Behind the Waterfall

#13 Hawk

"Nothing." Naruto lied, as the raven haired girl sat down next to Rhino. She didn't look like she bought it, but she dropped it either way, taking the last can.

The rest of the morning went by quickly, Naruto summoning a few clones to clean up, while the group waited for Lion to come out of his tent.

"Alright, we have an offer from Sogengakure, the village leader Hiatsu has invited us to his wedding. Officially that is all, however I am pretty sure that there might be a war coming up in the near future and that he wants to recruit a number of rogues to his side." Lion stated, as they sat in a circle. He was by far the oldest of the group and the most experienced, which is why he was appointed the leader. His network of connections and informants also spread far through the lands with at least one person in most of the villages.

"Sounds alright." Hawk replied, her head resting on Naruto's shoulder. The blonde smiled down at the girl, as everyone agreed to go to the wedding and see what would happen.

They packed the rest of their stuff together, put on their masks and jumped away.

"When are you gonna make your move?" Rhino asked Naruto, nodding his head towards Hawk. The girl was involved in a discussion with Cat, which made Naruto think that this was planned, but he didn't comment on it.

"I don't know. I mean, I like her, but is it enough for a relationship?" It hadn't been the first time that he and Hawk had been called out on their close friendship, but so far they had not talked about it.

"If you don't know, then how do you want to find out if you don't try? By the way, Sogen has some nice parks." The tall man winked, leaving him to his thoughts as he moved up towards Lion.

"What was that about?" Hawk's voice broke Naruto out of his thoughts. Apparently the two girls had ended their discussion as well.

"He wanted to know if I knew who the bride would be." Naruto replied, as they continued jumping through the trees. It wasn't a complete lie, since the first topic had indeed been the wedding.

"Yeah, I have been wondering about that as well." The girl replied.

"What is it?" Naruto wondered, noticing her fidgeting with her fingers, a sign that she was nervous about something.

"I like your real hair more." She stated, reaching out to comb her fingers through Naruto's hair. His blonde hair was replaced by a dark red color, a perk of sealing, that he was glad to have. The genjutsu cost him nothing to apply, since it was a part of a seal he had put on the mask. The only cost had been a few tries and a bit of chakra when he had set it up.

"Listen, I wondered if you would want to go to the parks with me when we arrive?" The brown haired girl continued before Naruto could respond. Hawk smiled, causing Naruto to smile as well.

"It would be an honor." He replied, making the girl's smile widen.

"Great." She exclaimed. They fell into a comfortable silence, watching the world fly by as they jumped towards Sogengakure.

They arrived at the gates around noon. Looking around Naruto immediately recognized a few of the faces as other rogues they had come into contact with over the past months. The group was on high alert, with this many rogues, there was bound to be some kind of bad blood between a few of them and that could escalate quickly. Lion stopped at the black board, calling the rest towards him after a few moments.

"Safe zone?" Hawk asked, as she read of the prominently placed handbill bearing the signature of Marube Hiatsu.

"It basically means that, since we are all invited to the same thing, all grievances are to be put on ice until the wedding is over." Lion explained.