Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't be putting this story up here, it would be cannon. Or AU…I dunno…

A/N: So sorry about the delay. A bunch of things came up (first year at college, work, etc.) I'll put more in the Author's Notes at the end of the chapter, but for now, on with the story! Enjoy!

'Thoughts'

"Regular Talk"

"Demon/Inner Self/Boss Summon Talk"

'Demon/Boss Summon Thoughts'

Last Time:

"Hinata-chan…would you just like to rest here for a bit longer?"

"Hmm…I was going to buy some more kunai."

"Oh," Naruto said as he tried to conceal his disappointment.

Hinata smiled as she brought a finger to trace his whiskers. She reveled in the fact that every time she traced his whiskers he seemed to shudder in delight. The Hyuuga heiress put that little tid-bit of information to the side.

"But…I think that can wait until later. Being with you is much more important now, Naruto-kun."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Oh? So it's back to Naruto-kun now, is it?"

Hinata leaned against Naruto, resting her head on his chest. "H-hai. It just seems to be t-the right t-thing to say n-n-now."

The two closed their eyes as they watched the sun set, both embracing one another. Both were unaware that in a different realm, six pairs of eyes were watching them, and that each one of those watching were extremely happy for the two.

And what the new couple and those watching them in a different realm didn't know, was that there were eight pairs of eyes that were watching the new couple. Just like the others spying on them, these spies, was also happy for the couple.

But what the new couple did know was that this…this was how things should be. Held in each other's grasp, without a care in the world. Nothing, not even the upcoming invasion, could ruin Naruto's mood.

'Is…is this what love feels like?' he wondered. As he stared at Hinata's form resting against his chest, with her face still slightly red from embarrassment, he knew that this…this was love.

The two stayed in that position until the sun had completely disappeared. Naruto shook Hinata, waking her up from her nap. She stared up at her new boyfriend, with confusion clear in her eyes.

"W-what's wrong Naruto-kun?" she asked, clearly worried that he was going to rebuke her.

"I'm kinda hungry. Want to go get some ramen? My treat," he said with a smile.

Hinata smiled back at him and answered, "H-hai. Ramen sounds good."

Naruto stood up and offered his hand to her to help her up. As Hinata was pulled up, she kissed Naruto on the cheek. She enjoyed the way that his face turned a light shade of red from the kiss. However, he didn't let that stop him from grabbing her hand and leading her to Ichiraku's.

The two walked out of the training grounds, and headed in the direction of Teuchi's ramen stand.

And this moment, as the two were walking hand-in-hand towards the small ramen stand, was also perfect. And so would every moment that the two would spend together.

At least, that was what Naruto thought. After all, how could spending time with the most beautiful women in Konoha be anything but perfect?

Chapter 7: A Large Step Backwards

"So you want to court my daughter?"

"No, I do not."

"Then why have you requested an audience with me?"

"I do not want to spend time courting your daughter, Hiashi-sama. I wish to marry her."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Marriage? You don't want to court her first?"

"With all due respect Hiashi-sama, I do not see the need for the courting. We have known each other for years, ever since the Academy, even if we didn't speak to each other very often. And you know that we are already dating, and have been for a while."

The leader of the Hyuuga clan stared at the young man in front of him, and started to think of both the pros and cons of allowing the shinobi to marry his daughter.

'He is a rather strong shinobi, despite his...uncivilized upbringing. But, they don't have to get married right away. I could give him…six months or so for him to become more civilized and learn the duties that the husband of the Hyuuga heiress would be expected to do. Getting the Elders to agree to this marriage would be rather tough, but…Hinata has been happier than before. She was even happier when she came back from her training trip. I would endure countless of battles with the Elders if it meant keeping her happy.'

Before he gave his consent to their union, he had one more thing to ask.

"Have you even asked my daughter if she wants to get married?"

"No, but I'm sure that she'll say yes."

"Well, before I agree to anything, you need to ask her first."

"I will. Once I get her agreement, then what else is required?"

"Get her consent first. Once that is taken care of, then we will go from there. Know this though-your marriage will not take place soon. It will most likely be months before you two can be married."

"What?! Months?! Why? We could just go to a shrine and have a monk marry us tonight if we want!"

Hiashi vehemently stared at the angry young man in front of him. "Would you dare go against tradition? The normal engagement period for two Hyuuga's marrying one another is four months at the least. Since you are not of our clan, the engagement session will take a bit longer."

Hinata's suitor bowed his head in apology. "Please accept my apologies Hiashi-sama, I spoke out of place. It is just that I know that the two of us are destined to be together, and I don't know why we can't be united sooner."

Hiashi nodded his head, accepting his apology. "I understand. It is just that it has been many years since a marriage has taken place between a Hyuuga and someone from outside the clan. These things take time, and the Hyuuga, as a clan, do not like to rush things."

Taking his statement as a sign that their conversation was ended, he got up to leave.

"One more thing," the Hyuuga head stated. "I would like to wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. And if you ever hurt my daughter in any way, I will kill you," he said, sealing his threat by activating his Byakugan.

"Arigato Hiashi-sama. And I would never dream of hurting Hinata-chan."

-----------------------------

"Naruto-kun, I h-have to g-go home now," Hinata stated as she and Naruto took a breather in their make-out session. The two had finished sparring for the day, and instead of sitting around waiting to catch their breath, the two had decided that making out was a much better way to regain their lost stamina. They were in the same position that they were in when they had first kissed one another, nearly two days ago.

"Awww, do you have to go Hinata-chan?" Naruto whined.

Hinata smiled as she saw how cute her boyfriend was when he complained. "Hai, o-otouson is waiting for me. I t-think he w-wants to t-test my skill in Jyuuken."

Naruto felt his girlfriend slightly shiver when she mentioned being tested by her father, and he immediately grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes.

"Listen to me Hinata-chan: You are far different from the girl that you were three years ago. You can do this; don't let anyone belittle you anymore. Don't let anyone treat you like you're trash, because you are better than a queen even."

Hinata smiled as she heard her boyfriend's encouragement and she kissed the tip of his nose before she stood up and prepared to go back to her clan's manor. "Arigato Naruto-kun."

The Hyuuga heiress was walking out of the training grounds when she turned around and asked, "Naruto-kun, same time tomorrow?"

Naruto smiled as he replied that they would indeed meet at the same time tomorrow for what had become their daily sparring session. Surprisingly enough, Kiba never took Naruto up on his offer to spar with them. Not that either one of the new couple reminded him, or any of their other friends for that matter, of the open sparring session.

Naruto watched as his girlfriend walked away and admired how her hair reflected the afternoon sunlight. He couldn't help but smile as he remembered how he had thought that she was an angel when he was recovering in the hospital after Sasuke's departure, and how she looked the part now.

He let out a small sigh when she went out of sight. Naruto had really come to enjoy his girlfriend's company, and he felt like something was missing whenever she left his side.

'Hmm…I guess I should go and tell Sakura about Hinata and me. After all, Hinata wanted me to tell her two days ago, but I never got around to it,' he thought before he got up and walked towards the Hokage Tower, where Sakura should be training with Tsunade.

-----------------------

"There will be a change of plans," Pein said to all the assembled Akatsuki members.

"And why is that?" Itachi asked.

"Because," started Zetsu, "I have just discovered that Kumogakure has two jinchuuriki, rather than one."

"Who is the second one?" Kakuzu asked. "I was only aware that they had the jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata, Nii Yugito."

"None other than the current Raikage's younger brother, the jinchuuriki to the Hachibi," Pein answered. "And this one is much stronger than Yugito; at his current level, he may be able to defeat Uzumaki Naruto while he is using the Kyuubi's chakra."

"So, what's the plan? Will I be able to satisfy Jashin's hunger?" questioned Hidan.

"Yes, you will. A week before the scheduled invasion, we will meet with Kumo and Iwa to 'evaluate' the strength of their forces. During the evaluation, we will take the jinchuurikis, by force if necessary, and take out as many of the assembled shinobi as we can. The more the better, for there will be a smaller chance of a retaliation force being assembled."

"So we betray them, and extract the Bijuu?" questioned Kisame.

"Hai. After the extraction process, we will continue our plan to assault Konoha with Oto. However, our goal will not be to cause destruction to Konoha, but rather to extract the jinchuuriki. As soon as he is in our grasp, Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, and Tobi will kill Orochimaru and rejoin us as we head for our main base. Hidan, Kakuzu, and Zetsu will cover our retreat."

"This sounds really fun!" proclaimed Tobi as he jumped up and down in joy.

Deidara palmed his face in frustration. "Tobi, shut up!"

"Tobi is a good boy!" he yelled before he pretended to zip his lips shut and throw away the key.

"Now, does anyone see any problems with the plan?" questioned Pein.

A chorus of 'No's answered his question. "Very well then, you are all dismissed."

When only Pein and Konan remained in the chamber, a third figure entered their field of vision.

"Very well done Pein, very well done indeed."

"Arigatou Madara-sama. Are you sure that this is the best plan of action to take?"

Madara nodded his head. "Hai, it will make the extraction process much faster. With the power of the other eight Bijuu powering the statue, it will make the extraction process faster. The faster the process is, the better because I'm sure that Konoha will send several of their strongest shinobi after us to retrieve Naruto."

Konan raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Do you believe that Konoha will be able to defeat Orochimaru and his forces, especially with the help that you've given him on the cursed seals?"

"I did not say that," Madara answered. "I just believe that several of Konoha's strongest, such as Senju Tsunade and Jiraiya, value the life of Naruto over the life of their village. When Konoha learns that we have captured Naruto, I'm sure that Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the others who care about him will chase after us, even if Orochimaru's forces are still attacking Konoha."

"Will there be contingency plans?" Pein asked.

"At this time, no. But, if the situation should arise, then yes, I will implement one," the true leader of Akatuski answered. "You may leave now, I have much work I must do."

Pein and Konan both bowed to Madara before they left. The oldest Uchiha alive smiled to himself as all his plans were unfolding. His revenge would be very sweet indeed.

----------------------------------

Naruto was sitting in the entrance of the Konoha Hospital, waiting for his teammate to finish her shift at the hospital.

"Oi, Sakura-chan!"

The pink-haired kunoichi turned around to see who was calling her name. When she saw that it was Naruto, she frowned.

"Naruto! Aren't you supposed to be on a mission?"

"Nope! I got a few days off before I have to get back though, so I decided that I would just relax for the rest of time that I got here in Konoha."

Sakura raised one eyebrow in amusement. "By 'relax' you mean train yourself to exhaustion?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Eh…sorta. I guess. Part of the time, anyways."

"Well, then what have you been doing for the rest of the time that you aren't training or sleeping? Pigging out at Ichiraku's?"

"Not really. I couldn't really pig out."

"And why is that? Nothing ever stopped you before."

"Well, I was eating there with Hinata-chan."

"When I ate there with you, it never stopped you from eating like a pig!" Suddenly, Sakura realized what her teammate had just said. "Wait…did you just say Hinata-chan?"

Naruto nodded, obviously pleased with himself. He wasn't sure how to tell his violent teammate that he was dating Hinata. But, Hinata had asked him to tell her, so he would do it, even if he had to fight through all the ANBU in Konoha to do it.

Sakura started to positively beam when she saw her teammate nod. "Well, it's about damn time you noticed her feelings!"

"You don't have to tell me that! I was just waiting for the right time."

"And the right time was what, close to ten years after the two of you met?"

"Well, you don't have to rub it in! I was just nervous, okay?"

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think that it would be better to keep it to herself and shut her mouth before she pulled him into an embrace.

"Oh, come here you big oaf!"

Naruto grunted as he felt Sakura gave him a bear hug. If he had been any weaker, he was sure that he would have been ground to a pulp. Not only was the hug painful, but he was still unused to such close contact.

"I'm so glad you found someone that you love niisan," Sakura whispered into his ear. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't help but tear up. Much to her dismay, several tears fell onto Naruto's shoulder.

Konoha's resident jinchuuriki returned the hug when he felt the tears hit his shoulder. "Sakura…don't worry, I promised to bring Sasuke back no matter what, remember? And once I bring him back, the two of you can start reviving the Uchiha clan right away!"

Sakura hiccupped and tried to stop her tears from getting her brother any wetter. "But…what if he isn't the one that I really love?"

"Then you'll meet him some day and have lots and lots of kids!"

The pink-haired kunoichi sniffed and dried her eyes with hands. "Enough about me, what about you and Hinata?"

"Huh? What about us?"

"Are you two in love?"

Naruto's eyes darkened a bit as he contemplated his teammate's question. "I…I don't know. I mean, I really like her, but what's love? Love is a really strong word. I want to say I love her, but do I really?"

"You've been spending a lot of time with her, right? Well, why are you spending time with her? Do you just want to get stronger during your training sessions or is there another reason?"

"I really enjoy the time that we spend with one another. It's like…I don't know how to explain it, but whenever I'm with her, I feel a lot happier. I just feel so good that I'm afraid that it won't last forever."

Sakura smiled as she heard her oblivious teammate try to describe love. "You're in love. When you love someone, you feel as though you can't be happier, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know? Why didn't I know?"

The pink-haired kunoichi's smile of glee turned to one of sadness. "It wasn't your fault. You were never adopted, right? That means that you never got to feel the warmth of a mother's hug, or the pride that comes from being complimented by a father. Are…are you afraid of being in love?"

"I…I don't know. I guess I am. I mean…I want to be in love and happy and all that, but then I think of Gaara, and everything that he had to go through…"

"Sabaku no Gaara? The Kazekage of Sunagakure? What does he have to do with love?"

"You remember the kanji on his forehead, don't you?"

Sakura didn't have to think hard to recall what was inscribed on his forehead. "Love. The kanji for love is on his forehead."

Naruto nodded his head. "It's there for a reason. I would tell you why, but it's not something that should be coming from me. Needless to say though, we're a lot alike."

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "How? I mean, he's really quiet, and you're not."

"Neither of us have had a pleasant past."

"A pleasant past? You mean how he used to kill anyone he wanted, whenever he wanted? You never did anything like that."

Naruto sighed and stared up at the sky. He wasn't quite ready to tell Sakura his greatest secret, the fact that he was a jinchuuriki. "There are other…circumstances that connect the two of us."

Sakura had enough tact to realize that her teammate just wanted to drop the subject, so she did. "Anyways, besides that, you have nothing to be afraid of. I bet she cares even more for you than you do of her."

"Really?"

"Yes. She's been after you for years now, and even when you were gone for your three year training trip, she didn't even go on a single date. If that devotion of hers isn't love, then I have no idea what is."

Naruto smiled as he heard his teammate share her logic. "Then I guess…I guess I really do love her."

'Maybe…maybe not all jinchuuriki have to live a life without being loved…'

Naruto leaned forward and kissed his teammate on the forehead.

Sakura started to blush immediately and managed to stammer out, "W-what was that for?"

"I read that family kiss each other on the cheeks and foreheads."

"Oh. You know, it's nice having a brother. I've always wondered what it would be like to have an older brother looking out for me."

"And I've always wondered what it would be like to have a younger sister telling me when I'm being stupid."

"I guess we make quite the family then, huh? You should get going, I don't want to make you late for your date with Hinata! I doubt she would be pleased if she found out that you were late for your training because you were with another girl!"

"I guess you're right. I'll see you around!" Naruto yelled as he turned around and headed towards the training grounds.

As he ran past a clump of trees, he smelled a hint of lavenders in the air. 'I love Hinata-chan so much, that I'm smelling her all the time!' Naruto thought with a smile on his face.

If only that were so. If only that were so.

-----------------------

"Is there a leak?"

"I don't know. There must be one though. Konoha's forces have been attacking our bases with far too much efficiency for there not to be one."

"What are you going to do?"

"I will do nothing. For now, I must spend my time giving more of our forces the modified cursed seals and teaching Sasuke-kun new jutsus."

Kabuto frowned, obviously displeased with the turn of events. "I can understand why you will be giving more shinobi the cursed seal, but why are you teaching Sasuke-kun even more jutsus? Don't you think that he has more than enough?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Need I remind you that I will be taking over his body soon? If his body already knows the jutsus from previous use, it will make it that much easier to complete my goal."

Kabuto nodded and bowed his head in appology. "I see. Please forgive me Orochimaru-sama," he pleaded.

"Very well. I suppose it wasn't too big of a mistake that you made. However, I still need you to attend to Alpha-152."

Kabuto quickly ran through the different code names that his master assigned to his numerous projects. Despite the vastness of them, it only took him a few seconds to recall it.

"Alpha-152…the Gennin that received the Cursed Seal last week?"

"Hai. I wish to know how they are doing."

Kabuto lifted an eyebrow in confusion. The snake-sennin was many things, but a compassionate man he was not.

"May I ask why you want me to check on them? Last I heard, none of them died."

"There are two reasons. The first is because I want you to find out how Akatsuki's variation of my own seal allows the host almost a 100% chance of survival. How is it that they improve my very own seal? I also want you to see if there are other seals in it that can kill them with a single command or something along those lines. I wouldn't put it past them to add in a seal that would kill them instantly just to keep me in line."

"Secondly, I want you to train them. I doubt that they will be able to fight their best if they are using their powers form the cursed seals without prior training. They will not be used to their enhanced speed and strength, and as such they will be vulnerable."

"But aren't they going to be used as cannon fodder? What's the point in having me train them if they're going to be killed anyway?"

"If they are trained well, they could bolster my own forces after the invasion is over. Besides, I will need all the shinobi I can get to help me fight Akatsuki."

Kabuto's eyes widened and he had to take several deep breaths before he spoke up. "But we're in an alliance with them! Do you truly intend to betray them a second time?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm not the one who will be doing the betraying," Orochimaru remarked coldly. "They will make the first move. After all, I still have one of their rings, and they will stop at nothing to get it back."

Kabuto paled. The thought of having to face nine S-ranked criminals frightened him to say the least. "Is that why you have been giving so many of our shinobi the cursed seal?"

"Yes. That is also why I need you to check for any death seals."

Kabut unconsciously shuddered. "Fuuinjutsu truly is a scary thing. To think, that by just applying a little chakra to some ink, you could kill someone instantly."

Orochimaru nodded in agreement. "It is one of the only aspects of the shinobi arts that Jiraiya was better than me in. Luckily, his skill is nowhere near that of the Yondaime Hokage's skill.

Kabuto frowned. "But Jiraiya-sama is training Naruto-kun. Perhaps he also trained him in fuuinjutsu. And seeing as Naruto-kun is…"

Orochimaru spoke quickly, interrupting his most loyal subordinate. "It matters not. Fuuinjutsu is not like a kekki-genkai, that is to say, talent in it can not be passed down through birth, nor can excellence in it be taught. One either has the talent to use it or not; it is an innate skill, not a gained one."

Kabuto nodded and seeing as his master wasn't willing to say anything else he bowed and turned around and left.

"Kabuto-kun…one more thing. While you are seeing to Alpha-152, be wary of Konoha spies and scouts. They may have learned of the bases location through the leak. If you can, try to capture one alive and get any information from the spy that you can. You can use whatever method you think is most effective, as long as it doesn't kill the spy."

"Of course Orochimaru-sama. Will you be attending to that yourself?"

"That I will. Or, depending on who we capture, we can use them as a bargaining chip. You have your orders, now go."

"Hai Orochimaru-sama," he said before he turned around and left.

---------------------------

When Naruto arrived at the training grounds, he was rather surprised to see Hinata-chan there, furiously pounding away at one of the training posts. At all of their other training sessions, his girlfriend had always sat quietly under a tree waiting for him to arrive. It seemed as though she had not noticed his arrival, so he announced himself.

"Hi Hinata-chan! What are you up to?" he asked as he hugged her from behind. He took a deep breathe and reveled in her wondrous scent; a slight mix of lavender and some other scents that he couldn't identify.

"Training."

"Okay…would you like to spar?"

Hinata's eyes narrowed. How dare he act like nothing had happened? She had been there; she had seen everything. She quickly masked her anger behind a calm façade. "Of course, that's why we're here, isn't it?"

Naruto smiled. "Hinata-chan! You didn't stutter at all that time! That's great!" he cheered as he let go of Hinata and did some light stretches before falling into a taijutsu stance that Ero-Sennin had taught him.

Hinata smiled. "I guess that I did," she replied absent-mindedly. The fact that she had spoken without stuttering barely registered in her mind; instead, she was focusing on the fact that she would be able to take out her frustrations on Naruto.

As soon as Naruto fell into his stance, Hinata charged faster than she had ever gone before. She could see Naruto's shock in his eyes as he attempted to block her strikes. Unlike their other spars, she was no longer holding back. She didn't care about hurting Naruto with her Jyuuken strikes so she didn't limit the amount of chakra she used in her strikes. She didn't bother to pace herself, because all she cared about was causing as much damage to him before she was defeated.

Despite her anger, Hinata wasn't a fool. She knew that she couldn't win in a spar against Naruto unless she struck first and didn't relent in her assault. Naruto's stamina was just too big for her to hope to win in a prolonged spar.

Naruto was stunned. Hinata had never moved so fast in their spars before. Her Jyuuken strikes were also far more powerful; another first. And the way that she was moving made it obvious that she was going full out; she wasn't saving anything for later, meaning that she wanted to win the spar as quickly as possible.

Hinata's fully powered strikes proved to be too much for Naruto to take. Adding in her speed and his surprise, it was no wonder that she broke through his defense. With a small grin, she yelled, "Hakke Hyakunijuuhachishou!"

Naruto was stunned both by the name of her attack and the speed at which it was delivered. 'I…I've never seen her move so fast before!' Moments later, after Hinata finished her attack, he fell down, flat on his butt.

Hinata was breathing rather heavily, and sweat was pouring down her face. Her heavy breathing did some interesting things to her chest, and made Naruto wish that she had kept her jacket on, because then maybe he wouldn't be so intent on staring, despite his best attempts not to.

Naruto tried to stand up, but the sudden loss of his chakra weakened him too much. Even propping himself up on his elbows was a difficult task. He managed to grin up at his girlfriend.

"Wow Hinata-chan, if you sparred like that all the time, then you would be really amazing! And that move you pulled off at the end, Hakke Hyakunijuuhachishou, I thought only Neji knew it! It's really awesome that you can do it too!"

"Get up!" Hinata yelled.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. He may not have been the smartest person in the world, but even he could tell that something was wrong with Hinata. The list was rather long now that he thought back on it; Hinata was…attacking the training post before he got there, she didn't stutter, she moved faster than before, and her attacks were far more powerful than before.

"Is something wrong?" he asked meekly. This new side of Hinata was really scary.

Hinata fumed, and this time, she didn't bother to hide her emotions. Instead, she let them out.

"Wrong? Wrong?! Of course there is! I saw you!"

Naruto blinked. Hinata had the Byakugan, so she should have seen him. She really wasn't making all that much sense. "Ano…I don't understand…" he replied lamely.

Hinata glared at him and Naruto shrank under her glare. Her eyes, held no love for him, and their threatening gaze was only accentuated by her Byakugan, which she hadn't bothered to deactivate.

"Earlier. Not even twenty minutes ago, I saw you with her."

"Who? Sakura?"

"Who else?! You lied to me!"

"What? How? I did exactly what you asked me to!"

"Of course you did," she replied sarcastically. "I guess I just wasn't good enough for you? I was just some…some stepping stone for you to use to get to your goal?"

"What? Stepping stone? Goal? What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"No I don't! You're not being rational Hinata-chan!"

Hinata's glare just intensified. "Oh, I'm being perfectly rational Naruto-san!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am. And if you don't have it in you to be honest to me, then I don't see a future with the two of us being together."

Naruto just froze. Was she about to leave him.

"Hinata-chan…what…what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it's over!" she yelled before she turned around.

Naruto tried to get up, but he still hadn't recovered from Hinata's final attack. "Wait! Hinata-chan, please wait!" he pleaded and grabbed her leg.

"Let go!" she yelled as she shook her leg free from his grip. She turned around and glared at his prone form. When she saw his large blue eyes, filled with sadness, she almost broke down and forgave, but the image of him embracing Sakura burned even more intensely in her mind, and she uttered one last statement to her ex-boyfriend.

"I…I hate you Uzumaki Naruto," she stated before she turned around and left the training grounds, leaving one stunned shinobi.

"Wait! Hinata-chan! Don't leave! Let me explain!" he yelled. He struggled to get up once more, in order to catch up with her, but his limbs failed him. As he hit the ground yet again, he murmured through his tears, "Please…don't leave me…" However, it was too late for the young Hyuuga heiress was already out of hearing range. The last statement that she had uttered kept replaying in Naruto's mind.

Her last statement was rather surprising; it was the only time that Hyuuga Hinata had ever used the word 'hate' with regards to someone. Another surprising thing was the fact that even with her Byakugan on, she failed to notice the tears that streaked down Naruto's face as he saw her walk away, leaving him all alone in the training grounds, unable to move until his chakra points re-opened.

Unfortunately, due to the force that Hinata had used, they wouldn't open for another half-hour at the earliest, forcing the young Jinchuuriki to lay face down in the dirt, with only the image of Hinata leaving him and her last words to him for company. It was the longest half-hour of his life.

When he did manage to get up, the dirt beneath his face was no longer dirt…it was mud. Fresh mud.

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"This is bad, very bad!" Tsunade shouted as she read over the information that Jiraiya had just handed her. "How reliable is this information?"

"Very. One of Naruto's kitsune's overheard it, and they have yet to have been wrong with any information that they have given us."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow in amusement. "So once again, your student's skills surpass your own. You must be getting old, huh?"

Jiraiya glared at his teammate. "Skill has nothing to do with it. The gaki's just lucky that Orochimaru doesn't know that he is allied with Kitsunes. I can't use toads to spy on him because that would be too obvious and the problem with using my contacts is that there is always a chance that Orochimaru will find out who is loyal to me and feed me false information. Naruto, on the other hand, doesn't have that problem."

Tsuande shrugged her shoulders, obviously amused with her teammate. "Whatever. The fact still remains though, Orochimaru has somehow improved the cursed seal of his. That's going to give us major problems in the future."

"True, but we can't make proper plans if we don't know more about the seal. We should send in a reconnaissance team to this 'Alpha-152'."

"Why not send some of Naruto's kitsunes?"

"There's only so much that they can do. It would be better to send a reconnaissance team, especially if there's a Hyuuga on the team. That way, they can scout the area from far. Besides, humans can actually get into bars and brothels to gather information that way."

"Bars? That's your excuse for going to bars and brothels?" Tsunade asked incredulously.

"Yup. You know how loose people's tongues get when they're drunk, and guys will spill a lot just to impress the ladies. As long as you don't get drunk at bars or too caught up with the ladies at brothels, one can get tons of information."

Tsunade reluctantly nodded her head in acceptance. "I guess you're right. Anyways, which team should we send?"

Jiraiya scratched his head as he thought for a few moments. "Hmm…let's wait about two months before we send in any teams."

"Two months? Why would you want to wait for two months?"

"Those tests that Kabuto is going to be running are going to take a while. I know that he doesn't know much with regards to Fuuinjutsu, so that'll take him a while. And it wouldn't be a good idea to send in teams while 'Alpha-152' are being tested; it's very likely that security will be much higher because they'll be missing those Cursed Seal shinobi. Two months should be enough time for their training to have started."

"I see. Now, which team should we send? We could send in an ANBU team, but that might be a bit overkill."

"Why not send Kurenai's brats? You could also use this as the mission to see if they are eligible to be promoted to Jounin."

"Don't you think this is a bit extreme for shinobi of their rank?" Tsunade questioned. "There are tons of things that could go wrong and if they fail this mission, there will be dire consequences for Konoha."

"Hmmm…you're right. So send Naruto with them."

"What?"

"Send Naruto with them. He's easily Jounin-level, plus he's almost as good as me when it comes to infiltration skills. And if you give him another two months to train, I'm sure he'll be even better than he is now."

"Two months?" Tsuande asked with a raised eyebrow. "You were planning this from the beginning, weren't you? That's the real reason why you want to start the mission in two months, isn't it?"

"It was another deciding factor," Jiraiay admitted. "But it wasn't the only one. If the other ones that I told you about didn't exist, then I wouldn't have suggested it. But they are valid, and thus, you can wait for two months."

"Fine. The mission will take place in two months then."

"Heeheeheehee…time for me to go do my research!" Jiraiya proclaimed excitedly.

Tsunade's eye started to twitch. There was no way in hell that her teammate was going to go peek on the ladies at the onsen while she had to work on new battle plans. She quickly reached over her desk, and managed to grab him by the arm.

"Oh no you don't!" she yelled.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Tsu-chan, if you wanted to play rough, all you had to do was say so, and I would be more than happy to play along," he whispered seductively.

Tsunade released her grip, and gave him a death glare. "Shut it you pervert! I need your help to make new defense plans. You probably know the most about the Cursed Seals of anyone in Konoha."

Jiraiya sighed before he spoke up. "Fine. But just so you know, Naruto might know more about it than I do. After all, the main reason he learned about seals was so that he would be able to do something about the seal on Sasuke. For some reason, he thinks that the reason the Uchiha left was because of the seal."

"You don't think the seal messed with his mind?"

"No. I've done plenty of research on the seal, and while I can't find a way to remove it, I do know what it does and doesn't do; messing with the mind is one thing that it doesn't do."

"Do you think it would be beneficial if we had Naruto here to help us?" the Godiame Hokage asked.

"Probably. After all, seeing as you will be grooming him to be the Rokudaime Hokage, it would probably be best for him to gain some experience."

Tsunade's eyes widened in shock. "How did you know about that? The only person that I told was Shizune! Kami help you if you seduced her to get the information from her..." she threatened.

Jiraiya shook his head. "I didn't touch her, I swear. It was kinda obvious, seeing as how you love him like a son. I mean, all loving mothers want to see their child succeed."

"Is it that obvious?"

"To those who know you well. I doubt Naruto knows."

"Of course not, I haven't even started to teach him all the aspects of being a Hokage."

"I wasn't talking about that, and you know it."

Tsunade slumped down in her seat. "It's hard you know? I never had any children, and after Dan died, I never thought that I would ever have any children. And then I met Naruto and…well, he just wormed his way into my heart. The hardest part though, is that he's never called me 'Kaa-san', while I think of him as my son in all but blood."

"You've never called him son to his face," Jiraiya pointed out. "And we all know that Naruto is clueless when it comes to emotions. You'll have to spell it out for him, unless you want to wait even longer. And at our age, waiting isn't exactly a good idea."

"I guess you're right…maybe I should adopt him. Kami knows that he could use a stable family."

"I'm sure he would love that," Jiraiya agreed with all seriousness.

That being said, the two of them started to create new plans in order to deal with the threat of a Cursed Seal army.

While she worked, Tsunade started to wonder why her stomach felt like she had butterflies in it when he had raised an eyebrow at her. It certainly wasn't because she was falling for him. That would be stupid. After all, he was a pervert…but he was also kind, strong, sensitive, and one of the last people that she actually knew from her childhood. But he was a pervert! She probably drank some bad sake…

-------------------------------------

'She…she left me…' Naruto thought as he finally managed to get up. He started to aimlessly walk around the training grounds.

'Why…why did she leave me? I only did what she asked me to do…' pondered Naruto. Somehow, he managed to walk around for close to an hour without hitting any trees.

'I guess she got tired of me…or maybe she found out about me being a Jinchuuriki somehow…' he concluded. At the end of his train of thought, he punched a tree with enough force to leave a rather deep imprint on the trunk of the tree.

'I can't stay here…I need to get back to training. I put it off for long enough. I need to go back to the Spirit Realm.'

Naruto gathered his thoughts and contacted Mikomi. 'Aneue, are you there?'

It took a few seconds, but his sister replied, 'Hai. Is something wrong?'

The young shinobi knew that she knew that he was trouble, but he was glad that she had enough tact not to ask him what was wrong. He really didn't feel like talking about it right now. 'No,' he lied. 'I just wanted to let you know that I'm coming back now to resume my training.'

'Are you sure you don't want to spend a few more days in Konoha?'

'I'm sure…I need to get back to training. The coming months will not be easy…'

'Alright, I'll let the others know. You should let the Hokage know that you're leaving.'

'Will do. See you in a bit.'

As soon as he felt their connection break, Naruto left the training grounds and headed towards the Hokage Tower. As he walked through the village, he felt all the glares and killing intent coming off from everyone who saw him. Most were villagers, but there were also a fair share of shinobi.

When Naruto was almost at the Hokage Tower, he saw Hinata walk in. He stopped dead in his tracks; it was Hinata's time for her to train with Baachan; he couldn't walk in and tell her that he was leaving, not with her in there. There was no way he would be able to maintain his composure if she was right there.

Naruto walked into one of the side alleys and ran through a few hand seals before he summoned Gamachibi. As the smoke that accompanied the arrival of a summon dispersed, the small toad yawned. "What do you want now?"

"I need you to tell the Hokage that I need to go back to train right away. After you do that, come find me in Wave Country and I'll give you your payment."

The toad nodded and started to hop towards the Hokage Tower. "See you in a bit then!"

Naruto took a deep breathe as he headed out the gates. It was a good break he decided as he left; he had come to realize what love felt like, even if it was only for a few days.

Before the gates closed, Uzumaki took one last look inside. Everywhere he looked, there were couples and happy families going about their business. Despite the fact that quite a few people gave him death glares, he thought, 'This…this is what I'm training for.'

---------------------------------

Even after an intense training session with Tsunade-sensei and Sakura-san, Hinata found that she still had plenty of anger left which she needed to blow off before she went back to the Hyuuga manor, so she headed towards the training grounds.

It took all of her willpower not to completely assault Sakura-san during their daily sparring session. Every time she saw her, all she could see was her embracing Naruto-san like a perfect couple would. Even so, Tsunade-sensei still had to step in and stop the spar before Sakura got hospitalized.

Instead of being scolded as she thought she would be for being overly aggressive during her spar, the Godaime Hokage gave her a gentle smile and praised her for finally asserting herself. Even Sakura-san complimented her despite the fact that she could barely walk on her own.

As soon as Hinata entered the training grounds, she walked to the closest training post and started to pound away. She didn't even notice when her hands started to leave bloody imprints on the wooden post.

"Hinata-chan!"

The Hyuuga heiress turned around to face her ex-boyfriend.

"What do you want now?" she asked harshly.

"Well…," he said as he got down on one knee, "Will you marry me?"

Hinata just froze for a moment. "What? D-don't you think w-we're too young t-to be married?"

"Of course not! We've known each other since the Academy."

"T-that's true…but we're still t-too young."

"Nope. We can be engaged and get married when we both turn seventeen if you want. Besides, we are shinobi, who knows how long we can live? I know that sounds bad, but it's true! I mean, how many shinobi have died before they've gotten married?"

"That's all v-very true…but w-why do you want to marry m-me?"

"Hinata-chan, I want to marry you! I want to wake up every morning and see you! I want to have kids together and grow old together!"

Hinata stared back at him with a stony gaze. "But do you l-l-love me?"

"Of course I love you!"

"I…I have to think about t-this. M-m-marriage is a big s-s-step."

"That's fine. Take your time, I know this is a major step in our lives. Well, have a good training session and think this over, okay?" Kiba said as he leaned forward and gave Hinata a kiss on her cheek before he turned around and left the training ground.

Hinata was still stunned by her...boyfriend's (she assumed, seeing as she hadn't officially broken up with him) proposal. She couldn't even focus on the training post, so she just sat down and pondered her options.

Her first option, and the most obvious, was to say "No" to Kiba-kun. After all, even if they had known each other since the Academy and were on the same Gennin squad, they were still sixteen. Hinata had never dreamed of getting married when she was sixteen, not even when she had imagined getting married to Naruto-k…Naruto-san.

Her second option was to say "Yes". She honestly couldn't see any good coming out of getting married so early on in her life. Would things be any different if they were married? She knew that she didn't want to have kids at such a young age, so marriage wouldn't change much.

After weighing the pros and cons of both options, Hinata decided that the next time that she saw Kiba-kun she would tell him that she was not ready to take such a big step forward in their relationship, but dating would be fine for now.

With her head cleared and her temper diminished, she decided that it was time for her to head home. It had been a rather long day, and she wanted to do nothing more than eat dinner, take a bath, and go to bed.

-----------------------------

Naruto fell down to the ground, completely exhausted. It had been nearly two months since he had last set foot in Konoha, and nearly every waking moment he had spent training. Enma-sama and his aneue were relentless in their lessons.

He had learned more taijutsu from the Monkey Boss than he had from the Academy, Kakashi-sensei, and Ero-Sennin combined. Well, the Academy didn't really count seeing as nobody had ever really taken the time to teach him the basics and by the time Iruka was his sensei, the Chuunin didn't realize that he didn't know the basics forms and only went over the more advanced forms. And when Naruto was first placed on Team Seven, Kakashi-sensei was only interested in training Sasuke. Ero-Sennin never taught him much taijutsu because he focused on Fuuinjutsu and Ninjutsu.

In addition to taijutsu, he also learned how to fight with staffs…or more specifically, Enma-sama when he turned into a staff. At first, Naruto didn't want to fight with staff because it wasn't cool, but when he heard that the Sandaime had used Enma-sama as a staff when he was fighting the Shodaime, Nidaime, and Orochimaru at the same time, he quickly changed his tune.

The young shinobi barely had the energy to move his head to stare at his taijutsu sensei as the Monkey Boss elegantly sat down next to him. For a moment, neither spoke, as both were simply content to catch their breaths.

"You have come far since we started your training just a few weeks ago. I never expected you to improve so quickly. If you keep this up, then you will encounter few shinobi that can best you in taijutsu."

Naruto was stunned; during the two months that he had spent training with Enma-sama, the Monkey Boss had never once complimented him. Naurto broke out into a smile and bowed his head in thanks; hearing his sensei praise him made him ridiculously proud.

The shinobi's smile made Enma smile himself. Despite his initial reluctance to train the boy, he was glad that he had been convinced to train him. During the two months that he had trained him, he had come to see what his previous summoner had seen in the child.

"Indeed you have," Mikomi stated as she towered over both of them. "I'm proud of you, otouto."

"I do have one question though," Enma said.

"What is it Enma-sama?" Naruto asked.

"During your last trip to Konoha, what happened to make you push yourself so hard?"

Naruto sighed. The last thing he wanted was for the moment to be ruined, but it was too late for the summon to take back his words. Ever since he had returned to the Spirit Realm, Naruto had thrown himself into his training, in an attempt to keep his mind so occupied that he wouldn't think of what he had lost back in Konoha.

His attempt had worked. He would spend hours in the Spirit Realm training, and when he left, he would spend another few hours conditioning his body. By the time he went to sleep, he was so exhausted that he could barely eat his dinner before struggling to get to his room. In fact, he was pretty sure that Tazuna had to carry him to his bed a few times.

"If it's all right with you Enma-sama, I'd rather not talk about it. Maybe some other time, but not now."

Enma nodded. Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, had gone through similar stages just after Orochimaru's defection. The monkey knew that bottling all of his emotions and thoughts were not healthy, but neither was forcing him to talk about his problem.

The three of them were content to just sit back and relax while they could. They all knew that due to the upcoming invasion, all of them, but most importantly Naruto, would have to train even harder than they had been. But for now, they just wanted a moment to catch their breaths.

Suddenly, Gamachibi appeared on top of Naruto's head. In response, the young shinobi just sighed.

"Why is it that the small toads always like to summon themselves on my head?"

"Because it's soft?" Gamachibi answered.

Naruto just sighed. He should have realized that Gamachibi wouldn't recognize a rhetorical question.

"Why are you here?"

"Hmm? Oh, apparently Jiraiya-sama gave a message to one of my older brothers. It seems that the Hokage isn't too happy that you haven't shown up for your check-ups."

Upon hearing the message, Mikomi turned her gaze from the small toad to her 'brother'.

"I thought you said that you went to those check-ups," Mikomi stated as her eyes narrowed.

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he tried to think up of a plausible excuse.

"Ehhh…I was so tired that I didn't think I would be able to get back to Konoha?"

"Is that a question or your reason?"

"Eh…both?"

Mikomi just shook her head. "You're lucky that there's nothing poisonous to your body here, otherwise you would be very sorry."

"How do you know that there's nothing poisonous here?"

"I don't. I do know however, that you haven't been showing any signs of being tired or sick; if anything, you're improving even faster than you did in the Real World."

"I see…"

"Are you done? There's another part of the message that I haven't gotten to yet!" grumbled Gamachibi. He could be playing with his brothers and sisters instead of listening to them chatter about meaningless stuff (at least, meaningless to him).

"Sorry Gamachibi, what's the second part of the message?"

"The Hokage is assigning three Chuunin a mission to go scout out a base where Oto is training some Cursed Seal shinobi. She wants you to go and lead them."

"Me? But I'm not even a Chuunin!"

"Hmmm…oh, Jiraiya-sama said that you're in charge because you're really good at sneaking around and that you have the skills to become Jounin. Oh, and this mission is also doubling as a Jounin exam for those three Chuunin, so you're supposed to take notes and see who, if any, are worthy to be promoted."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's quite a lot you said there…how did you memorize it all?"

Gamachibi laughed and showed him his webbed feet. On the bottom of it, there were several notes written on it.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to remember it all, so I wrote some notes to help me remember it!"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh. The young toad reminded him so much of a younger version of himself.

"Here, have a piece of candy. That's exactly what I would have done!"

Gamachibi reached out and grabbed the piece of candy that Naruto held out for him. "Thanks a lot! I'm going to go play now! See you later!"

As the toad was leaving, Naruto stopped him. "Wait! Who are the Chuunin going? Do you know?"

"Ano…Team Eight!" the young toad yelled over his shoulder.

Naruto froze. He would be going on a mission…with Hinata…

-------------------------

Two months ago in Konohoa

The morning after Hinata had ended her short relationship with Naruto, a messenger arrived for her shortly after she finished her breakfast. The young Chuunin seemed to be in shock, for not only did he step foot in the acclaimed Hyuuga mansion, he also had the privileged of delivering a message to the Hyuuga Hinata, one of, if not the, hottest kunoichi in Konoha.

As soon as Hinata read the note, she nodded towards the messenger, letting him know that she understood the directions. After the Chuunin had left, Hiashi turned to face his eldest and asked if she had a mission.

Hinata shook her head. "No, the Hokage would l-like to see me as soon as p-possible though. It may have something to d-do with a m-mission."

Hiashi nodded his head. "Very well then. When you are done, come back and we will resume your training."

"Hai!" Hinata stated as she left the building.

When she entered the Hokage's office, she was surprised to see Shino-kun and Kurenai-sensei there.

"Now that Hinata is here, we may begin," the Godaime stated. "I have decided that the Chuunin members of Team Eight are ready to take the Jounin Exam."

For a moment, neither of the two Chuunin in the room spoke. Being nominated for the Jounin Exam, especially at such a young age, was an honor.

"Ano…is Kiba-kun not nominated?" Hinata asked.

The smile that had graced the Hokage's face when she told them the news with regards to the exam vanished. "That depends on the two of you. While I have the utmost confidence that the two of you are ready for the Exam, I am not so sure about your third teammate, Inuzuka Kiba."

"His combat skills may be equal to a rookie Jounin, but I am not so sure if he is mentally ready for the rank. Is he mature enough? Is he ready for the extra responsibilities that come with the rank of Jounin?"

"You are asking us? Why not ask Kurenai-sensei or Yamato-sensei? They would be better qualified to answer than us," replied Shino.

"They are, but humor me. I want to see what you two think."

Shino was silent for a few seconds before he spoke up. "I think he should take the exam. If he doesn't meet the standards of Jounin, then he can always be eligible for the rank of Tokubetsu Jounin."

"I see. And what do you think Hinata?" the Godaime asked.

"Ano…I a-agree with Shino-kun. Kiba-kun i-is skilled, but I d-don't know if he's m-m-mature enough to earn the r-rank of a f-full Jounin."

"Good, I agree with both of your assessments," the Hokage said.

Shizune knocked on the door before walking in. "Tsunade-sama, Kiba-san is here to meet with you."

"Very well, send him in."

As Kiba walked in, he stood next to Hinata. "Do we have a mission Hokage-sama?" he asked.

Tsunade nodded her head. "Indeed you do. Furthermore, all three of you are eligible to take the Jounin Exam. Would you all like to take it?"

All three members of Team Eight nodded their heads, some with more enthusiasm than the others. Kiba was still in shock over learning the fact that he was going to be taking the Jounin Exam so soon in his career.

"This next mission I'm assigning to the three of you will be your Jounin Exam. Depending on the outcome of the mission, you may or may not be promoted. The details of your mission are in these scrolls," she stated as she handed each one of them a scroll.

"The mission you are taking is an A-ranked. After you have read your scrolls, burn them. It would not bode well if the information regarding this mission left this room. Are there any questions?"

"Oh, one last thing. You will be meeting your contact for this exam at the location designated in your scrolls. Your contact will be in charge of the mission, and I expect you three to listen to him as if he were Kurenai."

"Hokage-sama, you said we will be meeting a 'contact'. Does that mean that he isn't a Konoha shinobi?" Shino asked.

"No, he is a Konoha shinobi. In fact, he will be your 'proctor' and team leader at the same time. I merely said 'contact' because he hasn't been in Konoha for a while. He has been busy gathering information on Oto."

"Now, are there any other questions?" the Godaime asked. Seeing as no one else had any questions, she decided to dismiss them. "You are dismissed. Oh, Hinata and Shino, please stay behind for a moment. There are some…clan issues that I need to address."

The two Chuunin that had been called out waved goodbye to their friend before he left. As soon as the door was closed, Tsunade moved some scrolls on her desk to the side to uncover a seal engraved on her desk. She placed her hand over the seal and pumped some chakra into it.

"There," she said satisfied. "Now we may speak without fear of anyone eavesdropping on us. What I am about to tell the two of you is an S-class secret; I'm sure you know the punishment for breaking such a secret. Before we go on, do either of you want to leave? It's not imperative that the two of you hear it, but I think that you two are entitled to it."

"The information must be rather important if it qualifies to be given a secrecy rank of S. I, for one, would like to know what it is."

"Ano…I w-w-would also like to h-hear it Hokage-sama."

"Very well. The main reason that your team is being given this mission is because you are easily one of the best reconnaissance teams that we have, and we need to gather as much information on Oto as we can. We have received information that Konoha will be attacked in approximately five months."

The two Chuunin were so shocked that neither one of them could speak for several moments.

"Ano…how r-reliable is y-your source?"

"Very. He has never given us false information before.

"Do we know where they will attack? And is our mission to help us determine how large the attack force will be?"

"No and not really. The facility that you will be gathering information on has a number of subjects with a new and improved Cursed Seal. We need to know if it grants the users the same abilities as the older one did."

"Another thing that the two of you should know is that Oto isn't the only village attacking us. From the information that we have received, Oto, Iwa, Kumo, and Akatsuki have created a temporary alliance in order to defeat us."

"Ano…I haven't h-heard of A-akatsuki before," admitted Hinata.

Tsunade nodded her head in understanding. "Few have. It is a group composed of nine S-class nuke-nin. They are only to be engaged with very skilled shinobi and when we outnumber them."

The two Chuunin were shocked once again as they heard the information about Akatsuki. It was rare enough to even see one S-class shinobi, let alone nine of them working together.

"Ano…w-why did you t-tell us and n-not Kiba-kun?"

"Because I thought that you deserve to know this since you are undertaking this mission. And I didn't tell Kiba because I don't think he would be able to keep that information to himself. I feared that he would blurt something out, and if any of the other villages hear that we know of the invasion, it would not bode well for us."

Shino nodded his head in agreement. "That was a wise decision. I fear that he would inadvertently say something that would compromise the information."

Hinata closed her eyes for a few moments before re-opening them. "W-war…we're g-going to have a w-w-war, aren't we?"

Tsunade sighed. "Yes, it won't simply be a war between two villages, but rather four villages and a group of shinobi that are incredibly strong. I wish that there was someway that we could avoid this, but I can't think of anything that we would be able to do to prevent the war from breaking out."

"During our mission, would you like us to scout the interior of the building? It might be helpful if we launch a pre-emptive strike. Not enough to let them think that we know their plans, but enough to put a squeeze on them," asked Shino.

Tsuande smiled as she heard the Chuunin offer his suggestion. Shino had a sharp mind, a one that would help him reach the rank of Jounin.

"That's a good idea, but I don't want you guys to actually infiltrate the building. The information that you can gather using Hinata's Byakugan will give us all the information we need. Besides, infiltrating the base would be extremely dangerous considering the fact that there is an unknown number of shinobi with the Cursed Seal."

"As for your suggestion of launching pre-emptive strikes, I have already issued those, but only against Oto. If we were to raid Kumo's and Iwa's outposts, then that can be taken as a declaration of war. It's fine if we use those tactics against Oto because they declared war on us when they invaded Konoha three years ago and killed the Sandaime."

"Any more questions? No? Well then, good luck and do your best!"

--------------------------------

Naruto snorted as he waited for Team Eight to arrive. He had already scouted the perimeter around the base housing Alpha-152 and selected a suitable base-of-operations. Actually, he had made one; he found a mountain that overlooked the base, and using a Rasengan as a drill, he created a cave.

Seeing as he had nothing else to do until Team Eight arrived, he used his chakra to climb a tree which gave him a vantage point of the rendezvous point. Even though the location of the rendezvous point was known to a select few, Naruto didn't feel like waiting out in the open. Waiting in one spot was just asking for trouble; if the location was somehow compromised and he was just standing there, then there would be no doubt that he was the contact.

After a few moments, Naruto started to tap his foot, letting his impatience get the better of him. Normally, Naruto would have welcomed the chance to just sit back and relax, but the fact that he would be facing Hinata so soon just unsettled him. He had attempted to achieve better control over his emotions, but he was unable to master them. After all, it wouldn't do for him to let his emotions control him during a mission as important as this.

Naruto felt four chakra signatures, three of which were familiar, approaching at a relatively slow speed. Well, slow compared to him anyways; after his training with Ero-Sennin and Enma-sama, his speed had increased exponentially.

'Four chakra signatures…are they being followed?' Naruto wondered as he drew a kunai out of his pouch, ready to spill blood if Team Eight was indeed being followed. As soon as Team Eight came into sight, Naruto sighed and put his kunai back in his pouch. He had forgotten that Akamaru had his own highly developed chakra system, which accounted for the fourth presence he felt.

As Team Eight arrived in the designated clearing, Naruto decided to stay in the tree for a few more minutes. After all, they were a few minutes early, and one lesson that he had learned from Jiraiya was that, if he was the contact, was to only show up at the agreed time. Too early meant that his position was compromised, and if he was late then it would be assumed that he was captured.

"Where's the contact?" Kiba asked.

"We traveled faster than I had anticipated," answered Shino. "It would seem that we are early. We can not expect our contact to wait for us all day. The contact will be here at the agreed time….hopefully."

"Bah! Waiting is boring…we should do some reconnaissance now, seeing as we have extra time."

"No," Shino replied firmly. "That would not be wise. What if we miss our contact because we decided to start our mission early? What if we are spotted? How would you like to report to the Hokage and tell her that we failed our mission before we even rendezvoused with our contact?"

"Who made you leader anyways? Hinata-chan, wouldn't I make a better leader?"

Seeing that the young Hyuuga was too nervous to answer the question, Shino decided to answer for her, thus saving her from entering into an awkward position.

"Kurenai-sensei has designated me as the team leader of her team in her absence. Thus, the responsibilities of leader fall to me until we meet our contact, at which time I will relinquish command of the team."

"Whatever," Kiba replied, as he sat down underneath a tree. His other two teammates soon copied him and sat down, forming a half circle. He reached out his hand and grasped Hinata's hand.

Despite the fact that Naruto knew that Hinata wasn't his girlfriend anymore, he couldn't help but get jealous when he saw Kiba holding her hand. He felt like killing the Inuzuka for even daring to touch her. Luckily though, he managed to his raging emotions under control.

A few minutes later, Naruto jumped down from his perch and put on a cloak and pulled the hood up. Before he headed downwind toward Team Eight, he put an oni mask on.

"Will the snake slither up the tree?" he asked, startling the three Chuunin.

All three Chuunin immediately jumped to their feet when they heard a voice coming from behind them.

"Who are you? Are you a crazy drunk?!" Kiba yelled.

Shino felt like slapping his head in annoyance. "Not if the tree trunk is well oiled."

Kiba turned and faced his team leader with a grin on his face. "Dude! I didn't know you drink!"

The Aburame heir sighed in annoyance. "Did you even bother to read the mission scroll?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Did you read it thoroughly?"

"I know the mission specs," countered Kiba.

Shino sighed. His male teammate wasn't doing a good job of presenting himself as Jounin material so far. Well, with any luck he would be able to demonstrate his skills during the mission.

Naruto sighed. "Those were the phrases used to let each other know that we have rendezvoused under safe conditions. Next time, read the entire mission scroll."

"Whatever. So when do we start kicking ass?" Kiba asked bluntly.

Shino had to stop himself from palming his forehead. With every passing second, Kiba was unwittingly decreasing his chances of being promoted to Jounin.

"I don't know how well you read your mission scroll, because 'kicking ass' is not part of our mission. This is a reconnaissance mission, meaning that we're supposed to gather the information we need quietly and quickly. With any luck, we won't engage any enemies."

"…So we won't get to kick ass?"

"No."

"Damn."

"Let's move out. I already established a base of operations," the Jinchuuriki stated as he started to walk towards the cave that he had made.

"A-ano…Shinobi-san?"

"Yes?" Naruto replied, without bothering to turn around and look at her.

"I d-don't think you told us y-your name," she managed to stutter out. For some reason, this mysterious Konoha shinobi made her extremely nervous.

"Introductions can wait until we get back to base. For now, stay quiet. We're in enemy territory, and it would be best to move silently and quickly, lest we be found out by enemy shinobi."

Hinata nodded in agreement. Their contact was rather wise; she hadn't even thought of the fact that they were in enemy territory. She supposed that was why she was a Chuunin and he was a…well, Tsunade-sensei had never told them what rank he was, but she assumed that he was at least a Tokubetsu Jounin. After all, it wouldn't make sense to have a Chuunin or Gennin be a proctor for a Jounin Exam.

It was about a ten minute walk to their headquarters. In all actuality, it wasn't that far, but they were taking a very slow pace to make sure that they made the least amount of noise as possible. When they arrived at their new base, their proctor ushered them in quickly. As soon all of Team Eight was inside, their contact knelt down and quickly drew and activated a seal.

Shino raised an eyebrow. It would seem as though their contact was rather skilled in the art of Fuiinjutsu. By that one simple display, he proved that he was no mere Tokubetsu Jounin or even a Jounin for that matter. Fuuinjutsu was such an abstract subject that few bothered to study it, and those that did took their time when they were drawing seals, for even making a small mistake could prove to be disastrous.

Thus, when this mysterious shinobi quickly drew the seal and activated it without even looking at his work, he proved that he was either suicidal or extremely skilled. And seeing as how the seal didn't explode, Shino decided that their contact was the latter.

"Very, well, now that no noise we make inside here will leave this cave. Now would be the ideal time for introductions. Would you like to start?"

"No way, you start first! We still don't know a thing about you!" Kiba blatantly yelled out.

Naruto just tilted his head. Kiba was rather…energetic. But then again, he supposed he had been just like him before Ero-sennin had managed to pound some manners into him. If anything, he would prove some comic relief during the mission….however, for this particular mission, being loud and obnoxious was not a good thing.

"Very well. You may call me 'Sempai'. My real name is irrelevant to the success of the mission. I specialize in ninjutsu and fuuinjutsu. My likes…are training. My dislikes are any enemies of Konoha, whether they are foreign or domestic."

Seeing that they weren't about to get anything else out of their contact, Shino spoke up next. "My name is Aburame Shino. I specialize in my clan's jutsus. I like my bugs, bugs in general, and my friends. I dislike those who would harm what I like."

"Ano…my n-name is Hyuuga Hinata. I specialize in m-my clan's style of t-taijutsu, Jyuuken. I like…Kiba-kun, Shino-kun, Kurenai-sensei, a-and my other friends. I dislike…mean people a-and…b-betrayers."

Naruto merely blinked behind his mask. He had already known Hinata's likes and dislikes, but she had never said anything about having a great dislike of betrayers.

"The name's Inuzuka Kiba, and you better remember it because I'll be the best clan head that the Inuzuka clan ever had! I specialize in taijutsu, and I use my clan's ninjutsu to supplement my taijutsu style. I like Hinata-chan, Akamaru, and food! What I dislike…well, I don't really dislike anything, seeing as I have everything that I want!"

"Very well, know that introductions are done, we should…"

"Wait, I got one more thing to say!" interrupted Kiba. "Hinata-chan and I are getting married!"

Upon hearing the Inuzuka's exclamation, the Hyuuga heiress turned bright red, while both Shino and Naruto stared at Kiba.

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked.

"I agree with Sempai. When did this happen?" questioned Shino.

"Hmmm…a few days ago. I think."

Flashback (start)

Hinata had just parted ways with Shino after the Hokage had told them of the upcoming invasion. She was still stunned by the revelation; the invasion meant that many would die in the coming months. If they were lucky, Konoha would be able to cripple the attacking forces due to having preparation time and advanced knowledge of the attack and end the war quickly. If not…well, then the Shinobi world would be in for another Great War.

The prospect of war itself didn't scare her too badly; rather, it was what always accompanied war that scared her – death. She didn't want any of her friends or family to die, but it would be inevitable during the invasion. In addition, she didn't want to die either; in fact, she wasn't even twenty. There were also tons of things that she hadn't accomplished in life yet, such as getting married and raising a family.

"Hey Hinata-chan! Over here!"

Hinata turned around to see who was calling to her. She forced a smile to grace her face when she saw that it was Kiba-kun.

"What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering…have you thought about what I asked you last time? You know, marrying me?"

She was about to tell him that she wasn't ready to make such a big step in her life yet, but then she remembered what she had just learned.

War…they were going to war, and it would be inevitable that countless number of shinobi would die. Back in the Academy, she had learned that the first casualties were always the inexperienced shinobi, whether they be Gennin or Jounin. There was no doubt in her mind that the other shinobi in her generation would be among the first casualties.

Ever since she was young, she had always wanted to get married and have children. However, she had never thought that her chance would be so early in her life. And of course, her ideal husband had been Naruto. But now, he was no longer the man of her dreams.

She could die…she could die in the coming months without ever knowing what it was like to be married. It was too late for her to know what it would be like to have a child before the war started, but it wasn't too late for her to know what it would be like to be married during peaceful times.

"Kiba-kun…I…I will m-marry you," she answered.

A smile so large that it seemed that it would stretch off his face lit up his face. "Haha, this is great! Oh man, we gotta tell everyone!"

"W-wait! L-let's keep this b-between us for now," pleaded Hinata.

"Huh? Why? Are you still shy about it? I mean, there's nothing to be ashamed of, is there?"

"It's just that…well…m-my Otousan still h-has to a-adminster the Trials."

"Trials? What Trials?"

"Ano…every time s-someone from outside of the c-clan wants to m-marry into the clan, the suitor has to p-pass a series of t-test administered by the current clan head."

"Oh…that's what your Otousan meant when I asked him if I could marry you."

"Ano…I t-think that we should go see him now," Hinata stated.

"All right," Kiba agreed as he grabbed her hand and the two walked hand-in-hand to the Hyuuga manor.

--------------------------------------------

"Come in," Hyuuga Hiashi replied as he heard a knock on the door to his office.

"Are congratulations in order?" he asked when he saw his eldest daughter walk in with her hand being held by the Inuzuka heir.

"H-hai, Otousama," she answered nervously.

A small smile graced his face when he heard her answer.

"A marriage between the Inuzuka and Hyuuga clan will do both of us much good," he replied. "I take it that Hinata has told you of the Trials?"

"Hai," he replied. "I'm ready to take part in your Trials, no matter what they are!"

Hiashi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You seem to be rather confident of yourself, considering that you don't even know what it is that you're going to be doing."

"I'll take anything you throw at me and still pass it because I know that I'll do anything to be together with Hinata-chan. Even if you need me to fight the entire Hyuuga clan, I'll do it!"

Hiashi nodded in acceptance. "I like your enthusiasm; just be careful you don't get yourself in over your head."

"Ano…Otousama, if y-you don't mind, could you t-tell us what the Trial will c-consist of?"

Hiashi nodded. "Of course, I suppose I was rambling, wasn't I? Very well, your Trial will be to learn the customs of our Clan and what being married to the Head of the Clan will consist of."

Hinata and Kiba both looked at one another with surprise.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but isn't that a bit…simple?"

Hiashi raised an eyebrow. "It would seem so wouldn't it? However, it is not nearly as simple as you would expect it to be. Hinata has been learning ever since she was five, and she has yet to learn all of our customs yet. Your Trial isn't one of physical strength, but of mental strength. Knowing this, do you still want to marry my daughter?"

"Of course," Kiba quickly replied. "I said that I would do anything to marry Hinata-chan, didn't I?"

Hiashi nodded his head in approval. "You seem to be a man of your word then; I like that in a person. Oh, and one more thing: I would suggest that the two of you limit who you tell of your engagement. It would not do for enemies of the village to hear that the Inuzuka and Hyuuga clan will be united through marriage."

Upon hearing her father's words, Hinata suddenly donned a worried look on her face. "T-then is it s-safe to tell our f-friends?"

Hiashi closed his eyes as he pondered his eldest daughter's question. "I would suggest not telling them unless they figure it out somehow."

"Why not?" Kiba asked. "Aren't marriages supposed to be celebrated?"

"They are, but it would not be wise to publicly announce the union of our two clans until much later. I am sure that there are spies in our village, and they would no doubt report the marriage to their home village. In order to keep your marriage from being sabotaged, I would suggest that the two of you tell no one until you send out your wedding invitations."

The couple looked at one another before nodding in agreement.

"Now, if that is all, I have some clan business that I have to take care of."

As the two members of Team Eight walked out of Hiashi's office, Kiba grabbed Hinata's hand and started to lead her to the Inuzuka compound.

"Come on Hinata, we should go visit my clan. We need to get you familiar with the area because you'll be living there soon!"

Hinata gave small smile while she let herself be dragged to Kiba's compound.

Flasback (end)

"Shino-kun, p-please forgive us f-for not telling you of our u-upcoming w-wedding," Hinata pleaded.

Shino nodded his head after he heard the story. "I believe that Hiashi-sama was correct in his belief. It was wise of him to give you that advice. If I were you, I would continue to follow advice."

Naruto tilted his head to the side as his mind processed what he had just heard. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Was the time that he spent with Hinata-chan for nothing? Why would she agree to marry Kiba just after she broke up with him? The only reason that he could come up with was that she was in love with Kiba. It would seem as though he had lost his chance.

During his time in the Academy, he had often heard Sasuke's fangirls admit that if they didn't get to date Sasuke that they would die from heartbreak. Naruto had always thought that they were just exaggerating, but right now he felt like his heart was breaking.

"Sempai? W-we will still continue the mission, r-right?" Hinata asked. Seeing that their team leader had gone silent after hearing their confession worried her.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. He took several deep breathes in order to get control over his emotions. It wouldn't do if his voice was so thick with emotion that Team Eight would be able to figure out who he was.

"It shouldn't," he admitted. "However, I expect the two of you to…keep your relationship chaste until the mission is over. What you do in your free time is none of my business and out of my jurisdiction. But when we are on this mission, I am in control."

Hinata turned a deep red before she managed to mumble something that Naruto couldn't pick up.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to speak up," he stated.

"I s-said that we h-haven't had s-sex yet, and we w-won't until after we are m-married."

Naruto nodded his head. "Very well. Now that the introductions are over, I will go over our plan."

"Shino-san, when was the last time you went to a bar?"

"Never," the Aburame firmly replied.

"I figured as much. You're job for tonight Shino-san, is to accompany Hinata-san and scout out as much of the base as you can. Make sure you note the surrounding environment as well; we'll need to know everything that we can about it."

"And what am I going to do?"

"You Kiba-san, will be accompanying me to the local village."

"What's in the village? I thought we were scouting an enemy base?"

"Bars are always full of information. Plus, I am willing to bet that there will be some enemy shinobi there in the bar. Tongues always get loose after drinking alcohol. You have been to a bar, correct?"

"Of course!"

"Then you should be able to hold your liquor. Now, if there are no questions, we should go get some rest before we start the mission."

------------------------------------

A few hours later, Naruto woke up from his nap. Judging from the height of the moon, he figured that it was around ten pm. He got up and walked around their temporary base and woke up his team members.

"It's time for us to start our mission. Do any of you have any questions about your roles? Oh, and I have a few more instructions before we start. First, Kiba you will have to leave your hitai-itete here, along with Akamaru."

"What?!" Kiba screamed indignantly. I'm not leaving Akamaru behind!"

"We can't walk into a bar with a ninken with us; it would let everyone there know that we're from Konoha. Same goes for our hitai-itete."

Kiba looked like he was about to disagree with him, but then decided against it. "I…I guess you're right. Well, Akamaru can go with Hinata-chan and Shino, right?"

Naruto thought it over for a second before he nodded his head in agreement.

"Ano…s-sempai, are you g-going to the b-bar with y-your mask on?" Hinata asked.

Naruto reached up and took off his mask. "Of course not, I wouldn't be able to drink my sake if I wore my mask, would I?"

The members of Team Eight stared intently at their leader's face. His face didn't have the slightly rugged look that most shinobi ranked Chuunin and above always held. It seemed too…civilian-ish.

Naruto seemed to sense their questions and stated, "This isn't my real face, I'm simply disguising it with make-up."

"Make-up? Why don't you just use a Henge?" Kiba asked.

"I don't want to take the chance that anyone in the bar will be able to tell that I'm using a Henge," he answered.

"You all remember your orders, correct?" Seeing as his subordinates nodded their heads, he gave the order to move out. "Remember to meet back here in four hours. Should anything go wrong, I'll give the standard retreat signal and we'll meet up here before we retreat. Now go!"

----------------------

"I don't think I need to tell you this, but while we are drinking, you must not get drunk!"

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Duh. I'm not stupid, I know my limit."

"I'm just telling you, that I highly doubt the drinks here are the same as those back in Konoha. If anything, these drinks will be much stronger."

An excited gleam lit up in Kiba's eyes. "Excellent, I can't wait to try out new drinks!"

Naruto grabbed Kiba's arm and turned him around so he was facing him. "This is exactly why I told you to stay sober! Yes, it's exciting to try new drinks, but you must not get drunk!"

"I know! I'm not going to screw up on a mission as simple as this. After all, I'm going to be the head of the Inuzuka clan soon!"

Naruto resisted the urge to groan. "Just don't get too drunk and let anything slip. We're supposed to be gathering information, not giving information."

The two continued to walk in silence for several minutes until the town came into sight. It wasn't much of a village; there were only a few buildings which looked like they were constructed on short notice.

It was rather easy for the two shinobi to find the bar; it was the one building that had people constantly entering it.

Naruto sped up so he would be able to enter the bar before Kiba, which would give other patrons the impression that they didn't know one another.

The bar didn't look like much from the outside, and it looked even less impressive inside. Despite its poor interior design, it was well stocked with alcohol, which was the only thing that really mattered to its patrons.

Kiba's eyes widened when he saw the variety of alcoholic beverages that the bar had. He immediately went straight up to the counter and ordered some sake for himself and the patron to his right. The best way to get information in a bar was to befriend someone, and buying someone a drink would make that person your best friend…at least, for the night.

While Kiba was testing the quality of the bar's sake, Naruto saw a table in the corner of the bar where the occupants were playing a game of poker. Naruto bought a bottle of sake from the bartender and took a few sips before he started to walk towards the card-players. He made sure to add a little stumble to his movements in an attempt to trick the players into thinking that he was already buzzed.

"You got room for one more?" he asked when he managed to make his way over to them.

When the patrons looked up at him, he noticed that all four of them were shinobi. They wore their hitai-itetes proudly upon their heads, showing that Oto shinobi were welcomed in this town, if not in control of it.

"You got money?" one asked.

"Yup! Just finished my cargo run, and got plenty of money and no family that I need to spend on it," he replied getting a bit depressed at the end. "Oh, and I got some sake!" he proclaimed proudly, lifting up his bottle.

"As long as you have money and don't cheat, we have no problem with you. Pull up a chair; the game is five-card poker."

Naruto pulled up a chair from the table next to them and sat down. He took a sip of sake before he handed the bottle to the next person. Before all the cards were dealt out, the bottle of sake had made its way around the table and was empty by the time it got back to Naruto. The disguised Genin flagged down a waitress and ordered another bottle of sake.

Normally, Naruto would have been winning a majority of the games due to his unnatural luck when it came to gambling. However, it wouldn't do for him to make the other shinobi at the table suspicious of him and leave, so he purposely folded when he could have won. He also pretended to get even more drunk with each swig that he took from his bottle.

After ten games, Naruto finally felt comfortable enough to start asking some questions. Not only had he lost a decent amount of money to the Oto shinobi at the table, but they had also consumed about five bottles of sake.

Naruto blearily peered at the other card players at the table. "You guys…you guys are good. And, you have a lot of money. How did you get so much?"

The leader of the group let out a short chuckle. "We're shinobi, not merchants. We make more money in one day than you can make in an entire caravan run."

"So what, you save a princess from a dragon or kill some rich guy and take his money?"

All of the Oto shinobi started to laugh as they heard the ridiculous comment that Naruto made.

"No, nothing like that. We're just on defense duty," one of the other shinobi commented.

After his subordinate stated that, the leader immediately sat up straighter and narrowed his eyes. Naruto noticed this, and realized that he was treading on dangerous ground, and decided to take a short break in his questioning.

"…You're killing the image I have of shinobi. I thought that shinobi were supposed to do all the glorious missions and get famous. But now I hear that you're just defending some town…boring! Let's get back to the game."

The leader relaxed his posture after he heard the merchant's statement. "You heard the man, deal the cards!"

-----------------

While Naruto was in the corner of the bar playing poker, Kiba was sitting at the counter, trying out the different types of drinks that they had. He was currently surrounded by numerous glasses, and right now, the mission was the third thing on his mind.

The first was how Sempai was right, and the drinks were much stronger than what he was used to getting in Konoha, yet it still tasted amazing. Second was Hinata-chan; if there was any extra time after the mission was finished, he vowed to get her to visit this bar with him. Besides showing her the wonders of sake, he might also be able to get something more than kisses out of her; sake can do amazing things to one's inhibitions.

"Enjoying the drinks?"

Kiba turned around on his bar stool and came face to face with a man his age.

"Yup! They're better than what I can get back home! Stupid weak drinks back home…"

The young man laughed. "I know what you mean. The first time I came here, I spent hours at the bar just trying out the different types of drinks they have here. By the way, my name's Gin!"

Kiba smiled. It seemed as though he had found a fellow sake lover. Plus, he looked like he wasn't an uptight shinobi, let alone a shinobi. Kiba couldn't feel even the tiniest bit of chakra leaking out of him, which probably meant he was a civilian.

"My names Kiba! Come on, I'll buy you a drink!"

For a while, the two just sat at the bar tasting the sake and commenting on which they liked better.

Kiba had never really socialized with civilians back home. He had always been busy with training, missions, and clan business. When he did have free time, he usually went to the shinobi-only bars instead of the open bars. He never really felt the urge to socialize with civilians, because he had always thought of them as being weak and worthless.

After hanging out with Gin for only a few hours though, he was starting to re-evaluate his opinion of civilians. None of his friends loved sake as much as he did; in fact, the only hobby that he had in common with his shinobi friends was training. Maybe he had been missing out all these years; all those nights when he had been bored out of his mind and none of his friends had wanted to go to the bar with him, could have been replaced with wild parties if only he had befriended some civilians.

In addition to sharing a mutual love of sake, Gin also shared Kiba's belief on the women's role. Apparently, it was a common belief held among the civilians that the woman was supposed to stay at home cleaning house, cooking, and taking care of the children while the man went to work. That belief appealed to Kiba; not only because he thought it was right, but because it would also cement his position as the alpha male in the relationship.

"So Kiba, do you have a girlfriend?" Gin asked, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Huh? No, not really."

"No girlfriend? That's tough. I got one, and I love having her around. Not only is the sex great, but she already cooks for me and cleans my apartment. Hey, if you want, she has some friends that are still single, and I could hook you up."

"I don't have a girlfriend, but I have a fiancé," Kiba stated as a smirk crawled across his face.

Gin's eyes widened in surprise. "A fiancé? Aren't you kinda young to be getting married?"

"Nah, where I'm from, it's common."

"Well, is she rich? Can she cook well?"

"Her clan is rich, and yeah, she can cook really well."

"How about her personality? Has she gotten that stupid idea that women are equal to men and have to be treated as such?"

Kiba frowned. "Hmmm…well, she is timid by nature, so it shouldn't be too hard to get her to follow me, but she has been getting a bit free-spirited."

"Well, in that case, you just gotta have one rough night with her. Give her one rough night and show her who's in charge, and I guarantee that she'll never argue with you again."

Kiba grinned. "Then I guess doggy-style would be best; not only am I in control, but I get a fine view of her ass."

Gin laughed. "You're completely right Kiba! So, is she going to keep her last name or take yours? I heard that some women are starting to keep their last name instead of taking their husband's name now."

Kiba frowned in thought. "Not sure about that. We haven't really talked about it. I'm going to try and make her take my name, but the Hyuuga elders can be strict about marrying into the clan…"

The Inuzuka heir's eyes widened as he realized that he had just slipped that he was marrying from Konoha. He was immediately on alert, aware that he might have to kill Gin before he could share the information and run out of the bar.

Gin just nodded his head in agreement. "Yup, elders really can be bastards, can't they?"

"Tell me about it! I have to go and learn all about their clan, and their traditions and all this other bullshit. I mean, I'm going to be in charge of my own clan one day, so why do I have to learn more stuff about another clan?"

Kiba's drinking partner started to look a bit more interested at hearing that fact, something that Kiba noticed. "So you're going to be in charge of the family business one day?"

Kiba nodded slightly; all the muscles in his body were once again tense and he was ready to slash Gin's throat and run out of the bar at a moment's notice.

A wide smile spread across Gin's face. "Excellent! Since that means that you're going to be rich, the next round is on you!"

Kiba relaxed once again and ordered yet another drink for the two of them. "Yeah, I guess that does mean that I'll be rich, huh? Only thing is, I'm gone most of the time, business trips and what not, so I don't really have much time to enjoy being rich."

"Yeah, well when you do have time to party, then you can party in style! Work hard, party harder, that's my motto!"

"Well, since I'm not working right now, let's keep the drinks flowing!"

After a short while, Kiba's wallet had gotten considerably lighter since he entered the bar. By then, he was rather drunk; not enough that he would spill the beans about their mission or anything, but drunk enough to know that he would regret it in the morning. He looked up at the clock mounted above the bar and noticed that it was almost time for him to meet up with the rest of his team.

"Gin, it's been fun, but I need to leave. I have to leave early in the morning to get back to my village. If I could, I would have stayed here until we both passed out," Kiba sincerely apologized.

Gin nodded his head in understanding. "Don't worry, I understand. Your fiancé is probably worrying all about you, huh?"

"Yeah, she always worries that I'll get hurt or killed, even when I don't even leave the country."

"The life of a merchant is a dangerous one, isn't it? Well, enough talking, let's have one last drink before we part, shall we?" Gin asked in a jokingly formal tone.

"Yes, let us two gentlemen share a last saucer before our ways part," he replied in kind.

The two sake-buddies shared one last drink before Kiba put his hand on Gin's shoulder and walked out of the bar. Gin grabbed the bottle that was in front of him and shook it. There was enough left in it for another saucer or two; he decided that it wouldn't harm to finish off the bottle before he went back and reported the situation to his bosses.

Gin sighed in content as he took a sip from his saucer. Kiba had bought some of the finest sake that the bar had to offer; his 'merchant' clan must have been rather rich if he could afford buying so many bottles of high-class alcohol.

Suddenly, he felt someone else bump into him as he was about to take another sip. He turned to his left to see who had bumped into him, and saw one of the poker players next to him.

"Sorry," the poker player said. "Musta tripped or somethin'. Y'okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"Here," he said, handing the man several bills. "Buy some sake, for yo'self, yes?"

Gin just nodded his head and graciously took the offered bills. It wasn't uncommon that patrons would offer a drink to someone else in an attempt to avoid conflict.

A few minutes later, Gin had finished the bottle that he and Kiba had been working on and a beer that he had used the man's bills to get. With a sigh, he got up and left the bar, heading to tell his superiors of the situation.

-----------------------------------

When Kiba landed at their headquarters, he saw Shino and Hinata standing there, waiting for them.

"Hey guys, how did the scouting go?" he asked.

"It was rather fruitful," Shino answered. "Is that…sake? Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk. Just a bit…tipsy," he answered. He saw Hinata giving him a small frown. "Don't look at me like that Hinata-chan; I was digging for information in a bar, everybody would think I was a spy if I wasn't drinking in there!"

"I s-suppose y-you are r-right," she replied. "W-where is s-sempai?"

"Dunno. He should be here soon, I mean he is the leader right?"

"That is a valid point. It should not be long until he arrives. If he is in trouble, he will undoubtedly give the retreat signal."

The three shinobi waited for about five minutes until they saw their team leader walk into the clearing, with his oni mask back in place.

"Where were you?" Kiba asked.

"I was setting up the security seals; in case, anyone tries to attack us or spy on us, I will know."

Shino frowned in confusion. "Seals of that caliber usually take an hour to complete."

Naruto shrugged. "I have a lot of practice with Fuuinjutsu. Now, Shino, what did you and Hinata find?"

"It was impossible for me to get any of my Kikai into the actual base, but I have planted some nearby. They will stay there and observe the base for another day or two before they return to me. We have created a map of the area, and noted any routes that we thought would be viable to use if we need to attack the base."

"It w-was strange, b-but my Byakugan w-was unable to p-penetrate the w-walls," she answered.

Naruto frowned. "That means that they had seals on the wall…who knows what else they have in there. This complicates things; I may have to infiltrate the base in order to find out more information."

He shook his head. "We'll deal with that tomorrow. What did you find out from the guy at the bar Kiba?"

"Not much. Apparently he runs supplies to the town. Other than that, he has great taste in sake."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, even though none of his classmates could see it. "Gin is in charge of the supplies?"

"Yeah…how do you know his name?"

"But why would they put a Jounin in charge of carting supplies back and forth? Even if he is being blacklisted, he wouldn't be put in charge of supplies, that would be a waste…"

"Shinobi? He's a merchant!"

Naruto stared at Kiba, which started to scare Kiba. That oni mask was extremely realistic.

"You didn't realize that he was a shinobi?" Naruto slowly asked Kiba.

"No…"

"Kuso…he's a Jounin of Otogakure," Naruto replied.

"How do you know that?"

"Because the Oto shinobi that I was playing poker with called him 'boss', and let it slip that one of their highest ranking Jounin here was sitting at the bar drinking sake instead of playing poker because he always loses at poker."

"He…he lied? No one can lie that well…"

"Spies can…which means that he was a plant, waiting to see if anyone was coming here to spy on them. Please tell me that you didn't spill anything," Naruto stated in a harsh tone.

"Of course not!"

"What did you tell him then? The two of you were drinking together for four hours, and seeing as how you didn't know that he was a Jounin, then you must have done most of the talking!" Naruto yelled.

"Nothing of importance! We talked about sake mainly, and I told him that I was a merchant and that I'm engaged. I was trying to figure out where he got the supplies from, but it was harder than you think! "

Shino shook his head in disapproval. "You refrained from telling your teammate of three years of your engagement yet you tell a total stranger after drinking together?"

"I didn't say Hyuuga Hinata, I just said that I was marrying into another clan!"

"And did you tell him that you were the heir of your own clan?" Shino sarcastically asked.

"Well…yeah, I did. That was the only way to explain why I had so much money to buy drinks!"

"Are you sure you didn't let anything slip? Absolutely sure? Are you sure enough to bet the lives of everyone here that you didn't let anything slip?" Naruto questioned.

Kiba started to look a bit uncomfortable. "I may have mentioned something about having to please the elders before we could get married…"

"Please tell me that you weren't drunk enough that you said Hyuuga elders…"

"No! I didn't say Hyuuga or anything related to Konoha during the entire night except that the drinks back home are a lot weaker than the ones here!"

Hinata had noticed that their proctor had suddenly become rather stiff and silent instead of leading the argument.

"Ano…s-sempai, is s-something wrong?"

Her question seemed to bring him out of his stupor, and he nodded his head. "It seems that we were followed," he answered.

"What? Who?" Kiba asked.

"That I don't know…what I do know though, is that there are at least twenty chakra signatures, and several of those are high enough that they could be Jounin."

"How do you know that?" Shino asked.

"The seals that I placed around our headquarters. Some of them count the number of chakra signatures within a certain radius and others measure the level of chakra of those in a certain radius."

"What w-would h-happen if someone w-was masking their c-chakra signature when they w-walked over it?"

"Masking your signature won't work. Nothing can hide from seals," he answered. "Enough talking; gather your gear and prepare to leave. We have been compromised, and must leave as soon as possible."

The members of Team Eight nodded and headed into the cave and gathered their packs. When they came out, they noticed that Sempai was sketching a seal onto the ground in front of the cave entrance.

"This is basically the same seal that is on an exploding tag, but much stronger," he said, answering their unvoiced question. "Ready? Then we should le….duck!"

Everyone dropped to the ground just as several kunai and shuriken flew over their heads. In response, Naruto formed a handseal and several explosions went off in the forest. Immediately after the explosions went off, several screams were heard.

"Run! We must get the information back to Konoha!" Naruto ordered.

Naruto took the rear while Shino took the front and started to jump from tree branch to tree branch.

"Why are we running?" Kiba asked. "We could take them!"

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, the information is much more important than taking out a few enemy shinobi. Besides, there won't be any political fallout because no one knows that we're from Konoha."

Every so often, a few kunai would be thrown at the group. Whenever that happened, Naruto would just turn around and throw a few kunai with exploding tags attached to them back towards their pursuers.

The group suddenly heard a loud roaring sound behind them. "Get to the sides!" he ordered.

Kiba and Shino veered to their left, while Hinata and Naruto went to the right. Naruto turned around and saw a massive sound wave tearing up the ground while it was heading towards him and Hinata.

"Kuso..." he mumbled. The wave was about a yard away from them; he knew that he would be able to dodge it, but Hinata wasn't fast enough to dodge it. Without a second thought, he grabbed Hinata and dove as far as he could to his left.

Hinata shut her eyes tightly when she saw the sound wave making its way towards her. She knew that she wasn't fast enough to avoid the attack; it was coming far too fast and too close for her to be able to dodge it.

Suddenly, she felt someone roughly grab her by the shoulders and push her out of the way. She opened her eyes to come face to face with Sempai's oni mask. The first thing that she noticed was that his mask didn't seem to be nearly as scary as it used to be; instead, the eyes seemed to be filled with kindness as he stared at her.

"Are…are you okay?" he asked, taking deep breaths.

"I…I'm fine. Arigato…I w-wouldn't have b-been able to d-dodge that."

"It was nothing. You should go meet up with the rest of your team."

Hinata nodded and jumped up to the tree. To her surprise, Sempai didn't jump up to the branch. She looked down to where she had left him and saw that he was still on the ground. Suddenly, the words that he had just spoken reverberated in her head. Concerned, she jumped back down to the ground.

"You j-just said that o-only I should find my t-team…what about y-you?"

Naruto chuckled. "I'm not going to be going anywhere with this leg," he said as he pointed to his right leg.

Hinata had to stifle a gasp as she looked at his leg. It must have been hit by the attack that he had saved her from, because it looked like it had been shredded. The damage was so bad that she could see his bone and muscles, not to mention the fact that his blood was quickly making a dark stain on the forest floor.

"H-how…how d-did a sound ninjutsu d-do this much d-damage? I've seen the effects of their n-ninjutsu, a-and it d-doesn't do this…" Hinata wondered outloud.

"It must have been a hybrid ninjutsu, combining wind and sound. It felt like my leg was being shaved by wind razors," Naruto answered.

"L-let me h-heal your leg before we go. I l-learned f-from Tsunade-sama, a-and I am s-sure that I can heal it," she said before green chakra covered her hands and moved them towards his mangled leg.

Naruto grabbed her hands and shook his head. "Don't bother. The extent of my injuries would take up most of your chakra, leaving you with nothing left to use to get back to Konoha. And I wouldn't be able to make the return trip on newly repaired muscle."

"Then w-what do we do?" Hinata frantically asked.

Naruto balefully let go of her hands; he had forgotten how soft her skin had been. "Run. Meet up with your team, and get the information back to Konoha," he said as he handed her a scroll from his side pouch.

"No! K-konoha shinobi don't leave each other behind!" she yelled.

"You have to! The mission comes first!"

"M-my friends' sensei h-has a s-saying that Kurenai-sensei t-taught us. It is, 'T-those who f-fail their mission are trash, b-but those who a-abandon their t-teammates are w-worse than trash.' I h-have taken that saying to heart, and I w-won't start now," Hinata replied firmly.

"Not in this case. The information that is in that scroll has vital information that the Hokage must get. With this information, she can save hundreds, if not thousands of lives, both civilian and shinobi!"

Hinata froze. Sempai did make a valid point, but just thinking of leaving him behind left a sour taste in her mouth. Even though they hadn't spent much time together, she still felt strangely attached to him.

Suddenly, the two shinobi felt several chakra signatures rushing towards them. Hinata recognized three of them, but she was unfamiliar with the others, meaning that they were about to be intercepted by Oto shinobi.

"Go," Naruto urged. "Find your teammates and leave now!"

"N-no!"

"No what Hinata-chan?" Kiba asked as he entered the clearing closely followed by Shino and Akamaru.

"S-sempai is badly injured. H-he won't be able to walk."

"Can you heal him?" Shino asked.

"I c-can, b-but then I'll be out of chakra and S-sempai won't b-be able to run on it."

Shino dropped his head as he realized the full extent of the situation that they were in. Kiba absent-mindedly scratched the top of Akamaru's head as he tried to figure out what they should do next.

Naruto had picked up on Shino's body language and realized that he could be persuaded to do what had to be done.

"Go," Naruto pleaded again. "For the greater good, you must leave me!"

Kiba's lips curled back as he snarled. "No! We don't leave allies behind!"

"Forget that pack mentality of yours for just a minute, and listen. The Hokage must get the information in this scroll! And don't even suggest having Hinata-san healing me and then you and Shino will carry the two of us; by the time that I am stable enough for transport, we will be surrounded."

While Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru still looked mutinous and ready to argue again, Shino grimly nodded his head.

"Sempai is correct…can't you fell it? There are at least twelve large chakra signatures coming near us…we have to leave now."

"Are you suggesting that we leave a fellow Konoha shinobi behind?" Kiba asked.

"No, he is following my orders for all of you to leave now!" Naruto yelled. "Besides," he continued, his voice softening, "you two are going to be married. You can't die yet."

"Y-you're…right…I guess. C'mon, Hinata-chan, we need to go."

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise; she knew that they had to leave, but she still didn't want to leave him behind. She reached into her medical pouch and pulled out a small jar and handed it to Naruto.

"Ano…h-here, t-take these pain pills."

Naruto twisted open the bottle and swallowed all the pills inside. "Arigato," he said.

"Ano…you s-should have only taken t-two…"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I figure it would be best to make my death as painless as possible."

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise. "D-d-death!?"

"Of course. You didn't think they would just let me leave with a slap on the wrist, did you?"

"I t-thought they would take y-you as a prisoner! We c-can't leave you now!"

"Maybe, but I'd rather die now than die a week later after being tortured."

Hinata's eyes widened as she heard Sempai talk so blatantly about his possible death and torture. She would have left a few seconds ago when she thought that Sempai would only be imprisoned. Now that she knew that he would be killed or tortured first, there was no way that she would leave her temporary sensei behind.

"Hurry," Naruto urged. "They're getting closer, and if they see that I'm not by myself, then they'll send search parties after you!"

Shino turned his back to his teammates before he spoke up.

"He's right…I can hear them coming. We need to leave now."

Naruto could tell that while Shino would be willing to leave him behind and complete the mission, Hinata would never abandon him because it would go against her moral. Kiba, would just go along with whatever Hinata wanted in order to stay on her good side, not to mention his pack mentality kicking in.

Since he couldn't see any other way, he quickly formed several hand seals. A gust of wind appeared out of no where and blew the members of Team Eight towards Konoha. It didn't push them very far, only about a hundred yards or so, but it was enough. As far as they were out of sight of the Oto shinobi, it was far enough.

A small grin spread across his face; even if he was in danger, he had managed to get his friends out of danger. The grin faded when he saw multiple shinobi jump down into the clearing in front of him.

"What are you doing here Konoha scum?"

"Definitely not admiring the view."

"Why did you come here?"

"Well," Naruto started to answer, "I lost my kunai."

"Lost a kunai?" one of the Oto shinobi in the back asked.

"Yup. Oh look, there it is!" Naruto replied, pointing towards the shinobi who had just spoken up.

"What….bastard!" the leader spoke up before he punched Naruto in the stomach, after he saw that a kunai had buried itself in his teammate's eye socket.

Naruto just laughed and quickly formed several hand seals, whispered, "Katon: Karyuu Endan," and took a deep breath before he exhaled. Out of his mouth came a roaring fire dragon that headed for the shinobi that had just punched him, and burned him to a crisp.

The rest of the Oto shinobi jumped back, now aware that the crippled Konoha shinobi was far from being harmless. Naruto reached into his pouch and threw several kunai towards the tree branches that the shinobi had retreated back to.

Suddenly, a swarm of kunai headed straight for him. He reached into his pouch and pulled out his last kunai and used it to deflect as many kunai as he could. Unfortunately, he was unable to block all of them. A few managed to hit his bad leg while some hit his right arm.

'Good thing I took all those pain killers, or I would probably be feeling these,' Naruto thought to himself.

Seeing as no more kunai were heading for him, he jammed his kunai into the ground and started to form hand seals. Before he could finish the seals though, he saw an Oto shinobi in the corner of his eye.

Before he could do anything about the new threat, the shinobi grasped his battle ax from his back and swung down. Naruto just blinked in surprise as he saw the stump of hands.

'Well…this isn't good…Hmmm…those are some great pain pills, I don't even feel an ounce of pain.'

Instead of just taking the loss of his hands as a sign of defeat, Naruto lashed out with his legs, managing to knock down the shinobi who had taken his hands.

"Take my hands, and I'll take your life," Naruto calmly stated before he raised his leg up and swung it down, enforcing his kick with chakra. His kick landed on the shinobi's throat and effectively crushed his windpipe.

The remaining Oto shinobi came out of the trees and slowly gathered around the crippled Konoha shinobi. After losing several of their teammates, they knew better than to underestimate him.

"My, my, my, you are a beast, aren't you Naruto-kun? After all, everyone knows that a wounded beast fights it's hardest when it's trapped."

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard that comment. "I know that voice. Come on out…Kabuto."

The silver haired shinobi walked forward and smiled. "I'm so glad you remember me Naruto-kun. It has been far too long. I won't bother ask how you're doing, because I can tell that you're not doing well at all."

"But, I do have a question. Why isn't the Kyuubi healing you? Even if it can't grow back limbs, it should at least stop the bleeding."

Naruto grinned up at the shinobi. "Do I know something that you don't know Kabuto? It must be driving you nuts, huh? Why should I tell you?"

"Because," Kabuto started to answer as he formed a chakra scalpel in his right hand. "You'll die," he finished as he sliced Naruto's arteries to his heart, just as he had done over three years ago.

Naruto just smiled before he started to cough up some blood. "You'll never know," he started to sing before unconsciousness took over.

Kabuto' eyes widened in surprise before he activated medical chakra and started to reconnect the arteries before it was too late.

"What are you doing? He's an enemy, remember?"

Kabuto didn't bother to look at the speaker as he answered. "Because he wants to die. He must not be allowing the Kyuubi to heal his wounds because he has information that he is willing to die for in order to keep it from us."

A few moments later, Kabuto let out a sigh of relief when he saw Naruto-kun's chest rise up and down as he started to breathe again. He was extremely lucky that he had saw through Naruto-kun's plan; if the Jincuuriki had died, Ocorhimaru would have been extremely angry with him.

Kabuto moved on to treat Naruto's wrists. It was too late to reattach his hands, not that he would have if he had been able to. Giving him back his hands would have been a big mistake; besides, losing his hands weren't fatal.

After he managed to stop the bleeding, Kabuto pulled out a roll of medical tape and bandages and started to wrap Naruto's wrists. He activated a diagnosis ninjutsu once more in order to make sure that Naruto was out of danger. Satisfied with his work, he turned around and headed back towards the base.

"Come on, carry him back to base. We're done here," Kabuto called over his shoulder. "I have some work to get back to."

"Where would you like us to put him?"

"Just put him in one of the cells. I want three shinobi guarding him every second of every day."

"Hai!" the leader answered before he picked up Naruto none to gently.

"Careful," Kabuto warned. "He has information that I need."

"Sorry," he replied.

Kabuto started to leap ahead of the shinobi. Even though they were all ranked as Jounin, Kabuto found their company to be rather lacking.

"Oh, and let me know when he wakes up right away," Kabuto called over his shoulder. "Orochimaru-sama has tasked me with getting some information out of him…using whatever methods necessary."

"Would you like me to alert the Torture squad?"

"Hmmm…tell them to sharpen their tools. Naruto-kun is very stubborn…I'm sure that he'll need plenty of 'persuasion'. In fact, I think I'm going to have my work cut out for me."

A/N: Once again, I'd like to apologize for not updating sooner. Homework and work completely took up all of my time. I was actually going to make this chapter a lot longer, but then I realized I should stop at 54 pages…

Sorry if there are a lot of errors – I rushed the editing in order to get this out as quickly as possible.

I just know I'm going to piss off tons of people for what I just did to Naruto and Hinata. But whatever, just remember that this story will be a Naru/Hina no matter what happens! It's under the tragedy genre for a reason people…

At least the manga is starting to get a bit better. Hinata isn't dead, and she finally admitted her feelings to Naruto. That restored a bit of my faith in the manga…but I'm still highly disappointed in it.

One last thing: if you have any questions, feel free to p.m. me or post a question on the thread I made for this story (the link is available in my author's page). I would prefer it if you posted it on the forum-that way, if anyone has a similar or same question, I can answer it at once instead of having to repeat myself multiple times.

Well, please review! Oh, and I hope you liked it! And hopefully, the next update won't take nearly as long!