Hinata sighed tiredly as she rinsed out the wet towel in her hand. They had arrived at Tazuna's house roughly 18 hours ago. Kakashi had placed Naruto in one of the spare rooms and had tended to his neck wound. Which Hinata found, to her utter astonishment, was almost entirely healed by the time they arrived.
But still, dark blue veins were extending almost entirely throughout his neck, indicating that an extremely potent poison was coursing through his veins. From the red and black blotches that appeared beneath his skin the poison was a corrosive one and an extremely potent one at that.
That alone should have caused him to have died within just a few minutes after the kunai hit his neck, if the injury and blood loss wouldn't kill him, the poison eating away at his esophagus would have.
He had broken out into a fever a few hours after his arrival, Hinata was sure he wouldn't survive it, but she had been completely shocked after his fever had died completely after just an hour or two after they had first detected it.
Hinata had activated her byakugan after that, her curiosity getting the better of her and was shocked at what she saw.
Blue chakra sustained him, pumping through his system at a faster pace than normal, while a ferocious red chakra was concentrated around his entire neck. She looked harder then, noticing that the chakra seemed to be battling something, most likely the poison around his neck as it tried to enclose itself around the wound, its progress was slow though.
She had informed Kakashi of this, her sensei seemed somewhat relieved at the news, yet also alarmed.
After a few more hours, Kakashi decided that they would each take watch over Naruto throughout the night, so that someone would know and be able to alert the others immediately should his condition change.
He had taken first watch, staying up until some time around 10 to 11 she was to take second watch until around 3 and Sasuke would take the rest of the watch until the others woke.
So now it was her turn to care for him and she was bored! It was such a level of boredom that it made dinner at her families estate look like a festival of loud people!
She finished changing the water in the towel, she set it over his head and settled herself against the wall to wait out her 'guard duty'
It was just a few minutes into it that the silence began driving her insane. She let her eyes travel to her, now unmasked, teammate.
His angular, lean features, whisker marked cheeks and striking blond hair made a strange mix of features really. He looked stronger than any shinobi she'd ever met while somehow he also managed to seem more dignified than her father.
She giggled slightly at that thought. That was a difficult task to pull off and yet he did it in his sleep! She sighed at the thought of her father. Not wanting to take the silence, she decided she'd speak with her unconscious teammate.
"You know Naruto, they say a good family is the key for someones success. If so, then I must be one of the greatest failures in the world. My family has taken the term 'disfunctional' and practically reinvented the damn thing."
She paused for a moment before continuing. 'I mean, seriously, who the hell takes their own, brother, sister, cousins and daughters and put a seal on their head that practically makes them slaves on a leash."
She gave a disgusted, very un-lady like snort. "Heartless bastards that's who." She muttered through her teeth. Now, in the relative solitude of this room, some of her barriers could be let down, allowing her to speak freely of her opinions.
She sighed, letting some of the anger leave her. She looked back at Naruto and smiled. "You know…your really a great listener." She chuckled slightly.
This is how her hour passed, speaking simple one sided conversations with her charge.
Before she even realized it, her assigned hour had come and gone.
She yawned. "I'm tired, I wonder how much longer I have to…" Her sentence died in her throat as she looked out the window and noticed the grayish hue of light giving way to daylight.
Her eyes went wide, she shot to her feet and winced as her stiff joints creaked and cracked in protest. She went to leave but then decided to change Naruto's towel again.
As she moved to lift the wet cloth from his head a clawed hand shot forward and firmly grasped her wrist, her eyes widened in alarm and looked down to his just as they opened, revealing blood red eyes. They're wild, animal like.
She froze, a momentary fear gripping her, like an instinct, and had to soon hold back the urge to vomit as a wave of killing intent washed over. The air grew thick and heavy in her lungs.
Before she could comprehend what was going on she felt an arm wrap around her waist and she found herself outside the room, standing behind Kakashi. She sucked in an unobstructed breath finally clear of that oppressive feeling.
"Naruto." She heard the copy nin call. "Calm down. Your not in danger!" He yelled, the others of the house were emerging from their rooms each wondering what all the commotion was about.
Naruto slowly stood, his crimson eyes shifting. Looking through the whole room his eyes finally landed on Kakashi's masked face. He was mildly delirious, Kakashi noticed. A possible problem should the blond consider him to be the enemy.
His eyes shifted from the blood lusting red, to crystalline blue after a moment. "Hatake." He heard the blond whisper. Kakashi sighed in relief. At least he wouldn't have to fight the blond again, that was not something Kakashi believed he could do safely without at least three or four more months of extremely intense, Gai level training.
The red chakra and killing intent drained out of the room and Hinata found that she could look at him again without feeling herself getting choked.
Naruto hissed and clutched his neck in pain, remembering the last time he was conscious.
He narrowed his eyes in anger. That hunter nin would pay, very very dearly.
He grunted and made to walk when a wave of dizziness hit him, he swayed on his feet and had to grasp the wall to keep himself steady. He clutched his head and resisted the urge to growl. What the hell had that blasted hunter poisoned him with?
Kakashi, seeing his unasked question spoke up as he ushered Hinata away and everyone back into their rooms. "You've been knocked out for nearly a day, don't be surprised that your still not at your full 100 that hunter nin hit you with one of Kiri's more exotic mixes. I'm surprised it didn't take you longer to wake up."
He took out a plastic bag with the poisoned kunai on it. I had Pakkun sniff it and he says that it doesn't smell like any poison he's ever seen, he also said it smelled potent and was more than likely highly acidic in nature, so I suggest you take it easy for the next few days, Zabuza wont be coming back for at least, at least, a week. Maybe even three and even then he probably wont be at his full 100, either so you can rest, I'll handle Tazuna and training Hinata and Sasuke.
Naruto shook his head as he slowly eased himself down. "No, if your summon says that he has never seen this kind of poison then that can only mean one of two things, either it is a new poison that has not yet reached Konoha Anbu or he made it himself. I find the second option to be more likely since poison herbs can be found quite easily in Kiri. If so, then that hunter has obvious knowledge of herbs, both poisonous and medicinal and, being a hunter nin, he has knowledge of human anatomy and functions. Therefore…"
"He can speed up Zabuza's recovery." Kakashi finished sighing. "I'd hoped you'd still be delirious enough to just let me take over." He muttered scratching the back of his head.
Naruto refrained the urge to twitch in annoyance at his former captains laid back response. Instead he took a deep breath and spoke. "Perhaps…you should guard the bridge builder while I train the Hyuuga and Uchiha."
Kakashi immediately responded with a resounding, resolute "No!" He cleared his throat and regained his composure before he spoke again. "I mean ummmm…your still injured and uhhhhh…'I wouldn't have to return to Konoha with the Hyuuga and Uchiha heirs half dead from whatever the hell you'll put them through.' You need to get as much rest as possible." He finished somewhat lamely.
Naruto hmphed "I will be fine within one or two days rest, I suggest you inform the Hyuuga and Uchiha that they will be joining me for training, tomorrow at dawn." He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, indicating the conversation was over.
Kakashi tried to think of something that would deter him, but other than his health he couldn't think of anything. He sighed and stepped out of the room. It appeared as if he would have to get flowers soon. Either for a hospital room or a funeral home.
Hinata and Sasuke quietly walked through the forest, the sun was just peeking its golden head over the horizon, Kakashi had barely let them eat breakfast before ushering them out of the house. He said to just keep going and they'd reach a training field where they could…well…train.
Hinata didn't know just how the hell they were supposed to train themselves and Sasuke was wondering just why the hell they had to go out to a clearing in the middle of nowhere when they could have easily trained near Tazuna's house.
Their questions were answered however as the tree's parted, revealing their third teammate, clad in his black clothes and mask, waiting for them.
"Good, you have both arrived." He stated in his simple monotone drawl. Hours of meditating had dulled the burning in his neck to a dull throbbing ache, that still didn't mean he was through, he still had to regain the chakra he lost while expelling the poison. And the increased use of Kyuubi's chakra was throwing his control completely off. It would most likely take the rest of the day for Kyuubi to stop his chakra flow in order for Naruto to regain his chakra control.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "How the hell are you even standing? That hit to the neck would have killed anyone else." He asked incredulously.
"It is none of your concern Uchiha." The jinchuriki stated simply. Sasuke grit his teeth in anger and was about to speak before Naruto cut him off. "I will not answer any of your questions, so do not waste your breath or my time."
Sasuke glared at him, Hinata seeing the tense atmosphere decided to intervine before a fight broke out. She probably wouldn't have done this normally, since she knew her masked teammate would win rather easilly against either of them. But, Naruto had been hit with both a highly debilitating injury and a very potent poison and for all she knew he could be struggling to stand.
She stepped forward and addressed him. "So, you will be training us then?"
Naruto nodded. "Yes. I assume Hyuuga, that you have completed the tree climbing exercise, since your clan focuses on precise chakra control." He stated more than asked.
Hinata nodded Naruto then turned to Sasuke. "Have you completed the tree climbing exercise?"
Sasuke grunted and crossed his arms. "Why the hell would I learn how to climb trees?"
Naruto turned to Hinata. "Show him the exercise and explain the purpose of it, once you have done that, join me down by the river."
That said, he turned and left the two, Sasuke glaring holes into the back of his head while Hinata turned and sighed tiredly, shouldn't the instructor train the students equally instead of leaving one student to deal with the responsibility?
Did that even make any sense? Hinata shook her head to clear the cobwebs and began instructing the last Uchiha on the chakra control exercise.
Moments later.
Hinata walked through the trees until she came across a decent sized river, with Naruto standing along the embankment. He turned to her and nodded, tearing her out of her thoughts. "Good, you're here, now, is it safe to assume you know the water walking exercise?"
She nodded.
He nodded back and shifted through one of his pouches before removing a card and tossing it to her. "Now, mold chakra into the card and we shall see what your elemental affinity is."
Hinata nodded and the paper card immediately became drenched in water.
"A water elemental? I suspected as much" Naruto seemed to pause for a moment as his voice escaped him with something akin to self satisfaction and Hinata could have sworn that a slow, evil smile spread across his face had it not been for his mask. "Excellent." Came his hollow voice, making a shiver go up her spine.