Sleepless D: There's been a time skip, hope you enjoy. Peace out.

It has just been over a year, Hinata has hardly said a word to anyone since she witnessed her guardian, Ko's death. Norio informed Hinata that he was given a proper burial once she recovered and the three that attacked her and killed Ko were punished accordingly. Hinata didn't care, she even sees them around the academy, but they kept their distance from her, Eri and Susumu remained her companions, making sure she was fine, but she didn't show any emotion.

They remained training and grew even stronger as time passed, some students dying, but that seemed to be as natural as new students coming. Hinata was surprisingly one of the most adapted students to the training; Norio took an interest in Hinata while a few other Trainers noticed her strength. Norio even noticed when she is pushed beyond normal reaches, she losses herself and has nearly kills other students and even a couple of trainers, Norio has been trying to push her to become that at will, but has been slightly unsuccessful.

Just outside the temple, Norio stood near the entrance to the Temple, waiting for several minutes already and coughs in pain, soon hearing footsteps. He looks, seeing three teenagers and a woman walking towards him. "Midori, I'm glad that you've brought the students." Norio says.

"Of course Master." Midori replies and bows slightly, wearing the same clothes as last year.

Behind her were Eri, Hinata and Susumu. Eri wore white robes and sandals, her eyes remaining closed as she walks. Susumu wore a black t-shirt and dark jeans, he also wore a vest with several knives on it. Hinata wore a black t-shirt as well, fitted mesh body suit underneath the shirt and black trousers, having black ninja sandles, her hair is even shorter than before since long hair made it easy to grip onto.

"I take it that none of you know why you're all here." Norio says with a small smile.

"No mate, I was enjoying a meal with that babe with the triple joints and could squeeze in anywhere, till that bitch burnt me out of my room, I was lucky to come out with my pants!" Susumu complains, soon getting his face smashed in my Midori.

Norio chuckles at this. "You will all be going to the Leaf village to pass on some information to the Hokage." Norio says and holds out a note, having Midori take it. "She'll be team leader and deliver the letter...and I wonder if Hinata will be interested in seeing her home again." Norio says with a small smile.

Hinata looks at him, shrugging slightly and Norio chuckles in response. "I never really thought about it..." Hinata replies, making Eri look at her.

"I would've thought that you'd have enjoyed going back to visit your home...I even think on my home." Eri says, thinking of her home and people she knew.

"It doesn't matter." Hinata say, wondering if she wants to go back, remembering her father, her former teammates and wonder how much powerful they've become. "I'll do anything as you wish." Hinata says.

Susumu smirks at the thought and walks towards her, but Hinata released a large amount of chakra to warn him from getting near her and he stepped away. "Always worth a shot." Susumu says with a smirk.

"We best get moving then..." Midori says, looking at the three students. "If any of you die...I honestly don't care." Midori says, starting to walk while the other students look at her, a couple confused while Hinata just stared at her.

"Well then...shall we move then?" Susumu says, cracking his knees and began walking towards Midori, following her while Hinata and Eri waited for a few seconds, following the two as they started walking into the forest.

Norio sighs and leans against the stone wall. "So Master...why did you send them away?" A voice came, soon coughing as Norio sighs again.

"Strife, a person doesn't know how strong they become unless they can see it from their past self." Norio says and looks at Strife. "Seeing her progress against her former comrades will prove that she's grown." Norio tells him. "And it's to see if they are loyal enough for the next mission...if they run, they die."

"...Why would they run?" Strife asks in confusion, but he saw the note and smirked. "What did you do?" Strife asks, sounding bemused now as he chuckled.

"I know what you're thinking, and no matter what I say, you'll do it." Norio says, gaining a nod from the young man and the area around him rippled and vanishes.

Xxxxxxxxxx

It's been just over five days, the four were just coming in view of the Hidden Leaf village's main gates, but they were still several minutes away. Susumu yawns as he looks at the gates in a distance. "How much fucking longer is it going to take? I mean I saw the damn gates a half an hour ago." Susumu complains.

"Seven and a half minutes." Hinata informs him while Eri nods.

"Right people, we'll arrive soon and we'll be making our way to the Hokage's office and after that, you lot can relax and eat while I perform other duties." Midori informs them, gaining a nod from Susumu who seems excited, Hinata and Eri seem indifferent.

Xxxxx

The group reach the gates and stop at the front desk, standing there while one of the guards is entirely focused on a crossword. After a few minutes, another guard walks out, zipping up his trousers and sees the people and his co-worker. "I apologise, Mizu, I told you to look after my post!" The man complains.

"I sat at your post, I can't do your job." Mizu says and starts walking away.

The man looks at them. "I'm sorry, so what's your purpose here?" He asks.

"I'm here to talk to the Hokage under important business." Midori informs him.

The man nods and signals to hidden ninja who jump down, Midori looks and counts five, four Chunin and one ANBU. "We'll escort you there." The ANBU informs her, gaining a nod as they start moving.

The guard at the desk sees Hinata and tilts his head in confusion. 'A Hyuga? What's going on?" He wonders.

Xxxxx

The group finally reaches the Hokage's Office, Susumu looks around, smirking at every sight of a female, Hinata doesn't seem to look around, still knowing the nooks and crannies. The ANBU knocks on the door and a panicked rustle comes from the other side, making the people look in confusion. "Enter." A woman's voice is heard.

The group walks in and they see Tsunade sitting at her desk with a small smile, soon spotting something on her desk and grabs it and hides it. Hinata saw that it was a cork from a sake bottle, Midori and the ANBU also saw this and sighed inwardly. "Lady Tsunade, this woman claims to have important business with you." The ANBU informs her.

Tsunade looks at them, a little confused and looks through her desk, soon pulling out a letter. "You a Shimumi?" She asks.

"...No..." Midori tells her.

Tsunade looks through a few more. "Midori?" Tsunade then asks, gaining a nod from her, Tsunade then looks at the teenagers and spots Hinata, making her eyes widen in shock, seeing Hinata's dark aura and seemingly different eyes, devoid of all kindness and happiness. "I...um...you have a...message for me?" Tsunade asks, taking her eyes of Hinata and looks at Midori.

Midori looks through her bag while Susumu smirks wildly, looking at the Hokage's breasts and wish he could stick his head between her breasts and act like a third breast in the middle. He was about to walk forward and shake her hand to introduce himself, but Hinata grabs his shoulder and squeezes it, cracking his shoulder and makes him grit his teeth and move away. Eri focuses her sensing around the room, sensing a few more powerful Shinobi around the room, hidden, but the woman before them was giving a powerful aura of chakra with a hint of sake.

Midori soon finds the note and walks over to Tsunade and offers it to her, Tsunade takes it and opens it, reading it quickly and raises an eyebrow and a look of surprise on her face. "...Thank you...I will like to question...Midori alone for the moment...Hinata, would you like to travel round the village with your...friends and maybe see your old friends again?" Tsunade asks.

"...Not particularly." Hinata says, making Tsunade surprised slightly.

"Alright then...get out." Tsunade orders, making Hinata nod and walk out with her two teammates and the other Shinobi vanish to leave the two alone. "Alright then...Midori, where did you get this information?" Tsunade asks her, a little irritated by the information on the letter.

"...We have our ways, you're interested in following the Akatsuki, Orochimaru and rouge members of the Leaf, we have divisions that follow any information worth having." She informs Tsunade. "We even know this village's dark history." Midori informs her, gaining a nod from Tsunade who sweats a little.

"What are you after?" Tsunade asks.

"Equipment, funds and time." Midori informs her with a small smirk.

Xxxxx

Hinata walks down the street, a little bored and spinning a coin through her fingers. "So this is the place you grew up in?" Susumu asks, looking round and figuring that it's not that special, his former village was completely covered in a large tree that was over a few miles high.

"Yes...although I spent the first half of my life within the Hyuga Compound." Hinata informs them, gaining a nod from Eri.

"I can understand...I spent over two thirds of my life at the Temple..." Eri informs her, but Hinata was barely even listening to her.

"I can't imagine doing that...staying in one place for so long, at the academy that Norio has, I'm tempted to run away, being stuck in one place...creeps me out." Susumu says, not noticing that they're walking along a wall that Hinata knows very well and she stops at the front gates. Susumu looks at the place and gains a shiver. "Damn...I've seen more cheer in a graveyard..." Susumu says.

"You obviously haven't seen my home's graveyards." Eri says and gains a weird look from Susumu.

A guard walks towards the group, looking at them and overshadowing them. "You're on private property of the Hyuga clan, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He says before Hinata walks up and looks at him.

"I am Hinata Hyuga, I belong in this estate and these are my guests." Hinata informs him, making him look closely and realise that it was Hinata.

"My apologies...I didn't recognise you Lady Hinata." He says and opens the door and the three walk through.

Susumu looks around, still feeling uneasy since the entire area seems too neutral and non imaginative, all the flowers were aliened, as well as the trees, water and he could swear that the grass was the same. Hinata didn't seem bothered since she's use to this and knows that it hasn't changed at all, so it's easy to follow. The servants bow in respect when they see Hinata and word starts to spread rapidly that she's returned.

After a minute, Hiashi Hyuga hears the news and becomes a little confused, knowing that her training should still be going on for a couple of years and starts moving. He soon spots Hinata sitting by a fountain, watching the water run while a girl in white clothes meditates on the grass and a teenager is walking through the halls and enters a room, moving the picture frames and items to make them out of place.

Hiashi walks over to her, a little glad that his daughter is fine and here, but he is a little curious to why she's here. "Hinata...welcome home." He says with a small smile.

Hinata looks at him, nodding in response. "Father." She then says.

"What brings you here so early from your training with Norio?" He asks her, feeling uneasy by her look which surprises him since it's a proper Hyuga look and not the one she had before she left.

Hinata doesn't say anything for several seconds, as if she was trying to remember why. "We had to send a message to the Hokage, we had time to spare and I decided to come here." Hinata tells him.

Susumu looks around a little more, seeing the people around the entire estate look very similar to each other, like they are all clones of each other. Susumu grabs a small statue and quickly puts it in his pocket which has a few items in it already which no one caught him taking.

"Well you are always welcome here Hinata, this is your home after all." Hiashi informs her. Hinata just nods looking at the water and somehow makes it ripple by her chakra, getting bored already. Hiashi finally realises something, or someone missing. "Where's your guardian Ko?" Hiashi asks, believing him to be near Hinata's side, but wasn't.

"Ko was killed." Hinata simply tells him, not sad at all since she's over it.

Hiashi's eyes widen in shock. "Died? How? When?" Hiashi questions her, disliking the idea that a Hyuga member died, but maybe he died in the line of duty, protecting Hinata.

"He was killed by some frustrated students over a year ago, those that killed him are still alive, but they suffered some punishment." Hinata simply says.

Hiashi was feeling several emotions at this point, worry for Hinata since Ko was her guardian for most of her life, anger that Norio didn't inform him of what happened, sick that a Hyuga fell to students and wondering if the right choice was to send Hinata with Norio. "How could this happen? Ko was one of the best in the Hyuga clan...and I'm terribly sorry for having put you through that, I know you were very attached with Ko..." Hiashi began, but Hinata didn't seem to show any emotions, making him confused even more.

"It doesn't matter." Hinata says, getting up and walking away, already bored of this place, Eri notices this and gets up to follow while throwing a pebble at Susumu, gaining his attention and quickly follows.

They slowly walk around the estate and soon leave the building and start walking down the street, away from the Hyuga clan. Hiashi watches his daughter leave and sighs in worry, seeing her chakra is hers normally to show that it is Hinata and not under any kind of Jutsu, but the chakra is behaving oddly. Hiashi walks quickly and reaches a servant of his. "Please inform Neji that I wish to speak to him immediately." He tells the servant, gaining a nod and quickly leaves.

Xxx

Midori smiles as she watches a cart leaving the village, heading towards a location where people from the academy will retrieve it quickly. She looks around, getting a feeling that she's being watched, and not just from Tsunade's ANBU division. She starts walking away, planning on performing the second part of the plan to see if the team will stay loyal, namely Hinata and Susumu.

Xxx

Hinata walks down the street with her two teammates. Eri looks around, sensing all the people and even some hidden Shinobi wondering round. Susumu walks through the shops, stealing items from the shops, he even moves some of the merchandise and puts the things he stole in different shops. Hinata keeps looking at him, confused since he did that when they first moved into the Norio's Academy, but stopped once everything he touched was moved.

Eri also notices him doing something and walks over to him as he hurries over to the next shop. "What are you doing?" Eri asks the strange male.

"I dislike being in largely populated areas. Being in new places with this many people and it's too regular here...I like making things irregular." Susumu says with a slight twitch in his eyebrow.

"...Irregular?" Eri wonders, but ignores him. However, she soon senses two, no, three beings with chakra of a ninja come rushing towards them, or better aimed, Hinata.

"Holy crap! Hinata! I hardly recognised you!" A male voice is heard.

Susumu and Eri turn to the commotion. Susumu sees a teenage boy with fang marks on his cheeks and a large white dog near him smiling wildly at Hinata, talking a mile a minute. "Something tells me...that guy knows her...not sure about the guy covered up though..." Susumu says, looking carefully and couldn't see his face.

Hinata just watches, not really paying attention to what the guy is saying. However, she knew they were her former teammates and catches Kiba saying that he could hardly recognise her smell. "It's a pleasure to see you once again Hinata." Shino says, nodding towards her.

"It's been awhile Shino...Kiba...Akamaru." Hinata replies in an emotionless voice.

Kiba and Shino raise an eyebrow, confused since they'd have expected her to be emotional and not remove all the cheer from the moment, hell, she'd remove any cheer from the Third Hokage's funeral. Susumu and Eri walk over to then and gain Hinata's old teammate's attention. "Hi there, the name's Susumu. I'm Hinata's lover." Susumu says with a smirk, but Hinata flicks his forehead and makes his left eye shoot to the right while his right eye stays forward and makes a strange face before falling backwards. Kiba and Akamaru seem to be in a state of shock that Hinata just knocked a guy out in a 'Sakura' manner when Naruto says something stupid. Shino on the other hand was still a little hard to read, but he did seem surprised.

Eri doesn't react to this since Susumu will lose all body control. "Sorry about him. I'm Eri." Eri informs them.

Hinata's former teammates come back to reality and Kiba waves while Shino nods. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka...and this is Akamaru." Kiba introduces himself and pets his large dog next to him.

"And I am Shino Aburame." Shino tells her, gaining a smile from Eri.

"So who are you in relation to Hinata?" Eri asks them with a small smile, sensing something strange about Shino, but she ignored it.

"We're Hinata's teammates." Kiba informs her with a smirk.

"Is that so?" Eri asks with slight interest. "Well...not sure how to tell you this, but Susumu and I are Hinata's teammates now."

Kiba tilts his head in confusion. "Oh, you mean from the school Hinata's father told us about?" Kiba asks her.

Eri shrugs and nods. "Yes...we do jobs together and we fight each other." Eri informs them.

"Well, I'm sure we'll get along well...but that guy is...well I don't like him." Kiba says and looks at the unconscious Susumu.

"Neither does the rest of school." Hinata says and starts walking away, making Kiba and Shino a little confused as she seems a rude than ever.

"Hey Hinata-" Kiba began, but when he grabbed her shoulder, she spun round, grabbing his wrist and pulling him round before kicking her heel into Kiba's side. He coughs up blood and feels his arm dislocate.

Kiba soon lies on the ground, yelling in pain and shock while Shino is in absolute shock by what Hinata just did. Eri sighs, rubbing her neck in slight worry. "Her body's been trained to react without thinking." Eri tells him before picking Susumu up. "I don't think you're her friends at the time...because I'm not hers anymore." Eri tells Shino before jogging after Hinata.

Shino feels a large amount of worry for Hinata, but his main focus now is for Kiba. Akamaru worries and whines at his master's screams, barking for help before Shino goes to help him.

Xxx

On the roofs, a man sits there, chuckling a little as he watched Hinata leave with Eri and Susumu. "Well I'm nearly one hundred percent sure that she's loyal." He says, showing a man with brown hair, his right eye brown and his left eye blue, showing that it is Strife. He rubs his hair a little and looks around, chuckling a little as he rubs away a little blood from his mouth and coughs a little. He looks at his left hand which is holding a silver mask.

He chuckles and throws at cloak and mask away which vanishes in a bluish rift before he jumps down and lands on the ground without anyone noticing since everyone was looking at Shino snap Kiba's arm back. He walks along, wearing a blue t-shirt and black jeans, scanning the area as if he's looking for something interesting.

Xxxxx

It's been less than an hour and Team 10 and Sakura heard about Hinata's arrival and the hurt Kiba, but they weren't sure since it was like a case of Chinese whispers. One minute it was Hinata dislocating Kiba's arm to Kiba flirted and Hinata knocked him out to Kiba knocked out Hinata's companion and her other teammate did a number on him.

They soon find her at the park with the said companions. Sakura and Ino start talking in excitement to her since she's been gone for a year, though they do think she turned into a similar equivalent to a female Sasuke, she's wearing dark colours and ignoring them as he did. Shikamaru and Choji were more quiet and just greeted her while checking out the girl in white and a guy that is trying to focus on his finger while his eye appears to wonder. "So who are these two?" Sakura asks, looking at the two with Hinata.

"I'm Eri and this is Susumu." Eri replies, smiling a little since they seem like good people.

Ino and Sakura look at Susumu and they seem confused, seeing him try and stay focused on his finger. "I think Susumu's a little slow..." Ino whispers.

"Who are you calling...hey there, Susumu." Susumu says as soon as he sees Ino and stands up, smirking a little, but part of his face still isn't back to normal. He extends his hand towards Ino and smiles. "And your name is?" He asks, looking at his hand and back to Ino.

Ino sighs and reaches out for his since it's polite. "Ino Yamanaka..." She says and takes his hand and suddenly goes a bit blank in the eyes.

"Want to blow this place and look for something to blow?" Susumu asks, gaining a nod from Ino.

Shikamaru and Choji start choking on air by what they heard and saw and look at each other, wondering if the other heard the same thing. Sakura on the other hand had her mouth wide open in shock and stared at Ino in disbelief.

"You know that's very mean Susumu..." A voice comes from behind Susumu and a hand is placed on his shoulder which makes him shiver.

The three look and they jump away in shock, seeing a older teenager appear from nowhere and wondered where he came from.

Susumu releases the hand and keeps them up, not wanting to get in deep shit again. "I thought you were back at the Temple Strife..." Susumu says in a nervous voice, knowing it would be pointless to try and control the man since he come and goes as he pleases.

Strife stiffens a cough and looks at Sakura and Ino who came up to his chest. He waves his hand in front of Ino and snaps his fingers, making her come back to reality and sees Strife and jumps back. "Where the hell did you come from!?" She yells.

"From the heavens, same as you two beautiful angels." Strife says with a smirk and lowers himself down and pushes Strife away.

Ino and Sakura look at him, seeing that he's tall and very attractive, soon blushing in response. "T-Thanks..." They reply simultaneously.

Shikamaru and Choji soon notice Hinata looking confused at the newcomer and Eri seems to be trying to not panic. "What are you doing here Strife?" Hinata asks as he looks at him, finding it a little odd that he doesn't have his cloak or mask.

"Y-You know him?" Sakura and Ino ask simultaneously again, looking at her and finding her lucky to have a tall, handsome guy to know.

"I'm her Sensei in one of her classes." Strife tells her, smirking at the two. "So how old are you two?" He asks them.

"Fourteen." They both say and gains a chuckle from Strife. "And you're a Sensei? Can I join your academy?" They ask in their own way, knowing that Hinata joined some academy miles away.

"Wish you could, but we're full at the moment." Strife tells them.

Susumu opens his mouth, but closes it when Strife squeezes a little more. Susumu sweats and slips away, knowing that the Temple has a couple of dozen empty beds by disappearances, most likely deaths.

After a few seconds, Neji soon appears with Tenten and Lee, finding Hinata at a park with the others. He walks through the group and stops near Hinata, gaining her attention and the group soon notice this and look at them. "Lady Hinata...It's good to see that you're alright, and I apologise, but the elders wish to see your progress in the past year." Neji tells her, not really bothered about the fight and thought she deserved a little rest from coming a long way.

"...Very well, let's get this over with." Hinata says and stands up before walking away.

Tenten and Lee were a little surprised, remembering the last time Neji informed Hinata about a match, she acted fearful and nervous. Neji tilts his head slightly before following, having expected Hinata to respond differently, but then again, Hiashi did tell him about her odd behaviour.

Sleepless D: Sorry for not updating for so long, had a writer's block and I hope you all review and wish me luck as a soon to be uncle. Please review. Peace out.