ANOTHER CHAPTER! Please leave a review, and enjoy.

Chapter 7: Forest of Death

Closing her eyes for only a second, Hinata couldn't help but dose off for a minute before she snapped herself back into the waking world. Behind her lay Naruto and Sasuke, both passed out after their fight with the snake summoner. She had stayed awake since then to protect her team, but after being awake for a day and a half, add to the fact that she had her Byakugan active the whole time, she started running fumes. She wouldn't be surprised if she slept for a week because of chakra exhaustion. At least, she noticed, her Dojutsu's range of view and precision has increased rather dramatically

Hearing a groan from behind her, she turned around and saw Naruto sitting up looking around before locking his eyes with hers. When he tried to talk however he couldn't help but cough because of a dry throat.

"Hey Hina-Chan… where are we?" He asked gritting through the pain of a hoarse throat.

"W-We're camping u-under some tree roots, N-Naruto-kun. You and Sasuke were out for almost two days now. How are you feeling?" Hinata answered with a small smile.

Smiling back at her, his face turned into one of confusion and then sadness as he saw the tiredness in his female teammate's eye. "Hinata, don't tell me you stayed awake the whole time to protect us." Naruto said. When he didn't get an answer from Hinata he started, "You need to get some sleep, I'll take watch for now." Seeing Hinata about to retaliated, he added, "And don't dare trying to convince me that you're fine.

Seeing that Hinata finally gave up, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his thoughts, 'Damn, I'm starting to sound like the hospital nurses.' A few minutes after Hinata went to sleep and Naruto was sure she was asleep, he created a few Shadow Clones and put them to different tasks while he stayed to watch over his teammates. Looking over to Hinata, Naruto couldn't help but blush at what he deemed 'THE CUTEST VIEW EVER!'

:-:

About three hours passed when Naruto suddenly felt like someone was approaching their camp. Deciding to follow his gut feeling, he created 5 clones and had two of them transform into his teammate another two to take them and hide them away and the final one to take the original's place. Watching over the area he felt the presence from, even if it were only for a second, he saw three sound-nin hiding in the bushes and looking right at his transformed clone. Deciding to get closer so he could hear them speaking he heard, "Lord Orochimaru only said we had to try and kill the little Uchiha, not that he had to be awake while we did so."

"Well as long as I get to have some fun while killing that pampered princess, then I'm content." The kunoichi of the group stated, making Naruto's blood begin to boil. After what's been deemed 'The Bridge Massacre', Naruto couldn't stand those that killed for the fun of it.

"Fine, Kin gets the girl, Zaku gets Uchiha and I'll take of the fox brat." One of the male shinobi stated making Naruto believe that he was the leader.

"Thanks Dosu, you're not bad after all." The now named Zaku snorted. 'Ah, so that's his name.' Naruto thought as he looked at the one completely covered in bandaged, only his left eye uncovered to be able to see.

Watching as the three Sound shinobi made their way to their camp, Naruto got ready to make more clones and pull out his sword. Just as the clone transformed as Sasuke popped at the attack from Zaku, Naruto made nine extra clones and pulled out his sword before going to attack the enemy team. Not remembering to mask his presence, he was surprised when Dosu suddenly threw some shuriken in his direction. Jumping into a nearby shadow, Naruto moved through it and popped up behind Zaku before stabbing him with a kunai in the knee. Naruto, however, did not expect to get his eardrums burst when the stabbing victim lowered his hands towards his ears and released a sound wave.

Trying to move around while holding his bleeding ears, Naruto kept falling over. Realizing he had to heal, and fast, he started siphoning the Nine-Tails chakra but didn't have enough time as he was kicked in the back, sending him into a tree. Managing to get up in time to block a kunai to his side and parrying a slash towards his neck, but Dosu only kicked the boy in the stomach before feeling a sharp pain in his right hand.

:-:

Elsewhere, Hinata was startled awake by clinging steel and splintering wood. To her surprise, Naruto was standing over her with his sword drawn ready in case someone decided to attack and she couldn't help but turn red. Looking around, she noticed that they weren't under the tree roots anymore, and Sasuke was nowhere in sight probably meaning Naruto carried them to a safer location and Sasuke woke up before going out to gather resources.

"N-Naruto-kun, where are we? H-How long was I as-sleep?" Hinata asked still not completely rid of her blush.

"Oh, hey Hina-chan. I moved us under boss's orders, he's currently fighting some enemy ninja. You were asleep for about three hours, but I'm guessing you didn't get enough rest." The clone answered while gesturing towards the pale eyed girl's red face.

"N-No I'm f-fine N-Naruto-kun." Hinata stated waving off the boys' concerns. "WAIT! Who's this boss you're taking about, and who's he fighting?" Hinata asked after registering what the clone said.

After the clone explained the situation the original was in and checking that Hinata was alright enough for a fight, he dispelled himself sending Naruto his memories in the process.

Hinata arrived at the battle field to hear the agenizing scream of Dosu as he stood hunched over, his left hand cradling his right and at his feet lay something looking oddly similar to a finger. In front of Dosu stood Naruto, his sword drawn, his breathing more ragged than she ever heard, his ears were bleeding profusely and he looked like he was going to pass out any second. Surrounding her teammate were Zaku and Kim after finishing their fights with Naruto's clones, if Hinata was going to save her teammate, she had to come up with a plan and quick.

Activating her Byakugan, Hinata could see the amount of Damage Naruto both dealt and received. If not for the fox he would already have been dead five times over and stacked with the strange seal placed on him to minimize the usable bijuu chakra, it's a miracle the boy is still able to stand. Right as she was about to attack, she saw Naruto look at her for a split-second before continuing with his fight against Zaku and Kim.

:-:

Naruto knew that Hinata was coming to back him up after the clone watching over her dispelled, but in the meantime he'll have to buy as much time as possible. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long as he caught a glimps Hinata hiding in the shrubs as he dodged a kunai thrown at his head and slightly nodded.

Turning to face his attackers with a small mischievous smile tugging at his lips, Naruto changed his battle stance to one of the many he and his teammates practiced for fighting side by side in the hopes Hinata caught on without him needing to signal her, and was relieved to see her nod in realization.

Charging towards his closest opponent, Kim, Naruto feigned a horizontal slash from the right and was pleased when the sound-nin jumped back and right into Hinata's Senbon range and watched as Senbon needle lodge itself in the girl's neck. Turning to look at the remaining shinobi, Zaku, Naruto realized his vision was starting to get bleary, and his body beginning to tremble.

Deciding to try and preserve his remaining bit of energy, Naruto steadied his breathing and kept his movements minimal like Jiraiya taught him to for drawn out fights. He realized he couldn't count on Hinata's help with this fight because the sound shinobi was out of her range, but he could use the fact that his enemy expected a sneak attack to his advantage.

Before Naruto could move in for an attack though, he felt the same strange sensation from when the sound trio tried to sneak up on them. He closed his eyes and focused on the sensation, he felt it draw him to his left and then, he felt it draw him to his left and then, he felt it draw him to his left and then heard the sound of cracking wood to his right and opened his eyes to see the tree he was standing in front of only a second before falling over.

He realized that whatever these strange sensations were, it sure was useful in a fight. 'I'll have to ask Pervy Sage about this later' he thought to himself before turning his attention back to his opponent with a renewed vigor. He jumped toward Zaku ready to stab him with his sword, but the other shinobi jumped to the side and used his sound waves to blow Naruto in the ribs sending whiskered boy flying into a tree and unconsciousness.

:-:

All Sasuke felt was rage as he made his way to his teammates, he didn't even feel scared of how they were faring against their attacker knowing they could handle themselves or maybe, a small voice whispered in his head, he didn't care what happened to them.

He shook the thought out of his head just as he saw a mop of red and blonde hair crashing into a tree with a loud crunch, indicating a few broken bones. Seeing the state the now identified Naruto was in, Sasuke's rage only dubbled and he felt a strange dark power overtake him as he looked over to the shinobi who attacked his teammate.

Only seeing red after the image of a smirking sound-nin crossed his mind, Sasuke began to charge the unexpecting Zaku and crashed a fist into his stomach. The boy flipped over and spat out blood as he landed on the ground about ten meters from his previous position.

All Zaku could do for what felt like the next 3 years was receive blow after blow from the enraged raven haired boy until he finally slowed his punches and grabbed the Sound-nin's arms from the back and started pulling it out of its sockets.

Sasuke was pulled out of his bloodlust when he heard small familiar sobs coming from the direction of Naruto. He looked up to see Hinata holding Naruto with fear in her wide watering, fear directed at him, not the shinobi that attacked them but him. He couldn't blame her, though, he started to fear himself after what he did started to dawn on him. He didn't even kill the shinobi and yet he still wanted to puke, 'How did Naruto get over killing that many people, if I can't even beat one guy half to death without feeling like this.'

"Hi-na-ta." He croaked out before collapsing on the ground with a loud thud, the dark energy receding back to his neck causing him to black out after a few moments.

:-:

Hinata watched as Sasuke fell to the ground and the dark marks covering his body moving into a three tomoe symbol on his neck. After a few moments she was jolted back to reality when Naruto stirred on her lap and opened his eyes.

"Where am I?" He asked through bleary eyes and Hinata couldn't help but giggle even in her freightend state.

"We're in the Forest of Death, Naruto-kun. Remember?" She answered while scratching his head.

"Oh yeah. But… what am I doing in your?"

That caused her to turn blood red.

Okay, please don't be mad. School has been hectic lately, and I'm also very opsessed with Percy Jackson now. I already have a few Fic ideas for it and after scowering the past two months or so I also have a few stories I'm going to adopt for that and Naruto. But this will be my main project until it's finished. And I don't ever plan on not finishing any story I begin, no matter how long it takes.

Any way… This is The_Dovabean signing off.