Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between Deception and Truth ❯ Split Mission ( Chapter 18 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lord Archive 
Hinata and Jiro set off to learn the Advanced Kage Bunshin.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 06.08.2012 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.2K | Visits: 498 | Status: Completed
Hinata and Jiro set off to learn the Advanced Kage Bunshin.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 06.08.2012 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.2K | Visits: 498 | Status: Completed
Between Deception and Truth
Chapter 17 - Split Mission
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Hinata stared at her hands, for now they were truly hers, not a henge. She was no longer the fake. Yet this was but the start, not the end. For this mission she would have to take the lead as it would lessen the risks. She needed to learn how to better separate herself from her other persona, and the one who could teach her how to do that might attack Jiro for being an attractive young male.
"Can Jiro hear me?" Ai questioned.
Hinata formed the hand signs and called out, "Kage Bunshin." Her copy quickly followed with, "Henge."
Jiro looked unsteadily at Hinata. "Sorry."
Ai raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
Jiro frowned. "Right after we switched I suddenly felt completely powerless. I tried to exert any control, and got nothing until she let me out."
Hinata pouted. "I'm afraid you may have to get used to it."
Ai scowled. "So, saying 'ya don't have to do this' won't mean anything."
Jiro and Hinata nodded as one.
Ai shook her head. "You both better remember that failure is an option. You BOTH have a spouse and a daughter waiting for you. Don't go die on me, or I'll never forgive you." She gave Jiro a good, hard kiss. She then transformed herself into Naruto and gave Hinata a similar kiss.
Tsunade had watched the entire exchange. "I will second Ai's words, and make it an order: The potential benefits are not worth your lives. If it gets too dangerous, come back to us."
"Yes, Ma'am," Jiro and Hinata immediately replied.
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Hinata raced through the forest, their goal lay straight ahead of her. Without word or warning, the girl came to an immediate stop. "Hello... are you all... Kage-san?"
Five black haired ninja jumped down from the surrounding trees. The black hair seemed to be the only similar trait as each held a different eye color, yet certain facial features did make them appear related.
The tallest and most handsome of the group stepped forward. "This is a restricted area. What brings a Hyuuga here? Konoha is not foolish enough to set me free, are they?"
Hinata shook her head. "I have been sent to learn the secret of your advanced Kage Bunshin."
One of the ninja seemingly slithered up to the girl. "Why would a pretty noble girl want with that technique?"
The reply was 'Kage Bunshin' and 'Henge.' Jiro stood at Hinata's back, eyes active.
The ninja leapt back. "Sharingan AND Byakugan?"
Another ninja bounced closer. "Oh, wow! How did you manage that one? Did Orochimaru help you?"
Jiro may have shared Hinata's frown, but his thoughts went a step further, wondering if Kage had been subject to Orochimaru's ambitions, or worse, was still under the criminal's influence.
"Tsunade-sama supplied me with his body not knowing that I...." Hinata's voice trailed off.
The bouncing ninja giggled dementedly. "That you had a split in your head."
The lead ninja shook his head. "So you want to know how to form stronger shadows."
Hinata and Jiro both nodded.
The lead ninja folded his arms. "I suppose this is where I tell you 'no,' try to scare you away from learning it, and you spend the next few days trying to convince me to teach you anyway." He sighed. "This is not the full answer that you seek. Not even Orochimaru could separate us, only made us worse."
"We suspected that," Jiro admitted. "Nor is that our goal. We seek more freedom from each other. To be as siblings, not conjoined twins."
The lead ninja nodded. "Very good. However, you won't find Sharingan helpful with this technique. You will need to cut ties in your soul you don't know you have, yet not all of them as it will rend your soul and either make more personalities or outright kill you. Remain here, we do not want to risk Sukebe learning you are here."
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"Are you sure we should do this separately?" Jiro questioned.
"Together you may fuse into one, apart and you may cut the other away," Kyou giggled, a demented looking version of Kage.
"We could be made whole?" Hinata wondered.
"Oh, yes. Together as one, yes, but the dangers are greater and both of you would be lost in the new whole." He poked the girl. "Is that what you want?"
Hinata shook her head. "I want to remain me."
"Then separate yet whole is your goal," Kyou intoned. "Hold hands and find your way into your collective mind. Good luck, it took me months and Orochimaru's drugs."
Jiro smirked. "Sharingan can help with that." Holding Hinata's hands his eyes seemingly peered straight into her head. Then both of their heads dropped as if they instantly fell asleep.
"Cheaters," Kyou giggled. "Though their trip is no less deadly as they may cut the wrong parts."
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Twelve-year-old Hinata stood behind a tree, gazing longingly at Naruto as he continuously threw kunai at a target and missed. The boy was obviously frustrated with his repeated failure yet he did not stop.
"Do you see anything of yourself in this?" Hinata questioned.
"Admiration of his refusal to quit and the nagging voice in your head that we should be practicing as well." Jiro folded his arms. "The decision to watch for another moment, hoping to see him succeed was yours."
Hinata nodded shyly. "I suppose we will see a bit of ourselves in every action."
"We are one yet different," Jiro agreed. He reached out and closed his hand around an invisible thread the became golden with his touch. "However, this is certainly your shyness, your desire." With a glowing kunai he severed the thread.
The pair then moved on to the next room in their collective mind. Now the image of the past was Hinata practicing making illusionary copies of herself. She was able to make two images of herself yet they were not perfect copies. One stood tall and proud the other practically curled up into a ball.
"If there was ever a clue about my existence," Jiro muttered.
Hinata nodded. "If Tsunade-sama is right, this is all three of us. Me, you and the little girl that watched her father kill."
Jiro nodded and watched as the scene repeated, Hinata paying no mind as the sun had finished setting. "Yet this is me. The determination to finish our training despite your fear of upsetting father."
Hinata moved to look at her younger self. The strong look of determination was not one that often crossed her features. She sighed. "Maybe I'm not even here." She pulled upon the thread connecting herself to the scene and severed it.
The next room gave them both pause. Young Hinata stood weakly yet defiantly before Neji. The girl had already suffered blows from her cousin, the next could very well end her life but she would not accept defeat.
Hinata looked down. "Not in front of Naruto. I could not just accept defeat. Even if I lost, I had to at least say I gave it my all. That I did not quit."
"Father may not be here, but he would know what happened. To bow to Neji would would insult the main house. Father would be very displeased with me," Jiro added.
"As much as this looks like you," Hinata whispered.
"This is actually more you than me," Jiro admitted.
"But you are here. To quit would've been so easy. I knew I could not win, yet I needed your determination, your pride to get back up," Hinata pointed out.
Jiro let out a laugh. "For our family, for our love... this is both of us."
Hinata nodded.
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"How are they doing?"
Kyou didn't twitch an eyebrow. "Here to see their progress, oh, great Chou? They are doing surprisingly well. With Sharingan they've already accessed their collective mind together and are able to look upon their past as one."
Chou, the lead Kage ninja, appraised the pair. "So they will not repeat our mistake."
"True, together they are less likely to both sever ties to the same event and create another persona that way, but there still lies the risk of severing ties that should not be cut. They have made a few needless cuts already, yet avoided one that could have hurt them deeply," Kyou related. "More obstacles lie ahead."
"They could still split themselves more by cutting the wrong thread that led to decisions the other would not make," Chou surmised.
"Yes, but there are other risks to carelessly cutting away ones bad choices, it could lead to the destruction of the self as they see themselves now," Kyou added.
"I know that all to well. I am the perfect soldier: loyal, honorable, and follows orders to the letter. The Yin to Sukebe's Yang. He's the dark ninja you unleash on the enemy to give them nightmares. Kage had so despised his dark side that his fragile mind tried to carve away his sins." Chou shook his head.
"And that only served to make a greater darkness within himself, and the opposite that he had wished to be when in reality both of you should be the same aspect. With the birth of Sukebe and Chou, the one known as Kage ceased to exist," Kyou affirmed.
"What sins and regrets might they wish to cut away?" Chou wondered.
"I can tell they have more than blood on their hands. It remains to be seen how they react to the evils in their life," Kyou giggled.
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Hinata's first kill had been an instantaneous reaction. It was, after all, what ninja were trained to do, protect their comrades at any cost. Neither Hinata nor Jiro had remembered actually thinking about anything. If the ninja's attack was to strike Kiba, he would be killed. The fastest and surest method of defeating the enemy was with a killing blow. Both reluctantly admitted that if the situation were to occur again, the answer would be the same.
Jiro approaching the genjutsu Rain-nin, full well planning the death of his enemy was not so easy.
Again the scene looped before Hinata and Jiro as Sharingan trumped hard learned genjutsu. They watched as the younger Jiro inflicted torturous images into the enemy's mind before taking a kunai and purposely stabbed the boy through the eye and into his brain.
"If he didn't die, the mission would've been a failure," Jiro intoned.
Hinata pouted. "But the cruelty..."
"The Rain-nin had hurt Ai." Jiro shook his head. "Hurt OUR beloved. Not killing him would put Naruto at risk."
Hinata looked upon the enemy that had been killed so viciously. His last thoughts being a horrid genjutsu thrust upon his mind. His screams of anguish he cried out echoed even after his voice was snuffed out. "But the nightmare we inflicted on him..."
"It was a nightmare only one of us could come up with," Jiro returned.
"He was made to see life as if he was his perverted Jounin leader's girlfriend." Hinata shuddered. "To a girl that would've been cruel, to a boy..."
"That was an act of anger," Jiro pointed out.
"But whose anger, yours or mine?" Hinata wondered. "Could either of us really have been that angry?"
"You gave everything up for Naruto. You even became a boy. And how did Naruto give thanks for it? He ignored you," Jiro shot at her.
"You're saying this is ME? That I could do... that to someone?" Hinata squeaked out.
"He was a threat to Naruto, and the life you wanted with him," Jiro stressed.
Hinata clutched a hand over her chest. "Can't the same be said for you? We had given up so much and what little we had left, he threatened."
Jiro reluctantly nodded. "It would be so quick to blame me for this. Yet I feel that you were screaming inside me as I became less of you and more of me. Perhaps I also wanted to announce my existence in the only way I could. I don't think there is one answer to the actions here."
"This wasn't you or me..." Hinata whispered, "...it was us."
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Shinobu began to cry and Tenten immediately moved to shush the baby. "You don't want to wake your mother," she pleaded.
Ai yawned as she quickly took her crying daughter. "Too late." She then grinned at her baby. "And thank you."
Tenten looked confused. "You need to be well rested in case you need to fight in the preliminaries."
"Hardly fair to the last minute qualifiers. Besides I was having a nightmare," Ai assured the girl.
"May I ask...?" Tenten wondered.
"It was a screwed up dream dealing with some of the worst aspects of the long mission," Ai half-explained. "I really don't want to go into it."
Tenten nodded. "I can understand. I've seen and done a few things I don't care to ever remember again."
"Part of the curse for being a ninja," Ai returned. She then brought her attention to her baby who was tugging at her shirt. "Aren't you a hungry one?"
Tenten wistfully watched as the young mother began to breast feed Shinobu. "Did your nightmare have anything to do with the mission in the Land of Waves?"
Ai shook her head. "Do you really want to go through another debriefing to learn about the secrets we've kept?"
Tenten pouted. "Maybe."
Ai chuckled. "Well, best you get ready for it. When Jiro gets back from his mission, you're going to learn more than you ever wanted to know about it."
Tenten frowned. "What sort of mission is he on?"
"It's a personal one. It's something he has to do for himself," Ai muttered out.
"Is it dangerous?" Tenten wondered.
Ai reluctantly nodded. "In more ways than one."
"When will he be back?" Tenten asked.
"By the time the Chuunin tournament starts." Ai would've folded her arms defiantly if she wasn't holding her daughter. "If he's not back by the end of the tournament, I'm going after him."
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This, more than any other moment, was the one Jiro dreaded seeing the most. When he forced himself on Ai. "Go ahead and sever your tie to this."
Hinata reached out for the thread, but failed to grasp it.
"What are you waiting for?" Jiro demanded.
"Much as you pointed out that I was present when we killed..." Hinata looked shyly at her feet. "I... I may be here as well. You know the fantasies I've had."
"You know Naruto would never force himself on us," Jiro retorted.
Hinata folded her arms and pouted defiantly. "What do you call the morning after?"
"Ai wouldn't have done that if I hadn't forced her the night before," Jiro defended.
Hinata glanced over as Ai had her tongue down her lover's throat and was yanking down his pants. "I wouldn't call that 'forcing her.'"
Jiro frowned. "You're manipulating things. This isn't how it happened."
"Didn't it happen this way?" Hinata pressed.
"I forced her. She didn't want this," Jiro protested.
Hinata was now blushing deeply and looking away. "I'd say she wanted you. She's certainly... enjoying it."
"She couldn't have enjoyed it. She was a guy. She liked girls. And I... and I...," Jiro fell to his knees.
Hinata grabbed him by the head and pleadingly told him. "Look. Just look. You didn't force anything. It may not have been what we wanted. Yet it was a mistake WE made together, Ai included. As bad as Naruto was in expressing feelings, we were just as bad. I had so wanted this moment to be perfect, but... but it is the moment we had desired for a long time. It finally happened here. No more did Naruto overlook our intentions. We may not have said the words, but here Naruto knew of our love for him and returned it in the only way he knew how."
Jiro shook his head. "But Hinata... I..."
"You can't take this from me, Jiro." Hinata began to sob. "This is not our proudest moment. This isn't how we wanted it to be, yet it is how it happened. We exist for Naruto, and this is where we finally got his full attention. He sees us now. He sees us now."
Jiro hugged her. "Fine... You win." He then blinked as Hinata went slack in his arms. He was now back in the forest, Kyou was gone and a different Kage stood over them with a bloody kunai. "H-how? Sukebe?"
"I don't need her around. It has been too long since I've had a boyfriend." The ninja licked the kunai.
Jiro did not move as Hinata's lifeless body slumped to the ground. "I was the copy. How can I...?"
Sukebe chuckled evilly. "I will have to be careful. Don't want you disappearing on me. Now be a good boy and accept my love."
How could this be? Hinata couldn't be gone. He could still feel her, yet the blow was fatal. He could see her chakra fading onto death. This wasn't right. He reached out and touched her unmoving body, wishing for her to return to him as she had so many times before.
Hinata's body exploded into smoke.
"You're a fast study, boy," Sukebe grinned. "Now I can let the kid gloves come off."
"I think not. Kage Bunshin!" Next to Jiro appeared Hinata without need for a henge jutsu.
The ninja began to laugh and tossed away the kunai. "Training complete."
"Huh?" Jiro and Hinata emitted at the same time.
"I'm not Sukebe, rather I'm Shi, the Kage Shadow of Death." He did a back flip up into a tree. "I don't get to kill too often out here so they let me have a go."
"What just happened?" Hinata wondered.
"Separation and unity," cackled Kyou as he emerged from the trees. "Real and fake has no meaning to you. You may take different paths yet there is still but one home."
"You will find some things possible now. While hiding secrets is difficult, as Sukebe proved, you can now keep some things from each other," Shi told them.
Kyou grinned. "Yes, yet joined you will always remain. Memories and feelings shared will hold strong for at your heart you remain as one."
"As you might be able to tell, instant death is a bitch for you now as you'll need to consciously recall the body in order to re-summon your other self, and that can only be done by touch. You can disperse your own body at range, but at no more than a kilometer away," Shi advised.
"Though closer would be best. Weird I've always been, more so after at range I poofed," Kyou giggled.
Jiro nodded. "We'll keep that in mind."
Kyou waved. "Home you have found, now it waits for you."
"One last thing," Shi called out and Jiro fell dead with a kunai in his chest.
Hinata immediately dropped to her knees and wished him back into herself and then promptly called out, "Kage Bunshin." She sighed in relief as Jiro reappeared before her. "Don't think I'll get use to that."
Jiro patted his chest. "Neither do I."
Shi laughed. "You will."
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Jiro carefully entered his home, mostly in concern that his daughter might be taking a nap. He turned hearing a slight noise behind him and saw his lover grinning at him.
"Couldn't stay away, huh?" Ai latched onto him with a hug and gave him a quick kiss. She then frowned as he squirmed slightly in her arms. He whispered, "She's in charge?"
Jiro merely nodded and whispered back, "We're being watched."
Ai laughed as she stepped back. "Nothing they haven't done."
Jiro giggled sheepishly. "Tenten-san, Neji-kun... there's something I need to tell you both."
Tenten shared the laugh as she entered the room, dragging Neji with her, leaving the door to Shinobu's room open in case the baby was to wake.
Jiro looked down. "I've spent the whole trip back trying to figure out the best way to tell you."
Ai shook her head. "Glad you're not going to delay it. Neji activate Byakugan"
Neji looked confused. "Why?"
"Easier to show you than to tell you," Ai told him.
Neji shrugged and activated his eyes. He then looked quizzically at Jiro. "What's with the jutsu?"
"I well..." Jiro trailed off.
"Shoulda guessed you could tell that much. Still, you recognize his chakra as being Jiro's, right?" Ai questioned.
"I have no reason to doubt it's him," Neji replied.
Ai smacked the back of Jiro's head and smoke erupted around him which quickly dissipated to reveal Hinata.
"You didn't have to do that," Hinata whined as she rubbed the back of her head.
Neji's jaw dropped.
Tenten looked confused. "Why was Hinata-chan using Jiro's image?"
"The chakra..." Neji muttered.
"If you think that's something. Henge!" With a puff of smoke Ai became Naruto.
"What sort of joke is this?" Tenten questioned.
Neji slapped his forehead. "The mission! Giving up your bloodline. Tsunade-sama... she gave you the other bodies."
Naruto blinked and then chuckled. "Got it one, cousin."
Neji stared at Hinata and pointed at the room behind him. "Who is her mother?"
"ME!" Naruto cheered.
"And Hinata...." Neji trailed off.
"Is the father," Naruto confirmed.
Tenten began to growl in frustration. "Will someone spell out what is going on?!" She then seized up when Shinobu began to cry. She turned around and jumped seeing Jiro lifting his daughter out of the crib.
Hinata turned toward Naruto. "The training went well."
Naruto nodded. "That's good to hear."
"Explanations," Tenten demanded.
Naruto reverted back into Ai. "Now where to begin without spilling stupid secrets."
Neji folded his arms. "I have not been given any secrecy orders. I have been able to piece together how I lost to Naruto in the Chuunin exams. I had sealed off all his chakra. He should not have been able to move, yet he was able to continue fighting."
"And what does that have to do with this?" Tenten pointed at Ai and Hinata.
"In order to explain something else and how I learned the secret in case you get asked about it. You see, Naruto had a second set of chakra, one which I doubt could ever be fully blocked as it was certainly not human. I suspect it was the chakra of the tailed beast, Kyuubi," Neji told her.
"What?!" Tenten cried out.
"Ah, Neji-niisan..." Hinata called out softly.
Ai smirked. "You realize I can't confirm or deny that."
Neji nodded. "Still there exists Jinchuuriki, human vessels that contain the power of the elemental tailed beasts, and while other nations may have a couple each, Konoha had just one, the Kyuubi. I could not find out more about it as much of the information regarding the tailed beasts is restricted. Even if my assumption is wrong, I know there is a special power within Naruto. One that was able to trump the Hyuuga's strongest arts. And that sort of power would attract the wrong sort of attention from enemy ninja and Naruto needed to go into hiding."
"Needed time to train," Ai corrected.
"To protect Naruto, Tsunade-sama taught him some sort of super henge," Neji surmised. "And to help guard him, Hinata would similarly learn the technique."
"Not so much a technique as gaining a new primary body with the old one acting as a default secondary one," Ai corrected. "Can't go into specifics, of course. From there we lived as our new bodies, pretending to be runaway lovers in a tiny town before we were discovered and then went to the Land of Waves as special protectors. We stopped pretending to be a couple months before you got there."
Tenten slapped her hand over her mouth. "Am I a dunce or something? Rock Lee had you pegged during the mission."
"Nah, you had the least amount of clues. Fuzzy Eyebrows got to see me fight all out, and I doubt he has a clue about why we got our new bodies," Ai assured her.
"Though I do wonder what's with the Bunshin?" Neji asked.
"I, um, Jiro is separate from me," Hinata replied timidly.
"Yet we are still the same person," Jiro added.
"You mean you split personalities?" Tenten questioned.
Jiro nodded. "Events in our life... caused damage to us. In a real way I am Hinata as if she was born a boy. We share memories, but as the training we just went through showed, we can view them very differently."
"What did the training do for you?" Ai wondered.
"We're neither real nor fake," Hinata replied.
Ai blinked. "Huh?"
Jiro handed Shinobu to her mother. "Easier to show than to explain." Jiro pulled out a kunai and cut open his right palm. Hinata frowned and followed suit by cutting the back of her arm. She then dispersed into a cloud of smoke. Jiro then called out, "Kage Bunshin." And Hinata appeared without any sign of injury. Then Jiro disappeared and Hinata produced him as the shadow clone.
Ai whistled. "Don't even need to henge."
"Right, but it also means we can't produce more copies of ourselves. If we did, it could lead to another personality," Jiro explained.
"Definitely not a technique for me." Ai smirked. "Good to know."
"The scary thing is... The reason why it was sealed..." Hinata swallowed. "It's not all that different from Kage Bunshin. It is how we shape the chakra that is different, not how we use it."
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"Hinata, are you sure about this?" Jiro questioned.
"Honestly... no," Hinata admitted shyly.
"You don't have to push yourself," Jiro advised.
Hinata shook her head. "This... this is something I have to do... and not just for myself."
"You're the one who saw through our regrets," Jiro pointed out. "You have nothing to prove."
"No... I have everything to prove," Hinata affirmed. "There will be questions until I do this."
"I'll keep an eye on Shinobu," Jiro promised.
Hinata took tiny steps as despite her certainty of the need for this, it still scared her. A door loomed ahead of her and her hand shook as she opened it.
Ai let out a tired yawn and gazed lazily at the girl. "Something ya want?"
Hinata could only blush in response.
Ai patted the space next to her. "Are ya feeling all right?"
"I... I know you've been afraid that Jiro and I might make you choose, that we'd go our separate ways," Hinata hesitantly said.
Ai frowned. "You better not be making me choose."
Hinata shook her head. "Jiro and I... may be of two minds... but we are of one heart... yours." She leaned over and tentative gave the girl a quick kiss on the lips.
Ai hugged the girl. "I was afraid you would be the one to leave me."
"You were right the entire time. I am part of this family... I am Shinobu's father. It was our love for you that made us forget our mission. I accept that now." Hinata smiled shyly. "And Jiro also knows it was your love for us that made you forget it as well. He won't say he forced you anymore."
Ai grinned. "Good." She then let out a long yawn. "Now maybe I can finally get some sleep." She dragged the girl down with her as she laid down.
"Um... well... er... as Naruto," Hinata squeaked out with a deep blush.
"Yeah. Yeah. Later. Sleep now. May have to fight if there is a preliminary tournament tomorrow." Ai curled up against the red faced girl. "For now... just stay here with me."
Hinata finally began to relax. "Always," she promised.
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Ai strutted into the arena that was hidden in the center of the Forest of Death. She nodded in recognition at the Sand-nin team Gaara once taught and then at the Stone-nin she had fought. She smirked as she noted the Rain-nin team she had come across was not yet present.
"Why did you pull us out? We still had time!" complained a group of Sand-nin that were irritably following Temari.
"You had no scrolls and this is more important," Temari snapped at them.
Ai raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"
Kakashi stepped out of seemingly nowhere. "An interruption in the exam for the Sand-nin and you. One of your old boyfriends has been kidnapped."
"Huh?" Ai emitted.
Tsunade strode toward them with Sakura trailing her, and the two other Sand-nin gennin teams in the exam moved toward the growing group. "We have received word that the Kazekage, Gaara, has been taken by the Akatsuki. Temari you are to take the gennin to the boarder garrison. Ai, Sakura, Kakashi you will go to Sunagakure and assist them as they see fit. If the situation allows for your return in one month, you will face your preliminary opponent the day before the official start of the tournament. Now go."
"Yes, Ma'am!" they all replied.
"Gaara-sama was taken?" Matsuri fretted. She then paused, blinked, and then stared at Ai. "You were Gaara-sama's GIRLFRIEND?!"
Ai sent a glare towards Kakashi. "Hardly. He was just teasing me."
"Well, it's a good thing that he's had a girlfriend before. Less chance he's gay," Sen pointed out.
"Gaara-sama is too cool to be gay!" Matsuri protested.
Tetsuo nervously pulled at his bandages. "Actually the gay thing doesn't mean much with her."
Ai slapped herself in the face.
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Author's notes:
After all this time mulling this chapter in my head, having only two scenes and a general outline worked out... very little of it made it to this chapter, mostly how the 'advanced' Kage Bunshin works, and I finally sat down and finish it in three days. At least this is now done.
I am aware the time reference in the manga and anime would technically have the attack on Gaara occur before the start of Chuunin exams. The delay here was brought on by the addition and then subsequent loss of Orochimaru's replacement in the Akatsuki.
I will not be rehashing the rescue Gaara arc as there won't be any significant changes to the events there beyond a bit of issues regarding Ai being Naruto. The next main chapter will start towards the end of that arc.
Inari's and Keiko's adventures will be detailed in a gaiden chapter which will likely be posted first.
Just a note about my website: due to lack of funds and that the price for the domain name became stupid expensive I was not able to afford it. I may some day put up a new website, but that will not be in the near future.
I will be running a fanfiction panel at JAFAX (Japanese Animation Film and Art eXposition) on either June 23rd or 24th, 2012 at Grand Valley State University in Allendale Michigan.
Chapter 17 - Split Mission
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Hinata stared at her hands, for now they were truly hers, not a henge. She was no longer the fake. Yet this was but the start, not the end. For this mission she would have to take the lead as it would lessen the risks. She needed to learn how to better separate herself from her other persona, and the one who could teach her how to do that might attack Jiro for being an attractive young male.
"Can Jiro hear me?" Ai questioned.
Hinata formed the hand signs and called out, "Kage Bunshin." Her copy quickly followed with, "Henge."
Jiro looked unsteadily at Hinata. "Sorry."
Ai raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
Jiro frowned. "Right after we switched I suddenly felt completely powerless. I tried to exert any control, and got nothing until she let me out."
Hinata pouted. "I'm afraid you may have to get used to it."
Ai scowled. "So, saying 'ya don't have to do this' won't mean anything."
Jiro and Hinata nodded as one.
Ai shook her head. "You both better remember that failure is an option. You BOTH have a spouse and a daughter waiting for you. Don't go die on me, or I'll never forgive you." She gave Jiro a good, hard kiss. She then transformed herself into Naruto and gave Hinata a similar kiss.
Tsunade had watched the entire exchange. "I will second Ai's words, and make it an order: The potential benefits are not worth your lives. If it gets too dangerous, come back to us."
"Yes, Ma'am," Jiro and Hinata immediately replied.
----------------------
Hinata raced through the forest, their goal lay straight ahead of her. Without word or warning, the girl came to an immediate stop. "Hello... are you all... Kage-san?"
Five black haired ninja jumped down from the surrounding trees. The black hair seemed to be the only similar trait as each held a different eye color, yet certain facial features did make them appear related.
The tallest and most handsome of the group stepped forward. "This is a restricted area. What brings a Hyuuga here? Konoha is not foolish enough to set me free, are they?"
Hinata shook her head. "I have been sent to learn the secret of your advanced Kage Bunshin."
One of the ninja seemingly slithered up to the girl. "Why would a pretty noble girl want with that technique?"
The reply was 'Kage Bunshin' and 'Henge.' Jiro stood at Hinata's back, eyes active.
The ninja leapt back. "Sharingan AND Byakugan?"
Another ninja bounced closer. "Oh, wow! How did you manage that one? Did Orochimaru help you?"
Jiro may have shared Hinata's frown, but his thoughts went a step further, wondering if Kage had been subject to Orochimaru's ambitions, or worse, was still under the criminal's influence.
"Tsunade-sama supplied me with his body not knowing that I...." Hinata's voice trailed off.
The bouncing ninja giggled dementedly. "That you had a split in your head."
The lead ninja shook his head. "So you want to know how to form stronger shadows."
Hinata and Jiro both nodded.
The lead ninja folded his arms. "I suppose this is where I tell you 'no,' try to scare you away from learning it, and you spend the next few days trying to convince me to teach you anyway." He sighed. "This is not the full answer that you seek. Not even Orochimaru could separate us, only made us worse."
"We suspected that," Jiro admitted. "Nor is that our goal. We seek more freedom from each other. To be as siblings, not conjoined twins."
The lead ninja nodded. "Very good. However, you won't find Sharingan helpful with this technique. You will need to cut ties in your soul you don't know you have, yet not all of them as it will rend your soul and either make more personalities or outright kill you. Remain here, we do not want to risk Sukebe learning you are here."
----------------------
"Are you sure we should do this separately?" Jiro questioned.
"Together you may fuse into one, apart and you may cut the other away," Kyou giggled, a demented looking version of Kage.
"We could be made whole?" Hinata wondered.
"Oh, yes. Together as one, yes, but the dangers are greater and both of you would be lost in the new whole." He poked the girl. "Is that what you want?"
Hinata shook her head. "I want to remain me."
"Then separate yet whole is your goal," Kyou intoned. "Hold hands and find your way into your collective mind. Good luck, it took me months and Orochimaru's drugs."
Jiro smirked. "Sharingan can help with that." Holding Hinata's hands his eyes seemingly peered straight into her head. Then both of their heads dropped as if they instantly fell asleep.
"Cheaters," Kyou giggled. "Though their trip is no less deadly as they may cut the wrong parts."
----------------------
Twelve-year-old Hinata stood behind a tree, gazing longingly at Naruto as he continuously threw kunai at a target and missed. The boy was obviously frustrated with his repeated failure yet he did not stop.
"Do you see anything of yourself in this?" Hinata questioned.
"Admiration of his refusal to quit and the nagging voice in your head that we should be practicing as well." Jiro folded his arms. "The decision to watch for another moment, hoping to see him succeed was yours."
Hinata nodded shyly. "I suppose we will see a bit of ourselves in every action."
"We are one yet different," Jiro agreed. He reached out and closed his hand around an invisible thread the became golden with his touch. "However, this is certainly your shyness, your desire." With a glowing kunai he severed the thread.
The pair then moved on to the next room in their collective mind. Now the image of the past was Hinata practicing making illusionary copies of herself. She was able to make two images of herself yet they were not perfect copies. One stood tall and proud the other practically curled up into a ball.
"If there was ever a clue about my existence," Jiro muttered.
Hinata nodded. "If Tsunade-sama is right, this is all three of us. Me, you and the little girl that watched her father kill."
Jiro nodded and watched as the scene repeated, Hinata paying no mind as the sun had finished setting. "Yet this is me. The determination to finish our training despite your fear of upsetting father."
Hinata moved to look at her younger self. The strong look of determination was not one that often crossed her features. She sighed. "Maybe I'm not even here." She pulled upon the thread connecting herself to the scene and severed it.
The next room gave them both pause. Young Hinata stood weakly yet defiantly before Neji. The girl had already suffered blows from her cousin, the next could very well end her life but she would not accept defeat.
Hinata looked down. "Not in front of Naruto. I could not just accept defeat. Even if I lost, I had to at least say I gave it my all. That I did not quit."
"Father may not be here, but he would know what happened. To bow to Neji would would insult the main house. Father would be very displeased with me," Jiro added.
"As much as this looks like you," Hinata whispered.
"This is actually more you than me," Jiro admitted.
"But you are here. To quit would've been so easy. I knew I could not win, yet I needed your determination, your pride to get back up," Hinata pointed out.
Jiro let out a laugh. "For our family, for our love... this is both of us."
Hinata nodded.
----------------------
"How are they doing?"
Kyou didn't twitch an eyebrow. "Here to see their progress, oh, great Chou? They are doing surprisingly well. With Sharingan they've already accessed their collective mind together and are able to look upon their past as one."
Chou, the lead Kage ninja, appraised the pair. "So they will not repeat our mistake."
"True, together they are less likely to both sever ties to the same event and create another persona that way, but there still lies the risk of severing ties that should not be cut. They have made a few needless cuts already, yet avoided one that could have hurt them deeply," Kyou related. "More obstacles lie ahead."
"They could still split themselves more by cutting the wrong thread that led to decisions the other would not make," Chou surmised.
"Yes, but there are other risks to carelessly cutting away ones bad choices, it could lead to the destruction of the self as they see themselves now," Kyou added.
"I know that all to well. I am the perfect soldier: loyal, honorable, and follows orders to the letter. The Yin to Sukebe's Yang. He's the dark ninja you unleash on the enemy to give them nightmares. Kage had so despised his dark side that his fragile mind tried to carve away his sins." Chou shook his head.
"And that only served to make a greater darkness within himself, and the opposite that he had wished to be when in reality both of you should be the same aspect. With the birth of Sukebe and Chou, the one known as Kage ceased to exist," Kyou affirmed.
"What sins and regrets might they wish to cut away?" Chou wondered.
"I can tell they have more than blood on their hands. It remains to be seen how they react to the evils in their life," Kyou giggled.
----------------------
Hinata's first kill had been an instantaneous reaction. It was, after all, what ninja were trained to do, protect their comrades at any cost. Neither Hinata nor Jiro had remembered actually thinking about anything. If the ninja's attack was to strike Kiba, he would be killed. The fastest and surest method of defeating the enemy was with a killing blow. Both reluctantly admitted that if the situation were to occur again, the answer would be the same.
Jiro approaching the genjutsu Rain-nin, full well planning the death of his enemy was not so easy.
Again the scene looped before Hinata and Jiro as Sharingan trumped hard learned genjutsu. They watched as the younger Jiro inflicted torturous images into the enemy's mind before taking a kunai and purposely stabbed the boy through the eye and into his brain.
"If he didn't die, the mission would've been a failure," Jiro intoned.
Hinata pouted. "But the cruelty..."
"The Rain-nin had hurt Ai." Jiro shook his head. "Hurt OUR beloved. Not killing him would put Naruto at risk."
Hinata looked upon the enemy that had been killed so viciously. His last thoughts being a horrid genjutsu thrust upon his mind. His screams of anguish he cried out echoed even after his voice was snuffed out. "But the nightmare we inflicted on him..."
"It was a nightmare only one of us could come up with," Jiro returned.
"He was made to see life as if he was his perverted Jounin leader's girlfriend." Hinata shuddered. "To a girl that would've been cruel, to a boy..."
"That was an act of anger," Jiro pointed out.
"But whose anger, yours or mine?" Hinata wondered. "Could either of us really have been that angry?"
"You gave everything up for Naruto. You even became a boy. And how did Naruto give thanks for it? He ignored you," Jiro shot at her.
"You're saying this is ME? That I could do... that to someone?" Hinata squeaked out.
"He was a threat to Naruto, and the life you wanted with him," Jiro stressed.
Hinata clutched a hand over her chest. "Can't the same be said for you? We had given up so much and what little we had left, he threatened."
Jiro reluctantly nodded. "It would be so quick to blame me for this. Yet I feel that you were screaming inside me as I became less of you and more of me. Perhaps I also wanted to announce my existence in the only way I could. I don't think there is one answer to the actions here."
"This wasn't you or me..." Hinata whispered, "...it was us."
----------------------
Shinobu began to cry and Tenten immediately moved to shush the baby. "You don't want to wake your mother," she pleaded.
Ai yawned as she quickly took her crying daughter. "Too late." She then grinned at her baby. "And thank you."
Tenten looked confused. "You need to be well rested in case you need to fight in the preliminaries."
"Hardly fair to the last minute qualifiers. Besides I was having a nightmare," Ai assured the girl.
"May I ask...?" Tenten wondered.
"It was a screwed up dream dealing with some of the worst aspects of the long mission," Ai half-explained. "I really don't want to go into it."
Tenten nodded. "I can understand. I've seen and done a few things I don't care to ever remember again."
"Part of the curse for being a ninja," Ai returned. She then brought her attention to her baby who was tugging at her shirt. "Aren't you a hungry one?"
Tenten wistfully watched as the young mother began to breast feed Shinobu. "Did your nightmare have anything to do with the mission in the Land of Waves?"
Ai shook her head. "Do you really want to go through another debriefing to learn about the secrets we've kept?"
Tenten pouted. "Maybe."
Ai chuckled. "Well, best you get ready for it. When Jiro gets back from his mission, you're going to learn more than you ever wanted to know about it."
Tenten frowned. "What sort of mission is he on?"
"It's a personal one. It's something he has to do for himself," Ai muttered out.
"Is it dangerous?" Tenten wondered.
Ai reluctantly nodded. "In more ways than one."
"When will he be back?" Tenten asked.
"By the time the Chuunin tournament starts." Ai would've folded her arms defiantly if she wasn't holding her daughter. "If he's not back by the end of the tournament, I'm going after him."
----------------------
This, more than any other moment, was the one Jiro dreaded seeing the most. When he forced himself on Ai. "Go ahead and sever your tie to this."
Hinata reached out for the thread, but failed to grasp it.
"What are you waiting for?" Jiro demanded.
"Much as you pointed out that I was present when we killed..." Hinata looked shyly at her feet. "I... I may be here as well. You know the fantasies I've had."
"You know Naruto would never force himself on us," Jiro retorted.
Hinata folded her arms and pouted defiantly. "What do you call the morning after?"
"Ai wouldn't have done that if I hadn't forced her the night before," Jiro defended.
Hinata glanced over as Ai had her tongue down her lover's throat and was yanking down his pants. "I wouldn't call that 'forcing her.'"
Jiro frowned. "You're manipulating things. This isn't how it happened."
"Didn't it happen this way?" Hinata pressed.
"I forced her. She didn't want this," Jiro protested.
Hinata was now blushing deeply and looking away. "I'd say she wanted you. She's certainly... enjoying it."
"She couldn't have enjoyed it. She was a guy. She liked girls. And I... and I...," Jiro fell to his knees.
Hinata grabbed him by the head and pleadingly told him. "Look. Just look. You didn't force anything. It may not have been what we wanted. Yet it was a mistake WE made together, Ai included. As bad as Naruto was in expressing feelings, we were just as bad. I had so wanted this moment to be perfect, but... but it is the moment we had desired for a long time. It finally happened here. No more did Naruto overlook our intentions. We may not have said the words, but here Naruto knew of our love for him and returned it in the only way he knew how."
Jiro shook his head. "But Hinata... I..."
"You can't take this from me, Jiro." Hinata began to sob. "This is not our proudest moment. This isn't how we wanted it to be, yet it is how it happened. We exist for Naruto, and this is where we finally got his full attention. He sees us now. He sees us now."
Jiro hugged her. "Fine... You win." He then blinked as Hinata went slack in his arms. He was now back in the forest, Kyou was gone and a different Kage stood over them with a bloody kunai. "H-how? Sukebe?"
"I don't need her around. It has been too long since I've had a boyfriend." The ninja licked the kunai.
Jiro did not move as Hinata's lifeless body slumped to the ground. "I was the copy. How can I...?"
Sukebe chuckled evilly. "I will have to be careful. Don't want you disappearing on me. Now be a good boy and accept my love."
How could this be? Hinata couldn't be gone. He could still feel her, yet the blow was fatal. He could see her chakra fading onto death. This wasn't right. He reached out and touched her unmoving body, wishing for her to return to him as she had so many times before.
Hinata's body exploded into smoke.
"You're a fast study, boy," Sukebe grinned. "Now I can let the kid gloves come off."
"I think not. Kage Bunshin!" Next to Jiro appeared Hinata without need for a henge jutsu.
The ninja began to laugh and tossed away the kunai. "Training complete."
"Huh?" Jiro and Hinata emitted at the same time.
"I'm not Sukebe, rather I'm Shi, the Kage Shadow of Death." He did a back flip up into a tree. "I don't get to kill too often out here so they let me have a go."
"What just happened?" Hinata wondered.
"Separation and unity," cackled Kyou as he emerged from the trees. "Real and fake has no meaning to you. You may take different paths yet there is still but one home."
"You will find some things possible now. While hiding secrets is difficult, as Sukebe proved, you can now keep some things from each other," Shi told them.
Kyou grinned. "Yes, yet joined you will always remain. Memories and feelings shared will hold strong for at your heart you remain as one."
"As you might be able to tell, instant death is a bitch for you now as you'll need to consciously recall the body in order to re-summon your other self, and that can only be done by touch. You can disperse your own body at range, but at no more than a kilometer away," Shi advised.
"Though closer would be best. Weird I've always been, more so after at range I poofed," Kyou giggled.
Jiro nodded. "We'll keep that in mind."
Kyou waved. "Home you have found, now it waits for you."
"One last thing," Shi called out and Jiro fell dead with a kunai in his chest.
Hinata immediately dropped to her knees and wished him back into herself and then promptly called out, "Kage Bunshin." She sighed in relief as Jiro reappeared before her. "Don't think I'll get use to that."
Jiro patted his chest. "Neither do I."
Shi laughed. "You will."
----------------------
Jiro carefully entered his home, mostly in concern that his daughter might be taking a nap. He turned hearing a slight noise behind him and saw his lover grinning at him.
"Couldn't stay away, huh?" Ai latched onto him with a hug and gave him a quick kiss. She then frowned as he squirmed slightly in her arms. He whispered, "She's in charge?"
Jiro merely nodded and whispered back, "We're being watched."
Ai laughed as she stepped back. "Nothing they haven't done."
Jiro giggled sheepishly. "Tenten-san, Neji-kun... there's something I need to tell you both."
Tenten shared the laugh as she entered the room, dragging Neji with her, leaving the door to Shinobu's room open in case the baby was to wake.
Jiro looked down. "I've spent the whole trip back trying to figure out the best way to tell you."
Ai shook her head. "Glad you're not going to delay it. Neji activate Byakugan"
Neji looked confused. "Why?"
"Easier to show you than to tell you," Ai told him.
Neji shrugged and activated his eyes. He then looked quizzically at Jiro. "What's with the jutsu?"
"I well..." Jiro trailed off.
"Shoulda guessed you could tell that much. Still, you recognize his chakra as being Jiro's, right?" Ai questioned.
"I have no reason to doubt it's him," Neji replied.
Ai smacked the back of Jiro's head and smoke erupted around him which quickly dissipated to reveal Hinata.
"You didn't have to do that," Hinata whined as she rubbed the back of her head.
Neji's jaw dropped.
Tenten looked confused. "Why was Hinata-chan using Jiro's image?"
"The chakra..." Neji muttered.
"If you think that's something. Henge!" With a puff of smoke Ai became Naruto.
"What sort of joke is this?" Tenten questioned.
Neji slapped his forehead. "The mission! Giving up your bloodline. Tsunade-sama... she gave you the other bodies."
Naruto blinked and then chuckled. "Got it one, cousin."
Neji stared at Hinata and pointed at the room behind him. "Who is her mother?"
"ME!" Naruto cheered.
"And Hinata...." Neji trailed off.
"Is the father," Naruto confirmed.
Tenten began to growl in frustration. "Will someone spell out what is going on?!" She then seized up when Shinobu began to cry. She turned around and jumped seeing Jiro lifting his daughter out of the crib.
Hinata turned toward Naruto. "The training went well."
Naruto nodded. "That's good to hear."
"Explanations," Tenten demanded.
Naruto reverted back into Ai. "Now where to begin without spilling stupid secrets."
Neji folded his arms. "I have not been given any secrecy orders. I have been able to piece together how I lost to Naruto in the Chuunin exams. I had sealed off all his chakra. He should not have been able to move, yet he was able to continue fighting."
"And what does that have to do with this?" Tenten pointed at Ai and Hinata.
"In order to explain something else and how I learned the secret in case you get asked about it. You see, Naruto had a second set of chakra, one which I doubt could ever be fully blocked as it was certainly not human. I suspect it was the chakra of the tailed beast, Kyuubi," Neji told her.
"What?!" Tenten cried out.
"Ah, Neji-niisan..." Hinata called out softly.
Ai smirked. "You realize I can't confirm or deny that."
Neji nodded. "Still there exists Jinchuuriki, human vessels that contain the power of the elemental tailed beasts, and while other nations may have a couple each, Konoha had just one, the Kyuubi. I could not find out more about it as much of the information regarding the tailed beasts is restricted. Even if my assumption is wrong, I know there is a special power within Naruto. One that was able to trump the Hyuuga's strongest arts. And that sort of power would attract the wrong sort of attention from enemy ninja and Naruto needed to go into hiding."
"Needed time to train," Ai corrected.
"To protect Naruto, Tsunade-sama taught him some sort of super henge," Neji surmised. "And to help guard him, Hinata would similarly learn the technique."
"Not so much a technique as gaining a new primary body with the old one acting as a default secondary one," Ai corrected. "Can't go into specifics, of course. From there we lived as our new bodies, pretending to be runaway lovers in a tiny town before we were discovered and then went to the Land of Waves as special protectors. We stopped pretending to be a couple months before you got there."
Tenten slapped her hand over her mouth. "Am I a dunce or something? Rock Lee had you pegged during the mission."
"Nah, you had the least amount of clues. Fuzzy Eyebrows got to see me fight all out, and I doubt he has a clue about why we got our new bodies," Ai assured her.
"Though I do wonder what's with the Bunshin?" Neji asked.
"I, um, Jiro is separate from me," Hinata replied timidly.
"Yet we are still the same person," Jiro added.
"You mean you split personalities?" Tenten questioned.
Jiro nodded. "Events in our life... caused damage to us. In a real way I am Hinata as if she was born a boy. We share memories, but as the training we just went through showed, we can view them very differently."
"What did the training do for you?" Ai wondered.
"We're neither real nor fake," Hinata replied.
Ai blinked. "Huh?"
Jiro handed Shinobu to her mother. "Easier to show than to explain." Jiro pulled out a kunai and cut open his right palm. Hinata frowned and followed suit by cutting the back of her arm. She then dispersed into a cloud of smoke. Jiro then called out, "Kage Bunshin." And Hinata appeared without any sign of injury. Then Jiro disappeared and Hinata produced him as the shadow clone.
Ai whistled. "Don't even need to henge."
"Right, but it also means we can't produce more copies of ourselves. If we did, it could lead to another personality," Jiro explained.
"Definitely not a technique for me." Ai smirked. "Good to know."
"The scary thing is... The reason why it was sealed..." Hinata swallowed. "It's not all that different from Kage Bunshin. It is how we shape the chakra that is different, not how we use it."
----------------------
"Hinata, are you sure about this?" Jiro questioned.
"Honestly... no," Hinata admitted shyly.
"You don't have to push yourself," Jiro advised.
Hinata shook her head. "This... this is something I have to do... and not just for myself."
"You're the one who saw through our regrets," Jiro pointed out. "You have nothing to prove."
"No... I have everything to prove," Hinata affirmed. "There will be questions until I do this."
"I'll keep an eye on Shinobu," Jiro promised.
Hinata took tiny steps as despite her certainty of the need for this, it still scared her. A door loomed ahead of her and her hand shook as she opened it.
Ai let out a tired yawn and gazed lazily at the girl. "Something ya want?"
Hinata could only blush in response.
Ai patted the space next to her. "Are ya feeling all right?"
"I... I know you've been afraid that Jiro and I might make you choose, that we'd go our separate ways," Hinata hesitantly said.
Ai frowned. "You better not be making me choose."
Hinata shook her head. "Jiro and I... may be of two minds... but we are of one heart... yours." She leaned over and tentative gave the girl a quick kiss on the lips.
Ai hugged the girl. "I was afraid you would be the one to leave me."
"You were right the entire time. I am part of this family... I am Shinobu's father. It was our love for you that made us forget our mission. I accept that now." Hinata smiled shyly. "And Jiro also knows it was your love for us that made you forget it as well. He won't say he forced you anymore."
Ai grinned. "Good." She then let out a long yawn. "Now maybe I can finally get some sleep." She dragged the girl down with her as she laid down.
"Um... well... er... as Naruto," Hinata squeaked out with a deep blush.
"Yeah. Yeah. Later. Sleep now. May have to fight if there is a preliminary tournament tomorrow." Ai curled up against the red faced girl. "For now... just stay here with me."
Hinata finally began to relax. "Always," she promised.
----------------------
Ai strutted into the arena that was hidden in the center of the Forest of Death. She nodded in recognition at the Sand-nin team Gaara once taught and then at the Stone-nin she had fought. She smirked as she noted the Rain-nin team she had come across was not yet present.
"Why did you pull us out? We still had time!" complained a group of Sand-nin that were irritably following Temari.
"You had no scrolls and this is more important," Temari snapped at them.
Ai raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"
Kakashi stepped out of seemingly nowhere. "An interruption in the exam for the Sand-nin and you. One of your old boyfriends has been kidnapped."
"Huh?" Ai emitted.
Tsunade strode toward them with Sakura trailing her, and the two other Sand-nin gennin teams in the exam moved toward the growing group. "We have received word that the Kazekage, Gaara, has been taken by the Akatsuki. Temari you are to take the gennin to the boarder garrison. Ai, Sakura, Kakashi you will go to Sunagakure and assist them as they see fit. If the situation allows for your return in one month, you will face your preliminary opponent the day before the official start of the tournament. Now go."
"Yes, Ma'am!" they all replied.
"Gaara-sama was taken?" Matsuri fretted. She then paused, blinked, and then stared at Ai. "You were Gaara-sama's GIRLFRIEND?!"
Ai sent a glare towards Kakashi. "Hardly. He was just teasing me."
"Well, it's a good thing that he's had a girlfriend before. Less chance he's gay," Sen pointed out.
"Gaara-sama is too cool to be gay!" Matsuri protested.
Tetsuo nervously pulled at his bandages. "Actually the gay thing doesn't mean much with her."
Ai slapped herself in the face.
----------------------
Author's notes:
After all this time mulling this chapter in my head, having only two scenes and a general outline worked out... very little of it made it to this chapter, mostly how the 'advanced' Kage Bunshin works, and I finally sat down and finish it in three days. At least this is now done.
I am aware the time reference in the manga and anime would technically have the attack on Gaara occur before the start of Chuunin exams. The delay here was brought on by the addition and then subsequent loss of Orochimaru's replacement in the Akatsuki.
I will not be rehashing the rescue Gaara arc as there won't be any significant changes to the events there beyond a bit of issues regarding Ai being Naruto. The next main chapter will start towards the end of that arc.
Inari's and Keiko's adventures will be detailed in a gaiden chapter which will likely be posted first.
Just a note about my website: due to lack of funds and that the price for the domain name became stupid expensive I was not able to afford it. I may some day put up a new website, but that will not be in the near future.
I will be running a fanfiction panel at JAFAX (Japanese Animation Film and Art eXposition) on either June 23rd or 24th, 2012 at Grand Valley State University in Allendale Michigan.