Mutually Excluded - A Naruto Fanfic (Naruto x Fuu) (on hiatus)

Chapter 15: Tricked

And here is the promised next chapter guys, enjoy. After far too long.

Naruto's POV:

Naruto and the others swung swiftly through the trees towards where Sakura said Hinata had been. He could hear the others behind him, but didn't pay attention. This was his fault for not paying attention to Hinata's feelings, and he was going to make it up to her, somehow.

Naruto stopped when he suddenly sensed a large number of chakra sources up ahead. He immediately went invisible, much to the annoyance of his friends, who were left standing where he had been only a few minutes ago.

Neji's POV:

Neji activated byakugan and scanned the area up ahead.

"Naruto must've sensed the chakra up ahead, but what on earth is he going to do about so many ninja, there must be at least a dozen present, and they look like highly skilled ones too." Neji said aloud.

"I have no idea, but Naruto is truly empowered by the flames of youth. He will find a way." Lee answered, while Tenten facepalmed.

Meanwhile, Neji glanced back at the enemy ninja, only to see that several of them were already dead, and the remaining ninja were chasing Naruto off into the trees.

"Come on." Neji said. He leapt down into the clearing to investigate. "Fan out, see if they have anything about Hinata."

Several minutes of searching later, and They had their answer. Neji held a scroll with orders on it.

Your orders are to find some way to get the nine tailed demon to follow you to the trap site. Doesn't matter how you do this, but get it done. Kill anyone else you find with him.

Takigure Counsel

"Oh great." Neji sighed as he looked off in the direction Naruto had gone. "They set a trap."

Naruto's POV:

Naruto had somehow gotten turned about and was now chasing the remaining ninja through the trees.

"Only a few of them left. Better leave the last one alive so that I can question him." Naruto thought to himself.

Suddenly, Naruto came out of the trees into a massive clearing, and waiting for him there, was a force of ninja that could only be there as a trap for him. Naruto grinned at the thought of battle. The chance to test his skills hadn't come in a couple months, so he wanted to practice when he could. However, he hesitated when he noticed Hinata being held captive, and standing over her, was this hulking big ninja grinning evilly at him.

"Oh... were you looking for something?" He asked mockingly. He picked Hinata up by her neck and leaned down near her head and whispered loudly in her ear.

"You see that? It's the demon come to rescue you. Why don't you call out for him to save you, hm." He said.

Hinata looked up at Naruto. Tears began to pour down her face.

"Naruto, go back. You have Fuu now. You don't need me. Just let me die so I can be out of the way." She said, sobbing as she did so.

The hulking ninja smiled. "That's the sweetest and most noble thing I've heard today. But not what I was looking for. See, I need you to scream for me and get your friend here to fight me."

He smirked and suddenly slammed his foot down on Hinata's leg, resulting in a resounding snap and Hinata screaming in pain, all former composure that she had instantly wiped away by the flaring throb in her leg.

Naruto leapt forward without a second thought and slammed a flying kick into the hulking ninja's face, sending him reeling back, only for him to smirk and crack his neck.

"That was fast. I look forward to having an actual challenge for once. The rest of you..." he called out to the other ninja in the clearing, go kill the others. I'll rejoin you after I crush this puny demon."

Naruto got into his combat stance and watched as the other enemy ninja all leapt past him into the trees. He smiled. Neji, Kiba, and the others would make sure that none escaped. His job was to deael with this big guy right here.

Naruto gave his signature smirk and leapt forward into battle.

<Timeskip>

Hinata's POV:

Hinata had watched as Naruto struck blow after blow to his opponent. But nothing seemed to affect him. He just shrugged it all off. She herself had crawled away from the fighting and had watched it all from the base of a tree on the edge of the clearing. Finally, after there had been several minutes where all she could see without Byakugan was blurs, the two opponents separated and stood facing each other. Naruto was panting hard, however his opponent hadn't even broken a sweat.

"You ready to give up and die yet demon?" He asked.

Naruto grinned. Not even. He suddenly was enveloped in a red chakra cloak. His pupils narrowed to slits and his eyes turned red.

"I hope you are ready, because it ends for you here now." Naruto shouted.

The hulking ninja smiled. "Good, this means you take me seriously. Now, we have a fight."

Suddenly, He stopped and tilted his head as if hearing something and his smile got even wider.

"It seems we are out of time for now demon. Maybe next time we can finish this." He made several strange hand signs and vanished into thin air.

"Hey!" Naruto called out. Get back here and fight!"

No one answered. Naruto turned and rushed over to Hinata's side.

"Hinata. You ok. Do you think you can walk?"

Hinata shook her head slowly.

"Alright then. I'll carry you. Hang on."

Hinata's eyes widened as she was lifted up and carried back through the trees, her face a deep crimson red.

"Naruto why?" She thought to herself. "Why would you still risk your life for me?"

Neji's POV:

"Kiba, anything?" Neji asked.

"Nope. there is a faint trail heading off to the northwest. I guess they are taking the fast and direct route home."

"And you're saying you can't track them?"

"I could, but we would eventually lose the scent. The only way to make sure of catching them is to know their destination."

"Well, that I can tell you."

Neji and Kiba turned to find Naruto standing there with Hinata in his arms.

"They're headed back to Takigakure."

"Why take the direct route?"

"They don't care about concealment, only speed. Once they get there. It will be very hard to follow without bringing the entire village down on our heads."

Neji winced. "Ok. so where does that leave us then. We rush to Takigakure and hope we stumble across them before we get there?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes. that's exactly what we are going to do. Call everyone else in. We have some ninjas to catch."

Ok. that was probably very short considering, but hey, I haven't posted in almost a year and I had to try to get something out. I hopefully will start putting out chapters again and will finish this fanfic over the next few months. We'll see, but hey, at least you guys get to finally see some advancement to the plot. And with more to hopefully come. Until next time though guys... BYE!!!