"Ah!"
Hinata yelled in pain as Neji used the gentle fist technique: rotation on her, to which she was pushed hard into a tree. Neji quickly rushed over to help her up when she immediately objected.
"I-I'm fine Neji nii-san. P-Please continue." Hinata struggled to stand up only to take upon a fighting stance however Neji could clearly see her heavy breathing as well as her heavy arms only being held up by her strong will. So he decided to take a break. Hinata came back after a few minutes to bring them beverages and small foods, as she placed down the tray, she then sat down next to Neji. She poured him some water before serving herself despite Neji's constant comments for her not to trouble herself with him.
"Hinata-sama, you have truly grown in both your body and mind"
"T-Thank you Neji nii-san" They both looked up at the open sky watching the clouds effortlessly move through the air when Hinata decided to speak once more.
"I can u-understand w-why Shikamaru enjoys this so much" Hinata smiled and Neji nodded in agreement.
"Yes, It is quite peaceful. No thoughts. No distractions running around wild acting like an idiot." Hinata giggled recognizing the reference to Naruto always being so hyperactive, complaining about his missions and making mistakes but always making it up for them. He had changed so many people for the good, people like Neji, Zabuza, and even Gaara of the Sand.
"Speaking of him, he has been awfully quiet this week, wouldn't you agree?" Hinata wondered for a moment before answering him.
"Y-You're right, I haven't seen him at all since the Chunin exams a-and I was getting worried. I hope he hasn't g-gotten into any trouble" Neji saw Hinata clench her fist into her chest.
"You care for Naruto a lot don't you..." Neji looked into Hinata's eyes "Hinata-sama?" Hinata was flushed in a bright crimson red trying to form words that never escaped her mouth. Neji smiled considerately and looked up at the sky.
"Knowing him he's probably training until he's wasted all his chakra" Neji smiled despite Hinata looking VERY nervous who was probably running hundreds of ways Naruto could be in danger in her head. He calmed her down chuckling a bit until their happiness was flushed away when one of the Hyuuga servants came rushing towards them out of breath.
"H-HINATA SAMA! Your presence is required at the front gates. A boy named Shikamaru wishes to see you and Neji-san immediately." Neji sprinted towards the front gate while Hinata thanked the servant and came running slightly behind. Shikamaru was in view when Neji turned a corner to then ask what happened that required immediate response.
"I need both you and Hinata to come with me on a very important S-ranked mission" When Hinata finally caught up she asked what happened only to receive the sullen words of Shikamaru's explanation. Both Neji and Hinata were in shock to hear naruto had been kidnapped, Hinata felt as if her heart might crush into millions of pieces at the sound of Naruto's disappearance. Thoughts of horrible torture, death, and pain filled her head almost causing her to collapse however Neji put his hand on her shoulder snapping her out of her thoughts, assuring her that Naruto was perfectly fine even though it seemed to almost reassure him as well.
Shikamaru opened Tsunade's office to thankfully find both Kiba and Choji already inside. Neji and Hinata followed behind and saw Tsunade looking out at the village with a serious face. She quickly turned her head to face the 5 genins in front of her and began to explain the situation.
"As Shikamaru has probably already informed you, Naruto has been kidnapped and taken out of the village. The last time anyone saw him was around a week ago right after he left this office to arrive home. The reason I have named this an S-ranked mission is because of the dangerous opponents you may have to face. You will head to the last place ninja hounds have confirmed the scent of an Akatsuki member, it's quite far from the village, therefore, I need all of you to depart immediately. Any questions?" Almost everyone put their hand up except Shikamaru and Choji. Neji spoke first.
"With all due respect Hokage-sama, I don't understand how you have already gathered intel and sent ninja hounds to search for Naruto but this mission wasn't called a week ago" Tsunade gritted her teeth.
"Unfortunately" She paused before continuing trying desperately to calm herself "There were some in the higher-ups that. WISHED" She emphasized "to postpone this rescue mission because they believed it was wiser to wait for higher-skilled ninja from the ANBU Black ops, specifically the Foundation to arrive back from their present missions. However, the ANBU foundation team were scheduled to arrive back to Konoha in a month's time" Tsunade continued.
"That's ridiculous! How could they expect us to wait a month to see if Naruto is even alive?!" Kiba screamed.
"Were Jounins not enough? Even chunins?" Kiba added furiously. Neji then answered saying that the village had just experienced an outside attack and it made sense that maybe all the Jounins and Chunins were outside the village patrolling making sure other nations wouldn't invade.
"It is possible they could not spare the manpower to assign a rescue mission that would take some time to accomplish" Kiba gritted his teeth in anger with Akamaru growling lowly. Tsunade looked intently at Neji, sighed, and nodded her head in agreement.
"But how can we go now? Did they finally agree?" Choji asked stuffing his mouth with potato chips. Tsunade averted her eyes quickly trying to find an excuse but Shikamaru already knew the answer.
"It hasn't been approved has it?" Shikamaru said lazily. Tsunade raised her arm into the air.
"WE CANNOT WAIT ANY FURTHER!" She slammed her fist down on her desk causing it to split in half, scaring everyone in the room "Naruto could be anywhere right now and no one except me is doing anything! He could be dead for all we know and all we have been doing is performing our daily tasks for the past week!" She had now calmed down a little more and stopped yelling.
"We are just lucky that Shikamaru came into my office the very minute I received the intel from the ninja hounds. We saved precious time because of that." Hinata nervously raised her hand and continued to speak.
"Y-You said we were going to face powerful enemies. D-d you know any of the enemies that could help us with plans of attack?" Kiba was surprised to hear Hinata speak up, she usually stayed quiet during these conversations keeping her thoughts to herself.
"To put it simply, you have a high chance of facing a previous Akatsuki member due to the location and...possibly Naruto himself." Everyone was a little taken aback by these words. Naruto? Fight? Them? Why on earth would he want to possibly fight them? Shikamaru read behind the lines of Tsunade's words and sweatdropped, he was very much aware of why Naruto might possibly fight back except he really wished it wouldn't turn out that way.
"We better get going then" Everyone turned towards Shikamaru "We are wasting daylight, Naruto is a precious friend and a member of the hidden leaf. We will save him no matter what." Hinata looked down gathering her strength until she looked back up with a confident aura around her that everyone in the room could feel.
"I-I used to always cry and give up... I made many wrong turns... But Naruto - Naruto helped me find the right path. So I will also make sure that we save him no matter what!" Tsunade was proud of the Hyuuga child standing before her, she had finally gained the strength to stand up and protect the ones she cared for. Tsunade smiled before finally giving her last orders to the team.
"Team Shikamaru! Your mission is to find Uzumaki Naruto and return him safely home! You have 15 minutes to gather all essentials and rendezvous at the main gates. Now go!"
"Hai!" The genins said in unison before disappearing. Leaving Tsunade to sit back in her chair and swivel around to look at the village in a golden sunset glow.
If only you could see your friends right now. You've changed them, they would give their life for you.
So you better be alive...
I. AM. SO. SORRY. This was a loooonng chapter to write but I finally completed it! I understand it's very late but the main thing is that I'm on time! (kinda)
I hope you enjoy reading this and clears a few confusions from the last chapter (since it definitely did for me. HA I read the last chapter and I was like wait.......why the hell didn't they notice and I had to figure that part out and also make sure it made sense)
Please let me know how I am doing so far in the comments and thank you for reading! (QUOTE TIME!!!)
"Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think,
not wonder, not imagine, not obsess.
Just breathe, and have faith that everything will work out for the best.