NaruHina: Resolution

Chapter 1: Happy

Naruto looked over the horizon, watching the sun slowly rise. It was still dark, only a sliver of the sun peaked beyond the mountains. He smiled slightly. He hadn't meant to turn it on, but he could feel the orange glow of his sage mode lingering around his eyes. He'd only meant to lean back and relax against the tree as he finally found a comfortable position on the sturdy branch he'd chosen. In his stillness, natural energy flowed into him as he'd try to let the heat of the rising sun warm up his cold body.

Might as well keep it on, he thought. He was on watch duty, after all. His friends' lives were in his hands.

He glanced down at the base of the tree. Rock Lee and Sai were still sleeping peacefully—as much as they could on the hard, solid ground, blankets thrown over their tired bodies.

A bird flew up in the distance. Lee turned over in his sleep but didn't wake. It was still too early to start out. They were camped on a ledge, overlooking a small village hidden in a deep valley. That was their destination for this mission. It shouldn't take more than another hour or two to get there once they got going.

As Shikamaru and the sixth Hokage, Kakashi, had explained, the three had been chosen for the mission because of their stamina. It was going to be a test of their endurance. Standing before the Hokage, they looked at each other and understood. Lee kept up a daily training regimen that was rigorous. Sai had his former ANBU Root experience. And of course, Naruto brought his enormous chakra reserves.

"Just getting to the Village of Setsunai will be tough," Shikamaru had cheerfully said. "You'll be crossing mountains, rivers, and wild forests. It's going to kill you—and then some."

"But come back, okay? I don't care if your bodies are in pieces, but haul your butts back to Konoha when you're done." Kakashi said, his eyes glinting above the mask hiding his smile. "We're counting on you guys!"

They'd laughed at the joke then, but nobody was laughing now.

It had been a hard climb up steep mountains to find this remote village—the paths so rough and narrow that a slip of the foot led to certain death over the cliff. Halfway, though, Sai's giant ink birds had provided some relief as they flew through air. But even that was short-lived when the weather turned cruel, pelting them with unrelenting rain, and they'd had to abandon that option. They trudged along, the ground wet, cold, and muddy.

Sai, usually calm and unflappable, kept cursing every step of the way, his sharp eyes occasionally glancing up at the dark sky. "I wish the sun was still out. We could be flying right now."

Even the normally placid Lee, his large, round eyes drooping from exhaustion, had been forced to lose his stoicism and utter an uncharacteristic complaint: "I don't like this rain."

Normally, it would have been enough to make Naruto cry, too. But he'd had a talisman against the unpleasantness: he carried the warmth of Hinata in his heart.

"I'll see you when you get home," she'd promised and then a soft press of her lips against his.

Just remembering her face was enough to keep him upbeat and insufferably cheery all throughout the journey.

"Come on! We're shinobi, right?" Naruto had said, as he marched resolutely ahead, his grin fixed firmly on his face. "We endure. So keep on walking!"

Sai, who'd been trained by the ANBU Root since childhood to hide his feelings, clearly looked like he wanted to hit him.

Lee glanced at him morosely, puzzled by Naruto's unrelenting cheerfulness.

"Fuzzy Brows, where's your smile? We're almost there," he said, his voice jaunty, ignoring their crabby mood.