Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Twisted	By : Dot Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Naruto/Hinata Views: 10581 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money off this work. All characters and world belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter List
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Naruto stood next to his team in the Hokage building, watching as Madam Shijimi crushed Tora, her cat. They had recently found the cat in the forest outside of the village. Naruto rubbed his face; the cat didn’t seem to like him. It had left several scratch marks on his face. ‘I don’t think I have met any cat that’s actually liked me, honestly. I wonder if it’s because of the fox…’

As soon as the Fire Country lord’s wife left, the Third Hokage got right to assigning them another mission. “Next mission is to babysit…” Naruto tuned him out, ‘for the last week, we’ve been doing these shitty missions. Why can’t we do C-rank missions yet?’ Naruto frowned and looked over at his teammates; Sasuke didn’t look like he was to please about their mission either. ‘Maybe I should speak up? Yea I should.’ Naruto looked down at his dark blue sandals, noticing he had a tiny rip on the end of his right deep black pant leg. ‘I wonder when I got that… NO stay on track! You have to ask for a C-Rank mission.’

“Naruto, let’s go.” Kakashi said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Naruto blushed, realizing he lost his chance and followed his team out of the Hokage Tower. ‘I don’t even know what mission we are doing now…I should have been paying attention.’ He passed by a chubby old man with spikey grey-hair and a towel on his neck. Naruto wonder what mission that guy needed done.

Naruto looked over to Sakura who was walking fairly close to him, and up to see that Sasuke and Kakashi were ahead of them a bit. “S-Sakura-chan.” Sakura jumped slightly at his voice, not expecting him to talk to her. He rarely spoke as it was. ‘I wonder if her mood is dimmed a bit with two quiet teammates…’

“Yea?” Sakura fell back bit in step with him. “What’s up?”

“C-Could you t-tell me what our mission is?” He peeped in embarrassment.

“Oh? You weren’t paying attention? That’s not like you. I think it was babysitting some elder’s grandson. I wasn’t really paying attention either, I was kind of hopeful for a C-Rank mission to be honest.” Sakura admitted with a slightly blush. Naruto looked in wonder, ‘She never blushes around me, could this mean she might like me a bit?? S-Stay on track!’

“M-Me too.” Sakura looked over at him in thought. In fact, she stared at him so long that he started to fidget.

“Naruto, there’s something that I have to say sorry for. Hinata brought it to my attention that I was unfair before when we got our teams. I treated you like crap, and as a teammate I should do better. Our training before also nailed that point to me. I meant to say this earlier, but I didn’t have the chance. B-But, I am sorry okay? I’ll do better from now on to treat you as a teammate!” She promised with her fist in front of her. Naruto’s blushed deepened, ‘Hinata talked to her? She didn’t have to do that…’

“T-Thank you, S-Sakura-chan.”

“No. Don’t thank me. Thank Hinata, she the one who told me I should apologize after all!” Naruto blinked, realizing Sakura was right, he should thank Hinata. Naruto stopped in thought, and Sakura stopped with him a smile placed upon her face. “Actually there something else. I know boys can be kind a dense about this kind a thing but, I think she might like you. So I am sure she would love it if-” Naruto could feel his face burning, ‘Seriously not? Like me? B-But she so pretty and an heiress, it would never work! She couldn’t possible…’ Naruto could feel himself being drawn in to old memories of his that he had shoved away.

-

A young boy of eight was thrust to the ground as some older boys walked by him. This young boy was dressed in the typical winter clothes, a red scarf and a dark coat with some old heavy faded blue jeans. The boy held back some tears and picked himself up after the snow covered floor.

“Hey, you alright?” The boy looked up in surprise, not expecting someone to speak to him. No one ever spoke to him personally. Spoke of him, sure, but never to him. He looked at the young girl, who looked to be his age, and with a light blush, nodded.

The young girl was also dressed in typical winter clothes, a green scarf, red coat and some heavy dark colored jeans. The girl looked down at his hand and frowned. “No you’re not! Look you’re bleeding; you must have hit something on the way down! Here let me see it.” The girl immediately grabbed his right hand gently, inspecting his hand. Upon seeing the wound, the young boy’s held back tears, came raining down. ‘Why do these things always happen to me? Am I really such a worthless space of existence?’

“Oh! Why are you crying, did I hurt you? Hey it’s okay, the wound isn’t that bad, I’ll fix it right up! I got this ointment that my mom makes and it’s amazing!” The girl took out a small green container from her coat pocket. “Mom always gives me this, since I always seem to get hurt playing!” The girl opened the container and immediately started to apply it on the boy’s hand. It seemed to take an instantaneous effect. “Wow, mom must have done something different this time! You’re wound healed up in almost no time at all! See look!” She held up the hand in front of the still heavily crying boy. The girl huffed.

“Why are you still crying? It’s all better now!” The boy shook his head, trying to explain that, that wasn’t what was wrong. He was crying too hard to say. The girl seemed to understand anyways, and suddenly the boy was crushed into a huge bear hug. “I think I understand. I have these days sometimes too, where I feel like the world is just too heavy to carry on my shoulders. I think the best medicine for it is these huge hugs.”

The young boy had to agree, after a few minutes of being held, the hug did make him feel way better.

“T-Thank y-you.” The girl looked down at the smaller boy and smiled gently. ‘She’s very pretty’ he thought, ‘her eyes are so white and wide. It’s amazing.’ The girl lightly grabbed his left hand and made him follow her.

She led them to a dark green bench, which was shockingly not covered in snow. The girl sat down and tugged the young boy with her, placing him next to her. “Do you want to talk about it? Mom always says that talking about one’s issues is very helpful.” The girl looked over at the boy as he stared down at the ground. Thinking quickly she stated, “We don’t have to go right into it. How about we start with our names? My name is Hyuga Hinata, what’s yours?”

Hinata waited patiently, understanding the boy was fairly shy, and she was reward with a small, “U-Uzumaki Naruto.” Hinata smiled again at Naruto.

“Okay next, we can share our favorite colors. Mine’s blue. Come on, what’s yours?”

Naruto took a deep breath to settle his nerves; he wasn’t use to talking to someone so casually. “O-Orange.”

“Oh? You don’t seem to wear it very much, for it to be your favorite, I mean. Seems to me, you are always wearing black. Honestly, I thought black was your favorite color.” Naruto looked up at her, confused, ‘how could she know that?’ Hinata blushed, “I might have seen you a few times in the village. I see how people look at you. I don’t get it, but I know how you feel.” Hinata looked away, looking at some winter flowers that were nestled around the bench.

“The people of this village don’t see you for who you are. I know how that feels. I don’t think my clan sees me for who I am either. But I have my mom you know? It makes everything better, somehow. That she knowledge me for who I am. And you know what else? I knowledge you for who you are too. You are shy, sometimes a bit of a cry baby. You also let too many bad things happen to you. You never stand up for yourself, and honestly I don’t think you could hurt a fly.” Naruto blushed in humiliation, ‘she’s right, I am pathetic.’ “But you know what really impresses me about you Naruto-kun?” ‘Naruto-kun?’ He stared up at her in shock. Her face was very close to his, her white pupil-less eyes staring at him with such self-assurance, it made him tremble.

“You’re brave. You never back down, no matter how hard those rotten villagers kick you down. You might do it silently, but you still do it. Every day, you continue to live and try you’re best, and that’s amazing. No one else helps you either. You somehow do it all on your own. None of them could compare to you, and one day you’ll show all of them what you are made of. I really like that trait about you honestly. It amazes me.” ‘She’s incredible…’ Naruto sat there stone-shocked, he didn’t know what to say or do. So he continued to stare into those endless white eyes, his heart pumping rapidly.

“Hinata-sama! Where are you? You better not have run off again!” Both children jumped at the loud voice, nearby.

“OH! I forgot! I am sorry, Naruto-kun, I have to go. I’ll see you around alright?” Naruto watched as she left and smiled down at his feet.

“She’s incredible.” He repeated out loud, touching his right hand fondly.

-

“Sakura, Naruto, hurry up we’re going to be late!” Sakura huffed and complained that Kakashi had no right to lecture them on being late. Naruto, shook his head, ‘she off-limits, don’t think like that!’ and he looked over at the pink-haired girl, ‘she a much safer choice.’

-

Naruto walked quietly in the emerald grass. He stared down at the several gravestones, pondering once again, why he couldn’t find any graves of his parents here. Some of the graves were filled with flowers of many kinds. Naruto enjoyed coming here late at night, sometimes, to water the flowers. Because of this unusual hobby of his, he knew a secret that not many people knew.

“H-Hinata-chan.” He spoke softly towards the girl, who was kneeled in front of a grave, placing white flowers in front of it.

“Naruto-kun, you know better!” Naruto blushed, realizing his mistake and immediately correct himself as walked closer to the blue-haired girl.

“Hinata.” He greeted again, and kneeled down next to her. He looked over at the grave in sorrow. “D-Do they know you still do this?”

She chuckled sadly, “if they did, do you think I’d be here right now?” His blush deepened, and shook his head violently. “Of course, you always seem to know.” He nodded. “Naruto-kun, do you think…” Her voice cracked and she trailed off. Naruto wanted to pull her close and give her proper comfort, but alas he couldn’t.

Hinata looked over at him, her white eyes were filled with angst, tears dangled off her chin, some of them tumbling and splashing on her jacket. “Would…” she hiccupped slightly. “Would you walk me home please?” Naruto knowing that it could be a bad idea, nodded anyways. He couldn’t allow her to walk home alone like this.

Naruto stood up gingerly and hesitantly held out a hand towards her. She took the offered hand in a soft but powerful hold and stood up. He wanted to ask what made her so sad today, but couldn’t, it likely had to deal with her clan and he wasn’t sure she would want to explain. ‘I hate them, and their stupid rules.’ He thought with bitterness, wishing he could do something to make it better.

He blushed suddenly when he realized they were still holding hands, as they made their way out of the cemetery. He dropped her hand gently, knowing that it would cause issues that she didn’t need. Hinata frowned slightly, out of his view, hating Naruto’s detachment. “Naruto-kun, there’s something I have to tell you.” Naruto looked back up from looking at their hands, to stare at the pretty young girl beside him. “I won’t be here next Friday.”

Naruto frowned, “W-Why?” Not liking that he wouldn’t get to see her again for a while. He and Hinata had been meeting at the graveyard for a good two years now, and mostly on Fridays. Though there was some events that got in the way of their constant meeting over the years, Naruto still didn’t like it. She was his only friend, and the first person to fully see him. He wished he could see her more.

“I have a long mission. I convinced the Hokage to give me and my team a C-Rank mission!” He was a tad jealous of her, ‘she so confidence, I wish I was like her more.’ Nonetheless, he was happy for her and nodded at her to continue her story. He was happy to keep her out of her gloomy state. “Yea, it’s just an escort and protection mission of some rude old guy. But I can’t wait! I am going tomorrow morning actually, since it was too late to go right away. Anyways, the mission could take a few weeks, because the old man wants us to protect him while he builds something.” Hinata blushed, knowing she was explaining a bit too much to Naruto about her mission, yet she knew he wouldn’t tell anyone. He barely spoke, let alone told other about people her mission! She knew she could trust him.

“G-Good luck.” He said with pure sincerity. She smiled at him, and thanked him. They stopped a block away from her clan’s compound. She turned towards him and hugged him. Dazed at the action, he was unable to react back.

“You always make me feel better, you know?” Then with that she ran away, keeping her face from his view. His face, on the other hand, she had seen clearly. He was looked just like a ripped tomato. ‘W-Wait, I forgot!’

-

Naruto woke with a grin and did his normal stretch of his back. He was always content after talking with Hinata. He slipped out of his bed and walked over to his kitchen, not getting ready just yet. He paused when he saw revolting greens on his table, cooked on a plate. Along with the veggies there was a note, he picked it up, already knowing who wrote it.

“I figured since we wouldn’t see each other for a while, I’d guilt you in to eating these. I made them just for you. Like I always say, it’s not healthy to always eat ramen!

You’re friend,

Hinata.”

Naruto blushed, hating when she pointed out his flaws. He grabbed a cup from one of his cupboards. He wasn’t ready to drink more milk after the last disaster, so he decided to just stick with some plain old water from the tap. ‘Why is she always so straightforward?’ He thought, definitely not for the first time. He sighed with a pout, and sat down at the table, ‘I guess, I just have to eat them… she made them after all! It would be rude not too.’ Naruto made his way through the veggies, grimacing at every bite. He went to grab at his cup, and frowned when his cup cracked, ‘Damnit, shitty cup.’

-

Naruto stood next to Sakura as the team waited on the bridge, for their always late sensei. Naruto was trying to guess what lame excuse the guy would use this time. Sakura stood next to him, tapping her foot with impatience and next her Sasuke was leaning against the railing, possibly filled with annoyance at having to wait again.

Sasuke was actually quite bit away from the other two, and Naruto hate it. Even after their training on the first day, Sasuke still seemed to rely only on himself most of the time. While only letting Naruto and Sakura help sometimes, it infuriated him. At least Sakura was trying now, to fix her flaws. ‘Hell, even I am trying to fix the flaws that Kakashi pointed out to us. It’s going to be an issue someday, if he doesn’t start opening up.’ Naruto didn’t realize he was glaring at Sasuke until the boy himself, looked up and glared right back. Naruto wanted to hold the stare, but he couldn’t and with a blush he looked away.

Thankfully at the same time, Kakashi showed up, “Sorry I was late, I had to help this old lady you see.”
            Sakura huffed, “Yeah right, Kakashi-sensei!” Kakashi shrugged and promptly led the three Genins to the Hokage tower. Naruto like always tailed behind the others, watching as Sakura try to keep in line with Sasuke. ‘Honestly, I don’t see why she bothers…’ He looked up at the sky, and wondering if they would get a C-Rank mission today. ‘It’s been two days since Hinata and her team left… I missed her more, knowing she not even in the village.’ Naruto shook his head, and looked at his team, particularly at the long pink haired girl. ‘Sakura’s really pretty today…’

Naruto pushed his thoughts away as they walked into the Hokage tower, it was best not to be distracted when they got another D-Rank mission. Naruto cried out when a carrier ran over him, dropping the sealed scroll they were carrying on the floor. Both he and the carrier tumbled to the ground. Naruto blushed profusely and hurried to pick up the now opened scroll in front of him. “I-I am…” Naruto froze when he picked up the scroll, he stood up, visibly pale.

The carrier not noticing anything unusual grabbed the scroll, thanked him and continued to hurrying down the hall. Naruto’s teeth clenched, but before he could have more of a reaction, his team called for him too caught up.

            Naruto quickly rejoined them, walking slightly faster than he normally did. For once, he was in line with his teammates, instead of several feet behind, feeling out of place. Naruto’s thoughts were rattled and he hardly could make senses of them, himself. ‘How? What happened? What? Can I? Damnit! I should… I DON’T KNOW. I have to go there now.’

            He didn’t bother acknowledging the glances that Sasuke and Sakura gave him. Both of them could feel anger radiating off the quiet boy. Finally, to slow in Naruto’s opinion, they entered the mission room. The Hokage sat at the long table, reading the scroll, he was just handed, while Iruka who was seated next to him, gave them a nodded.

            Before Kakashi could even announce the team’s presence to the Hokage, Naruto spoke up with ill-advised anger, “Hokage-sama, I wish to go to the Land of Waves for our next mission.” Everyone stared at him in vary degrees of disbelief. No one had expected him to speak out at all, let alone demand something filled with such venom. The Hokage, of course was the first to recover.

            “I am to assume you saw this scroll?” Naruto nodded, his anger slowly leaving him and a blush tinted his checks. He hadn’t meant to be so harsh, but he had to go there and help. The Third Hokage stared at Naruto for a bit then glanced down at the scroll in front of him.

            “Naruto, you shouldn’t demand such things or talk to the Hokage-sama like that!” Iruka, lectured. Naruto looked at him, and sulked, clearly Iruka hadn’t see the scroll yet otherwise the man would be lecturing him differently.

            “I-I know, but…”

            Kakashi stepped in, on Iruka’s side, “He’s right Naruto we can’t just demand our missions. We will take what the Hokage gives us, and nothing more understood?” Kakashi leaned down and looked at Naruto. Instead of a nod, Naruto scoffed and looked at his feet.

            The Hokage finished the scroll and relooked up towards Team Seven, “Naruto, while I understand your request. I am afraid it is too dangerous for me, to send another team of Genin to the Land of Waves. The mission isn’t a Rank-C mission anymore, it’s a Rank-A, I would be sending your team to its death. I am sorry, but you can’t go.”

            Naruto didn’t bother listening to the lecture, his rage had returned in full. He made one angry glance at the Third Hokage and stormed out of the room, the remaining occupants stared after him.

-

Naruto sit gloomy on top of the First Hokage’s head that was craved in the mountain. In fact all the Hokage faces were craved into the mountainside that faced the village. Normally he would have sat on the Fourth Hokage’s head, but Naruto still hadn’t forgiven the man. He looked down upon the village below, thinking over what he was going to do. He knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn’t think of any better ones. ‘I have to go, I don’t care what happens. I am fully prepared to deal with all the consequences that arise from my actions.’

Naruto wasn’t going to sit idly by while Hinata and her team were in danger. He knew it was dangerous, but he had to do something. Naruto grabbed his travel bag from beside him and stood up, his mind now completely made up. ‘Hopefully no one catches on to what I am going to do.’

As he walked through the village, he accidently smashed right into someone. Amazingly, Naruto was able to keep standing up while the much smaller boy fell to the ground. Naruto said a quick sorry and kept walking in a fast pace. The boy, having not heard the sorry nor seen Naruto leave, grabbed his grey helmet off the ground, angrily telling the air he was the Hokage’s grandson and that the idiot should be more respectful. The young boy finally noticing that the other had left flushed in fury.

After getting to the main gate, Naruto immediately pulled out his watering can, and walked right by the sentries with no issue. Both of them knowing that, Naruto tend to water the flowers around the front of the gate. Naruto watched the Chunin guards out of the corner of his eye as he pretend to water some of the flowers, after a while, he deemed that they had forgotten about him. So he immediately took off silently, down the path, with no one the wiser.

Naruto placed his empty watering can back in his traveling sack, swinging the bag on to his back. ‘That was almost too easy; hopefully it takes them a while to realize I have left…’ Naruto looked around, as he walked the deserted path. He had never left his village before, and was almost expecting everything to look different immediately. Instead all the trees around him looked just like the trees around his village, painfully reminding himself that he likely would never get to go back as a Konoha ninja. ‘They might never acknowledge me now…’

He shook his head violently; it wasn’t the time to be thinking like that. His dreams didn’t matter if he couldn’t protect Hinata, without her, he wouldn’t have dreams at all. Naruto quickened his pace, according to the map; Land of Waves wasn’t terribly far from Konoha. He could make it in a half a day, with just himself.

-

After a few hours of traveling, the sun started to set. Naruto frowned, coming to the realization that he had start traveling later than he thought. He decided against stopping for the night, and continued onward. He knew it was unsafe to travel at night, but he figured that it was safer for him to continue traveling, since he was alone. Still he couldn’t help the goosebumps and irrational thoughts going through his head. ‘What if there are ghosts in the forest or something even worse? Like rogue ninjas?’ Successfully wigging himself out, he immediately started to run as fast as he could.

After an hour, he stopped, eyes widened at the huge bridge in front of him. ‘This is bigger than any bridge I have ever seen!’ He looked at the out of order sign, and puffed out a breath. ‘Damnit. This is the way to go… what do I do now?’ Naruto looked around, looking for a way to across the huge body of water. His blue eyes landed on a motor boat bit further down the ocean, he then spied a man getting ready to leave with the boat. Naruto fidgeted and timidly walked over to the man.

“U-Um s-sir?” Naruto peeped. The older man immediately looked over in surprise, and then almost leaped in greater amazement to see Naruto. Naruto frowned, wondering why the man was surprised to see him. “C-Could I get a ride? I-I can pay you.” Naruto blushed as the old man continued to stare at him.

“They sent more of you? You’re just a kid, what use will you be??” Naruto’s blush covered his entire face at this point, and he took a deep breath, trying to settle his voice from trembling, he was a terrible liar, so he tried a different approach.

“P-Please sir, I just need a ride to the Land of Waves, and I-I can pay.” Naruto held out a green frog wallet, which was only halfway full. The man glanced at it and sighed.

“Fine, get in and stay quiet got it?” Naruto nodded, knowing that wouldn’t be an issue for him. He settled in the boat, and the man grabbed some paddles and joined him. Naruto frowned, as he saw the man start to row the boat, instead of using the motor. Instead of asking why, Naruto grabbed the extra pair on the floor of the boat and helped row the boat. ‘It’ll go faster this way. I don’t have time for this guy’s weird antics.’ The old man looked at him again in disbelief, but didn’t say anything to him. He simply looked back to the front and continued to row the boat.

Finally after an hour, they hit the other side of the vast bridge. Naruto immediately got off the boat and took out his wallet. “Forget it boy, you don’t have to pay.” Naruto frowned in confused, as the man simply tied and locked the boat up, leaving the harbor without a backwards glance. Deciding not to dawdle about it, Naruto continued into the village.

Naruto was stunned, as he wandered around the village. ‘People are in bad shape here…’ He walked by several homeless people, kids included, sitting by the edge of buildings. It was very late, so many of the villagers were snuggled together, trying to sleep in the cold. The sight left him deeply disturbed. Naruto paused as he saw a young girl eating a rotten apple, by a nearby building. He looked around, but he couldn’t see any parents. ‘Maybe she’s alone?’ Instantly feeling kinship with the child, Naruto swung his bag from his back, and looked through it. Luckily he had found some chocolate bars, realizing his instant ramen would be a poor choice to give to the girl. He kneeled down and smiled gently at the girl who immediately looked up at him.

“Here.” He said quietly, holding out the candy. The girl’s emerald eyes widened, dropping her apple, she gingerly took the chocolate. The girl said a quiet thank you; he nodded shyly back at her, and stood back up, readjusting his bag. ‘Hopefully, she doesn’t get sick from all this poverty.’ He continued onwards in the village, wondering how he would find Hinata and her team. ‘I wish I had, had time to read more of that scroll.’

Naruto sighed at his misfortune, and decided to look some more tomorrow. He was exhausted after traveling half the day and waking up early. Making up his mind, he instantly started to look for a place to sleep. He walked to the small forest and dropped to the ground near some flowers. They sent up a nice fragrance to his nose. ‘Wish I could find an inn, but looking at the state of the town, it might be better to sleep out here.’ Groaning, he remembered that he would have to set some traps to prevent thieves and the like from taking advantage of his sleeping form. He stood up with another groan and set to work on setting up modest traps, more than likely most thieves would be the villagers, and he had no desire to hurt them to bad.

After he was done with the traps, he immediately laid back down, wishing he had thought to pack a bedroll, ‘I really didn’t think any of this through. I hope I find Hinata tomorrow… I remember her saying something about the old man that they were protecting was building something. I wish she had told me what, and then I could relocate closer to the building site.’ Knowing that he had likely a long day tomorrow, he try to think of less troubling thoughts. Instead of thinking of what tomorrow would bring, he listed off his favorite ramen to his less favorite, eventually falling asleep.

-

“Hey, you’ll catch a cold sleeping here.” A warm voice spoke, as a hand shook his shoulder softly. Naruto groaned at first, and then opened his blue eyes, blinking when a girl came into view. The girl had long shadowy hair, and large dark chocolate eyes. The young girl was dressed in a pink kimono with red edges with small swirls that were a darker shade of pink spread out all over the kimono. Naruto concluded that she was very pretty and very close to him. He reddened and back away from the girl.

The girl smiled at him in amusement, she turned and picked up a basket filled with some flowers. The girl walked over to the patch of flowers and continued to pick more of them. Naruto frowned, realizing that the girl was no normal civilian. ‘She bypassed all my traps! She didn’t even set any of them off.’ Immediately on his guard, he watched her continue to pick up the flowers. ‘She clearly knows I am a ninja! I never took off my forehead protector!’ Thinking quickly, Naruto decided that if the girl wasn’t attacking him, then she wasn’t an immediate threat and he could try to learn something from her. Naruto frowned in thought as the girl continued to pick flowers, ‘Why is she picking flowers? Maybe they are herbs for something? I wonder what she needs herbs for…’ Too shy to ask, even though he really wanted too, he continued to sit silently.

“So how come you are out here so early in the morning?” The girl asked, looking over at him.

“N-No particular reason. H-How come you’re out here?”

“My important person was hurt pretty bad. So I am picking these, to help with their recovery.”

“O-Oh, w-would you like s-some help?” He offered, wondering how her important person got hurt.

“Sure, thank you.” Naruto immediately stood up, advoiding his own traps. He watch the girl at first, seeing how she pulled out the plant. After a few minutes, he understood what to do and started copying her movements.

“U-Um miss, how did you learn so much about plants?” Naruto asked curiously, so that he could learn himself, ‘it would make for a good skill in the field.’

“I like to read in my spare time, there are many amazing books out there on herbalism.” The girl replied, Naruto noted that her voice was very soothing. Naruto didn’t particularly like reading, but if it was this helpful in the field, he would work to read more in his free time along with training. “If you like, I could write down some books for you to get started on?” The girl suggested generously.

“T-That would be n-nice.” Naruto colored, and went back to picking herbs in silent. It continue this way for several moments, but then the girl came up with her own questions that she had of Naruto.

“So you’re a ninja right?”

“Y-Yes.” Naruto replied, knowing that there was no use in lying.

The girl leaned in closer to him, Naruto, causing a small blush to recover his face, as the girl continued to stare at him. Finally after several minutes, she must have found what she wanted in his sky-like eyes, because she asked, “Do you have someone important to you? Who you would do anything for?”

Naruto was unsure of how to answer, that was a really personal question, his blush deepened. Yea, he did have an important person that meant quite a bit to him, but he didn’t know if answering was a good idea. ‘It’s not like she asked who his important person was right? Surely it wouldn’t hurt…’

“I-I do.” She smiled brightly, thrusting something into his hand. When he glanced down, he realized it was a paper with several words on it, ‘o-oh!’ “T-Thank you.”

She nodded and observed the sky, “I believe that when a person has an important person to protect, that that’s when that person becomes truly strong, don’t you agree?” Naruto looked up at the sky too, seeing two birds flying around in a circle. They looked as if they were playing. He found himself agreeing.

“Yea.”

-

Naruto was again aimlessly walking around the village, looking for any signs of Team Eight. He had bit of a blush on his face, after he had left the small flower patch in the forest. ‘How was I to know that she was actually a he?’ Suddenly he caught part of a conversation,

“I heard Tazuna-san even hired his own ninja!” Spoke a deep voiced man in a whisper to a woman, Naruto was lucky to be close enough to hear.

“Really?” She gasped at him.

“Yup… he even letting them stay at his house, at the end of the village.”

“He’s crazy! Gatō won’t act kindly to that!” The woman whispered with uneasiness. Naruto filed the name away for later use, and left the couple to their woes, before they caught him prying.

Naruto quickly made his way towards the end of the village and praising his good luck. As he made his way towards the end of the village, he noticed a subtle change in the homes around him. The further he went to the end, the newer the homes looked. Granted, they didn’t look way better, but they were a far cry compared to the inner village. Naruto paused briefly when happening upon the house, the couple had mentioned.

He could tell that the people who had hired Team Eight were likely the richest in the town. The house wasn’t a mansion or even a fairly big house. But it was the first home, that he seen with two-stories, that needed very little repairs to be done.

“Naruto!!?” shouted a voice, causing Naruto to jump and a crash to sound in the house in front of him. Naruto turned to see Kiba, with Akamaru sitting upon his head, walking up to him. “I thought I smelled traces of someone familiar! But I thought it was just me being homesick! What the hell are you doing here?” Naruto blushed, wishing that it hadn’t been Kiba to find him first; he had very little experience with the boy, and had no clue on how to react to the boy. ‘He’s kind a like Hinata in his straightforwardness.’

Naruto didn’t bother answering, knowing he had no good response for being so far out of Konoha without his team or sensei, or really anybody for that matter. He was hopeful that Kiba would just let him go, but it didn’t seem likely. The other boy seemed keen on getting an answer. Luckily or unluckily for him though, the cause of the crash in the house, came outside to investigate Kiba’s strange shout.

“NARUTO-KUN!?” Hinata shouted, even louder than Kiba had before. “What are you doing here? You’re not our back up are you?” Hinata looked over at Kiba and made a shooing motion at him. Kiba huffed and walked away, back towards the house, Akamaru still placed upon his head. Hinata then grabbed Naruto’s arm and tugged him to another small forest clearing, a fair distance away from the house.

She then sat down on the grass, gazing in wonderment at him and gestured to the grass. He blushed and sat down beside her. For several moments they sat in quiet, with him lost in his thoughts and her patiently waiting him out.

“Y-You’re okay.”

“Yea, of course. You sound relieved. What happened? Are you okay? Don’t cry, ninjas are not supposed to cry you know. Not on missions anyways.”

“I-I saw the scroll, that was sent back to the village. A-And it said that someone of Team Eight was badly injured, while traveling to the Land of Waves. I immediately thought the worse!” Naruto took a shaky breath, overjoyed to see that Hinata was perfectly fine.

“You didn’t see all of it then. If you had, you would have known that it was Kurenai-sensei. We meet with a Jounin leveled missing-nin and the battle got very messy really fast. Kurenai-sensei had successfully gotten the other ninja trapped in a genjustu but the man was still able to land a pretty bad hit on her. We were fortunate, that she was able to hit him just as badly and that a hunter-nin finished him off!” Naruto swallowed, feeling guilty that he was graceful that it had been Kurenai and not Hinata. “Afterwards, we had to carry Kurenai-sensei to Tazuna-san house! It was terrible.”

“H-How’s your sensei now?”

“She’s better; she finally woke up yesterday and was able to send out a backup message to Konoha. This brings us back to why you are here.” Hinata gently said as she laid her piercing white eyes on him. She took in his wet blue eyes and the black rings around the bottom of his eyes. “You’re an idiot, you know that? You dropped everything and rushed here, with hardly a thought.”

Naruto blushed, “I-I was worried!”

“And I appreciate it. But when did I become some princess who needed to be saved and you the knight in shining armor? You have to have more faith in me.” Hinata commented back and lying back on the grass, looking up at the sky. “Listen, I am a full-fledge ninja now and so are you. You can’t be rushing out of the village, every time something goes wrong on a mission of mine.” Naruto frowned, knowing she was right but still reluctant to agree. Hinata sat back up, with passion, “Do you not knowledge my skills as a ninja, Naruto?! Because if not, I’ll gladly challenge you to a duel, right now! I’ll prove that I am an amazing kunoichi!”

“N-No! That’s not it! I know you’re great! I am sorry okay? I shouldn’t have doubted your team. You’ll make a great kunoichi, and I shouldn’t worry-”

“You’re not getting it. It’s fine to be protective; it’s a good trait to have. The problem is you’re being over protective. Trust in me more okay? If I am ever in danger, to the point I need your help, I’ll tell you okay? That’s your time to be protective of me, and same goes for you. You’ll tell me when you need help also. It doesn’t matter what okay? Otherwise, we won’t get in the way, because we are both amazing ninjas in our own right and we need to trust one another to be able to take care of ourselves. Look.” She showed him her right hand, her two long fingers making a cross of sorts. “We can also say that we need help like this okay? Just in case, we can’t speak or something.” Naruto nodded, amazed at her intelligence like always.

Hinata settled back down, to stare at the heavens. “And another lesson, I am going to need to teach you, Naruto-kun. Don’t you ever drop everything you love and dream for, just for one person, not even me. While it sounds noble, it honestly isn’t. To be so devoted to someone, to the point where your own interests do not matter is a sad existence. There’s a difference between putting your own interests aside, and throwing them away understand?” Naruto didn’t completely understand, but he nodded anyways getting the gist of it. “Finally, don’t get so invested in your own interests that you become heart less. None of that is good.”

Naruto nodded understanding that part the best, “It’s good to have a strong middle ground.” He joined her, lying back, watching the clouds. Their arms slightly touched and his hand almost covered hers in the grass. He didn’t touch her much more than that though, knowing it was a bad idea. “H-Hinata.” She looked over at him, with a dark blueish eyebrow raised and he looked right back at her, his cerulean eyes looking intently at her white pearl ones.

“If I got locked away, what would you do?” She rolled her eyes at his question and he blushed, still expecting an answer.

“Don’t be melodramatic. You didn’t do anything terribly wrong; you’ll likely get a smacked on the wrist, some community service maybe. Though, if they did lock you away, I would so lead a protest against the unfair treatment.” He smiled at the answer, grateful that she cared about what could happen to him.

“We better get back, Kiba-kun likely foaming at the mouth, wondering what’s taking us so long to talk.” Hinata said, not moving from her spot on the grass. Naruto laughed lightly at the joke, staying where he was also. He didn’t want to leave the comfortable atmosphere that they had set around themselves. “Shino-kun likely set bugs out to find us, and I bet they already tracked us down and are now telling him, where we are.”

Naruto sighed, not liking that their peaceful moment would be over soon. At least he was able to store the memory away in his heart, for the rest of his life. Hinata stood up and offered him her hand; he immediately latched on and climbed to his feet. After cleaning the grass and dirty from his black pants, he followed Hinata back to the house.

“I wonder who they are going to send now that you pull this stunt though.” Hinata mused as they got closer to the house. Naruto tiled his head slightly, wondering the same, hopeful everything would work out and he wasn’t fired or something that would be the worst thing to happen. ‘Though I did say I would take any consequences that came from my actions… and I can’t go back on my word.’ So he put on a brave face, ready to deal with anything the rest of Team Eight had to say and do, along with putting up with anything that the back-up might do.

As they neared the house, they could see Kiba outside petting Akamaru on his lap. Before they got any closer, Kiba’s nose twitched and he immediately looked over at them. Kiba put Akamaru on his head and jumped up to stroll over to them. “Now can I ask what he’s doing here??? Why does it have to such a huge secret!?” The canine boy demanded, while Akamaru barked his agreement. Naruto flushed and looked at his feet, not willing to explain why he had come all the way here, it was rather embarrassing actually.

“He was just being an idiot. I am sure whoever coming as back-up will deal with him when they get here, in the meanwhile, let’s go inside and eat.” Kiba huffed at the half-assed answer, and followed them back to the house.

“Well, I am sure sensei will want to know everything also.” The other two didn’t reply to the tattooed boy, and all three entered the home. Naruto immediately took in the details of the household, as they slipped off their shoes in the doorway. It wasn’t just the outside of the house that needed repairs. The inside was also filled with heavily needed ones too. The walls had several small cracks, and some of the paint was peeling off. The floor also showed some cracks here and there.

Naruto frowned; finding it slightly strange that a construct worker would have such a poorly kept household. Even with poverty hanging about, the house shouldn’t be this bad off. ‘I shouldn’t judge the family to severely, Hinata said he building something, maybe the man been too busy to keep up his house.’ Naruto followed the other two into the kitchen area of the house, where two women were. One of them was seated at the table; the other was setting the table.

The first woman had long black wild hair and bright red eyes that startled Naruto a bit, having never seen such eyes. Naruto didn’t believe she was dressed in her normal ninja outfit, since she was dressed somewhat casual. She was in a loose red t-shirt and light blue jean shorts. ‘Is she unable to wear her normal getup because of her injuries?’ Naruto already placed her as Kurenai, Team Eight’s sensei, because of her blue Konoha forehead protector on her head.

The other woman had long blue-colored hairs that sort of remind Naruto of Hinata’s hair. The lady was dressed in a simple rosy pink shirt with red lining the collar and the end of her sleeves. She also wore a long navy skirt. Naruto assumed she was part of the older man’s family, and smiled bashfully at her when she glanced at him, her black eyes filled with kindness. Hinata tugged at his dark gray jacket, bringing his attention to that fact that she and Kiba were already seated at the table.

Naruto quickly joined them, as the woman who set the table yelled up the stairs that lunch was ready. After half a minute pasted, a young boy of eight came into the small kitchen area. The boy had short spiky black hair that framed his head and seemed to have inherited the older woman’s dark eyes. The child was dressed in olive colored overalls and a creamy shirt, and on top of his head sat a white striped hat. The boy sat next to Naruto at the table, and the woman sat next to Kurenai. The table did a quick blessing and dug into the food.

Naruto briefly wondered where the old man, Hinata mentioned, and Shino were, but clearly dismissed the thought. He realized that it was midday and that the man was likely working and Shino was with the man, protecting him. ‘I wonder why they let Shino guard the old man all by himself. If they were worried about a Jounin missing-nin, shouldn’t more than one Genin be guarding the man? Plus even though she injured, shouldn’t Kurenai-sensei be dressed in more action-packed clothing, just in case?’ There were several pieces missing of the puzzle, and Naruto didn’t feel comfortable with that fact.

Naruto turned to Kurenai-sensei when she addressed him, “There’s much that we have to discuss, Naruto. I can’t say I am pleased with you being here. But I am sure that Hinata gave you enough of dressing down, though there’s still some details that I’d like to know and I would also like to fill you on more details of this mission. Even though I am not happy to see you here, I might as well use you to help out around here.” Naruto fidgeted in his seat and ducked his head, nodding his understanding.

Naruto ate silently, still taking in the details of the house. The kitchen was also in a fairly bad shape. Naruto wouldn’t be surprised if some of the utilities were in bad shape as well. Seeing the house the way it was, really drove some of Hinata’s point from earlier home. ‘I am sure the old man hasn’t meant to let his own interests get in the way of his family own needs. He a constructor and his likely more worried at the moment about whatever he’s building. Maybe it’s something helpful to the village? His family doesn’t seem to mind the state they are living in…’ Naruto recalled the green-eyed girl and decided if that’s what the man was doing, he had a lot of respect for him then. ‘Though, the man should have found more of a middle ground…’

Naruto finished off his plate and sent a wary smile over to the woman to thank her for the food. The woman nodded back, with her own smile as she started to pick up the plates around the table. Kurenai cleared her throat, gathering his attention again and tiled her head for him to follow her. They both stood up and she led him into a ground floor room, spying a familiar bag next to the door, with several other bags, Naruto concluded that this must be where Team Eight was staying. Naruto couldn’t prevent the distasteful frown on his face, but he quickly diverted his thoughts. Shino and Kiba were not his competitors; he wasn’t even in the race.

Kurenai sat down on a bedroll, and faced him. Naruto decided it would better to remain standing, and with his head bowed, bashfully stared at her back between his spiky golden locks. Naruto slightly jumped when a white owl, with beaming red eyes landed on Kurenai’s left shoulder. “This is Engimono.” Naruto blinked at the pun, and quickly try to focus on Kurenai. “Imagine my surprise when he returned with a scroll from the Hokage, explaining me that I should expect you sometime soon. He explained to me why you would be here, I am sure that Hinata got that out of you as well, and set the record straight. So this is not what I wish to speak to you about.” Naruto fiddled uncertainly, undoubtedly wondering what else he could tell the lady, if she already knew everything anyways.

“What I wish to know is you’re abilities and what use they’ll be to me. From scraps of conversation between Hinata and Kiba, I get the feeling in the academy, you had poor charka control. Is this still true, or has Kakashi gotten around to fixing that yet?” Naruto flushed, giving the answer to Kurenai indirectly. “Alright then, that’s what we should be doing for the rest of the four days… Hinata has really good charka control, and I am sure she wouldn’t mind teaching you to control yours at least a bit better.” ‘We have four days, four days until what?’

Kurenai gestured for him to sit, and begin to explain the mission to him in detail. “Our job is to protect Tazuna-san, who you’ll meet later tonight, while he finishes that great bridge that you saw on your way here. Originally we thought we were only protecting him from bandits and the like, until we were attacked by Chunin leveled ninja on the way down here.” Naruto nodded understanding, why they didn’t just quit the mission then and there. ‘I don’t believe my team would have either. I don’t know any Konoha ninja to be that heart less.’

“After we got close to the village though, we were intercepted by another missing-nin, who goes by the name of Momochi Zabuza. This man is ranked as a SS missing-nin in the bingo book, and therefore considered highly dangerous. Even someone with my skill was only able to hold him back for a few minutes. Granted now that I am use to his fighting style, I should be able to fight him on par ground. Sadly I do not believe I will be fit to fight by the time we meet with the man again, which is why I called for back-up.” Naruto frowned in confusion, ‘didn’t Hinata say the man was dead now?’

“Ah, I see you’re confused. I am guessing Hinata told you that the man was killed by a hunter-nin. I don’t think it was that simple though, the hunter-nin was highly suspicious. Since I also wasn’t able to check that the missing-nin was actually dead either, I am going to assume that the man is not yet dead. I believe the man is likely injured like me, is resting a few days. I am giving the man a week tops, before he makes another move. Though he could attack again, sooner, therefore I have been sending out Shino to protect the man in the meantime.” Naruto nodded, accepting her point, ‘a ninja should always expect the worse.’ “Alright, now back up should be here at some point today, and I’d like to make a point in saying that you are extremely lucky that the Hokage isn’t stripping you of your ninja status.” Naruto gulped, he was glad that the worst possible thing that could happen to him wasn’t going to occur.

Kurenai dismissed him, and he quickly left the bedroom. Naruto silently made his way back to the kitchen, before he made it there though, he heard a small noise. Naruto estimated that he wouldn’t have heard it at all, luckily his quietness tend to help his hearing quite a bit. He paced his footsteps expertly to make no sound, as he ascended the stairs. He paused at the door of the room, the noise emitted from. He quickly recognized the sound, now that he was closer to the source, ‘crying?’ His better judgement being pushed aside, his curiousness taking over; he gently pushed the door open. He paused, seeing the young boy from earlier, facing away from him looking outward to the ocean.

He pondered if he should do something, knowing that one always felt better after being comforted. Shallowing his nerves, he spoke with timid voice, “A-Are you alright?” The boy jumped and looked back at Naruto with a glare. Naruto caught a glimpse of a piece of picture that dropped from the boy’s hands. Recalling a family photo, that had been missing quarter of it; he pieced together that the small picture now on the floor, belonged to that photo downstairs. Placing that puzzle together helped him piece together another one, when he looked at the boy’s stricken face.

“T-That’s your dad r-right? I-I don’t know what happened b-but, you miss him. I k-know how that feels. M-Missing someone, that’ll never return.” Naruto bent down and picked up the photo piece and generously handed it back to the young boy. The boy snatched it from him, Naruto shocked, clasped his hands in front of himself, nervously. “I-I am s-sorry.”

“You can’t possible understand my feelings! No one can!” The boy almost shouted in anger, clutching his own hands around the photo piece.

Naruto’s eyes narrowed in annoyance, “I-I think m-many people understand your pain… I-In fact, s-some of them could be here n-now.” Naruto’s voice broke in a soft whisper that the boy could hardly hear, “You a-aren’t anyone special.” Naruto use to grief, knew there was nothing at the moment he could do for the boy, so he left the room and made his way back downstairs.

He almost ran into the woman from the kitchen, he quickly stepped aside to let her through, with a quiet sorry. Instead she paused and spoke to him with a whisper, “You must have spoken with Inari. You’ll have to excuse his temper; he really hasn’t been himself since his father died.” Naruto nodded shyly acknowledging her explanation. Then he left her in the hallway so that he could continue onwards down the stairs.

Naruto made it back to the kitchen, to see that only Hinata was still seated at the table. She looked up at him as he sat down across from her. “I see you met Inari-san, he such a baby. Kind a like you are sometimes.” Naruto flushed in embarrassment, glad that no one else was around to hear her comment. “So… finished talking with Kurenai-sensei right? What did she want?” Naruto quickly explained what Kurenai wanted Hinata to teach him. Hinata frowned.

“Didn’t I already teach you methods a long time ago on how to learn how to control you’re charka?” Naruto nodded, but then explained.

“W-We were so young then though, and I never really understood you’re quick explaining then.” He squeaked at the end, clearly embarrassed about his lack of understanding. Hinata huffed and stood up.

“You should have said something then idiot! Why didn’t you?” She folded her arms in irritation and stared at him. Naruto bowed his head and didn’t answer, and she huffed again. “I hate when you do that.” She waited another few minutes, letting the awkward silence settle in around them. Naruto peeked up at her white circles that were filled with annoyance. ‘I hate when she mad with me…’ He fidgeted, and looked back down at his sandal. ‘How long is she going to wait for an answer?’

Finally with another puff of air, Hinata raged, “Fine! Stand up!” He quickly did as she commanded and followed her outside, where he found where the missing Kiba had gone. Clearly the boy enjoyed spending his time outside, playing with Akamaru. Hinata didn’t spare a passing glance at the boy though, instead continued onward to the forest clearing from before. Kiba did stop his playing though, and gave Naruto a glare. Clearly the other boy wasn’t happy that Naruto had upset his teammate. Naruto didn’t meet the challenge though; instead he tumbled after his furious friend, keeping his head down sheepishly.

Naruto quickened his pace, as Hinata continued to get further away from him. He wished she would calm down, but he knew she had a right to be anger. Sighing miserably, he wasn’t going to enjoy this training session.

Before they got to the forest clearing though, a voice yelled, “NARUTO!” Naruto and Hinata stopped in surprise and stopped at the shout. Before either one of them could truly take in the shock, Naruto was tackled to the ground by the source and promptly punched hard in the face.

AN: I am sure, several of you know who punched him, if not, next time! Anyways, normally I will try not to add an author’s note, unless I have to address something important. Here’s what I have to address this time though. Please respect me when making a review. This is the only time I will say something in this story, I expect critics. But I want it respectfully. Flames will be dealt with accordingly. Oh and point out any mistakes, I don’t have a beta or anything (making use of Word, but that only goes so far). Otherwise, thank you guys for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed the second chapter!
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