The next morning, Naruto was heading to the hospital to meet Hinata and Kakashi when he came across a commotion as he was passing the hot springs. Women were screaming louder than he could stand it as they all rushed from the building with their clothes haphazardly tossed on their bodies. He decided to take a peek in and promptly wished he hadn't when he saw an older man with long white hair standing and looking around like a proud pervert. He was about to take his leave and forget he ever saw that when the man spotted him.

"Hey, you there!" The man called out. Naruto quickly backed away and started walking away. "Hey, wait! I'm looking for someone!"

"I bet you are, but that's got nothing to do with me, you perv!" Naruto called back as he quickened his pace when he saw the man chasing after him. "Get away from me before I press sexual harassment charges!"

When he turned around, the man was gone and he let out a sigh of relief. He was nearly to the hospital and he didn't want that guy anywhere near someone as cute as Hinata. When his teammate came into view, he smiled widely and was instantly by her side.

"Hey, have you been waiting long?" He asked her.

"No, I got here not too long ago," she replied. "How has your morning been?"

Naruto frowned at the memory of that pervert. "Eh, uneventful. I did see some old guy cause a scene at the hot springs, though. The ladies were not fans of his."

Hinata grimaced. "That's…frightening. I hope the police got to him."

"He was chasing me for a little bit for some reason," he said. Then he straightened up a bit. "Actually, he looked kinda familiar. I think…I've seen him somewhere before but I can't place my finger on it."

"Well, if they don't catch him, maybe you can help them if you remember where you've seen him," Hinata suggested. Naruto agreed and they continued waiting for their Sensei, but didn't have to wait much longer as Kakashi appeared a few moments later. Truthfully, the jonin had been worried about his students and also needed to inform them that Kabuto was, in fact, an enemy and possibly working for Orochimaru, so he rushed more than he usually would've.

"You're actually here on time!" Naruto exclaimed. He pretended to wipe a tear away. "They grow up so fast," he sniffled. "I'm so proud of you."

Kakashi rolled his eyes but chuckled. "Don't push it or I'll be extra late next time. Actually, I was already out because I had a meeting with Hokage-sama. I found out some…interesting things yesterday."

"What is it?" Hinata asked seriously.

"It seems you were right to be suspicious of Kabuto, Hinata," he said. "When I left you two yesterday to check on Sasuke, he was in his room and had attempted to kill him."

Hinata gasped. "What?!" The lunch box in her hand creaked from the strength of her tightening grip.

"Kabuto?! But he was such a good guy! You're saying that was all an act? And why would he try to kill Sasuke?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I can't prove it at the moment, but I'm pretty sure he's working under Orochimaru," Kakashi admitted. "Kabuto is a very skilled ninja. He took out two Anbu operatives by himself without getting much of a scratch on him. I'm telling you two because I want you to be careful, to keep your guard up."

Hinata narrowed her eyes down at the box in her hands. "I don't see how anyone could want to somehow devote their lives to such a horrendous person," she all but spat. "Orochimaru is sick, and I will do whatever I can to make sure he doesn't succeed with whatever he's trying to do with Sasuke." She turned to Naruto. "Are you with me?"

Naruto smirked. "You're damn right I am. We're gonna make his life a living hell if we have to!" Hinata mirrored his expression. Kakashi chuckled and put his hand on Hinata's head.

"Let's go see Sasuke then. I'm sure he's dying to get out already," the Jonin said as he led them into the building. As they were walking to Sasuke's room, they passed Lee's and Hinata glanced inside to see him lying there still unconscious.

"He's lucky to be alive," Kakashi said softly.

Hinata stared for a moment longer before they continued walking. "Don't tell him that. I'm sure he won't see it that way," she said. Kakashi couldn't disagree with her. Being a shinobi was everything to Lee, who had done his best to prove he could excel as a ninja with only taijutsu.

They knocked on Sasuke's door before walking in to see him putting his standard shinobi sandals on.

"Good timing. I was just about to take off and get ready for training. I was told that I'm facing against that guy from Suna," he said. "What about you two?"

"I'm going against Neji," Naruto replied.

"My fight is against Shino," Hinata voiced before glancing over at Naruto. "If we win our matches, Naruto and I will face each other."

Sasuke regarded them for a moment. "Then whoever wins that match will be going against me," he said. "It'll probably be one of the hardest things we've done up to this point."

"Agreed," Kakashi said, cutting in. "I just alerted these two here, but I wanted to let you know that Kabuto is now a known enemy."

Sasuke's eyes went to Hinata. "Your instincts are seriously something else," he said. He turned back to Kakashi. "How did you find out?"

Kakashi sighed. "Well, he tried to kill you."

"Attacking me while I was unconscious? What was the point of that?"

"I assume it's because of the mark. Orochimaru's chakra now runs through you and I'm sure that's something he's incapable of fending off, should it activate," the Jonin explained. "He's disappeared for now, so the best thing you three can do is just prepare for your battles."

"About that," Naruto began, "how are we going to train?"

"Well, I'm going to be taking Sasuke under my wing for this one," Kakashi said. "Since we both have a sharingan, I'll be able to assist him the most and he's going to need all help he can get if he's going against Gaara." Naruto and Hinata both flinched at the memory of Lee's match the day before.

Shaking it off, Naruto sighed heavily. "I knew you liked him better."

"Actually, if I had to pick a favorite, it'd probably be… Well, never mind," he chuckled, brushing it off though they knew who he favored. "I guess Sasuke and I will start getting to work."

Naruto stepped forward. "Uh, I need to talk to Sasuke about something private for a minute. We'll meet you guys out there," he said. Although curious, Kakashi and Hinata left the room to wait in front of the hospital building.

Sasuke remained seated on the bed. "Is this about why you've been acting a little weird since the forest of death?" He asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess. Look, when I was swallowed by that snake and I thought I was gonna die, I realized I had some regrets," he said as he stood right before his teammate. "One of them was that Hinata was never gonna know how I felt about her, and it hurt." Sasuke looked at Naruto with calculating eyes but remained quiet. "I don't have any plans to try and steal her away or even come between you, or anything, but I just want to tell her how I feel about her. So, I wanted to ask for your permission to do it," Naruto finished.

Sasuke continued staring at him for a longer moment before sighing. "I have no problem with it."

Naruto, already having braced for rejection, sat up straighter and his face lit up. "Really?!"

"Yes. I think this is something you have to do in order to move on," Sasuke replied. "You have every right to tell her how you feel."

The blonde put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and squeezed. "Thanks." That big grin on his face made Sasuke smile and he nodded.

"Let's get going." They stood and began making their way to their team. "Do you have anyone in mind to train you?"

"Not a single clue," he sighed. "I would ask my dad, but I'm sure that'd be breaking some kind of rule. But maybe he'll have someone in mind or something."

"I'm sure he'll suggest someone who'll work best for you."

They left the hospital together and met up with Hinata and Kakashi, who were immersed in a comfortable silence they felt like they were interrupting. Sasuke always wondered how she could do that with the most hyperactive people like Naruto…and even Shisui.

"Sasuke and I will be heading this way," Kakashi said. "Good luck with your training. Hinata, good luck with your medical research for Lee."

Hinata handed Sasuke the lunch she had prepared for him. "Train well," she said with a smile.

Sasuke took it with a smirk. "I'll visit you later this evening." Then he and Kakashi went off and it was just Hinata and Naruto.

"What research are you gonna do for Lee?" Naruto asked.

"On the way out, we stopped by Lee and I examined him with my byakugan. I think I found the issue," she explained. "I saw fragments of bone lodged into his spine and anyone without an expert eye or my doujutsu would miss it, so I'm not surprised the doctor did. Unfortunately, any operation involving the spine, especially the part of Lee's that's affected, is tremendously difficult. I'm going to do some research to see if there's something that would help better their chances."

Naruto smiled proudly. "You've got this," he told her. "Let me know what you come up with!"

"I will!"

"Do you know who you're going to train with?" Naruto inquired as they started walking aimlessly.

She sighed, lightly kicking at a rock that came into her path. "I will probably train under my father and hopefully Kushina-sensei will be able to help me with my medical ninjutsu. I feel like there's still a lot to learn from her."

"I'm sure my mom will be excited to help!" Naruto assured her. "I'm going to ask my dad for advice on who can train me since no one comes to mind."

"I'm sure Minato-sensei will send you down the right path."

Naruto suddenly felt nervous as his confession began crawling its way up his throat. "Hey, Hinata?"

She turned to him with a curious smile. "Yes?"

"Do you think you can…meet me tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise?" He asked. "It'll just be us since Sasuke's gonna have training with Kakashi-sensei. It'll just be nice to see each other outside of training."

"That sounds wonderful. I'd love to," she agreed.

His eyes lit up. "Awesome! I'll be at your house just before the sun starts to come up." Hinata smiled at his excitement and agreed. "I'm gonna go see my dad, but I'll see you then."

After Naruto left, Hinata wandered around as she slowly made her way back to the Hyuuga Compound. Truthfully, she wasn't sure her father had anything left to teach her. Studying under him her whole life, she didn't think there was anything left for her to learn. He was all-knowing when it came to their doujutsu, but politically…she knew it wasn't a good move. There could be some animosity that arose once again if she received training from her father and Neji didn't. The smart choice, she understood, was for him to train Neji.

Sighing, she shook the thoughts out of her head and continued on her way. Kushina, she hoped, would train her in medical ninjutsu and maybe even help her fuinjutsu since she was barely average. With her byakugan, she'd have to figure things out on her own.

When she got home, she informed her father of her advancement to the finals alongside her teammates and Neji was well.

"You've done well. Neji was here earlier and I agreed to take him under my wing," he stated. "Unfortunately—"

"I understand, father," she said, gently interrupting him. "There is no way you can train both of us without running the risk of the branch members thinking you're giving me special treatment that Neji isn't privy to. It's a smarter choice for our clan," she explained, bowing her head.

Hiashi's gaze softened just a bit. "Growing up, your leadership skills were your weakest point, but I see now that it has become one of your strongest. You understand perfectly well and seem to take everything into consideration," he praised. "You're doing well, my daughter. I will exempt you from our training this month, but I expect you to continue strengthening your byakugan during this time."

"Thank you very much," she said, smiling softly. "I will do my absolute best in the final stages and bring pride to the Hyuuga Clan, alongside Neji."

Hiashi nodded. "I expect nothing less. Now, before I dismiss you…Is there any question you have concerning our doujutsu?"

Hinata thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No, but I do have questions about the Aburame Clan," she said. "Is there anything you can tell me about them? I understand they use bugs, but there is still much mystery behind it that I need to uncover in order to fight against him properly."

"The Aburame Clan members use insects in battle. As I'm sure you saw, they have those bugs living within their body and the relationship they have with them is special. It's a mutually beneficial agreement. The bugs will feed off of the hosts' chakra and they will do their bidding in exchange. Because of this, they are excellent with tracking and espionage."

Hinata took in all this information. "I see. I am friends with Shino-san," she admitted. "He's talked to me about insects before but never too much in-depth. My next move is to learn as much as I can about different insects."

"Yes, that's right," Hiashi agreed. "But you must also be careful."

"I'm aware that he could put an insect on me at any point to gather more information. I will do my best to constantly check myself by shooting chakra from all the points in my body, which will also help increase my chakra reserves."

Hiashi's lips twitched into a proud smile. "That's very clever."

Hinata got to her feet and bowed to her father. "I will talk with Kushina-sensei as soon as possible, but I'm off to study first," she explained. "Also, father, would it be okay if I used the Hyuuga training grounds? I'd like to train there on my own every day." Hiashi handed her the key and dismissed her.

Hinata took it and went to her bedroom to gather up her notebooks and pencils. She needed to go study in the library in order to come up with a possible battle plan and to research more about Itachi's illness and Rock Lee's condition. Though she didn't need it, she put her special sunglasses on and left her home.

When Naruto walked through his front door, he was greeted with the laughter of both parents. Eagerly, he rushed into the kitchen where it was coming from and stopped in his tracks as he saw that man from earlier who had been peeking in the woman's side of the hot springs.

"Naruto!" His mother exclaimed. "How is Sasuke?"

Not taking his eyes off of the perverted old man, who was also staring at him right back, he nodded. "He's fully healed. Kakashi-sensei already took him off to go train." At this, his eyes went to his father. "Dad, do you have anyone in mind who can train me? I know that I can't train under you or anything, but maybe you can point me in the right direction."

Minato put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Ah, Naruto, this is my sensei, Jiraiya," he introduced. "He's going to be in the village for a bit, so maybe he can train you during his stay!"

Naruto's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "You mean this old pervert is your teacher?!" He exclaimed.

Kushina put her hands on her hips. "Naruto! That is very rude. Apologize to him, right now."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and turned away. "I'm not apologizing to some gramps who I caught peeking into the hot springs just this morning!"

Kushina's eyes went to Jiraiya. "Sensei, is that true?" She asked, her voice too calm. The man, Jiraiya, chuckled sheepishly.

"I was just…doing some research for my next book, is all!" He laughed. "A-anyway, what is this about teaching your son? I'd be honored!" It was clear to all of them that he wanted to get away from Kushina as quickly as possible.

"I don't wanna learn from you! I don't even know you!" Naruto grumbled. "Dad, can you please choose someone else? I'll even take Konohamaru's teacher!"

Jiraiya's eye twitched. "Hey, listen here, kid. I taught your father just about everything he knows and he's the Hokage in case you hadn't noticed. Not only that, but I am the Toad Sage. I'd say that's a pretty good resume. Besides, I'm one of the legendary Sannin and was taught by Hiruzen Sarutobi," he said proudly.

At hearing this, Naruto turned to him with a raised brow. "Sannin? That means you have to know who Orochimaru is."

Jiraiya turned serious at the mention of his former teammate. "What about him?" Minato had brought him up to date with everything that had occurred during the chuunin exam, especially about what Orochimaru did to Sasuke Uchiha and what he had almost done to Hinata Hyuuga.

Naruto shrugged. "It's just one of my goals to make his life as difficult as I possibly can." The adults all collectively blinked at this weird goal. "It was Hinata's idea. After he marked Sasuke, we decided that we weren't gonna let that snake achieve any plans he wanted him for…or we'd make it as hard as we could."

Jiraiya laughed. "That's some goal!" He said, smacking Naruto's shoulder and sending him flying back into the entryway with a yelp. "In order to accomplish that, you're gonna need to be trained by someone who was on a team with him until he defected. That's me."

Naruto walked back into the room with an angry grumble at being tossed like a ragdoll. "Okay, fine. You trained my dad and he's real strong, so that's gotta count for something."

Jiraiya clapped his hands. "Terrific! We'll start tomorrow morning."

"Why not right now?!" Naruto complained.

"Look, kid, I just finished traveling from very far away and want some sleep. Plus, I got a meeting with your father now," the man explained.

Kushina took a step forward. "If you take my son anywhere inappropriate or teach him anything filthy, I will handle you myself," she said with a tight smile. She greatly respected her husband's sensei, but she didn't mess around when it came to their son.

Jiraiya smiled easily. "I don't doubt it, but there's no need to worry. He has a great goal, one that I can relate to, so I won't take it easy on him." Minato and Kushina accepted this.

"You ready? We can head up to my office upstairs," Minato said.

"Sounds great to me."

Naruto watched them walk away with a raised brow. Normally, his father handled Hokage things at the tower. Which meant this didn't have anything to do with that, possibly. He racked his brain trying to figure out what they could be talking about but eventually let it go. Since he wasn't going to start training today, he decided he would go out to the training fields and do some taijutsu workouts.

He kissed his mother on the cheek and left the house with a promise to be back later for dinner.

"The matter sounded urgent in your message," Jiraiya said as soon as the door was closed. "Is the village in danger from someone other than Orochimaru?"

Minato walked around him to lean against his desk. "I'm afraid…it's the workings of a village official. I know about Itachi Uchiha and the true nature of his mission since he's desertion," he said. "But I've discovered more." He was going to do his best to keep Hinata safe. He wasn't going to even allude to her.

Jiraiya nodded and took a seat. "What is it?"

"Danzo Shimura. I don't know how quite yet, but I fear he was the one who played a hand in Shisui Uchiha's death. He was the only one who was against integrating the Uchiha Clan back into the village and it would make sense for him to stir up trouble in order to keep it from happening," he explained. "But I don't have any direct proof. I don't have any time to do my own investigation and I don't know who I can trust to do it for me in the village."

"So, you needed someone who wasn't in the village," Jiraiya said. Minato nodded. "I'm surprised Lord Third told you about Itachi so soon. He said he wanted to wait until he absolutely had to tell you. What changed his mind, you think?"

"I asked him about it directly," he answered.

"And what made you ask him about it now and not five years ago?" It was clear that Jiraiya was prodding for more information from Minato to begin with.

"I was tipped off," Lord Fourth finally said. "I will not say by who. It doesn't matter who, what matters is that I trust them wholeheartedly."

The Sannin stared at him for a moment longer before accepting this. "I understand. So you believe Danzo had something to do with it because he was against abolishing the Anbu in favor of the Uchiha Police Force?"

"That and because Itachi tried to kill him before he left the village. I know Itachi to be someone who is completely loyal to Konoha and he wouldn't needlessly seek out a village official and attempt to kill them for no reason. No, I believe Itachi knows more than he told us. I believe Lord Third also knows more than he's told me and possibly you as well," Minato said, tapping his fingers against his desk.

"You believe Lord Third is covering something up?"

"I don't believe he'd do it maliciously. If anything, I believe he'd do it to keep the peace within the village. But my…source, they're terrified of Danzo. I believe they saw something they shouldn't have and they risked a lot giving me any information they could."

"What did they see?" Jiraiya asked.

"They didn't reveal the specifics, but the look in their eyes told me just how bad it was," he replied. "I don't want to push for more information and risk the fragile thread of information that was established."

"Got it," his sensei said. "You want me to snoop around Danzo and gather any and all information I can find on him."

"When the Anbu was still active, he ran a small sub-faction of it called Root that took the absolute best of the Anbu and trained them harder for even more difficult missions. Lord Third disbanded what was left of it after Itachi left which tells me that that group worked directly under Danzo and not Lord Third himself, which is concerning."

"You're thinking he has elite ninja loyal to him instead of the village, aren't you?" Minato nodded. "Which means they wouldn't simply disband just because the Hokage gave the order." Minato nodded again. "I see. That'll be a real problem if you're right."

"It will."

"I'll do my best to gather what I can. If I can get in touch with your source, I think that would be better."

Minato shook his head. "I gave my word that their name would not leave my mouth," he said. "Any information they give me will go to you. You have my word on that."

"Understood," Jiraiya said. The older man stood up and stretched. "It's time for me to get some sleep, now."

Minato bowed his head to his old sensei. "Thank you for taking Naruto under your wing. I greatly appreciate it."

Jiraiya waved him off. "Don't worry about it. He's a funny kid. Plus, it's time I get to know my godson. I'll see you soon." Minato watched as Jiraiya left his office and let himself get lost in thought as he went over Hinata's words and the pure terror in her eyes when she was discussing Danzo. He needed to find out what it was that she saw. Moreso, he needed to find out who her source was…even though his gut was telling him that he already knew.

Kakashi took Sasuke to the very edge of the village and high up on a small mountain for privacy. They were almost completely surrounded by stacked rocks and the sounds from the village couldn't be heard from this distance.

"How'd you find this place?" Sasuke questioned.

"Running from Guy has its perks. This place remains one of the places where he can't find me," Kakashi replied proudly. "So, I have to warn you, if you ever tell him about this place, I will hunt you down and end you myself."

Though his tone was playful, it had a sharp edge to it and Sasuke knew he wasn't joking in the slightest. He nodded and tried not to let his sensei sense his fear. He respected the Jonin, but he didn't want him to know that.

Kakashi lifted his headband up, revealing his eye. "First, I'm going to show you a little bit of what you'll be going up against. I recorded his match against Lee. You're to study this until you know every single twitch Gaara makes."

Sasuke took the images well. "It doesn't seem as though taijutsu is his strong point," he observed.

"That's right. And it's almost impossible to get near him unless you're as fast as Lee was, so how would you approach this battle?"

The genin thought for a moment. "I need to improve my speed as well as my ninjutsu. There's no way I'll be able to get in with taijutsu with that sand protecting him. Genjutsu is also a possibility," he said, thinking. "If I can get close enough and his sand doesn't block him, I believe I can cast a genjutsu on him."

Kakashi nodded. "That's good thinking. We'll start with speed." He pulled out the weights Sasuke was similar with, but when it was handed to him he nearly hit the ground himself. "You'll be training with a hundred pounds around your ankles and fifty pounds on each arm. You'll also be wearing a twenty-pound weighted vest. To start."

Sasuke eyes widened but he kneeled down to strap the weights onto his legs. "That's…a lot."

"I'm afraid you don't have as long as Lee did to acquire that level of speed," he explained. "This area up here is very wide and sturdy. For today, you'll start with running laps for a few hours."

Sasuke strapped the rest of the weights on and secured the vest on himself. "Got it."

"Get started." And Sasuke took off in a brisk run.

Hey! We hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. So now all of them are aware of Kabuto being an enemy. Naruto has a teacher, Sasuke has a teacher, and Hinata is partially training under Kushina. Next chapter is Naruto revealing his feelings to Hinata, which is something I've been looking forward to. I didn't know how I was going to write out that scene, but I'm kinda proud of how it came out! :)) We really hope y'all like it. Thank y'all for the favorites and follows! They always motivate us!

-hina

NEXT UPDATE: 12/09/23