Becoming

Part 20

 Naruto sat outside of Tsunade's office, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Sasuke, Jiraiya and many others on either side. Some leaned against a wall and others lay passed out on the floor. No one dared speak, and even Choji stayed still, no food in sight. Occasionally, they would hear Ino or Sakura shout something, but other than that, the room was silent. They hadn't so much as heard a moan from Hinata, worrying everyone.

Naruto was amazed there were so many people. He was happy so many cared about the quieter girl. She was kind and caring, you couldn't help but care. Iruka and Hinata's old teacher, whose name had escaped Naruto's memory, stood close, both feeling as if they'd failed as teachers. Shikamaru was not a loud guy, so to someone who didn't know him, he'd seem the same, but everyone who cared to notice saw the difference. He was completely focused, staring at the ground. His mind did not wander. Everyone was silent, except for the ragged breathing of a few women who were crying.

Naruto was by far the worse off. He was bent over on the one bench in the hall, arms resting on his legs, hands clenching his hair. At that moment, only Sasuke was the one who noticed the drops falling on the ground, which had fallen from Naruto's face. The raven could see Naruto's jaw was clenched, teeth visible. He sighed and leaned against the wall, turning from Naruto. Sasuke wasn't an emotional guy, but he was getting as emotional as Sasuke Uchiha ever could get just watching Naruto. The blond hadn't even been able to calm down enough to let Jiraiya explain what had happened.

"Naruto, I'd like to explain now," Jiraiya said softly. Many gazes turned the older man's way, begging him to speak of it. Naruto didn't move, but the white haired man knew he was listening, and cleared his throat. "She'd been walking at the training grounds alone."

Naruto flinched, and everyone who noticed knew he was blaming himself. Jiraiya walked over to the blond and patted his back before continuing. "One of Tsunade's men had been assigned to watch her, but he was too far when it happened. Suddenly, there were three men in dark cloacks surrounding her, and then they were gone. Tsunade's man got to her just as she fell, already covered in blood." Sasuke felt, rather than saw, Naruto flinch yet again, this time when the men were mentioned. Ignoring the fact that Jiraiya was going to continue, Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto's back.

"Naruto, you know who those men are, don't you?" he asked lowly. Naruto looked at him, eyes red and tortured.

"Yeah," Naruto admitted, voice cracking.

"We all do," Tenten said, chiming in softly. "They work for him. If we don't do as we're supposed to, they're the one's that take us out."

"We've witnessed it happen many times," Shino added. Lee shivered at the thought and looked away from him.

"We do the less important jobs," Naruto explained. "Those three, they're amazingly skilled. They do the most awful, dangerous jobs. We know them all well. We've talked to them on the same side. They aren't as horrible as him. But if we turned on them, they'd pretend they never were friends with us."

Many in the hall looked at the four in horror, and then quickly to Tsunade's office when the door opened. A tired looking Shizune stepped out.

"Naruto, you need to see this," she said urgently, not sounding any bit as tired as she looked. She held out a piece of paper, which Naruto grabbed. Naruto was written in red on it. Flipping it over, Naruto saw the message. You need punishment. I've decided to let you off easy, since your hand was forced, but next time I won't be as forgiving.

Naruto handed it to Jiraiya and quickly sat down again. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure the meaning of it. That man never let anyone off easy. He knew how much he cared about Hinata and called it a just punishment. Naruto's fear escalated when he understood that meant they were really trying to kill her. They didn't fail. Hinata was dead. It also meant they were all being watched closely.

"Shizune, how is Hinata?" Naruto asked quickly, fearing she was already dead. Tenten, Shino and Lee knew exactly what he was thinking and looked pale.

"She's stable," Shizune said with a small smile. "However, she'll die if we stop for just a minute." Naruto whirled to the three he'd worked with for so long.

"Oh no," Tenten whispered with a gasp. "You can't be serious." Lee had paled even more and fell to the floor, hands in his hair.

"What?" Sasuke asked, eyes narrowed. "Naruto, what's going on? Hinata's not dead. Why do you look scared?"

"Hinata may live," Naruto said, still looking horrified. "But you won't. You need to hide and arm yourselves and prepare."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked, standing. Everyone's eyes were on the four, who looked as if they'd just witnessed a death.

"He's not just satisfied with one death," Naruto said, looking around. "They never fail to kill anyone. If they'd really meant to, she'd be dead already. They'll wait till we're aware that they're still here and then make us watch helplessly as you die in front of us."

So, (random story telling time) I've got short hair, and I've always loved doing different hairstyles, and ya know, it's hard to do when it's short. I finally looked it up though, and found quite a few, most of which I've tried and love...but then I stumbled upon a video: How to Curl Short Hair...Let me make this clear, I don't know how to do it by myself. I've never curled my own hair, never even tried, and my mom doesn't even curl my hair, SO...I thought I was doing okay, but then I kinda just forgot about moving my hand (apparently, cause I didn't move it at all) and kinda rested the iron against my hand. At first, I didn't feel it, but when I did, I yanked my hand away and found a few blisters already there...The iron was really hot...and then you know what? After I curled it, I decided that maybe I wanted to try straightening this one part a little because it was really uber curly...I gave myself a few more blisters. Idiot moment of the day! So, I've officially decided I don't really wanna curl my hair alone ever again...