"Good morning, Naruto," Neji said somewhat stiffly. The two young men had met up on their way to the Ninja Operations building. Uzumaki was mission ready: clad in his orange and black jumpsuit, with both his gear pack and Kitsune strapped to his back. The Hyuga branch member wore his clan robes, as he usually had since Naruto returned to the village, just over one year ago.
"Hey, Neji," Naruto greeted his friend and rival, "Why are you heading to Ops?"
"The Hokage has summoned me," his quiet voice made it obvious Naruto should have expected that.
"You too?" the Chunin smirked, "I guess that means we're probably gonna be working together again."
"That does seem likely," the Jonin said dryly.
"Good, you're both here," Tsunade said without preamble, as the two youths entered her office. Sakura Haruno was already present, waiting.
"I have a mission for you three," the Hokage informed them, "In case you hadn't guessed. It is an A Rank escort mission."
She flipped open the file, and turned it around so they could see. Naruto immediately recognized both of their clients, while Neji remembered the woman in the second photo, though he had never met the other. Sakura didn't know either of them.
"You escorting Daimyo Haruna of the Land of Greens, to meet with Daimyo Toki of the Land of Birds," the medical Sannin explained, "Those two countries have been in the process of forming an economic and military alliance. If this conference goes well, they will be signing the treaties. You are to escort Lady Haruna to the Land of Birds, remain with her for the duration of the deliberations, and then return her to the Land of Greens."
"You must be expecting trouble, to assign this as an A level task," Neji put forth, "Is there some resistance to this alliance?"
"Not internally," the Kunoichi Sannin smirked at him, "But the Land of Grass has been trying to intercept communiqués between the Greens and Birds for a while now. We suspect they have designs on both countries. The alliance would probably put the kibosh on their plans. You should expect Grass Ninja interference."
"Why us?" Naruto asked, confused, "I mean, no offense to Neji, but why not just send us with Kakashi-sensei and Hinata?"
"I considered it," their commander admitted, "And while both Daimyos wanted you, Naruto, Lady Toki also requested Neji's presence. Hiashi has been asking to have some of Hinata's time for clan duties, and sending Neji instead frees up Kakashi for another task. So it worked out pretty good this way."
The blonde teen nodded. He was disappointed, but understood the Hokage's reasoning.
"Now that that is cleared up," Tsunade leaned forward, and handed the oldest teen the file, "Neji will be in charge, obviously. You are expected in the Land of Greens in five days, so you should have plenty of time. Dismissed."
She stopped paying them any attention, and the younger shinobi got the message and vacated her office.
"Back to the Land of Greens, huh," Naruto grunted as he remembered his rocky introduction to Princess Haruna, "We better get going."
"No," Neji said, shaking his head once, "As the Hokage indicated, we have ample travel time to make the first leg of our journey. I still have some things to take care of, so we will not be leaving until this afternoon. We will meet at the gates at three PM, sharp."
He stared at Naruto as he said that. The members of Team Kakashi indicated their understanding, and left to finish their own preparations. Once they were gone, Neji withdrew his phone, and hit number one on the speed dial.
"Tenten," he said when the other party answered, "It is Neji. I have just been assigned a mission. Can we reschedule dinner to lunch?"
Though they had left mid-afternoon, the three ninjas were not in a particular hurry, and they set up camp after just over four hours of travel, just before dark. Given the drop in temperature after sunset, the warriors wanted to have their tent prepared and sleeping bags set out for the night. They started a fire, and the boys began cooking while Sakura took a short jog to a nearby pond to get some water.
Neji observed Naruto carefully, as if debating something. Once Sakura was far enough away, the Jonin spoke.
"Naruto," Neji said sternly, "What are your feelings for my cousin?"
"Huh? Ow!" Naruto grunted in surprise, then pain, as Hyuga's sudden and invasive query caused him to brush the back of his hand against the cooking pot.
"Can you honestly say that you 'love her with all of your heart'?" Neji did not back down, but the inflection of his query indicated the final set of words were not his own.
"Of course not," Naruto scoffed, "That's just stupid."
Neji's eyes widened, but Naruto wasn't done.
"I love Hinata," he said firmly, "But love her with all my heart? That would mean I couldn't care about Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Gramma Tsunade, Shizune-neesan... my mom... or any of my other family and friends."
"It's as bad as 'she's the only one for me'," Naruto continued, "I mean, how could I possibly know that? There could be someone out there who's the same as Hinata, except with lighter hair and different name. Or there could be some girl out there that both Hinata and I would fall for, and she'd fall for both of us, and we'd end up in some sort of three person relationship."
Neji raised an eyebrow.
"I know that almost never happens outside of bad adult novels," Jiraiya's ghostwriter admitted, "But it's possible. My point is, unless I knew every other person in the world, I can't honestly say that."
"But," Uzumaki said intently, holding Neji's gaze, "I can say that Hinata owns the largest portion of my heart, and I will never intentionally hurt her."
The Jonin nodded, briefly impressed. But then his frown returned.
"If that is the case," Gai's student said darkly, "Then why do you allow Hinata to be continually tormented?"
"What?" Naruto jerked back in surprise. Then his face became angry.
"Who is tormenting Hinata?" Uzumaki demanded. Part of Neji wanted to chuckle, Tenten owed him twenty Ryo. But he could not spoil the conversation with levity.
"I suspected you had not noticed," Hizashi's son confided, "After all, you are you, and you are accustomed to Sakura behaving in that manner."
"Sakura?" Yukihana's son glanced in the direction his teammate had disappeared, his ire forgotten, "Are you saying Sakura has been mean to Hinata?"
"Tenten and Ino first noticed it after your mission to protect Princess Nyoko," Neji explained, "That Sakura was becoming terse and condescending towards my cousin. But since the re-assignment of your Chunin teams, it has escalated to the point where nearly everyone has noticed it."
"Why would Sakura do that?"
Neji shrugged, "As her friend and teammate, you would have a better chance of ascertaining her motives than I would."
He redirected, having promised his girlfriend that he would let Naruto figure it out.
"Well, she wasn't happy when Sai took Sasuke's place," Naruto mused, "But I thought that was more about Sai's personality. I guess she could resent Hinata for the same reason. Or maybe she's jealous..."
For an instant, Neji dared to hope.
"... I mean, she's the only one of the girls who doesn't have a boyfriend. And Hinata's the only one who would let Sakura get away with treating her badly."
Neji's eyes narrowed in disappointment and annoyance. Then Sakura approached the camp, cutting off any further discussion on the topic.
Neji and Sakura both bowed deeply before the leader of the Land of Greens. After a second, and an irate glance from Sakura, Naruto followed suit, though not quite as low as his two colleagues.
"Please, there is no need for that," Haruna told them, smiling at Naruto. The nineteen-year-old Daimyo waved off her guards, and stood gracefully from her simple wooden throne. She walked quickly over to the Leaf Ninjas, and embraced Naruto.
"It is good to see you Naruto-kun," she said warmly. Then she released him, and addressed his teammates.
"You must be Neji-san and Sakura-san," she said, slightly more formally, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I place myself wholly in your care."
"What about Yurinojou?" Naruto asked.
"He will be taking care of the Land of Greens in my absence," she told him. She looked down, and said quietly, "I would rather have him along, but I fear we will need his strength here."
Naruto nodded grimly, and Neji's eyebrows almost came together.
"In that case," their mission leader finally spoke, "We should leave as soon as possible, Lady Haruna. As I understand it, once this alliance is formalized, your country will be in a much more stable position."
"Yes," she nodded slightly; still whispering so only her escorts could hear her, "I am fully prepared to leave immediately."
"That won't cause a problem?" Sakura asked, carefully.
"No, those ministers I fully trust are expecting my departure and are ready for a swift exit," the princess said.
"Then we should get a move on, ASAP," Naruto said softly but firmly. Then he glanced over at Neji, and deferred, "Right, boss?"
The Hyuga Jonin nodded, struggling against a grin that was totally inappropriate for the situation, but that Uzumaki often engendered anyways.
"So, I hear that the least eligible, yet most sought after, bachelor in the Hidden Leaf Village, is finally off the market," Haruna broached the subject conspiratorially after their lunch break on their third day of travel. Slowed by the Daimyo's pace, they were still three days away from the capitol city of the Land of Birds. They were cutting it close, but had planned just enough time to reach their destination the evening before the conference was set to begin.
"Yeah," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. Then his eyes narrowed in confusion, and he asked, "Why does everyone seem to know that?"
Sakura frowned in annoyance, and Neji stayed carefully neutral.
"Well, you have made quite a name for yourself," the Princess shrugged, "Ousting tyrants, preventing the overthrow of young rulers..."
She blushed slightly, finishing, "Winning the hearts of princesses, to various degrees."
"Not another one," Sakura muttered under her breath.
Unseen by the relaxed group, another trio observed them.
"Well?" the tallest Grass ninja demanded. He was oddly built, with a huge, muscular torso and arms, and spindly legs. He had light green hair and eyes, and his hair rose from his head in three, foot-long spikes. He wore a standard black shozoku, with a tan vest. The red metal chains wrapped repeatedly around both of his forearms offset the rather common nature of his uniform.
The smallest ninja lowered his binoculars, and shifted his gaze to his digital reader. He was under five feet in height, but his arms were too long for his body, giving him an apish appearance. His head was totally devoid of hair, which accentuated the fact that his eyes were of two different shades of blue, the left being substantially darker than the right. He wore the same uniform as his senior, minus the chains, but his had a number of high tech devices outfitted to it.
"One of them is a Hyuga," the slight warrior told his teammates. He paged through the files on his palmtop, before addressing them again.
"Neji Hyuga, unless I miss my guess," he continued, "The Kunoichi is Sakura Haruno, the Leaf Village doesn't have anyone else with that particular hair color. But the last one is tough. I find three potentials, but none of them are a good match. The hair is too short in back, and his build is too skinny for Inoichi Yamanaka. Gouki Namikaze..."
"It can't be that man," the Grass Kunoichi shuddered, "It just can't be."
She wrapped her arms tightly around her body, but not from the temperature. The act boosted her impressive cleavage. The twenty-something's figure rivaled that of the Hokage. Her pretty face suggested a kind, generous nature, echoed in her soft hazel eyes. Her hair was an odd gradient, blue on the right side, gradually shifting to purple on the left side. It was braided, and hung to the middle of her shoulder blades. Unlike her teammates, she wore civilian clothes, a scoop necked peasant blouse, a knee-length blue skirt, thigh high boots, and her Grass Shield was hidden, wrapped around her breasts under her shirt. Though she could have passed for a normal civilian, a careful examination would have revealed her outfit was composed of reinforced materials, and she had multiple kunai hidden in her boots and under her skirt.
"Ok..." the observing warrior shrugged, "Well, he's also too tall to be Naruto Uzumaki."
"Let me see that," the leader took the slighter ninja's portable, and flicked through the entries. He grunted angrily, and threw the device away. The computer's owner dove to catch it before it could hit the ground.
"Our Leader needs to spend more money on information, and less on stupid gadgets," he told his underlings, "That data is over three years old. Unless he stopped growing at age twelve, that is Naruto Uzumaki."
"But we have 'do not engage' orders for Uzumaki," the young woman insisted.
"Maybe for a normal mission," the head ninja shook his head, "But this is a task from the Daimyo of the Land of Grass and our Leader. Secondary standing orders do not apply."
"We attack then?" the technology savvy ninja stored his palmtop.
"No," the unevenly built ninja informed them, "Our mission is to prevent the treaty from being signed, and to ensure Lady Haruna's safety. We need only delay them long enough for the other teams to do their jobs. A battle would not necessarily serve our purpose."
Their commander grinned confidently, "I have another idea. Let's go"
After watching in silent mirth as Sakura and Haruna tormented Naruto about his love life for almost twenty minutes, Neji finally interceded.
"Lady Haruna," the Jonin interjected, "If I may ask, what lead you to this alliance with the Land of Birds?"
The young ruler glanced at the blond Chunin, smiling slightly.
"It was not quite sixteen months ago," she began, "I had journeyed to the Konohagakure to observe the Chunin exam, and discuss certain events with Tsunade-dono. During the event, I was seated next to the Daimyo of another small country. She expressed displeasure to her consort, she was unhappy that a certain young man would not be competing in the exam."
"Hey, Sakura," Naruto whispered loudly, "What's a consort?"
"Uuuuuhh," the medical expert groaned in disappointment, "It means the husband of a female ruler. Dummy."
"I was of a similar mind, and we started conversing," the princess continued, amused at the interruption, "Of course that was Toki-dono, and as we spoke, we discovered we had more in common than just a specific blonde Leaf Ninja."
"So you two decided to create an alliance to protect yourselves from the Grass Country," Sakura half asked, half said.
"Yes," Haruna agreed, "By working together, we will improve our economies and increase our security."
"Wait," Naruto looked confused, "I thought you guys already had lotsa money, and that was part of why the Grass guys want to take over. Won't making more money just make them more interested?"
"Possibly," Haruna said, "But our military alliance should more than offset the financial gains. You see, the Land of Birds has a strong standing army, but no ninjas to speak of. We have the Flower Ninja clan, but they are no match for the entire Hidden Grass Village. But if we fought together, we would be nearly equal in strength. In addition, part of the treaty calls for a mutual defense fund, to hire the Hidden Leaf village should our situation require it."
Naruto bit his lip and nodded, trying to digest all of the information. Then he suddenly stopped walking.
"Whoa, déjà vu," the blond Chunin exclaimed.
"What was that?" Neji froze, his face creased with suspicion.
"That lump of rocks, it looks a lot like another group we passed a while ago," Uzumaki explained, "I noticed because it looks like Kakashi-sensei's hair."
"Yeah, it kinda does," Sakura nodded, tilting her head to look at the stones from an angle.
"Is it like the ones we passed before?" the Hyuga Jonin asked, "Or the same?"
"How could it be the same?" their client asked nervously, "Our path has been a straight one, west by northwest, navigating off the sun. We could not have gone in a circle."
"Not unless the sun was in the wrong place," Naruto looked up, as if expecting the gold orb to reverse direction. Neji glanced up, appraising the sky earnestly.
"What is it, Neji-san?" Haruna asked glancing back and forth between Neji and the sun. The head ninja did not answer; instead he put his hands together and activated his Kekkei Genkai. After a second of looking around the Jonin signed quickly, and suddenly disappeared.
"Neji?" Naruto gaped. He was not familiar with the hand seals the Jonin had used, but based on the configuration, he did not think it was the Body Flicker Technique or some other teleportation jutsu.
"Sakura, was that Shunshin?" he asked, quickly, still glancing about.
"I don't think..." she started to confirm his initial assumption, but stopped short.
"Neji," she exclaimed as he reappeared before her.
"Neji?" Naruto asked, craning his neck to look past her, and registering surprise when he did not see their teammate.
"Did I miss him?" The Daimyo of Greens blinked to clear her eyes.
"No, he's right here," Sakura looked right at the robed shinobi.
"Skrthcntrsehrm" some sort of gibberish emerged from Neji mouth,
"Neji?" Sakura grimaced in confusion, "Are you alright?"
"Sakura?" Naruto eyed her with concern.
"Sakuura," Neji's pronunciation of her name was oddly drawn out, "They cannot see or hear me. The threee of you are still trapped in the webb of Genjutsu. I am using an illusion of my own tooo talk to you. After I broke myself free of the technique, I realized you could no longgger see me."
"Release," Sakura brought her palms together and tried to disconnect herself from the technique. But nothing happened.
"I didd not expect that to work," Neji told her, "It did not for me, even when I could seee the prison. It is composed of five, separate, interwoven illusions. I had to use the Illusion Sever Juutsu to free myself. Do you know the technique?"
"Only by reputation," she frowned.
"We don't have time for me to instruct you in its usage," he considered, "Perhaps if we work together."
"It's worth a shot," she agreed. She started to put her hands together again, but then noticed Haruna and Naruto, both staring at her anxiously.
"Just a second," the pink-haired Kunoichi told the Jonin. She quickly explained the situation to the princess and the knucklehead. Naruto attempted to break free of the Genjutsu net, but neither Neji nor Sakura was surprised when he failed.
"Release," Sakura put her hands together and focused her chakra. She could almost sense the techniques holding her. Then she felt a pressure against her forehead that had not been there before. The maze around her became clear, and she was able to exit.
Unlike the noonday sun of the illusion, the medic found herself in twilight. Neji withdrew his fingers from her scalp. She glanced back, and Naruto and Haruna were still there, but their faces were slowly taking on expressions of amazement. Looking down in the dim, she saw multiple sets of their tracks in the dirt.
"It seems we have been walking in circles, but at a slowed rate," Neji told her, "It appears we passed that rock at least six times."
He pointed to the spiky formation that Naruto had noticed.
"What about those two?" Sakura queried.
"I believe that working together, we will be able to free them as well," Neji stated.
"And if we can't?"
"Then we will have to locate the creator or creators of this trap, and make them collapse it," the Hyuga Branch ninja responded firmly, "But let us try the other way first."
She nodded, and walked over to Haruna. Neji wondered briefly at her choice, and then joined her. Naruto was in the process of inching his hands together again. Both of the liberated shinobi touched the Daimyo's brow, and intoned in unison "Release."
Now that she was outside of the spell, Sakura was more aware of the resistance. But after a few seconds of warring, the Leaf warriors won out, and their client blinked at them at normal speed.
"Sakura, Neji," she gaped slightly as they withdrew, dropping honorifics in her surprise, "I... uh..."
She suddenly dropped to her knees. Sakura crouched next to her examining the ruler.
"I'm okay," Haruna panted, "My legs just suddenly ached."
"We have been walking for five hours more than our brains were allowed to register," Neji told her, "even if it was at a reduced pace."
"What about Naruto?" the princess asked.
"Ah, Neji? Sakura?" Naruto swiveled about rapidly, trying to find the others. Then he put his hands together. He focused like Iruka taught him, swirling his chakra to dislodge the Genjutsu.
"Release," he intoned. But the false world remained around him.
"RELEASE!" Uzumaki shouted, his face lighting with rage. His chakra became visible around him, to no avail. The Chunin remained trapped.
"Come on, release?" he pleaded. His situation remained the same, and he stomped the dirt in annoyance.
"Why can't I break free?" he demanded of the heavens, "Even when I know it's not real?"
'What is real?' the Kyubi chuckled at his impotence, 'What you see, hear, taste? Those things can be faked, both by forces outside of you, and by your own mind. Or is it the material world, whether you sense it or not? My power can reshape the world according to my will, so how can you say that it is real?'
As the teen ninja pondered the demon's words, Sakura reappeared before him.
"Ssttoopp mmoovviinngg aroundyouidiot," her image said unevenly, as she tried to adjust to the time differential, "Neji and I aretrying ttoo ffrreeee you."
"OK," he agreed, freezing in place, ready to defeat the illusion. The image of Sakura disappeared, and Naruto began to fight the spell again.
"It's not working," Neji was amazed as he relinquished his contact with the blonde Chunin's forehead, "We were able to free both you and Lady Haruna, so why is Naruto still trapped?"
"Maybe we should just leave him here," Sakura suggested. But the Daimyo's expression showed she was not amused by the remark. The Kunoichi was spared a sharp retort when Neji's eyebrows rose.
"What is he doing?" the Hyuga Jonin pondered, as Naruto started waving slowly for their attention. The team leader signed quickly, and projected his likeness to Naruto's eyes and ears. Within the illusion, Uzumaki was rapidly swinging his arms back and forth.
"What is it, Naruto?" Neji queried him directly.
"What's the hold up?" the younger man demanded, "I was standing there, trying to break the illusion for like a minute."
"In reality, it was closer to ten minutes," Neji frowned, "But we are as mystified as you are. You should be free by now."
"Then what? Am I gonna be stuck here forever?"
"Unlikely," Neji snorted derisively, "Whoever is maintaining this trap will run out of chakra eventually. Though Sakura did suggest leaving you here until then."
"No way, Sakura," he shouted, though unfortunately in the wrong direction, "You're not leaving me here."
"The question remains, how can we make you see through this Genjutsu web," Neji's mirth faded.
"See... maybe that's it," Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Neji looked at him in curious condescension. But the Chunin just grinned proudly.
"Kariname Jutsu," Kakashi's student explained, "Hinata said you're pretty good at it. Maybe if you show me the real world, it will help get me out of here."
"It is worth a try," Neji admitted. He nodded at his junior, and instructed, "Get ready."
Neji activated the Vision Lending Jutsu, and Naruto's view changed. He almost vomited as the world went from light to dim, and the speed of the real world fought against the slowness of the fake world. The young adult closed his eyes, hoping it would help, but he could still see through the Kariname jutsu, and the time perception jutsu did not rely on vision. He choked back his lunch, and took a deep breath.
"Ready?" Neji asked. Naruto nodded, slowly, carefully. He placed his hands together, and Sakura and Neji each touched one of his eyelids, instead of his forehead.
"Release," they incanted in unison. For a few heartbeats, Naruto felt as if his entire chakra network was on fire, but then he was doused with cold, and he was free.
"Woo," Naruto exhaled, stretching out.
"What now?" the male Chunin asked, "Do we find who did this?"
"That's not our job," Neji shook his head, "They did not try to hurt us, and we need to make up lost time, not waste more."
"Neji, I don't know if Lady Haruna can go much further," Sakura said quietly.
"As much as I would like to disagree," the Daimyo joined the discussion loudly, "I'm afraid Sakura-san is correct."
"I can carry her," Naruto suggested, "If you don't mind, Lady Haruna."
The princess blushed, then she nodded. With a slightly apologetic look, Naruto scooped her up in his arms.
"Umm, Naruto, piggyback would make more sense," Sakura said darkly.
"If she's too tired to walk, you can hardly expect her to hang on," Naruto countered. Sakura glared at Neji, but the Jonin just shrugged. And the Daimyo looked away, obviously embarrassed.
"Fine, let's just get moving," she grimaced. Naruto looked at Neji questioningly, and the Hyuga youth nodded. Naruto sighed sadly, and the three ninja started running.
"Now what?" the Grass tech ninja asked his two senpai.
"We join team two in the Land of Birds," the trident-haired leader said quietly, "Let them know what happened, and double our forces for the next phase."
The computer user nodded, and the Kunoichi looked worried and unhappy.
"Lady Toki," the seneschal announced, "I present Lady Haruna of the Land of Greens, and her escorts Neji Hyuga, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno."