before the stars and the moon. I glanced to the girl beside me; seeing that she wasn't watching (she was looking the other way), I formed three hand seals.

"Naruto-kun, I – really was about t-to go get some firewood … I mean, Lee-kun looks pretty c-cold down there, don't you th–?"

She gasped as I rested a hand on her own; in a moment she allowed them to be gently coaxed from her lap to lay palm-up in one of my hands. I took a deep breath, and a warm glow emanated from my other hand. I brushed slowly over her palms, and in a few seconds the irritated redness of chakra burns faded from her flesh.

"Naruto-kun, that's amazing!" she said, but flinched slightly when she looked up to meet the remorse in my eyes. My hand fell to rest over hers.

"I'm so sorry … for burning you the other day."

"That wasn't your fault," she said.

"I lost control, didn't I?" I shot back quietly, my head down.

"Maybe … but we both lost control that day, didn't we?"

"I guess so…" I chuckled. "And you did slug me pretty good in the face."

She blushed, averting her gaze as she giggled softly in embarrassment. "I guess I did… That didn't hurt too much, did it?"

I pretended to think over it a moment. "Nah, I'm tough," I answered, and she laughed again. I smiled softly. "H… Hinata-chan?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"I – I mean…" I held out some of the blanket I'd had draped around me. "Aren't you cold?"

She nodded after a hesitant moment, and bashfully she moved closer to accept half of the blanket.

"Naruto-kun…" she said eventually, "I know it m-must have been hard for you, to see me that way. Even I was scared – of what I'd become. But I'm going to train to master it… to control my curse, so it can't c-control me."

"And … when you face your cousin…?"

She nodded slightly. "If he uses his curse mark, I'll have to use mine."

"Hm…"

For another minute or two all was silent but for the rustling whispers of wind through the trees as we watched the clouds float by. Hinata asked me what I was thinking about.

"Heh… It's hard to explain, kind of. I don't totally get it myself, but sometimes it's hard for me to see you fight."

"What? Why?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know, I mean…" My right hand and her left were still touching between us; I felt as delicate fingers absentmindedly traced graceful patterns against my knuckles, and I found myself driven to continue. "I want with all my heart for you to be strong – for all three of us to be strong, and achieve our goals alongside each other – and seeing your skill, your constant improvement out here, well… it makes me the proudest friend in the world! But at the same time, seeing you in battle … even though I'm proud, too, it hurts me somehow to see the fighter, the warrior Hinata. It's like … you shouldn't have to be a fighter. I wish you didn't have to fight, and struggle, and suffer. You shouldn't know pain so well; you shouldn't have battle scars, shouldn't have to know how to take a blow, how to take a life! You shouldn't have to fight so hard. I just wish I could protect you, fight for you, take some of your pain … I wish that somehow I was strong enough that you didn't have to be a fighter!" I laughed, rubbing my head. "Sorry. Guess I'm not making a whole lot of sense here, am I?"

Hinata shook her head, cheeks colored a soft pink. "No, I understand what you're saying… I can understand it, I think … because whenever I fight, it hurts me inside, too... But even if I shouldn't be a fighter, you know as well as I do that I must. I have to fight, and there's no way around it."

"I understand. For your cousin, your sister, and the rest of your clan, right?"

"Yes," she answered.

"I understand, but for some reason it still hurts me… It hurts, and I don't know why – Aw, forget it! Who am I kidding?! Hinata, you're the nicest, most beautiful girl I know; I've never felt this way around anyone else before! It took the horrible pain of thinking I'd lost you so many times for me to realize it, but I really do mean what I said to you the other day! Hinata, I think – I think I really do l–!"

"We sure said some crazy things that day, didn't we?"

Her blunt remark caught me off guard; I looked at the girl, but she was now looking away so that I couldn't see her face. "…Eh?" Hadn't she been the first to reveal her feelings?

"I mean, neither of us were completely ourselves, you know?"

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I searched for my voice. "I guess we weren't totally ourselves, b-but … what we said then–,"

"Yeah, I know, crazy stuff… Oh, I'm gonna go get that firewood!!!"

"Hinata–?"

She was gone. Shunshin.

I just sat there for a minute. Then I threw the blanket back around myself and buried my face in my hands. "Kuso… Smart, Naruto, very smart…"

---

Hanabi ハナビ

"What do you think we're doing in training today?" I asked as we walked to where we were meeting the others for a group training session. Sakura giggled.

"Someone's sure upbeat today, isn't she?" she said, smiling at me.

Mortified, I realized I was almost – almost – skipping. I corrected myself immediately, tuning my pace down to a controlled, disciplined walk, straightening my shoulders and back, and hardening my expression.

"Very … Hyuuga-like," Sakura commented, surprised by how quickly I had pulled it off.

I cracked a smile. "I know. It's just what … Chihci-ue taught me…" I looked to the ground. "But still – we had eleven captured, and only three dead from the mission a few days ago. It could have been worse, and I'm glad almost everyone made it through… And now it's time to keep training, so New Konoha will be ready when the time comes to protect the village, right?"

Sakura gave my shoulder a squeeze. "That's a good way to look at things. Iruka-sensei says it's about time we learned to walk on water, so that might be the focus today. I think Anko-sensei is well enough to train today, too, and if she's in charge of our group you never know…"

She trailed off, and we both stopped. I scowled nervously; seeing this, Sakura openly glared at the one standing fifteen yards down the road and gazing at us with an apathetic frown.

"…Is there a problem, sir?" Sakura inquired.

Neji sighed, uncrossing his arms. "Sorry, Haruno. I really don't have anything against you personally."

Suddenly Neji was beside me, and Sakura wasn't. His Byakugan was active, and one foot was extended in the air from a kick.

"Sakura!!" I screamed, turning to see her crash into the ground. Shaking with fury, I activated my own Byakugan in an instant. "What are you doing?!" I yelled, drawing back a palm and lunging in, aiming for Neji's side.

THUD.

I stared back at my cousin's emotionless Byakugan.

He withdrew the fist in my stomach, and I crumpled to the ground. O-ow…

"I'm merely confirming something," he answered as I wheezed, turning away from me and reaching into his kunai pouch. "Just a suspicion…"

"Sa-Sakura…" I gasped, looking toward her. She was standing up, fear and a trace of anger on her bruised face. Neji threw a kunai to the ground before her, and she jumped away just barely in time to dodge as the paper bomb strung to it exploded.

But Neji was already behind her, and as she was reaching the ground he was drawing back a palm.

"Ha–!"

Neji ducked, and snagged a kunai after it whistled over his head. He jumped, and a leg swept neatly beneath him; then he turned, and with a ringing CLANG! his knife parried another as a violent strike was thrown by a familiar black-clothed figure.

Our masked shinobi.

"Back off…"

Neji frowned. "So, these people do mean something to you after all."

---

Lee リー

We had put another bright and early start behind us, and we were covering ground at an excellent pace, racing under the rays of the morning sun. On one side of me, Hinata ran with an anxiousness somewhat hidden on her face beneath grim determination; on the other, Naruto gave off that unique air of being ready to take on anything and everything, determined, confident in himself and the two of us, and almost excited. And on Naruto's head sat Gamakichi, looking serious for once.

We were within Hi no Kuni again, and were now heading south-southeast in the direction of its eastern coast.

Eastern Fire Country… That is where the prison lies, and that is where they are holding Jiraiya-sama. We must succeed here. It is our duty as Leaf shinobi!

---

Neji ネジ

I jumped away, avoiding a second kunai slash. We held our knives at the ready a few moments, before I sighed and lowered mine. So it was true.

"It's … you again…" Haruno whispered in awe behind him.

"Take that kid and get out of here. Now," he said. Not once did his glowering eyes stray from mine.

"H-hai," she said. She hurried to Hanabi's side as the girl was starting to get to her feet, helping her up. Haruno cast one glance back toward her little savior before the two fled.

I sighed. "I'm assuming you wouldn't care to explain yourself?"

"Why don't you explain what you're doing?!" he barked. "Attacking people you know don't stand a chance against you? Some chuunin you are! Isn't our 'ultimate goal' to save as many of them as we possibly can?!"

"For now they are our enemies, remember? Maybe this task is a bit too much for you, if you'll go about forgetting such basic motives so easily. I was finding out whether you were selling your act or if you really cared – and now it is clear."

"You think you know it all, don't you?" he hissed.

I threw an elbow back, and the kage bunshin that had just spoken vanished as a cry of pain sounded behind me. I turned around to see him sitting up, a hand cradling his nose. "No," I conceded, "but I know enough. That's why I can tell there's more to this than concern for old friends alone."

He glared daggers, black eyes ablaze with loathing. The vicious intent would have been tough to miss.

"It is clear what you are thinking," I said, looking down at him. "You are currently picturing the day of the invasion – the day you charged off alone, got yourself beaten to a pulp, and had to be rescued by your sensei and hauled to safety by a team of genin. Am I right?"

"You…"

"Because we are similar, you constantly compare yourself to me. Why am I a chuunin, while you remain a mere genin? And you are now thinking of your defeat at Uzumaki's hands – and Uzumaki's defeat at my hands. You are struggling desperately to redeem yourself in your own eyes, and have arrived at the resolution that the only hope of salvation from your present state of despair lies in defeating me: I, who have already proven myself stronger than the one who defeated you."

"Tch…!"

"But now as your former confidence wavers you recall the night we clashed once before, and the difference in our abilities. Silently you curse me with all your soul, wishing I didn't even exist; for you are now second-guessing yourself and weighing the risks, and wondering whether or not I would hesitate to kill you.

"Deep down, you already know that you will lose, but you are uncertain of whether your survival is assured; unless it is, you have little desire to take chances in a battle that you know will inevitably end in defeat. And now you curse me again for my strength and my ability, but you are blind to the fact, all but unaware that you are truly cursing yourself. Now that it comes down to it, you finally realize that you are asking yourself… 'Why am I weaker than him?' And now, you are going to attack me."

Right I was.

---

Hanabi ハナビ

"So that guy … is working under Neji?"

"It sounds like it – which means that someone on New Oto's side actually helped us." Sakura stood up. "Come on, Hanabi, we need to hurry."

"Why? Hurry and what?"

"We need to tell the others about this."

"But, Sakura … even Shikamaru-san was distrustful and suspicious when we told them about the first time we were saved by that guy. I doubt they'll think much better of him now that we know he's with Oto. What if he loses, and then–?"

"I'll talk to them. I won't let anyone hurt him – not anyone on our side, at least. Now, let's go."

She body flickered from the tree, and I followed.

---

Neji ネジ

I dodged blow after blow, marveling at the comfortable ease with which I saw and avoided his every strike. He couldn't touch me – I knew it and he knew it, and this simple difference in ability meant that he was not destined to prevail.

I ducked, and my hand darted up to lightly tap his calf muscle as a kick passed over me. A grunt escaped him, and as his foot returned to the ground he nearly stumbled. He limped a few yards in retreat and regained his balance, growling in frustration.

"I'm sorry to break it to you," I said, "but looks don't kill."

"Shut up!" he shouted, lunging forward. I caught his fist, releasing a burst of chakra from my palm as I did so; he cried out, and I released his hand to throw a quick punch into his masked face. Turning, I rammed a shoulder into his chest to knock him to the ground.

He twisted his body as he fell, touching a hand and a foot to the earth, and suddenly a foot lashed to the side of my knee. I grunted, trying not to fall; as his foot met the ground, his other heel thrust itself into my shin. I winced, and very quickly he was on his feet–

"Gah!"

My upper body snapped forward as the wind shot from my lungs. A strong uppercut had caught me in the gut, knocking me backward a few feet. Arms folding across myself, I looked up with wide eyes to see a fist rapidly approaching my face.

Kawarimi!

My opponent's eyes widened as 'I' sailed five yards and burst into liquid.

"Mizu bunshin," I whispered in his ear from behind, and he stiffened.

My palms crashed into his shoulders. I didn't hold back. His mouth dropped open, his stunned face whitening as he was thrown forward.

He hit the ground heavily, and lied unmoving a few moments, his body stiff and teeth clenched in pain. "Not a bad hit," I remarked, spitting a drop of blood near his face. "But you let your guard down, and now you're finished. You won't be using any jutsu for the next hour at least, and I doubt you have much reaction out of your arms, either. This fight is over–,"

"Kuso, I'm not finished yet!!" He rolled onto his back and sat up, quickly getting to his feet without the use of his arms. I sighed, and soon enough found myself dodging a kick. And then another. And another.

Baka… He's only wearing himself out now, I thought, dodging all his clumsy strikes. The fire still blazed in his eyes; he hated me. He wanted nothing more than to hurt me. What did he think he would accomplish? He was many things, but I wouldn't have thought he wasn't stupid. Just what is it that you hope to achieve here…?

My eyes narrowed. Opening.

With great speed I deflected a blow and launched myself forward. He was driven off his feet; I slammed him to the ground, my palm on his chest and my knee in his stomach.

"Then perhaps you're finished now?" I asked before getting off him. "If I hadn't held back on that Juuken strike, you would probably be dead right now. So there you have it – I have indeed hesitated to kill you … since we are comrades." My Byakugan relaxed as I turned my back and walked away.

"Teme… Don't walk away … from m-me…!"

I stopped. He was standing again. And it infuriated me.

"There's no way … I'm weaker th-than you…!"

My Byakugan reawakened, and I spoke in a whisper. "Dance … of the Quasihemidemisemiquaver..."

"Oi! You freakin' deaf or something?!"

"…Juuken-Oto Ninpou…"

"If you're so tough, turn around and finish me off–!"

"Storm of Heaven's Orchestra!" I roared, whirling, lowering into the stance, and racing forward.

For the first strike–!

His chakra went hyperactive.

Pain exploded in my jaw.

H – he's fast…! I thought, eyes widening as I was thrown into the air. I flipped to land on my feet, disoriented a moment. I blinked and looked up.

I leaped aside, and a black-clad blur slammed into the ground where I'd been. Kneeling in a small dust cloud, he first looked up to glare at me. Then he raised his fist from the ground, and I observed the markings sliding onto his hand as he stood.

"You really are trying to kill me, aren't you?" I remarked, an eyebrow raised. "You don't think you're taking this a tad bit overboard?" He growled as my skin began to pale, and my hair to darken.

"You're pushing your luck," I continued, a vicious razor's edge entering my tone as Darkness, pure and strong, rolled through my veins. I smirked slightly, exposing fangs as they appeared. "I've already hesitated twice. Do you really intend to gamble your life on the chance of whether or not I will decide to again?"

He glared back, fuming.

"What's the matter? Lost your voice?" I snickered quietly, and then tilted my head back and began to laugh. Falling silent, I locked my eyes on his again, piercing him with my gaze. "But the stakes have just been raised. Look around; you see them too, don't you?"

He gasped, sensing it as well. "Wh-what's…?"

"This is what happens when allies bicker within enemy territory. Now the vultures are hidden and waiting … waiting, it would seem, for the outcome of this battle."

He stiffened, and my smirk only grew. I shut my eyes, shrugging.

"So what can we do? Best case for them, we'll wear each other out. Of course, as we are now … I'm certain we'd escape with ease should we work together. But I wonder, are you capable of setting aside your hatred, of fighting at my side? I don't think you are."

I waited, and chuckled when I was not corrected. I tasted intensity thick in the air, intensity and fear – and it set my heart pounding in anticipation.

"Oh well," I said, "I guess it can't be helped." I snickered again, my grin spreading as my tongue flickered across sharp teeth. "Makes it kind of interesting, doesn't it? So I'll start coming at you as seriously as you've been coming at me, and we'll see how long it lasts. And at the end of this battle, one of us will seize his chance to escape … and the other will be left defenseless at the hands of our foes."

"You're insane."

"You're stupid."

Speed – movement quicker than wind.

Two fists crashed together between us.

Let's dance.

---

Lee リー

She shut her eyes, and the veins raised around them relaxed.

"Kuso…" she whispered.

"Hinata-san?" I said apprehensively. "What is wrong? What did you see?"

She shook her head, eyes still shut. "Kuso!" she shouted, standing up.

"Woah, what're you doing?!" Naruto whispered, rising and grabbing her by the shoulders in attempt to pull her back into the cover of the bushes we were hiding behind. She shrugged him off.

"There's no one to hide from!" she cried, "The place is empty! Abandoned!"

"A… abandoned?" Naruto said, shocked.

"There is an underground prison hidden there … just n-not a soul inside it."

"So," I said, getting up, "They have either moved Jiraiya-sama or…" My voice faded as I saw their faces; the two had been ready for success, ready to fight for victory with everything they had. "Look – it is not time to give up hope yet. More than likely, they simply are not holding such a dangerous prisoner in one place for too long. Today or another day, we will still find him."

Naruto nodded glumly, and Gamakichi sprang off the purple-eyed boy's head. I watched him hop over to the hidden trapdoor twenty yards away, and then move in a circle around it. "Well, unless one of you knows any friendly ninken dogs, we're at a bit of a dead end here."

"Hm," I groaned. What … are we supposed to do now?

"Ninken…"

"Huh? Hinata-san, did you say something?"

"Ken… nin…?" Her eyes widened, and in a light gust of swirling leaves she vanished.

Gamakichi shrieked in terror as Hinata thudded onto the trapdoor next to him on her hands and knees, hunched forward with her nose nearly touching the ground. The position almost made me think of a…

She sniffed. Crawling forward and turning her head, she sniffed quickly and sharply, looking uncannily like a puppy in search of something. Naruto and I exchanged a look.

"Eh… Whatcha' doin' there, girlie?" an equally confused toad voiced our thoughts (if not in those exact words) as she began brushing a palm against the ground. He jumped again when her nails sprang into short black claws, and she raked away a thin layer of dirt and freshly grown grass to expose an edge of the door. She inhaled carefully, a look of deep concentration on her face.

"…Hinata?" Naruto asked.

Her slight transformation faded as she got back to her feet. "No good," she said, dusting her knees off. "My sense of smell is strong, but not that strong. I can't track a scent this faint."

"I see…" I said.

"I'm not even gonna ask. You three are some interesting little weirdos…" Gamakichi grumbled.

"Well, at least," Naruto began, "Shouldn't we check out the inside? Y'know, find out what the place looks like, how we would have gone about sneaking into it, see if the Sound left anything behind?"

"That is a great idea!" I exclaimed, trying to lighten their spirits. "When we do find the right prison, we will be that much better prepared to infiltrate it. Yosh! Let us get started!" I knelt down to begin uncovering the rest of the door; the mood caught, and Naruto managed a grin as he helped.

"U-um…" Hinata said, "While you two do that, would you mind if I went off to work on something on my own?"

"No problem," I assured her, nodding.

More curious, Naruto inquired, "What're you working on?"

"A jutsu…"

"What kind of jutsu?"

"…Kuchiyose."

---

Neji ネジ

He blocked a punch and narrowly avoided a palm before raising both arms to block a heavy roundhouse kick. Spinning, he lashed the back of his fist for my head, and I ducked away to avoid it. Catching a punch just in front of my face, I pushed it away and evaded a kick at my side. I blocked a punch, but as I was blocking another his hand opened to grab my arm; I smacked the hand away, but the genin had leapt into a high kick.

I positioned my arms to defend against the blow, but was sent sailing at the force behind it. I caught myself with a hand, less than a foot from the edge of the river that cut through the village – and upon seeing this, I tumbled back and into the frigid water as if I'd slipped.

Ushi-Saru-U-Ne-I-Tori………

Sticking my feet to the bottom, I waited fifteen more seconds after completing the lengthy sequence, and sure enough the fool wandered up to the bank to look.

Suiryūdan no Jutsu!

I leapt from the river alongside a water dragon that slammed into him dead-on, blasting him away. I manipulated it to catch him again from below, propelling his black-clothed form upward. I raced up the side of a nearby building and launched myself toward him with a burst of chakra, releasing the jutsu so that he was thrown high into the air. Executing an acrobatic spin as I descended, I met him with an axe kick across his back.

"ACK!"

We fell together, and I clasped the back of his shirt from above him, preparing to use my weight to drive him against the ground. However, before I could position myself he reached back suddenly, grabbing a fistful of the neck of my shirt. With a cry of rage he whirled, snapping his body around to bury a foot in my side.

My teeth locked, and blood soon shot past them. Stunned, I couldn't defend myself from the following heavy fist to the cheek and boot in the gut. He grabbed my arm, turning me so that I faced skyward, and suddenly a fist cracked into my jaw. Now beside me, he sank a crushing blow into my stomach; I lost all my breath, and his fist opened. He lightly pushed off me, beginning to turn for a final kick.

He was aiming for my chest, not my middle. My bones were strong, but if my sternum and ribs got caught between that and the ground…

Byakugan! His timing was off – I was about to hit ground before he hit me.

Channeling a huge deal of chakra to my arm, I swept my left hand down beside me; it struck into the ground with an intense burst of chakra, setting me spinning to my right.

Hakkeshou Kaiten!!

A dome of black chakra was thrust outward from me as I spun rapidly, just above the ground, and the genin cried out as he was smacked away. Ending the improvised lateral Kaiten, I landed in a low crouch and rose to my feet.

"Almost caught me that time," I remarked nonchalantly, and he cursed me with his blazing eyes. He started forward – and jumped in surprise as the remains of the water dragon came splashing to the ground between us.

Ushi-Tatsu-Tori-Ne-Hitsuji!

"Suiton: Raining Bullets!"

From the water that had splashed into the air shot a thousand tiny liquid needles, bolting straight for my off-guard adversary and striking into his torso and face all at once. He was knocked a yard back, not injured so much as stunned.

And in an instant I was darting past him, smiling as my claws shredded over the side of his ribcage. A marvelous scent erupted in brilliance as rich blood was spilt generously from the wound.

He stumbled forward with a poorly stifled sound of pain, and I chuckled quietly to myself as I turned to face him, raising my hand to clean my claws. I sighed, but my joy was pierced by a bolt of pain.

I'm overusing the Blood Seal, I realized, my mood falling. Guess I ought to start wrapping it up…

Down on one knee, he was casting a glare over his shoulder. One of his eyes was shut in pain, and an arm lied across his body, the hand pressed to his ripped shirt and bleeding side.

The wind blew, and my nose twitched.

Still… It couldn't hurt to slice him up a bit more…

No! I caught myself, finding my muscles were already tensed and prepared to spring. I shook my head. He's important – important to Orochimaru-sama. I can't kill him. The mark throbbed, and though I thirsted terribly for his blood I resisted. I collected myself.

"So tell me, genin," I called condescendingly, "Do you think that if by some insanity you happened to miraculously defeat me … you would be in any condition to put up a good fight against our foes?"

Teeth grinding, he raced through a chain of seals and stood. I jerked to the side, and a small, deadly fireball whizzed past my head; I blurred toward him, cutting to the left to evade a second missile, and the right to avoid a third, all the while growing nearer the younger shinobi. One yard away, I drew back a fist – and he unleashed another blaze at pointblank range.

Ducking sharply, I threw a heavy fist toward his belly. He moved both hands to block it.

I smirked.

"Hidden Snake Hand."

Three serpents raced from my long sleeve, two winding rapidly up his arms and biting hard, latching fangs into his bicep and neck, and the third flying around his waist and coiling twice about his leg before sinking its teeth into the boy's thigh.

He grunted. "What … the heck?! He taught you this jutsu, didn't he?! Why hasn't…?"

"Heh," I snorted, understanding. "What can I say? I guess Orochimaru-sama doesn't trust you like he does me." The snakes withdrew and vanished; free, he pulled away and retreated several yards.

"And why does Orochimaru trust you?" he growled.

"He's not the type to trust many, but I have no reasons to betray him, and he knows it. You, on the other hand – to say the least, I can see why he might have his doubts."

"What did you say?" he hissed. Then his eyes grew. He swayed, and in a second he fell to one knee. Shaking his head, he gazed at a trembling hand he held before him. He looked up, eyes wide. "Hyuuga – did you freakin' poison me?!"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"I mean it! You'd better have an antidote for this crap!!"

"Making demands of someone you just went all out trying to kill, are we?"

"Teme…" Furious, he forced himself to his feet. "Why… Why is your curse mark … more powerful than mine?!" he shouted.

My eyes narrowed. "Jutsu, trust, poison, curse seals… What is it that we're talking about exactly?"

His quivering right hand gripped his left arm firmly. Energy began to crackle in his outstretched palm. His eyes never stopped cursing me.

"Besides, we can't honestly try to judge the seals' power based on this – it would be unfair to your Heaven Curse Mark."

Chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi-chi–

"For all we know, the seals are equivalent and I'm simply stronger than you." Or…

He leapt forward, bellowing an attack cry, drawing back the blazing sphere of lightning concentrated in his hand.

"You already know. You will lose."

Shlugk…

His hand plunged through my stomach. I shut my eyes in pain as the hand continued to spark and crackle behind me.

"Or … maybe…" Liquid trailed from my mouth. But it wasn't blood.

'I' opened my eyes, threw my arms around him, and sang it in a mocking tone:

"Mizu bunshin."

SPLASH!!

The now soaked genin – hand still ablaze with his chakra – shuddered violently as he gave himself a good zap. He staggered backwards.

And he gasped when he bumped into me. He spun, throwing a feeble punch as his mark failed him. I caught his hand with a smirk.

"Or maybe…" I said, leaning forward to whisper in his ear and forcing his wrist back until I heard a painful-sounding pop. "Your mark is becoming starved of Darkness."

I brought a fist upward into his stomach, striking with such force he was lifted off his feet. As he fell, my other hand latched onto his neck.

"Maybe … you don't have enough hatred."

Half-glazed eyes grew wide, a bloodied mouth falling open and breath catching sharply like he'd been struck. Arms cradling his midriff fell limp to his sides.

On that note, I swept my arm back and released. He shot like a bullet into a rickety old wooden shed, bringing it crashing down on top of him.

I spared hardly a glance toward the dust cloud. Then I activated my Byakugan as I turned my gaze full force on an approaching chuunin twenty yards away, snarling with a dangerous growl and spreading my claws menacingly before me. Time to escape before they got a chance to converge on me.

He stopped in his tracks, flinching as he met my eyes. A moment after I was upon him from a leap, bringing my hands to his arm and forehead and my feet to his belly as I fell against him, knocking him to the ground. I jumped off of him into a sharp spinning kick, swatting aside a second Konoha-nin with a heel to the face. I landed and sprang toward a third, the last to bar my path, with claws prepared to slash. He was unblinking in fear, teeth chattering, knees shaking, and hands trembling so badly he couldn't form his seals.

"Don't hurt me!!" he shrieked finally, holding up his arms in front of him.

Stupid Akimichi… My foot touched the ground before him, and I shifted my hand so that claws aimed for his face missed; the side of my hand snapped to the side of his neck, dropping him like a rock, and I raced past without breaking stride.

"Forget it! Don't pursue him!" I heard someone call. So, that was that.

I leave you to fate now, my comrade. It's all up to fate…

---

Hanabi ハナビ

"Hanabi-chan, give me a hand here!" she said, struggling to lift a fallen wooden beam. Sakura had gotten to him first, sprinting here as soon as Neji fled; a lot of debris had already been cast aside by the time I caught up.

"Right!" I said, helping her with it. Maybe it was an adrenaline rush, but she lifted it mostly on her own and hefted it away. We cleared more boards until the black-clothed figure was fully exposed.

Sakura reached a hand toward him, and froze. I looked to her, and something clenched inside me as I watched the first silent tears roll down her cheeks. I realized that our savior was still. Too still.

At this point several New Konoha ninja had gathered a short distance from us. Shikamaru walked to my side, and looked in a moment at the girl. The girl whose hands bled with cuts and splinters from her haste, her face dirty and tear-streaked, kneeling in the rubble beside the masked shinobi who was supposed to be our foe.

"Sakura…" Shikamaru said quietly.

"You s-saw his jutsu, didn't you? There's only one p-person he c-could be…"

I shook my head, stunned. The last time, he had seemed so strong … so invincible. And now, just like that, he was…?

Something dripped from my chin. My face was wet, I realized as I watched my friend sobbing on his chest. I sniffled, whimpering softly, and my hand covered my mouth. I looked down. Hyuuga … do not cry. Under no circumstances is it acceptable…

"Don't go!!"

I shuddered. But maybe … just this once… when there aren't any Hyuuga around to see it–

"Can't breathe… with you on top of me……"

I looked up at the feeble voice, and Sakura pulled away with a gasp. A tiny, weak cough passed into the air.

I can't much describe how I felt at the moment that I saw his chest was gently rising and falling again. Any words I could have used to express the relief that struck me in the transition from despair to what I now felt would have amounted to understatements.

Sakura, shedding fresh tears of joy, managed in a few seconds to smile and cry out.

"Sasuke!"

---

Neji ネジ

–"'Double agent?'"

"Yes. You will feign a switch of sides; we need to get you into New Konoha, after which you will infiltrate their ranks and pretend to collect information on us for them, while you really do the opposite."–

That was the idea: feigned conflict, feigned treachery, feigned side switch. The keyword being 'feigned.'

I couldn't help but feel he wasn't the best person that could have been chosen for the task.

–"You are to join them gain their trust. They need to believe you have traded allegiance to them. Anything you learn, any plans, and ways we could better hinder them, will be reported regularly to me."

"So I'll be a spy."

"Correct."–

I knocked on the door and waited patiently.

He had bonds on their side; he truly cared for that Haruno girl's wellbeing. He hadn't been acting today – he had been trying, however futile we both knew his attempts, to kill me.

–"Do you understand the assignment?"

"Hn. I've got it, Hyuuga-sama."–

I frowned. This could be problematic. But I trusted the Hokage had his reasons. Maybe it was intended to be problematic. Perhaps it would reveal where his loyalty truly lied.

"Enter!"

I pushed the doors open and strode into the room, bowing at the waist. I raised my head, meeting Lord Orochimaru's eyes.

"The first stage has been completed."

I think.

---

Hanabi ハナビ

"Hanabi-chan, you can go to sleep if you want to."

"Huh, what?" I raised my head, blinking drowsiness from my eyes. I brought a hand to my mouth, yawning a long time. "I'm staying up…"

Sakura gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. "That's sweet of you, but we don't even know if he'll be waking up any time soon. You ought to get some rest."

"I'm not a baby…"

"Seven isn't that old, either."

"Hmph…" I mumbled, beginning to drift off again with my head resting against the older girl. "'M not … falling asleep…"

I want to ask him … how Nee-chan is doing…

My eyelids drooped as I gazed at the Uchiha lying on a futon, nude but for a pair of pants someone had lent and the bandages covering much of his torso; two of New Konoha's few medics had tended to him a couple of hours ago. I couldn't keep my eyes open as I observed his tranquil state of dozing, and in seconds I had drifted off.

But then again … I already know Nee-chan is okay. She made me … a promise……

How long had it been? I wondered as the sound of voices roused me.

"Please, don't try to move! Your injuries–!"

"I'm fine…"

"Sasuke…"

I blinked slowly, only partially awake. The boy was sitting up, and Sakura had moved to kneel at his side.

"I don't understand why … why did you do it? We're enemies now, after all … so why did you help us? Do you actually, sort of... care about–?"

"You're pathetic."

"…?!"

"…And it's because you're so weak … that I just couldn't leave you alone. I couldn't stop thinking about you, no matter how hard I tried. You're not ready for this kind of battle, and I knew it. And the thought of the war starting … the thought of you caught up in this, unable to defend yourself…" He shook his head. "You don't have Naruto or Kakashi to lean on now, and I knew you'd need someone. Maybe I'm the pathetic one – clinging to my old teammate, protecting my enemy from my allies like it's my responsibility or something… And now look where I am, in some type of underground hideout with my hands tied behind my back. I'm a hostage, right?" he asked tonelessly.

Sakura looked down. "Sort of… I mean, Hanabi and I told the others about how you saved us twice. We convinced them to go lightly on you; you won't be tortured or even interrogated. If you'd defeated Neji, he would definitely have woken up to a different situation than yours…"

"But you didn't defeat Hyuuga," another familiar voice said. "Or even come close."

"Anko-sensei!" Sakura said. I looked up again as the woman entered the earthen room, her aura intense and her bruised face calm but for narrowed eyes.

"What happened to you?" Sasuke spat, scowling at her air of hostility.

"Took a jump-kick to the face," she answered simply. "For a guy just coming out of battle, your friend was in tip-top shape."

"What are you trying to say?" he said, glaring.

Her frown deepened. "Sakura, could I have a word with our guest, alone?"

"…Um…"

"You don't have to worry."

"Okay…" She walked up to me. "Hanabi-chan, are you awake?"

"Huh…?" I looked up groggily.

She smiled, reaching behind my back and my knees. "Come on, let's go somewhere where you can get some rest–,"

"I can walk!" I complained automatically as she lifted me.

"Okay, okay," she said, setting me on my feet. "You're not a baby, right?"

"Mm…" I nodded slightly, taking her hand as she guided me from the room.

We walked past the sheet that separated the room from the hallway, and had gone some three steps when Sakura pressed her back against the wall. "Shh…" she whispered, directing me to do the same.

I could only catch a few of the hushed words spoken in the room.

"…making a mistake… In the end … tossed aside … not useful anymore."

"I have a goal… don't care … have to do…"

"Save yourself before it's too late… decides you're not good enough…"

"What the heck do you think you know about it–?!"

THAP!!

"AH!"

"Anko-sensei!" Sakura shouted. Fully awake, I followed her back into the room; we were greeted with the sight of Sasuke sprawled on his front near his futon, and Anko standing on the other side of the mat with a fist outstretched, eyes closed and teeth clenched in anger.

"What are you doing?" Sakura cried, helping Sasuke sit up again. "He's injured–!"

"He's a fool," she said stonily. The Leaf tokubetsu jounin and Sound genin had entered into a glare-off, Sasuke's eyes angry and hers cold. It was then that I noticed the bruise on the side of the Uchiha's jaw … and the red trailing from his mouth.

Unblinking, I promptly turned myself around and rested my forehead and hands on the wall.

"Do you honestly think," I heard Anko say, "that you and Hyuuga Neji could be the first apprentices the filthy snake's ever taken on?"

He gasped.

"Mendoukuse… What's going on in here?" Shikamaru sighed, entering the room. "…And what's wrong with Hanabi?"

"Oh – Sasuke, wipe your mouth," Sakura said.

"…Great idea," he said sarcastically.

"R-right, I forgot, your hands – I'll wipe it for you, I m-mean, if you don't mind…"

"...Hn."

A moment later, Anko said, "I'm sorry – to Hanabi, not to you, Uchiha."

Beside me, Shikamaru sighed. He touched my shoulder lightly, even offering a small smile. "You can turn around now," he said, and I hesitantly did so.

"Anyways…" He turned to Sasuke. "Getting right to the point, we have an offer that you might be interested in."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed. "An offer…?"

---

"So, you want me to turn on Oto? You would let me join you?"

"It looks like your relations on their side aren't going too good, and Sakura trusts you enough, so…"

"And what happens to me if I refuse?"

"You go free," Shikamaru said, causing Sasuke to gasp lightly.

"Just like that? Why would you…?"

"These two claim they owe their lives to you, so they got a lot of say in deciding your fate. Thanks to them, you can make a choice freely."

Sasuke chuckled slightly. "Now wouldn't it get ugly if I, say, joined you – and even spied on New Oto for you – and turned out to be loyal to Oto and doing the opposite?"

"What are you saying?" Anko whispered.

"Nara, I thought you were supposed to be some kind of genius. You're pretty naïve if you didn't consider that might just happen to be my true mission."

"And is that your true mission?"

"It was. But…" His gaze flickered toward Sakura. "I can't do it; not when it might put you in more danger. What Oto is doing to all of you is wrong; I was able to ignore it at first, but I can't any longer – and unlike those other cowards, I'm not afraid of Neji. So, I have an offer for you now. Let me pretend to be Oto's double agent, and really spy on them for you."

"Oh, please," Anko said, "Isn't that just too convenient? How do we know whose side he's really on? He's probably–,"

"If I were just saying this," he interrupted her, "why would I have told you my mission and alerted you to the threat? Why wouldn't I have just accepted your offer to join and started feeding Oto everything I learned?"

"But now," Shikamaru reasoned, "for all we know, you anticipated this argument and divulged your plan beforehand solely for the sake of utilizing it as a point to gain our trust. Man, this is troublesome…" he moaned, tilting his head back to stare glumly at the ceiling and undoubtedly wishing he could see through it to the night sky above.

He sighed, lowering his head and bringing his hands together in what I and the rest of New Konoha had come to know as the legendary "thinking stance."

Anko scowled. "Don't tell me you're honestly considering running the risk of–!"

"Thinking…" Shikamaru muttered in annoyance, and Sakura had to stop the woman from whacking him upside the head.

The four of us waited (for the most part) patiently, but the air in the small room grew tense as we did so, Sakura and I anxious, Anko glaring at Sasuke, and Sasuke pointedly ignoring her. We started when Shikamaru finally spoke.

"Letting him join would be an enormous risk. We have no way of knowing if he's really with us or not. We're weaker than New Oto as is, and it's no secret we're already at the disadvantage."

Sakura hung her head, and Anko nodded approvingly.

"But," the shadow user opened his eyes. "For those same reasons, I say this is too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Huh?" Sakura said, "You mean…?"

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Anko fumed. "So on the chance that he might be telling the truth…?!"

"Sorry, Anko-sensei; you've been overruled." He looked to Sasuke. "Oto will probably trust you because they think you're just working as their double agent. Instead, you're going to pretend, to Oto, to be pretending to spy on Oto for Konoha while remaining loyal to them – except you really will spy on them because you really will be working for Konoha all along." He rubbed his head. "I think that actually makes you a triple agent… Think you can do it?"

The Uchiha nodded. "Hai."

Shikamaru smirked. "Then welcome to New Konoha."

---

Naruto ナルト

"Hey, kid, I was wonderin' something."

"What is it?"

"How do you guys know so much about what happened to Konoha, if you'd already left before any of it started?"

"Huh? Oh, actually … Come to think of it, I guess that's mostly thanks to Sasuke!"

"Eh? Who?"

I just smiled.

To this day, I still don't really understand why Sasuke gave that information. Maybe he was secretly on the Failures' side, on New Konoha's side, plotting against Orochimaru and Neji from the start; perhaps he'd simply wanted to toss his own two cents into the fountain pool that took in events and spat out so-called 'destiny.' But whatever it was…

"Naruto!"

"Hinata?" I said as she came running into camp, looking excited. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

She shook her head and formed a weird hand seal I'd never seen before. "Do this."

"What … this?" I said as I carefully mimicked the sign. I looked up to see her Byakugan focused on me, and got that unnerved feeling anyone felt when they knew a Hyuuga was looking inside them. She looked at herself a moment, then back to me, and nodded.

"Thanks," she said, smiling before running off again.

"Hey, Hinata!" I called. "Did you stay awake all night or something?"

"Sort of!" she answered, soon disappearing from view.

"…'Sort of,'" I muttered, shaking my head. "What was that all about?"

"But, yeah, who's this Sasuke fella'?"

"Huh? Who're we talking about again?"

---

Hinata ヒナタ

I had found, mysteriously present in my mind after meeting with the Gobi, a few vague hints for how to perform the jutsu it had entrusted to me. It looked like I was expected to figure it out on my own. The first hint to arise was the fact that it was a summoning jutsu, and the second came in the form of an odd handseal I somehow knew. Not understanding, I had stored the knowledge of the sign in the back of my mind.

I had asked Naruto what the hand seals for Kuchiyose no Jutsu were, and he had taught them to me; sure enough, the strange hand seal wasn't one of them. But when I attempted to summon, nothing had happened – nothing at all.

Then a strange notion had surfaced, and I realized it was a third hint: for whatever reason, I felt I needed to use an elemental jutsu with it. But I couldn't possibly use two jutsu at the same time; how was I supposed to overlap an elemental jutsu with a summoning jutsu? I had felt pretty foolish as I attempted again and again, without a clue as to what exactly I was trying to do, spitting a fireball and then trying to do a Kuchiyose after as if it would make some kind of difference (which it didn't).

Finally the weird handseal had come back to mind, and I'd wondered – why hadn't the five seals of the Art of Summoning been among the clues? Shouldn't that have been a crucial piece of information?

It wasn't.

I formed the sign again, succeeding in simultaneously shaping my chakra to the correct form. I had it down, and now that I knew what to do I could sense it was right. It felt right.

Taking a deep breath, I opened determined eyes and brought my hands together.

"Mi! Hitsuji! Saru! I! Uma! Tora! Ookami!"

Ookami. Without thinking, I had called it Ookami.

Sign of the Wolf.

Rearing back, I filled my lungs with air.

And as I was coming forward and opening my mouth, something rather different from the expected 'Goukakyuu no Jutsu' leaped across my mind.

Youkai Ninpou: Reikuchiyose no Jutsu!

The fireball erupted from my mouth – and I felt like I'd been dealt a staggering blow. My vision flashed at the bone-jarring force, and I fell confused to my hands and knees. Where … had all my chakra gone?

I looked up, and my breath froze in my throat.

The fireball was ten yards away, hovering and swirling wildly in front of me. A blood-chilling, disembodied growl rumbled in the air, and the churning sphere of orange darkened rapidly to crimson and then to black. The blaze streaked toward me in a bolt of darkness before halting sharply, and it then spiraled upward extravagantly with incredible speed. In a flash it blasted into the ground before me, sending a shroud of flames billowing outward all around it. These faded…

And left standing there in front of me, five feet high at the ears, head and tail raised tall, and eyes black, red, and furious, a monstrous wolf of rolling black flames unleashed a terrible, earth-shaking roar of might.

"Who DARES summon me, Child of FIRE, ruler of the inferno, SON of the great black-blooded Houkou – Gobi no Ookami, master of all elements of this world – Grand Ookami KUROGIBA, the BLACK FANG?!!"

---

ナルト / リー / ヒナタ \ ハナビ \ ネジ

End Chapter Eight

Naruto: Wah! Now I look like a radioactive Star Ninja!!

Sasuke: Itachi…

Itachi: Go away. You don't interest me at the moment, worthless halfbreed.

Sasuke: …What the heck is a 'halfbreed'?

Itachi: I … have no idea, actually…

Sasuke: O-kay…

Itachi: Yeah, sorry, just sort of slipped out there…

Hanabi: You! Must you beat someone down in every chapter you appear in?!

Neji: I'm not sure I understand the insinuation.

Hinata: E-everyone! We need to do the preview now! (-static-)

Kurogiba: I refuse to serve a pathetic little human girl, and a cripple at that…

Hinata: Please, then, K-Kurogiba-sama... what can I do to prove myself to you…?

Hanabi: Torn between the Darkness and the Light – which path will Sasuke-san ultimately take?

Lee: And with no way of following a scent and no leads, where are the three of us to go now?

Naruto: The journey goes on next time in … um… Chapter Nine!

Phew… How was the chapter?

Yes, Naruto's eyes are permanently purple. Any hypotheses to how he survived, why he healed so fast? Oh, and the Kageken is going to be so awesome!! Just wait… (chuckles evilly) Also, any guesses on the origin of Hanabi's hemophobia? There were hints in this chap.

Yes, a river runs through the village. Says who? Ultimate Ninja 3! Okay, yeah, I needed there to be a river…

Kurogiba won't be a main character, but I wouldn't say he's a minor character either. I made his name out of 'Kuro' (black) and 'Kiba' (fang). I spent an hour researching rendaku and Lyman's Law, trying to figure out if 'Kurogiba' or 'Kurokiba' would be more correct, but I gave up eventually and just used the one I thought sounded better.

TiMeSkIp aLeRt!1! That caught your attention, right? But not now, there's still some more events to get through first. Just so you know, coming up I'd say within the next four chapters. For obvious reasons, it definitely won't be 2 and a half years; it'll be more of a mini time skip of a few months.

How was the interaction between Neji and Sasuke? Was the action scene good? How was the Naruhina-ish part? Did the scenes switch around too much in this one?

Okay, I'm done rambling! Good or bad, please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter! Please? Reviews fill authors with joy and joyness and make them all happy and fuzzy inside!

Laters!

:o)Hinata0321:o)