"Kiba, bring Akamaru over here!" called Hana. "We're ready to operate on him!"
"Awoo… :("
Kiba rushed over to the marquee that sheltered his older sister's medical station, gingerly holding his large dog at arm's length. Akamaru's white fur was bristling with hundreds of the Hidden Mist Hunter-nin's weapon of predilection, the senbon needle, making the big pupper look like a porcupine.
"He just jumped in front of me to protect me," Kiba said tearfully as he placed Akamaru on the operating table. "He's going to be all right… right, Big Sis?"
"He looks worse than he is, he'll be fine," Hana assured him. "Now run along, you're in the way."
Nearby, under another marquee, Sakura was operating on his teammate Shino, who had ended up severely frostbitten after fighting a bout with a Yuki clan member wielding a long, pointy sword. Having never seen Shino lose before, the sight of him falling had been quite a shock to Kiba, resulting in Akamaru having to shield him from a storm of senbon needles.
"Kya!"
Each time Sakura made an incision in Shino's skin with the Scalpel Jutsu, dead Kikaichū would spill out, and each time, she would let out a small, terrified cry before biting down hard on her lip and continuing to operate on him, her blade never wavering even a little.
"It's a good thing Hinata-chan got your teammate here so fast," Hana sighed, glancing over. "Otherwise, that Aburame kid might have lost a limb or two…"
Kiba sniffed at the air. For some reason, Sakura's scent now reminded him a little of his sister's.
"I said run along!" Hana said impatiently, ushering him away.
Kiba reluctantly trudged away from the operating tents and walked over to his other teammate, Hinata, who had joined Team 7 beneath a large tree on the outskirts of the encampment, along with her cousin Neji. Her face was bright red, as was usual whenever she found herself in close proximity to Naruto in a relaxed setting.
"Those new eyes of yours," Kakashi was saying, sounding rather intrigued. "Those aren't the Byakugan any more, are they? Could it be that the Byakugan can also evolve, just like the Sharingan?"
Hinata nodded shyly as she twiddled her thumbs, her downcast eyes darting towards Naruto every few seconds to steal a glance. Noticing that his teammate was tongue-tied, Kiba decided the least he could do was play wingman, especially after Akamaru had saved him and all their comrades.
"The Sharingan is nothing compared to Hinata's new eyes!" Kiba said loudly as he inserted himself into their circle. "She was all like, wham, bam, kablam! Whoosh! Pew-pew! She swooped down, throwing huge chakra swords and shooting laser beams all over the place! She sank all of the Hidden Mist's ships, just like that! Man, you should have seen her back there, it was awesome… it was like she was a goddess bringing down heavenly punishment, ya hear?"
Hinata's face turned an even deeper shade of red.
"Kiba…!" she said embarrassedly, tugging at his sleeve as she begged him to stop with her eyes. "It wasn't anything like that…!"
"Though I hate to say it, Hinata has indeed surpassed me," Neji said, glancing at Sasuke. "No words can express the sheer power she unleashed that day… the Sharingan, let alone the Mangekyō Sharingan, can hardly compare…"
Without warning, Naruto punched Sasuke in the arm hard.
"What's the matter with you, Sasuke? Aren't ya going to say anything?" Naruto said. "They're totally dissing the Uchiha clan, man! Aren't ya going to defend your honour, ya know!?"
While Naruto did not mind kicking Sasuke when he was down where Sakura's affection was concerned, Uchiha Sasuke was still the first person he had ever recognised as his rival! When other people disrespected Sasuke's abilities, they were, by transitive property, disrespecting Naruto in turn… and since his girlfriend, Sakura, was also an Uchiha, the affront was doubled!
"And what's with the eye, man?" Kiba went on, pointing at Sasuke's six-tomoe Rinnegan. "What, Sharingan no longer good enough for you?"
By this point, seeing that Sasuke had turned into a punching bag, Kiba had completely forgotten his earlier plan to set Hinata up with Naruto to get one over on Sasuke, who had always acted as though he were better than everyone else… at least for as long as Kiba had known him.
"Kiba…" Hinata said anxiously. "Fighting with friends is no good…"
"What's the matter, you too chicken to take on our Hinata-chan?" Kiba said, flapping his arms. "Bawk-bawk!"
"They say a dog's bark is worse than its bite," Sasuke said at last. "And I see it's true that the smallest dog barks the loudest…"
A vein popped on Kiba's forehead.
"Oh yeah? You're on, then!" he snarled. "You and me, right now!"
Barely had those words escaped his lips when he remembered that Akamaru was in surgery. He was powerless!
"Hang on, can we do this another day? Akamaru's still being treated," Kiba said, sweating bullets. "Why don't you fight Hinata-chan instead?"
Kiba swiftly moved behind Hinata and pushed her forwards for the offering.
"Kiba!" Hinata said in dismay.
"Good luck, Sasuke!" Naruto cheered. "Show Team 8 the true power of the Uchiha, or whatever ya call it, ya know! Kick Hinata-chan's butt!"
"Naruto!?" Hinata squealed in horror.
It was at that moment that Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, Hinata's fairy godmother, decided to show her ghostly self and weigh in on the situation with her usual wisdom:
'Beat them both and use them as breeding stallions, they're the only half-decent human monkeys I've seen so far,' she said. 'I personally like the dark, broody one, but the feisty one doesn't seem too bad, either…'
Urashiki's voice trailed off. Was the handsome one making eye contact with her…?
"Who is that perverted woman floating above us?" Sasuke said, locking eyes with her. "One of your friends, Hyūga?"
"What are you talking about now, Mophead?" Kiba said mockingly. "Have you finally gone off the deep end? There's nobody there."
Naruto frowned as he peered into empty space.
"No, there's definitely something there, ya know?" he said slowly, squinting at the nothingness above Hinata's head. "I can't see it, but I can sense something…"
His face turned as white as a sheet.
"C-c-c-could it be that, ya know?" he stammered. "A g-g-g-ghost…!?"
A droplet of nervous sweat trickled down Urashiki's forehead from the base of her horn. That brat with the weird Rinnegan could definitely see her, and blondie could sense her presence…
'Time to come clean, they found us, Hinata,' Urashiki whispered loudly in her ear. 'Looks like the gig is up, eh?'
Hinata wanted to cry. What did Urashiki mean, they found us? Why did she have to get dragged into this when she was the one being haunted by a spooky apparition!? Now, Naruto would definitely hate her… he was scared to death of ghosts!