"Shino-kun? Could I ask you something?" Naruto said.

"That is a question already," Shino said, carefully controlling the flash of jealous anger that he always felt around his teammate these days. Naruto had no idea how lucky he was—the enormous power of the Nine-Tails, that easygoing charisma that let him make friends so easily—from what he'd said about his talks with the Fox, Naruto was even the son of the Fourth Hokage!...and, oh yes, he'd had Hinata-chan's heart since she first set eyes on him. Mustn't forget that. Or the fact that he was trying to convince her to leave Konoha with him; that was good too.

"Well, it's about Hinata-chan," Naruto said, before trailing off.

Shino took a deep breath, forced his attention down to his feet, and felt the tension in his shoulders ease slightly. His father had spent years drilling the technique into him. 'Remember that you have feet,' he'd say. 'When emotions overwhelm you, it pulls your awareness up into your head, makes your muscles clench, and makes your breathing shallow. Focus on your feet, on the connection they give you to the earth and the world around you. Force your face and shoulders to relax, deepen and slow your breathing. Remember you have feet. Breathe slowly and allow the anger to pass.'

Shino smiled inwardly; he'd ignored the instructions at first, thinking that they sounded silly. After all, he was a ninja, was he not? Trained to resist torture—what was a little anger next to that? He could simply choose to ignore the anger, push it away. Of course, his father had had plenty of experience at training recalcitrant clan ninja-children; he'd seen the signs of rebellion and immediately sat Shino down for a long and detailed discussion of the two halves of the human autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic- and parasympathetic nervous systems. 'The SNS is responsible for fight or flight situations,' his father had lectured. 'In order to free more energy for combat or escape, it shuts down digestion and other non-essential bodily systems and pulls blood from the brain to provide better oxygenation of the muscles. When the SNS is in control you don't think clearly. Your body wants to kill the lion, not rationally evaluate the hurtful yet accurate criticism that your teacher gave you—such as, for example, that you are irrationally ignoring a useful technique for managing anger! Your PSNS, on the other hand, is responsible for relaxed activities such as eating and digesting. When you feel yourself getting too angry, it means your SNS is in control. You can offset that by activating your PSNS, thereby bringing yourself back into balance. What's that? How do you activate your PSNS? Remember that you have feet!'

Thank you Papa, Shino thought. You were right, it helps. Aloud he said, "Perhaps the middle of E&E practice is not the best time for a chat, Naruto-san? I do not believe that Anko-sensei was joking when she said that she would put us in the hospital if she and Hinata-chan caught up to us before we reach base."

Naruto shrugged. "I've got four hundred clones running around these woods, half of them henged to look like you. Some are in pairs, some are solo; even with Hinata-chan's eyes, they won't be able to find us except through sheer blind luck."

"Yes, but talking can only attract attention, can it not?" Shino said. Whatever it was that Naruto wanted to talk about, it almost certainly wasn't something Shino wanted to talk about. Well, unless...

"Unless it's about escape plans?" he asked.

"Um...no," Naruto said. "Orochimaru-sama said something during our lunch," he said. "I...don't really know if I should be repeating it, but it seems like the kind of thing that should get out into the open, and I don't want to say it in front of the others in case he was lying and trying to screw us all up."

"Yes?" Shino said after a moment. Oh yes, this was going to be good. Naruto couldn't even manage to just ignore whatever the enemy told him. Unless...did he not consider Orochimaru-sama an enemy? He might not. The Snake Sannin was an admirable man—brilliant, charismatic, powerful beyond measure, the Kage of a village that he literally built from nothing...and he treated Naruto with respect. Well, mostly. It had been satisfying to see him thwap the blond id—no, don't think like that. Naruto was a teammate, and needed to be treated as such, even in the privacy of one's thoughts. Still, in the privacy of one's thoughts, perhaps it was all right to acknowledge the weaknesses of one's teammates? After all, recognizing someone's weakness—such as, to choose a random example, stupidity—was the first step in compensating for it. With an effort, Shino pushed his thoughts away and focused his awareness on his feet.

"Well...um...," Naruto said. "He said that you, might...um...have feelings for Hinata-chan?"

Shino felt his skin go cold and his muscles tense. This was bad. This was very bad. This could destroy the team. This was a major weakness that Orochimaru-sama had identified and could use against them. In fact, that's what he was doing, wasn't it? He was attempting to split the team apart, cause drama and discomfort between them that would create openings for further wedges. He would separate them from one another, rendering them weak and easily exploited.

"Why in the world would he say that?" Shino made himself say. He carefully injected as much confusion as he could into his voice, trying to make the lie convincing. "I mean, of course I value her friendship and admire her abilities. She is an excellent teammate, but you seem to be implying some sort of romantic attachment where none exists."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Shino-kun...," he said slowly. "That's the most emotion I've heard you put into anything since we were teamed together."

Damnit! Why did the stupid idiot need to choose this particular moment to be observant?!

"Perhaps because I am baffled by the question," Shino replied quickly. "Not only is it absurd, but it shows remarkable lack of awareness on your part, Naruto-san. Of course Orochimaru-sama would say such a thing: he wants to split the team up by causing internal strife. Your infatuation with Hinata-chan is obvious, as is hers with you; setting up a situation where jealousy would interfere with that dynamic is a basic information-warfare tactic that we were taught in our first year. It concerns me that you would fall for it, that is all."

Naruto continued to stare at him thoughtfully. "That's another thing," he said. "Ever since Hinata-chan and I got together, you've been calling me Naruto-san, not Naruto-kun the way you used to. Why is that, Shino-kun?"

Shino had to work hard to keep his face still. Damnit! He had been doing that, hadn't he? Damnit, damnit, damnit!

"I believe I have always called you Naruto-san," he said, desperately trying to brazen it out. "If I ever slipped into the familiar, you have my apologies; my clan teaches that a level of detachment is wise, even between teammates. Personal bonds are a strengthening force, but they cannot be allowed to overrule rational evaluation of situations. It is the Aburame commitment to rationality that has made us such a powerful clan; if I have erred by becoming too familiar I shall need to submit myself for remedial training upon our return to Konoha." Shift the topic, quickly! "On that subject, you are the Escape Officer; we have been here several weeks and have not yet had a team meeting about our escape. I assume that by now you have had a chance to form at least the beginnings of a plan—should we not perhaps schedule a time to discuss it with the others?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nope, I'm not letting you change the subject. You do have feelings for Hinata-chan, and you do have a problem with me because of it. We can't just ignore that and let it fester; it needs to be addressed. You're my teammate, and you shouldn't have to carry that burden alone. Please, what can I do? How can I help?"

The rage boiled up, swamping his control. "How can you help? How can you help?!" Shino said, voice rising in anger. "You can help by doing your fucking job and helping all of us get out of this village! You're supposed to be generating ideas, actively encouraging the rest of us to generate ideas, and then synthesizing them into a coherent plan! You're supposed to be leading, not making time with Hinata-chan and sucking up to traitors! You can help by not being a stupid idiot who allows the enemy to drive a wedge into the team!"

"So you do love her!" Naruto said.

"Of course I love her, you fucking moro—!" Shino slammed his jaw closed, his entire body shivering as though he'd been doused in ice water. He stood, paralyzed in horror at what he'd just said. Oh, kami, he'd just destroyed the team. He'd practically thrown Hinata-chan into the poisonous arms of Sound, and Naruto would follow her. Oh kami, oh kami. He could almost see his father's face staring at him, the senior Aburame's disappointment burning through Shino's soul like acid.

Without a word he turned and hurled himself into the forest, bouncing from tree to tree at breakneck speed, no destination in mind except away.

Naruto watched him go, a sad understanding in his eyes.

o-o-o-o

"Honestly, Hinata-chan, it's fine," Naruto said as the medic-nin finished fixing the damage to his liver and spleen. "I mean, it's not like she broke any bones, right? That would have actually laid me up for a while, but a little soft-tissue damage is nothing."

"Naruto-kun, a bruised liver, ruptured spleen, and punctured lung is not just 'soft-tisse damage'!" the Hyuuga heiress said.

"Shift a bit, please," the medic-nin mumbled, trying very hard not to attract the attention of either his patient or his patient's irate girlfriend. Naruto obligingly turned slightly to his right to give the man easier access.

"It was only a little punctured," he said defensively. "I mean, she left the kunai in so it didn't bleed into my lung too much. Let me tell you, drowning in your own blood? Not fun. Take my word for it. And she only punctured the very bottom, and only a little bit."

Hinata stared at him in horror. "How do you know what drowning in your own blood feels like?" she demanded.

Naruto shifted nervously, looking away. "I, uh, might have fallen on a rake when I was a kid? Maybe?" He peeked at her for a moment, then quickly looked away. "Look, I was clumsy, okay? It's no big deal; I heal fast."

Hinata frowned. "That's...but...it's..." She stopped, visibly summoned patience, and began again. "Naruto-kun, sensei went too far. Shino-kun doesn't have a single inch of unbruised skin—literally, not a single inch. Even his scalp is bruised. She gave you massive organ damage that would have killed most people. It was too much, you've got to see that!"

Naruto shrugged uncomfortably, nearly clonking the doctor with his elbow as he did. The man dodged with the ease of long experience ministering to injured and angry ninja.

"She's really harsh, sure, but she's getting it done, Hinata-chan," the blond genin said. "We're all way stronger than we were when we got here."

The medic-nin gratefully straightened up. "You're done," he said.

"Thanks, sensei!" Naruto said with a happy smile. "I appreciate your help."

"Mm," the doctor grunted. "Try not to be back soon, eh? Hashimoto-sama would kill me if I let you die and all his work went to waste."

Naruto laughed and bowed. "I'll see what I can do. C'mon, Hinata-chan, let's head back." He grabbed her hand and dashed out the door.

Outside the hospital, she pulled him to back to a moderate walk instead of racing pell-mell through the streets of Sound. "Naruto-kun, I think we should go talk to Orochimaru-sama," she said. "I think I would like to—" She broke off.

"What?" Naruto asked, looking around.

"It's Ichiro-san," she said, horror dripping from her tone. "He's got Shino-kun." She blinked away the shock and darted for the alley across the street, Naruto hard on her heels.

"Where?" the blond demanded.

"There!" Hinata said, pointing ahead and to one side. "He knows we're here; he was waving at us when we came close enough that he was in my range of sight. Shino-kun is slung over his shoulder, and he's been badly beaten." Her face paled. "Oh, kami...I think he's dying." She put on a burst of speed, running up the wall of the alley and onto the rooftops where she could move in straight lines. Naruto's treewalking had drastically improved but he didn't bother trying to follow, simply jumping to the third-story roof in one bound.

Hinata was pushing herself to the max—shunshin and leap, anchor, leap, kawarimi with one of the large barrels that Sound, like most ninja villages, left on their roof tops explicitly for the convenience of fast-moving ninja—but only barely managing to keep up. Their prey had dropped down into the streets, out of Naruto's line of sight, and was moving fast enough that he was constantly crossing back and forth across the edges of her range. Each time he got ahead he would change directions and be somewhere slightly unexpected when she caught sight of him again.

And then Naruto was there, scooping her up into a bridal carry. "Point me!" he yelled, launching himself off the roof in a bound that carried them over an entire city block. Even in her current state of near-panic about her teammate, Hinata's heart still skipped a beat at the feel of him—the strong arms that lifted her so effortlessly, the rock-hard muscles of his chest that gave such a comfortingly solid feel against her shoulder and hip, the heat of his body on her skin. The Byakugan showed her all the other things that made her heart flutter, the things that a normal girl couldn't have seen from this position—the intense power and focus in his eyes, the length and thickness of his straw-blond hair as it whipped in the wind of their passage, the play of the muscles in his powerful thighs as he thrust himself forward again and again, racing to catch up to their kidnapped teammate...

"There! Two o'clock!" she said, forcing herself to pay attention to the moment. Ichiro had broken contact a few seconds before and circled to the right. "He's trying to get away!"

Naruto was in mid-leap and unable to turn, and he'd overpowered his leap; by the time he touched down and re-launched, Ichiro would have gained significant ground.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted.

Suddenly the sky around them was full of falling Narutos. One appeared directly in front of them, facing the other way. Naruto twisted in the air, planting his feet on those of his clone and timing his leap with that of his copy so that he and Hinata were sent rocketing towards Ichiro's position. The other clones were moving on their own, pushing off of each other and shifting as they fell, working themselves into position so that Naruto-Prime could rebound off of each one in turn, pushing himself higher and faster towards where Hinata's finger remained unerringly locked on Ichiro.

The Sound ninja was no longer trying to stay out of sight and flirt with the edges of Hinata's range. He'd reached the edge of the village and kept going, headed for the woods and the training fields. Over his shoulder, Shino's limp form bounced on his shoulder like a sack of meal.

Ichiro was very fast for a genin, and was running flat-out, tossing off shunshins every few seconds. In a straight run Naruto would have easily bounded past him, but the Sound genin changed direction with every shunshin, tracing a zig-zagging course that forced the blond jinchuuriki to stay close to the ground in order to be able to follow the turns.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled. Dozens of clones appeared ahead of and around the Sound ninja, racing to stop him.

Ichiro laughed and blew through the crowd of clones. With Shino over his shoulder the clones had to be careful in their attacks, and it was too much of a disadvantage. The Sound ninja was simply better at taijutsu than Naruto was and, with the clones having to pull their punches, it was no contest. At the same time, he couldn't shake the Konoha nin either—it wasn't a question of if they would catch him, but simply when and where.

They followed him for nearly twenty minutes, sometimes closing in, sometimes losing ground, until finally he began to tire and slow down. Naruto's lip pulled back in a wolfish grin as he closed the distance. By the time Ichiro broke through the trees into Team Anko's preferred training ground, the Konoha nin were almost stepping on his heels.

"Bomb!" Hinata yelled, pointing at the ground ahead. Naruto leaped as the explosive tag went off, just barely staying outside the blast.

In midair, Hinata's blood froze as the world shimmered around them. What had seemed like a training post melted back into the form of Sachi, Ichiro's genjutsu-using teammate. The girl waved and gave Hinata a shark-toothed grin as, all over the field, a veil of illusion was peeled away and what had seemed like tufts of grass and clumps of dirt were suddenly revealed as explosive tags. Hinata watched wide-eyed as the one they were about to land on was primed. The tag was buried under a half-inch of soil, just enough to leave it invisible to any eyes but the Byakugan; Naruto had no idea what was coming and, stuck mid-leap, wouldn't have been able to avoid it even if he had known.

Desperately, Hinata twisted in Naruto's arms, planting her feet on his chest and pushing off hard, sending them each flying in separate directions. Naruto yelped in surprise but wasn't fast enough to catch her before she separated from him. They touched the ground ten yards apart; her aim had been good, as they each touched down in an area clear of explosives.

She barely had her feet on the ground when Ichiro and Sachi attacked. Ichiro came in from the front, leading with a spinning kick that would have taken her head off if it had landed. She ducked under it, trying to get her hands up in time to hit his leg as it went past, but she needed to abort when Sachi hurled a spray of shuriken at her from the side. She dove forward, right hand firing one kunai towards Sachi while her left hurled another with unerring precision at Ichiro, behind her to the left; both were parried. She rolled to her feet, more kunai springing into her hands as she lunged at the girl from Sound.

"Hinata-chan, leave it!" Naruto shouted, diving for his fallen teammate. "This is their ground, and we need to get Shino-kun to the hospital!"

"Naruto-kun, STOP!" Hinata yelled, hurling a kunai right in front of his nose. Hard-earned reflexes made him hop back as the weapon went past, and kept him outside the blast radius of the exploding tag he'd nearly walked into.

"The whole field is mined, boy," Ichiro said cruelly. "We know where they are, and she can see 'em but you?" He laughed. "Take two steps and you'll blow yourself to kingdom come. Nah, you just stand there while we finish with your girl here." He turned back to Hinata, rushing forward with a rapid-fire series of punches and kicks that drove her back, frantically scrambling to stay away from the attacks and stay away from the tags that were apparently everywhere.

"You don't know me very well, do you?" Naruto demanded. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, and I. Do Not. Leave! My! Precious People! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

Hundreds of slack-faced Narutos appeared everywhere, blanketing the training field in a sea of orange-clad blonds. Each clone promptly started running a grid pattern, waves of chakra boiling off them to trigger any explosive tag they came near. Hinata and both of the Sound nin stared in horror as Naruto sacrificed hundreds of himself to remove every one of the huge number of explosive tags that had been strewn throughout the field. Smoke obscured everything as gods of lightning and thunder walked up and down the field, shaking the ground and blasting it to fragments.

When the shaking eventually stopped, all four of the conscious ninja were clinging to the ground, covering themselves against the rain of rocks, dirt, and fragments of wood. Sachi had been caught in a particularly dense patch of the smoke and was coughing too hard to react when it cleared; Ichiro was sticking close to her side in case one of the Konoha nin went for her. Across from them, said Konoha nin were too busy staring around at the chewed-up landscape to do anything.

"That was...a lot of tags," Naruto said dazedly. He shook his head to clear it and pushed himself to his feet. "Look," he said to the Sound nin. "It was a good ambush, but it didn't work. We're going to take our friend and go. Don't do this again, or we'll kill you. You know we can do it too—your whole ambush was designed around separating us, taking us down one by one. As a team, we'd slaughter you."

Sachi was shaking off the coughing fit and climbing back to her feet, but most of the fight seemed to have gone out of her. Ichiro eyed her for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Fine," he said tiredly. "You're right, I don't want to fight someone who can do that."

Naruto nodded and moved to Shino. Hinata stayed where she was, looking at Sachi and frowning.

"C'mon, Shino-kun," Naruto said, getting a hand under his semi-conscious friend's arm to help him up. Shino moaned, shook his head dizzily, and accepted the hand.

"NARUTO, NO!" Hinata yelled in sudden panic. "THAT'S NOT SH—"

Shino came up on one knee, putting all the power of his body behind the kunai thrust that took Naruto in the belly and ripped upwards, gutting him like a trout. The blond genin flickered as the attack came in but didn't manage to dodge in time; he screamed and collapsed, blood fountaining out of him even as his intestines hit the ground.

The genjutsu melted away, leaving 'Shino' revealed as Sachi and 'Sachi' revealed as Nariko, the third member of Team Kaiya.

Sachi sneered at Hinata. "You beat on my boyfriend, I gut yours, bitch," she said. She studied Hinata for a moment, a cruel grin spreading across her face. "Don't worry though; we aren't done yet. You're pretty good close up, but three on one? Not liking your chances."

The Naruto who lay disemboweled on the grass gave a final gasp...and popped like a soap bubble.

A hundred Narutos bounded into the clearing, an unhurt Shino clinging to the first one's back. Tens of thousands of kikai swarmed from Shino's sleeves and went for Nariko.

"Doton: Multiple Earth-Style Wall!" Naruto shouted from his position in the trees; he raised his hands and the entire training field erupted, stone walls leaping out of the ground everywhere. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Before he even finished activating his signature jutsu, a dense cloud of kikai bugs leaped from the four canteens on his back and threw themselves at Ichiro.

Team Kaiya were too well-trained to freeze when a labyrinth tore itself out of the ground around them, rocky walls separating them from each other. Each reacted in his or her own way, but they all reacted instantly.

Ichiro turned and punched through the nearest wall; the intent of the labyrinth was obviously to allow the enemy to attack by surprise, so he would turn the surprise back on them by coming from an unexpected direction.

Nariko went for height, leaping clear of the labyrinth, chakra ribbons swirling around her body in a protective shell. The intent of the labyrinth was obviously to restrict the battle to close range, so she would evade and attack from atop the walls.

Sachi slipped her breathing mask on and hurled smoke bombs in every direction, including up and over the walls into other parts of the labyrinth. Whatever the intent of the labyrinth was, a close-range fight in the smoke suited her just fine.

Nariko had barely cleared the top of the wall when dozens of kunai struck. Most bounced off her protective ribbon shield, but enough slipped through the gaps to slash her to ribbons—only to trigger her contingent kawarimi and substitute her with a nearby log.

A log that had been very deliberately placed there by a certain blond genin who had taken to heart the Snake Sannin's lesson: trigger the contingent kawarimi, force the enemy to a predicatable destination, kill them on arrival. No sooner had Nariko appeared then she was torn to scraps of bloody flesh by several thousand shuriken hurled by a veritable army of clones.

In the smoke-filled labyrinth, teenage killers stalked each other with murderous intent.

o-o-o-o

Ichiro had seen the barrage of kunai pass overhead, heard the scream of his teammate, and immediately deduced the lesson: jumping was bad. Furthermore, any moment the blond with all the clones was going to jump up on top of the walls and storm kunai down. Without room to dodge Ichiro would be cut to ribbons. Okay, he'd just have to make room for dodging.

The wall to his left exploded at his straight kick. He followed it with a roundhouse that widened the hole, turned that into a mule kick to take out the next wall, pivoted again to knock down yet more of the wall...and there was the bug-user! And he was facing the other way!

A chakra-powered leap launched him at his target, right foot leading, left tucked under in textbook form. Shino heard him launch and spun to face him, just in time to take the kick in the cheek instead of the back of the neck. He was knocked back by the power of the blow—

Only to explode into a cloud of kikai bugs that swarmed over Ichiro, sucking the chakra out of him like blood pumping from a wound. Frantically, Ichiro kawarimied with a large chunk of rock from the collapsed wall behind him, leaving the bugs behind.

On emergence, his eyes barely had time to focus enough to read the word that had been chalked on the wall: Sucker.

The explosive tag buried under the pile of debris detonated; whether Ichiro was killed by the blast itself or the wave of bullet-like gravel that smashed his body to pulp...well, it was all a bit academic.

o-o-o-o

Hinata stalked through the labyrinth, a wetted scarf wrapped around her mouth and nose to filter out the smoke. Her physical eyes were squeezed shut to keep out the pepper dust that Sachi had laced this area with; for almost any other ninja, had they lacked a pair of the protective goggles that Sachi was wearing, the pepper dust would have been disabling. For a Byakugan user it was irrelevant.

"It was very clever, Sachi-chan," Hinata said, her voice almost friendly as the fury burned away all hesitation. "Tell me, how did you learn to simulate the chakra flows of your teammates and Shino-kun?"

"I have a friend who's a chakra sensor and a genjutsu user," came Sachi's voice, three corridors over and to the left. Hinata hurried down her current corridor and rounded the turn. Laughter bubbled under Sachi's voice. "We've had her watching you ever since the day we fought," she said. "She studied your flows and used her genjutsu to show them to me until I could model them properly. And it worked, princess. Your vaunted all-seeing eyes were fooled. You rushed to save your friend and so you got to watch your boyfriend die."

"Naruto-kun did not die," Hinata said, still in that calm, friendly voice. "What you killed was a clone."

"Yes," Sachi said, from the other side of the wall to Hinata's right. Hinata put on a burst of speed, dashing to the end of the corridor and turning into the next; by the time she got there, Sachi was already gone, hurrying ahead. "Not just an elemental clone though, was he?" she said. "After all, he didn't leave any water or rock behind when he died...no, that was a kage bunshin, a shadow clone. And from the way he reacted, he was fully intelligent. He was Naruto. I killed him, as surely as though it had been the original. And the best part? If he keeps making those clones, I can do it again. And again. And again. I've watched your practices, little princess. He's not good enough to stop me."

Hinata slipped a blue ribbon out of her belt pouch and tied it around the handle of a kunai.

"You know, Sachi-chan...Naruto-kun's clones are ringing this labyrinth," Hinata said. "Anyone who jumps will get shredded. You're trapped in here with me."

Sachi laughed. "Is that what you think? Child, you're trapped in here with me. Last time you took me by surprise because I didn't know you could see through my smoke. This time, after I've had the chance to prepare? You're dead meat. And you can't afford to jump out either; there's no way for Naruto to tell the difference between you and me under a henge. He'd have to just shoot regardless, or the threat would be useless. Now, me? I don't have to jump to kill you."

The ground melted under Hinata's feet, sucking her down and then resolidifying around her neck, entombing her completely. Sachi stepped away from the wall where she'd been hiding under the veil of her genjutsu. A kunai danced between her fingers as she knelt down and leaned forward, laying a gentle, mocking kiss on Hinata' lips.

"Surprise, sweetie," she said with a wicked smile. "Now, I think we should start with the eyes—they're so inconvenient." She slipped the blade of her kunai into Hinata's left eye and, with a practiced twist, carved it out of the girl's head. Hinata screamed in agony.

"Don't worry, I've been practicing," Sachi cooed, holding up the eye for examination before dropping it into a small water-filled bag. "You would not believe the number of eyeless squirrels that are running around the woods these days." She paused, cocking her head in thought. "Well, probably not running. Maybe 'stumbling', I suppose. Although, come to think of it, more likely they got eaten." She shrugged and sliced out Hinata's other eye.

"KAI!" Hinata yelled. The world dissolved around her, leaving her standing on her feet, be-ribboned kunai in her hand and eyes intact...and Sachi racing down the corridor towards her, hurling kunai as she came.

Hinata frantically slapped aside the kunai aimed for her chest and head, but she wasn't fast enough to keep the third from slamming into her thigh in a spike of white-hot pain. Her leg collapsed under her; she went down but turned it into a roll, taking the sting out of the fall. She took a moment to breathe before tending to the wound; she had time, as Sachi had dashed back around the corner the moment her attack had struck.

"Kai," Hinata said, freezing her chakra flow in place for a moment. No, the kunai and the wound it had caused were, unfortunately, very real. She gritted her teeth, pulled the kunai out, and applied a pressure bandage and some pain-relief ointment from the medical kit in her sealing scroll. The pain faded almost immediately, leaving a tingling numbness in its wake. Careful experimentation showed that the leg was mostly functional, although undue strain probably wasn't a good idea.

"Nasty wound you took there, princess," Sachi said, from two corridors ahead and to the left. "Probably bleeding too...how long before you pass out, do you think? Even if you can stay on your feet, it's really gonna slow you down. Close-range fighter like you, that's not such a good thing."

"Perhaps," said Hinata. She pushed herself to her feet and picked up the beribboned kunai. Taking the ribbon in hand, she started to spin it, whirling the kunai in a circle to build speed. "And you were right about Naruto-kun shooting at anything that leaves the maze, even if it looks like one of us." She hurled the kunai straight up, the blue ribbon trailing behind it as Hinata followed it up, touching briefly on the wall before springing over two corridors and dropping down on an empty patch of corridor. Her hands moved and Sachi squawked as she was pinned face-first to the ground, her arms twisted sharply up behind her as Hinata kneeled on her back.

"Unless, of course, we signal first," she said. Sachi struggled, but Hinata simply turned slightly, tightening the armlock. "Congratulations, Sachi-chan," she cooed. "Your genjutsu have gotten very good. The version of you that is standing in the next corridor has the right chakra flows, her shadow is correct, the movement of her clothes as she breathes is correct—you even gave her body heat! Well done indeed." She paused. "Of course, you forgot to make her heat up the wall she was leaning on, or to cover the heat in the wall where you were actually leaning." She twisted her body sharply; Sachi screamed as both her shoulders were dislocated. Hinata wasn't finished; even as her victim screamed, the Hyuuga heiress struck with surgical precision—no delicate Gentle Fist, no careful pressure points or chakra manipulations, just an extended-knuckle punch to the base of her enemy's spine that crushed bones and left the girl's lower body limp and useless.

Hinata waited for Sachi to stop screaming before rolling her over and shifting so that she was kneeling beside the girl's head. The Sound ninja stared up at her, eyes wide in panic.

"Please, please, oh kami—" Sachi panted.

Hinata smiled gently at her and laid a delicate finger across her lips. "You were right, Sachi-chan," she said. "The clone you killed really was Naruto-kun. And you were right in the genjutsu you showed me; being powerless, having my eyes cut away...those things terrify me. The way you called him 'Naruto', the touch of your lips on mine...again, very well done. They were horrifying, enraging, shaming...all carefully calculated to make me not think, make me not see through the genjutsu."

Sachi whimpered.

"And using the genjutsu as a cover to lame me? Again, another excellent choice. You're right, I'm mostly a close-range fighter, and a leg wound would be very dangerous for me." She smiled. "Of course, I've gotten a little better...for one thing, sensei taught me a fire jutsu to give me some range. Still, a leg wound? Very dangerous thing for a Hyuuga."

"Please, just let me go," Sachi said. "You're better than me, I see that. And it's not like Naruto-san was really hurt, right? Like you said, it was just a clone. Please, you'll never see me again, I promise, I promise, I promise..." Her trembling got worse as Hinata continued to watch her calmly.

"Did you enjoy kissing me in your illusion, Sachi-chan?" Hinata asked with a gentle smile. "Maybe you'd enjoy trying it in reality?" She leaned down, her hair falling around her face to brush against the other girl's shivering skin.

"Katon: Grand Fireball," Hinata whispered as she sealed her lips to Sachi's.