I'm so sorry that my updating has been taking so long, I haven't had that much time lately, not quite sure why and I have been having some writers block. I know it's not really an excuse, but that's just how it is... Anyway, Enjoy...
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Only Chie so far)
After receiving the scroll which contained all of the information about team eights mission, Naruto had run as fast as he could towards the gates, not even returning home to get necessities for the mission, he didn't want to waste any time, he just wanted to get to them before it was too late, even Chie was off of his shoulder and was now flying right beside our young blond. As soon as he reached the gates, he was told to stop but then told them that he needed to help team eight and that it was urgent. His voice was one not to argue with, so the guards didn't as they opened the gates with the blond whizzing through, soon being out of sight of the guards. As he was running, he was so concentrated on his destination that he didn't notice that it had begun to rain and that the sky was turning dark as the grey clouds were looming over him. Within minutes, Naruto was drenched and his hair was drooping down from its usual spiky position as it was now soaked all the way down to his scalp. His mask was also drenched and was clinging even more tightly to his face, showing more of his features which couldn't usually be seen. Thunder was roaring in the distance whilst lightning was shooting across the, now almost, pitch black sky. But still, Naruto hadn't noticed any of this, he was focused on one thing and one thing alone, bring back Hinata, alive. And her team as well, of course, that only taking second priority.
After hours of non-stop running, he had finally reached the destination allocated in the scroll. When he stopped, he finally noticed that his legs were aching and going slightly numb, but still, this didn't bother him. He roamed his eyes over the large area and found what he was looking for. A couple hundred meters away, he saw two bodies, lying on the cold and muddy ground, whilst there was a short figure fighting against a larger figure and there was also another tall figure, who was fighting against two other figures who looked slightly broader then the rest. Naruto was too far away to see who was who, so he ran over to the sight, but, just as he got there, he saw the first figure get a hit to the back by her opponent and she fell to the ground, her eyes slowly closing. Time seemed to slow down as he saw who it was who was falling. He shouted out her name, but no sound came from his lips. He collapsed to the ground and looked up again, seeing that the other two figures on the ground were Hinata's teammates; Kiba and Shino. It was only Kurenai who was fighting now, she had been struggling with two opponents, but three, that was just too much for her, so Naruto decided that it was time for him to finally help them, instead of just sitting there, being completely unhelpful.
As he stood, he felt power in his attempt to get up, he felt stronger and faster. He looked in a puddle and saw that his eye had tuned from his normal enchanting blue, to it's deadly crimson red, along with the dangerously thin slit instead of a round pupil (note, one of his eyes was already like that). Naruto pushed the right side of his hitai-ite up, revealing his other eye. He felt changes occur in his body, but not like they did the last time, in the wave country. This time, he felt that he had more control over it, it wasn't out of control. His nails had grown into sharp claws, though shorter then the last time. His canines grew a little into fangs, but this time they did not pierce his mask, which had been repaired after the last time.
It was just then that Kurenai noticed the blond, as she had been too into her fight. She was about to call for him, but she had to duck a high kick, only just dodging it in time to duck out of the way. She didn't try to contact Naruto again, as she knew she wouldn't be as lucky the next time.
Naruto was shaking, not with fear, but with pure anger. Pure anger which was directed completely at the attacking nins. He felt his blood beginning to boil as he let out a vast amount of killing intent, freezing the nins for a few seconds, even Kurenai was frozen, though none of the killer intent was directed at her, but she soon recovered as one of her opponents had just thrown a kunai at her, barely scraping the skin on Kurenai's left arm, as she had just jumped. During this time, Chie had been thinking of what would be best to do. Either he would help to defeat the opponents and Naruto would get everyone back to safety, or the other way round. They couldn't both fight, as they would probably get too exhausted to return home, so that wasn't an option. If I am to be the one who returns them all to the village, then I am I going to get them all to the hospital, I'll be too big if I'm in my full size, which I would have to be if I were to fly with them all on my back, but to get them back, I must fly… So I guess that Naruto will have to be the one who gets everyone back…
"Naruto… Naruto!"
"What is it Chie, hurry up, I need to go and help them!"
"No, you'll stay here, I'll go in and fight, and when we're done, you'll need to create a couple shadow clones which can carry us back to Konoha to the hospital. There is a very powerful, but extremely exhausting jutsu which will allow you to move at an abnormal speed. It is a demonic jutsu, so you know what will probably happen. It'll come to you when you need it, trust me on this… Understood?" As Chie finished, Naruto had been looking at the dragon with a look of horror on his face, how could he prevent him from fighting when the person he loves the most is in danger? "Naruto, you need to do this, it is the only way." Naruto narrowed his eye to think but eventually nodded his head slightly as he knew that he couldn't find a way to not follow the plan. Chie gave a quick smile as he grew slightly, his height now the same as Naruto's when he was down on his legs with his head as high up as possible. Chie began to flap his wings as he began to fly and soared over to the battle scene, leaving Naruto to stay and watch, preparing to escape with everyone.
When Chie reached the battle scene, he smirked as Kurenai had just managed a punch in the jaw of the taller of the three foreign nins. Said nin placed a hand up to said jaw to readjust it, putting it back in its original place, releasing a spine-tickling crack whilst doing so. Once Kurenai saw the dragon heading her way she smiled mentally to herself, this would make it so much easier now that she only had one opponent to fight, and back up for that matter. Chie flew straight at his chosen opponent, seeming like he was heading in for a bite, but within breathing distance, Chie drew his wings back in as his scaled body seemed to shoot through the air like a bullet, rotating his body clockwise. Just as he was nearly past the enemy, he lashed out his tail and whipped the man hard on the shoulder, making aloud thump. The arm was now almost useless. Chie showed a quick smirk before continuing with the attack. His opponent threw a shurikan at Chie with his good arm, but Chie managed to dodge it elegantly, like all of this was some sort of dance routine which had been practiced to perfection. Chie was heading towards the man again, but just before their collision, Chie would suddenly steer to the side. This was repeated over and over again, confusing the nin more and more each time, making his moves and attacks more sloppy and ill-placed.
Chie's plan was working, just a few more times and he could be finished and Chie would start on the other shinobi which had taken a break from the fighting and was sitting on the wet earth whilst studying his soon to be opponent.
Chie then stopped his confusing attacks to hover in the air, a few meters away from his opponent. He opened his jaw, bearing his sharp white teeth. A small blue flame began to form, which grew in size with every passing second. Soon it was the size of a bowling ball and it stopped but remained right in front of the dragons jaws. Fire seemed to be swirling around in the ball, ranging from dark blues to light blues. When it seemed to be complete, Chie then inhaled a large amount of air, his chest increasing in size due to this. When no more could be taken in, there was a gleam in the dragons eye as he was about to release the attack, shooting the blue flames orb at the enemy, with incredible speed due to all of the air inhaled which was now being used to increase the already fast speed of the orb. Within a blink, the opponent had been hit and sent flying nearly twenty meters behind from his previous position, landing on the earth and creating a crater which already had a pool of blood mixed with rain water and dirt, creating a dark red swamp, with the body half subdued in it, creating a very gruesome sight that anyone would want to forget.
But the fight wasn't over as there were still more to come. Meanwhile, with Kurenai, their fight had seemed evenly matched, as they had both had their fair share of hits, both also receiving around the same amount. Both of them were tiring, but neither were going to give up, so their fight continued. The opposition threw a punch at her which she quickly blocked but then he made a quick swipe kick, managing to hit one of her legs as she fell down to one knee. She let out a light groan at the pain. When her opponent was about to finish her of with a chakra enforced punch to the head, she grabbed a kunai from her pouched and pushed it right through the mans chest, blood spluttering out from the deep wound, the man waving slightly from side to side and coughing out blood from his mouth. Right before he fell he spat at Kurenai, a mixture of his blood and spit and fell to the ground, landing in an awkward position, which would have been unbearable had he been alive. Kurenai mentally gave herself a pat on the back before collapsing to the ground, mud soaking into her already blood stained clothing. Now, the only ones standing were Chie, his last opponent, and, of course, Naruto, who had been watching the whole thing, using every ounce of control he had within himself to stop himself from running in to join the fight. Many times he had been tempted but only just managed to stay put, as he had seen what Chie could do and he didn't want to face someone like him, no, not at all, never. Naruto was brave and all, but never would he want to go up against Chie, unless it was to protect Hinata of course. These were the types of thoughts that ran through Naruto's brain as he watched the fights going on in front of him. It hadn't even occurred to him that he should go and check on how the others were doing. Sometimes, he really was such a blond.
Anyway, back to Chie. The last fight had taken quite a bit out of Chie due to the attack he had used and the fact that he hadn't been doing that much physical work for a couple of years, or a couple of decades, as there was no need, though now he realised that he would also need to train along with his blond companion, but that had to wait as he had one last person to finish off.
His opponent had a smirk on his face, with one side of it raised higher then the other with an evil gleam in his eye. "Well… this should be fun. I've never fought a dragon before, so I'll enjoy this…" But before he got a chance to finish his little plan, Chie had already begun with his attacks. At first he flew straight at him, bearing his teeth with the intention of biting the opponent, but failed as he was struck to the head at the last minute, however, just as Chie was about to hit the ground, he managed to flap his wings at the last second, gliding along the ground until reaching a height of about ten meters above the nin. Said nin threw several shurikans at Chie, all of them at high speed, Chie only barely managing to dodge most of them, a handful of them managing to graze his belly, which was one of the softer areas of his body, whereas his back, legs and head would have incredibly hard scaled covering them. A small trickle of blood came from the wound, but it didn't really bother Chie that much, he has had worse, much worse.
Chie begins to take a large intake of air, his chest slowly rising. When no more could be taken in, he held it, aiming it at his opponent. When satisfied, he threw his head back, only to throw it forward again, releasing the huge amount of wind which was powerful enough to uproot a large tree from the ground, however, he hadn't expected his opponent to be so quick on his feet, as Chie's attack was almost impossible to dodge. Everything which was within a twenty meter radius of where his opponent had previously been standing had been utterly destroyed and ripped to shreds, leaving a large crater as well. Damn… I'm loosing energy and chakra too quickly at this rate… I need to finish him in the next move, otherwise, I'll be too exhausted to carry on, and that is not an option… Guess I'll have to use that technique… Chie was pondering to himself whilst he was still hovering up high in the air. Meanwhile, his opponent was slowly reaching his hand behind his back, seeming like he was going to withdraw something, but he never got the chance as Chie started his descent down towards him at a speed that was nearly impossible to follow, even for someone with the Sharingan or Byakugan. Within a second, Chie had reached the nin, but it didn't end there, as he grabbed the nin with his claws from all four legs and began flying up again until he had reached a height of fifty meters, when there, Chie then started to flying up and down in a circle to gain momentum for the final blow. As soon as there was enough he began the descent again, but much faster then before, when only two meters from the ground, he released the nin to go crashing down deep into the ground, dying the instance that he hit the earth. Chie just managed to glide right above the ground, losing speed fast as he landed on the ground roughly, splattering mud all over his body and slowly falling asleep from exhaustion.
On the sidelines, Naruto had been watching the whole thing. As soon as Chie had hit the ground, he put his hands together, forming a cross with his fingers and mumbled "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Just then, four shadow clones appeared, who ran over a grabbed Shino, Kiba, Kurenai and Chie, placing them all on there backs in a piggy back position. Meanwhile, the real Naruto had run over and placed Hinata gently on his back. Suddenly, Naruto could feel this burning sensation within him, and he had a feeling what it could be, or at least, he hoped it would be what he thought it would be. The four clones and Naruto stood in a line next to each other as the burning sensation was growing, wisps pf red and orange chakra was appearing and in the blink of an eye, they were all gone, leaving a disappearing trail of their chakra, heading towards Konoha.
A few minutes later…
Two chuunin guards had been standing in the tower above the gates, watching over it and its surroundings, when suddenly, there was a red flash and the gates flew open, nearly ripping them off their hinges, but luckily, they stayed strong. Within seconds of the flash came a strong wave of wind, nearly making the two guards lose their balance at they stared at the gate in horror, and even more confusion.
After Naruto and his clones had made it through the gate, they headed straight for the hospital, not caring if he ran into anyone or anything on the way. He soon reached the hospital, now back to his normal speed. He rushed inside of the doors and many of the medics present in the room looked at him in disbelief. But Naruto didn't take any notice, he just ran over to the desk and shouted, as quietly as he could, "Please, they need help…" Naruto then fell unconscious to the floor, with Hinata on his back and his clones then poofed away, leaving the others to fall to the ground, but were luckily caught by the nearer medics, who rushed team eight and Naruto into rooms to be analysed and healed. However, they weren't quite sure what to do with the dragon, so they placed him in a room to sleep, as he just seemed tired to them, with only a minor wound on his chest, which they bandaged.
Five days later…
Hinata had been dreaming, having nightmares about the last mission, not knowing what the outcome of it was. She had dreamed of so many possibilities that she began to thin that's she was dead. That is, until she started waking up, feeling pain in her chest which, to her, was a good sign as it meant that she was indeed, still alive. As she slowly began to open her eyes, she shut them tight together as the light was too bright. After a minute or two, her eyes had readjusted and she was now taking in her surroundings. The ceiling was white, as were the walls. She was in a bed which was, unsurprisingly, covered with white sheets. To her right was a plain wooden door and to her left, she saw some people standing, with their backs to her. She began to try to sit up but couldn't as the pain built up in her chest, letting out a groan, which had been heard by the others who had now turned around to face her. She saw that they were Naruto's teammates and his sensei, but he wasn't there. A though popped up in her mind, Naruto is in the hospital, lying on the neighboring bed. Her eyes began to become watery and slightly red as a tear started rolling down her pale cheek. "Na-na-naruto-kun…" She mumbled in her cries. "Wh-what happened to him?"
Kakashi looked behind him and then forward again, looking straight at Hinata before speaking, "He came after you and your team as soon as he heard that you were in trouble. But don't worry, he's fine, he was just extremely exhausted and he had incredibly low chakra levels when he got here with your team. I'm not quite sure what happened though." Kakashi then saw the look of guilt in Hinata's eyes. "The doctors just said that he needs to rest, that's all. Kurenai is already up and running and both Kiba and Shino are have been awake for about a day." At this, Hinata became a little more at ease. "We're glad to see that you're up as well." Hinata gave a small smile as she forced herself to sit up, completely ignoring the pain. Sakura was about to help her back down again but Kakashi placed a hand in front of her.
When Hinata finally sat up, she started moving her legs to the side so that they would be dangling out by the side of the bed.
"Hinata, the doctors said that you also need to rest and take it easy." But Kakashi went ignored. Hinata stood up and stumbled a bit but quickly regained her balance as she made her way to the bed which had Naruto on it. She sat down on the chair which was next the bed and took Naruto's hand in to her own, softly crying inside. But then, she felt a movement in her hand and looked into it to find that Naruto moved his hand. She looked at him and found him stirring, a smile appearing on her face.
"What's… going… on?" Naruto managed to say whilst he yawned, rather ungracefully if I might add. "Where am… I?" It was then when he realised where he was, as it was easy as it was the only place in Konoha to have everything in a blinding white colour; the hospital. "What am I doing here?" Naruto tried to sit up but was pushed down gently by a pale hand. Naruto looked up to see who owned the hand and saw that it was none others then Hinatas. Naruto smiled. "Hinata you're alright." Hinata nodded sweetly but soon she looked away with more guilt showing in her eyes.
"What's wrong Hinata?"
"I'm sorry Naruto."
"Sorry for what?"
"For… for putting you in danger like that…"
"In danger? Hinata, that wasn't your' fault, if anyone's it would either be my own or those damned shinobi who attacked you. I did it on my own accord." Naruto put a hand up to Hinata's left cheek and caressed it slightly. "Now, could you please help me sit up? This mattress isn't very good for my back." Hinata let out a soft chuckle as she helped him up, grabbing her own pillow to place behind Naruto's back as he was sitting up against the blinding white wall.
Kakashi then motioned for both Sakura and Sasuke to go out of the room to let Naruto and Hinata be together alone. Sakura nodded and went out first, followed by Kakashi. Sasuke walked out more slowly, stopping at the door to turn around to see both Hinata and Naruto sitting on the edge of the bed, side by side and Naruto's arm over Hinata's shoulder. He smiled to himself before going out and closing the door shut. All the while thinking, Good for you Naruto, good for you...
Ok guys (and girls) I hoped you liked it. I'm not that good at fighting scenes, so I tried my best... Hope they weren't too bad... Poll is still going... Also, this is my longest chapter so far, almost reaching 4,000 words. It might not seem a lot, but it is a lot to write... for me at least...