Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AKA: What if Sarutobi Hiruzen never truly cared about Naruto and the Kyuubi had to fill the void.

"There's a chance, Sasuke, that our roles could have been reversed."

– Uzumaki Naruto

Prologue: Masked Demon and Black Cat

Two figures, hidden in the shadows cast by the trees, examined the fortress in front of them.

One was, without the shadow of a doubt, a woman. Her black clothes, while not form-fitting, could not conceal her shapely figure; it was doubtful that even a parka could hide her curves in... certain places. She wore a dark purple sash over her shirt and had tied her long indigo hair in a braid. Her face was hidden behind a white mask marked with purple lines and shaped like a cat's face.

The other one was also dressed in black, with black fingerless gloves and dark red studded leather straps tied around his arms, extending from his knuckles to his upper arm; a swath of golden skin could be seen between the leather straps and his short-sleeved t-shirt whenever he moved. He too wore a mask, although his had orange markings and was shaped like a fox. A cowl extended from his mask, covering up his hair.

Both of them were ready for battle. They had already formed their plan of assault and were now waiting for the right moment to strike.

"It's almost time," the woman said quietly. "Are you ready?"

"Of course," her partner replied with his usual boundless confidence. A few years ago, his boasts had been the result of recklessness, mulish determination, and an almost obsessive need for acknowledgement rather than sound judgement, but those days were long past. Over the years, both of them had become formidable shinobi. "Maybe after this mission they'll finally ramp us up to S-rank!"

"Please be serious," she said with a long-suffering sigh, but he could sense her mirth under the scolding. He just grinned under his mask, certain she would see his mischievous smile; there was little her eyes couldn't see.

He turned back to the fortress. From this distance, all he could see with his normal vision were shadows moving behind the fortifications. In his mind's eye, however, he could see clearly the flare of everyone's chakra. Some were like candles, while others were like small flames. Four of those flames stood out, being darker and more intense than the others; the rogue ninja, no doubt.

"The guard shift has changed." She remained silent for a few moments. "The off-duty guards have now entered the barracks."

"That's our cue."

Without another word, they ran, as silent as a light breeze, crossing the distance separating the tree line from the wall in a few heartbeats. They deftly climbed the wall and found themselves behind an unsuspecting guard. Before the man had time to so much as blink, the woman with the cat mask struck his chest over his heart, making him crumple to the ground in a boneless heap. They weren't going to leave any survivors – their client had requested the 'removal' of the highwaymen plaguing this area. Even if he hadn't, they would still show no mercy; the man with the kitsune mask could feel the darkness in these men, a foul thing that made his skin crawl. These bandits gave thieves and murderers a bad name.

With an imperceptible nod to each other, the man and the woman split up. He took the west side of the compound, while she took the east.

-XOXO-

Naruto moved swiftly from shadow to shadow, striking down the handful of guards patrolling the encampment. It still disturbed him, how easy it was. Another kunai strike, another life snuffed out.

He hadn't always been prepared to take a life. Being able to sense chakra the way he did, it wasn't all that surprising.

Kurama called it 'Negative Emotions Sensing'; by tapping into the Fox's chakra, he could sense the emotions of everyone around him, in addition to their chakra. It was a sensory ability unique to him, the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and it had nearly destroyed him when he'd been a child. Back when he'd just begun training to use this power, he had been almost completely overwhelmed by the anger and hatred surrounding him. This miasma, it had been… everywhere. Only Kurama's presence had brought him back after that disastrous first attempt to use the red chakra of the Fox.

Over time, he'd learnt how to control this power and how to distinguish between emotions. Now, he could sense more than just darkness; if he focused, he could sometimes feel the light in others, although it was much more difficult.

This power –or was it a gift?– was also a double-edged sword. During battle, he could sense his opponents' fear. So how could he kill someone, knowing what they felt when they died? Knowing that he was the reason they felt that terror? He didn't allow that to stop his hand anymore, however. That disastrous mission to take down that slaver ring two years ago had shown him what happened when he showed mercy to those who were immersed in darkness.

Once, he had tried to use this gift to help protect the place he'd been born in, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. That hadn't worked out quite like he had planned.

He was done taking crap from anyone, though. He was not a weapon to be pointed at something or used as others saw fit. He was his own person, free to do as he pleased. And what he wanted was to protect as many people as possible and change this dark, horrible world.

"Philosophize later," a gruff, well-known voice growled inside his head. "If one of these morons manages to wound you because you were too busy brooding, I'll take over your body and eat up your soul."

'As you wish, oh mighty kitsune,' Naruto mocked.

A growl and the mental image of a fox making a rude gesture were his only response; Naruto bit back a snicker and focused on the task at hand. Kurama wouldn't go through with his threats –he never had– but he would complain for days. Ignoring the Fox just wasn't worth the aggravation.

The Fox often joked that carping at the boy was his sole entertainment in his prison. Naruto believed it; Kurama would grumble about everything when he was bored.

When the blond arrived in front of the barracks' door, he took a moment to focus his senses again. He could clearly feel Hinata's chakra on the other side of the building, along with that of the bandits inside.

'Eighteen... no, nineteen –two of them are very close to each other and their chakra is...' He trailed off as he realized just why the chakra of two brigands was mixed together. 'I did not need to know that.'

"Think you can handle those two?" Naruto could just feel the smirk of the great fox. "If you're embarrassed, then maybe Hinata can deal with them. She's probably already seen everything with her Byakugan anyway, so it won't be a shock to her."

And now his mind had created the image of Hinata standing in front of two people doing... that. 'Thanks a lot.'

"Don't mention it," Kurama chuckled wickedly. "You should probably get a move on; she's going to start worrying about you if you stand here gaping much longer."

"Bastard fox," Naruto grumbled in an undertone.

Knowing that Hinata was waiting for him to make the first move –and somehow that sounded wrong even inside his head– he gathered chakra in his leg, kicked the door off its hinges, and stormed the barracks.

The nine bandits who had been sitting around the table playing cards scrambled to grab their weapons; they all fell with a few kunai strikes. From the back room, he could hear screaming and felt chakra signatures get extinguished like candles in a storm. A man dressed in boxer shorts and a woman who had hastily thrown a kimono over her emerged from one of the back rooms.

'I didn't need to see that either.'

"Oh, grow up."

At sixteen, Naruto had matured considerably from the scrawny pre-teen boy who had created the Sexy Jutsu as a weapon against perverted adults. Some things hadn't changed, though. One of them was his dislike of peeping at naked girls; that was just wrong, no matter what the Icha Icha loving pervs he called 'sensei' said. Another, which was a shortcoming he was blissfully unaware of, was his general obliviousness towards anything related to romantic matters.

Before he could do anything other than blink at the half-naked couple, Hinata had already sprung into action. With her long braid floating behind her, she dove between the two disoriented lovers as gracefully as a dancer following well-practiced steps. Her small hands struck their tenketsu with unerring precision, snuffing out the flare of their chakra. It was a chilling display of power. It was also… mesmerizing…

Naruto was still frozen in place, lost in hazy, fuzzy thoughts, when she turned to face him. "Nar–Menma? Is something wrong?"

Had her voice always been so gentle, so full of concern?

"Yeah…" Kurama's raucous laughter brought him back to reality. "NO! Uh, I mean, no. I'm fine! Everything's fine!"

Kurama only laughed harder.

'Shut up, stupid fox!'

Hinata didn't pry any further; it was one of the things he liked most about her. "I can see four more in the main building."

With some difficulty, Naruto focused his senses on the large structure. "Yes, I sense them too." He cleared his throat, trying to get his mind back on track. What the hell was wrong with him? They were on a mission! "Unlike these guys, they seem to be powerful."

"We'll be careful, then." Even though her face was hidden behind her mask, he could tell she was giving him that small smile he loved so much.

Wait, what?

Naruto shook his head, hoping it would make the parts of his brain that had clearly come loose sometime tonight fall back in place. Mission first, strange thoughts weirding him out later.

"Can you see the women? I sense something in the upper floor, but it's too hazy to make out."

Hinata was silent for a moment. "Yes, they're upstairs. I think they're sleeping."

"Right." The blond clenched one hand into a fist and smacked it on the palm of his other hand. "Are you ready?"

"Of course."

-XOXO-

Hinata was a bit concerned about Naruto, as he wasn't prone to spacing out like that in the middle of a battle, but she didn't make a fuss over it. He was more than capable of defending himself; something must have distracted him.

Maybe it was nerves.

With a mental shrug, she pushed the issue in the back of her mind and focused on the mission.

Stealth was no longer an option after the carnage in the barracks, so they didn't bother hiding. They marched to the headquarters of the bandit camp and blasted down the front door with a combined Hakke Kusho and Fuuton: Daitoppa.

As Naruto always said: If you're going to make an entrance, make it as flashy as possible.

They entered the large, slightly crumbling building that had obviously seen much better days –both in structural and in administrative terms. Once, this camp had been an outpost of the now demilitarized Yugakure, the Village Hidden in the Hot Water. Nowadays, it was the half-ruined haunt of a vicious gang of outlaws.

"Traps?" Naruto asked warily.

"None that I can see," Hinata responded, carefully scanning their surroundings.

The sheer size of the room made their footsteps echo as they walked towards the four chakra signatures.

According to the Bingo book they had… acquired… a while back, these four were jounin from the Hidden Cloud. They had been disgraced for reasons that were not listed in the little black book, and kicked out of their village. But instead of trying to atone for whatever they had done, the former Cloud ninja had taken over a rather unremarkable group of bandits and had promoted it to a kidnapping ring.

As far as Hinata was concerned, these four deserved their fate.

"Would you look at that. It seems that the kami are on our side tonight, boys!" The speaker, a huge man with tattoos covering his arms, was draped over a heavy wooden chair that vaguely resembled a throne. "When I heard someone trashing my base, I wondered who was stupid enough to go up against me and my men. Turns out, a fox kit and a kitten lost their way in the forest and found themselves here."

The three shinobi surrounding the large man, who was obviously the leader, laughed obediently at that dreadful attempt at a joke.

"If you know who we are, then you'd know that this isn't your lucky day –far from it." Naruto removed two kunai from his leg holster and fell in a relaxed taijutsu stance.

"Menma and Kuroneko," the gang leader said, unconcerned. "A-rank criminals wanted in several nations. I'll admit, you've made quite a name for yourselves. However, you two are nothing more than nuisances to us," the leader scoffed, making his cronies sneer. "Still, those sizeable bounties on your heads will be very useful, since I've suddenly found myself shorthanded."

"That's not the only sizable thing they've got," crony No 1 said, leering at Hinata.

The indigo-haired girl narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah. Do we have to kill both of them, boss?" Crony No 2 added what he thought was a charming wink to his leer. "Maybe we can keep the kitty alive for a while."

A low, rippling growl came from Naruto.

"Looks like you pissed off her boyfriend," crony No 3 said. The scars crisscrossing his face made his smirk grotesque.

Hinata wasn't worried about Naruto losing his temper and charging in; he knew better than to endanger both of them by acting so recklessly. However, she was starting to feel insulted.

"Menma, I'm going to get baldy and droop-nose." After being friends with him for so long, Naruto's tendency to give his enemies derogatory nicknames had rubbed off on her –to a certain extent. "You get the leader and scar-face."

Seeing their murderous expressions, she smirked under her mask.

Naruto chuckled. "Okay, have it your way, Kuroneko." With her Byakugan, Hinata could see him wink at her, even though the creeps couldn't. "Try to leave them undamaged; we'll need them identifiable."

"No promises," she said quietly.

With that, they used their Hakke Kusho – Fuuton: Daitoppa combo once again to slam the rogue Cloud ninja against the walls.

Hinata used a Shunshin to appear in front of baldy, aiming a Jyuuken strike at his heart. He dodged her attack at the last second, and it landed on his ribs. Unflustered, she aimed a flurry of chakra-infused strikes at him. Solar plexus, liver, stomach, lungs, heart again... Some were dodged, landing relatively harmlessly on the wretch's muscles instead of his vital spots; others were blocked, closing the tenketsu in his arms instead.

She grimaced in pain when he scored a hit on her forearm, and doubled the speed of her attacks.

Hinata was so focused on her opponent, she almost missed the blur that suddenly appeared behind her. The Byakugan may give someone nearly 360o vision, but it meant precisely zero if one wasn't paying attention to the feedback; that was the reason why Hyuuga trained from their early childhood to be able to mind their surroundings.

Deflecting a kunai slash from baldy, she turned around and hit droop-nose's solar plexus with a Shotei, a chakra-infused strike with the palm's heel. He doubled over, gasping for air.

The Hyuuga clan's Jyuuken (or Gentle Fist, as it was commonly called), was the most fearsome taijutsu style in the world, even though many would deny this out of pride. A seemingly harmless strike could easily close the chakra points of their opponents, cutting off the flow of their chakra and rendering them incapable of performing any ninjutsu or genjutsu; it was also enough to cause massive internal bleeding, even instant death, depending on where one was struck.

Before Hinata could land the killing blow on the incapacitated former Kumo shinobi, baldy grabbed her long braid and attempted to slash her throat with his kunai. Without missing a step, she turned to face him and struck his neck with her index and middle finger. As he choked and dropped his weapon, she struck at his heart.

Among shinobi, long hair was not grown for beauty, but as a testament of one's power and skill. If a rookie was grabbed by their hair, they would die. A jounin, however, would just turn around and gut the one foolish enough to fall for that opening. The Hyuuga, being masters of close-range combat, let their hair grow long precisely to exploit this.

"You bitch!" droop-nose wheezed as he unsteadily got on his feet again.

Hinata turned to face him again and fell in a distinctive Jyuuken stance. She bent her knees, lowering her center of gravity, and extended her left arm in front of her and her right arm behind her. In her mind, she visualized an Eight Trigram circle with herself at the center. Her opponent was in range.

"Hakke Rokujuuyon Sho," she intoned calmly.

'Two palms.' She struck twice at droop-nose's tenketsu, blocking them.

'Four palms.' Another two strikes.

'Eight palms.' Four more strikes.

'Sixteen palms.' Eight more strikes, delivered faster and with more power than before.

'Thirty-two palms.' Sixteen strikes now, so fast that her hands were a blur.

She took a step forward and focused her chakra.

'Sixty-four palms.' Thirty-two strikes delivered with blinding speed.

The last hit, aimed at droop-nose's chest, sent him flying back. He crashed into the wall across the room, right next to scar-face. From the state of the latter, Hinata surmised that he had been planted there courtesy of a Rasengan.

Now that her both opponents had been dealt with, she checked to see how Naruto was doing. Scar-face was no longer a problem, but the leader was still standing. He was clearly the most powerful of the four rogue ninja. There was no need for her to intervene, though; that fight looked like it would be over soon. She retrieved a roll of bandages from one of the pouches on her belt and absently wrapped it around her forearm.

Two of Naruto's shadow clones were flanking the tattooed man, attacking him from the left and the right at the same time. Slashing at him with their kunai, they pushed him into the Great Breakthrough a third clone had been preparing. The former Kumo ninja dodged the onslaught, only to find himself directly in front of the real Naruto.

"Rasengan!"

The sphere of spiraling chakra, combined with Naruto's momentum from the Shunshin, threw the man to the back wall. The gang leader groaned and tried to move, but Hinata could see that his ribs were broken and some of them had pierced his lungs; every breath must have been agony.

"You insolent brats…" he coughed, spitting blood.

Naruto ignored him and gathered chakra in his palm once again. "Fuuton: Kazekiri no Jutsu."

With a slashing motion, a blade of wind flew towards the man pinned to the wall.

Naruto stood motionless, staring at the bisected body. Hinata placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly; she hated taking someone's life as much as he did, but sometimes it was necessary. If they hadn't killed these bandits, then the people of the demilitarized Yugakure a few kilometers away would continue to live in terror, fearing for the lives of their children. It was the reason they had accepted this mission in the first place.

She also knew that if either of them had to face all this alone, they would have cracked a long time ago.

"It was kinder than letting him linger until he died from internal bleeding."

"I suppose it was," he said quietly.

He took a deep breath and stood straighter. "Can you free the women? I can sense a great amount of fear from somewhere upstairs. I'll finish up here."

She nodded and retracted her hand. It had always been like this between them; they knew that if either of them wanted to talk, the other was always willing to listen.

Hinata easily navigated her way to the room the women were kept imprisoned on the upper floor. She could see five of them inside the lamp-lit room; their ages ranged from mid-teens to early twenties. Four were cowering against the back wall while the fifth was lurking beside the heavy, bolted door, holding the broken leg of a chair.

Smiling at the sight of the older girl, she struck the lock with her Palm Bottom, blasting it off the door. It landed with a thud on the stone floor.

She took a step inside and dodged the clumsy strike by the woman behind the door. In one swift motion, Hinata grabbed the brown-haired woman's wrist and twisted her arm behind her back; using her other hand, the girl with the cat mask took the broken chair leg out of older woman's hand, dropped it to the floor and kicked it out of reach.

One of the women in the back of the room –the one with the black hair– screamed. Loudly.

"Please don't kill us!" The blonde woman wailed.

"I'm not here to–"

Before Hinata could reassure the woman and explain why she was here, Naruto was next to her, already in a combat stance, holding a kunai ready.

The black-haired woman screamed again, louder this time; Hinata was impressed by the strength of her lungs.

"Calm down," the indigo-haired girl said in a soft voice. "We're not going to kill you. We were sent here by your families."

Hinata released the brown-haired girl and took a few steps back, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. Naruto lowered his kunai and stepped back as well.

"Papa sent you?" The girl asked, rubbing her wrist.

"That's right," Hinata answered politely. 'So this one is the mayor's daughter.'

"The bandits..."

"They won't be bothering anyone again," Naruto said with a dismissive hand wave.

"Who are you two?" The blonde woman seemed to have regained her composure.

"The name's Menma," Naruto said, pointing a thumb at his chest. "This is my partner, Kuroneko."

The brown-haired girl narrowed her eyes. "Those aren't real names."

Naruto shrugged. "It's who we are, though."

The young women approached the two masked ninja cautiously, eyeing Naruto and Hinata as if the two of them would attack at any moment. Hinata saw that their clothes were torn in several places, revealing quite a bit of skin.

Naruto had noticed it too, along with something else. "Please tell me these bruises are from being tortured." Before Hinata could respond, he punched the wall with his left hand, leaving a sizable dent. "DAMMIT! We're too late."

The women cringed and edged away from the masked man. Most people would think he was crazy, but Hinata was used to Naruto talking out loud like he was having a conversation with someone in his head. She'd known about Kurama for years and was aware that the two of them talked all the time.

"We're not too late," the indigo-haired girl said decisively, even though she wanted to scream in impotent rage. "They're alive."

Naruto nodded and tried to ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he couldn't seem to break, before remembering about the mask and cowl he was wearing; he mumbled a curse and let his hand fall to his side.

The women fidgeted uncomfortably. "We're okay," the blonde woman said. "They didn't hurt us too badly. And your friend is right: we're still alive."

Hinata decided to break the uncomfortable silence. "We need to leave soon. Pack everything you might want to take with you, but do it quickly."

"Right. I'll go downstairs again. I was in the middle of something when that ear-splitting squeal made me rush to your rescue," Naruto said with a cheeky grin only Hinata could see.

The indigo-haired girl sighed and shook her head, glad that her smile –and light blush– were hidden behind her mask; he didn't need to know how much she liked seeing that bright smile of his. It was a good thing she'd stopped turning beet red around him years ago.

"So." The black-haired girl had a gleam in her eyes that would have made Ino, Konoha's queen of gossip, proud. "Are the two of you an item or what?"

Hinata chose not to answer that.

-XOXO-

It was almost dawn by the time they reached the 'village that had forgotten wars', as the locals had renamed Yugakure after they'd turned it into a tourist trap.

An old man who had been busy weeding his garden saw them approaching and ran to the central square, screaming 'They're back!'. Before he could get far, though, Naruto caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"Easy, old man," he said. "We're trying to be quiet here. No need to wake up the entire village"

Especially since the entire populace would leave their homes to cheer for the masked ninja. As Shikamaru would say, this would be beyond troublesome. Still, Naruto couldn't find it in him to grumble about the inevitable barrage of cheers, embraces, and heartfelt 'thank you's. In his opinion, seeing everyone filled with joy was the best part of such missions.

They reached the administrative building with the five women in tow without making a fuss, although not without drawing surprised looks from early risers. The small procession had barely entered the mayor's office when the brown-haired girl launched herself at the middle aged man with the graying brown hair.

"Papa!"

After a long time, the mayor disentangled himself from his daughter and bowed deeply to Naruto and Hinata. "Thank you for bringing the kidnapped girls back to us, Menma-sama, Kuroneko-sama."

"Eh?" Naruto was not expecting this kind of deference. "No need for that, Ichiro-san. We're not lords by any stretch of the imagination." Well, Hinata had been Konoha's equivalent to a princess once, in what seemed like another life now, but she had never enjoyed posturing.

"What about the highwaymen?" the mayor's advisor, a dark-haired man with a thin mustache, asked. "Will we have to fear retribution?"

"No, Dai-san," Naruto reassured him. "The bandits have been dealt with."

"I confess," Dai said, "I had my doubts about the two of you. Rogue ninja are said to have no honor." The corners of his lips turned up in a small smile. "I'm glad to have been proven wrong. Thank you for everything you've done, Menma-san, Kuroneko-san."

Naruto beamed at them, although no-one but Hinata could see it –provided she hadn't deactivated her Byakugan.

"We're pleased we could help you with this, Ichiro-san, Dai-san," Hinata said with a graceful little bow Naruto tried to imitate.

The mayor retrieved a briefcase from under his desk. "I know this is the sum we agreed upon, but I would gladly offer you ten times as much for bringing my daughter back to me." Suddenly, he brightened. "We could throw a feast in your honor! It's the least we can do for you, considering what you've done for us."

"We're grateful for your kindness, Ichiro-san," Hinata said; Naruto decided to let her talk their way out of this, lest he accidentally say something insulting, "but we can't stay here. Soon, hunter-nin from Kumo will arrive to investigate the deaths of their former comrades. It would be… inadvisable for us to be here when they do."

'Inadvisable' was grossly understating the danger they would be in. Both Naruto and Hinata, or rather Menma and Kuroneko, had acquired large bounties over the years. Even if the Cloud ninja were grateful to the two of them for ridding them of a thorny problem, they would most likely not be inclined to let them go, especially since no-one knew who the masked ninja were.

"I understand," the mayor said, looking dispirited.

"Before I forget, there's one more thing we meant to give you," Naruto said, removing a scroll from his belt holster.

The mayor accepted the scroll with a quizzical frown. "What is this?"

"The bodies of the four Kumo missing-nin." The mayor suddenly seemed reluctant to hold the scroll. "Present it to the Cloud hunter-nin when they come; they should offer you the bounty for those guys."

"We're touched by your generosity," the mayor's advisor said, "but why would you give this to us? The reward for them must be substantial."

"It is," Hinata confirmed. "But we're not eager to walk in a bounty station to collect it."

Damn right they weren't; there had been a dozen Konoha shinobi waiting for them last time.

"Once again, I humbly thank you," the mayor said. "Good luck in your travels, Menma-sama, Kuroneko-sama." This time, they let the unwanted honorific slide.

The mayor's advisor and the five young women they had rescued also added their thanks. The two masked ninja walked out of the mayor's office and masked their Shunshin with puffs of smoke.

Just like that, Menma and Kuroneko vanished from the former Yugakure in plain sight of everyone.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Hinata 'woke up' in the latter's room in an inn built over one of the numerous hot springs that gave the village its name.

"That went really well," Naruto said with a bright, face-splitting grin.

"I think so, too." Hinata was sporting a smile of her own, smaller but just as warm.

"Let me see your wound." Naruto would have to be a complete idiot to miss the bandage on top of her black shirt, not to mention the faint smell of blood his sensitive nose had picked up. He hadn't said anything back at the bandit outpost, but he wasn't going to put it off any longer. He was well aware of Hinata's tendency to dismiss injuries as 'minor' when they were anything but; one more thing they had in common, although she didn't have Kurama's healing powers at her disposal.

Hinata bared her forearm, revealing a large gash on her perfect, porcelain white skin. Focusing on the scratch to the exclusion of everything else, Naruto called upon Kurama's chakra and channeled it into the wound. In a few moments, it had closed without leaving a scar. Satisfied with his work, he let go of her arm.

Naruto went back to his room; the first thing he did was to remove his black combat garments, the studded leather straps, and his hooded mask. After cleaning them and storing them once again in a scroll, he took a shower and went about his morning routine: brushing his teeth, combing his hair – or, rather, messing it up even more. The hood had done a good job of plastering his blond hair on his head, but it was soon sticking out in the usual unruly spikes. Grumbling under his breath, he applied a bit of makeup on his cheeks to hide his whisker-shaped birthmarks. Hinata insisted that it looked much better that a pair of bandages, and it certainly was less chakra consuming than a Henge or a genjutsu, but it still felt weird.

He had to admit, though, he now looked like an ordinary blond-haired, blue-eyed teenager; as long as he kept suppressing his chakra, no-one would suspect he was a ninja.

Satisfied with the face staring back at him from the mirror, he put on a pair of black pants and a charred orange shirt, and left his room.

Hinata met him at the inn's entrance a couple of minutes later. She was dressed in tan pants and a lavender shirt; her long indigo hair was unbound now. She was also wearing a pair of brown-colored contact lenses to cover her white eyes, unique to the Hyuuga clan. Even though they had taken so many precautions about their appearance, they had kept their given names; while unusual, neither of them was distinctive enough to put Konoha hunter-nin on their trail.

They headed to a nearby tea house and ordered breakfast. On the way there, they'd seen a bunch of people cheering and holding what looked suspiciously like sake bottles.

Naruto frowned as the cheery crowd passed outside the tea house again. "Isn't it a bit early for them to be drinking like that?"

The waitress who had just taken their order looked where the blond was pointing. "That's Sota. He and his friends are celebrating because his sister and four other girls were rescued today from those horrible bandits by a couple of ninja."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes widened in faked surprise. "Wow! What happened?"

The girl smiled broadly. "Well, what I heard was that…"

-XOXO-

The blond and the bluenette drank their tea in silence.

The waitress had finally left, after she'd brought their breakfast and regaled them with the tale of the two brave shinobi who had assaulted the fortress of the evil highwaymen. The way the young woman had described events, the two masked ninja had fought against two hundred bandits; Hinata was certain that, by the end of the month, the story would become even more outrageous.

She was uncomfortable staying in this village and calmly drink her tea, knowing that any day now hunter-nin would arrive to investigate the incident. If they left in the aftermath of the assault on the fortress, however, any half-competent hunter-nin would mark them as the two masked rogue ninja. The last thing she and Naruto wanted was to have their sketches added next to their profiles in the bingo book; that would definitely lead Konoha to their trail. As it was, the best they could do was mingle.

Hinata kept sneaking peeks outside at the carousing crowd that was rapidly growing. Inadvertently, her thoughts went to her family. She wondered how Hanabi had been doing. Was she alright? Did she miss her older sister at all? She would be eleven-years-old now – almost a genin.

"What are you thinking about, Hinata?" Naruto's blue eyes were fixed on her, examining her with unusual intensity.

"The families we helped reunite."

"You miss your family, don't you." It wasn't a question. His insight never failed to astound her; sometimes, he could read her as easily as an open book. Other times, however…

"I miss my sister. And Neji. Sometimes," the indigo-haired girl added with a wry smile, "I even miss my father."

"Now I know you're homesick," he said, chuckling.

Hinata just smiled and looked at her tea.

"Do you want to go back to Konoha?" Naruto asked after a while.

"No," she answered without any hesitation. "It won't change anything. We're still too weak. If we go back now, then I'll be branded with the Caged Bird seal." The blond scowled at the mention of the accursed mark the Hyuuga used to control their own. "And you…"

"And I," Naruto said with uncharacteristic venom, "will become the Hokage's attack fox again."

"Tsunade-sama never used you as her enforcer."

"No, she didn't," Naruto agreed sourly. "But the Third did. I'm not going back to being anyone's weapon – never again."

Hinata reached out and gently held his hand over the table, trying to convey some measure of solace to the blond. It was the only thing she could do for him. What could she possibly say, when the Third Hokage had so thoroughly crushed Naruto's hopes of acceptance?

Her heart missed a beat when he twisted his hand to grasp hers.

"I miss our friends, though," he added quietly.

"So do I. But we'll see them again someday." She squeezed his hand.

"Yes, we will. Soon."

Author's Notes:

This is actually the first idea I ever had for a Naruto fic, but for the longest time I couldn't find a convincing reason to have him go missing-nin. Having him defect right after Sasuke left Konoha (or after Jiraiya's death) was not only extremely emo, but also completely OOC. By that point in time, Naruto was completely loyal to the Leaf.

So, what to do?

When a gem-cutter cuts a diamond to shape it, they strike at the natural flaws all crystals have (well, another way is to smash it with overwhelming force, but that will just turn the diamond into fine powder).

Therefore, I did just that: I created a flaw in Naruto's unwavering devotion.

The Third Hokage never truly cared about the boy. With the one (until Iruka came along) pillar that kept Naruto's sanity intact gone and replaced by the –initially– selfish support of Kurama, things… changed.

-X-

Why start in the middle: I could have started at the beginning and shocked you with the revelation that Naruto and Hinata turned missing-nin, but I find it more entertaining/challenging to drop the bomb from the start and let you watch helplessly as events unfold. In short, I am sadistic and evil.

-X-

Contacts and Makeup: Kakashi uses both to disguise himself in the 'Real True Face…!' manga omake.

-X-

Menma: (borrowed from Road to Ninja) Written a certain way (メンマ or 麺麻 or 麺碼), it's the name of a Japanese condiment (lactate-fermented bamboo shoots) which is found in ramen, much like naruto (fishcake). However, another way to write it is: Men (めん– 面) – mask, Ma (ま – 魔) – demon. It's a rather clever pun, if you think about it. The name hints both at Naruto's true identity and at what's sealed inside him.

-X-

Kuroneko: For a while, I toyed between Usagi (うさぎ – 兎) – Rabbit and Kuroneko (くろねこ – 黒猫) – Black Cat, before I settled for the latter.

1. Why: Initially, because of Hinata's Twin Lion Fists. Then, I found other similarities. Cats are graceful, even aristocratic in a sense; ancient Egyptians worshiped them for their grace and poise. Sometimes, they are haughty; other times, they are skittish and hide when someone gets too close to them. They conceal their claws most of the time, but show them when forced to fight. I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

2. Another reason I rejected 'Usagi' is because rabbits are associated with the moon in Japanese folklore. The tale about the Moon rabbit is based on pareidolia (seeing familiar shapes in random markings) that identifies the markings of the Moon as a rabbit. As the name implies, it's a rabbit that lives on the Moon; it's seen pounding in a mortar and pestle the ingredients for rice cake (mochi).

3. Cats and Foxes: The two are remarkably similar. Both are predators that favor stealth; they hunt the same prey (i.e. Rabbits), and have a similar way of posturing (fur raised, back arched, stiff-legged prance, and batting pounce). Both have vertically oriented pupils (slits), sensitive whiskers, and spines on their tongues. Both walk on their toes (elegant, cat-like tread). Many foxes have retractable claws that allow them to climb rooftops or trees, and some even sleep in trees—just like cats.

4. Superstitions: In the western world, a black cat is a symbol of bad luck, often associated with witches. In Japan, they are the exact opposite; a black cat crossing your path is considered good fortune. Whichever way one chooses to look at it, the name fits (bad luck for enemies, good luck for allies).

-X-

Things that will never happen: Harem, Yuri, Yaoi, Lemons

-X-

Next up: Part One: How It All Began

Thank you for reading! Please, review and share your thoughts. Constructive criticism helps, flaming does not.

If you feel like it, check my other story, 'Broken Bonds: The Leaf and the Whirlpool'.

Edit: 12 January 2016 – Fixed some spelling mistakes.

Edit: 29 April 2016 – Fixed some spelling mistakes.