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Update: From now on the chapters will be half the length of CH1 and CH2.
====Chapter Three====
Hinata laid awake in her tent, simply staring up at the ceiling of her tent.
She'd been awake for a while now. She was worrying about the mission.
She went through different scenarios in her head, contemplating the worst, thinking about how she should act in the worst case scenario.
As she heard the others starting to get ready, she took a deep breath.
For some reason, she started picturing Naruto's giant smile in front of her. A soft satisfying smile was brought to her lips. But she quickly shook it off.
-No!..-
-I have to focus on the mission!-
She crawled out of her sleeping bag, rolled it up into a cylindrical 'tube', and got dressed.
Yamato stood with Asuma and Kurenai, talking about some tactics as they waited for the rest to pack up the camp.
As the group gathered, Yamato looked at them.
"Alright… Before we get going, let's do a quick recap of what we talked about last night"
Last night, they had gathered around the campfire as they finished setting camp, they talked about how they would be fighting the next battle. They discussed everything, every little detail they could think of.
Shikamaru had explained that he suspected that Noburu had used genjutsu on them, some kind of chakra leak, easily exhausting them.
With Kurenai now with them, they believed they had the upper hand, as she was highly skilled with genjutsu, and would probably be able to break it if they were to be caught. They had come up with a plan.
Yamato, Sai and Asuma; would try and drive away Isamu and Katsuo to fight them away from the rest, while they fought the leader, Noburu.
The enemy would be much more careful this time, and Shikamaru would probably not be able to constrain them that easily this time.
Yamato took out the piece of cloth they found, along with the sample of blood.
He handed it to Kiba, who smelled the cloth and memorized it. He let Akamaru smell the blood sample.
"Got it?"
Yamato looked at Kiba.
Kiba nodded.
"Okay! From here on, Kiba and Akamaru will take the lead. Kiba, when you sense that we are getting close, I want you to signal to Hinata. At that point we will come to a halt, and Hinata will activate her Byakugan and check our surroundings"
Kiba and Hinata nodded.
"We're off!"
They quickly ran towards the forest, and disappeared.
It had been a few hours since they took off now.
As they jumped from tree to tree, Naruto glanced over at Hinata. She looked determined, and confident.
It was a look that fit her very much. It was a shame she didn't portrait that more often, even though she was still very cute when she was quiet and shy.
He felt as if he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
Her long, elegant hair almost whipped behind her as she graciously soared between the tree tops. She was beautiful.
Ever since they, quite literally 'ran into each other', she had been on his mind a lot. He did however feel a little let down that she didn't show up the other day. He wasn't 'angry', but it was frustrating.
-I never thought Hinata was the kind of person to stand someone up like that…-
-…Nah… there must be some kind of explanation, she wouldn't do such a thing… would she?-
-But I thought at least she would say something at the camp last night…-
He started to pout slightly.
-Did she really ignore me?.. she couldn't have, right?.. Perhaps she just forgot..-
He looked over at her again. She noticed him looking her way, and looked to her side, right at him.
She got a bashful look on her face and slightly began blushing. She quickly focused her eyes in front of her again.
But Naruto mistook her Bashfulness as something else, Arrogance perhaps.
He pouted again
-…what's with her?-
A few minutes later, Kiba quickly came to a halt and gestured to Hinata.
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks.
Hinata nodded.
-Byakugan!-
They waited patiently as she searched the surrounding area with her Byakugan.
-…-
-There!-
She gestured to her comrades. They quickly dropped to the ground.
Noburu stood still..
Suddenly he drew his sword and spun around, sending a wave of razor sharp air towards the bushes behind him as his blade cut through the air.
"Shit!.. Dodge!"
Asuma yelled from the top of his lungs.
As the group lunged up out from behind the bushes, they landed only a few meters in front of Noburu and his comrades.
"…I see you brought reinforcements this time"
Naruto clenched his fists
"…"
"Doesn't matter… I'll finish you this instant"
Yamato looked at Sai and Asuma.
"Now!"
Before anyone had the time to react, they had made their way behind Noburu, and managed to push Katsuo and Isamu away a good ten meters.
Noburu got ready to slash his sword towards the three of them, but quickly stopped himself as he brought his blade in front of him to guard himself.
While he let himself be distracted by what just happened, Naruto and Kiba had launched an attack at him.
He managed to block them. Jumping back slightly, he looked over his shoulders. His comrades along with the three chasing them, were nowhere to be seen.
"…You think splitting us up will give you an upper hand?..."
he stared at Naruto.
"Naive…"
His eyes widened, quickly glancing over the group in front of him.
"I'll end you this-…"
When his eyes met Kurenai's, he froze.
After a few seconds he grinned.
"Impressive… no one has ever been able to break my genjutsu…"
Even though his genjutsu had been dispelled, he didn't show any lack of confidence.
"No matter…"
he drew his sword in front of him, pointing towards them.
"You die now…"
Just outside the thick forest, at a large meadow stood Yamato, Asuma and Sai, Facing Katsuo and Isamu.
A rather large explosion was heard behind them, suddenly large drops of water rained down over the place of the explosion.
"…What the hell was that"
Asuma muttered.
He shared a concerned look with Yamato.
"Heh!, that would be Lord Noburu's concentrated water explosion"
Katsuo looked at Isamu.
"Looks like he's getting serious"
"Yes…"
Isamu glanced at the three in front of him.
"And so should we…"
Katsuo grinned as he nodded.
"The tree-guy is mine… I'll get revenge for my brother…"
The battle raged on for more than an hour.
"Ghh.. Bastard…"
Naruto stood holding his left arm, he had several deep cuts.
Next to him stood Kiba and Kurenai, they were barely in a better condition than him.
Behind them, sat Shikamaru on his knees, while in a rather bad condition himself, he acted as support while shielding the rest behind him.
Furthest back, sat Sakura and Ino, fully dedicated into healing both Choji and Shino, whom had gotten badly injured, but not fatal.
Hinata was also there, not very injured at all. In fact, she was probably the less injured of them all.
She had managed to add great support for the group, dispelling several of Noburu's attacks using her 'Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms' technique.
But in doing so, she had severely exhausted herself.
-Dammit…-
She looked up towards the back of Naruto.
-Naruto-Kun…-
She was happy and confident in herself that she had been able to help the group as much as she had.
But now she was frustrated in the fact that she could barely move anymore.
Noburu, unable to use his genjutsu, had suffered several blows and cuts, he was badly injured.
But he was far from defeated.
Just as Naruto and Kiba got ready to charge at Noburu, they were stopped by several shurikens thrown at them. They managed to block them.
Seconds later, Katsuo dropped down at Noburu's side, he was badly injured, and missing an arm.
Noburu looked at Katsuo.
"…Isamu?.."
Katsuo had an withdrawn look on his face
"…I'm sorry.. he…"
Noburu's grip tightened around the hilt of his sword.
Kurenai's face lit up at the sight of Asuma. He had made his way beside her. She looked past him.
"…Yamato and Sai?.."
"Don't worry"
he assured her.
"Captain Yamato got badly injured, but he should be fine. Sai stayed with him"
She sighed and quickly brought her eyes towards the remaining enemies.
A hint of rage had come over Noburu.
"…Katsuo… Let's end this. For our brothers…"
With a grieving yet determined look on his face, Katsuo nodded.
Before anyone could react Katsuo flung himself at them, while Noburu drew water from the nearby river, molding large amounts of chakra into the water as it formed to an enormous ball.
Suddenly the ball shrank quickly and steam evaporated from it.
"Noburu! That's too much!... A concentrated bomb at that scale will wipe out even us!"
But Noburu, lost in a fit of rage ignored his comrade.
Another explosion could be heard in the large forest.
The area around the battle was nothing more than ruins.
The trees that once flourished there had been reduced to nothing but dust.
As the sky above opened up, letting small beams of light shine down, Noburu glared to his side.
Katsuo lay lifeless next to him.
He shakingly stood up, his eyes fixed towards him. His attacks seemed to have failed. Naruto and the rest was in bad shape, but alive.
He stumbled as he stood, looking down he saw the big puddle of blood beneath him.
He was done for.
A large grin spread across his face. He started laughing.
"Hah…Haha.. Hahahaha!"
"Gh…You bastard… Why the hell are you laughing?!"
Naruto clenched his fists.
Noburu stared at Naruto.
"It's funny… Never had I thought anyone would be able to defeat me, no matter how many allies…"
His eyes trailed towards Kurenai.
"But because of this…Bitch.. Heh.. Hindsight is a precarious thing"
He drew his sword to his side, and with the little stamina left in him, he dashed towards her. Knowing full well he was done for.
As he closed the distance, he grinned and laughed again.
Slash!
The sound of a sharp knife echoed throughout the air.
Followed by the sounds of a wet thump.
Inches in front of Kurenai stood Asuma, holding his knuckle knifes in front of him, drenched in blood.
As the grin on Noburu's face slowly disappeared, and his breath ceased, everyone sighed and most of them dropped to their knees.
"Finally… That was.. troublesome"
Shikamaru sighed as he fell back leaning against a rock amongst the rumble.
Naruto sat on both his knees, breathing heavily and just staring down into the ground.
-Naruto-kun…-
Hinata was shaking with an anxious look on her face.
-Thank god you're alive…-
"Ahhhh!"
Kiba let out an enormous sigh as he sat down leaning against a large tree.
"Finally we're making camp! I don't think I could move another inch today!"
"Right Hinata?"
he looked at her with a grin, in attempt to be funny and lighten everyone's mood as she and Shino sat down next to him.
"..Yeah"
she gave him a sheepish smile.
Shino sighed.
"Nobody ever asks me…"
Kiba looked at him questioningly.
"What?"
"…Nothing"
"Alright guys"
Asuma spoke up.
"We make camp here for tonight. We've made good time, I reckon we have one more day until we reach Konoha"
With the help of Sai, he had carried Yamato from the battlefield. He gently put him down on the ground.
"Will Captain Yamato be okay?"
Sai asked
"Don't worry, he's unconscious now. But with the continuation of Sakura's and Kurenai's healing, he should be stable at the time we get to Konoha"
Asuma reassured him.
As the sun began to set, and the camp had been set, most of the group sat around the fire.
Hinata sat leaning against a tree, her eyes fixed on Naruto. He was sitting beside Shikamaru on the other side of the camp.
A few minutes passed, until Shikamaru stood up and waved to him as he headed towards his tent.
Hinata tensed up. Naruto was alone.
She let out a sigh and clenched her fists as she stood up.
This was her chance to talk to him.
She walked towards him with determined steps.
"N-naruto-kun… Good e-evening.."
He looked up at her, surprised.
"Oh, Hinata…Hi"
"…H-how are your wounds?..."
"Oh, it's nothing, they're fine.."
Hinata noticed he was putting up a cold front towards her, but she couldn't understand why.
It was almost as if he was angry… But why?
"Naruto-Kun… i…"
she was cut off as he spoke up.
"Actually... I'm kind of surprised you're even talking to me"
Hinata looked chocked. What?
"W-why…Would.."
"Yeah… Since you never showed up that day…"
Hinata widened her eyes. She thought he knew that she had fallen ill that day.
"Naruto! i.."
"Really.. you shouldn't make promises you won't keep…"
She didn't know how to respond, she battled with herself to get any word out, anything at all.
"…"
"You know…"
Naruto looked to his side and sighed.
"I really didn't think you were that kind of person Hinata…"
She could feel her eyes tearing up.
-No.. Please don't think of me that way…-
"Ah… it doesn't matter does it… Maybe… Maybe you should just go.."
Hinata could feel as she started to shake, she wasn't far from breaking down.
She stood in front of him for a moment. Unable to respond.
After a while she turned and walked away, quickening her pace slowly but surely, until she disappeared in the woods behind the camp.
Naruto clenched his fist and shook his head.
"Idiot… Why did I have to say all that… So unnecessary…"
"Naruto!"
He looked up to see Sakura coming towards him
"Sakura?.."
"What the hell did you do?"
"What? I-"
"I saw you talking to Hinata, and suddenly she ran towards the woods, and I could clearly see that she was crying! What the hell did you say to her?!"
Sakura yelled at Naruto.
-What?...-
"She… She was crying?..."
"Yeah… poor Hinata… How can you be mean to her? Especially now, as she just got better from her illness"
He flung his head at Sakura and stood up.
"Illness?... What do you mean?"
"You didn't know? Yeah, she got some kind of lung virus a while ago, and was bed-written for a few days. Actually it was the day after you got back"
-…That explains why she didn't show up…-
-Dammit! I'm such an idiot…-
-Hinata…-
"Sakura, where did she go?"
"Huh?... Oh she went into the woods over there"
Sakura pointed towards some large trees in front of a cliff.
"You better go apologize, or else i-"
Naruto quickly ran towards the woods before Sakura got to finish her sentence.