-Author's Beginning Note-

Hello dears! It's been a while since I've written anything (school and everything else have gotten in the way) and I am aware that I have a few unfinished stories that I need to attend to. But I've recently gotten back into Naruto and I've got quite a bit of muse for this story. So hopefully I can finish it to the end. I will need lots of encouragement so please do read and review I can't tell you enough how much it helps us writers to hear someone's creative criticism or just gushing (gushing is good, I like gushing). So without further ado I present to you: "My Place In the Sun".

Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters or the Naruto universe. All rights to this Manga and Anime go to Masashi Kishimoto. Any OC's that I create will belong to me.


Naruto Uzumaki stared down at the open letter on his desk with trepidation, it was from the Kazekage of Suna—and his friend—Gaara. He picked it up again and scanned the words again:

Naruto,

I apologize for my lack of correspondence over the last few months. There has been an increase in the vagrant population of Suna—namely a group of renegade female shinobi who call themselves the Dune Sisters. They terrorize my village with their jutsu, filling my people with fear. I would put an end to them myself but it is too hard to pinpoint who are the leaders and who are the followers.

This is why I am sending you this urgent letter. I am invoking the assistance of Konoha based upon our alliance. I require a team of four female nin to come to Suna and infiltrate this 'gang' of ingrates and pinpoint their leader, their weak spots, and any ways to defeat these women. I would send in my own Shinobi but they are seen around Suna too often to be of any use.

I implore your swift response to this matter and trust that you will choose your shinobi accordingly.

Gaara of the Sand.

Naruto groaned inwardly and ran a hand through his hair, at twenty years old he was taller than he had been three years prior during the Shinobi war, his shoulders had broadened and his face had thinned slightly. But despite the way his looks changed Naruto was still the same goofy guy that he had been, Konoha had nicknamed him the jokester Hokage—something he was fairly proud of.

Pressing the button on his desk to turn on his intercom he leaned forward and spoke into the microphone "Shizune?" he called his assistant "I need you to call in some people for me."


Hinata Hyuuga, Sakura Haruno, and Ino Yamanaka all stood looking at one another. They had run into each other in front of the Hokage's office.

"Seems like we'll be on a mission together huh?" Sakura mused and nudged Hinata who jumped guiltily and gave her a shaky smile, she had been with Kurenai and Kurenai's three year old daughter Kasumi at the park when the message had come. "Yes, it seems so." Hinata replied and Ino elbowed Sakura in the stomach with a sly grin. "That or you got us in trouble."

The pink haired ninja glared and shoved the blond playfully "As if we would get in trouble for getting a little bit drunk the other night and waking up in a fountain—I mean at least Naruto can't say anything about it, I've seen him do way wor—"

Someone cleared their throat and the three girls turned to look at Naruto who was standing in the doorway to his office with a half grin "You do realize that I can hear every word you're saying—right?" he said attempting to skewer Ino with his eyes.

Ino shrugged, flicked her long ponytail over her shoulder and strode past Naruto with her nose in the air "I meant for you to." Sakura followed chuckling slightly under her breath and Hinata followed last, bowing low and hurrying past Naruto without making eye contact Naruto opened his mouth as if he were about to say something but abruptly snapped it shut before closing the office behind himself.

Hinata knew that she should act as if everything was normal—but she just couldn't images of hot hands and warm breaths flashed through her mind and she fought to suppress them. Hinata watched from the corner of her eye as Naruto resat himself and opened up a folder and began to explain their mission.

"You three will be traveling to Suna to assist with controlling the vagrant population—namely you will be infiltrating a notorious gang of female shinobi called the Dune Sisters…" Naruto's voice trailed off as Hinata was enveloped once again within her own thoughts.

Three nights prior…

"Hi-Na-Ta-Chan!" Naruto's voice cut through the night and Hinata turned just in time to see the yellow haired hokage stumble down the road to her. He was grinning from ear to ear before he draped himself over her and buried his face in her hair "Uh, Naruto-kun? Are you drunk?" the Hyuuga steeled her legs in order to carry his dead weight.

"Hm? Just a little tiny bit," the man hiccupped and then giggled lightly "Shikamaru—that bastard—said that I couldn't hold my liquor. I sure showed him!" Naruto crowed triumphantly, pumping his fist into the air and nearly losing his balance.

"I'm sure you did." Hinata let herself laugh a little bit.

"I did!" the yellow haired shinobi slurred "He's got no clothes on and I have all of my clothes on—well—hic—almost all of them." The ninja let his orange hokage's coat flap open exposing his bared chest. Hinata felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she tried to squirm free of his gasp.

"I think we should get you home." Hinata averted her eyes and reached out to zip up his jacket but he grabbed her hands and swung her around until her back connected with one of the walls that lined the road. "N-Naruto!" Hinata said with surprise as his fingers slid through hers.

Naruto was staring at her eye to eye, his blue eyes looking a little hazy with the alcohol but also filled with determination as he looking into the Hyuuga's own milky ones.

"I wanna try something." He muttered and leaned forward, Hinata could feel the tickle of his breath a crossed her cheeks and the sweet smell of sake and some other kind of alcohol filled her nose as he pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was clumsy at first—Naruto's lips moved out of sync with Hinata's and they weren't used to each other's actions and motions.

Hinata's hands flew up to Naruto's chest as if to push him away—she knew that it was a bad idea to kiss him when he was intoxicated—but his lips sent little tingles through her and she felt as if she were melting. Naruto's not-so-gentle lips were coaxing her lips open until she relented and allowed him to explore her mouth. She had kissed others before—but nothing ever seemed to make her feel like she had touched an electrical wire.

They kissed for a while—the only thing touching were their lips—Hinata could taste the sake on Naruto's lips and it was making her feel lightheaded and dizzy, after a couple more moments she felt something warm on her waist—Naruto had placed his palm on her waist just under her jacket, she could feel his warmth through the fish net shirt she wore underneath. She jerked away from his touch with surprise but he bore down with kisses again until she was compliant. This had been something that she had daydreamed about as a child—and could barely believe that it was actually happening. So as Naruto's hand smoothed it's way up her stomach, spreading warmth Hinata couldn't help but let out a low moan which only seemed to spur Naruto on, he pressed his body to hers and his hand slid farther up her shirt until he just barely grazed the underside of her breast making her gasp.

"Oh Sakura." He rasped against her mouth and Hinata froze, it felt as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her head and she was back down to Earth. She broke away from him, sliding underneath his arm and backed away—he had been too drunk to control what he said but not drunk enough to realize that he said it. He stared at her with horror, "Hinata i'm so—" but Hinata had already turned and ran off into the night with a storm raging in her chest.

"Hinata?" Sakura's voice cut through her thoughts like a knife, jerking her back into reality. Her pale white eyes met three other pairs that were filled with concern before she looked back at her fingers which were pressed together in a nervous habit that she had thought that she had gotten rid of years ago.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm a bit off today." The Hyuuga apologized with a blush. Ino an Sakura shrugged and turned to face Naruto again—but Naruto was still watching her. With a little blink Naruto was pulled back out of her thoughts and he cleared his throat before continuing: "Anyways as I was saying—Ino you'll be taking the helm on this assignment." Ino nodded and stood a little straighter, she or Sakura usually took point on these sort of missions. Hinata had only taken leadership on search and rescue missions due to her Byakugan—she preferred not to take point anyways.

"When do we leave?" Sakura interjected into the silence.

"Tonight. You will need to pack as much as possible to last you a while. Also I have these…" Naruto opened a desk drawer and drew out three forehead protectors that had the Konoha symbol etched into them but the symbol was scratched out. "You've got to cover all of your bases—the Dune Sisters have to believe that you are truly wanting to join them—also Hinata—you will need to wear contacts to disguise your eyes, I would tell you to disguise them with charka but I don't know what sort of abilities the women in this gang have so it's better not to risk being exposed." He looked at Hinata again but she averted her eyes.

"That's all I have to say for now, Gaara will fill you in on anything else you need to now, I'll be at the gates to see you off this evening—dismissed." They all bowed and turned to leave.

"Ah—Hinata can you stay behind for a second?" Hinata stopped mid-retreat and slowly turned around, looking in the vague direction that Naruto was standing.

Naruto ran a hand through his spiky yellow hair "Hinata... I really wanted to apologize for my behavior the other night…" He looked down at his desk "That was no way to—"

"Please stop." Hinata said quietly, cutting him off by holding up a slender white hand. "It's fine, you were intoxicated and it was dark. I probably looked like Sakura in the night." Hinata gripped her hands together in front of her, her eyes never leaving the floor.

Naruto gaped at her in surprise; she thought that he mistook her for Sakura? That was nearly impossible since the two women's physical appearance was completely different.

Naruto wasn't sure why he'd said Sakura's name when he had kissed Hinata, he was sure all of those sorts of feelings for his teammate had dried up over the years when he had realized that Sakura would always be looking towards Sasuke. He did, however, know that his feelings for Hinata were no longer that of friendship and he opened his mouth to tell her so but she cut him off again.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but I have much to do to get ready for this mission, please excuse me." She bowed quickly and hurried from the room leaving a very frustrated Naruto in her wake. The young Hokage plopped down into his desk chair and crossed his arms, this whole thing was becoming complicated.


-Author's Note-

That was quite a bit of information to happen in one chapter, huh? Well it'll even out as soon as I get the ball rolling, I promise. On average each chapter should have at least a thousand words-some may be shorter but I will usually strive for the longer chapters so that there are less chapters (i.e more appeal to the random scroller).

Anyways. Who thinks Naruto is an idiot-raise your hand! Just wait, it gets better.

Please Read & Review!

-LittleMoonLover-