The Kunoichi Code

Chapter 1

The Black Dove

(I don't own Naruto)

XxXxX

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined, nursing the small bump on his head. "That hurts!"

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura yelled, slapping him upside the head once more as she glared at him. "When will you get the hint? Kakashi-sensei is always late so there's no use whining about it!"

And at that comment, Naruto pouted childishly, slumping against the fire truck red guard rail of the bridge that team seven was currently waiting on for their teacher.

It was their normal routine. Wake up at seven am, eat breakfast, meet teammates on the bridge, Sakura yelling at Naruto, and Kakashi showing up around two hours later. It has always been like that and it would probably never change.

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke (who had come back after finding out the truth) were Team Seven, with Kakashi Hatake as their team leader. The three were currently lounging on the wooden bridge—which the towns people nick name 'Team Seven's Bridge' for they had been always meeting on there every morning (when they didn't have missions) ever since they were twelve (they were now sixteen)—waiting for their teacher in comfortable silence.

Okay, maybe it wasn't comfortable with Naruto pouting with his arms crossed, Sasuke's overall aura, and Sakura's impatient expression but it was better than them fighting.

And exactly two hours later, Kakashi had poofed in front of them right on time, wearing his usual mask and hiate over his eye, reading his perverted orange book.

"Yo!" He called out lazily, not bothering to look at them. "Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life." He didn't look sorry at all, though it was hard to tell since most of his face was covered up.

"You're still late Kakashi-sensei," Naruto and Sakura said together in a bored manner, for they had the same conversation yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and they day before that…

"What are we doing today?" Sasuke asked quietly, though his teammates had heard him loud and clear.

"Nothing much. A few D-rank missions, some training, and yes, we might be able to go to Ichiraku later," The last part was for Naruto—who screamed in delight, punching his fist in the air with a silly grin on his face.

"Well let's go then," Kakashi chuckled, slipping the orange book into his kunai pouch.

XxXxX

Hinata Hyuuga, the heiress of the well known Hyuuga clan, was currently squirming in her seat as her father's unrelenting gaze was resting upon her. She didn't know why her father had called her for a meeting this morning and her mind was going over the multiple possibilities why she was called in all of a sudden.

She hadn't done anything wrong; in fact, she was actually doing very well. She had been promoted to Jonin a few months ago, getting her well earned respect from her family, and had been conquering her shyness so much that she could actually look Naruto in the eye without fainting.

Most of the time.

She still fainted. A lot.

But not as much.

Never mind.

She still fainted whenever Naruto was near.

"You called father," She murmured, her gaze lowered to the floor, her hands were situated in her lap.

"Yes." Was Hiashi's curt and short reply. "I've come to the knowledge that you've been promoted to Jonin." Hinata inwardly sighed, she had been promoted for a few months and her father was only learning about it now. What a shocker.

"Congratulations. It's been about time you've been getting stronger. I only wish that you could've done it sooner like your cousin, Neji. Even your younger sister by five years became chuunin two years faster than you did. Train harder."

Hinata felt herself shrink under her father's harsh words. No matter how much she trained or tried, she was always second best to her father. All her hard work wasn't enough to please the head of the Hyuuga clan.

"However," –at this, Hinata felt a glimmer of hope—"With you recent performances, if you keep it up, you might actually have a chance at being the Head of the Hyuuga clan. I hope you get stronger."

Hinata was shocked, she had thought that her father would want Hanabi, her younger sister, to become the head and her father was actually encouraging her to get stronger.

Hiashi offered a gently smile, "I think it's about time that you learn more about the Hyuuga Jyuuken techniques."

"Dismissed."

Though Hiashi had disappeared, Hinata stayed in her seat, unmoving, unblinking. Her father, the one who had called her weak, wanted to teach her, train her, and was actually proud of her for the first time ever since Hanabi was born.

XxXxX

Ino was planning on having a great day. Training was cancelled, for they had just finished a B-rank mission, she had gotten her allowance, and had a day off from the flower shop. With her newly acquired allowance mixed in with her mission earnings, she was planning on going shopping and ending the day with a trip to the spa.

It was barely nine in the morning and Ino already had her hands full of multi colored bags from different stores. She was planning on going home to drop them off and then buy even more clothing and accessories.

She winked flirtatiously at a bystander, flipping her long golden locks and smirked when he had turned an interesting shade of red.

Boys are so predictable. Ino thought, digging into her skirt pocket for her house keys, Just wink or talk to them and they're like putty in your hands.

Her hands grasped around the cool metal of her house keys, she had opened the door and was greeted with the familiar sight of her quaint living room. She quickly jogged up the steps and dumped all of her bags onto her purple comforter on her bed before disappearing back into the living room.

Just as she was locking the door, she had spotted a bird flying over the streets of Konoha. It was dove. And not just any dove, a midnight black one. It flew gracefully over her before it was out of sight, though Ino continued to stare with glassy eyes at the direction where the bird had disappeared.

Forgetting about her key,- which was still in the lock- Ino had sprinted towards the Hokage tower, dodging whoever was in her way, the street vendors, the booths, until she was sprinting on the roofs of her houses, her mind on one thing.

Damnit. Not another one.

XxXxX

Hinata was swelling with pride when she entered Team Eight's training grounds. Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai had noticed too, though they didn't dare comment as it could spoil her good mood.

"Good morning," She had chirped with no stutter at all.

"Good morning Hinata," Kiba boyishly grinned, absent mindedly petting Akamaru's large furry head. "You ready to train?"

"Of course Kiba-kun. Who am I training with today?"

"Shino. Kiba, you'll be working with me." The two who had been talking both nodded diligently, walking towards their partner.

"Hello Shino-kun. How are you this morning?" Hinata politely asked, stretching her arms before she settled into battle stance.

"I'm fine, Hinata." Shino, despite the warm weather, was still wearing his large dark coat and hood, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"We'll do regular taijutsu battle for warm up," Kurenai called to them. "No weapons, no jutsus, or help from your bugs, Shino or Akamaru, Kiba. No Byakugan either, Hinata."

The three nodded, before Kiba was the first to attack Kurenai.

However, Hinata and Shino had stayed in their positions, sizing each other up, waiting for their opponent to make a move.

Then, Shino had seemingly disappeared, though Hinata knew better than that. Twisting her body, she had easily deflected one of his blows, before the two had engaged in heated taijutsu battle.

Just before Hinata was going to sweep kick Shino, she had frozen in her spot as she stared above.

There, flapping its wings against the white fluffy clouds was a pure black dove.

"Kurenai-sensei. Did you see…"Hinata trailed off, standing up from her crouching position.

Kurenai solemnly nodded, leaving Kiba and Shino (though you couldn't tell because of his tinted glasses) confused as the two stared at the oddly colored bird.

"Kiba. Shino. Team training is cancelled for the next week. Hinata and I have some… Kunoichi business to attend to."

The two males on Team Eight were confused on how Kurenai phrased her sentence and Kiba was going to ask what she meant, though the two already left the them, heading towards the Hokage Tower, along with many other Kunoichi's, all with grim thoughts and saddened expressions.

Hinata's happy mood from her talk from her father had evaporated and was replaced with sadness, tears threatening fall from her large lavender pupiless eyes.

XxXxX

Unlike most of the Kunoichi's, Sakura had not spotted the oddly colored dove as she was busy in her heated training session with her team.

"C'mon Sensei, is that all you got?" Sakura laughed, dodging the multiple punches coming from her silver haired (silver not grey) teacher.

Kakashi did not answer, but continued his multiple arrays of punches towards his pink haired student.

"HELL YEAH!" Sakura screamed, punching the ground making the whole area crack.

"I don't get it. Sakura-chan makes the ground crack and crumble almost every day but the next day, everything is all fixed. How is that possible?" Naruto whispered to Sasuke. The two were sitting on the branches of a large oak tree, surveying battle as they had already fought before them.

Sasuke shrugged, his eyes analyzing every move of the battle before him, "How should I know? Why don't you ask Tsunade-sama later?"

"Well, well, well. Seem that forehead girl is busy training." Sakura twitched as she withdrew her fist from the mass of rubble she had created.

"What do you want, Ami?" Sakura asked, flexing her hands which were encases in fingerless leather black gloves.

Ami Mitarashi, the cousin of Anko Mitarashi, was a Chuunin of Konoha who was older then Sakura by a year. She was tall and thin, her bright purple hair uneven, resting on her newly acquired chuunin vest.

She was currently leisurely leaning against one of the trees, idly twirling a lock of her pin straight purple hair. She was surveying the damage that Sakura had cause with her chocolate brown eyes, not showing her surprise.

Ami and Sakura had known each other since they were Academy students and weren't friends at all. The two were indifferent to each other, not liking yet not hating each other.

"If you're going to flirt with Sasuke, can you do it later? I'm training with Kakashi-sensei."

Ami scoffed, "I'm over him Sakura. I'm heading over to the Hokage tower. Kunoichi Protocol, Black Dove. You probably missed it so I'm just telling you."

Sakura's breath hitched as she made her way through the piles and mounds of remains until she was standing next to Ami.

"Sensei, I won't be at training for the next few days." She informed him before she disappeared into the crowd with her purple haired acquaintance.

"What was that all about?" Naruto loudly asked Kakashi, who had shook his head. He didn't even know what they meant about Black Doves or Protocols.

"Just forget about it. Sasuke, Naruto, start sparring."

"But Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto whined, though he followed his teacher's orders and jumped lightly on the ground. Sasuke inwardly sighed, running his hand through his hair and settled into battle stance, forgetting about the interaction that just happened from Ami and Sakura.

An: The Black Dove's meaning will be explained in a few chapters. This is more of a prologue then a chapter. Sakura, Hinata, and Ino aren't the only main characters. Other Kunoichi's and Konoha 13 are a big part of it as well. You might be wondering about Ami but she was the only one I could think off to tell Sakura. She's related to Anko because, you have to admit, she looks a lot like her.

Lots of Love, Azusa-Angel

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