This is my first fanfic on this account, and it's really only my second fanfiction ever. Please, any comments, suggestions, or critiques are welcome, but be kind and don't flame!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in this fanfiction other than Sorami. I don't own nor do I claim to own any part of the Naruto world…wish I did, though. All rights go to the respectful owners.

Enjoy!

Night

~Chapter I~

Naruto and Hinata were never really close. Sure, Naruto considered her a friend and he admired her fierce determination as well as acknowledged her strength as a ninja. But when this mission was assigned he nearly passed out from embarrassment. Hinata certainly did.

"No, Grandma, I refuse to do that! I'm not a pervert like Jiraiya-sensei" Naruto yelled.

Tsunade sighed. She knew he would take it this way. To make matters worse, the Hyuuga had fainted and Tsunade suddenly realized the reason why: the girl had a crush on Naruto. This was not what Tsunade had expectd and she was regretting her decision to use these particular ninja. The risks were already high that they would be uncovered, and the girl's feelings could easily ensure the failure of this mission.

However, Tsunade was faced with the reality of the situation that she found herself in. The Akatsuki were making their next move, and the Anbu were currently out searching for Orochimaru's hideout. While there still remained many Anbu and a substantially large number of Jonin and Chunin within the village, Tsunade had few ninja to spare; many of the stronger Jonin and Chunin needed to remain in the village in the case that it were attacked, and the Anbu were needed for the most difficult missions. Tsunade certainly couldn't leave to accomplish this mission, and in all honesty, the two in front of her were perfect candidates for this mission. It required infiltration into a dangerous village, a village filled with bloodthirsty ninja and rogues who were terrifying the villagers. However, though she wished she could order these two to rid the village of this problem, that was not the reason they were being sent in. Rumor had it that Orochimaru had various spies and informants among the rogue ninja-and their mission was to discover not only the identities of the spies but to also have these spies divulge all the information they knew.

Of corse this wouldn't be easy. Two leaf-nin couldn't exactly waltz into this village and expect a warm welcome. Nor could they retrieve the information through brute force, torture, or interrogation-they had already tried the latter and the rogue ninja burst into flames when they had opted to reveal what they knew. Ibiki had nearly been killed and Tsunade was not about to let a repeat of this event occur. No, what was required in this situation was an inconspicuous group of ninja infiltrating the village and gaining the trust of one of Orochimaru's operatives. That was where Naruto came in.

Tsunade knew that Naruto's uncanny ability to turn enemies into friends would be vital to the success of the mission, and she didn't doubt that he would have them spilling their guts to him in an instant. The problem with Naruto was that he would probably try to rush things and end up ruining the mission. She needed someone who could calm him down and also search for information by remaining in the shadows-and still not arouse suspicion. The Hyuuga girl was perfect for this because she knew the teaditions of clans and the etiquette that Naruto lacked knowledge of. If they became involved in any political affairs while on their mission- clans fighting eachother for power and merchants scrabbling for money- Hinata would be able to guide Naruto through them and smoothe things over without jeopardizing their mission. Hinata was also very shy. While most viewed shyness as a fault, Tsunade saw Hinata's reservedness as a strength. Because she was so reserved, she could listen to conversations without saying a word, and whoever was having the conversation would hardly take notice, or would dismiss her. Shy people were generally underestimated, and while it could be a sign of low self-esteem, Tsunade knew that shy people could very well be the downfall of an opponent. If an opponent dismissed one as being weak because one were shy, it could very well be the last thing that opponent did. And of course, the girl had the Byakugan. Hinata was just a natural for this type of spy work, though Tsunade doubted the girl knew it.

Two people arriving simultaneously would arouse suspicion, but it was a risk Tsunade was willing to take. Tsunade didn't want her ninjas to travel there separately because she feared the thugs would attack anyone entering the village alone, and while she knew the pair of ninja in front of her could easily defeat thugs, it would arouse suspicion about the ninja and the mission would basically be neutralized. Anymore than three ninja would certainly gather the attention of the rogues and would leave konoha in the dark as to any plans Orochimaru might have. The success of this mission rested solely on three ninja, and from the looks of things, the two that were in front of her might not make it.

Tsunade sighed in frustration. "Naruto," she growled, her voice stern. "You do not have a choice in this matter. You and Hinata are both skilled ninja, you work well together, and you actually do look convincing as lovers."

Naruto sputtered, his face now a deep shade of red. "But Granny, I'm not gonna pretend to be MARRIED to Hinata-chan or anything like that! I mean, how does that even help this mission? Couldn't we just pretend we're really close friends?"

Despite the seriousness of the mission, Tsunade found that a smile had formed on her lips. Naruto swallowed; whenever Tsunade got that mean-looking smile on her face, Naruto knew she was about to do something that he wasn't gonna like.

"Naruto, do you want to bring Sasuke back?"she asked him, though it was a rhetorical question.

"I-I-what kinda question is that? Of COURSE I want to save Sasuke!"Naruto yelled, knowing where this was going.

"Then you will accomplish this mission, in order to achieve that goal. You'll be gathering vital information that will almost certainly help with your retrieval of Sasuke. And you will do this mission." It wasn't a question. Tsunade had backed him into a corner, and he knew it.

"But-but..."Naruto floundered around as he struggled to come up with an excuse not to pose as Hinata's lover. It wasn't right. He liked Hinata, sure, but he definitely wasn't her lover; playing the part of one might mean kissing her, and while Naruto entertained the idea for awhile, he discarded it quickly. Hinata already fainted around him frequently, and while he figured she was prone to fevers and sickness, he didn't want to make her feel as though he was her lover. He hadn't really had his first kiss yet-and Sasuke definitely didn't count. While Hinata was pretty and all, he was sort of nervous about his first kiss. And he was worried about Hinata's as well. Besides, it felt like he was taking advantage of her, and as he had already told Tsunade, he was not a pervert.

"No buts, Naruto," Tsunade told him, her grin growing as the Hyuuga girl stirred beside Naruto. "You had better not make her pass out again,"she told him.

"I'm not the one who made her faint- that was YOU." Naruto glared at her, before crouching next to Hinata and asking her if she was alright.

Tsunade frowned as she realized that not only did Hinata have a major crush on the boy, but also that Naruto was completely oblivious to her feelings towards him. Great, she thought. Another complication.

For Hinata, the shock of being told that she was going on an A-class mission was rather great. The shock of discovering that if would be a six-month long mission was even larger. Finding out that she would be spending those six months with Naruto was astounding, and she wasn't sure whether to run or weep for joy. But, what finally did it for Hinata was the Hokage telling her that she and Naruto were going to be posing as lovers. It sent Hinata's thoughts spiraling, and it was too much for the poor girl-she fainted five seconds after Tsunade told her.

So when she woke up to Naruto asking her in a concerned voice if she as all right, it was all Hinata could do to refrain from fainting again. She was a mess, and she knew it. She tried to calm herself down, taking long deep breaths as Naruto's blue eyes gazed down at her in worry. When she finally thought she had regained enough composure to speak, she mumbled a quick apology and rose shakily to her feet, Naruto's concerned face watching every movement she made.

Hinata sat down in her chair once more. Taking a shuddering breath, she asked the Hokage politely to please explain the mission to her.

After Tsunade had told them once more that they would be infiltrating a village of rogue ninja posed as lovers, Hinata was glad she didn't faint again, though she certainly FELT like fainting.

"Since you need to be inconspicuous, you will be taking on the roles of rogue ninja from Sunagakure. Your reason for abandoning Suna is that you don't like your new Kazekage, and under his rule your relationship has suffered because you opposed his views. You decided to leave and make a new life elsewhere, where your love will not be so constrained by a jinchurikis rule. Your aunt has offered you a temporary home, and though you don't necessarily love her, she has offered you shelter and at this point you really have no place else to stay."

Naruto wasn't liking what he wa hearing. He disagreed with everything he was supposed to portray. He thought Gaara was an excellent Kazekage, and agreed with practically everything Gaara had done for his village. However, Naruto understood that this type of story would sound perfectly justifiable to the rogue ninja they were to extract information from, and it might even endear some of them to become closer to them. After three years of training with Jiraiya-Sensei, Naruto had learned to hold his tongue on certain matters if he knew the benefits.

One point however, bothered hinata. " Hokage-sama, is it just going to be Naruto and me who perform this mission?"she asked.

Tsunade beamed at her, glad the young kunoichi had noticed what Naruto hadn't.

"To answer your question, Hinata: no, it will not be solely you and Naruto who participate in this mission. There will be one other person joining your team when you arrive at the village. This ninja has already infiltrated the village, and she will be posing as your aunt," she said, the last bit directed towards Naruto.

"How will we know who she is?" Naruto asked.

"You won't," Tsunade replied smiling. "But,"she continued hurriedly as Naruto opened his mouth to reply. "She'll know YOU. She'll show you proof of who she is by showing you a scroll detailing who she believes to be in contact with Orochimaru."

Naruto wasn't thrilled. They'd be alone entering the village, he and Hinata, and they would have to trust that this aunt figure would recognize them. Until she did, they'd be wandering around the village without being able to trust anyone except eachother.

"Wxcuse me," Hinata's soft voice was barely audible, but Tsunade and Naruto turned to her.

"Yes, Hinata?" Tsunade prodded.

" W-well, with N-Naruto being a target of t-the A-Akatsuki, wouldn't these r-rogue ninja k-k-know how he looked?" Hinata asked softly.

Tsunade beamed again. Boy, this girl didn't miss much, did she? Even with her crush on the boy, Tsunade was starting to think that Hinata was more than capable of completing this mission.

"Very good, Hinata," Tsunade told her. "Yes, they would probably know what Naruto looked like, and those eyes of yours are rather famous. A normal henge can be seen through by a skilled ninja, and we wouldn't want your cover blown because of that. So, you won't be using henge to disguise yourselves," Tsunade explained.

Naruto frowned. "Then how are we gonna fool them?" he asked pointedly.

Tsunades reply was to stand up and call for Shizune to escort them away. She grinned slyly at the pair.

"Make-over time."

And then a wide-eyed Hinata was lead out of the room behind a gaping Naruto.

Sorami gazed out of her window. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that Tsunade was going to send her something. Sure enough, mere seconds later, a small slug wiggled itself up her window, pausing in its movements to make sure she had noticed it. Sorami opened the window slowly and silently. With calculated preciseness, she gently scooped the slug into her hands and closed the window as silently as she had opened it. She deposited the slug on her desk before crossing the room to her door, checking that it was securely locked. Activating her kekkeigenkai, she looked around her and made sure no jutsu's save for her own were around her room. Only her wards were present, and there were no ninja or villagers around. Deactivating her eyes, she nodded towards the slug.

The slug, in reply, proceeded to vomit on her desk. Sorami still found it comical that Tsunade's slugs carried scrolls in their stomachs to relay messages, but the only way they could deliver them was by throwing them up. In order to convey how comical it appeared to her, she burst out laughing.

Katsuyu frowned at Sorami. She didn't like being laughed at, but it was of the utmost importance that this message be delivered as soon as possible. It was so important that Katsuyu had been held in a bird's mouth for two hours on the way here, before the bird dropped her unceremoniously atop Sorami's house with an unflattering 'Plop'. Katsuyu wasn't thrilled to be delivering another message to Sorami. The journey was a hassle, but what really irked her was that Sorami always laughed at her when she removed the scroll from her belly. It wasn't all that funny, especially considering the information that this particular scroll contained.

Nonetheless, Katsuyu waited patiently for Sorami to quit laughing; Katsuyu figured that since Sorami had moved into the village seven months ago, she hadn't had many opportunities to laugh, or even smile. Her mission was pretty dangerous, after all, and probably didn't offer much time for the young woman to be happy. It was a very high-stress mission. The scroll she had brought was Tsunade's attempt to alleviate some of that pressure off of Sorami. That wasn't the entire reason behind Tsunade's decision to send help, but it was a contributing factor.

Sorami finally wiped some tears from her eyes as she reached for the scroll, still giggling slightly as she opened it. Her giggles stopped suddenly and her brow furrowed as she read the scroll. Her previously smiling mouth formed a slight frown as she finished reading the scroll.

"No," she said simply before walking back to her bed and beginning to undo her shoelaces.

Katsuyu stared at her. "No to what?" she asked the young woman.

"No to it all. As much as I respect that the demon-boy has great potential, and as much as I respect the strength of the Hyuuga clan, I'm perfectly capable of finishing this mission WITHOUT their help," she told Katsuyu as she threw her boot to the floor and began untying the shoelaces on her other boot.

Katsuyu sighed. The girl hadn't been that great at teamwork ever since her Genin teammates died seven years ago. Before that, Katsuyu was told that the girl had been great at teamwork, but the deaths of her two closest friends had obviously had a negative effect on her. However, Tsunade's decision had been final, and Katsuyu needed to make sure Sorami knew of that finality.

"It doesn't matter what you think or what you want," Katsuyu told her. "Tsunade has made her decision that you will cooperate with these two and that you will work as a team. All the details are in that scroll-you know what Tsunade has ordered for this mission."

Sorami glared at the floor, tossing her boot at it pretty hard. She couldn't deny that the two ninja the Hokage was sending were promising young kids, but one of them was a Genin, for heavens sake. She didn't care what they had already accomplished-the fact that she had been paired with a Genin and a Chunin was really irritating her. There was more to it than that, a deeper reason for her hesitation to accept them as her comrades, but she didn't want to think about it. Her old teammates were gone, and there was nothing she could do for them. The best she could do was make sure that these two didn't end up like her old friends.

Katsuyu watched solemnly as she saw emotions play across the girl's face. It was obviously hard on the young woman to accept the responsibility of overseeing two ninja and consider them comrades. The fact that she was the senior ninja in this operation placed the burden of responsibility for the two younger ninja upon her shoulder., and Sorami didn't think she was ready. Unfortunately for her, Tsunade believed that she was more than ready to hold this responsibility, and had made it clear in her orders to Sorami that Sorami would need to work alongside the two ninja in order to succeed.

Sorami flopped down on her bed, arms behind her head, and stared at the ceiling. Several minutes later, she sat up and looked at Kaysuyu. "Tell that woman that I'm not happy. I'm not happy with this situation at ALL," she told Katsuyu. "But tell her I'll be there Saturday night at these village gates to pick 'em up. There's no way I'm goin' all the way to Konoha to bring their sorry hides here. It's way too far. "

Katzuyu smiled. The girl was just angry that Tsunade had forced her into this, but she was willing to accept them as her comrades. Katsuyu began to dispel, but Sorami's last words echoed throughout the room.

"Tell her... Tell her I'll do my best."

Katsuyu nodded, then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sorami stared at where the slug had been, then got up and unlocked her door, heading for the kitchen. She needed a towel to clean up that stupid slug's barf, after all.

~End Chapter I~

Author Comments: Well, there it is! My first fanfiction on this account, and my second fanfiction! I hope that you all enjoyed it! I'm using this story as a way to improve my writing skills, so I'm trying new things in this story.

I don't have a beta, so one would be much appreciated. I started writing this around Christmas break, and I've had it finished for awhile and meant to put it up, but I didn't get around to editing it till last night. In case you've never read the fanfiction 'Two Halves' by DameWren, my work is greatly inspired by her, and I named Sorami in honor of one of her characters, Sora. They have somewhat similar personalities, and they both have kekkeigenkais, and Hinata and Naruto are paired as a team, but the similarities end there. DameWren inspired me, but I want my work to be my own, so I will draw no more similarities intentionally. I hope that my writing style isn't too boring—I'm not quite sure how or when to separate paragraphs, so I just separate them when I feel there is a need to. Sorry if there are any grammar or spelling mistakes, because I only edited once! The spelling of Hyuuga with two u's is not a spelling error, because I prefer to use two u's in my writing. It's habit. I will try to update monthly or sooner, but I have lots on my plate this summer and I cannot promise that I will update consistently once school starts back up again. I hope to finish this, but I am a very terrible procrastinator, so it will probably take a long while. I hope you enjoy this story!