Author's Foreword:

Okay, so, this was a hideously long piece of not-necessary. Snipped.

Why? Well, I'm streamlining. Watch as I add a new chapter while deleting much of my old commentary… and have my story's word-count plummet like the purchasing power of the U.S. Dollar.

Anyway – to serve as a proper introduction, I'm Aim. You'll get used to my sense of humor after a while or consider me a douche. Even those of you following the English dub should be up to date (and you've probably already run into plenty of spoilers on this site, anyway) – so I won't bother with spoiler warnings, and you all shouldn't be completely lost.

I'm taking a slightly more realistic twist on the war (or a stab at it). There's only so much realism that can be had when you pick up in the middle of the series and have to deal with Teenage Wizard Ninja Saiyans – but I'll at least try to put some strategic and tactical sense behind it. The first few chapters, however, I meant to be kind of self-contained plots within the overall plot leading up to the war. And I'll just shut up and let the story tell itself:

[Disclaimer: I am God, and therefor own everything in the known (and unknown) universe. However, seeing as I also bestowed free will upon you all, and that has led to wondrous bouts of creativity and unpredictable behavior - I cannot take credit for Naruto or any of its related material. Why am I writing this, anyway... is it really necessary, or just a community habit?]

Chapter One: Phantasmic

His blue eyes bore through the space between him and her. Every ounce of strength had left her, only her will to be by his side could convince her body to move. Each inch of space was a mile to fight through, every bit of sand and clay gritting into her skin. All he could do now was see her… to watch her, and nothing more. It was surreal – it was her dream to have, and be, his undivided attention – to be his salvation in the face of defeat.

With that, she took hold of the chakra blade pinning his hands, a sadistic skewer. Everything hurt, but she couldn't… wouldn't give up. Not now. He wouldn't give up; not on anyone, and she wouldn't give up on him. So long as she still had life in her, she would free the young man she believed could put an end to the destruction. A moment of confusion overtook her as gravity, itself, seemed to invert, sending her falling into the sky.

She fell; limp, as her eyes caught his intense gaze against a vengeful earth, rushing toward her. Those eyes of his, yearning with every ounce of being to help her – a raw and pure instinct palpable from several meters above…

The ground slammed into her with a startled flinch against the fluff of bedding. Hinata Hyuuga's bright, silver eyes darted through her surroundings on instinct as she swallowed her heart back to its place. Flash-backs were never pleasant. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, her body brimming with energy.

Moments later, she was dressed and walking out of the compound, spared due to its location on the outskirts of the village. The young heiress walked anxiously through the village… what remained of it, or had been rebuilt. Yamato's 'make a village jutsu' was incredibly handy. She wandered without direction, struggling to find an outlet for her anxiety.

She neared the crater, once down-town Konoha, and could no longer resist. A lunge sent her careening down the crater's slope, Byakugan flaring instinctively. She found herself racing against the ghost of her flashback as she pushed herself faster. That obstinacy to such an overwhelming force, the resolve to extinguish your own life for the sake of another… that moment of self-sacrifice was life amongst an existence of mortem.

Dirt crumbled beneath her feet, wind tugged at her hair, and centrifugal force pulled at her gut. Hinata shot in an orbit about the crater, escaping to the wooded tier above with a graceful flip and two kunai cast into an unsuspecting tree stump. Only somewhat relieved, she sat upon the stump, looking out over the crater. Her leg bounced anxiously against the kunai, satisfied with how deep and solid they had sunk into the wood.

Hinata's eyes fell upon the center of the crater, and stared.

She had hardly seen Naruto these past few weeks. She was on a patrol unit – assigned to scan for threats to what remained. Naruto was on an interception team. In theory, she would direct Naruto's team to drop the hammer on encroaching threats. In practice, most of the threats came from thieves and con-men than the militants Naruto was brutally effective against. Not that it gave any ninja in the village much free time.

Could he feel for her anything approaching what she felt for him?

What did he think about that day… what did he feel?

Hinata knew, all too well, that Naruto carried many burdens silently, in spite of his bold and blunt nature. He wanted others to be happy, not worry about him. He didn't talk much about his lack of parents, the loss of Jiraiya, or the fox-spirit he carried with him. When she practically died before his eyes, he caved to pure rage and tore the living hell out of the countryside as the nine-tails (or, six of them...) and Pain. She heard the stories of how absolutely pissed Naruto was – single-minded in his destruction of her assailant. She could feel his anger – his desperation – filling the air as Sakura strained to save her life.

Was he ashamed? Scared? The Fox was something other than Naruto; its own will, power, and chakra. It was not a part of Naruto so much as it was with him, along for the ride.

Hinata was deep in thought as she caught the slightest movement in the center of the crater. She hadn't noticed how the figure entered, beyond the range of normal vision. Thankfully, Hyuugas come standard-equipped with the exclusive Byakugan ocular system. This made identification of said figure quite simple. If only he showed up every time she thought of him….

Naruto stubbed at the ground in frustration. Water had taken its toll on the scene, but he could still see the chakra rods embedded in the ground… what remained of them after he turned into a human-fox nuclear fireball. That was, however, not what was holding his attention. If you knew what to look for, you could still see the blood-soaked clay that marked where Pain had finished Hinata's fight against him.

The image still haunted him; blood running out from under the rocks concealing her body. The girl; who, moments before, uttered the same words that he lived by, fought her way to his side, and confessed her love for him; dying right there in front of him.

She had no problem dying for him. There was no risk in what she did, only certain death. If it hadn't been for Sakura still being alive and Naruto going ballistic by untold orders of magnitude, she would have.

How did you talk to someone after something like that? He barely saw her since then, but every time he caught a glimpse of her, he froze inside. She normally blended into the background and, normally, he was content to let her be a part of it. But that was no longer the case. His mind picked her out among crowds, shadows, and illusions. Her face filled his dreams and nightmares.

Naruto was getting flustered. He needed to talk to her, to say something… but what? A thank-you is almost an insult. You thank someone for sharing food or helping you complete a task. Dying for you required something that he had no words for.

An idea struck him. Naruto and shadow-clones were integral parts of the same whole. Many problems could be solved with a shadow-clone or thousand. A shadow clone appeared at his side and he began explaining his plan to himself.

Hinata watched Naruto from a distance with her Byakugan. He was standing hear the spot where Pain nearly killed her, a thoughtful look on his face. He paced a bit, obviously frustrated. A sudden look of revelation existed before a shadow –clone appeared and he began chattering to it. Curiosity was getting the best of her. She faded into the brush as Naruto and his clone approached her hideout.

"Hinata, I…" Hinata turned as white as the moon. He knew!

"No, that's no good… how do you talk to someone after something like that?" Hinata suppressed a sigh of relief, realizing Naruto was talking to his clone. Wait… he was nervous? Shy, even? This was new.

"How did you talk to her, before?" Clone-nuto responded.

"I would say hello and she would faint." Hinata blushed behind her cover.

"What about on those missions to track Sasuke?"

"We didn't talk that much… We were both just kind of… there." Naruto said, a tinge of regret beneath his words.

"Hmm… Remember how she said she loved you; right after dropping out of the sky to save you?" Naruto was beginning to wonder if his clone referring to him in the third person would do some kind of brain damage once the clone returned to his chakra pool. It was kind of creepy already.

"Yeah… she knew me all along; better than anyone. I feel kind of bad. She always sort of blended into the background, you know, and I just … let her. I didn't take note of her unless she was right under my nose. I never really took the opportunity to get to know her." Clone-nuto found it somewhat interesting that Naruto was acting like Hinata had actually died.

'No,' Hinata thought, 'I always hid myself. I always fainted when you spoke to me.'

"But when you were around her, you did take note. You swore on her blood to kick Neji's ass for being such a dick." Clone-nuto added, quite bluntly. "You have always been impressed with her abilities…"

"But she got me." Naruto interrupted, "Read me like a book. She knew how alone and inadequate I felt…. I … I didn't even know there was someone out there who understood…. She was always part of the background – like the wall… but now I can't help but see her – to think about her. She stands out, now, everywhere." Hinata's heart beat strong and deep. She couldn't believe what she was hearing… well, she could; but it was like a dream.

"Even more than Sakura?" Clone-nuto shot the statement, razor-sharp, straight through Hinata's dream-world.

"Who?" If Hinata's jaw could have hit the ground, it would have gone straight through it. Clone-nuto was only slightly less dumbfounded. ". . . Oh – Sakura…" Naruto's voice trailed off. "She was everything I thought I wanted; popular, smart, and appreciated… but that was more what I wanted to be, not who I want to be with… I am not sure I know, now, even. I just want to know more about Hinata, to spend more time around her. I just don't know how to say…."

Naruto's voice trailed off at the exasperated, eye-bulging look on his clone's face. He whirled to face what could only be some ghoulish threat as his clone disappeared. His clone's memories merged with his own just in time to collide, in his mind, with the images his eyes had sent him. Only after the feelings of intense confusion and deja-vu got sorted out could he begin to honestly react in astonishment.

Hinata Hyuuga, heiress to the Hyuuga clan, stood silently just in front of the brush-line. Naruto was in complete shock and felt all too vulnerable; he may as well have been caught naked. "H-Hinata! Um… What are you doing out at this hour?" His mind cursed his complete lack of composure.

Hinata found she rather enjoyed having the upper hand. It was an exciting feeling… in more ways than she considered dignified. It was an endeavor against her imagination to force those feelings to the side, mostly because they were horribly distracting. "I came here to think, and happened to see you in the crater, earlier…."

"Oh…" Hinata's words rolled around in blonde's head for a moment. "W-wait, so you heard-?"

"Since you got here…" Hinata interjected with a blush.

It was Naruto's turn to define new hues of red in a blush. "I… uh…." The gears in his head were trying to turn, but with no joy.

"I am sorry, Naruto, for eavesdropping like that…. I always used to watch you from a distance like that since we were young; it's a bad habit." Naruto wasn't sure if he felt cherished or hunted…. "But, after Pain… I can't go back to doing that. I – I can't wait to watch you face death again, to wait until it is all but too late to say anything. So… please, talk to me." Holy crap, did she know how to make a heart melt.

Naruto gulped, he was so far out of his element it was beyond funny. A girl was looking to spend time with him – and standing right there –, something very new to him. That, coupled with being caught in what could only be described as a compromising self-expression, was a bit overwhelming. Somehow, the stump seemed to offer a solution as he decided to sit and prop himself against its base. Hinata joined him, allowing what seemed to be a comfortable amount of personal space.

"I keep having nightmares," Naruto finally broke the silence, more composed. "I keep seeing you fight your way across that crater, hearing you yelp after Pain's force-blasts… and all I can do is watch…."

Hinata wasn't sure what to say. He had been powerless as she had gotten beaten just short of death. "I couldn't… I couldn't just watch you die, Naruto." Emotion laced her undertone. "You have always meant so much to me, ever since…"

Naruto's epiphany came just before she could complete her statement. He'd almost forgotten the day, long ago, when he had stood up for Hinata against some local bullies… and gotten his ass kicked. Since then? He thought she had meant since the academy days. Now that he thought about it – she didn't fall into the Sasuke fan-club. She'd admired him even then? Damn… he really was clueless. Now he could see how similar she was to him.

"… Since you were there and believed in me." Hinata half finished.

Naruto took her hand. He didn't really know why, he wasn't even sure what he felt for her, other than the overwhelming desire to show some kind of support. Hinata turned her head to face him, a blush apparent, and the two shared a small, but deep, smile. Now he understood, she was motivated by the same dreams and ideas he was – to be known and appreciated.

He couldn't help but take a moment to admire her in the light of the moon. Honestly, how did he miss her beauty? Sure, Sakura was a flashy sort of beauty, but Hinata was on a whole different level; a gentle, smooth, enduring warmth radiated from her features. If you thought of Sakura as a flower, Hinata was a whole landscape by comparison. He could almost see it; a cool, silky wind across the gentle, yet defined, curves of a river flowing from a peak of mountains as a duo of bright, full moons set just above the mountain horizon... Naruto found himself gazing at her simply because it comforted him to look at her.

"You were pretty awesome against Pain." Naruto was trying to break the silence.

"Really?" Hinata was not an easy sell.

"Standing up to a guy that strong took ovaries of steel!" Hinata suppressed a surprised giggle-snort. Where had he picked that phrase up, and how long had he been waiting to use it? "And you can really move with that Tiger-fist thing. Even Kakashi would have had a hard time keeping up with him! You also had really good focus; better than most Jonin." Naruto decided it was best to word that carefully.

Hinata understood. She never intended to win against Pain, merely to do enough to free Naruto, who she felt did have a chance. She only fought to create an opening. She had to admit, he really had a strange and goofy way of complementing her on not instantly dying; but it had the desired effect - she felt better.

"Thank you, Hinata," There was a pause. "for believing in me and not giving up."

"That's my Ninja way…" Hinata realized, almost immediately, how silly she sounded. Naruto responded with a goofy grin and blush, knowing he used those words as a personal creed.

"So… I have some time in the evenings free. I usually train or eat by myself, but we can do stuff together, if you want." Naruto proposed, uncertainty in his voice. He'd never really planned to be around someone before, not in the context of what could only be described as a date. Sure, he'd asked Sakura to accompany him places more times than he could count, but never with this kind of… need? He had trouble placing the feeling - he just knew that it would hurt far more to be turned down by Hinata, right now, than any time Sakura had. He wasn't even sure why that fear had crept into his mind; she knowingly sacrificed herself for him thinking she would die... why would turn him down? Fear didn't make sense, perhaps that was why he found it so frightening.

"I would really like that." Hinata was about to explode with more emotions than she had words for. "… umm…" She paused.

"What?" Naruto looked confused.

"What do you want to do?" Hinata looked at him expectantly. What did she know about dating and social interaction? Standing up to the ninja who turned most of the village into a damned crater and pinned the single most powerful ninja in Konoha… not a problem. Spending time with Naruto, however… that was not so easily addressed.

Naruto had to think about that one. What he did wasn't necessarily what Hinata would enjoy doing with him. "How about we meet here and see where things go." He finally suggested.

"That would be good-!" Hinata started just before Naruto pulled her into an embrace. For a moment, she was stunned. She returned his embrace as she recovered, enjoying how firm and supportive his arms were. She could feel her body pulse with her heart against his – it wasn't racing, just a deep, powerful throb.

"Don't stop being you, Hinata. If you ever need me, just let me know." Naruto didn't want to shoot his mouth off… he only knew a little about her, but he certainly wanted to be there for her. Strange, unfamiliar feelings were rolling within him, and he really didn't want to do something wrong.

"And don't stop being Naruto." Hinata charged, nuzzling into his collar. "I'm so happy right now." The two just held each other for a while, marveling at the peace they both felt. Reality bent and merged with imagination as Hinata began to slip into dreams that marked the beginning of the best night of sleep she had in recent memory.

Naruto sat, admiring her beauty. It wasn't just looks – she was soft, warm, and simply amazing to hold in his arms. She also smelled wonderful; a gentle, deep, comforting aura that danced with ripples of an implacable, yet sweet scent. He didn't even notice he was tired, much less when he fell asleep.

Notes:

Yeah, just cut my word count for this chapter nearly in half. Pretty sad, really.

Anyway – criticism is always desired. Praise and worship are optional… unless you want to be cast into the pits of hell….

I'm a stickler for typos, syntax, plot holes, etc – if you all encounter them (or think you have encountered them), please let me know. While this is a pretty quick delete-my-ramblings update, I do have every intention of overhauling chapters when and where necessary. It won't do much for those of you who have already read through it… but it will help out the newcomers.

That all said, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter enough to keep reading.