"Hey...Hinata-Chan," Naruto said quietly as he tried to gently shake her awake. "We're back in Konoha...I think?"
He looked around and the older style cell did seem like Konoha.
Hinata started to wake up then and looked up to find Naruto's face filling her frame of reference. Instantly the blush started working over her face and she froze in place, which was easier to do lying down, she noticed.
"Hey, Hinata, are you okay?" Naruto asked.
Inwardly, Hinata started thinking that this was the time that she should 'convey her true feelings'. Though, whenever Takamichi-sensei said that, it seemed that she accompanied it with some sort of property damage causing violence and Hinata really wasn't certain she could handle doing that to Naruto.
"I...I am fine, Naruto-kun," Hinata stammered out nervously.
Two years of being with Naruto-kun in that other...those other worlds, and she still didn't have the courage to tell him how she felt. And he still hadn't figured it out apparently.
"Oh good," Naruto said, stepping back and sitting on one of the other benches, much to Hinata's simultaneous disappointment and relief. "So, how long do you think we were gone?"
Hinata slowly sat up and dusted herself off.
"Well, Yuuno-sensei said that the time dilation effect we were under was very strong," she said. "I do not suppose too long, perhaps a month?"
She was hopeful.
What would her father say about her being gone for so long?
The young ninja-mage reached for the gladius at her side and took a deep breath. She was home with Naruto, at least until he decided whether or not he would stay or return to Mid-Childa later.
Where he went, so would she, that she had already decided.
"Kleinhoffen?" she asked.
[Bereit, mein Meister]
"Hey, don't worry!" Naruto said. "We're back and if that thingy is gone, we can go back and forth whenever we want now so we get to see all of our friends."
Hinata smiled briefly at Naruto but feared it wouldn't be so simple.
"An hour?" Nanoha said blinking. "They were gone for an hour?"
"I guess this is a surprise," the Hokage said.
"It takes a lot of power to dilate two years into that short of a time," the young woman said. "I don't know that it's been done artificially before..."
She frowned slightly.
"Perhaps it was a natural occurrence," Sarutobi told the polite young woman who he could tell contained an incredible amount of power. "Now, we were discussing who you are?"
"My apologies, Sarutobi-san," Nanoha said then, nodding. "I let myself get sidetracked. Yes, as I said, I am Nanoha Takamichi, Tactical Instructor for the Time-Space Administration Bureau. We primarily provide security and disaster relief for our member worlds, but also are responsible for investigating interdimensional incidents."
"Such as two children being misplaced dimensionally," Sarutobi noted. "Is there any trouble with you staying here given extra time might be occurring in your home?"
"No, we didn't send them back until after the existing dilation was ended, first of all," Nanoha said. "Given that we were unsure of the results that would have. And that's the other curious thing. The dilation only really stuck to those two."
"And what are your intentions now?" the Hokage asked.
"To insure the well-being of my friends and students," Nanoha said simply. "And perhaps occasionally take in the world and see what it is like. However, as a non-administered world, I have no authority here and no jurisdiction over anyone not associated with us."
"And how are Naruto and Hinata associated with you?" the Hokage asked.
"Well, technically, they'd be auxiliary members," the woman said. "Since they've maintained an open front about loyalty to home first. Both are of B+ rank, Naruto favors a Modern Belkan system while Hinata seemed to take to the Ancient Belkan system and were quite helpful in a recent incident on Mid-Childa. Lt. Col Yagami will likely come visit to discuss economics and payment should we need their help in the future. Hinata's eyes and Naruto's clones are both useful in disaster clean up, we've found."
"Ah, so you're going to hire them through us if you need their help," the Hokage said.
"Yes," Nanoha said. "One other thing. We are aware of his prisoner, of course, and the other two entities sealed within that seem to be set their to help deal with the demon. We have considered it a top level secret and I assume you do as well."
There was somewhat of a questioning tone to the woman's voice, protective, that brought a smile to Sarutobi's face briefly.
"Indeed," the Hokage said. "The story is a tragic one, and I wish I could relay it to quiet those concerns you have. But it is, as you said, a secret and not even we have all the answers as to what happened when it was done."
"I...see," Nanoha said.
"Now can you give me some specifics by what you mean by close-mid and front-type mages?" Hokage asked.
"I've got a what?" Ino asked.
"Kekkai genkai, possibly," the medical nin said. "Something happened to activate a previously dormant set of genetics. Apparently it was inherited from your mother since we can't find similar markers with your father or other born Yamanakas."
"And if it's not a Kekkai genkai?" Inoichi said.
The medic hesitated to bring up the word cancer, especially as it seemed that there was no sign of a tumor or anything sign that the changes would develop into that...yet at least.
"We shall see, but it is hasty to do anything now," the medic warned. "Come back in a week and we should have some better idea of what will happen."
The next week pretty much confirmed what was guessed. Ino Yamanaka had inherited some sort of previously dormant kekkai genkai from her deceased mother.
She hadn't taken the mantle of Medusa just yet, but that might just be coming. Especially as none of the other handful of gorgons in the world even knew they were anything other than normal.
Neji frowned as he considered his sister and the odd sword at her side that occasionally seemed to talk. She was older...there was nothing else to say about it, she had gotten at least one, maybe two, years older, physically speaking. And much of her demeanor had changed as well.
She was still...hesitant about a lot of things, but there was confidence there that had not been present before.
What had happened in the space of an hour when she and Naruto had gone missing, something he'd caught ear of by happenstance.
"So what do we do about teams?" Kakashi asked as the jonin came together with the Hokage.
"Hinata and Naruto have two years documented and video-recorded experience working together," Kurenai noted. "They should obviously be paired together, but who would be the third?"
Kurenai had seen some of the videos and she was very much wanting to compare notes with the four women that had handled much of the two's training: Signum, Vita, Fate and Nanoha. From the looks of things, they had mostly worked with Signum and Fate.
"Looking at the videos," Asuma noted. "I'd say they are both primarily attackers, with Hinata primarily a close-range and Naruto moving mid to close range. They could use a genjutsu or other support type to complement them. How about Sakura Haruno?"
"The Yamanaka and Nara both qualify for that role as well," Kakashi pointed out. "As does the Aburame."
"How is the Yamanaka doing, by the way?" Kurenai asked.
"She has found a way to pass for normal on a glance without using a henge," the Hokage said. "It at least cuts down on the chakra for her using a henge. Unfortunately, she seems to be withdrawing, socially speaking. Reports indicate she is no longer working in the front of her family flower shop."
"Might I suggest, in that case, that it might be best to put Ino with those who are more used to strange, slightly inhuman individuals?" Kurenai noted.
"That might be a good idea," Kakashi said as he turned to look at the surveillance videos and watched Hinata and Naruto's reaction to Ino's appearance in the room.
"Ino!" Naruto gasped. "You're a gorgon!?"
"Huh?! What?" Ino asked, feeling her face flush a bit and wishing she had come in with a henge rather than trusting the whole shapeshift thing.
It tended matter how pale she got it, most people eventually noticed her skin was purple, not white. And blushing just made it worse. Especially has her...hair things started twisting nervously in ways that they shouldn't have.
"How is that possible," Hinata asked. "Gorgons are native to Earth ...not this world."
"World? What? Gorgon? What are you talking about?" Ino asked.
"What are you three idiots talking about?" Kiba wondered irritably
"They recognize what she is?" the Hokage said. "Interesting."
He smiled as he decided to put the three together on...
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(Posted Thu, 19 May 2011 19:46)
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