Hey, hey!

Nothing to report. Enjoy the chapter! This is the Chunin Exams Arc.

"That was so freaking stupid."

Naruto folded his arms after the hour-long written exam. "Of course they would allow too many people to attend something so important to their careers. Now they have to work in overdrive to wean us out. This is just so fuc-"

"Shut up. You passed and that's all that matters." Sasuke gave Naruto the side eye in annoyance. Naruto didn't study. He didn't know shit on that test. Sasuke knew that for a fact, but the test wasn't about your knowledge. It was about if you would get caught cheating or not. Which people were caught. If you could get caught simply cheating on a test, then you weren't ready for the Chunin exams.

Or to be a ninja in general.

Naruto gave Sasuke a heated look for cutting him off. So what if he was complaining? "Yeah. Whatever. What's with this 'forest of death' bull…crap anyways?."

Sasuke gave Naruto a warning look to get his attitude together. His own temper was starting to rise from Naruto's childish banter. Naruto looked off to the side, dug his hands into his pockets and pouted.

In reality Sasuke just got nervous when he started to hear Naruto complain about Konoha. Naruto's negative and dark thoughts came out more and more about their village and that put Sasuke on edge. He just didn't want Naruto to snap one day and end up doing something he'd regret.

So if Sasuke had to correct Naruto every single time he got negative. He would.

It's funny because when they were first put on team seven, Naruto was the one constantly correcting Sasuke for his negative thoughts.

Hinata was silent since the beginning of the Chunin exams. During the test she answered the questions and was just silently going through the flow. It was a lot of competition around. A lot of ninja's from afar and honestly she was a bit uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable and slightly annoyed. Her father's words would pop up in her head since the exams started. How she didn't take the exams when Neji did. If she would have done it with Neji, she wouldn't have to do all of these extra, unnecessary steps. It was insulting and annoying. To make matters worse, the ninja's from other villages were not exactly ninja's she wanted to network with.

Sand ninjas. Sound ninjas. Cloud ninjas.

Hinata kept her eyes on them.

Hinata was standing beside Sasuke and he followed her line of sight due to her being quiet for so long. She was basically stalking the cloud ninja's since the exams started. Sasuke had took on the silent role of almost protecting Naruto and Hinata from themselves for a while now. Sasuke could see the fear in Hinata's eyes. He didn't want flashback memories to cloud her mind now and mess her up.

Sasuke didn't want that to happen to himself either, so he understood the signs to look for in Hinata. "They can't hurt you." Her eyes didn't meet Sasuke and Hinata continued to look at them. "They'll still try."

Hinata didn't have her father here to protect her anymore. She had to protect herself, and that meant she couldn't trust anyone during the exams.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at Hinata. That was a very…opinionated thing to say. Clearly showing signs that the cloud abduction left permanent damage to her.

Naruto wanted to reach over and comfort Hinata, however the three made a promise to one another that no emotional contact or connections would show through the Chunin exams. It was okay to root for one another as comrades, but touching and other intimate affection was off limits. "Princess. Relax. Do it for me. Please."

Hinata blinked and looked over at Naruto. He raised his eyebrows at her like he was telling her to listen to him and to get out her head. Sometimes she'd get stuck there and think the worse. She cleared her throat and looked off to the side shyly. Willing her blush to fade away. Hinata immediately looked at the ground to avoid looking at anyone else. Not wanting to seem rude.

"SASUKE-KUNNN!"

Naruto almost lost his balance when Sakura basically pushed him away from Sasuke's side. Hinata quickly moved out the way when Ino approached on her side to cling on Sasuke's other side. Sasuke gave Hinata a dirty look for moving so easily. Hinata held her hands behind her back and smiled at the girls nervously, causing Sasuke to roll his eyes.

"You're in my way."

Hinata almost backed into someone and immediately moved out the persons way when she heard them. "My apologies."

The person was a male. Taller than her and Hinata could tell older as well. He had paint marking's all over his face and heavily covered in black clothing. A black hood pulled over his head that gave him animal like ears. He looked Hinata over when she apologized. "Another Konoha ninja. As weak as they come I see."

Hinata was never one to feed into someone's insults. She's heard worse her whole life growing up in her clan. So, a stranger that didn't know her calling her weak didn't bother her at all. The face painted ninja frowned when Hinata didn't reply or look at him. He decided then this clean, uppity girl thought she was better than him.

He walked in front of Hinata and crossed his arms. "You heard me. Don't you freaking ignore me."

Sasuke held his hand in front of Sakura's face to stop her from talking and silently stared at Hinata along with Naruto. Both males watched her, but waited in case the situation escalated. Ino turned and looked at the situation and immediately detached from Sasuke. Hinata was a good person. No reason for these people to be picking on her of all people.

"Kankuro. Leave that girl alone. She's not worth our time and you're being annoying." Hinata heard a female say this and still decided not to follow the sound of the voice. Another person stepped in front of Hinata as coverage and Hinata could tell that long blonde hair from anywhere as being Ino.

The female that spoke to Kankuro was smirking as she stared Ino down. Clearly the more experienced female. She was older with blonde hair as well, sandy blonde compared to Ino. Taller and much more dominant. Ino was always one to take on more than she could chew and Hinata looked at Ino concerned.

Ino ignored the look from Hinata though. "Why don't you guys leave her alone? Don't talk to her like that. She didn't say anything to you guys. She apologized for walking in your way, very politely. Like what's your problem?"

The older blonde smirked at Ino. This girl had spunk. Ino didn't even care that she could crush her like a bug. The tall female continued to stare Ino down before she frowned at feeling another person walk up behind her. "This is annoying me. Drop this. Now Temari."

Temari stiffened at hearing the dark, red-head that had creeped up behind her. Hinata at this point didn't want anything else to do with this team from Sauna. Especially from the red-haired male. He seemed to scare the other two.

Ino picked up on his killing aura as well and guided Hinata to turn from the sand ninja's. "Don't look at them Hinata."

"Hinata?"

Ino stiffened as she heard the red-haired male say Hinata's name. It rolled off his tongue in a menacing way and this so happened to be the escalation that Naruto and Sasuke were looking for. Now sensing that an actual threat was there.

"G-Gaara." Kankuro looked terrified as he called out to his teammate.

"Shut up. I'll snap your neck next if you don't." The person now named Gaara kept his eyes on Hinata as his arms were crossed over his chest. He looked like he was hunting his prey.

Ino kept her hand behind Hinata's back as she was guiding her back to the others. "Don't turn around Hinata. Let's just keep walking."

"I wouldn't listen to her. You better look at me before I get angry. Look at me NOW."

Hinata placed her hand on Ino's shaking shoulder in a comforting way. Ino was trying to be so brave right in this moment, when they could all feel the massive, deadly killer intent radiating off this Gaara person. Hinata turned around and looked at Gaara.

She gave him a polite smile.

Gaara looked at her for a while. Staring down her very soul. All of these ninja's around him did nothing but make him sick at their weakness. However, this team the short haired girl named Hinata was on proved to be interesting. It made him feel alive and hungry. "I'm going to eat you alive before this is over."

Sasuke stepped in front of Gaara and his Sharingan blazed with anger. This guy was threatening what was his. "You can try. If you wish to die." Naruto slung an arm over Sasuke's shoulder and looked at Gaara, "I second that." Naruto had a serious, cold expression on his face and this made Gaara grin. "Now things are interesting."

Naruto didn't change his cooling expression. "Yeah. They are."

"That's enough. From all of you. Separate and go off to your designated teams. Konoha ninja's over there and Sand ninja's over there. You'll all get your chances to battle one another."

Hinata turned her head at the familiar voice and saw that it was Neji. He was assigned to play assistant roles during the Chunin exams. Ensuring participants weren't getting out of line. That no one was cheating or trying to wander off to do anything against the rules.

Neji ensured everyone left off to their designated stations and followed team seven and Ino as they went over to Konoha's side. Shikamaru gave Ino an annoyed look as she walked back over to him and Choji. "What the hell were you thinking? Wandering off like that. It had nothing to do with you or us."

Ino scuffed at Shikamaru and placed her hands on her hips. "Oh shut up. I wasn't going to let those three bully Hinata like that." Shikamaru gave Ino a serious look for once and Ino adverted her eyes from him. He wouldn't scold her in front of everyone, but when they get alone she was in for a tongue lashing.

When team ten had left team seven to be alone. Neji looked at Hinata. He had an annoyed look on his face. "Day one hasn't even passed yet Hinata." Said person flinched slightly at Neji's criticism. "Yes. I know."

"You are aware that I am here as an assistant and for other purposes." Hinata held a monotone look as she nodded her head at Neji. "Yes. I know."

Neji placed one hand on his hip before looking at Hinata, "Sharpen up then. Stop looking at the floor like some kicked dog. Straighten your back and show your father you can be successful in something."

Naruto frowned at Neji and was about to intervene, but Sasuke placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder to stop him. Neji didn't even acknowledge Sasuke and Naruto as he continued to stare down at Hinata. "And stay away from those sand ninja's. I won't be around to separate you in the future and I would have to resort to violence if any of them harmed you."

He'd definitely wouldn't stop until he snapped one of their necks.

Neji's own eyes landed on a Cloud's village team. He frowned before he looked back at Hinata and for once concern for her safety was on his face. "And you better stay away from Cloud ninjas. Don't make contact with them, unless you plan on killing them. You better not engage with them Hinata. I'm serious and I'm not saying this to just complain. I'm saying this because those people ruined our lives and I will not let them ruin you any further than you already are."

Neji quickly left after that. Not wanting to talk anymore or discuss what he just said. Sasuke watched Neji walk away and looked back at Hinata. He was right all along. Neji never hated Hinata.

Naruto looked at Hinata with an amused smile and noticed how a small smile graced Hinata's face. "The Hyuga clan, man. What was that? His way of wishing you good luck and saying he loves his cousin?"

Hinata smiled at this. "Neji only does it that way."

"Five freaking days man. How are we supposed to just snatch some other teams scroll and not engage in some big ass fight? What if after this, there is another stage AGAIN? What if one of us gets injured during this stage? What a crappy set up." Naruto loudly complained as they made their way through the forest of death.

Again Sasuke gave him the look that said, 'Shut the hell up. Seriously.' With that look Naruto doubled down because he caught on that he was letting his own negative thoughts control him.

Hinata carried the heavens scroll and seemed to be scouting the area. She imagined team eight would make it through this challenge easily. Since they were a tracking team. Having Shino and Kiba on the team almost made it beyond easy to track who you wanted, locate an easy opponent and who you wanted to avoid.

Hinata had that duty solely on herself. While she could be a hand-to-hand combater like Naruto and Sasuke, they could not pick apart their targets as quickly as she could. Meaning they would constantly have to keep fighting and be on alert with who crossed their paths. "Hinata."

Said person looked at Sasuke as he spoke. "Five days. We all don't know how long this will take us. Don't use your Byakugan this whole time. That would be ridiculous." Hinata nodded her head towards Sasuke and continued to try to feel for any negativity in the forest.

It's been five hours since Sasuke told Hinata to hold off on using her Byakugan.

It had been some time and the forest was quiet. Naruto started to scowl at not coming across anyone, yet his nerves were telling him something wasn't right. "Isn't this weird? Like I get the forest is freaking huge, but how hasn't anyone approached us yet? How haven't we came into contact with anyone yet? Hinata. Sorry to bother ya so early on, but could you scan the area for us?"

Hinata furrowed her brows together and nodded her head. "I've been trying to sense anything without my Byakugan and I don't pick up on anything either. So I think now is the best time." She held her hands to her face in concentration and activated her Byakugan. Sasuke and Naruto stopped walking to watch Hinata. To see if she picked up on anything.

"Oh. I see." Hinata nodded her head as she kept her Byakugan activated and looked at her teammates. The hairs on their backs lifted when they watched Hinata start to pull out three kunai's. Placing one in her mouth. "We're surrounded."

Sasuke's eyes widened and before he could say anything to Hinata a giant snake came from underneath the earth. The three separated and immediately Naruto figured this was a bad idea and the main objective of their enemy. "Shit!" Naruto twisted his head urgently looking for Sasuke and Hinata to regroup.

Naruto locked eyes with Hinata and told himself if anything he wouldn't lose sight of her. "Hinata!"

Hinata used her agility and chakra concentration in her feet to run along the snake and meet Naruto half way. Naruto looked at her confused. "How the hell are genin able to summon a snake this fucking huge?!"

Hinata searched for the person responsible for such a large amount of chakra and finally found a man near Sasuke. "That's not a genin. That's an intruder. He impersonated the body, but I can still see his true chakra network. He isn't who he appears to be."

Naruto looked at Hinata and nodded his head. "It's a lot going on. Smoke and crap is everywhere. Can you navigate to Sasuke?" Hinata nodded her head and took Naruto's hand, leading him to Sasuke, who seemed to be stuck frozen from the killing intent that this man was pushing out.

Hinata and Naruto frowned at this. Soon, an enemy ninja, that was with this man popped in their way. Naruto tossed Hinata towards the enemy and watched as her palm came crashing to their opponents chest. Naruto could see the person's chest just cave in from the hidden force of her gentle fist.

Neji was wrong. Hinata did have it in her. She could be just like him.

Naruto looked at the forehead protector and saw that it was a Sound ninja. Blood came out their mouth and Naruto watched as they fell to their knees. Hinata looked down at the ninja before she noticed a kunai whiz pass her and penetrate a semi large snake that was coming right at her. Instantly killing the snake by slicing through it.

Hinata saw that Naruto had did this. Both shared an intense eye connection before a sadistic grin crossed their faces. The rush of a battle. Of a kill. It was something they were both starting to enjoy. "Come on Hinata. This bastard is fucking with Sasuke. Only we get to do that!"

"H-He won't be someone we can beat Naruto. I…I can see it." Naruto looked at Hinata and knew she wasn't lying. Her Byakugan pulsated, but she didn't look scared. Naruto again grinned at her, "Well. What a way to go. Right Princess? Protecting you and Sasuke rather than a client. I rather it like that anyways."

He leaned his forehead against Hinata's and she mimicked him. Smiling equally crazed. "Yes Naruto-kun. What a beautiful way to go. Shall we dance?"

Naruto knew Hinata loved to dance. He loved watching her dance on the water.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and Hinata and shook his head as he saw them approaching him among all the chaos. Signaling for them to not jump into this. It was too dangerous and he didn't want them to get hurt. The tall, pale man turned around to see Naruto and Hinata and gave a look of annoyance. "Be gone."

Naruto snarled at the strange man. The giant snake that came to bulldoze him and Hinata was stopped short with Naruto imbedding two kunai into the beast and held his ground with what appeared to be all his strength.

Hinata landed next to Sasuke and stood in front of him protectively. "That is the nine tails. Naruto is willing to risk harming himself and others for us Sasuke. Please snap out of it."

Hinata watched the tall, intimidating man turn towards Naruto. She threw a kunai at the man, just for him to perfectly catch it without looking at her. He turned around and stared Hinata down.

His killing intent was suffocating, he was doing this on purpose. To scare them because obviously he over powered all three of them. Hinata dug her feet into the tree branch they were all on, and did not waiver her stare. Even though every fiber in her body was screaming to run. That she was going to die.

However, she wasn't finished with her dance. Her and Naruto still had the final coda.

"Where are my manners. Orochimaru. That is my name. You must be…Hyuga Hinata. I know your father very well. He would try to have my head served on a platter if he found out I killed his daughter. So do me a favor and get out of my way so I don't have to detach your head from your body."

She gulped at this. Hinata shook as she stood strong in front of this man in her gentle fist stance. She was taking deep breaths and tried to scan his body to see if he was going to attack her at any moment. Orochimaru frowned at her. "What? You want to be kidnapped again?"

Naruto appeared behind Orochimaru to side kick him. His demonic aura coursing through him. "Don't you touch her!" Orochimaru easily blocked the kick and before he could deal with Naruto, Hinata quickly approached him.

Sasuke's eyes widened at seeing Hinata knee the man in the face and how a snake came out of nowhere and immediately attacked Hinata into another tree. Orochimaru took his hand and attacked Naruto. Doing something to his seal that left Naruto immobile and Sasuke watched as Naruto fell to the ground on the tree branch unconscious.

What did he do to him? "Naruto-kun?"

Sasuke's voice sounded small. Like that night his parents were taken from him. He looked and saw Hinata was pinned to another tree far away. She looked to be in pain as the snake had its fangs inserted into her ribcage. His eyes widened at the scene. Was she going to be okay? Was he watching more of his family die? "Hinata-chan?"

It was a spark that lit up in Sasuke's mind as he looked at Orochimaru and blindly attacked him. This proved to entertain the evil human. Orochimaru smiled as he engaged in what he considered light play with Sasuke. Light play until Sasuke's hand was engulfed in lighting and he hit Orochimaru across the face. Searing off part of his disguise.

The smell of burnt flesh was now in the air.

Naruto groaned as he recovered fairly quickly. Shocked that he was even knocked out in the first place. His stomach burned and Naruto felt more malice than usual, but he shook it off and looked for Sasuke. When his eyes finally landed on the young Uchiha he saw Orochimaru had grabbed Sasuke by the hand that was fused with lighting as the older man covered his burning face.

How was this man so fucking strong? He was clearly pass Chunin, Jonin or any level Naruto has ever seen. Naruto didn't see Kakashi stopping this evil man. Could the Hokage even stop him?

Someone had to.

Orochimaru turned to Naruto as the young blonde tackled him off the giant trees. While they were free falling to the ground from the tree tops, Naruto had a hold of Orochimaru's waist and tried to hold him still. Orochimaru took his elbow and dug it deep in Naruto's spine and the sheer pain from that made Naruto let go of him.

Sasuke followed the two as they all landed at the bottom of the forest floor. Sasuke watched as Naruto fell and indented the ground. Sasuke had geared up his Chidori again, but Orochimaru growing annoyed by how long this was taking slapped Sasuke's arm away and Orochimaru's neck extended like a snake himself and bit Sasuke on the neck.

Sasuke stood frozen and his eyes widened. When Orochimaru released Sasuke, he grinned at him. "You'll be coming to me soon enough Sasukeee."

There was a blast from the top of the trees and a giant blue orb came tumbling down the massive tree. Sasuke watched as Naruto slowly started to lift his head and body up from the indent in the earth and looked at the tumbling orb as well. The force of the orb blasted and damaged everything in its path. Both boys made eye contact for a second because they couldn't believe their eyes.

When Hinata was first placed on team seven. She wanted to die. Now look how hard she was pushing to live.

Orochimaru looked confused more than anything. "How did she escape my snake?" That was the last thing Orochimaru said as he reached his arm out to stop Hinata, but she upped her chakra and railed into him. A blood curling scream escaped her. This was her coda. All she had left in her.

Orochimaru was forced to let go of Sasuke and both Sasuke and Naruto watched Hinata push into Orochimaru. The older male looked at Hinata with eager eyes. Filled with amusement and joy at seeing so many promising ninja's in Konoha. "The jailer of the nine tails, the second to last Uchiha and now you! What a treat! I thought Konoha was getting soft this whole time."

Hinata screamed as her lower half leaked her own red body fluids from the two big holes the snake bit into her. Hinata was able to push Orochimaru against a tree and she pulled out a kunai as she was gearing to attacking him. A very unplanned foolish thing to do.

Orochimaru was impressed with how much he had to actually push through to get to her. Still, he pushed through Hinata's rotation and grabbed Hinata by her neck. Freezing her.

Once her protective barrier was down Orochimaru's disguise was fully ruined now thanks to Sasuke and Hinata. He placed his free hand on his cheek and felt a cut there. This girl cut him. It was small. Barely noticeable, but HE noticed.

Orochimaru snatched Hinata's kunai. He placed it in his mouth and when he pulled it out it was laced with dark, thick purplish-black liquid. Orochimaru smirked at Hinata as he dug it in one of the leaking holes in Hinata's ribcage. He dug deeper and deeper until Hinata let out an agonizing scream. This made Orochimaru smirk, "That's more like it."

At this moment. Sasuke and Naruto knew what pure pain felt like. It was this. Not their own injuries. Just THIS. Watching Hinata go down the way she did.

When Orochimaru pulled away, one of the holes on Hinata closed up and the dark liquid was sealed inside Hinata's body. "Let's have some fun shall we. Let's see how honorable of a Hyuga you can be like this. If you survive your wounds." He dropped Hinata on the ground and looked at the three defeated young ninja. "I shall be seeing you all around. This is going to be SO much fun."

With that Orochimaru disappeared.

Sasuke's eyes widened at seeing Hinata fall to the ground. She tried so hard to save them. She never gave up even though he did in the beginning. Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't. He passed out within seconds of Orochimaru fleeing.

Naruto looked at Sasuke before his eyes scanned over to Hinata. Deeming her his main priority right now. "Nata…Hinata." Please be okay. Please don't leave him.

He crawled over to her. It seemed like forever before Naruto got to Hinata. When he reached her, Naruto lifted himself up even though his body was screaming for him to give up. "No. No. No Hinata." Naruto whimpered like a hurt puppy and unzipped Hinata's jacket. He noticed how she no longer had two snake bite holes, but now one. Which was still bleeding heavily. The hole was about the size of Naruto's fist.

Naruto quickly dug in the inside of Hinata's jacket. In the pockets because he knew Hinata always kept first aid equipment on her. He pulled out a pack of gaze, elastic bandage and aid tape. "Thank goodness you're so predictable."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he started to treat Hinata. "You did so good Princess. You danced just as good as when we go to the lakes and rivers. It's going to be okay. We're going to be okay. I just need to close this up. Then get you and teme out of here. Honestly, I think we all did pretty damn good against someone that was like a freaking demon or something."

Naruto laughed at the irony of his joke and proceeded to wrap Hinata up. He heard Sasuke start to groan and Naruto sighed in relief. Until he started to think about Sasuke getting bitten. "Fuck. I hope this isn't like one of those zombie movies or something. That would fucking suck right now. I do not need that right now!"

Once Naruto was done with Hinata. He got on his hands and knees and weakly made his way over to Sasuke. Naruto pulled out his canteen and lifted Sasuke up so Sasuke's head was in Naruto's lap. Naruto opened the canteen and placed the cool water to Sasuke's mouth.

He opened Sasuke's mouth slightly so the water would just sink in. "Come on. Wake up Sasuke. The real Sasuke, not zombie Sasuke."

"What?" Sasuke opened his eyes and coughed as he heard Naruto say that. Naruto was pouring too much water in his mouth too fast and he was choking. Sasuke pushed the canteen out his way and sat up to cough. He still took the water canteen from Naruto because he felt like his mouth was so dry.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He still noticed the marking on Sasuke's neck, but decided discussing that could wait. Once Sasuke got the coughing fit under control and chugged down the water. He poured some over his head because he felt as if he was getting a fever. "I shouldn't have froze like that."

Naruto shook his head and dismissed Sasuke. "That was a legit monster right there. You didn't freeze. You could clearly see we couldn't win."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto. A frown engraved on his face. "That didn't stop you."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Look where that got me." He pointed to the giant indent in the earth from his body and Naruto also pointed at how messed up he looked compared to Sasuke. "I didn't have a plan. I just attacked and almost got myself killed. I was terrified half way through when he grabbed me. I thought he did something to my seal. I think he did. I thought I was going to lose it and hurt you and Hinata…"

Sasuke could hear Naruto get choked up and shook his head. "Not here Naruto. We'll get checked out after this, but right now we're fine. How's Hinata?"

Naruto shook off the emotional rush he was feeling now that the adrenaline was fading. "She's not okay. I don't know what he did to her. I don't know what he did to me. I don't even want to get on the weird fixation he had on you, but I don't know what he did to you either. Hinata has to be worse off than all of us though."

Sasuke slowly stood himself up along with Naruto and the two approached Hinata. She was breathing just fine. Banged up, that was for sure. Sasuke looked at Naruto who shook his head. "Look."

Naruto bent down and moved Hinata's jacket around. He pulled up her shirt and it showed the sloppy bandage work Naruto did. How she was still bleeding moderately, and how the fluid Orochimaru stabbed into Hinata seemed to be coursing through her body. Like it was invading her veins and changing them from blue to black.

Sasuke eyes widened and he dropped to his knees. He grabbed Hinata by the shoulders and lightly shook her. "She has to wake up. We can't have her sleep too long. She might slip into a coma."

Sasuke took Hinata's water canteen that was attached to her side and opened it. It was by habit that Naruto or Sasuke would take a drink of Hinata's canteen. Just to always make sure she was staying on track and Sasuke did it again, deeming it water. He dumped half of the water on Hinata's face and she took a big gasp of air.

Hinata squirmed in his hold before rolling over on her side in pain. Naruto and Sasuke had never seen Hinata in such pain. Kakashi had shielded them away last time Hinata was in such pain.

Right now, she was on her knees holding on to her side trying to catch her breath. Sounds of pain escaped Hinata as she just couldn't get ahold of herself. Finally Hinata sat on her bum and started to maneuver through her clothing.

She lifted up her shirt and opened her eyes to survey the damage. Hinata took her jacket off completely and shuffled through all her pockets. "M-M-My b-b-bag." Naruto made out what she was saying and scanned the area until he saw Hinata's bag near the tree she had attempted to pin Orochimaru to.

Even in intense pain, he rushed over and back with the bag. Hinata scrummaged and found a bottle of rubbing alcohol. She took the bandage off that Naruto applied on her, and poured the burning liquid on the wounds. She gritted her teeth, growling in pain and started to sweat.

Next she drunk the rubbing alcohol.

"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY!" Naruto snatched the alcohol from Hinata and had to stop himself from getting too upset. This was rubbing alcohol. There was no freaking WAY she was so desperate in her addiction she was willing to do this. "After everything Hinata! What in the entire FUCK!"

"Give it back." Hinata's eyes were hooded. She was sweating heavily and Naruto and Sasuke watched the veins around her neck start to turn black. They were frozen at the moment, Hinata took the bottle back from Naruto and poured some into a small container from her aid bag.

She pulled a needle and thread from her bag as well and dipped the needle in the alcohol. "I…d-d-do not w-w-want to f-feel this." Hinata looked back at Naruto and Sasuke with a pleading look. Sasuke shook his head at Hinata. "I can't let you do that to yourself. To numb yourself."

Hinata laid back slightly as she took the rubbing alcohol and drunk more of it. Showing that she wasn't going to ask nicely anymore. Neither Sasuke or Naruto stopped her. Sensing why she did what she did. She was trying to numb the pain.

They saw it now. The addiction. The fact that Hinata really did have a real-life problem. How right now they weren't strong enough to help her.

Once Hinata felt somewhat in a daze she put the burning liquid down and held in the urge to throw up. Her eyes were hooded and she looked at Sasuke with a hazy look. She took the needle from the container and put it up to Sasuke's lips. "I…need to burn this."

Sasuke looked at Hinata and pushed out a small flame that heated the needle. Once it was good enough Hinata dipped the needle one more time in the alcohol before piercing her skin to sew up the gaping hole.

Naruto and Sasuke watched the tears fall freely from Hinata's eyes as she gritted her teeth and screamed. Whimpering in between screams. She was utterly miserable.

Hinata worked fast though. She didn't want to sit there and torture herself or Naruto and Sasuke. When Hinata was done and she knotted up the closed wound, applied more alcohol and cleaned up the area around it. She applied more gauze, firmly wrapped and taped it.

Once Hinata was done she leaned back and took heavy breaths. Sweating so much her hair was stuck to her face. She looked over at Sasuke with dull eyes as she placed two fingers in her mouth and leaned over on the opposite side of Naruto and Sasuke and pushed her fingers in her mouth until she threw up the burning liquid. Not wanting it to settle in her stomach.

Not wanting to crave it more than she already was.

Naruto patted Hinata's back until she was done and gave her back her canteen. He placed Hinata's head on his chest so she could rest and lifted her up. Cradling her like his life depended on it. "Take a break. Rest Hinata. You did more than enough."

Hinata looked at Naruto as she relaxed in his hold. Her eyelids getting lower and lower before she smiled at him. What a beautiful dance they shared.

End of chapter.

So, yeah. It's going to be a roller coaster from here on out. Thanks for sticking around for the character build up.

Coda, is the concluding section of a dance. Naruto and Hinata had a beautiful, deadly dance together. A lot of foreshadowing in this chapter for Naruto and Hinata's development. As well as Sasuke's development, the path that he is taking as well. Still a NaruHinaSasu romance story.

You see Neji more now because the Hyuga-centric will start soon as well. Starting off with more Neji in the story.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you Wednesday!