Kurenai and Naruto stood about ten meters apart in the field, staring each other down. Kiba, Shino, and Hinata stood at the sidelines with Hinata closest to Naruto. Kiba and Shino stood away from her, as if afraid she might attack them if they got too close.

Naruto took no stance and held no weapon, but he kept his eye on the jounin and his mind on what he remembered Hinata telling him about Kurenai when they had time to talk before the team meeting.

'Kurenai-sensei is an expert in genjutsu, but that's not all she's good at.' Hinata's words echoed in his memory. 'Usually she prefers to trap her enemy in a genjutsu so her allies can finish them off, but if she's on her own she can do that herself. She could sneak up close to her target who won't even see or hear her coming and stab them with a kunai in a lethal spot. I've seen her do this before many times so it's got to be her favored form of eliminating a threat.'

'However, Kurenai-sensei didn't get to become a jounin by doing the same thing over and over again. Her skills include tracking, interrogation, intimidation, long range weaponry, and defense taijutsu and ninjutsu. Pretty much the only thing she isn't good at is offensive taijutsu and ninjutsu. If you were ever to fight her, which sadly I'm not convinced will never happen, I'd say fight her in taijutsu with a lot your clones so she has a harder time targeting you. And if she does catch you in one, dispel a clone to snap out of it.'

Naruto ended the memory and looked at his girlfriend with a smile. 'Thank you Hinata-chan.'

Kiba leaned next to Shino and whispered. "Hey Shino, what do you think of this?"

"The fight itself or the reason for it?"

"Either or."

"Personally, I think it is pointless. I see why they think otherwise, but ultimately this fight will change nothing."

Instead of replying, Kiba chose to just watch the fight, seeing just how right Shino would be.

Without waiting for anyone to referee this, Naruto and Kurenai decided to handle this their way. Problem was who was going to act first. Naruto was strongly tempted to, but his recent experience with the Itachi double made him a bit more cautious. He did make sure to focus on her feet, not her face, thus hindering her ability to use genjutsu. Kurenai herself was preparing for him to attack like she knew him to, and was caught off-guard by his uncharacteristic restraint.

Sensing his caution, Hinata decided to do something here to give him a little encouragement. "Naruto-kun..." She quietly called out, getting all eyes her way. Ignoring everyone but her lover, she lightly and slowly unzipped her jacket a bit to show off her cleavage, then started to nibble on her finger while assuming a coy stance. "Please win for me."

For all basic purposes, Hinata had just copied the Sexy Jutsu. All while keeping her clothes on.

Naruto felt heated up, but not just by arousal. It was like his inspiration to win just doubled, maybe tripled. 'Just imagine how she'll reward me when I win.' He thought a bit Jiraiya-like, then smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

Kiba and Shino were to put it lightly stunned by this action. Shino didn't look any different, but he was making no effort to face away from Hinata right then, and the main reason Kiba was keeping his cool and distance was because Hinata had Naruto's scent all over her. One of the cardinal rules of the Inuzuka clan was 'don't chase after someone who's already mated'.

Kurenai didn't enjoy this as much as the men here did. She instead got more irritable, like somehow Naruto was making her student do this. Of course Kurenai knew Naruto wasn't controlling Hinata like some kind of puppet, but Hinata never did stuff remotely close to this before she got close to him. Somehow Naruto had to be influencing this behavior in her, not just the succubus, and he needed to be put down before he did more to ruin what Hinata had been.

"Enough." Kurenai said, then started the spar by creating half a ram sign then rushing towards Naruto with a kunai. 'With luck he'll think this is a genjutsu and react as such.'

This was one of Kurenai's favorite tactics with those that were aware of her specialty, pretend to use a genjutsu so the enemy doesn't know you're doing something real instead.

Just before she reached him, Naruto substituted with one of the many logs in the training ground, thus Kurenai collided with the large cylindrical piece of wood and stumbled to the ground, getting a few scrapes from the bark on the log in the process.

Team Eight looked around but didn't see Naruto anywhere, until a swarm of clones burst from the trees. And since they did so from all directions simultaneously, it was impossible to say for certain where the real one was located.

"You think you can get us all in a genjutsu Kurenai-san?" The Naruto's asked mockingly as they surrounded her.

'So many Naruto-kun's... it's so tempting.' Hinata thought, enjoying the sight before her while trying to keep her hands out of her pants.

Kurenai got back on her feet. "I never said genjutsu was the only thing I could use." She started some hand signs then hit the ground with both palms. "Earth Style Spike Circumference Jutsu."

From the ground around her emerged a cluster of stone spikes pointing outwards all around, followed by a second ring of the same things then a third and so on. This wave of spike emergence happened so quickly that the Naruto clones didn't have time to dodge and were skewered, leaving only smoke.

Thru the smoke, a single Naruto appeared and threw a giant shuriken. Kurenai dodged before it could reach her and threw a kunai at Naruto which hit his crotch. Naruto screamed then disappeared in smoke.

'Another clone?' Kurenai thought, not that surprised. But she sure was surprised when some ninja wire wrapped around her body from behind. She turned her head to see another Naruto throwing a lot of wire at her and some kunai to anchor it. 'He disguised himself as the weapon to attack me from my blind spot.'

Before she could attempt an escape, Naruto approached her still from behind and held a kunai at the back of her neck. "Concede?"

"I guess I have to." She replied, then Naruto helped loosen the wire.

Kiba frowned. "That was a bit-" He was cut off by Kurenai attacking Naruto with taijutsu once freed. "I spoke too soon."

Naruto couldn't block the first hit but he recovered in time for the second and defended those that followed. "This is very low Kurenai-san."

Kurenai kept up her taijutsu as she replied. "In a ninja fight, anything is fair, especially deception. Quick lesson Naruto, your enemy could easily pretend to lose or forfeit to get you to drop your guard and attack you with a cheap shot. Don't claim your victory until your enemy is completely defeated."

Naruto jumped back, giving them some space. "Maybe so, but something tells me you didn't teach your students that lesson with a fake forfeit of your own."

"What I do with my students is absolutely none of your business." The genjutsu mistress claimed before throwing some kunai which Naruto jumped over.

"Hinata-chan is part of my business now whether you like it or not." He declared, attacking with some shuriken. Kurenai dodged but her dress did get two tears on the right side.

"Let me make one thing perfectly straight here Uzumaki Naruto, there's no force on Heaven or Earth that will convince me Hinata is better off with you than with me and her team."

"What about her life? Would you really rather see her dead than away from you?"

"I don't want her to be a slut because of you!" She shouted, preparing a strong genjutsu.

Naruto reacted by pulling his hitai-ate over his eyes. 'If I don't see her, she can't target me. And I still have clones waiting in case she somehow succeeds.' "She's not a slut! She's exactly what you always said you wanted her to be! Able to do things on her own and confident enough to make her own choices and back up her own strength. You would have been proud if you had seen how she fought back near Suna."

"I am proud of her. I just... I don't want her to ruin her career for a boy like so many fangirls have done before."

"So to save her career you'll risk her survival?" Naruto asked, still on guard in case Kurenai decided to attack again.

"Why should I believe that's even real? For all I know it's some sort of trick to guilt-trip me into agreeing to your sick fantasies."

"Well if you won't believe me, maybe you'll believe Hinata-chan instead." Naruto stated.

Hinata nodded. "Kurenai-sensei, have I ever lied to you before?"

Kurenai stared at her student for a moment then sighed. "No."

"Have I ever given you a reason to not trust me?"

"No, you have always been smart enough to make your own decisions."

"Then would you please trust me on this?" Hinata asked.

"This isn't about trust Hinata. This is about what's best for you." Kurenai argued.

Hinata frowned and shook her head. "No it's not, this fight is about you Kurenai-sensei, not me. You're not fighting for me, you're fighting for yourself."

"Excuse me?" The genjutsu mistress asked, sounding surprised and offended by the claim.

"You heard me. If you really were fighting for what's best for me, you'd be testing Naruto to see how strong he is, but instead you're actively trying to beat him into submission and you yourself said that even if he defeated you, you still would refuse to let us be together. You're not trying to see if I'd be in good hands away from you, because apparently you're convinced the only hands I should be in are yours."

"I hope you don't mean that literally." Lilith commented. "Not that it wouldn't be interesting to see for Naruto, but it wouldn't do me or you any good."

Kurenai wiped some sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. "I know I can protect you, but I don't believe he can."

"And why can't he?" Hinata asked. "And for that matter, why should I have to be protected? I'm a kunoichi, not a kindergartner Kurenai-sensei. I've fought, I've killed, I've come close to being killed, all more than once. When are you going to see me as an adult? Hell you argued with Hokage-sama when I finally took a solo mission just two weeks ago. What more do I have to do? For that matter, why don't you argue when Kiba and Shino have to work solo or separately from us? What are you afraid of when it comes to me?"

Kurenai was about to respond right away, but seeing everyone, even Kiba and Shino, stare at her awaiting her reasoning, it somehow made her choke on her own words. Naruto even took his hitai-ate off his eyes, a risky move, but his gaze added to her discomfort. She found herself unable to say anything, knowing it would somehow be used against her.

Shino took a single step forward. "Kurenai-sensei, I have always respected you and trusted your judgment with no questions asked or explanations desired. But this one time I must challenge your wisdom. Clearly Hinata wishes to be free to grow in her own way, and her reasons while unfavorable appear to be completely valid. If Kiba or I were to request freedom to progress our skills, would we be denied the right?"

"Don't play that with me Shino." Kurenai told her student. "You and Hinata are different people so the circumstances are different."

"Then explain how. When I got my first solo mission you were proud of me, but when Hinata got hers you were hovering over her until she was outside the village. What were the differing circumstances?"

Kurenai avoided the Aburame's and Inuzuka's stares and looked at Hinata. There she saw the Hyuuga standing beside Naruto, and right then she actually managed to see the two as a united front. Naruto was still more than willing to fight for Hinata and she was just as willing if not more so to fight for him. Right then, for the first true time, Kurenai could see Hinata as a woman rather than as a child.

"Is this really what you want Hinata?" Kurenai asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Would we really go to all this trouble if it wasn't?" Lilith asked rhetorically.

Hinata nodded. "Yes it is Kurenai-sensei."

The genjutsu user suppressed a sigh then looked at the Uzumaki. "Naruto, I'm still not comfortable with this, but I suppose for Hinata's sake I'll give you a chance to prove yourself. But if something bad happens to Hinata and you're the one to blame, I will kill you myself."

Naruto did not look the least bit intimidated by her threat. "If something bad happens to Hinata-chan and it's my fault, you won't have the chance to kill me, for I'll have already beaten you to it."

Kurenai's eyes widened while Hinata's eyes were filled with love for the whiskered blonde. Heedless of her team, she hugged Naruto and kissed him like she hadn't seen him for another three years.

"I am so hot for you right now." She whispered when they parted their lips.

Naruto turned to the jounin. "So is it official?"

Kurenai made herself nod. "Yes, but I'm still going to be checking up on her occasionally and conferring with Hokage-sama about this succubus business you mentioned."

"Go ahead. Hinata-chan doesn't want you guys out of her life completely. She just wants to try something new."

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata said sultry, impatiently.

"Gotta go." Naruto said before he lifted Hinata into his arms bridal style and took off, leaving the remainder of Team Eight behind trying not to think about what was about to happen.

Kurenai glanced towards the general direction Naruto lived. 'I guess her growing up and branching out was inevitable. Somehow I ended up always thinking of her as just a little girl, but now she's an adult whether I like it or not and she's going to be doing the sort of things we adults do.'

"Kiba, Shino, you're dismissed. My mind's a million miles right now so I'm not fit to oversee your training for today." She told her remaining students. They nodded and departed, then Kurenai headed home as well.

The next morning, Sakura showed up in Training Ground Seven ready for the mission to go check on Sasori's contact in Orochimaru's forces. When she got there, she saw Naruto sitting by a tree being kissed by Hinata. Though in Sakura's opinion it looked more like Hinata was trying to have sex with Naruto while the two were fully clothed.

'Wait a minute.' Sakura wondered once that thought crossed her mind. Her eyes darted to the couple's hips. 'Oh good, their pants aren't unzipped. Though Hinata's are getting a little stained. Is Naruto really that much of a turn-on for her?' She didn't want to interrupt them, but when Naruto cupped Hinata's ass with both hands and she moved her arms from his shoulders to his waist, she decided she wasn't going to be forced to watch any more. "Ahem!"

The two ignored her completely, and Sakura could hear a zipper being unzipped. "NARUTO! HINATA!"

That made them stop and look at the pinkette. "Do you have to yell?" Hinata asked, not in the best mood right now. She remained seated on Naruto's lap with her body facing him, even though her head turned towards Sakura now.

"I didn't want to see you two having sex outside in broad daylight." Sakura justified.

"It's a big training ground. There are other places to go you know." Hinata said, somewhat joking now, then she looked back at Naruto. "I didn't say take your hands off there." On sheer reflex Naruto put his removed hands back on her posterior and gripped her cheeks.

"Didn't you two get enough of this last night?" Sakura asked.

Both Naruto and Hinata looked at her. "Actually Sakura-chan, last night we weren't together." Naruto admitted.

Hinata closed her eyes. 'First time we slept apart since I met Lilith.'

"You weren't?" Sakura repeated.

Hinata shook her head. "Unfortunately I don't live with Naruto-kun just yet. We did spend time together but in the evening I had to go back to my clan compound since I didn't want them to get too nosy in my personal life. But I did talk to my father about it."

"You did?" Naruto asked. "What did he say?"

-Flashback-

"Otou-san, can I ask you something?" Hinata said when she came up to her father.

"Hinata, where were you for dinner?"

"Eating Naruto-kun." Lilith joked.

"Eating with Naruto-kun." Hinata answered. 'Though Lilith wasn't wrong.'

"While I'm not going to keep you away from him for your own good, please don't forget you need to spend time here with your family as well." The Hyuuga head told his daughter.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to ask you about." Hinata mentioned.

Hiashi curiously arched an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"To put it simply, Naruto-kun and I wish to live with each other, for reasons that do not need to be restated to you. And we both know it's easier for me to move out of the compound than for him to move in."

"And you're asking for my permission?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, I'm asking for your assistance in making this possible."

Hiashi didn't know whether to feel confused or slighted. "Are you saying you don't need my permission to do this?"

Hinata stared at him with challenge in her eyes. "Are you saying I need to ask for permission to maintain my health and life?"

Hiashi did not see a way to argue that. So he tried a different approach. "For arguments sake let's say I agreed to assist you in this. How exactly do you need me to?"

"For the most part, I would need you to keep the elders out of it. I am aware that even though they have denied me the role of primary heiress, they still would not like me living outside the clan property. They could try many things but as clan head you should be prepared for anything they can try. And you're the only one I can trust to stop them without having to resort to violence right away."

Hiashi nodded, understanding her explanation. "Very true, but the elders will not be easily persuaded. Especially when they learn who you intend to live with and with me being unable to tell them about your own inner demon. They may even call for a trial by combat for you and Naruto."

Hinata smiled deviously. "If they think they can defeat us, let them see how wrong they are."

-End Flashback-

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes. "More fighting to stay together? Don't we do that enough already?"

Hinata leaned against Naruto's chest, smiling. "Let's not worry about that right now. Instead I just want to be in your arms again. Last night I got so cold without you." She looked to Sakura. "Again, if you don't want to see this there are other places to be."

Sakura huffed. "We need to be together to meet our team leader so I can't just walk off like that you know. Just have a little courtesy for those of us who don't have boyfriends."

Hinata shrugged and turned back to the young medic. "Maybe you should find one. It's not like you don't have options you know."

Sakura surprised them both by not saying saying anything in response, not even in reference to Sasuke. All she did was look bothered but not mad, like there was something she didn't want to talk about.

"So is everyone here?" A new voice asked as a stranger dropped into the field. Everyone turned to him and saw a man around Kakashi's age dressed in near-identical clothing stand before them. He had short brown hair and black eyes, and the most distinguishing characteristic he had was the facial visor that looked virtually identical to the one the Nidaime used to wear.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"I'll be filling in for Kakashi-sempai while he recuperates. My name is Yamato, your new captain for this mission. Hokage-sama has already informed me about the three of you and you all already know each other." He glanced at the still-embracing couple. "Some better than others I suppose. So we won't waste time with introductions. Now, I'll explain our mission. On your feet everyone."

Naruto and Hinata separated and stood up, and while her back was turned Hinata used a quick jutsu Lilith had taught her to remove arousal stains on her clothes. So now her pants and panties looked as dry as a nun's. At the same time Naruto zipped his pants back up again.

Seeing he had their attention, Yamato continued. "The four of us are to proceed to the Tenchi bridge outside of Kusa's territory. There we will intercept the spy that Akatsuki has within Orochimaru's organization. This is a chance for us to find out about both Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke. We can gain a valuable source of information which may lead to the assassination of Orochimaru and the retrieval of Uchiha Sasuke. So keep focused, all of you."

The two chuunin and one genin nodded.

"We will gather at the front gate in one hour after sorting thru our equipment one last time then we will depart. Best prepared for the worst." Yamato added. While ninja of their experience usually were already in the habit of having their equipment ready before the debriefing, it never hurt for one final look before departure. "Any questions?"

Hinata nodded. "Two actually. Is Kusa aware of any of this? I would assume they would be since you said it's within their territory."

"I'm afraid I wasn't told about that. I assume that we are not expected to interact with any Kusa nin on this, and if we do we shouldn't instigate aggression." Yamato answered.

"My other question is what are we to do if by chance we encounter anyone else from Orochimaru's group?" Hinata added.

"Fight if we have to, and retreat if we don't. This is a capture mission with an assigned target, not a combat mission." Yamato told her.

Hinata nodded with a smile. "Thanks, I just wanted to make sure we all knew this."

"Anything else?" Yamato asked. Sakura and Naruto shook their heads. "Good, then use the next hour wisely."

The group departed, and an hour later they all had left Konoha headed for the Tenchi Bridge.

Kamizuki Izumo and his teammate Hagane Kotetsu stood in their usual positions in their booth outside the gates of Konoha. It was a beautiful summer day, not a cloud in the sky and nothing had happened since Yamato's team had left the village two hours ago, so they were a little relaxed with their positions that day.

"Hey Izumo?" Kotetsu asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"We are a ninja village, right? So it is fair enough to assume that we have a number of enemies out there."

"Well duh, don't you remember the Suna-Oto Invasion?" Izumo said while rolling his eyes, thinking that the sun had gone to Kotetsus's head.

"Yeah, I remember. Which is why I am wondering, why exactly do we always guard the gates?"

"Because someone has to guard them of course."

"But wouldn't it be safer to keep the gates closed?"

"Well…" Izumo had to pause there for a moment to think. Actually he had never questioned the reason why the gates were always open. "You might have a point."

"I mean when you think about it, we are letting dozens of people in and out of the village every day and all we ever do is just nod to them and collect names." Kotetsu continued.

"You're right, couldn't there be a better system to check them? I mean what if they are enemy ninja in henges?"

"Exactly. If the gates were closed we could give them a quick inspection, ask them what their intent is in the village, and then make a record of who they are and what time they came in before we opened up."

"We already do that." Izumo pointed out.

Kotetsu nodded. "But with the gate closed we would feel like guardians rather than secretaries. And with the door closed, there's little chance of them being able to run past us to get into the village if we tried to stop them."

"Also, now that you mention it, are we the only guards for the gate?" Izumo asked as he suddenly looked around. "I mean this is a pretty big gate so shouldn't there be like a couple of guards watching it instead of just us? What if a large group tried to come thru? Do they really think we alone are enough to hold them off long enough?"

"Yeah… and is this the only gate for the entire village? Because I've lived here my entire life and I can only remember ever seeing this one gate. Is this the only way to leave the village? Isn't that kind of dangerous? What if there was an emergency and everyone had to evacuate? What if it was blocked off?" Kotetsu said. He was on a roll now with his questioning.

"And who decides anyway if the gate is supposed to be open or closed? Is it the Hokage? The Council? Or us?" Izumo paused at that. "Do we decide if the gate should be open or closed?"

"And who guards it after our shift ends? When we come here in the mornings there's no one here and when we leave at night there is no one to take our place. Do they show up later or is there some sort of security jutsu activated? Or are we just leaving this place undefended at night?"

The two of them were so engrossed with talking to each other that neither of them noticed the stranger appear in front of them. The stranger watched them talking for a moment before giving a loud cough to get their attention.

Both of the shinobi fell silent and slowly turned their heads to look at the stranger.

The stranger was a male in his early to mid-twenties. He was dressed like he had just come from a party, black dress pants and a black jacket over a red shirt. His hair was a dark ash gray color cut short but stylish. He was also wearing extremely dark shades over his eyes.

"Good afternoon gentlemen." He said politely, with a slight accent in his voice that suggested that he was not from the Land of Fire. "I hope I am not interrupting anything." He said with a smile, revealing perfectly straight and bright white teeth that reflected the sunlight like a mirror.

Both men jumped back into their positions and tried to look professional.

"Can we help you with something, sir?" Izumo asked

The man nodded. "You can indeed my friend. I was wondering if I might have permission to enter your village."

Both Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other and nodded. Silently deciding to test out their inspection methods they had just discussed.

"Do you mind if we just ask you a few questions first?" Kotetsu asked, though he made the tone of his voice sound like it was not a request.

The man nodded. "By all means. I am in no hurry."

"Alright, can you tell us your name and where you are from?"

"Lilu Aru is my name. And I am from the Land of Waves." Aru said, his voice never changing tone as he spoke.

"You are from the Land of Waves? Are you a ninja?"

Aru shook his head. "No, I am afraid I have no talent for those jutsu style things. Though I was always amazed at how you ninjas were able to vanish and then reappear without a sound."

"Would you mind emptying your pockets sir?" Kotetsu asked

Aru obliged and offered the contents of his pockets, which turned out to be nothing more than a checkbook a pen, and a wallet with an ID card that confirmed he was name was 'Lilu Aru'. They also gave him a quick pat-down to check for any weapons, which turned up nothing.

"And what brings you to Konoha?" Izumo asked, after returning Aru's things to him.

"A combination of business and pleasure. I am a merchant from Wave Country and was rather hoping to open up a trade between my town and Konoha, that is the business part. The pleasure is well…I have heard that Konoha has a number of beautiful women and while I'm here I hope to at least see for myself how beautiful a kunoichi is." He said with a rather sly smirk.

Kotetsu and Izumo stared at the man. He seemed pretty honest, they could not sense any ill intent from him, and he had been pretty cool about answering all their questions and letting them search him.

"Alright, you are free to enter the village. Just be sure to respect our laws and customs and there should be no problem." Kotetsu said as he gestured for the man to enter.

Aru smiled and bowed his head to each of them. "Thank you, it is good to know that this village is protected by such intelligent and diligent men." He said as he walked past them and into the village.

Kotetsu and Izumo smiled and stood proudly, feeling pretty good about themselves.

"Hey Kotetsu?" Izumo asked.

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time we actually went on an away mission?"

"Umm... I want to say it was sometime between the Yondaime's death and Godaime's inauguration, but even then I'm guessing."

The visitor himself ignored their banter and looked around the village before he took a deep inhale thru his nose. "Lilith, I know you're here. And when I find you, you'll be screaming."