Flowery Fox - 《[ NaruIno ]》[COMPLETE]

The trip to Suna / 6

Hinata walked towards the front gate. She received a message from the Hokage Lady Tsunade that she has been appointed on a mission outside the village. She went through the gate and waited at the appointed meeting point. Hinata checked her clock. 7:56 a.m. Shortly all the others should arrive.

That was until she noticed a flash of blond hair moving up and down. Hinata moved her head to see no one else than Naruto doing situps at the wall. He looked energetic. She was wondering how long he had been there so she walked towards him.

"992... 993... 994... 995... 996..."

Oh boy. How long is Naruto doing this?

"999... 1000!"

Naruto finally stood up, seeming to be even more energetic than before. He motioned to take a run but then he noticed Hinata standing right by him.

"Oh hey Hinata.", he greeted her with his usual smile.

Hinata blushed slightly. Even after his trio for 3 years she kept her feelings for him and even developed stronger ones.

Suddenly Naruto walked to her and hugged her. Hinata was very surprised and didn't know how to react right now but after some seconds Naruto broke apart.

"I noticed that we haven't seen each other since I returned so I wanted to give you a friendly hug."

Yet again, his extraordinary smile. The smile that was killing her.

"I.. I'm happy to have you back, Naruto. But how long have you been training here?"

Naruto checked his clock. "7:58. So I have been here for nearly 4 hours."

Hinata's eyes widened. "You were here since 4 a.m?"

Naruto simply nodded. "Gotta be prepared for the upcoming mission you know. It'll be hard but I know we can to this." He glanced over to the gate. "Speaking of which. There are our remaining team mates."

Naruto moved to the arriving group. When Hinata turned around she was shattered. She saw a unfamiliar guy and Ino. It hurted to see Ino coming with them since Hinata knew how close Naruto and Ino were. Even before his 3-year-trip.

---

"Hi Ino. And you... you must be Sai, right?"

Sai bowed down a bit. "Correct. Nice to meet you, Squad Leader Naruto."

Naruto blushed slightly. "No need to be so formal. Just call me Naruto."

Sai nodded and smiled. Then Ino tuned into the conversation. "So what's the deal, Squad leader? What's the plan?", she asked teasingly.

Naruto glared at her shortly and then gathered his group.

"Aight, listen. You all heard of the attack on Anko. The attacker left some traces, including his Sharingan, Senju blood and Anko's cursed mark made by Orochimaru. So it has to something with him and his experiments. My plan: we travel to Otogakure and try to find out as much as possible. Look for as many traces as we can get that might reveal the destination of either Orochimaru, Sasuke or the unknown ninja."

Naruto glanced at every of his squad members and saw considering faces and seriousness.

"It sounds... risky to be honest.", Sai exclaimed. "Otogakure might be full of ninja being loyal to either Orochimaru or one of the deceased sound ninja. It'll be dangerous to just go there."

Naruto understood what he meant. "I already considered the dangers of this path. The problem is: we have not other option. Except for Oto, I have no other trace that could lead us to the attacker. And I don't have a idea where Orochimaru could be."

"We... could... ask the Kazekage for help."

All eyes turned to Hinata. She startled and blushed but kept talking.

"One of my missions lately led our team to the Sand village. The Kazekage had to deal with several bandits that had some kind of cursed marks. Maybe he knows something."

Naruto considered this option. It would be nice to see Gaara again but from what Hinata told him, he had no proof that those bandits were Oto-ninja. But he decided that Hinata's proposal was the safest way to approach their mission.

"Sounds good. What do you think?"

Sai looked at him astonished. "You're asking your squad to decide with you?"

Naruto tilted his head. "I don't see myself as a leader. This mission will only work if we work together. So... yeah, I guess?"

Sai chuckled. "It's just that at the ANBU, we get our commands that have to be fulfilled, without doubting it."

Naruto shrugged. "Well this isn't the ANBU. So I need you all to help me with this. So let's get going. Suna it is." And with that the team began moving towards the hidden sand village.

---

The squad were already moving for nearly 2 hours. It was a long trip to Suna but the team still had energy and were willing to make this trip in one day.

Naruto was running in front of his team. He was thinking about everything that has happened in the past 3 days. His fight with Kakashi. The dinner with Ino. The attack on Anko. His and Ino's first kiss. And now: his first Chunin mission. And already a mission that important.

Suddenly, Naruto heard several voices in his head. He immediately stopped running and his fellow mates stopped some seconds after him. As he was standing there, in the deep Forrest, the voices began to become louder and louder.

Ino approached Naruto. "What's wrong?"

Naruto still checked out the entire forrest. He couldn't see a single person. So he was either imagining things right now or... someone used a genjutsu.

"I... I hear voices. Someone is talking..."

Ino looked in suspicion and listened closely to the forrest. "I don't hear anything. It's just..."

"I hear them too.", Hinata exclaimed.

Naruto immediately looked at her and knew, he was not insane. Somebody was playing with them.

And even though he couldn't understand at all what the voices were saying, he suddenly heard one thing that sounded just to familiar.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu..."

Naruto's eyes widened and he motioned his team to take cover. "Step back!!"

Luckily, they were reacting quickly so they weren't hit by the massive fire ball that was blasted towards them. Naruto quickly scanned the woods for their opponent and found them quickly. But their attackers were firing more jutsus at them. Suddenly, a water dragon rushed at them and while dodging it, Naruto saw a handful amount of flamed shuriken being thrown at them. Naruto blocked them all and now had enough time to identify his opponents. And it shattered him to see a certain person he was hoping to maybe never seeing again. Together, with his shark-ish partner and their black-red clouded coats.

"Itachi..!"

Flowery Fox - a NaruIno Fanfiction - The trip to Suna...