Jiraiya's Last Student

I Don't own Naruto. Enough said.

Do apologize for the repost but people said they were unable to read the chapter for some reason and this was the only way I knew how to fix it.

I'm terribly sorry for how long it took to make this chapter but dealing with college classes and a series of deaths in my family it's rather unavoidable.

If you have any questions about the story or anything you'd like to ask just leave it in a review and I'll definitely reply to it but please at least have an account to reply to.

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It had been almost seven hours since they left the village, four since they left the area around the village where there were constant patrols. Just before really taking off and away from the village, Naruto had made around fifty sets of clones and sent them out in all directions. Hinata was currently asleep in Naruto's arms as he traveled through the treetops. She was tired, both emotionally and physically. Being unable to train or really get out of the hospital for about two months had drastically reduced her stamina.

The sun had just begun to rise. Naruto had been looking for a place to hide for a short while to rest. He'd just gotten back from a mission before doing this, so he hadn't slept since the day before yesterday.

"You look exhausted, Naruto-kun."

Looking down, he saw his fellow runaway was awake. He gave a tired smiled. "I just got back from a mission yesterday, so I haven't slept in a while."

After stretching her arms, she wrapped them around his neck. "How long will it take us to arrive at our destination?"

"Around five days or so...well, give or take half a day," he replied, stopping on a large branch, and letting Hinata stand. They stood and watched the sunrise.

"So pretty..." Hinata said, putting her arms around her boyfriend's waist as they watched the sunrise.

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Two hours earlier, underneath the streets of Konoha...

A man holding a cane and wrapped in bandages stood before several dozen masked men.

"The demon brat and the Hyuga heiress have departed from the village on their own. I want them brought back here for reprogramming. Now go," he commanded. Everyone disappeared within seconds from the large underground chamber.

The old fossil of a man walked down the dark hallways. 'Having several of my men watch him since he came back has paid off,' he thought to himself. One of Danzo's men had been following the two since they had left the village, and had just sent a report back.

One of his men appeared beside him, handing him a note.

He opened the note. "Hmm, seems the Hokage has finally found out he's missing. No matter, my men will reach him first..."

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It was early in the morning. So early, in fact, that the sun had yet to rise, yet there were at least two dozen people standing in the Hokage's office. None knew what they were there for, only that they had been summoned in the early hours of the morning.

"First off, I'd like to thank you for coming at this early hour. I'll get right to the point I've called you all here to discuss. Naruto and Hinata have left the village."

"What do you mean they left?!" Kiba yelled.

"As I said, they left. Where, I don't know, however that's where all of you come in. All of you are to find them and bring them back."

Haku stepped forward. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, Lady Hokage, but are all of us really necessary for this?"

Tsunade picked up a report. "I've read the report regarding the mission to Wave. You know more of what Naruto is capable of than the others." She set the reports down. "This is an S-class mission. You are all to leave immediately for the recovery of Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki."

The room was silent. Not a word was spoken. The fact was, they weren't sure what to say.

Kakashi sighed. "Alright, everyone meet at the main gate in fifteen minutes."

The group vacated the office quickly.

"Not just going to let them be, Tsunade?" came the voice of her former teammate.

"You know I can't...I'm the Hokage now, I can't just let them go. Personally they've both had pretty crappy lives and deserve better. If they were anyone else, I could just overlook it. At least for a little while, anyhow." Tsunade would have loved to just overlook the fact that they left. However, Naruto was a jinchuuriki, and Hinata was first born of the current Hyuga Clan head. There was no overlooking the fact that they both disappeared from the village. She leaned back in her chair. "So, do you think they'll get to where they're going without getting caught?"

"Naruto has trained intensely for three years, and because he didn't slack off, his abilities surpass his age group by leaps and bounds. To be honest, I think even Kakashi will have his hands full trying to capture Naruto."

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"Well Kakashi, we've got them going off in fifty different directions," Zabuza commented.

"Looks that way, doesn't it?" he replied, pulling out a map. "Alright, Itachi and Kisame, you'll head down to the Land of Tea area. Kurenai and I will head towards the Land of Wind area. Zabuza, you'll take the kids and check The Land of Waves and the nearby port city." Kakashi had quickly looked at the map and because the clones had gone in so many different directions he chose the most likely paths Naruto would take.

Zabuza looked to the side, off towards the tree line. "Kakashi..." Zabuza noticed there was someone watching them.

"Just go with the kids, Zabuza." Kakashi and the other older ninja had also noticed but chose to ignore it.

"Why do I always have to be stuck with the shitty jobs..." he mumbled. "Alright! Let's get going!" he commanded.

The group separated and set off to their designated search areas. The young ninja didn't speak a word, even though they had quite a few questions on their minds.

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"So Naruto and Hinata have been dating all this time?" Kiba asked. The young Inuzuka had always had a bit of a crush on Hinata.

"Looks that way," Sasuke replied.

"I never would have guessed those two were actually dating. I mean, did anyone ever really see them talking together at all?" Sakura questioned as she launched herself from one branch to the next.

"I'd never seen them really talk in public," Chouji chimed in.

Neji looked over at Shino. "You knew, didn't you?"

"I did," he replied

"And you didn't think any of us would like to know that?" asked Tenten.

Shino adjusted his sunglasses. "I really didn't care if all of you wanted to know. It simply wasn't any of your business. They kept their relationship to themselves for obvious reasons, and I, as their teammate, kept it to myself. The relationship they shared never hindered us on missions, so there was no reason to say anything."

Zabuza was annoyed by the conversation. "All of you need to be quiet. Why are you lot so concerned about their relationship? We're ninja, our lives tend to be short. Those who are able to find love before they die are the lucky ones." Zabuza never really thought after his failed coup d'etat that he'd ever find love or have a normal life again. Well, as normal a life as a ninja could get, anyway. But he had almost gotten a normal life back, thanks to the boy he was trying to track down. Nevertheless, he never liked leaving a debt unpaid.

The group now moved silently through the trees.

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Present...

Naruto was resting with his head on Hinata's lap, the girl smiling down at him and running her fingers through his hair. "I wonder if we can really get away and start a new life?" she whispered. At first she wasn't sure if she really wanted to leave the village like they did. Now though, the prospect of being with Naruto and getting away from her family gave her hope that this would turn out to be great. This seemed just like a fairy tale she had read in a book once.

"One way or another, you two will make it."

Hinata almost jumped, disturbing Naruto's rest. "Takeshi? you almost made me wake Naruto. Why are you so sure?"

"Trust the young boy drooling on your lap," the fox wouldn't give Hinata a straight answer.

She looked down and saw Naruto was indeed drooling on her lap. "Why are you so civil towards Naruto? I mean...you are sealed inside him."

"You'll understand someday. Seems we have some visitors..."

Again, he didn't really answer her question. She wondered why, but couldn't think about it anymore, as they had company.

Naruto's eyes opened. As he got to his feet, dark rings around his eyes began to form, and his pupils changed. "Takeshi, take Hinata and go." The fox grew to the size of a lion. "Hinata, please get on Takeshi and go. I'll catch up." The blonde handed Hinata all the things he was carrying, even his sword. "Just in case I don't come back, take this sword and the note to the destination I've marked on the map. You'll be taken care of."

"But..." Hinata didn't want to leave Naruto by himself. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Quickly, get on! The boy can't do what needs to be done while you are still here." Hinata didn't argue anymore. "Now hold on tight. By the way boy, I do appreciate what you've done with the seal." The fox took off at inhuman speed into the forest. The fox was now able to take control of one of Naruto's shadow clones, giving him the ability for easy access to the outside world, with the blond's consent, of course.

Turning around, Naruto readied himself for the new arrivals. "My, there are quite a few of you here." Dozens of masked ninja dropped from the trees all around him. "You must be Danzo's little army, Itachi told me about you lot once before. Guess there isn't a reason to hold back!" Naruto flew through hand signs. "Sage Art Wind Release: Wind Armor!" His body was covered in miniature tornadoes from head to toe. "Always wanted to try this jutsu in actual combat." The wind armor served three purposes. The first was defense, the second was physical offense, and the third was a boost to his wind ninjutsu.

One of the ninja threw a kunai, but as soon as it struck the armor of wind, it was deflected with such force that it took a chunk out of the tree it hit.

"How about another jutsu I was interested in using? I hope you don't blame me for any limbs lost from this, because I can't really control it yet. Sage Art Wind Release: Raging Serpentine Dragons!" Naruto winced as he lost concentration on his wind armor, causing his forearm to break. The wind armor rapidly changed. Several serpentine dragons made of swirling wind sprang forth, attacking all ninja in sight. One by one they fell. The serpents created large gusts of winds as they attacked, making it extremely difficult for the enemy ninja to move around. The immediate area was decimated. Trees were torn asunder, and large gashes were taken out of the ground by the rampaging dragons. Even the most seasoned ninja would be surprised by such a move, considering the fact that a boy Naruto's age normally wouldn't know a jutsu so advanced, and in the ninja world, a big surprise attack could mean the difference between a decisive victory and defeat.

Naruto sighed. His arm hurt like hell. "Man, I still can't control either of those jutsu yet. I guess it's better than breaking a few ribs like the last time I used it," he mumbled to himself as he looked at all the ninja hanging off of trees or stuck under them. "I really need to work on the collateral damage of that jutsu." The blond wasn't able to completely control the wind armor jutsu, which caused physical harm to him when he lost concentration, mainly in the form of several broken bones. As he was about to leave, he sensed another group approaching.

Naruto sighed. "Guess I'll have to deal with them before I can move on." Zabuza and the others were far too close, and would be on his tail the entire way if he didn't deal with them now.

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Underneath the streets of Konoha...

Danzou sat at his desk, looking at a scroll, he watched as many marks on it disappeared suddenly. "So...it was wrong of me to send such low-ranking men. The boy is far better than I gave him credit for. No matter, if he's doing this for that Hyuga girl, next time I will just get to him through her..."

Danzou could wait. He could withstand his plans being delayed a little longer. He'd waited for decades now, after all.

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Zabuza's group dropped out of the trees and into the twisted landscape.

"What happened here?" Sakura asked aloud.

The others looked around at the masked ninja that were lying everywhere, some crushed under trees, others hanging off the broken tree branches and trunks. One of them had even been torn in half. It was quite the sight, something they had never seen before, save for Zabuza and perhaps Haku.

"Well, looks like everyone is here," came Naruto's voice. He walked out from behind a tree that had been ripped in half. "I suppose you guys can't just let me go, huh?"

"You know the rules Naruto," Zabuza replied gripping the hilt of his sword.

Naruto looked down at the ground and sighed. "Yeah, guess I do." He reactivated his sage mode as he raised his head and took a defensive stance. "Even if you stop me, you'll never catch Hinata now!" he yelled projecting an immense killing intent. The blond went straight for Neji, as he still held a deep-seated hatred for the boy for what he did.

Naruto's friends were stunned. They couldn't move. They could barely even breathe under the immense pressure of the killing intent.

Zabuza appeared in front of Neji and blocked Naruto's kick with the flat of his blade. The hit was so heavy it push him back a few feet. "That was some kick, kid!" Zabuza yelled excitedly. He didn't really want to bring Naruto back, but he was always looking for a challenge. "Hey, the rest of you! Get a hold of yourselves!" he yelled at all the young ninja, snapping them out of their stupor.

Naruto jumped back, and when he landed, he was met with a kick from Rock Lee. However, Naruto stopped it by grabbing his ankle. "Nice try, Bushy Brows!" He spun around and threw Lee into the trees. The blond jumped up into the air just as dozens of ice needles rained down on where he just was.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I'm grateful for the second chance you've given me and Zabuza, but we have our orders, and I have something I wish to protect now," Haku said as he disappeared into one of the many ice mirrors that had begun to appear all over the battle field.

While Naruto was in the air, Sasuke shot up after him, Chidori in hand. "Why did you abandon the village and everything you've done?!" he yelled. The raven-haired boy didn't understand why Naruto would give up everything he had accomplished.

"Simple, Sasuke. I have someone I wish to protect above anything else," he replied calmly, grabbing Sasuke by the wrist, avoiding his attack, and throwing him back to the ground. Sasuke was unable to right himself, and he crashed into the ground. The blond landed on top of a tree.

"Dual Piercing Fang!" Two miniature tornadoes came hurtling at Naruto. The blond disappeared and reappeared on the ground, only to be struck by a giant fist from Chouji, which sent him flying into a tree.

Neji appeared in front of Naruto. "Eight Trigrams: Destructive Mountain Fist!" He slammed his palm down onto Naruto, pushing him into the ground and creating a cloud of dust that filled the air. When the dust cleared, there was nothing there.

"Well, that was fun."

They all turned around to see Naruto sitting on one of the broken trees. It looked as if he had never even been touched by Chouji or Neji.

"Shall we begin round two?" just then Naruto noticed Shikamaru's shadow manipulation jutsu. "Finally joining in?"

"Personally I'd rather not, but I have my orders," he replied.

Naruto looked from side to side, he saw Sasuke to one side and Zabuza on the other. An ice mirror began to form about ten feet in front of Naruto. He saw both Zabuza and Sasuke racing through hand seals.

"Seems a little extreme guys," Naruto smiled the entire time as they prepared their jutsu. Naruto himself prepared his own jutsu as his hands began to glow.

"Fire Release: Grand Fire Ball!" "Water Release: Water Dragon!" "Ice Release: Ice Spears!"

They had timed the release of their jutsu as to hit all at one time. Sasuke released his massive fire ball, Zabuza's dragon lunged forward and several spears made of ice came forth from Haku's ice mirror.

As the jutsu were just about to collide with Naruto, he broke Shikamaru's jutsu to counter his opponents. "Wind Release: Pressure Wave!" he slammed both hands together creating a massive wave of pressure that blew all their jutsu back and knocked everyone off their feet. Naruto winced slightly as that just reminded him of his arm.

The pressure wave jutsu was something Naruto has made during his training as he needed a jutsu to counter multiple jutsu from different directions. However, it had a very short range of effectiveness before the wave dispersed too much to be effective, at least at his current skill level. Its current effective range at the moment was only a few feet.

"I should really get out of here soon..." he thought. He looked to his sides and saw one of his clones in the background give him an almost ready signal. "Good, almost ready...Just a little longer now and I can get out of here."

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"So my daughter has been taken by the boy, has she?" Hiashi didn't sound irritated. He didn't sound like much of anything, just his usual emotionless self.

The two sat in the Hyuuga Patriarch's office, he in his usual position and Tsunade directly across from him. He knew the seriousness of her words, and while he in part orchestrated the whole thing, there was also nothing that could be done at this stage until the two were brought back.

"That about sums it up, yes," she replied then sipped her tea.

"I see. She must have told the boy what I had told her yesterday."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. "What do you mean by that exactly?"

"My clan is steeped in ancient traditions and rules that haven't been changed in many years. Being a Senju, you yourself know of old traditions and laws that aren't easily changed. As you know my twin brother was sealed, as the second born of the head family is branded with the caged bird seal and forced to protect the next head of the clan. That being said, I have two daughters."

Tsunade nodded, she sort of knew where this was going. "I've noticed Hanabi never had that seal placed on her."

"Yes, that is the case. When she was born, her fate was to be that of my younger twin's but her mother begged the elders not to do it, and I came up with a temporary solution. I proposed that when the girls were older, we would see which was stronger and best suited for being the head of the clan. I had hoped by that time to amend the clan's ways on that matter, but that never came to pass." Hiashi took a sip of his tea before continuing. "So yesterday when the elders handed down their decision to me, I had no choice at the moment but to tell her her fate."

"Well that explains why." The Hokage sat there with the Hyuga Patriarch for a time, silently drinking their tea before some elderly men barged in.

"Hiashi, have you heard?!" one of them almost yelled.

"Yes, the Hokage has just informed me of what has happened."

"Something must be done!" one yelled. "We must send everyone to get her back and punish that little demon brat!" shouted another.

"And what would you have me do?" he asked the old men. "I hear the boy has at least a few hours head start, so sending more out at this point would be meaningless. All we can do is wait and see if those already dispatched can catch up to them." Hiashi was correct. There was nothing more to be done at this point other than sit tight and wait to see what happens. "Now see yourselves out, you are being quite rude to the Hokage by intruding."

The elderly men grumbled for but a moment then saw themselves out of the room. They knew they were in the wrong.

An ANBU appeared beside the Hokage knelt down on the floor. "Hokage-sama, the council is convening as you've ordered. By the time you arrive, everyone should be there."

Tsunade sighed. She wasn't looking forward to this meeting in the least "Very well, we'll be leaving shortly." She stood while straightening her clothes. "Well Hiashi, we should be going."

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Hinata slipped off the fox on the outskirts of Port City, looking at the note Naruto left her, she tried to figure out where to go.

"I'll take my leave now. Even though the boy doesn't use my power, I should be there to bail him out if the need should arrive." With that said, the fox disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I need to find someone named old man Shin," she said to herself while reading through the message. She ventured forth into the city to find the person that Naruto trusted.

Wandering through the city, she found the dock master's building, which was supposed to keep records of all ships coming into and leaving the harbor. Walking into the building and up to the only person sitting at a desk looking at some paper, she asked, "Umm... excuse me, do you know a person named Shin? He is the captain of a vessel at this dock."

the man set his papers down. "You must mean old man Shin. Yes, I believe he just docked about an hour ago. Though he's due to depart in a few hours. I can show you where he's docked...Well, at least where he's supposed to dock, not that he listens to anyone."

Hinata smiled. That sounded just like someone she knew. "Thanks. That would be great."

"Now let's see, Shin normally uses whatever port makes his deliveries most convenient and he was supposed to deliver goods to a warehouse on dock A, so he should be around here on dock A somewhere," the man mumbled to himself

The two stopped in front of a mid-sized boat, rather old, but well kept. "Hey old man! You around?"

You could hear the footsteps of a large man walking on the deck of the ship growing ever closer. A large man looked over the railing at the dock master and the young girl standing next to him. He had a scar over one of his dark green eyes and gray hair.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then," said the dock master as he walked off.

"What do you need?" ask the large man looking over the railing. He sounded very irritated.

"Oh stop it, Shin..." came a female voice. "She's just a little girl, not some grown man. Don't sound so bothered." An older woman looked over the railings next to the large man that must have been at least a foot taller than her. She had salt and pepper hair and almost black eyes. "What can we do for you my dear?"

"Naruto-kun's note told me to come here."

The man's frown suddenly turned into a large smile. "Little Naruto? Was wondering how that boy was doing. Somethings happened hasn't it? He wouldn't send you here for any other reason." The old man jumped off the side of the boat next to Hinata. "Can I see the note he left you with?"

"Sure," Hinata replied handing him what Naruto left her.

"So he's cashing in on that favor..." Shin looked at the young girl standing next to him. "Well get on board. I'll take you where you need to go."

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Naruto had Neji by the throat, his eyes reflected the disdain that he held for the older boy. Sasuke, Tenten, Kiba, and Chouji were out for the count. They were being tended to by Ino and Sakura, who really didn't have anything offensive to contribute to this fight. Haku and Zabuza hadn't really tried very hard during the fight. Naruto had done his best to not seriously injure his friends.

"I really wish I could kill you Neji. You have no idea how badly," Naruto spoke, tightening his grip and causing the boy to gasp for air. His anger began to grow even more as he looked at the Hyuga, so much so his eyes began to turn red.

"Then w-why don't you!" he gasped.

"As much as I want to, Hinata would probably never speak to me again," Naruto blocked a sudden kick from Rock Lee by grabbing his ankle. He dropped Neji and delivered a vicious kick to his chest, sending him flying into a tree.

Lee attempted to use the fact Naruto was holding him to deliver another kick. However, Naruto blocked that one as well, and slammed Lee into the ground, causing the ground to buckle and crater.

"Ice release: White Wolf!" a wolf made of ice and twice the size of a grown man came running out of the trees.

"Giant Rasengan!" Naruto created a Rasengan three times the size of normal. He smashed it into the wolf, creating a large explosion and an even larger cloud of dust and ice shards to go with it. When the dust and ice finally settled he was gone.

"Finally it's ready!" came Naruto's voice. Nine clones of Naruto appeared all around the group in a large circle. "Barrier: Nine Torii Gates!" Nine massive red Torii shot up from the ground, each Naruto clone held paper seals shortly before the clones disappeared leaving the paper seals floating in the air. "Alright it worked perfectly this time!" Naruto cheered signifying he'd attempted this jutsu in the past and failed. He high fived a clone that appeared in front of him. "Later!" he said before disappearing into a swirl of leaves.

Zabuza laughed, stabbing his sword into the ground then sitting on the ground. "That kid is just as terrifying as his old man."

Sasuke sat up with Sakura's help. "You knew his dad?"

"I had a run in with him once, but you should all know who he is too. He's quite famous in your village, after all."

"If he was that famous why weren't any of us told?" asked Sakura

"In our world, being famous means having a great deal of enemies, Sakura," replied Shikamaru

Ino's eyes went wide as she put the pieces together. "How could a father do that to his own son..."

Everyone was silent for a time until Lee looked around suddenly noticing that someone was missing. "Where did Shino go?"

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While traveling to Port City, Naruto had created a sling for his arm. Ever since he had dropped sage mode, the pain had surged through his arm at a very steady pace. Sage mode increased physical strength and resistance to damage, and with his training he had learned how to dull the pain using chakra from his sage mode. Of course, even with that, he could still feel the pain.

Stopping on a branch, it felt as if someone was watching him, and then he remembered Shino was absent the entire battle.

"You can come out, Shino." Naruto sat down on the large branch and waited.

Shino dropped down from the branches above and sat next to Naruto. The two sat in silence for a few moments.

"So, are you mad that I didn't have time to tell you?" Naruto asked.

"No."

Naruto looked over and saw that Shino was turned away from him, playing with some of his bugs. 'He's totally sulking...' Naruto thought.

"If I actually had the time, I would have told you..."

"..." Shino continued to ignore what Naruto was saying.

Naruto sweat dropped, but then he had an idea one only he would come up with. "Why don't you come with us?"

Shino's head popped up. "Go with you?"

"Yeah, why not?" Naruto thought it would be great to keep Team eight together. "I'm sure Hinata would really like it if you came with us."

"I have responsibilities to my clan, Naruto. I can't just leave," Shino replied.

"Oh, come on! It's not like we'll be gone forever, and there will be lots of new bugs you can study!" Naruto said tauntingly.

"Well, I'm sure my dad would forgive me if I brought new bug species for the clan back..." Of course, what Shino was really thinking was the fact both Naruto and Hinata, unlike almost everyone else, didn't find him disgusting when they found out about his body being a hive for bugs. He was grateful to be paired with both of them and didn't want to let them go.

"Exactly that! And you don't want to be stuck picking fleas off of Kiba's dog when you get paired with them."

The bug user visibly shivered at the thought.

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Tsunade sighed as she sat through the council meeting with a few people that continued to argue with one another about what to do as the rest remained silent. Then someone spoke that had remained silent during the arguing it was Danzou

"It is clear we cannot allow it to be known that Hinata Hyuga left of her own free will. It would severely damage the Hyuga clan's reputation. Also, with the current circumstances the villages is in since the attack, we cannot even announce that there is trouble in the village's most powerful clan." Danzou spoke with a silver tongue as always, his years of experience and underhanded nature groomed his way of speaking.

The room fell silent.

"What do you propose?" asked Hiashi. He, in a way, was glad, as he himself didn't have to bring this issue up and potentially implicate himself.

"That we withhold that the two have departed from the village for a few days at least. And when we break the news to the village, we tell them that Naruto has abducted the Hyuga heiress, as it would cause too much civil and political unrest if they were told she departed with him willingly."

No one wanted to be the first to admit it but the civilian opinion of Naruto was still rather poor compared to the ninja populace.

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A few hours had passed since they had been trapped in the barrier Naruto had made. It had finally sank in who Naruto's father had been and why he had done what he had. They sat in relative silence, save for the rustling of the trees and sounds of the birds. Most of them had recovered from Naruto's assault except for Neji, who had a few new broken bones.

Zabuza simply found it a great time to take a nap since he had no idea how to work a seal of this caliber. He snored away as he waited for someone to come from the village to look for him. The former Seven Swordsman of the Hidden Mist Village had grown used to sleeping outside on the ground.

"So the entire time he was toying with us during the exams..." Sasuke had thought this before, but now that he'd been so soundly beaten along with the others at the same time, it really hit home. "What kind of hellish training did he go through for three years."

"That my boy, is a good question," everyone looked to see Jiraiya standing on the other side of the barrier. "and the answer would be something he put himself through. I taught him everything I knew, and where he took it was entirely up to him. Whether he just wanted to learn it or master it." Jiraiya began to inspect the different paper seals that were floating on the out side of the seal in between the large red Torii. "I have to admit, the kid sure learned his stuff over the past few years, took me a hell of a lot longer to do something like this." The toad sage finally found what he was looking for. "Ah, here we are." He formed several hand seals causing his right hand to glow. He ripped off one of the seals and the barrier and Torii vanished from sight.

Zabuza sat up. "So why are you here?"

"I received a message from the toads that Naruto had left saying you lot might need a hand." The old toad sage grabbed a small scroll, laying it out on the ground he quickly wrote something in it before rolling it back up and stowing it in the small pouch from which he retrieved it from.

"Seems like he's just pouring salt on the wound to me," replied Sasuke.

"I find it strange that Naruto could use such jutsu in only three years since he was unable to make normal clones before he left."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "Well, it's true Naruto isn't the type of genius you see once every one hundred years or so, but since he was able to grasp the shadow clone jutsu so easily he was able to improve everything else as far as his jutsu and chakra control goes exponentially."

No one in the group understood what these so called shadow clones had to do with anything. Most of them had never even heard of such a jutsu.

Thinking back as far as he could remember, Shikamaru only ever heard his farther mention that jutsu once, but was unable to find anything on it during his research. "My dad has mentioned that jutsu once before, but when I looked it up I was unable to find anything on that jutsu."

"That's because it's a forbidden jutsu," Jiraiya replied. "While it has great benefits when it comes to scouting, as well as for jutsu or chakra control training, if you used too many of them at once it could kill you. Think of it this way for training. If you made one shadow clone it would cut your training time down for anything that's not physical training by half the normal time. Now say you made several hundred every time you went to train."

The lazy ninja's eyes widened as well as the other young ninja. "Something that could take you twenty years to master would only take a few months to a year..."

Jiraiya nodded and said. "Exactly."

"But making that many would cause tremendous strain on the person's mind... it might even kill them," Sakura said softly.

"I'd suggest from now on you lot take training seriously, that includes you, Zabuza." Zabuza rolled his eyes at the comment. "You are all lucky that it is currently a time of peace. In a few years these missions you are sent on could be against ninja from the other nations and they won't be as kind as Naruto." With his little speech finished, Jiraiya disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves.

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Letting out a long sigh, Hinata wondered where Naruto was, as it had been several hours since the two had parted ways. For a time she had paced around the ship before she finally settled down when she took a seat on the mast of the ship.

"Hinata-chan, you should really come down from there."

Looking down, Shin's wife Akemi was standing on the deck of the ship looking up at her. Hinata leapt down from the mast to the deck landing right next to Shin's wife. "Sorry."

The old woman smiled. "Now, now, no need to apologize, I know you're worried about him. But he's a strong boy, and he'll be here before you know it."

A very familiar voice came from behind the two. "So who's this 'he' person you're waiting for?" Hinata spun around and tackled Naruto to the floor. She hadn't even noticed his arm was in a sling. "Sorry if I worried you." what he really wanted to say was for her to get off his arm.

She finally noticed his arm was hurt and quickly got off him. "Naruto-kun, your arm!"

He chuckled and scratched his head, trying to figure out what to say. "Oh this...Yeah, well...these things happen." He didn't want to ever admit to her it was a self-made injury. "Oh, look who decided to join us!" Naruto said excitedly pointing at Shino.

She looked over to see Shino. "Shino-kun?"

"Yep! We're Team Eight after all!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto made a compelling argument," he replied. The fact was, though, Naruto didn't make a very compelling argument at all. Shino simply made the first impulsive decision in his life. He'd always been very calculating about the moves he'd made, but for this one moment he chose to do what he really wanted instead of what others wanted of him.

"Alright, alright, enough of this sappy crap," Shin interrupted.

"Oh?" Akemi began. "And what about all those times..."

Shin coughed loudly, interrupting his wife from saying something that would embarrass him. "So, where do you need me to take you three?"

"Well there is only once place they won't look for us, I need you to take us to the Land of Iron."

End Chapter

Well that's the end of the chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. I hope you take the time to leave me with your thoughts on the chapter.

The Naruto manga is over! and Naruto and Hinata are cannon! I honestly didn't know if he'd end up with anyone in the end since kishi didn't bother doing shit the entire time since Hinata had confessed to him.

oh btw to those who didn't know spoilers...