Chapter 15: Escort Arc

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Playing the Role of the Byakugan Princess

Escort Arc

Chapter fifteen

And then I went back into the fiery pits of hell with Jashin. Except, the scene was not as gruesome this time around. I was not the victim of anymore torture methods nor did I experience anymore of my body parts melting off. It was just me and Jashin hovering over the flames.

I am still terrified, but not as bad as a few moments ago when I heard my name being called.

I wonder who was calling out my name?

I see Jashin's eyebrows knitted together and his face stuck in that same fearsome glare as it tries to pierce a hole through me. He opens his mouth as if he is shouting, but I cannot hear words so my reaction is to appear puzzled, which seems to enrage him even more.

He flies towards and wraps his veins around my neck, attempting to strangle me. He towers over me and the black aura surrounding his body flows through my nostrils and spreads across my body like a poisonous smog. I want to fight back, but I am still unable to move. Jashin bores his emerald eyes into my lavender ones as I feel the veins constrict around my neck tighter and tighter.

Once again, I feel no pain.

I have to be in a genjutsu. I just have to be! According to Hidan's ramblings, Jashin does not sound like the most merciful god when it comes to damning his sinners.

I wish I could just move so I can fight back. I cannot even channel an ounce of chakra to my eyes to activate my Byakugan to determine if this is actually a genjutsu or not.

After being caught in this chokehold for who knows how long, my surroundings begin to slowly dissolve away. The veins wrapped around me sprinkle away into black dust along with the rest of Jashin. He does not seem too concerned as he continues to look murderous until he is completely gone. The scene changes darkness and flames to lightness and a silhouette stands in front of me. My vision is very disoriented though so everything is hazy at the moment. I get the urge to blink my eyes and I do.

Oh! I can finally move my body again.

Or, so I thought. It appears I am still restricted as blinking and being able to slightly move my head are the only things I am capable to do right now.

As I continue to blink my eyes to better my vision, the silhouette in front of me grows a little clearer. I cannot make out what he looks like, but he seems to have dark hair and a familiar presence.

Wait, how do I know that this silhouette is a he?

Why am I sensing Sasuke right now?

Is that him? Why would he be here?

I try to call out his name, but my voice is low and raspy. Is that from being choked earlier? I didn't feel any pain then.

I call out his name again and the silhouette tilts his blurred head to the side.

I am engulfed into eternal darkness again only to resurface to the light again what seems like seconds later. I do not see the silhouette anymore and my vision is perfect again as I find myself staring at a very bright full moon in the night sky. The scene changes over to a girl, who looks exactly like me, running through a familiar forest as I watch from the distance. The girl suddenly stops and hides underneath a bush as she spots three figures in dark robes with red clouds on them walk ahead of her.

Wait, am I watching my Shadow Clone's memories or am I dreaming?

I watch myself tense up and stay as quiet as possible as one of the figures, Itachi, turns around and looks directly into my clone's eyes. After a brief discussion with his comrades, they stride off and my clone closes her eyes and sighs in relief. In the split second her eyes are closed, I notice Itachi suddenly pop out of nowhere in front of my clone. She opens her eyes and stares into Itachi's red ones. When he fails to cast her under a genjutsu, he raises his arm up, kunai in hand, and plunges the weapon into my heart. I watch my clone cough up blood and crumple to the ground. Itachi glances around before disappearing into the night.

This isn't what I dreamt, or saw from my Shadow Clone's memory (I still have not decided which of the two it is yet), last night. In my dream, I was looking through my own eyes and seeing everything from my perspective. This time, I am seeing things as if I am watching a movie. And, the ending is different this time around. I disappeared last time and then woke up, but I watched myself actually get stabbed and die this time. Is that what happened the first time? When the forest dissolved around me last time, I thought that I was just escaping. I guess I didn't realize I got stabbed and was actually dying.

But, why am I seeing this all again? Am I dreaming again or am I under a genjutsu? I pinch myself and felt slight pain. I guess I am not in a genjutsu. But, I feel to aware right now to be in a dream even though I cannot move. Plus, can you even feel pain in a dream? I guess the pain from pinching myself could be prove that one can.

My surroundings change again as I am staring at a white ceiling this time. I lay there for a few moments, but nothing happens. I wait some more. Nothing. Am I finally awake? Am I finally by in reality? I hesitate for a moment before I try to lift a finger and it raises. I lift my other fingers and curl my toes before concluding that I am not paralyzed anymore. I activated my Byakugan to see where I am at before I get up and notice that I am in our room at the inn with Shikamaru laying on the separate bed beside of me with his arms resting underneath his head and his eyes shut.

I do not see any signs of genjutsu, meaning I seem to be out of the one I was just in. If it even was one. I also don't see Sasuke or sense the presence of that silhouette either. If it was a genjutsu, how did I end up in one in the first place?

Was it from that old woman?

But, she seemed to have melt into the genjutsu along with the rest of my surroundings at the time.

What is going on?

I deactivate my Byakugan and sit up and stretched out my limbs, wincing at the pounding from the headache that just overcame me. Shikamaru quickly jumps up from my movement, but relaxes when he realizes it is only me. Still feeling a little out of it, I look around the room dazed and blink in confusion.

"You're finally awake," Shikamaru says to me as if I was being a burden, but the worried look on his face reads otherwise.

I narrow my eyes. "What happened to me?"

Shikamaru shrugs. "None of us has a clue. Sakura said that you scared her when you suddenly started shouting in pure terror and failing around in the water. Then, your body went limp and you fell face first into the water, almost drowning yourself."

I widen my eyes. So, it seems that nothing happened to Sakura or Michi while I was facing off with Jashin. They were still chilling in the hot springs. "Anything else?" I ask.

Shikamaru's face grows serious. "You wouldn't wake up. Sakura deemed you under a genjutsu after checking over you and repeated your name to snap you out of it before attempting to break you out herself. She tried several times, but nothing was working. You would not wake up and instead started to scream and flail around again. Then, our client's daughter suggested the craziest thing."

He politely paused so I could take a guess, but I am not in the mood to play such games. "What?" I demanded.

"The girl tells Sakura to submerge your body underwater and hold you down there for two minute intervals," Shikamaru tells me. "Sakura refused at first, but had to give in when the girl started to hold down your body herself. After doing this method a few times, you suddenly calmed again. Michi explained that since the hot springs are meant to relax your mind, body, and soul, she thought this might help you stop the yelling and thrashing."

I raise my eyebrows. "Wow, Michi did that?" She's pretty smart to have such critical thinking skills at her age and is able to stay calm under intense situations. The fight with Hidan proved that.

Shikamaru nods. "You've been out for about three hours now and we have been watching you since."

"That's not so long," I say. "Where's Sakura and Michi at right now?"

"They left about twenty minutes ago to go find Asuma," Shikamaru replied.

"Do they even know where he is at?" I ask.

Shikamaru shrugs. "The girl thinks she has a clue as to where they could be."

"Oh, okay," I say.

He leans against the wall. "So, was your genjutsu about Sasuke?"

"Huh? What do-"

"You kept repeating his name over and over while you were out."

I feel my face grow red. "Oh, you heard that?" How embarrassing.

Shikamaru rolls his eyes "You girls and your Sasuke."

I widen my eyes. "Wait! My face is not red because I like Sasuke!"

"I never claimed that you did."

"But, you implied it!"

"Well, you are always around him," Shikamaru points out.

"Yeah, so?" I reply. "You're just jealous that I didn't call out your name."

"Tch, whatever," Shikamaru grunts.

"But, that genjutsu wasn't the most pleasant thing that I have ever experienced," I admit.

Shikamaru raises an eyebrow. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shake my head. "I will wait until the others come." I don't want to retell it twice.

"Gotcha."

Asuma, Sakura, Norio, and Michi all arrive back at the inn about thirty minutes later and I launched into my story about my experience with Jashin. My mind seem to still be in a calm state from the hot springs so luckily no gory memories flooded back to me as I retold the genjutsu and I tried to avoid said gruesome details as well.

"So, you thought it was a genjutsu as well?" Sakura asks.

I nod. "Yeah, because I didn't feel any pain." Was she even listening to me?

Sakura takes a deep breathe. "I thought so, but I was concerned when I couldn't break you out of it. I can release any small genjutsu and a couple of medium ranked genjutsu. But, I could just tell that this was a very advanced genjutsu. I am just baffled as to how you got into one in the first place and Michi and I did not."

"If you saw Jashin then it must have something to do with that guy we fought with," Asuma says, mostly to himself. He seems to be deep in thought.

"But, he has been sealed up in the scroll the whole time," Shikamaru points out. "And, he's without a body. How can he even cast a genjutsu?"

I reflected back to yesterday's events. We fought Hidan, I decapitated him, he yelled a lot, and we sealed him. I do not recall him making any hand signs for a genjutsu, heck even for a visual or sound genjutsu. Even if he did without us noticing, Sakura would've instantly alarmed us and my Byakugan would've sought it out.

"Why don't I just pop Hidan's head out of the scroll and ask him myself?" I ask Asuma.

Asuma signs. "While that's a good idea, he won't cooperate with you."

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Norio cleared his throat. "During our meeting, he wasn't the most pleasant person to interrogate."

I roll my eyes. Of course Hidan would be trouble.

"Did you at least get information about him murdering his neighbors?" Sakura asks.

Norio crosses his arms. "The officials got enough information to go along with the evidence they have already gathered. He basically told them the same reason that he told us. Though, we had to keep redirecting him back on topic because all he wanted to do is talk about his god."

"No, I think Hinata should talk to the freak," Shikamaru states to everyone. "The genjutsu she was in involved his god damning her. He would love to have a conversation about that and would get a good kick out of how tortured and frightened she was."

"That is true," Asuma comments.

"I would just like to know how I got under a genjutsu without him being present," I say to Asuma, trying to get him to give in. "I will only need five minutes with him while you guys stand in the hallway or something. If anything goes wrong, I can always kick him around like a ball."

"Or, you can just call me in and I will seal him back up," Asuma insists, giving me a funny look.

I sigh in disapproval. I like my idea better.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I would like to steal one of your students for a few hours," Norio says to Asuma.

"Are you wanting to do what we talked about earlier with him?" Asuma asks. Shikamaru's ears perk up at the word "him".

"What are you two talking about?" Shikamaru questions. I can tell he doesn't want to do anything but lay down on the bed right now.

Norio beckons him over with his hand. "Come with and you will find out." He smiles.

Asuma nods. "Go head, Shikamaru. We are meeting back up at his house anyways for dinner tonight."

Sakura raises her eyebrows. "Oh, are we not leaving today? Our mission is complete."

"Would you rather sleep tonight on a comfy bed and take a hot shower or leave early and camp out in the forest tonight?" Asuma asks her, smirking.

Sakura shakes her head. "Nevermind!" she squeaks.

Norio laughs. "Well, in that case, I will see you guys tonight at my house. Come on, Shikamaru. I promise this will be worth it and not troublesome to you."

Shikamaru gives a small smile as our client says that. "I will hold you up to that." They wave to us as they leave the room.

Michi grabs Sakura's hand. "When your friend is done, I want to take you around the shops in the village! You will love them."

Sakura's eyes brighten up. "I am always up for some shopping!"

"I actually need to keep Hinata here with me for a while," Asuma tells the little girl. "But, she may go find and join you guys when we are done."

Michi doesn't seem fazed. "That's okay! We will be in the center of the village, but you can use your visual powers to find is."

Damn, this girl and her father are an observant bunch. They would've made great Shinobi. I guess the scholar path is better for them.

Her and Sakura live the room, leaving Asuma and I alone.

"Are you sure you don't want me in the room with you?" Asuma asks me as he sets the scroll down on the ground.

I nod. "I am positive. I believe I can get more of a reaction out of him if I am alone."

"Just making sure," Asuma says. He rolls out the scroll, weaves a few handsigns, and slams his hand on the ground. "Have fun." He Body Flickers out of the room.

I look down as Hidan's head appears from the scroll in a cloud of smoke. He coughs and looks around, irritated. When he notices me, he widens his eyes and scrunches his face up. "What the hell are you doing here?! You're not supposed to be here!"

I narrow my eyes. "So, you did cast that genjutsu on me." I knew it.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Hidan snarls. "I didn't cast a damn genjutsu on you, bitch."

My eyebrow slightly twitches at the insult, but I keep my composure. "Then, why did I see an illusion of your god?"

"Jashin-sama is not an illusion! Do not make a mockery of him!" Hidan shouts.

"Okay, if it was not an illusion, how was I able to see him?" I ask, humoring him.

"Pfft," Hidan snorts. "Like I'm going to reveal that to you."

Of course you won't. "Why? I thought you would want to boast how I was able to and how lucky I am to even get to see? Are you ashamed of him?"

"No," Hidan growls. "It is sacred."

"I will tell you how bad he tortured me," I continue. "And, let me tell you, he did some pretty horrifying things to me. He showed no mercy."

"He must've shown some mercy on you since you are still alive and not rotting in hell," Hidan retorts. "He must have deemed you as a worthy sacrifice and wants me to handle you myself later."

"Why would he see me as a worthy sacrifice?" I ask. "What benefits does he get from a sacrifice like me?"

"He gets really powerful." Well, that's vague.

"I bet he does," I say, trying to stroke his ego. "Does he get more power by the amount of blood you shed or how strong your opponent?"

Hidan grits his teeth. "I'm not answering any of your questions!"

"If I guess, will you-"

"No!" Hidan roars. "If you don't shut up, I will send you back to Jashin-sama so he can deal with you! I don't know why he didn't in the first place!"

He's basically implying that he can cast a genjutsu on me right now if he wants to. But, how?

I tilt my head to the side. "Should you be questioning your god like that? You're not a very good follower."

"Don't tell me what I am, bitch!"

I sigh. This conversation is not going anywhere. He didn't even want to hear how Jashin tortured me. I was sure that sort of information would've been a good trade for his secrets. I guess he really does believe this Jashin guy is real. At least I got a little bit of information to report back to Asuma. I can't wait to get my to Konoha so I&T can deal with his metaphorical ass and rack his brain of his secrets.

"Asuma!" I shout. "I'm ready for him to be sealed back up!"

Hidan widen his eyes. "What? Hell, no! I'm not going back in there! Don't you know how cramped it is?!"

"I'll let you know if I ever find myself in that situation," I tell him as Asuma appears beside of me.

"Anything good?" he asks.

I shake my head. "Just his normal, lunatic self."

"Didn't I tell you?" Asuma replies. He quickly seals Hidan before he can do anything fishy. "So, you really didn't get anything out of him?"

"He would not reveal anything to me," I say. "He mentioned that it was sacred, though I did pick up on somethings."

Asuma raises his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"He basically implied that he did cast that genjutsu on me, but he doesn't believe that it was a genjutsu when I asked him about it."

"Do you think he's speaking the truth about not knowing?"

I shrug. "I believe him. He doesn't strike me as the type of person to lie, especially over something like that."

"True," Asuma says. "If he says it wasn't a genjutsu, what do you think it is?"

"I honestly don't know," I admit. "I'm very baffled about the whole thing. If it isn't a genjutsu, maybe he said some prayer to his god and that is what caused Jashin to pay me a visit. But, that wouldn't make sense because that would imply his god is real and a god like that would not have painlessly tortured me. I should've felt pain and been burning in the pits of hell. That guy says that a lot."

"So, it goes back to the theory of being a genjutsu."

"And, there is plenty of proof indicating that it is one. He just doesn't believe it is."

If it is a genjutsu, but he doesn't believe it is a genjutsu, he is either really stupid or someone has convinced him otherwise. Hidan did tell us that followers of Jashin sometimes run in a cult, but he prefers to run alone. Yet, he had to have found out about the religion from someone or something.

"In your interrogation with him, did you ever come across how he started to "follow the Way of Jashin"?" I ask Asuma.

"He did, actually," Asuma tells me. "He said he was approached one day while doing something irrelevant out of Yugakure. He didn't go into much detail, but a man carrying a red scythe starting to talk to him about it after our immortal expressed interest."

Awhhh, so all Jashin followers give their prey a chance to live and follow the Way of Jashin before murdering them. How nice of them.

"After learning about it," Asuma continues. "He did a ritual and converted over to the religion. After doing so, the man suggested they travel as a pair to spread the Way. They only traveled together for two days before he stole his partner's scythe one night and killed him because his partner supposedly committed a sin and his god told him to kill his partner."

"Wow, how brutal." I didn't expect Hidan to ever kill a fellow Jashin follower. He even took the guy's weapon!Yet, killing and stealing isn't a sin. Weird. "I am assuming that his partner at the time taught him how to cast the genjutsu that I was in, even though it seems that followers don't believe it is one. It sounds like whoever came up with this religion could've been a really skilled genjutsu master and just tricked everyone into believing he is Jashin and that his genjutsu is only a prayer or something."

"We just need to figure out how it is triggered," Asuma says, sighing.

I give him a strange look. "Not to be rude Asuma-sensei, but how come I'm the one coming up with stuff and you're just making comments on it?" Shouldn't the sensei be coming up with the theories while the students are like "oh, yeah. I agree!"?

Asuma gives me a serious look. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I blink. "What? No, nevermind." He's playing some type of game with me right now. I rub my chin. "Anyways, it would make sense for the followers to think that it is a prayer. In order to pray, most people speak out loud, though a few will say it in their minds…"

I jerk my head up and widen my eyes as an idea hits me. "Is there such a thing as casting a genjutsu just verbally?" I've never heard of such a thing, but the anime/manga only explored so much.

Asuma cracks a smile. "I was wondering when you were going to come up with that conclusion."

"Wait, did you already know this?" I question.

Asuma chuckles. "I might've came up with the same idea when Sakura told me what happened."

I frown. No, fair! He knew this whole time and was just playing along with me until I figured it out. That's the game!

"You should've just humored me and let me take the credit for coming up with that," I grumble.

"Now, what kind of sensei would I be if I gave my students false hope?" Asuma asks me with fake innocence.

"A better one," I gruff, crossing my arms.

Asuma chuckles again. "Hey, I knew you were intelligent enough this whole time to figure it out and wanted you to prove me right."

I break out into a smile. I did figure something out without any prior knowledge to guide me. I will take the compliment! "So, how do you know that it was a verbal genjutsu? Have you experienced or seen one before?"

Asuma scratches the back of his head. "To be honest, I don't know hundred percent if it is one or not. It is just an educated guess I thought of that came across more as one once I heard what happen from you." He grows serious. "While I am pretty sure we are right, we cannot guarantee anything unless we go back to Konoha."

I nod. "At least we finally have an idea."

Asuma nods in agreement. I bite my lip. Should I tell him that I think that my Shadow Clones had seen Itachi and two other questionable figures? But, what if it really was just a dream? It really only feels like a dream, now that I experienced for a second time with different results, and my gut is telling me that it is a dream. And, it seems like if you have a strong hutch in the Narutoverse than you are most likely correct. Just ask Kakashi. However, if it is only a dream, why did I specifically dream of those three people? I haven't been thinking about them at the time and I haven't seen of thought of Itachi in years. I hold my head from the headache that is coming back. Ugh, this is all so confusing.

Asuma raises an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong?" he asks.

I give him a fake smile and wave my hand. "No, I am fine. I just have a headache and it has been pounding since I woke up."

"Oh, okay," Asuma says, relaxing his features. "It should go away by the time we have dinner at our client's house tonight."

"Good, because it is annoying," I tell him. "So, is that all you wanted from me before I go find the girls?"

"Yes," Asuma replies. "I just wanted to discuss that with you. Just meet back at our client's house in a few hours, though I suppose the little girl will just guide you there."

"Understood," I say. We both wave at the each other before leaving the room.

Shopping with Sakura and Michi was fun. They had actually decided to wait on me by just browsing the food stands so they wouldn't hit all the food stores without me. I didn't buy anything for myself and tried to find gifts that Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, and Hanabi would like. I didn't find anything the boys would like, except for food but there's plenty of that in Konoha, but I did find something for Hanabi. A silver oval locket necklace that has a spiral flower design on it. Unlike most girls her age, she does not care to play with toys or dolls. She sleeps with my stuffed wolf that Neji gave me as toddlers, but that's it. I can put a picture of me and her and our parents in the locket or she can put whatever she wants in there. I think she will like it.

Sakura did a little shopping for herself and restocked on her makeup supplies while Michi bought herself a couple of books.

After a few hours of having girl time, we headed back to Norio's house for dinner. He was right when he said it was a small place: two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a conjoined living area and kitchen. The table we ate at only held four people so we had to pull up a couple of more seats and squeeze in.

During dinner, Sakura and I learned what Shikamaru was up for the past few hours. Norio has been instructing him about the jutsu that he has use to pull Hidan underground during our fight with him. It is called Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu. Mostly during those three hours, Norio explained the jutsu to Shikamaru, how to perform it, and had him practice it for awhile. Since he isn't really good at teaching it, and since we are leaving tomorrow morning, Norio have him a scroll to learn by. Knowing Shikamaru, he will have the jutsu down within a week or less.

Asuma had suggested that this technique can help Shikamaru out in battle because he can use it to enlong his shadows or to hide and trap prey. Shikamaru commented that this is just a bunch of work for him to do. I countered that with the fact that all he is doing is hiding and laying underground and that laying down and hiding are two of his favorite things to do so he should be excited to learn this jutsu. This earned me a eye roll from him.

The next morning, Norio and Michi met us at the gates to see us off.

"Next time you come to Konoha, I will show you around my favorite places like you did with us," Sakura says to Michi.

Michi's eye twinkle with excitement. She has taken an extreme liking to Sakura. "I can't wait!" She looks up at her father. "Let's go back really soon!"

Norio chuckles and pats his daughter's head. "We just got back from there, sweetie."

"But, now I know that Sakura will be there and she can show me around to some pretty cool places," Michi tells Norio.

"We will be back before you know it," Norio says, smiling. Then, he turns to us. "I know I have said this many times already, but thank you once again for escorting my daughter and I back to Yugakure. If we had traveled alone, things would have been really bad for us. I will always be grateful for your four."

"Well, it's just part of our duty as Shinobi to protect you," Asuma informs him. "But, I know you won't accept that as a response so you are welcome. We enjoyed having you guys as our clients."

"And, thank you for paying for our room at the inn and allowing us to eat dinner at your place," I added in, bowing. "It was a very lovely meal and you didn't have to do that for us."

"Oh, but I wanted to," Norio says. "It was the least I can do for you guys. I wasn't going to be rude and just shoo you all off as soon as we arrived."

"You wouldn't believe some of the clients that would," I heard Asuma mumble under his breath and then quickly clears his throat to cover that comment up.

"Thanks for giving me that jutsu to learn," Shikamaru says to Norio. "I'm sure it will come in handy."

Norio blushes in embarrassment. "I wish I was qualified enough to help teach you."

Shikamaru gives him a small smile. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. You already did enough for me."

Norio relaxes. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Well, we better get going," Asuma tells us.

"Have a safe travel and say hi to us the next time you are around," Norio says as he waved.

Michi runs over and gives Sakura a tight hug, making her blush a little. "Bye! See you soon!"

Sakura smiles down at her. "Bye, Michi!"

Michi pulls back and waves. "Bye, everybody!"

We all wave and say our good-byes before heading off.

"They are so nice," Sakura comments as we walk.

I nod. "They are." I shift my eyes over at Asuma. "I heard what you grumbled earlier. Are most clients really that bad?"

Asuma sighes. "I don't want to talk bad about them, but many clients are not as friendly as Norio and Michi. Some just expect for Shinobi to help them out while others hate the idea of Shinobi altogether for personal reasons but hire us anyways because they have to."

"But, not all missions involve traveling with clients, right?" Shikamaru asks.

"Correct," Asuma replies. "But, many involve traveling to the client's village or place of choice and they can still out a certain way. However, not all missions involve been around a client."

Hmm, we have a pretty patient team. I think we would be able to handle a client with a bad attitude if we had one. Now, if we had someone like Naruto on our team he wouldn't be as restrained as us. Heck, in his mission he is on right now he talks back to his client and yells at the client's grandson. Though, I can see myself probably "accidently" tripping and running my fist into a bad client's face if they were too annoying or insulting. I can only handle so much bullshit.

Sorry, I mean I'm innocent little Hinata. I wouldn't harm a fly because Shino would hate me forever.

Since it took a few days to get to Yugakure because we were traveling at a civilian's pace, it is only going to take a day and half to get back to Konoha at our usual pace. We are pretty quick, we are not going to have to stop as often, and we can travel a little later into the night before settling down for camp. Which we did around eleven that night. After stopping and setting up camp for the night, I am given first shift. While everyone climbs into their sleeping bags and drifts off to sleep, I climb up a try, activate my Byakugan, and recall back my Shadow Clone I had sent out earlier.

Earlier in the day, around an hour after we left, I sent out a Shadow Clone to scope out the area. I convinced Asuma it is because we do not run into anyone like Hidan again, but I'm just double checking to make sure there is no Akatsuki members lurking around. Even though I am pretty sure by now that it is just a dream, I am being cautious. As my Shadow Clone's memories rushed through my mind, I am relieved to see that she didn't come across anything dangerous or out of the ordinary.

After a couple of hours of taking watch, I am beginning to grow bored and decide to do a little training at the waterfall nearby. I am close enough to camp so I can watch for any enemies with my Byakugan, but far enough away to where I will not wake anybody up. I will only be gone for an hour so the next person to take their shift, Shikamaru, will not wake up and notice that I am missing.

I make my way over to the small waterfall, strip out of my clothed, and fold them neatly on the embankment. I begin to walk on top of the pond that the waterfall flows into until I am in the center of it. There, I start practicing my Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms.

I could have mastered this technique a long time ago if I practiced it regularly. Since I have been training in secret, I can only sneak out to practice every so often. Plus, this move is really difficult to learn. Not only am I emitting a lot of chakra out of my palms, but they are super then and it requires a lot of chakra control to be handle to maneuver the chakra threads easily. While moving my hands around, the chakra threads must not touch, or they will break. Instead, I have to make sure that the chakra threads overlap each other instead when performing the technique and that is how I am able to create my protective dome. This move takes a lot out of me so I am only able to hold the enclosed spheres for a couple of seconds before having to exert outwards. Now, I can create many individual chakra threads before wearing myself out. After mastering this technique, my goal is to be able to whip out the move without ease whenever it is needed. I would like to somehow enhance the Protective Eight Trigrams to make it more offensive than defensive, but that is another story.

A sudden movement from behind me breaks my concentration as the hovering water around drops and I focus on my Byakugan. I notice that Shikamaru is only steps away from leaving the forest and to where I am at.

Crap! Why is he up? Have I been out here longer than I have thought?

I quickly swipe up my clothes and dart behind the nearest rock as Shikamaru emerges out of the forest. I watch him through the rock with my visual powers as he looks around at his surroundings and just gazes at the waterfall for a few minutes. I have to shut my eyes for a moment as he decides to take a quick piss and head back to camp.

I smack my forehead. I need to be more careful! He almost caught me! He must've not been looking for me so I am assuming he doesn't know I am gone yet. Ugh, I guess I better go back now until my shift is over.

We finally make it back to Konoha around mid-afternoon the next day and I have never been any happier. I am so ready to sleep in my own bed and tell my father about my mission. He is going to be so proud of me!

"You three will have the next two days off," Asuma tells us. "During that time, Shikamaru, I suggest you start on practice your new jutsu, even if it is only for a little while." Ha. A little while. He isn't expecting much from Shikamaru.

"I'll try to find the time," Shikamaru tell Asuma.

I am about to make a smartass remark towards him, but decide against it. He has had enough of my scaractic abuse for one mission.

Asuma nods. "Very well. I expect you three to hand your missions reports into me by the end of the week. Because of the unforeseen obstacles that we came across, I will have to talk to the Hokage about changing the ranking, which it will probably boost up to an A. That is why I am giving you more than enough time to finish your reports because that is up in the air. "

Sakura widens her eyes. "An A rank?!"

I grin. Heck yeah! Naruto is going to get so mad when he finds out that he isn't the only rookie team that just took on an A rank mission.

"Just hope it does get boosted up to an A rank mission,: Asuma says to her. "That will look good on your record that you successfully took on an A rank mission as a Genin."

"But, we had you with us," Sakura points out.

Asuma shakes his head. "That doesn't matter. A-rank missions are typically for advanced Chunins or Jounins. They are way out of a Genin's league so you will still impress people."

Sakura smiles and nods. Knowing that will boost her self-esteem a little.

"What are you going to do about that guy?" Shikamaru ask.

"I am about to head over to the Hokage right now to explain what happened and see what he wants to do," Asuma tells us.

"Will we get to find out everything about his religion and how he put me under a genjutsu?" I question. I really want to know the answers to that.

Asuma shrugs. "To be honest, I don't know if I will get any information about that. It will be up to the Hokage what he wants to keep disclosed or not. Though, Hinata, I think you might be summoned to him for questioning about your experience with the genjutsu, if needed, so just be prepared for that."

I nod. I figured as much. It makes sense. "I understand."

"Great! I will see you guys in two days from now," Asuma says. "I will treat you guys for lunch as a reward!" He waves and disappears in a cloud of smoke.

The three of us say our good-byes and head our separate ways. I rush to the compound. I want to tell my father everything as soon as possible. I haven't received any praise from him in awhile so it is a little sad how desperate I am for some from him right now.

As I run through the compound, I turn a corner and stop dead in my tracks, almost running into Neji.

"Eep!" I squeak in surprise. "Oh! I am so sorry, Neji-nii-san."

Neji doesn't say anything and glares at me with narrowed eyes. Why is he staring at me like that? He has never given me such a hateful look before.

I frown. "I said I was sorry. It was an accident. It is nothing to get angry over."

Neji continues to stare me down and I notice that his body is slightly trembling. Is he that angry with me?

No. Not me. He would never get this angry with me. It has to be something else.

I give him a fretful look. "What's wrong, Neji? Did something happen?"

Neji sighs and his body stops shaking. "Why don't you ask Hiashi-sama?" he spats with pure hatred before walking briskly past me.

I gawk at his back. Ask my father? Is he the reason why Neji is so pissed off right now?

I sprint towards my father's office.

What did you do, father?

Author's Note: Sorry! Another cliffhanger! I hope you enjoy this chapter and that you are getting excited for the Chunin Exams because I know I am! It is my favorite arc in the whole Naruto (not Shippuden) series and I can't wait to write in my own spin of things. As always, reviews are appreciated!