I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics, even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise. Whether I will have Oc's in the fic or not depends entirely on how the story goes.
Chapter 17
"Naruto didn't look like himself today don't you think so Ino?" Kiba asked the platinum blonde, team 8 was on their way to a mission to babysit and Ino had decided to tag along just long enough for them to reach their destination.
"I think his going through a phase." Ino admitted, being a Yamanaka you had to specialize in body language and the inner workings of the mind, Naruto showed signs of self-doubt, shame, and early depression.
"You think he wants to break up with you?!" Sakura asked with a gasp and Ino glared at the girl.
"Don't be silly Sakura, it's not about us I think it has to do with his team." Ino clarified to the pink-haired member of team 8.
"Sorry, Ino-Chan." Sakura apologized with a nervous smile on her face, the question had just come out before she could think about it.
"What happened in his team?" Kiba asked quickly not wanting to hear Ino and Sakura argue about love affairs.
Ino sighed and held her pendant in one hand rubbing the blue rock hanging from it.
"Sasuke-Kun has his Sharingan now." She simply said and realization dawned on Kiba and Sakura's faces as they made the 'O' shape with their mouths.
"I'm guessing Naruto-San feels bad because overnight Sasuke-San went from an equal to his superior." Sakura and Ino jumped at the new voice and turned around to it in shock only to see another member of team 8 there Shino Aburama.
"Shino-San, where are you coming from?" Sakura asked her teammate after a second to calm her breathing.
"You ask 'where I was?' but I assure you Sakura-San I was situated here the entire journey." Shino responded in the wordiest way possible.
"You lost recollection of my being here did you not Sakura-San, Ino-San?" Shino questioned unbothered and both girls could only reply by looking away in shame, On the other side Akamaru barked.
"Yes Akamaru, it is rude to ignore others."Sakura dropped her head in shame she was getting used to her new teammates, she would go so far as to say they were friends now. She played with Akamaru when they were not busy, with the dog deciding to always nap close to her and when she had asked Akamaru why he liked sleeping next to her the pup barked and Kiba translated that he likes how she smelled, it made her smile.
Her and Kiba's relationship was now how hers and Naruto were in the academy one moment they can be civil and the next it looked like they might bite each other's faces off, they were very competitive and their sensei said it was a good thing to have someone to push you.
Shino was different in that he liked to keep to his own, sometimes just staring off into space for an hour straight without so much as a twitch, she learned to disassociate him with the word creep and now they could have a conversation. Where she realized that when you began talking to Shino, you noticed he was an insightful and logical thinker who would always give sound advice.
"Yes, I think that is what is bothering him" Ino said agreeing with the Aburama's theory.
"Anyway, there are your clients I'll go check on the flower shop bye." Ino ran off not even willing to wait a second, and Sakura looked at her friends retreating form in sadness and guilt.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid, why don't I ever think before opening my big mouth?' Sakura scolded herself feeling like the worst friend possible, putting ideas in Ino's mind that Naruto might want to leave her.
"You really know how to break em Sakura." Kiba said off to the side.
"I don't want to do this now Kiba." Sakura told the boy, as she turned from her friend's form and walked towards their client feeling drained before the mi
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The trip to wave was uneventful the sun was beginning to set behind the horizon and Sasuke was bored out of his mind as he twirled a kunai in his hand. Sasuke had taken up position in the rear of the diamond formation so he had a view of his teammates and Tazuna.
He didn't know what happened between Hinata and the dobe but he could see it bothered the Hyuga heiress greatly, he had inquired what was bothering her but she said she was okay and just need some time to herself.
Sasuke didn't like seeing her like that and it was all the dobe's fault, he was gonna hurt him badly the next time they spared Sasuke promised himself. He wouldn't complain though if Naruto wanted to push Hinata away Sasuke would gladly receive her.
"Switch." At Itachi's order Sasuke leaped forward taking Naruto's previous position, Naruto jumped forward taking Itachi's, Itachi leaped back taking Hinata's and Hinata leaped back taking Sasuke's previous position, it all happened in seconds one blink and Tazuna saw a different person in front of him he whistled in appreciation.
"I think I might open a circus in wave after my bridge is done can you guys do party tricks?" Tazuna joked with a big belly laugh.
Nobody joined him.
"Tough crowd." Tazuna muttered with a sweatdrop
After a few minutes of walking Naruto saw a puddle in the middle of the path they were taking. He paid it no mind as he leaped over it, If Naruto were in a more attentive state he would have questioned the magical puddle in the middle of their route when there had not been a speck of rain in weeks but alas, the matter of the heart never used logic and it wouldn't start today.
"Tazuna-San watch out!" Sasuke was the first to react as two figures leaped out of the puddle one had straight black hair that reached down to his shoulders, had a gauntlet on his right hand with sharp claws for fingers, and the second had the same length of hair that was spiky and unruly he had a gauntlet of the same design on his left hand that housed a retractable shuriken-styled chain running between the two of them, which they can use to bind an enemy and then slice them to pieces.
They both wore Kiri headband protectors around their foreheads, they wore brown overalls over their army camouflage long-sleeve shirts and brown ankle-length pants while the one with straight hair had a cloak draped around his body.
They dashed at Tazuna their intentions as clear as day to wrap Tazuna in their chains and shred him to pieces. Sasuke drew two kunai as he dashed at them from the right Sharingan active as he threw the kunai in quick succession. The demon brothers abruptly stopped and looked behind them to see the chain connected to both their gauntlets stuck against a tree and held there by two kunai embedded deep into the tree trunk.
Sasuke landed on their gauntlets a second later before jumping and doing a split kick to both their faces. They both flew in different directions, but they were professionals if anything else, and already had a plan ready for such a situation.
In the event that the shuriken chain is neutralized, they have a release mechanism to free them up for individual attacks. Which they used immediately breaking apart and twisting to land on their feet they both dashed over to Tazuza for another attempt.
The spiky-haired attacker went left reading his gauntlet's poisoned claws for a diagonal attack.
"8 Trigram: vacuum palm." The spiky-haired man was hit by an invisible force to the stomach that made him spit blood into his mouth piece as he got pushed back by the blow. He landed on his feet and had to bring his gauntlet up to block a sword strike aimed at his neck, grabbing onto the sword he looked at his assailant only to grimace when he saw the telltale sign of a Hyuga though the color was different.
He jumped back quickly but before that he had already gotten 16 juuken strikes on his abdomen, wobbling on his feet when he landed he was met with the Hyuga girl already in his face as she gave him a palm strike to the chest right above his beating heart everything went dark after that and he dropped.
On the other side, Naruto finally got out of his spunk and tried to offer his assistance only to see Sasuke launch a fireball Phoenix at Tazuna's attacker. The man tensed his leg muscles and jumped to the right, Sasuke was already in the process of throwing a kunai in that direction so when he was out of the fireball's danger area he got a kunai to the shoulder and his jump became a tumble as he landed roughly on the ground.
Quickly standing up he came face to face with a three tomoe Sharingan spinning lazily at him.
"Itachi Uchiha." He gasped, he didn't know the bridge builder could afford such a dangerous individual to protect him.
"Sleep," Itachi commanded and the man already caught in a Sharingan genjutsu obeyed dropping like a rag doll.
'What in all that is right in this world is wrong with me?' Naruto laughed a hollow laugh as he grit his teeth and balled his fists in anger as he watched Itachi tie up the sleeping man and seal away the other.
Hinata had her hands wrapped around herself and sat against a tree, she just experienced her first kill and wasn't taking it well. Naruto contemplated heading over there to comfort her and hated himself for even having to think about it but the time it took him to make up his mind was time well captivated by Sasuke who was by Hinata's side in seconds.
"Hey, it's okay Hinata, you did what you had to do it's okay you didn't do anything wrong." Sasuke said wrapping a hand around her shoulders and rubbing it soothingly.
Hinata trembled and began crying, she buried her face in Sasuke's chest and Naruto had to look away. He couldn't be there to see that, he took off to get away from the scene.
Hinata's cries became louder when Naruto left. Naruto didn't know it but Hinata's tears were not because she had killed a man, the deed did leave her feeling hollow and dirty but what she cried about was not knowing what was happening between her and Naruto, she cried because he wasn't the one there to comfort her and she cried even more when he walked away.
Naruto's heart clenched in his chest as he got away from the sound of crying, his breathing was hard and labored he punched the tree closest to him as hard as he could leaving a deep engraving of his fist behind and blood from his split knuckles, he paid it no mind as he punched with his other hand causing the same damage to the tree and himself.
"Aghhhhhhh!!" Naruto shouted in frustration as he began punching the tree over and over again, then when his hands were numb and unresponsive he began head-butting the tree trunk with all his might.
"Hinata I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Naruto cried whispering sorry over and over again as he placed his bleeding head against the tree he had punished and had punished him back.
After another minute he found a pond and cleaned his blood-stained hands and face before walking back to where he left his team.
"Where the hell have you been dobe?" Sasuke was the first to spot him coming out of the bushes. Naruto didn't reply as he just lifted his hand showing the bottled water inside and Sasuke tsk at him turning back to Itachi and Tazuna.
"Please I had no other choice, my country is poor we had to save every penny we had just to afford a C-rank mission, I risked my life and my family's safety to travel to Konoha. Please help me." Tazuna was on his hands and knees face on the ground as he groveled and begged.
Naruto looked over to Hinata and caught her looking at him with relief on her face, which after a second became a look of resigned sadness as she looked away back to where Itachi and Tazuna were located never noticing that Naruto was looking at her the whole time.
"You lied in an official mission request Tazuna-San you placed both my team and I in danger by giving false information. Those two who attacked you are the Demon brothers of Kiri who also happen to be missing-nin, it is in my right to leave you here and return to the village." Itachi told the man though his voice was neutral you could see he wasn't playing around.
"I think we should help him." Naruto turned to the voice in shock, it was Hinata who spoke.
"I agree." Sasuke seconded the decision and Itachi sighed in defeat.
"What about you Naruto-Kun, if you decide to side with me my superiority as Sensei will outweigh a stalemate between Hinata-Chan and Sasuke-Kun." Itachi said asking for Naruto to break the deadlock inadvertently putting the blonde in the spotlight.
Naruto looked over at Sasuke who was looking at him with a frown, he looked over to Hinata only to see the girl looking anywhere but in his direction. Then he looked over to Tazuna, he didn't like the man throughout the journey he did not endear himself to Naruto and Naruto would have said they should go back because he was also in a bad mood but he remembered Hinata's words in the cottage.
'You cannot blame the whole village for the act of a few Naruto-Kun, such decisions are politically motivated so only the people in important positions within a village could have known and decided to send your mother away.' He was in a position to make a choice now that could affect a whole country could he say no, would that not make him a hypocrite? Naruto made up his mind.
"Let us help the drunk." Naruto answered and Tazuna leaped on his feet and gave Naruto a big bear hug.
"Oh thank you, kid, you don't know how much this means to me, actually when the bridge is done I'll name it after you, what's your name again I didn't get it last time, and that emo kid and the blind girl but damn the way she fought you would never guess she was blind hey why is your sensei so young, his kinda scary looking don't you think……." Naruto was pushing and shoving the man away but he couldn't be budged as he ranted on and on none stop.
In his position in the bridge builder's bearhug Naruto spied Hinata smiling in his direction, a soft and melancholic smile.
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It had taken them two days to reach the border between Fire and wave country which was a big body of water. They had found a friend of Tazuna who had a boat and was willing to help them gain access to the country.
They docked an hour later finally stepping foot in Wave country. Wishing them luck Tazuna's friend left and they began their trek being led by Tazuna as they entered a dark and foggy woodland.
Hinata sensed a chakra signature hiding behind one of the bushes and quickly drew a kunai before throwing it. she felt a spike of chakra and heard some rustling in the bushes but paid it no mind as she concentrated on where the signature was now located.
"We have company Itachi sensei." Hinata whispered loud enough for her team and Tazuna to hear and not a moment later she heard the sound of a blade cutting through the air. After many years of using a blade that sound was so distinct to her that she would know it anywhere.
"Duck!" She heard herself say at the same time with Itachi as she dropped low, she hoped Naruto had heard her warning as she stood up and checked for his signature after the attack missed. She found it in two different places and she sighed in relief.
"Well, well well, look what we have here, Itachi fucking Uchiha himself. My day just keeps getting better and better." Hinata couldn't tell the person's appearance but she could hear and feel the bloodlust rolling out of him, this guy was a monster.
"The spleen, the lungs………….."Hinata's heart sank as more and more killing Intent came out of the man paralyzing her but only one thought came to Hinata's mind.
"Zabuza Momoichi" She heard Itachi say.
'Naruto-kun be safe..' Hinata thought, she could feel his fears.
AN
cliffhanger!!! I always wanted to smack you guys with one of these babies...
Next chapter team 7 against Zabuza what differences will occur with Itachi in the mix
Some intel
Naruto is not all of a sudden weak you could say 'life is complicated' for our favorite blonde and finally experiencing an emotion he has never felt before in his life "Love".
he is falling in love with Hinata they are friends, best friends even but in that cottage when Hinata accepted him without a second thought with all that it entailed and promised to be by his side those feelings of friendship evolved into something more, something he does not understand.
He doesn't understand why he feels ashamed of disappointing her, why he doesn't want her smiling with someone else, held by someone else or just anything without him in the picture. it grips his heart and he does silly things in fear and confusion only making things worse.
He likes Ino a lot but he is experiencing First love. I hope I cleared up some things if they were not obvious enough.
Find out next time in A different telling.
