Hey guys. Upon looking through the reviews, I have noticed some people's discontent with the way things are portrayed, so I'm gonna clear some shit up to make sure no one is confused, and everyone's reading experience as good as possible. One of these things is the way that the Hyuuga hate Naruto. Going on this person's point, I agree fully that any right-minded Hyuuga could see that Naruto is most definitely NOT the Kyuubi, and vice versa. What about a Hyuuga who was influences otherwise, though? (Hint this will be a plot point later so trust me on this)

I also saw a few that addressed Naruto getting attacked by villagers, and how it was a bit overused, and how Sarutobi should have just been able to scry Naruto through his crystal ball and stop it. As for it being a little overused...eh, you got me there. However, it set up the scenario I needed it to set up, and it's been a LONG time since I wrote anything in the actual Narutoverse, so while it's a tad cliché, it did what I needed it to. As for Sarutobi not simply stopping it when he should have seen it...also going to be explained later as the plot thickens.

I just want to reiterate that I read ALL of the reviews I get, and take them seriously (for an example look above). Sometimes I'll get a tad lazy because I want to do something else but want to keep writing, so I'll finish it off in a way I think is good at the time, even though it isn't that much. Just know that if you spot something you think is off-key, and let me know, unless there's a point to it being that way, I'll probably change it or mention it.

ANYWAY that's enough of my rambling, my word it's been a long time since I've had an A/N this long. I hope you enjoy!

He saw Hinata's eyes widen in happiness, before growing a little distraught, flickering over to Naruto's still form. Sarutobi chuckled lightly. "Hinata-chan, you have no need to worry. Naruto will have partial control over who he wishes to support, and you will not be sent on assassination missions for quite some time. In time this will be your job, but until then, Anko is merely there to guide your training to see where you need improvement on your current skills, before expanding to infiltration and other such subjects. You will be free to train with others in your free time, and aid other teams in missions, should they request you." He added the last part with emphasis, shooting a look towards Naruto who caught on immediately, causing his face to split into a wide grin.

Hinata nodded, also sporting a large smile, blushing a little when she felt Naruto squeeze her hand from behind her. "I accept, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen smiled, raising his arms. "Then, I hereby welcome you as official genin of Konoha!"

Naruto grunted, taking the chakra-powered hit to his thigh before using his good leg to push himself away, letting loose a few shadow clones as cover. As he leaped away, Hinata swiftly took pursuit, rolling in midair to dodge both of his clones' attacks while lashing out and striking them both in the head, dispelling them. She landed smoothly and rolled, using the momentum to launch herself at Naruto, Byakugan blazing.

'Shit' Naruto thought, before performing a quick substitution with a nearby log. He watched as the log was shattered with ease at the pale-eyed kunoichi's blow, before she turned on a dime and rushed him again, throwing several shuriken in order to stop the hand signs she knew he was about to start on. Naruto cursed before making a quick shadow clone, having it block the initial attack Hinata had dished out, slowing her momentum and allowing him to escape her brutal jyuken strikes yet again.

'Have I become that predictable?' Naruto thought, a frown marring his features. If his frown affected Hinata at all, she didn't show it, choosing instead to unleash a barrage of kunai at him. He leapt up without thinking, immediately realizing his mistake as the girl jumped into the air with him, her face bright with triumph. Thinking quickly he formed a shadow clone, before kicking off of it, sending it towards the Hyuuga and himself away from her. Suddenly, an idea dawned on him, and he grinned widely at the plan. 'It's so stupid, it just might work. And I suppose I need to start being completely random or else Hinata-chan is gonna beat me one of these days.'

He landed on the ground on one knee, his most used hand sign already up, forming a small army of shadow clones behind him. Suddenly, clones were grabbing other clones and launching them at the still airborne Hinata, trying to strike her in midair. Hinata quickly began using her superior taijutsu skills to jyuken the clones as they came flying, but so many were coming she began dispelling them with regular taijutsu to save chakra. An ax-kick to the head - that one gone. An elbow to the face - dispelled. Suddenly, she drove her fist into the stomach of another, but instead of it dispelling in a cloud of smoke, it simply smiled widely at her through the pain, before quickly flipping them so that he was holding her in a head lock. They smashed into a group of clones that had gathered below them, cushioning their drop back to earth, and Hinata saw the dust clear to witness about twenty kunai pointing at her neck, including one from the boy who was now embracing her from behind.

With a sigh of frustration she shrugged. "I concede...I would be dead right now if you were the enemy."

A large cloud of smoke wafted over the pair as all of Naruto's clones dispelled, leaving the grinning boy gripping the now blushing girl to him. Although she was a bit embarrassed at being so close, she still wasn't entirely happy. She reverse head-butted him in the chest, causing him to let out a quiet "oomf".

"You idiot!" she said, grabbing one of his hands and playing tentatively with his fingers. "If I had still been using jyuken against your clones I would have seriously hurt you with that blow to the stomach...that was stupid and reckless for a simple spar Naruto-kun!" she bent back one of his fingers a little far, hearing a light hiss of pain from the blonde.

"H-Hinata-chan..." he said, attempting to draw his hand away but having it forcefully yanked back into her lap. "I KNEW that you would stop using unnecessary chakra to only dispel clones, seeing as how you needed enough to finish me off and your reserves aren't big enough to be able to do that yet." his explanation was sound, but Hinata refused to let him win, bending another finger back causing him to yelp lightly. "Stop that!"

"No!" she yelled back, before he noticed a certain wetness on his hand. Was that...

"Hinata...look at me..." he murmured, causing the violet-haired beauty to stiffen.

"N-no..." she replied with a bit less anger, clutching his hand with now trembling hands.

Naruto huffed. He hadn't imagined that she would grow to be so stubborn with him away! But then again, when she had to stand strong to her cold father, to be able to stare him down in battle, he supposed that stubbornness was one of the best traits she could take on to make it easier on her. Better this than a massive ego, or a superiority complex.

He quickly whipped her around, his eyes widening as he took her expression in. Her eyes were also widened a little in surprise, accentuating the tears that were dripping from their edges. His breath hitched as he tucked her into his chest, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Hinata-chan..." he said gently, feeling her slight sobs rocking her frame. "Why are you crying? I'm sorry I did that, but I had to find a way to win-"

"You don't understand!" she yelled into his chest, muffling her voice. He frowned, still running his hand along her spine.

"Then tell me!" he said just as loud, confused by her actions. Why did girls have to make things so cryptic? Whenever he had a problem with Jiraiya-jiji (which wasn't often), he told him, and then they'd fix it! There was rarely a moment where he was confused with what was going on, everything was so crystal clear. But now...

It had been several weeks since they had received their assignments, and they had all taken to their training with gusto. Shino was learning about pressure points, human psychology, and different politics within different villages as a first step in his interrogation training. After all, if the scouting team did manage to capture an enemy in hostile territory, they had to be able to break him there, in case they didn't have a chance to escort him back to friendly territory for a thorough interrogation.

As soon as the boy was done being instructed, he would be glued to anatomy textbooks, books on the workings of the human mind, autobiographies from older shinobi, reports from missions or wars - anything that could help him grasp how the minds of shinobi reacted in a given situation. Ibiki was gleeful at the thought of someone who was showing as much enthusiasm at breaking someone's mind as his first, and star, pupil, who had been busy making a certain Hyuuga's life a living hell.

Anko had been constantly hunting the young girl, even when their training was supposedly done for the day. This made for a stressful atmosphere around the violet-haired beauty, who not only was afraid that the 'crazy snake bitch' (as Naruto so gracefully put it) would catch her off-guard one of these times, which would promise a particularly harsh training session the following day, but that she would hurt Naruto as well in these brutal assaults. After all, if he wasn't busy training with Jiraiya, he was asking her to train with him. If that didn't go as planned, he would train on his own until Hinata was free, and then they would relax, train, go out to eat or whatever else happened to suit their fancy at the time. This meant that the boy was working himself to the bone almost 24/7, which made Hinata worry about him (whenever she wasn't busy worrying about when Anko might pop out next).

The first few weeks of training with the girl had been surprising with Naruto. While he remembered her being reserved and unsure of herself in fights in their early academy days, she now fought fiercely, showing him a whole new side of her he had never witnessed before. Of course, the first few fights she hadn't come at him with the intent to kill, which he made clear to her she should do if she wanted to get some kind of experience from their battles, but after a good session of head-bopping (he thought she looked rather cute when she whined about him gently knocking her on the head with the underside of his fist) and reassuring words that she most definitely would NOT kill him, she had agreed. Since then, Naruto had actually had to work to stay away from her deadly chakra-filled strikes, having to utilize more and more tricks in his book as she slowly learned his style of fighting.

He was brought from his thoughts as the girl in his arms head-butted his chest again. "I-If I had chosen to start using j-jyuken strikes again...if I had...if I had h-h-hurt you..." she shook her head, more tears flowing freely from her delicate eyes. "I w-wouldn't be able to forgive myself Naruto-kun! I wouldn't!"

Something in Naruto's head clicked, and he felt guilt wrap around his conscience. "I'm sorry Hinata-chan...it's just you've been putting me on the ropes lately and I figured it was time to try something new. I suppose flinging myself at you like a kunai was just a tad reckless though..." he mused, earning him a quiet giggle from his companion.

"J-Just a tad, Naruto-kun? Try a...lot of tads?" she looked stumped as she tried to find a way to express her feelings, and Naruto snorted, falling back in laughter. Hinata yelped as she was carried with him, landing with her hands on either side of her head and straddling his left leg.

Naruto continued to laugh, unaware of the scarlet blush that was slowly creeping up Hinata's face as she realized the position she was in. If anyone were to see her...

"THINK FAST STALKER GIRL!"

Hinata groaned, before grabbing Naruto and leaping away from the 30 foot snake that crashed into the ground they were just at, hissing in frustration that he missed his target.

Naruto grew somber fast, narrowing her eyes at their opponent before he facepalmed. "WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU INSANE SNAKE BITCH!?" he yelled, stepping in front of Hinata protectively. Hinata rolled her eyes but blushed all the same at his behavior, stepping around him and ignoring his look of disappointment.

"SURPRISE ATTACKS ARE PART OF TRAINING SHORTY!" Anko yelled back, smiling with glee. She had seen the position that the two runts had been in, and was quick to let her pupil know. "IF YOU WANTED THE DAY OFF TO 'RELAX', YOU SHOULDA LET ME KNOW! I WOULD CHIPPED IN FOR THE LOVE HOTEL!" she yelled, almost doubling over in laughter at the look of pure embarrassment on the girl's face as it quickly returned to it's previous shade of red.

Naruto scratched his head in confusion before shrugging. "Can she have the rest of the day off? We just got done having a particularly nasty spar and-"

"Will the enemy let her rest after they pursue her if she's caught killing her target?" Anko interrupted, her tone suddenly very serious. "I knew you two were duking it out, that's why I decided to attack when the two of you were most vulnerable. You must never let your guard down, especially with the position the two of you have been given. You wouldn't have sensed me if I didn't announce my presence Hinata, and although your reaction time was splendid when you DID know I was there, you would have been dead otherwise. You need to remember that the only time you're considered on 'safe' grounds during MY training is when you're sleeping in your bed or in your compound training with your clan, otherwise you're a target." Hinata looked down, a frown looking out of place on her normally happy face. She was frustrated at herself for letting her guard down so easily. Even if she was with Naruto, she had no excuses, especially if she wanted to go on missions with him one day. They both had to be at peak performance if they both wanted to survive.

Naruto opened his mouth to defend his friend when Anko interrupted him. "And you, blondie, while I respect your strength, you have nowhere NEAR the amount of experience that I do in the field, and as such you have no right to think that the girl deserves any respite from this training. I chose her personally because I saw her will to work hard and achieve what other people would quit on. I could see that she wouldn't have let you fight her fight anyway, or let you talk me out of it, but I need you to understand so you aren't walking around with a grudge in your heart because I won't let up. I'm doing this so that she doesn't die." she ended with a harsh tone, causing the blonde to glare at her for a moment before tearing his gaze away. She was right, but he didn't have to like it.

"Feh, whatever. Go kick that snake's ass and get me when you're done Hinata-chan, I'll be eating at Ichiraku's." he said, giving her a short hug, before dashing away into the woods.

Hinata sighed, giving an apologetic look to her sensei. "I'm sorry Anko-sensei, he's just-"

"A little fucking dense? Overprotective? An idiot?" Anko rattled off a few of her own adjectives, adding to the frown on Hinata's face, causing the older woman to give a sigh of her own. "Listen, I don't mean to belittle the kid. He's got a ton of talent, and a tremendous amount of power...but he needs experience to go along with that power or he's a ticking time bomb." she sprawled out on her summon's head, scratching it's scaly hide causing it to hum in satisfaction. "That temper of his doesn't help either, and neither does his condition..."

Hinata nodded solemnly, both of them acutely aware of Naruto's status as a jinchuuriki. She suddenly whipped her head to the side as a kunai came whizzing past her, a clear liquid dripping down the blade. Hinata narrowed her eyes, activating her Byakugan as more of the poisoned weapons came flying at her.

"Alright alright, enough of this talk, time to defend yourself!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Naruto finished off his fourth bowl of ramen roughly, slamming the bowl on the table so hard it shattered in his hands. Teuchi came out quickly upon hearing the sound, and looked alarmed upon seeing the broken dish.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright? Did you cut your hands at all?" he asked, more concerned for the boy's well-being than one of his special extra-large ramen bowls.

Naruto nodded, looking guilty. "I'm fine, it was my fault, I wasn't being careful...I'll pay for a new bowl for you Teuchi-san."

The ramen vendor nodded, knowing full well that the boy would. "Whenever you have the money Naruto-kun. But tell me, what has you so stressed my boy? You were eating my ramen with a passion today, and not your usual one. This one was...how should I say...darker?" the man crossed his arms, trying to find a way to put his thoughts into words. "As a ramen master I simply cannot remain idle while my favorite customer is eating with a dark aura."

Naruto smiled lightly, touched that the man was so sensitive to his moods that he would notice something was amiss. "It's nothing serious Teuchi-san, I'm just...worried."

"About what, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto hesitated. "...Hinata-chan."

Teuchi nodded. Everyone knew of the Hyuuga heiress (and her crush on the boy), and Naruto had brought her to eat at his stand many times. She was a nice girl, very quiet though, although he had noticed a certain fiery quality in her, hidden beneath her gentle exterior. He could see why the boy was so attached to her, given his own passionate take on things.

"What about her Naruto-kun? Is everything well with her?"

"Well, yeah." Naruto started, his eyebrows furrowing. "But...her sensei is...very...ah..." he shook his head, unable to think of suitable adjectives for the woman in mind.

Teuchi nodded, getting his meaning. "So she's in danger from her training?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I just don't want her pushing herself too hard, you know?"

Naruto's eyebrows knitted together as Teuchi snorted, before letting out a short laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Naruto my boy, how often do you train?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, caught off-guard by the question. "I don't know, something like 12-16 hours a day?"

"And of that time, how many times are you almost at 0 chakra left? Or even, how many times do you get hurt while training, to the point where most people would stop?"

Naruto puffed his chest out proudly. "I go longer AND harder than most people! That's why I'll be the strongest one day, just you wait Teuchi-san!" he declared, thumping his chest with his hand. Teuchi shook his head.

"That's exactly the point I'm getting to."

Naruto tilted his head, slightly confused.

"You're pushing yourself very hard, giving yourself very little breaks to improve yourself as fast as possible, right?" he asked patiently.

Naruto nodded, before a slight 'O' appeared on his face. He bowed his head, ashamed at his actions from before. Hadn't Anko JUST told him that she was doing this for Hinata's benefit? To help protect her on missions? Teuchi nodded, satisfied that the boy's reaction had telegraphed his comprehension of the likeness between the situations.

"Good, you understand. Now, if it's worrying you this much, why don't you go on a mission to get your mind off of things?"

Naruto, recalling the words Anko had thrown at him about needing more experience, nodded. "That's a good idea old man. Thanks for the advice, and the ramen! I'll pay you back soon!" he called, before entering the ramen stand.

As soon as his face hit the public view, it was blank. A few villagers who had heard his voice from inside the stand were glaring at it, but immediately turned their heads as soon as they came into his view. Inside, Naruto sighed. They were afraid of him. An improvement to the hateful stares he was used to, but still not his end goal.

Ever since his return, unless he was in the strict company of the handful of people he knew he could trust to some extent (Hinata, Teuchi, Jiraiya, the Hokage, even Anko after their first few meetings), this was the expression he wore. When on missions, this was to be his facade. Cold, emotionless, mechanical. The perfect shinobi.

Ironically, he was the opposite of the mask he now wore. While he trusted very few, he really was a warm and caring person...to those who had shown HIM concern and friendship. Anyone else, especially these ignorant villagers...

He turned down the main street, walking steadily towards the Hokage tower. Many in the streets shunned away from him, even going so far as to avert their gaze, desperate not to invoke the 'demon's wrath'.

He watched as a ball rolled out of the crowd and towards his foot. He tensed up and moved his arm up to protect his face, thinking it may have been a spike or flash bomb, but nothing happened. It was just a regular ball.

A small girl came running out of the crowd, freezing when she saw the boy picking it up. Naruto watched as a few fat tears rolled down her cheeks, obviously thinking that she would never get it back now that this strange boy had it. He slowly walked up to her, watching her freeze in fear and look around for her mother, who was nowhere to be found.

He knelt down, and she flinched away. "Is this your ball?"

She stared at him, wide-eyed, before nodding quickly. He smiled at her, not a large foxy one, but a small reassuring one, as he handed it to her. "Be careful, if you lose this again it might get stepped on and popped, and then you wouldn't have this anymore, alright?"

She blinked before nodding, giving him a growing smile as she took the toy back. "Th-thank you...uh..."

"Naruto." he said, patting her head.

"Nato!" she squealed, a smile plastered on her face.

Naruto's smile grew a little wider. What a cute little gi-

"G-GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!"

His mask immediately returned as he stood up straight, looking the woman who was glaring at him straight in her eyes. She recoiled a little, but stood her ground holding her arms out.

"C-Cmon sweetie...c-come back to mommy..." she said shakily, never taking her eyes off the blonde who just stared back passively.

The little girl looked at her mom weirdly, before turning around and hugging Naruto's leg. He watched the woman's face contort, going from worried to horrified in the span of a second.

"Thank you Nato!" the girl said happily. "I have to go to my mommy now, bye!" she skipped back happily to her mom who snatched her up and held her close, as if she thought the child would disappear at any moment.

"Mommy, Nato found my ball and gave it back to me!" she said happily, showing her mother the ball excitedly as evidence. The woman paid her no mind though, glaring at the blonde genin with as much courage she could muster.

"St-stay away from her...you can't h-have her...sh-she's all I have left of...of Tomo..." she finished, tears leaking from her eyes. Naruto's mask broke a little as he felt pity overwhelm him. She, like everyone else in this fucking town, truly believed that he was the Kyuubi. It wasn't necessarily her fault...she only wanted to protect her daughter...her husband must have been a shinobi that was killed recently, and she was terrified of losing the remainder of her family.

He took a step forward. "Listen, miss, I'm not-"

"DON'T COME NEAR HER! YOU FUCKING DEMON STAY AWAY FROM MY LITTLE GIRL!" She screamed, taking a step back.

Naruto seethed. "Look, if you would just listen to me-"

"And your lies? So you can corrupt me, and take my daughter away? You're vile, go to hell where you belong!" she yelled, desperately looking for a way out.

Naruto was angry now. Why wouldn't they just listen? If they would only hear him out, they would see that he wasn't a bad guy! He wanted to PROTECT them, not hurt them! That's why he became a shinobi, to protect himself, but also to protect those precious to him. And if these stupid assholes would just see that he wasn't the Nine-Tailed Fox incarnate, they would be his precious people too!

His eyes flashed red as he felt his anger come to a boil, and noticed the panicked expressions that several of the villagers were showing, thinking that he was about to kill them all.

"This is it, he's finally showing his true form!"

"Oh god, not again, we just finished rebuilding!"

"Someone get the ANBU, that thing is about to go on a rampage!"

Naruto shook his head violently, trying to expel the voices from his head, but his sensitive hearing picked up every word, transferring each message of hate directly into his conscious.

'Shut up! I don't want to hurt any of you! I want to protect you! I want you all to live long and happy! I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY! I JUST WANT TO BE HAPPY! SHUT UP!'

"SHUT UPPPPP!" he bellowed, the Kyuubi's influence creeping into his voice and giving it a deep bass.

The street fell silent and motionless, every last person looking towards the young boy who was breathing heavily, waiting for him to snap at any moment.

Suddenly, he vanished, causing them all to whip their heads around in panic, making sure he wasn't about to claw his way through them from behind. When the tense moment passed, they all hurried on their way, obviously put off by their encounter with the jinchuuriki. A few started making their way to the Hokage Tower, intent on filing a complaint that the boy was going to go berserk and start murdering everyone soon. The little girl who had gotten her toy back stared at the spot the blonde boy had disappeared from, her small mind in distress. She tugged on her mother's sleeve to get her attention, causing the woman to look down at her and smile tightly.

"Yes sweetie?"

"Mommy, why is Nato so sad?"

The woman's lips pursed. "He isn't sad honey, he's a very dangerous man who wants to hurt you. You need to promise mommy you'll stay away from him, ok?"

The little girl looked at her mother confused. "Then why was he crying mommy?"

The woman stared at her blankly, before picking her daughter up and started making their way home. She had no answer to that.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Naruto stumbled into the Hokage's office seeing red, clutching the wall as he tried to calm himself. Sarutobi jumped at the unexpected intrusion into his office, looking worried as Naruto's eyes practically glowed red, bloody tears leaking from his eyes, his hands curled into tight fists that leaked his red life-essence from where his now sharpened nails had punctured his palms.

The older man walked over and placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder, although he said nothing. Naruto took deep breathes, feeling the comfort his surrogate grandfather bestowed upon him flowing through his body. His eyes gradually changed back to normal, his nails retracting from inside the skin of his hands.

"Naruto, what happened?" Sarutobi asked when it seemed that the boy was sufficiently calm. Naruto took a deep breath through his nose and wiped his face of the scarlet tears before speaking.

"Villagers..." he said simply, giving the old Hokage a look that spoke more than any words Naruto might have come up with. The leader sighed, pulling the boy into a fatherly embrace, which the boy returned gladly. They stayed that way for awhile, Sarutobi thinking of the last wish Minato wanted, and Naruto wondering what he had to do to get through to the ignorant inhabitants of the village.

"I'm sorry Naruto..." Sarutobi said, as if sensing Naruto's thoughts. "All of these people are still blinded by hate. Although 12 years seems a long time to you, to an old codger like me it's but a small part of our long histories." he said, smiling when Naruto chuckled at his remark of 'old codger'.

Naruto nodded, a frown replacing his small grin. "I don't know what I have to do to get them to see that I'm not it. I don't know if I'll ever get through to them..." he finished sadly, a look of frustration on his face.

Sarutobi nodded, thinking the same thing. 'It would take a miracle to get them to see the error of their ways, my boy. Or your father himself speaking to them...I'm so sorry...'

"Hey, Jiji." Naruto said, driving the old man away from his remorseful thoughts. "Are there any teams going out on missions soon? Like, out of the village? Or any solo missions I can do?" he asked, an almost pleading tone in his voice.

Sarutobi smiled before reaching towards his desk, grabbing a file. "As a matter of fact, I do Naruto-kun. Team 10 has just received a mission to guard a small trading caravan on it's way to the south side of Fire Country. Let's see..." he said, looking closer at the file. "Low-C rank, guarding two wagons with a total of four people, two men and two women...expected time for completion should be four days to travel to their destination, and a day and a half back once they're dropped off. An extra day or two can be taken, however, so the mission should take about a week." he finished, setting his pipe in his mouth and lighting it. "If you would like to assist on this mission, go find Team 10's sensei, Asuma Sarutobi." One of Naruto's eyebrows rose, but if he saw it, the Hokage didn't acknowledge it. "Tell him that I've given you my permission - and recommendation - to go along on this mission as single support. If he gives the ok, you are to meet with him and his team tomorrow morning at 5AM sharp, packed for a week-long mission. Do you understand?" he asked, peering over his pipe at Naruto.

The blonde nodded excitedly, causing the old man to smile. "Wonderful. In that case, go find my son, he should be at the BBQ place by the Akimichi compound, I would expect. One of his pupils always ropes him into paying for his meals." he chuckled, obviously amused with the thought.

Naruto nodded, smiling at the elderly Hokage before him. "Thank you Jiji, this means a lot to me!" he said, before bounding out of the room.

Sarutobi chuckled to himself again, before his face grew very serious. "Salamander, you have something to report?"

An ANBU mask seemed to bleed out of the darkness in one of the corners of the room. "Hokage-sama, it appears that he is on the move again. We're not sure if he's targeting the Uzumaki boy or the Uchiha, but his agents are moving. And fast."

Sarutobi nodded. "Keep tails on both of them, and make sure they are NOT seen. I cannot express the importance of this, we could lose the trust of either of them if they detect that they're being followed, and even if we were to explain they might not understand. Keep extra care of Naruto, his skills are advancing quickly. Just make sure that the enemy agents do not interfere with them at all." he said, sitting down in his chair.

The ANBU bowed his head, muttering 'Sir.', before bleeding back into the shadows. Sarutobi sighed, leaning back in his chair. He was getting too old for this...

*THE NEXT MORNING*

Naruto sighed, as he made several shadow clones with a bit more chakra than usual so that they would last more than a few hours. He ordered a few to keep studying various jutsu theories, some to keep his dingy apartment in as good a condition it could get, but the last one he pulled aside, much to the confusion of his other dopplegangers.

"What's up boss?" the clone whispered, obviously excited that he was singled out from the others.

"Shhh! I'm giving you a mission the others would KILL to have. You, in particular." Naruto whispered back, both of them leaving the apartment.

"Wha? Cool, I must be a badass!" the clone whispered back excitedly, making Naruto sweatdrop. He had actually just chosen one at random, but whatever helped his clone sleep at night. Did it sleep? Wait, did they have to eat? He shook his head, now was not the time for these thoughts.

"You need to go and find Hinata-chan and tell her about the mission and when I'll be back." he whispered, looking around frantically. The clone had a flabbergasted expression on his face, before it pumped it's fist excitedly.

"FUCK YEAH THAT'S THE BEST- MMPHPHMHP" it tried to talk through Naruto's hand but found that it couldn't, unsurprisingly.

"Shut the fuck up!" Naruto whispered menacingly, looking to see if any clones were jumping out to challenge the clone for his job. When none did, he let go, glaring at the copy as it scratched it's head in embarrassment.

"Sorry boss, just got a little excited. I'll make sure she knows, don't worry." it said, before leaping off into the sunrise to find the princess.

Naruto sighed before making his way towards the gates. He didn't really wanna leave her, but...

He seriously needed a break from the villagers. And Hinata's crazy sensei.

As he neared the gates, he spotted the members of Team 10, and almost let his mask slip to let out a groan.

'This is gonna be a long mission...'

Well, there we go. It was always my goal to have good, long chapters, and this one seems to be the longest yet. I'm happy with how it turned out, but as always, if you spot something that plays "One of these things is not like the others", let me know and I'll fix it. Also, I'm not gonna be updating this as frequently as I have in the past week, because I need to show a little love to my other stories that I haven't updated in MONTHS. So expect another update in maybe a week, maybe a little more. Either way, I'll be coming back to this in a short time. Hope you enjoyed, see you guys next time