Recommended Story: 'HSD Naruto' by JAYSEN

Happy Birthday Wolfpackersson09

Chapter Sixteen

"Hiashi-sama, you've got visitors." Neji told his uncle who was out on the veranda one afternoon.

"Very well." The Hyuuga said as he got up and went to the front gate. He wasn't surprised to see Tenten and Shino there, but he did note the absence of Ino and Hinata. "Did you find my daughter?"

"We did, and she is in no danger Hiashi-sama." Tenten told him.

"But where is she?"

"Sire, your orders were to locate her and confirm her well-being. You never said we were required to bring her back here." Shino told him.

Hiashi's expression was unreadable. "I assumed it was implied."

"In missions, objectives are supposed to be clear, not implied, or else the one on them might be flexible with the perimeters of the goal." Shino told him.

Hiashi saw no possible way to argue that so he decided to return the discussion to the proper subject. "Be that as it may, can you at least tell me why Hinata is gone and not coming back?"

"Hokage-sama is watching over Hinata. She says there are threats in Konoha that intend Uzumaki Naruto harm and she is in danger of being targeted via association. Until Hokage-sama hears the threat has ceased, Hinata and Naruto will not return." Shino explained.

"Also, she seems quite happy to be with him." Tenten added.

Hiashi closed his eyes. 'Well she couldn't be in a safer place I suppose. And Hokage-sama did have the right idea; it wouldn't be impossible for the Naruto-haters here to learn of her affection towards him and turn on her too.' He opened his eyes. "Very well, I thank you for you help. I will pay you for this, but first I must ask you two questions."

The genin nodded. "First, if you needed to regain contact with Hokage-sama, would you be capable of it?"

Tenten shook her head. "No we wouldn't. Tsunade-sama made it clear that she'd contact Konoha if she wanted to hear anything. Until then, the only way to contact her is to find her the hard way."

'Only Jiraiya-sama could do that with ease.' Hiashi told himself. "Alright. And lastly, where's the girl who went with you?"

"She is doing a specific assignment for Hokage-sama right now." Shino told him.

Hiashi almost deflated a little bit. "You mean Hokage-sama's keeping her close to keep tabs on her, am I right?"

Tenten and Shino did not hesitate to nod.

"Inoichi is not going to like this."

"You've got a visitor." A male voice said before a door was unlocked and opened.

Kakashi entered the room and saw someone who once was so promising to him but now disgusted him. Sasuke Uchiha was now treated for his injuries but only to the point where his life and well-being were no longer in danger. Some of them had remained untreated to make it harder for him to resist others. Right now he was chained to a wall but given enough slack to move around a little if he needed to, though the chains on his wrists made sure it was impossible for him to bring his hands close enough together to use jutsu.

Sasuke looked at his sensei. "You here to get me out?"

"Now why would you think that?" Kakashi asked, testing for the answer.

"Because I don't deserve to be in this crappy place."

"You deserted your village to join up with a confirmed traitor and enemy of the village, you tried to kill one of your comrades, your own teammate nonetheless, you resisted arrest and you've shown no remorse or ignorance of your own actions. So yes, you do deserve to be in here."

Sasuke glared at the jounin. "How dare you? I-" Before he could go off, Kakashi hit him with a taser on low setting, silencing the emo avenger a bit longer.

"Your background means nothing here, genin. You are a criminal and you will be punished like any other criminal guilty of your crimes. Give me one good reason why you should be spared."

"I'm an Uchiha dammit!" Sasuke all but roared.

Kakashi did not look intimidated. "I asked for a reason, not a name."

"My name and status are reason enough." Sasuke said like it was inarguable.

"And yet here you are and I'm not doing jack shit." Kakashi said, crossing his arms but keeping the taser visible to his arrogant student. "And you know what, you're weaker than Naruto."

"WHAT?" Sasuke screamed, scrambling to break thru his chains to get at Kakashi like a rabid dog. And like a rabid dog, Kakashi had to taser him again, this time on a higher charge.

"Learn your place you piece of worse-than-trash." The cycloptic jounin told the Uchiha. "You are weaker than Naruto. You couldn't beat Haku in Wave, but Naruto did. You were afraid to fight Orochimaru, but Naruto wasn't. You couldn't defeat Gaara, but Naruto succeeded. You couldn't lay one finger on Itachi, but Naruto could."

"Shut up!" Sasuke said, not quite able to get back on his feet but trying. Kakashi kicked his legs to make him fall back down.

"No Sasuke. Time for you to face the truth beyond your ego. You are not the great ninja you think you are. In fact, you want to know why I trained you exclusively during the chuunin exams? It was not because I wanted you to win. What I wanted was for you not to be killed. I knew Naruto could survive and maybe even win without me, but you on the other hand would have been killed in the first minute without my help."

"You calling me weak?" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Compared to Gaara and Naruto, yes, yes I am. No matter how strong you are Sasuke there is always someone stronger than you. There are even people stronger than Itachi who could kill him before you even get the chance."

Sasuke glared and clenched his teeth. "No one can kill Itachi but me. I forbid it."

"Face it Sasuke, you're in here and he's out there. And with him being a missing nin with a bounty on his head, there's absolutely no reason for you to believe you're the only one who's interested in killing him. For all we know someone's already beaten you to it. Then what will you have?"

"I must be the one to kill Itachi. It must be me."

"For who Sasuke? For who?"

"For my clan."

"So your clan cannot rest in peace until you personally kill Itachi, and if someone else does it his death means nothing?" Kakashi asked, but got no answer. "Are you doing this for them Sasuke, or are you doing it for yourself? Think about that if you want anyone to respect you for something other than your eyes."

Kakashi then left the cell, tuning out the angry rants of his once prized student. 'I wonder how bad he'd be if I trained my team seriously from the beginning. I'm glad I knew that wasn't a good idea, but I'm bummed the circumstances never changed.'

Most people would call Kakashi lazy for not training his students in anything except tree-walking or teamwork attempts all this time, but he did have a reason for it. Reason being that Sasuke had an alpha fixation worse than any Inuzuka, and he wasn't afraid to do something about it. If it looked like Naruto or Sakura had skills he didn't, any shred of teamwork would have been ruined and he would have tried to take the skill from them, sharingan or otherwise. And if they appeared stronger than him, Sasuke might have even killed them. The Valley of the End and his belief the law couldn't touch him in a negative way only reinforced that suspicion.

So Kakashi had to keep Naruto and Sakura less trained for their own good and Sasuke's as well. Until Sasuke could learn to share, no one on the team was getting anything the others couldn't get as well. A good idea at first, but the problem was Sasuke wasn't maturing as fast as Kakashi had hoped. If anything he was going in reverse.

'Sensei, I wish you were here. You'd know what to do.' Kakashi said. 'I hope Kushina can help when she gets back.'

After later meeting up with Inoichi and telling him of Ino's situation, the Yamanaka head indeed not liking it, Shino and Tenten felt they had one more audience to address on the matter. That audience being Kiba, Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, and Chouji.

"What's up guys?" Kiba asked when they were all gathered inside the hospital since Neji and Chouji weren't yet ready to leave.

"I'm not allowed to reveal much, but what I can tell you is our comrades Naruto, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata, will not be around inside Konoha for an indeterminate amount of time." Shino told them.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked for everyone.

"That I cannot say. All I can say is they are." Shino told the shadow user.

"Really?" Chouji asked. "Nothing else?"

"We shouldn't go looking for them. Instead, we should remain on alert for problems in Konoha that might keep them away longer." Tenten added.

"Like what?" Kiba asked.

"I'm afraid that's everything we can say." Tenten finished. "Sorry guys."

"C'mon Shino, you can tell us. Where is Hinata?" Kiba asked, concerned for his teammate.

"I'm afraid I cannot say anything other than she is safe and enjoying herself." The bug user told the dog user.

Before Kiba could insist on more, Shikamaru put his hand on his shoulder. "Kiba, read between the lines and you'll have your answer."

"What?"

"Despite the lack of direct answers Shino and Tenten have given us, you can determine more info from how they're telling it." Shikamaru stated. Everyone looked confused a bit and listened in. "Shino cannot tell us more, but he says it like he's ordered not to as opposed to being uninformed. This means someone with rank ordered him and Tenten to be silent, which means someone with rank is with Naruto and the others."

"Like a mission?" Chouji asked.

"No, they are not on a mission." Tenten told him. "It's more like emergency leave."

"Emergency leave?" Kiba and Neji asked. Shino and Tenten nodded.

"That confirms my other theory." Shikamaru stated. "Tenten earlier said that rather than go after them, we should keep our eyes on Konoha instead. This implies that there's something here in Konoha which is a threat to our friends and they needed to escape. The threat is likely biding its time now and we should be on alert so we can intercept it if possible."

"Okay then, so what's the threat?" Kiba asked.

"I'm not sure, but the timing could explain it for us." Shikamaru told him. "Tell me, what's the most recent thing either Naruto, Sakura, Ino, or Hinata have been involved in?"

"I don't know about the others, but Naruto was involved in our mission to bring Sasuke back." Kiba answered, then his eyes widened. "Wait, you think there's a connection?"

"We have to consider the possibility here. He was the one who helped ensure Sasuke did not escape to Orochimaru, and from what I heard Sakura and Hinata arrived as back-up. Someone who wanted Sasuke to leave Konoha, likely Orochimaru himself, would surely want something unpleasant done to those three for this."

"Ino's only involved now because her gossip habit makes her a security risk on the matter so Ho... I mean..." Tenten started, but slipped up and shut up.

Shikamaru looked at her. "Tenten, Shino, who is the one who told you not to say much? Can you at least tell us that?"

"There is no point in hiding it anymore. It was Hokage-sama, accompanied by her assistant and two other women connected to Naruto we are not at liberty to identity." Shino responded.

"But... wouldn't that mean the hokage is outside Konoha right now?" Chouji asked. His confusion was understandable, given that kages usually didn't leave their villages on regular basis's.

Shikamaru sighed. "That complicates things, but it could explain things too. Hokage-sama could have easily assigned someone to guard three to four genin, but chose to do the job herself. With three other adults I might add. Obviously this is no ordinary threat. This is major. Too major to figure out with current available data."

"But why leave Konoha then? Wouldn't staying here be safer?" Chouji asked.

"Not if the threat was coming from Konoha." Neji added.

"Wait, I thought Orochimaru was the threat." Kiba reminded everyone.

"I said he's a potential threat. I never said he was the only possibility. And even if he was, it's likely he has someone here in Konoha to help him. He did sneak Kabuto in after all, and in order to get Sasuke to leave Konoha he needed someone on his side to be here to bait the Uchiha." Shikamaru clarified.

"Things are getting really bad here." Tenten commented.

"Here we are. Yggdrasil." Kushina told her group when they reached their destination.

What the group saw was the single largest tree they had ever seen before, and being from Konoha many of them were used to gigantic trees. This tree in fact looked like you could fit an entire hidden village in the canopy alone. Around the tree's base were a vast field of blue flowers, almost making it look like the tree was growing out of a lake. Wrapped around the trunk was a thick rope with paper streamers hanging off it, just like something you might see at a Shinto shrine.

"Wait, this is the legendary tree called Uzumeboku. You mean to say this thing is connected to another world?" Tsunade asked.

The tree was regarded as sacred by most holy men who lived in the area, some even claimed it came from a god's garden and some suspected Hashirama meditated by it and gained the mokuton this way. While nothing could be proved, the tree did seem to generate a chakra all it's own, something thought impossible for a plant. Thus it was mutually decided that nothing was to be done to it since it was one of a kind within the Elemental Nations and no one wanted the stigma of being the nation or village that damaged it. To resolve another issue, the land around it was considered separate from all nations, it's own private land between Land of Fire and Land of Valleys.

"Yep. This tree is actually the physical manifestation of one of Yggdrasil's roots. Yggdrasil holds the realms together but since mortal eyes can't see how it does that, all we can see are trees like this. But they are so much more than titanic plants. They are the gates to other worlds, elevators if you will, if one knows how to use them."

"Why has no one ever done that before?" Shizune asked. "I mean, surely someone from our world would have learned that by now."

"The Sage did." Kushina pointed out. "As for why no one else likely did, do you think that's what they were trying to find out?"

"I guess not, but how are we going there with this?" Shizune asked.

"Why are we going somewhere anyway?" Ino asked.

"Because the known means to heal my sister and Isaribi-chan are only functional in the world I came from. And if I stay away too long others might come looking for me and we may have a problem on our hands with Asurians roaming around Midgard." Kushina told her.

Kushina had already told Ino the details of the five worlds and Yggdrasil, and due to necessity the fact she was a succubus and Naruto was developing as an incubus. Ino didn't want to believe this was true, but seeing a tail and wings on Naruto then later on Kushina kind of made it hard to not consider it. The only thing Ino had not been told yet was the fact Naruto was a jinchuuriki, and she was going to stay ignorant of that until the group saw her as harmless around Naruto.

So far Ino had remained silent around Naruto. When he tried talking to her, she just looked away. He stopped rather quickly, already used to this from her. Ino did it not out of anger, but of fear. She had heard nothing good about incubi and despite Kushina's assurances the legends weren't accurate, she still couldn't relax around the boy.

"Can we just fucking go already? I'm tired of not being able to stand." Tayuya complained. Her injury didn't hurt so much anymore but she was basically paralyzed from the waist down and now seated by a tree, only able to move when someone carried her.

"Do we have to?" Ino asked nervously. "I mean, you did say using this thing was risky. And how do we know we can even get back here? It took you twelve years to get back."

"That wasn't my fault. There were forces beyond my control. Anyway, you want to be here all alone?" Kushina told the platinum blonde.

"You'd leave me behind?" Ino asked.

"I don't want to, but if you refuse to join us we may have to." Kushina stated. "We need to go to Alfheim. You're welcome to come or stay, but if you stay you're on your own."

Ino looked around and saw no one was offering to remain with her. "You'd really just abandon me?"

"Ino, why do you not want to go?" Naruto asked.

The young mindwalker finally responded to him for the first time in days. "Because I'm afraid, alright?"

"You're not the only one. I'm afraid too." He told her, catching her off guard. "I found out things about myself I thought were impossible. I found out my village is close to starting a civil war over my right to live. I found out that almost everything I thought was true is a lie and the only way to know why things have gone this way and where they'll go from here is to go to another world. Of course I'm afraid to face what I may find out. I'm afraid I wont be able to handle it. But I'd rather find out the truth than choose to let a lie be the only thing I do know."

Ino looked semi-amazed to hear this. 'Is that what I'm really afraid of? That I won't like what I learn?' She cleared her throat. "But what if you're better off not knowing?"

"Are you a coward Ino?" He asked.

"Huh?" She asked, jerking back as if stabbed.

"You're afraid to learn something new. You're afraid to go somewhere new. You're afraid of me because you don't understand what I am, because of this." He paused and released his wings and tails to emphasize his claim. "You're afraid of where we are because you want to be home instead. Are you a kunoichi, or are you a coward?"

Ino frowned and leaned closer to him. "I'm a kunoichi dammit!"

He leaned closer to her. "Then act like one. You can't be a ninja and remain in your comfort zone 24/7. Try something new once in a while, even if it's risky."

Ino had to back up a bit. She had a bit of sensor talent, albeit untrained and unused, but she could feel something coming from Naruto. It was hard to describe except as a sort of invisible caress like a lot of feathers combined with a strangely appealing scent of sweat combined with citrus. It made her feel hot and bothered.

She wasn't the only one. All the women could feel it too. Tsunade, Shizune, Tayuya, Isaribi, Ayame, and Moegi all felt strange and uncertain, but Hinata and Sakura found themselves strangely drawn to Naruto because of this. Hinata was even rubbing her thighs together a bit and Sakura's nipples hardened.

Kushina smiled. 'Ah, my son's first incubus aura flare. Get used to it son, because I think the girl's are really going to appreciate it the more it happens.'

Soon the sensation faded and everyone shrugged it off. Narto saw the uncertain look in Ino's eyes and mistook it for fear. "Ino, I swear someday we will return you to Konoha. Just not now. I promise on my nindo you will be able to go home someday."

Ino slowly nodded, finding herself feeling much more relaxed. "You mean that Naruto?"

"Have I ever lied to you Ino?"

It was then that Ino realized something that before only Hinata and Ayame knew. Naruto was known as many things, but one of the few bad labels never given to him was 'liar'.

"Okay, I'll trust you Naruto, but I'm also going to hold you to that promise." The platinum blonde told the sunny blonde, using her hand to brush some of his stray hair out of his face in an effort to show she wouldn't be hostile to him anymore if she could help it.

He nodded. "So am I."

She pulled her hand away but overcome with curiosity Ino redirected it to caress his wing. "Wow, it feels like velvet."

"What are you doing?" Kushina shouted, looking shocked.

Ino pulled back her hand. "What? What's wrong?"

Kushina stepped up to her. "Touching the wings or tails of our kind when you're not a mate is sexual harassment for us. You might as well have caressed his manhood."

Ino paled and was wide-eyed, as were the other girls except Moegi who didn't fully understand the implication. "I'm terribly sorry. I had no way of knowing that."

"Good, but unless you become one of my son's lovers or medics you shouldn't do that again." The redhead said, then looked like she got an idea all of a sudden. "You know, since you groped my son like that, maybe you should let him touch you somewhere private to make things even. How about you let him touch your breasts?"

Ino blushed and covered her still-developing chest. "What? No way!"

"Fair's fair little lady. You touched him, he should get to touch you." Kushina claimed.

Hinata stepped forward. "Not until after I have that pleasure. He's my boyfriend after all."

Even though he was uncomfortable by this topic, Naruto couldn't help but stare at Hinata's bosom then at Ino's, comparing the two. Sakura looked down at her own doing the same, wishing hers had more appeal and wondering if Naruto would even want to touch hers if the situation came up.

Kushina smiled then nodded to the young girl. "Now that that's taken care of, shall we go?"

"Sure. But how do we use this thing?" Ayame asked.

"Same way I used it to get back here. Just back up a second." Kushina said. Everyone gave her some space.

Kushina took a deep breath, closed her eyes, clapped her hands together then placed her palms on the tree trunk. "Yggdrasil WorldTree, qsuedu h'temy zu emf zip qetyp degu evvudd ya Alfheim."

Her hands glowed orange, then the bark glowed white between the cracks of the bark. It almost looked like a glowing tribal design was etched into the wood that spread out, then condensed around Kushina. The glow then created a thin vertical line in front of the Uzumaki matriarch, then the wood to the right just appeared to peel away.

"It looks like an elevator opening up." Moegi said in awe.

Kushina smiled. "I did say the tree was like an elevator to other worlds didn't I?"

"So we just go in?" Sakura asked.

"We sure as hell don't stand outside an elevator and expect it to take us somewhere do we?" Kushina asked back.

"Can we go already?" Tayuya impatiently asked.

Kushina picked her sister up and holstered her on her back. "Let's go, and be on your guard. It's not as safe as a normal elevator." She then walked in, vanishing from sight.

"I just hope there's no crappy muzak." Tsunade muttered as she followed and in turn was followed by all the others.