Team Aeternum: From Heaven to Hell

Chapter 12: Tensions among Comrades

"Tension between enemies is common, expected, and deserved, but tension between comrades? That in itself is scary." -Unknown

Chapter Start

The mission was simple, in all honesty. It truly was. A simple search and destroy mission outside the borders of the village – so simple, in fact, that their sensei, Asuma Sarutobi, explained the mission protocols, told them their objective, their targets, patted them on the back (figuratively) and sent them out…

Alone.

Four pairs of eyes watched their sensei bring up a cigarette, light it, and enjoy it for a second before he departed, his form getting smaller and smaller the farther he got away. Two of those four pairs of eyes narrowed bitterly.

They stood still in an awkward silence for several minutes, the bright sun casting a sheet of warmth from above.

"Let's get going." The last Uchiha in Konohagakure stated neutrally as he turned around to face their destination. From where they stood, the team could oversee their destination off in the distance barely hidden by foliage.

"I can't believe we have to do this alone…" Hinata muttered, a scowl formed on her face.

"You kiddin' me, Hinata?" Kiba rolled his eyes. "It's the same thing over and over with them; nothin' but a job!" Akamaru whined, trying to get him to calm down.

"Whether Asuma-sensei is here or not, we have our mission and we can't fail it, so leave the complaining until we're done, alright?" Sasuke chided his teammates, his head turned away from their destination to look at them. "Let's begin our reconnaissance around the perimeter." He motioned to their destination with a tilt of his head.

"Who died and made you team leader, Sasuke?" Kiba challenged the Uchiha, just itching for an argument.

Sasuke knew better and said nothing before taking a running jump off of the cliff they stood on, landing on a tree branch below. He waited for them.

"Tch, what's his problem?" Kiba snorted in distaste. He moved to get a running start like the Uchiha before him, but as he was barely picking up speed, a hand shoved him away. Hinata ran past him, determination burning in her eyes.

"Don't get in my way." She jumped from the cliff and landed farther than Sasuke did.

Kiba clenched his teeth. "Bitch…" Akamaru bit his hand softly, calming Kiba in doing so. "Right… Let's go." They jumped together.

The morning sun shone brightly above the sky as the team silently observed their destination from afar, counting the amount of would-be enemies idling about the abandoned bunker base. The bunker itself had been used ages ago during a "dispute" between two opposing forces – something about cults worshipping Hell apparently – but has now been reduced to a smuggler's den. The nature of the bunker was precisely why they were called there.

A new drug was spreading throughout the Land of Fire and was seeping into other lands slowly. As the story goes, this drug was extremely potent, working like no other that came before it and proved to be very addicting, intoxicating small towns with addicts.

Their mission?

[A new drug ring smuggling operation has been spreading from the east of our nation's capital and into our lands. While we have discussed this turn of events with our Daimyō and in turn with the Daimyō of Kaminari no Kuni and that of Mizu no Kuni's Daimyō, nothing has been done to stop the spread of this potent drug.

Your mission is to cripple the spread of this drug by intercepting a drug deal that is rumored to be taking place in the old bunker near the village. If our intel is correct, this will be the first major drug deal between two criminal organizations taking place in our borders. You will make sure it is the last.

Eliminate the organizations' drug dealers, suppliers and leaders who are present in the bunker and bring back a portion of the product for our analytic scientists to create a proper detox. Spare no one. ]

Exactly what kind of missions are these genin taking, you may ask?

The kinds you are expected to take when you have three teachers; those kinds of missions.

Sasuke leaned against a tree, his attention on the conversation that was taking place immediately behind him. The Uchiha turned his head and spotted Hinata crouching at the base of a tree about three-hundred feet away. The Hyūga was surveying the bunker, her head scanning the structure from top to bottom and even lower – meaning there were several floors underground.

'How many?' Sasuke motioned his hand, catching her attention.

Hinata raised her hand towards him and struck three fingers out – middle, ring finger, and pinky – before tapping her ankle five times. 'Three floors, five rooms per floor.' The information was conveyed. Hinata repeated the process with her other hand and leg to show Kiba, who was on the other side of her, the information.

Kiba nodded before he gripped his right hand with the left one twice. 'How many?'

The Hyūga rolled her eyes before focusing on the bunker once more. Sasuke and Kiba kept an eye on the girl as she worked before she repeatedly tapped the base of the tree. They counted each tap and nodded when she snapped her fingers – signaling that she found one of the targets. She held out the same three fingers and tapped her ankle four times.

'Third floor, fourth room from the back.'

They nodded together.

"Do you think it's a good idea to be doing this gig?" One of the men behind Sasuke's hiding spot asked the other.

"What do you mean?" The other man asked as he relieved himself on the tree's base, causing Sasuke's eye to twitch slightly from the noise emitted.

"The boss, didn't he cross Gatō to get where he is now? Sounds kinda dangerous don't you think?"

"Dangerous? To work for him? Nah, I don't think so." The other man finished, zipped up his pants and shrugged. "If Gatō really wanted something to happen to the boss, he would have done it earlier. Besides, the boss is too important to be offed so easily."

"What about us, though? Aren't we just cannon fodder in case Gatō decides to go after the boss?"

"You worry too much. Our shift is changing, let's get going before the rest get here."

"Right."

Both men turned and headed towards the bunker.

Sasuke, now able to talk once the men had gone away, held a fist out to signal Hinata to turn on her earpiece and to instruct Kiba to do the same.

"This is S, respond."

"H, here."

"K & A, are here."

"Got an update from those two that were behind me; the rest of their men are going to get here in several hours with the merchandise."Sasuke whispered into the mic that was attached to his shirt.

"That would explain why I can only see one of our targets."Hinata responded, her voice buzzed in their ears.

"So now we just wait?" Kiba asked but got no response – as if he needed one to begin with.

xxOxx

When the sun began to set, the team narrowed their eyes as a large group of what appeared to hired thugs and body guards came into view from the north while another group came into view from the south – taking the path that was close to the small forest they were hiding in. Upon further inspection, the team found what they were looking for – two official looking men in the middle of each massive mob of armed troops walked confidently into the bunker, large duffel bags on hand.

"The targets are here."Hinata stated as she rose from her prone position on the ground into a crouching one. She placed a hand on the tree immediately to her right before activating her Byakugan and observed them go down the floors. "They are meeting up with the other target."

"We move out now."Sasuke spoke into the mic as he got on his feet. "We strike hard and fast – no alarms. H, stay back and guide us through the bunker, K & A you're with me. Move out!"

"Finally!"Kiba charged forward at the same time as Sasuke did, Akamaru beside him. Both teens charged the bunker with hands in their pouches.

The six guards that patrolled the perimeter were not ready for two intruders to appear so suddenly and were all quickly dispatched when both teens flung twin senbon at each of their vitals in mid-charge. The bound senbon pierced their flesh and quickly snuffed the life off of them, their bodies hit the ground in delayed unison.

When Sasuke and Kiba reached the entrance of the bunker, they were stopped when one of the guards – the spotter – jumped from above, the twin senbon lodged several centimeters from a vital spot – a miniscule miscalculation. Before the guard could launch an attack, however, his jugular was pierced by a shuriken thrown from the distance. The guard's body hit the ground hard, but not before his blood was sprayed across the teens' faces below.

"You two are so sloppy."They could hear Hinata chastise them from the earpiece. "How did you two ever make it this far?"

Sasuke, Kiba and Akamaru turned back to where Hinata was stationed and gave a quick thumbs up; 'Thanks.' Akamaru patted the ground once.

"Just go!"

They nodded in unison before entering the bunker.

Hinata focused her Byakugan and saw their chakra signatures roaming through the first hallway, several other chakra figures could be seen inside the five rooms. "The targets are on the third floor, get a move on!"

Sasuke and Kiba nodded as they silently ran through the poorly lit corridor, sneaking past the crowded rooms towards the staircase for the second floor unnoticed. There was a tangent smell around them, they noticed; a strong, stale, stagnant stench of mold, dust and the unique aroma of an abandoned building that was past it's prime. The floor was cracked with the grasp of old age; spider webs infested the ceiling above their heads, and the occupants' footprints were still visible on the floor. The faster they got this over with, the better.

Reaching the final step of the staircase, they received a notification from Hinata.

"First room to the right, three signatures; take them out silently and occupy the room, now!"

Sasuke wasted no time as he quickly opened the door to his right, crashing the opposite end of the door against one of the signatures attempting to exit the room. The man groaned as the door slammed against his face, the unexpected action caught him off guard, forcing him to follow the door's trajectory until he hit the wall with the back of his head.

Before the man could react to the throbbing pain in the space between his nose and right eye, Sasuke followed the door's movement and crushed the man in place between the wall and the door before piercing his neck with a kunai, killing him immediately.

The others in the room were so taken aback by the sudden termination of their friend that they were not able to react until it was too late. When Sasuke's target groaned his last breath, Kiba and Akamaru had already jumped the rest of the occupants in the room, silencing them before they could alert anyone else.

Sasuke didn't let the man he killed fall to the ground in a thud, instead he grabbed him and slowly lowered his corpse onto the ground before silently closing the door. The room sweep took no longer than two seconds.

A second later, the team could hear the remaining rooms in the hallway outside began to empty out; a mob of footsteps began to flood the corridor and headed towards the staircase for the first floor upstairs.

"What? They're checking on the guards outside! How do they know?!"Hinata's voice came in to the earpiece.

Sasuke held a finger against the earpiece before looking at the man he had killed. He crouched and began to check his corpse.

The Uchiha picked the dead man's pockets and took the monetary contents of his wallet, considered taking the ring on the man's finger too, but decided against it – he did have standards, after all, but that didn't stop him from taking the man's necklace. After removing the man's accessories and putting them into his pockets to pawn later, he noticed a wire running from his ear down into his chest. Carefully unbuttoning the man's red and yellow shirt, Sasuke found a small, finger-length radio transceiver attached to his waist.

"I found a transceiver on one of them; they might be using constant surveillance checks with the guards – they don't answer in a certain amount of time and the whole base goes on high alert." Sasuke muttered as he tossed the radio transceiver against the wall, smashing it into a hundred pieces.

"That's new." Kiba responded with genuine surprise. "These guys are being very careful, then."

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, seems so." He began to pick the remaining corpses' pockets.

'A golden locket? Score.' The Uchiha smirked as he pocketed the accessory.

Kiba sneered at the sight but didn't mention it. "H, how does it look on our end?" The Inuzuka asked as he approached the door.

Silence.

Akamaru whined while Kiba and Sasuke looked at one another.

"H? Come in, H." Sasuke cupped his ear where the earpiece was.

Silence.

"Are you serious?" Kiba muttered darkly before stepping back from the door. He gave Sasuke a look. "Now what?"

"Disregard the mission, Hinata might need assistance."

"Seriously?" Kiba asked defensively.

The Inuzuka's question rang through the room for a moment but he didn't change composition. Sasuke tried not to cringe.

"Let's go." Sasuke commented with a sigh, letting Kiba approach the door. When the Inuzuka's hand touched the door knob, they received feed from their earpiece.

"…I'm…I'm fine, I apologize. I had to go through some extra measures as to not raise any alarms."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He could swear she sounded flushed, tired even.

"How does it look like on our end, H? Are we in the clear to move forward?" Kiba asked into his earpiece, his voice ringing across the room.

There was a delayed response. "…Go ahead, the hall is clear."

Sasuke didn't trust her words.

"Hold on, Kiba –" Sasuke called out, but the Inuzuka had already opened the door and stepped out… straight into the path of two intersecting groups of enemies – one going to the first floor and the other going to the third floor downstairs; presumably to defend the dealers and buyers.

"Whoa!" Kiba yelled in surprise, digging into one of his pouches before tossing a smokescreen at the ground, filling the hallway in a thick mist.

Sasuke took out a kunai for each hand and joined Kiba in fending off the large group of enemies.

"Hinata, what-what the hell?!" Kiba grunted as he parried an attack coming his way, disarming the attacker before plunging the weapon into his neck. Kiba had his back wide open for an attack, and once an enemy tried to take advantage of it, he was jumped by Akamaru; the large dog gnashed his throat apart with a single bite.

"My mistake…"Her voice came through the earpiece. "…My apologies." Sasuke and Kiba heard her voice come from behind them in the hallway.

They turned to one another, the gap between them, and saw Hinata run past them, avoiding the enemies present as she made a bee-line to the third floor.

"Hinata!" The Hyūga heard her teammates' voices from her earpiece and from the echoes that followed her from the second floor.

That didn't concern her, though.

Upon reaching the final steps of the staircase that led unto the third and final floor of the bunker, Hinata quickly scanned her surroundings and pinpointed the location of the several dozen guards that occupied the massive basement. At least twenty times wider and larger than the narrow, cramped hallways that composed the first two floors above, the chamber – chamber was probably the best way to describe it; hence the torch-lit atmosphere, stone benches and pedestals that littered the area – was daunting at first glance, even more so than the enemies themselves, Hinata thought with a furrowed brow.

The Hyūga quickly got into her clan's fighting stance as intimidatingly as possible, so far as to slam her foot against the ground while placing her arms in their appropriate position with a lightning-quick jerk, both motions cast an echo across the room. After taking a second to calculate her distance from each and every single enemy in the room, Hinata took a step forward and focused chakra to her hands.

Her chakra coated hands emitted a slow hum, where visible ripples in the air could be seen forming around her fingers and palms, slightly intimidating the guards in front of her. The intimidation didn't persuade the guards to back down, rather, it had the exact opposite effect as it spurred them to rush forward and attack.

Hinata did the same.

The Gentle Fist – the Hyūga's signature fighting style – was composed of inflicting internal damage via continued assault on the opponent's chakra pathway system – in doing so causes trauma to the organs that are in close proximity with the pathway system of chakra. The only way to actually inflict damage on the chakra system was with surgeon-precise strikes that "inject" the Hyūga's chakra into the opponent's chakra system. Precision was fundamental to the Gentle Fist fighting style, so why was Hinata coating her hands with chakra, you may ask?

Hinata smoothly ducked underneath an enemy's axe swing, legs bent and back curved she used some of the momentum from her initial run to get in close to the enemy before slamming her open palm against the opponent's chest.

*Pause*

[X-RAY VISION]

As soon as the Hyūga's palm came into contact with the opponent, the chakra on her hand exploded outwards in waves. Once her chakra hit the surrounding vein-like threads of the chakra pathway system, the opponent's chakra flow seized up with a violent jerk, tugging the muscles nearby with such force that it shred the pectoral muscles apart.

[ZOOM IN]

The opponent's sternum cracked from the force afflicted against it before small fractures could be seen on the first three ribs of both sides of the ribcage.

[ZOOM IN 2X]

The chakra continued to shoot past the sternum and slammed into the lungs, causing severe damage visible by the constriction-like pattern of the chakra waves going past them. Once her chakra reached the heart, massive trauma could be seen being inflicted against the cardiac muscles. The heart pounded violently one time before it stopped pumping, multiple lacerations formed on the heart itself.

[ZOOM OUT 2X]

[ZOOM OUT]

[NORMAL VISION]

*Resume*

Hinata waited for the guard to begin leaking blood from his mouth before gently applying pressure against his body with her hand. The corpse hit the ground with a thud.

This was Hinata's exclusive version of the Gentle Fist – ironic, due to the nature behind the name – a jerry-rigged mixture of Naruto's hitstun attack and the Hyūga's fighting style were combined to form the muscle shredding technique that was just witnessed. Instead of momentarily numbing the muscle on impact using chakra like Naruto did, Hinata's version took advantage of her greater handling with chakra augmented strikes by releasing a torrent of chakra in waves – her chakra could be considered to be a hybrid between a sawblade and a hammer, as the initial blow hits extremely hard before the waves of chakra begin to cut away at anything in their way – that cause severe trauma to a body.

As to how Hinata got word on Naruto's technique and how to almost replicate it, well, she had a certain someone in her team she had to give credit to – not that she would, or anything.

Moving gracefully through the enemies' strike zones, Hinata was able to easily dodge their attacks despite the fact that she was vastly outnumbered. After sidestepping to avoid an attack, Hinata saw an opening and took it, performing a simultaneous dual palm strike on two enemies – one of her palms collided with the enemy's face while the other palm struck against the arm of another.

After a messy splatter that unfortunately stained her lavender jacket and the white binding that simultaneously covered and bound her breasts to her chest. Hinata pulled her blood stricken arm from the mutilated corpse and swiped it horizontally; the excess blood sprayed off her arm and hit the surrounding enemies in the eyes, temporarily blinding them. The pained screams from the man who had just endured his arm getting broken and his arm's muscles being torn to shreds from the inside irritated her.

Kicking his weapon into the air before catching it, Hinata weighed it in her hands and cleaved the axe deep into the man's head, silencing him permanently.

Hinata exhaled, feeling tired from the earlier barrage of attacks that she dodged – outside the fort and here – she began to seriously dislike her less-than-stellar stamina. She wouldn't last much longer if she kept on going the way she was now, and she was more than aware of that as her stamina had always been a major detriment to her abilities.

'What had Sakura called it, again…?'

Focusing her chakra on to her palms once again, Hinata focused on her enemies before she threw the axe to the farthest opponent to dispatch him quickly. She charged forward and closed the books that composed their life before a page was turned.

After it was over and they laid dead on the floor beneath her, Hinata rested her hands on her knees before gasping for air.

'Ah, yes… The "Universal Balancing Law of Power"… That's right…Where one extreme power must have an extreme weakness to maintain balance between the laws of the universe…' Hinata recalled as she placed a hand on her chest, feeling her heart pound against her ribcage.

"A wealthy, happy nation but a weak military…"

Hinata straightened her back and breathed in.

"Large military but a poor and unhappy population…"

She caught her breath and sought after her targets, all of which had cornered themselves at the back of the chamber, beneath an effigy that resembled a sword and its sheath.

"There are checks and counters in this world that keep everything in balance, Hinata." Sakura, eyes closed and arms crossed went into "teacher" mode as the Hyūga heiress heaved for air. "You have tremendous skill, power and ability, but have a humiliating low stamina capacity to compensate for that strength." The pinkette crouched and tapped Hinata's forehead once with the handle of a kunai.

"Winner: Sakura." Asuma declared with a bored sigh.

A faint memory, Hinata noted as she made her way to the targets at the end of the chamber.

A memory she absolutely detested.

As she got closer to the targets, their panicked forms began to grow worse.

"N-No need for any more violence, please! We'll give you – we'll pay you off!" One of them begged. "Name a price, but just let me go!"

Hinata frowned apologetically – but not really.

"I'm sorry, but no, I'm not really sorry – sorry I lied, but doesn't this moment call for such a thing as apologizing? – but this is my mission…" She walked ever so slowly towards them. "Letting you live will result in my mission being deemed a failure…" She readied her hands.

"And a failure is something I cannot afford."

She struck.

Several minutes later, Sasuke, Kiba and Akamaru rushed to the third floor and saw a mass of limp, unmoving bodies scattered across the chamber. Off in the end of the chamber, the last room to the left had its door opened and out came Hinata, a large duffel bag on hand.

"What took you so long?"

Sasuke looked angry for a second before he calmed down. He looked at the corpses on the ground and began to frisk them for anything that could bring a couple bucks his way. After salvaging some goods from the corpses, he sighed as he shut Kiba's and Hinata's bickering.

"Mission complete." He balled a fist. "Let's finish this place."

The team left during the nightfall, the bunker behind them covered with a roaring fire.

xxOxx

The trip back to the village was horrendous in Sasuke's opinion as a vast majority of it was filled with Kiba bad mouthing Hinata and vice versa.

"What the fuck were you thinkin'?! We could have died back then!" Kiba growled as he pointed an accusatory finger at the buxom girl.

"If you had perished from dime-a-dozen, two-bit hacks then you have no right being a ninja." Hinata calmly responded.

"That was reckless!"

"I had it under control." ?

"What about your heart, Hinata?!"

"…"

"Why… Why are you always like this, Hinata?!" Kiba bit back a scream. Akamaru lightly bit his hand to help him calm down.

"Talk like that and I'm going to believe that you care about me, Kiba-kun." Hinata snorted.

"Don't get full of yourself, bitch-" Kiba was cut off.

"That's enough – from the both of you." Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he stood still, causing the others to stop. "Hinata, what you did was extremely stupid and dangerous. Kiba, I agree with you, but the mission was completed with none of us getting hurt. Get over it. Stop acting like children." Sasuke eyed them both. Akamaru seemed to agree. Hinata scowled but said nothing more while Kiba looked away.

Sasuke sighed internally. Four years… It's been four years since they were chosen; "Early promotion" they called it back then – where the top six students with the most potential in the academy were given a chance to immediately start their official career by training as a team. Of course they accepted – most due to clan pride, while others accepted to see if they were ready.

As Sasuke walked, his pockets jingled with the excess trinkets that filled the multiple loot-pouches around his waist, adding a distinct but not unpleasant noise to the atmosphere during the night. He thought back on the day with an unpleasant nostalgia, oh, how they thought the opportunity was a godsend – an honor.

What a perfect lie.

What started out as six young, shy and/or cocky kids trying to one-up their ninja career were then broken, corrupted and reformed into six arrogant, oppressed, prideful teenagers competing against one another for their teachers' approval – approval they never got despite their efforts.

Sasuke placed his right hand inside his pocket and fiddled with the brown woven charm he had absentmindedly as he continued to think back on the past. He was told that thinking back on the past would help him overcome it by one of the two mother figures he had at the moment, and he listened to her as best as he could, blush slightly growing across his cheeks.

And he thought back on them; the days where their training began.

Everyday had been a living hell for them as they were trained vigorously in all aspects that their teachers' deemed fit – the praises came rarely while the ignorance came in spades. Fatigue – both physical and chakra – was a constant companion that followed them with a loyalty never seen before in the face of the earth as the years went by.

They had all changed, Sasuke noted, even he himself had changed, but the Uchiha shuddered when he thought of the effects of constantly being told "You can do better." when you have given it your all, crying from overexertion and broken fingernails, taste of blood and frustration.

Their teachers taught well – ruthlessly well, one might say – but it seemed as if they could care less whether or not they got along with their students or not. Not once had the team been graced with a proud smile on their teachers' faces – not once in the four years that they have been together!

Sasuke looked at Hinata from behind and found it hard to believe that she used to be meek, shy, soft and pathetic a mere four years ago. Through the constant unrelenting training, she began to build character – with the foundation revolving around her now-awakened Hyūga pride and her teachers' approval of her talents.

Sasuke had been there when her father praised her for her hard work and dedication to improving herself, and quite frankly, the Uchiha couldn't forget how she shrugged his praise away. She had become cold, distant and, for lack of a better work, she became a bitch to deal with, but now she was strong – ridiculously so – confident and a force to be reckoned with in hand-to-hand combat and verbal battles as well. While she was strong, her stamina was extraordinarily weak stemming from a weak heart that couldn't endure too much activity for too long.

Kiba, on the other hand, got more problems than benefits. His temper at the academy had been short and rather manageable, but now, four years later, his temper could explode at the blink of an eye due to the distant teaching and constant degrading he had endured. "You can do better." became a phrase that the Inuzuka loathed with a passion as it was spoken just about every day. With nobody to reprimand him when he lost his cool, Kiba became a ticking time bomb – and it was only until recently where Akamaru had taken it upon himself to fill up that much needed slot by biting Kiba whenever he began to lose his control. He did, however, get stronger physically in all aspects revolving around taijutsu while his stamina/endurance grew at a rapid rate as well. All the training went to waste when he got enraged, however, as he would forego any and all techniques and instead relied on clumsy slashes fueled by his rage.

As good as they both were, something had to be sacrificed, apparently.

After a few hours of walking in silence, the team finally made it back to the village several of minutes after the clock struck twelve. Entering through the front gates, the team made their way to Asuma's house to report their success.

Hinata was the one who knocked, the girl obviously excited to report her job well done in taking care of all of the targets singlehandedly. After a minute of waiting, the door opened with a groggy Asuma standing between the inside of his home and the outside where his students were.

He yawned. "Oh, it's you three." One more yawn. "How did it go?"

Kiba was about to retort, but Hinata interjected.

"The mission was a complete success, Asuma-sensei! I personally took out the targets and acquired the objective-" Sasuke felt himself calm down when her "sweet" voice was interrupted.

"That right?" He yawned as he took the duffel bag out of Hinata's hand. "Okay, see you tomorrow then." He closed the door.

The team stood in painful silence for several seconds.

Hinata straightened her back, looked at the star filled sky with an empty look and left without saying a word.

Kiba gave Sasuke a glance before he and Akamaru left as well.

Sasuke was left alone and sighed before leaving. "Another mission complete…"

xxOxx

Sasuke found himself walking without a clear indication as to where he wanted to go. The moon was out, the stars were shining and his pockets were filled with good loot from the mission, but his home was empty and he rather ignore that last part for the moment.

He pretended not to know where he was, ignored the familiar signs that he was all too accustomed to and clutched the charm in his pocket even tighter. He glanced at the familiar grounds to his left and allowed his eyes to widen in surprise when he saw the lights to the home he recognized were still turned on, an indication that someone was still awake inside.

He blushed slightly at the thought of her, for some reason. He swallowed and pushed the thought of going for a visit away as he clutched the charm even harder with his hand. He traced his hand on the wooden fence that established the compound's property; ever so slightly he whispered the name that was engraved on the sign above the fence.

"Nara…"

xxOxx

Kiba and Akamaru reached their clan's compound and instantly recognized the atmosphere of a party that had happened earlier.

"Damn, we missed it, boy." Kiba groaned as he petted Akamaru on the head once. Akamaru whined in response, but appreciated the attention.

The smell of alcohol, meat and sweat filled his clan's home, and Kiba loved it. He and Akamaru were amused by the various passed out Inuzuka strayed about on the way to the main household, but when he found that his mother was upon them, he laughed out loud.

"Oi, wake up." Kiba jabbed his mother's side with his foot but got no reaction. Never seeing his mother this still, Kiba let some worry get to him before a familiar scent hit him hard.

"The Mutt's Piss, eh? Whoa… What was the occasion?" Kiba asked to nobody in general, but Akamaru responded by licking his mother's face in an attempt to wake her. "Leave her, boy, we'll pick her up in the morning. Let's find Hana."

Akamaru gave a bark in confirmation.

"She ought to be in her room, right?" He asked as he stepped inside the main household.

The Mutt's Piss unique scent had left a trail towards Hana's room, surprising him. "She had some too? What the hell did I miss?"

Upon reaching her room, he quickly opened the door. "Oi, why is mom passed out outside –"

Kiba froze when he entered the room.

Hana's room was bathed with a bright light from her bed, where she and a shirtless Shikamaru were clutched in each other's embrace, and their faces were about an inch apart from one another.

Kiba popped a blood vessel.

Chapter End

Yo!

What's up people, how are you – wait what? More than a month since my last upload? You feel cheated? My head on a silver platter?

I-I'm so sorry! I had finals, family events, friends and parties that I had, so I had no chance to write or type so please, please forgive me!

Now, the knitty-gritty; this chapter and what it means.

First of all, this chapter was going to be part of a much larger chapter – that's right, I already have the next chapter all written up, but I didn't have time to type it all so I'm leaving you guys with this as an apology for not uploading in a long time as a holiday present, if you will.

This chapter was basically to introduce you guys to some of the members of the super team (Name pending, but more on that later…) and how they are composed. As you can obviously tell, they are vastly different than their canon selves and I hope I could make the reason why as believable as possible.

Hinata – She is strong, cocky, prideful and has tremendous potential, but has a weak heart and thus has weak stamina.

Sasuke – Not vengeful (covered that in the first couple chapters), capable, diligent and has a bit of a pickpocket tendency (to corpses and to those that are alive.) Has a crush, but on who…? Hehehe…

Kiba: Agile, unrelenting, strong and talented in taijutsu, but has an extremely short temper!

Sakura was mentioned in this chapter, and for good reason: she will be a pivotal point in the story, so keep close attention to her!

Outfits:

Hinata – Hinata is loosely dressed in this fic; Her upper-body attire consists of a thin lavender jacket that is perpetually unzipped, and white chest bindings (the kind that Kurenai has on her) that cover her breasts and keep them close to her chest. Her midriff is exposed. For lower body, Hinata is wearing a pair of white baggy pants (simply google search "Anime baggy pants" and you'll know exactly what I'm referring to) that cover just about everything from her waist to her ankles. For footwear, she wears a pair of white sandals that hug her feet nice and tight to allow for better traction and movement.

Sasuke – Looking like the professional type, Sasuke is outfitted with dark colors from his hands to his feet. A pair of fingerless gloves covers his hands to his wrists, while his chest and arms were covered by a black long-sleeve shirt. Above that, he wore a navy blue thin flak jacket that covered his chest and his back. Around the waist, Sasuke had six pouches used primarily for loot, each one had its own purpose, from left to right the order went like so: money/currency/gold, necklaces, rings, pendants, keys, reserved for others not on the list. For his lower body, Sasuke wore a pair of black combat pants, where the pant legs near the ankles were tied down with special binding elastic to allow for better air resistance when moving or falling. For his feet, Sasuke wore the standard black combat sandals.

Kiba – This Inuzuka fights with comfort in mind, where his clothing does not interfere with his attacks, and as such he is dressed in such a manner. The red and white shirt he wears over his chest is purposely several sizes too large to allow more freedom when it comes to twisting and turning his torso or for drawn out strikes with his arms; as a defense mechanism against an opponent who attempts to grab the shirt to hinder his movements, the shirt detaches from his pant's waistline and comes straight off without any struggle. His pants are quite the opposite, however, as they are skin tight, but are flexible, breathable and slightly elastic when movement is required. On his feet, he wore a pair of the standard combat sandals like Sasuke did, but the Inuzuka's carried more traction at the sole.

Each and every single member of the super team had their headband wrapped around their left arm just below their shoulder.

Now I need your help again guys. They need a team name – because I can't just keep calling them the "super team" anymore. I would like their name to stay with the theme of the story's title or the trio's mark. Please leave a suggestion in the review section or give me a PM with your idea and the reason behind it!

Happy holidays to each and every one of you out there! Why not spread the holiday feel with a review down below telling me what you thought/liked/didn't like about this chapter?

For me?

Please?

Thank you for reading and as always, have a good day.

-TheRedGhillie