AN: Chapter title: Tower Work Part 2

The rowdy Legionnaires had been brought to order.

Gaara's aid had helped her see to that. She had left him to oversee the two Cohorts for the next few days while she returned to her own work. The Praefectus Castrorum had wanted to see her afterwards but she had more important things to do for Naruto-kun, couldn't afford to give him any of her time.

So she ignored him, focused on everything else.

"I wish there was more I could do for you Naruto-kun." Hinata couldn't help but turn her pale eyes to her unmarked arm. She had seen the seal Naruto himself carried with pride, the seal Sasuke wore, even the seal Naruto must've gifted Karin before he left, but her own arm was painfully blank.

She knew why of course.

His enemies within the village itself. Every one of them was a threat to her now, had become her enemies as much as they were Naruto-kun's.

Hiashi, the rest of the Hyuga Clan, couldn't know where her true allegiances laid.

Yuhi couldn't know that she was Naruto-kun's ally before she was the Jonin's student. Her teammates couldn't be trusted not to try and take it from her, claim they were 'saving' her from Naruto.

None of them could be trusted.

Naruto-kun had told her as much. Sasuke had only enforced it with his own findings.

"They speak on you at length actually." The Uchiha's words drew her eyes away from the scrolls in front of her, confusion in her pale gaze. "Inuzuka and Aburame." He clarified what he meant. "I've ordered the Praetorians to deliver the records of each of their little talks once they have them."

"…What do they say?"

"What I expected." The Uchiha's face was unreadable as he met her eyes. "They worry for you, think that Caesar has lied to you, has twisted you away. Of course, we both know the truth. Just like Yuhi, they fear the same potential Caesar sees in you. They worry for their own standings. As Clan Heirs, they worry that you'll embarrass them, show the world the weaklings that they truly are if they allow you to grow in strength." He paused. "They also spoke of Caesar. They mentioned that they worry over what he's said to you, that he's tricked you. That they need to save you from him."

"They've made their feelings about Naruto-kun clear to me before. Whatever they say, it won't change what I've decided."

"Of course. Of course. I just thought you should know." The Uchiha examined her. The smile he gave her was hollow. "I'll leave you to look over the rest for yourself. And I'll have any future reports copied and sent directly to you."

She had read over every scroll he had handed her, gone over every word Kiba and Shino had spoken.

Since then she had started her days reading over the new reports, everything gathered by whatever Legionnaires or Praetorians Sasuke had assigned the duty.

They all said the same thing:

They doubted her.

They worried that she was "blind".

They worried that Naruto-kun didn't care for her.

They worried that Naruto-kun was using her.

They worried that she was drawing away, that she didn't spend time with them anymore.

They worried that she was changing for the worse, that Naruto-kun was changing her into someone she wasn't.

Even just thinking about it made her furious.

They were no better than anyone else. Everyone else who made it their sole goal in life to look down on her, to think she was weak, that she was powerless. That she was less than them.

Yuhi. Kiba. Shino. Only the latest on the list. Before them was Ko. Hanabi. Hiashi. Neji. All of them thought she was weak, that she couldn't do anything for herself. That all she was good for was whatever role they had for her to play.

A student to teach. A teammate to protect. The weak heiress. The pathetic sister. The spare daughter. The weakling. All of them thought she was nothing.

All of them weren't like her Naruto-kun. They didn't believe in her like he did.

Naruto-kun cared for her. She knew it now. She knew that he wanted what was best for her, that he would help her become stronger than she ever would under Yuhi, if she wasted her time with Kiba and Shino.

All she had to do was believe in the Hinata Hyuga that Naruto-kun saw inside of her, the strength he saw.

As long as she could do that, as long as she refused to allow the poisoned words of others to change that, she could continue to strive to hold the strength Naruto-kun saw in her.

She could be better than she ever was.

As long as she didn't let the others change her.

"I can't let them." Her words were for herself. Determination burned in her heart, resolute in the path she had chosen. The only right path laid before her, the only path that let her show the world who she really was, the girl Naruto-kun saw in her. "I can't let them change me. Not when Naruto-kun needs me."

Hinata Hyuga set herself to work once more.

Set herself to live up to whatever standard she imagined Naruto Uzumaki held for her.

Down the halls of the growing tower, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka kept up a quiet conversation as they walked.

"You find anything else out?"

"Not yet. Even if I know where to look, my kikaichu can only copy information so fast and the quantity is vast. I need to sort through it manually."

"Where are you even getting all of this from?"

"The sublevels of the tower. One of them are mostly records rooms. I believe they copy every order, store a version there."

"This place has sublevels?"

"Basements. Sublevels. Either works. I've only managed to send my kikaichu to the first but I'm sure there's more than one. Why? Because of my initial investigation when we first arrived. They're possibly made from Earth Release techniques, held in place by a constant supply of Chakra. My kikaichu are able to feed on large sources of Chakra down below but I'm unable to identify where exactly. It could be from the clones or whatever else Naruto stores beneath us."

"Man…that's crazy." Kiba couldn't imagine what exactly was beneath their feet. "But how do you know where to even look?"

Shino, unseen thanks to his jacket, offered a smirk. Even as times as odd as this, as stressful as it could be, taking little joys was always an option. And messing with his friend was always a little joy.

"I'm afraid that's a secret." He headed on his way as Kiba shot him a half-hearted glare. He offered a wave goodbye. "Once I know more, I'll let you know first." His smile slipped off his face. "Hopefully, it'll be good news."

Kiba watched his friend head off on his own.

'Good luck Shino. You're going to need it.' He headed off himself.

Even after Sasuke's threat to bury him, he still spent time with Karin Uzumaki. He considered the girl his friend despite the short time he had known her. Even with her being wrapped up in this mess with Naruto, he wasn't going to abandon her to be alone in this place.

"I still don't get what's up with him but this part isn't too bad…He got her out of pretty bad spot when no one else could." As much as Shino and the others may think it, Kiba wasn't blind. Akamaru wasn't blind either. It didn't take a genius to know that Karin wasn't in the best position when she was with the Hidden Grass, that they had hurt her in a bad way. "He cares for her more than those guys ever did. Even if it's in this new weird way he shows it."

Naruto was difficult to understand but he felt like he could understand this much about him: When it came to family. As much as he had changed, as much as crazy things happened around him, he could still understand at least why he was the way he was with Karin: Naruto had talked about wanting a family a few times when the four of them used to ditch class together. Karin was the first family he's ever heard about so he obviously wanted to keep her safe. Kiba couldn't find it in him to blame Naruto for that.

"I would probably do the same if I was in his shoes."

Kiba honestly tried to imagine himself in Naruto's shoes for a moment, going through everything he had gone through.

The idea of being as alone as Naruto had been, of not knowing why so many people preferred to keep their distance from him, was already a lot.

He couldn't imagine not having his mom, his sister, Akamaru with him. He could handle losing his friends if he had them, had his Clan to help keep him on his feet.

But to have no one?

"That would be close to hell for me."

That was part of the reason why the Inuzuka tried to always make time for seeing Karin while this mission lasted, did his best to make sure she wasn't alone or just surrounded by Naruto's army while he was gone.

She deserved to have at least one friend.

He wanted her to at least know she could come to him if she needed something, if she needed anything. She didn't have to rely just on Naruto.

He at least wasn't stopped as he headed to her room, the entire floor in the tower that seemed to belong to Karin and Karin alone. Even if she just stayed in her room most of the time, it was obvious to everyone that Naruto had all but handed over the entire floor to his cousin.

"Hello Kiba." She was smiling when she opened the door to her room, Akamaru barking his own welcome from where he was hanging in her arms.

"Hey Karin." Kiba rubbed the ninken's head as he spoke. "You free to hang out?"

The redhead's crimson eyes were as bright as her smile. "I'd have to check my schedule but I think I can make time for you today."

"Awesome." Akamaru barked his own agreement as she joined him in the hall. "I've got just the place in mind. I'm sure you'll like it."

"Are you sure we shouldn't get involved? She's been like this for over a week." Shikamaru poked the, once again, sleeping Sakura. She didn't even bat his hand away. Ino gave him a halfhearted scowl but didn't move. Sakura was currently using her lap as a pillow after all.

"She told me she's fine with whatever's going on." Blue eyes briefly cut down to stare at the Genin's sleeping face, the Chunin more worried about Sakura's constant exhaustion than she would like to let on to her team. "As long as she can manage a nap with me, she's alright."

"But are you fine with it?" Shikamaru's gaze didn't break away from Ino's. "She's running herself ragged and she's not telling any of us why or even what she's doing. Whatever she's doing, she can't keep up a pace like this."

"Don't doubt her. Sakura can handle whatever she's doing." The Yamanaka ran her hand through the sleeping Haruno's loose pink hair. "If she can't, she'll let us know."

"More like she'll let you know." Shikamaru's words were for himself more than anything, the Nara already rising from his spot across from the two Kunoichi. "I'll be back when I can but I've got to check on the others." Dark eyes met blue. "Can I at least ask that you don't let her push herself. Just for today. She needs to take it easy."

"She's in good hands." Ino turned her eyes back to the still sleeping Sakura.

Shikamaru spared the two Kunoichi one last look before he was out of the room.

'What are you getting into?' Ino didn't want to admit it but Shikamaru was probably right.

They needed to step in sooner rather than later, get Sakura to at least explain what she was doing every night that left her so tired every day. She was dead on her feet more often than not. If she wouldn't tell them for her health, they could say it was for the mission. The Haruno hadn't been at her best for a while now, too tired to do anything but stay by Ino's side.

While the Yamanaka enjoyed all the time she had to make up with her friend, they also had a mission to do.

Sakura was already responsible for briefing their new squad leader, Yugao Uzuki, every night and it was a responsibility the Chunin wasn't envious of her for having. Personally, the purple-haired Kunoichi unnerved her from the moment she had first seen her. They hadn't even exchanged a dozen words yet and the Yamanaka still considered it too many.

'Is it her?' Ino wouldn't be surprised if it was all too intense for Sakura. 'Sakura always takes off once we're done here, barely finds the time to meet with us in the morning anymore.' Blue eyes darted down with, once again, clear worry to the sleeping face of the Genin in her lap. 'Or is it something else?'

'If it's not Uzuki, maybe it's extra training?' It made the most sense. 'Even if she's not with them now, Naruto and Sasuke are still her teammates on paper. Once this all calms down, she's going to be expected to go on missions with them again. And she'll even be stuck listening to their orders since they're both Chunin now.'

Ino almost shuddered even thinking about being in that mess.

'If I had that waiting for me in the future, I would be training until I dropped too. Even thinking about Shikamaru or Choji being like those two is enough to make me feel sick.' She didn't even want to imagine the two behaving like Naruto and Sasuke, her two friends going insane like those two must have. 'And if I was still stuck with them?'

The Chunin Exams, despite how much of it had been a rocky road for Sakura, had at least kept her away from Naruto after the preliminaries. To the Yamanaka, that was one of the few good things to come out of the exams this year.

'I don't even want to think about what she would be like if Kakashi hadn't entered the three of them. If she was stuck with just those two for all this time…'

Tired green eyes met blue.

Even half asleep, Sakura frowned at the look she could make out on Ino's face.

"I'm fine." Ino didn't wait for Sakura to ask, voice her thoughts. She leaned back in her seat. "I'm just…thinking about stuff."

That 'stuff' was Kushina Uzumaki.

She had, as covertly as she could, looked into the history of Naruto's mother.

There wasn't much about her.

She was the Jinchuruki of the Kyubi. She was part of the Uzumaki Clan. She came to the Hidden Leaf from the Land of Whirlpools before it was destroyed. And, off every record Ino could find, she had married Minato Namikaze.

The man who had carried the title of the Fourth Hokage before tragedy had struck the night of Naruto's birth.

Something had gone wrong even with the Hokage, a man everyone called a once-in-a-lifetime undisputed genius, right there with her.

Something had gone wrong and the Kyubi had attacked the village before being sealed inside of Naruto.

Something had gone so wrong that both of them had died that night and left Naruto and orphan.

'This all screams S-Rank.' A hand settled at her side, in the pouch she was keeping the message from Kushina Uzumaki to her son, the message she still had no idea on how to get back to where it belonged. 'The Third Hokage didn't want anyone knowing about what happened. He didn't even want Naruto knowing anything.'

She still didn't even know if her father knew anything about this, knew anything at all even as one of the leaders in the village's Intelligence Division. And a part of her still couldn't drive herself to ask him, to reveal anything about the letter, about the mess she was getting stuck in the longer this mission went on.

'One problem at a time.' She didn't dare to take the letter out in the hall, knew better than to think that she wouldn't run into any of Naruto's clones, if any of them could guess what she was carrying on her right now. 'I still need to get this back where it belongs, before Naruto or Sasuke get back.'

She couldn't help but grimace at that problem.

'And we were lucky to get in there in the first place. I don't know what happened but they've tightened up security around the tower since then. There's no way to even get back on that floor anymore. All the clones are suddenly on high alert. They almost look scared sometimes.'

And all of those 'sometimes' happened after Hinata was finished speaking with them. One time, it was after she had only looked at a pair. They had been all but frozen statues even long after the Hyuga had left. They didn't even notice her watching them, didn't even bother to glare at her.

Ino almost wanted to sigh, settled for bringing a hand up to massage her temple, try to preempt a burgeoning headache. 'Just another mystery to solve. Sakura. Hinata. Why we're even here. One thing at a time.'

Her hand stayed at her side, at where she kept the message from Kushina Uzumaki.

She swallowed down her nerves, blocked out the worst-case scenario she couldn't afford to think about.

'One thing at a time.'

AN: 1/4 chapters for this update.