Back in Konoha, Ikegata Tenten was stretched out in the recliner at her house, reading a book of poetry she'd found buried in the very back of the library. She paused when one caught her attention. "The Highwayman, by Alfred Noyes," she read aloud. "Sounds interesting." She began to read the poem aloud.

"The Wind was a torrent of darkness,

among the gusty trees;

the Moon was a ghostly galleon,

tossed upon the cloudy seas;

The Road was a ribbon of moonlight,

over the purple moor,

and the Highwayman came riding,

riding, riding;

the Higwayman came riding,

up to the old inn door.

He'd a French-cocked hat on his forehead,

a bunch of lace at his chin,

a coat of claret velvet,

and breeches of brown doeskin.

They fitted with never a wrinkle;

his boots were up to the thigh.

And he rode with a jeweled twinkle,

his pistol-butts a-twinkle,

his rapier-hilt a-twinkle,

under the jeweled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered

and clashed in the dark inn-yard.

He tapped with his whip at the shutters,

but all was locked and barred.

He whistled a tune to the window,

and who should be waiting there,

but Bess, the Landlord's daughter,

the Landlord's black-eyed daughter,

plaiting a dark-red love-knot,

into her long black hair.

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart,

for I'm after a prize tonight.

But I shall be back with the yellow gold,

before the morning light.

But if they press me sharply,

and harry me through the day,

look for me by the moonlight;

Watch for me by the moonlight;

I'll come to thee by the moonlight,

though Hell should bar the way."

He rose upright in the stirrups;

He scarce could reach a hand.

She loosed her hair in the casement;

His face burnt like a brand,

as the black cascade of perfume

came tumbling o'er his breast;

He kissed its waves in the moonlight,

the long dark waves in the moonlight,

then he tugged his rein in the moonlight,

and galloped away to the west.

He did not come at the dawning;

He did not come at noon;

The out of the tawny sunset,

before the rise of the moon,

When the Road was a Gypsy's ribbon,

looping the purple moor,

a Redcoat troop came marching,

marching, marching;

King George's men came marching

up to the old inn door.

The said no word to the Landlord;

they drank his ale instead;

They gagged his daughter and bound her

to the foot of her narrow bed;

And two of them knelt at her casement

with muskets at their side;

There was death at every window,

and Hell at one dark window,

For Bess could see through the casement,

the road that he would ride.

They tied her up to attention

with many a sniggering jest;

They bound a musket beside her,

the barrel beneath her breast.

"Now keep good watch!" and they

kissed her.

She heard the dead man say,

"Look for me by moonlight,

watch for me by moonlight,

I'll come to thee by moonlight,

though Hell should bar the way!"

She twisted her hands behind her,

but all the knots held good!

She writhed her hands till her fingers

were wet with sweat or blood.

They stretched and strained in the darkness,

and the hours crawled by like years,

til now on the stroke of midnight,

cold on the stroke of midnight,

the tip of one finger touched it;

the trigger at least was hers.

Tot-il-lot, Tot-il-lot,

had they heard it?

The horse's hooves rang clear.

Tot-il-lot, Tot-il-lot

in the distance;

Were they deaf,

they did not hear?

Down the ribbon of moonlight,

and over the brow of the Hill,

The Highwayman came riding,

riding;

the Redcoats looked to their priming;

Bess stood up straight and still.

Tot-il-lot in the frosty silence!

Tot-il-lot in the echoing night!

Nearer he came and nearer!

Her face was like a light!

Her eyes grew wide for a moment!

She drew one last deep breath;

Her finger moved in the moonlight;

the musket shattered the moonlight;

shattered her breast in the moonlight,

and warned him,

with her death.

Tenten's eyes teared up, and when she cleared them, she read on, silently at first, and then out loud, of the Highwayman's hearing how Bess had died...

"...And his face grew gray to hear

How Bess the Landlord's daughter,

the Landlord's lovely daughter,

had watched for her love in the moonlight,

and died in the darkness there.

Back he spurred like a madman,

shrieking a curse to the sky.

The white road smoking behind him,

and his rapier brandished high.

Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon;

Wine-red was his velvet coat;

They shot him down on the highway,

down like a dog on the highway,

and he lay in his blood on the highway,

a bunch of lace at his throat.

But still on a winter's night they say,

when the Wind is in the trees,

and the Moon is a ghostly galleon,

tossed upon the cloudy seas,

and the Road is a ribbon of moonlight,

over the purple moor,

a Highwayman comes riding,

riding, riding;

a Highwayman comes riding

up to the old inn door.

Over the cobbles he clatters

and clashes in the dark inn yard.

He taps with his whip at the shutters,

but all is locked and barred.

He whistles a tune to the window,

and who should be waiting there,

but Bess the Landlord's daughter,

the Landlord's black-eyed daughter,

plaiting a dark-red love-knot,

into her long black hair..."

Tenten closed the book and wiped her eyes. The poem was sad, and it made her miss Naruto. He'd left for a mission outside the village, and it must have been important, because according to Hinata and Kiba he'd barely had time to ask them to take care of his property for him. He hadn't even said goodbye to her. She checked the bandages around her torso, and took another painkiller. As she sat there in the recliner, she fingered the pistol belt Naruto had given her and drifted off to sleep...

Naruto leaned low over Widowmaker's neck as the stallion galloped over the road. "Tanzaku Gai, ETA five minutes, Naruto!" shouted the horse over the wind rushing by. Naruto patted the horse's neck by way of reply, and Widowmaker picked up his speed.

When they arrived, Naruto dismissed Widowmaker, took off his bandanna, and walked into the first bar he saw. It was a ramshackle saloon whose dark-stained and blade-scarred floor and walls indicated that it had aptly earned its name, the Bucket o' Blood. Naruto stood at the bar and slapped two Ten-Ryou coins down on the bar. "Barkeep." The bartender walked over and nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Dirty Bird, and leave the bottle." The bartender took the coins and came back with a bottle of Wild Turkey, a glass, and Naruto's change. Naruto pulled the cork and poured two fingers into the highball glass. The first sip of 101-proof whiskey burned like a Katon jutsu going down, but the next two felt fine to Naruto.

Naruto had just poured his second glass when a female voice behind him spoke. "Are you even old enough to be drinking, Kid?"

Naruto turned, his hat low over his eyes, and reined himself in when he came face-to-face (so to speak) with an enormous pair of breasts. Breasts he recognized from a photo of Jiraiya's. "Been legal to drink since October." His voice took on the same drawl that James had spoken with, and a drunken slur. "My ramrod was of a mind that if a body's old enough to kill, and to get kilt, then a body's old enough to have him a stout drink. As is, I'm out here a-drinkin' an' silently toastin' my ramrod's memory, 'cause you see, Miss, my ramrod got kilt a week or so ago."

"That's pretty sad," remarked the woman, who Naruto knew to be blond and beautiful. "How'd he die?"

"Pi'son. Got snakebit. My outfit's over yonder ways, a couple days' ride." Naruto jerked his thumb over his shoulder, in the general direction of Konoha.

"If you work out that way, why are you here?" asked the woman.

"Well, it's like this, Miss. My outfit, they sent me out this-a-way, to try an' track down one of my old ramrod's pards."

"And why is it you need to find this friend of your old boss?"

"See, my outfit asked one of the old boss's other pals to take over runnin' the outfit. But this pal, he says he's too much a drifter to be in put in that position. He says this other pal o' his and the boss's would be pure-dee perfect for the job, though. So the boys rounded me up, an' told me not to come back 'less I find that pal of the boss's.

The woman stood next to Naruto, and set a sake bottle on the bar. Naruto slid his glass over to her and took up the bottle. "Miss, I'd like to ask ya a favor. One of the last things the ramrod said to me 'fore he died was that if I went to toast his mem'ry, I was to find the prettiest lady in the bar, and get her to toast with me, on account o' the ramrod fancied himself a bit of a ladies' man. If you don't mind, of course."

"Why not? I'll do it."

Naruto lifted the bottle in salute and spoke clearly, the drawl and any trace of drunkeness gone. "To the memory of Sarutobi Hiruzen; Rest in Peace, Professor." Naruto pulled his hat off and looked for the first time into Senju Tsunade's stunned eyes. "I guess I found the ramrod's old pard. The Council wants you back, Lady Tsunade. They want you to take the mantle of Godaime." Naruto pulled his bandanna out of his pocket and tied it around his neck, the hitai-ate plate on it gleaming in the light.

Tsunade scowled. "And why should I do that? Huh? Tell me. Only idiots willingly take the position of Hokage. I'm not that stupid." She spun on her heel and started toward the door.

She was stopped by the whiskey bottle zipping over he shoulder and shattering against the doorframe. She turned around as Naruto stood. His face was feral, and his eyes promised pain to anyone who intruded on his business. "Alright, Old Hag, you listen here. First, becoming Hokage is my dream. I'll admit I ain't the sharpest kunai in the sheath, but Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't called 'The Professor' for nothing, and you'd better remember it." Naruto crossed the floor and got right up in Tsunade's face.

"Second, the hell do you know, anyway? The Hokage's supposed to protect and care for the village. Sometimes that means giving your life so others will live. Ji-san gave his life to protect the Konoha, to make sure that Konoha would keep on living. And the Yondaime did the same! And I'd do the same in a heartbeat, if that's what it took!" Naruto's temper rose and rose, as did the volume of his voice. He kept on ranting at the Sennin in front of him.

Finally Naruto's voice dropped to a low growl, just above a whisper. "I was always told that it's trash who abandon their mission, but it's someone lower than that who abandons their teammates. The Hokage's teammates with everyone in the village, so I guess that makes you something I wouldn't scrape off my boot. I tell you what, you cowardly old bat, I'll turn around, go back to the bar and finish getting wasted, and I'll let you walk away. When Jiraiya arrives here, I'll tell him that your trail's gone cold and petered out. We'll go back to Konoha. Hidden Leaf will leave you be. But if I ever see you again, Senju Tsunade, so help me I'll put a kunai between your eyes without a second thought."

Tsunade looked at this angry youth before her and smirked. "You're threatening me? You know I'm one of the Densetsu no Sannin, right?"

Naruto flipped her the bird. "I don't give a damn if you're Kami himself, and by the way, that wasn't a threat. That was a promise."

"You couldn't touch me if you tried, Brat." Tsunade picked up a sake bottle from the table next to her and raised it to her lips.

The bark of Naruto's Schofield was loud in the tiny barroom, and the bottle in Tsunade's hand shattered in a spray of sake and ceramic. Naruto lost his temper then. "That's it. Outside. We're gonna settle this here and now." He holstered his revolver and stormed past Tsunade out into the street.

Coming up the road at a run was a panting and sweaty Jiraiya. "What's with you, Naruto? We have to find-" He stopped and surveyed the situation. "Oh, you found her already. Tsunade! We've been looking for y-"

"Shut up, Jiraiya!" snapped Tsunade as she cracked her knuckles. Behind her, from another bar, a brunette girl carrying a pig emerged and saw the fight about to take place. "These are the terms, Brat. You can use any weapons, jutsus, or techniques you feel like. I can only use one finger." She held up her right index finger. "If you manage to somehow win, I'll apologize for what I said. But when you lose, you admit I'm right, and leave me alone. Agreed?"

Jiraiya looked confused. "Naruto, what's going o-"

"Shut up, Ero-Sennin!" barked Naruto. "This old hag needs to learn not to speak disrespectfully of the dead." He looked Tsunade in the eye and then took off his gunbelts and longarm cases. He set them down next to the bar. "Now it's a fair fight."

Tsunade assumed her stance, and Naruto drew his tomahawks. "Ready..." they said in unison. "Steady... Go!"

Naruto darted forward, winging one tomahawk low and the other high. Tsunade blocked the high one with her finger, and smoothly redirected it back toward Naruto. Naruto dodged the axe and leapt forward, his fist drawn back for a haymaker punch. Tsunade intercepted the blow with just her one finger, and her counter-push with the finger sent Naruto sprawling into the dirt several yards away. Naruto stood, and forced his anger down into a little ball down deep inside. He focused his chakra, and as he started forward again, a blue sphere of chakra started to form in his hand...

Back in Konoha, Kiba was on a mission. Not so much a mission for pay, as a personal mission. Hinata had been on the receiving end of another beating from Neji. Her family, it seemed, were even less thrilled at the prospect of her dating an Inuzuka, than they were at her being friends with Naruto. Hiashi had told her, in no uncertain terms, that if she did not 'end this scandalous affair and start behaving as a proper heiress' , that the Hyuuga Clan Council would make her younger sister, Hanabi, heiress, and brand her with the Caged Bird Seal that marked members of the Branch House. She was staying at Naruto's cabin, and she wasn't alone. Shino was there, and so were Sakura, Tenten, and the Konohamaru Corps. Kiba had found Nara Shikamaru from Team Ten, and was trying to get a plan out of the lazy genius, without giving his idea away. Currently, the two were stretched out on a rooftop overlooking the village.

"Hey, Shikamaru?"

"What, Kiba?"

"I've got a, a hypothetical situation, that I'd like you to have a think on."

The Nara looked at him. "Okay, shoot."

"Say I want to execute a mission. Very high-risk, very hush-hush."

"Safe to assume it's an assassination, then?"

"Uh-huh," replied Kiba. In truth, he had no intention of killing either of his targets. He just wanted to beat the shit out of them. But Shikamaru didn't need to know that.

"Target ID?"

"Two targets, both Hyuuga. Neji and Hiashi."

Shikamaru whistled, then muttered something about troublesome females. "It can be done, but it's a suicide run without a pretty sizeable army on your side, and even then you could expect massive casualties. Who would, hypothetically, be throwing his life away on this mission?"

"Me."

"This is about Hinata, isn't it?" asked Shikamaru, as he looked Kiba in the eye. Kiba nodded. "You're not actually going to kill Neji or Hiashi, are you?"

"No. Just give them a hell of a beating. That, or die trying."

"With Hiashi, more likely the latter. But I've got a plan that might just lessen your odds of losing by a tiny margin. Who do you have who'll back you in this?"

Kiba quickly listed off the Genin who were with Hinata, and Shikamaru listened attentively. "Here's the plan, Kiba..."

That night, Kiba and Akamaru waited in the shadows outside the Hyuuga Clan compound's south wall, their ears attuned to the slightest sound, their noses to the faintest smell. Suddenly, from the ramparts above them, came a pair of muffled grunts. Shikamaru, and a hastily-recruited Yamanaka Ino, had used their signature jutsus, the Kagemane and the Shintenshin, respectively, to take control of a pair of inattentive guards. Before their partners knew it, the two controlled guards had knocked them out, and Kiba ran up the wall and over. He landed silently and set Akamaru down. The puppy started sniffing, leading the way on a convoluted path toward the building that the raid plan had designated Objective Able, while avoiding the numerous traps sown throughout the grounds. The pair finally reached the objective, gave the signal for 'Objective Able reached, preparing to make entry' , which was two clicks of the mic key on the radio Kiba carried, and moved to make entry.

Objective Able was the Branch House Quarters just off the main building. It, like the main building, was built in the traditional manner, and consisted primarily of wood-lath-and-rice-paper sliding shoji panels. Kiba withdrew a razorblade from his belt and silently cut a rice-paper panel out of an inconspicuous corner of the building. Akamaru stood at the hole as a lookout, while Kiba entered the building. He trusted his nose and Shikamaru's careful planning to know which room Neji was in. Kiba paused for a moment outside Neji's room and listened. Inside he heard the deep, even breathing of a man asleep. Kiba reached into his belt pouch and withdrew a cloth and a padded bottle of chloroform that he'd stolen from Hana's vet clinic earlier in the day. Kiba silently cut an entry hole into Neji's room, entered, and pressed the chloroform-soaked cloth to the Hyuuga's face. When the startled boy's struggles ceased, Kiba bound and gagged him, and dragged him out into the courtyard. He moved Neji to a prearranged location by the compound wall and clicked his radio mic three times, the signal for 'Target One secure and ready for extraction'.

Kiba moved swiftly toward the southeast corner of the main building, the spot designated Rally Point, or RP, One. As he moved, he received four mic clicks in his earpiece, the signal for 'Extraction Team inbound to retrieve Target One, Backup Team inbound to RP One'. Kiba and Akamaru stopped when they reached RP One, and waited for their backup. They didn't have to wait long. Out of the blackness appeared Aburame Shino, Shikamaru, and Ino. Shikamaru spoke swiftly in sign-language. "The way out's open. Poison Ivy's enroute to extract Target One, and then afterwards will help Boomer and the Three Hyenas set up the fireworks show. Ready?"

Kiba's reply of a feral smile and a one-fingered salute was all the response Shikamaru needed. Kiba cut an entry through a low shoji panel with his razor, and the team moved in. Shino took point, his Kikai swiftly draining the chakra from every Hyuuga they came across, rendering them incapacitated. As each one collapsed, one of the youths would catch them and gently lower them to the floor. Finally, they came to the master bedroom. Kiba stood by to cut another entry hole, and the team made ready. They stacked on the door, and at Shikamaru's signal, Kiba slashed the shoji panel and moved inside, peeling right, while Ino moved left, Shikamaru moved right, and Shino peeled left. Hyuuga Hiashi was taken off-guard for a moment, startled awake, and it was that barest breadth of time that the entry team needed. Shino's Kikai swarmed him at the same time Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu froze him in place. As Hiashi felt his chakra start decreasing, a rag soaked in something was pressed to his face, and everything went black.

Next came the second-trickiest part of the operation: Having captured the Hyuuga Clan Head, they now had to extract him from his own compound. And while the team may have had an exit corridor ready, and while they may have eliminated the guards inside the house, they still had to contend with the guards on the wall.

Ino stood ready, while Kiba injected Hiashi with a drug to counteract the chloroform. They had to time this perfectly, or all their planning was for naught. Just as Hiashi's eyes began to flutter, Ino performed her clan's signature Shintenshin no jutsu, the Mind Transfer, and took over his body. Ino, in Hiashi's body, picked up her real body, which had slumped over unconscious, and nodded to the others. They opened a window, climbed out, and Shikamaru clicked his radio mic once to check everyone's readiness. He was answered with one click from each. They were in position and ready. Kiba took a bearing on the dim red glow of a chemlight on the wall, where their exit lay, and let loose a hair-raising war whoop as he began to run.

As he ran, the night sky over the Hyuuga compound was lit up as bright as noonday. Sakura, callsign 'Poison Ivy' , was hurling flash bombs, smoke bombs, and kunai laden with explosive notes into the compound, aiming to cause random and wanton destruction and confusion. She was not alone in this task. Tenten, callsign 'Boomer' , was also throwing noisemakers and the odd chakra flare or two in among the confused defenders. Across the compound from the two ladies were Moegi, callsign 'Shenzi' ; Konohamaru, callsign 'Banzai' ; and Udon, callsign 'Ed'. Collectively referred to over the radio as 'the Three Hyenas' , they'd been handed a backpack full of flares, smoke bombs, and itching powder bombs each, and told that when they heard Kiba whoop, they were to cause utter chaos. And cause chaos they did. They hit upon the idea of using the flares to blind the Hyuuga, and then the smoke to cover the itching powder. Once each person had expended all their bombs, they fell back to the location designated in the raid plan as RP Two. The snatch had gone without a hitch...

Neji was awakened by a fist crashing into his jaw. He toppled backward, and tried to move, but found himself unable to move. His eyes were covered. Neji attempted to activate his Byakugan, but to his horror was unable to! His eyes had been disabled. Kiba growled into Neji's ear as he lay helpless on the floor. "You brought this on yourself, Cur. You harmed someone who had done you no harm. You raised your hand in anger to someone who had offered you nothing but kindness. It's been said that whatever a man does, for good or ill, comes back on him threefold. Brace yourself, Hyuuga Neji. This is gonna hurt you way more than it does me." And with that, Kiba, Tenten, Sakura, Ino, and Shino fell upon the prostrate and helpless form of Hyuuga Neji. After everything was over and the group had backed away, Neji felt himself hauled to his feet. He felt a senbon pulled from a pressure point at the back of his neck, and his vision slowly faded back in. All around him stood those who had beaten him, and before him, her lip still puffy and her right eye still blackened, stood Hinata.

Hinata began to speak to Neji, and her voice didn't stutter at all. "Neji-san, all my life, I looked up to you as if you were an older brother. I admired your skill and your courage. But now I realize that I was always weak in one respect. I let you trample all over me, and never put up a fight. I let the entire clan run me over, and never fought. I'm through with it, Neji," she said, her eyes beginning to tear. "And to ensure that you realize just how serious I am, I'm going to do the one thing I hoped I'd never have to do. Neji, this hurts me as much as it does you. I'm sorry." Neji watched in horror as Hinata formed a one-handed seal and activated the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead. Neji collapsed, his head feeling as if every one of his neurons were being melted. Neji screamed, and passed out from the excruciating pain. Hinata released the seal, and Sakura moved to the prone boy's side. She checked his pulse and reinserted the senbon that had rendered him helpless before looking up to where Kiba was comforting Hinata. They waited a few minutes so Hinata could compose herself, and then moved into the next room, where Hyuuga Hiashi waited, drugged, bound, and with a chakra-suppressant seal from Shikamaru's dad's gear plastered to his forehead.

Kiba moved to Hiashi's side and injected him with a counterdrug. When the Hyuuga Clan Head's eyes opened, he was visibly enraged. "What is the meaning of this?! Daughter! Untie me this instant! I command you!" His tirade was cut short by Kiba grabbing the back of the chair he was tied into and jerking it over backward.

Kiba snarled, his face contorted with barely-suppressed rage, as he spoke. "Listen, Hiashi. Hinata loves me, and I love her. If you thought I'd just sit on the sidelines with my thumb up my ass while you tried to pull her strings like a puppet, or worse, while you allowed that cur, Neji, to beat her, then you're dumber than a brain-dead rabbit! I want so badly to beat the tar out of you like I did Neji, but out of my last little shred of respect for you as Hinata-chan's father, I won't. But listen and listen good, old man. Hinata has something to say to you." Kiba pulled the chair back upright and held Hiashi's head still and focused on Hinata.

Hinata's voice was steady, almost as devoid of emotion as her father's voice. She looked Hiashi squarely in the eye as she began to speak. "Hiashi-sama, I thank you for the twelve years that you raised me. My time with the Hyuuga has taught me many things of merit, whether they were deliberately taught, or not. One of the most important lessons that I've come to know, is the importance of following one's heart, although it may come at a great cost." Her eyes bored into her father's, and she continued. "I come before you tonight to pay that great and terrible cost, and to follow my heart. I renounce my family name, and with it, my claim to the seat of Hyuuga Heiress. You threatened to brand me as a Branch House member, Hyuuga-san. I know the Clan Laws as well as any Hyuuga, and the Caged Bird cannot be administered to a non-Hyuuga. I am no longer a Hyuuga. Know that I bear my former clan no ill will, and I will forever use my Byakugan only to defend this village. I shall expect my things to be delivered to the address on this paper within a week." Hinata nodded to Kiba, and the dog boy slid a folded notebook page into Hiashi's left sleeve. Hinata began to speak again. "I wish you well, Hyuuga-san. Kiba-kun?"

Kiba plunged the needle into the Hyuuga Clan Head's neck and depressed the plunger with his thumb. The Ketamine in the syringe knocked Hiashi out within seconds. "The dose should wear off in a few hours. Until then, he's out for the count."

Hiashi awoke outside the north gate of the Hyuuga Clan compound, his head pounding. Beside him lay Neji. From the look of terror on his face, Hiashi assumed that his Caged Bird Seal had been activated. So, Daughter... You do have a spine after all... Hiashi removed the folded paper from his sleeve and read the address. The address listed was a storage unit on the outskirts of town, very near the base of the mountain. Hiashi picked up his nephew, and went inside to break the news to the Council...