Part I: Eighty-eight Days

Chapter 2: The Other Side

It was an awkward situation to be in.

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It all started with her goddess's rage (not that she would say that out loud.) It was her rage that caused the earthquake which caused the tsunami to flood over the Sea God's most prized shrine. This happened more than five centuries ago and they were still bickering. Many of the details were already lost due to time, and many rumors about the cold war between the two had already spread across the deities. However, Hinata had personally been there when the event happened, so she knew the true details of the cold war. And, shamefully, it was indeed her goddess's fault.

It was during another one of her drinking outbursts when she lost in a friendly gamble match. In her drunken state, she had not only cracked the table they were gambling on, but also the grounds of the parallel world they were supposed to be supervising. Those grounds happened to be under the sea near the shores of the Sea God's first and largest shrine built by his followers.

While this happened, the Sea God was thankfully away on business, bringing water to dry lands and making oases in deserts. Being one of the worried attendants in the room, Hinata was the first one to break out of the stupor and volunteered to go on site and directly tend to the damages. However, when she got there, it seemed to be worse than what had been shown to them in their world.

There were houses out of array, pieces of debris that used to be many other things... The buildings were utterly crushed from the weight of the water. Looking at the flattened buildings surrounding her, she could only imagine the amount of casualties that was caused. She recognized the head of a stone lion, which used to be at the very front of the shrine, strewn along the debris, detached from its body. At best, Hinata figured the body was now grinded into sand instead of the proud limestone it used to be. Since the temple faced the sea (being the Sea God's temple and all), it had taken most of the damage. The large structures and walls were able to make the damage taken by the other half of the town into something survivable. But, that still left the other half of the town dead.

Seeing all the damage done, she wondered if she had taken a job out of her capability. Maybe Shizune would've been better for this job. Shizune was her goddess's, Tsunade-Sama's, best attendant. Hinata had heard of all the jobs that she was appointed to by Tsunade-Sama before Shizune was ultimately made as the head deity of Her shrine.

To make the situation worse, the Sea God had returned. Hinata was hoping to deal with the majority of the disaster while he was gone and hopefully appease his mood before he sees whatever was left of the disaster that Hinata had yet to fix. However, he had returned before anything could be done.

In the end, Hinata became the messenger between the two gods who had her do errands for both of them. It became a habit for the Sea God to steal Hinata away from any of the chores that Tsunade-Sama gave her in order to give her one of his own assignments to her. He would always pull her away from Tsunade-Sama's assignments saying it was about the tsunami crisis. Whether it was or not, Hinata had to do them regardless; most of them were to take care of the survivors' health. However, during a longer assignment that the Sea God had assigned her in, which involved taking care of the head priest's successor's recently declining health, Tsunade finally snapped. After all the other annoyances that he had committed against Tsunade-Sama, she finally snapped when he took her away for a week. During that week, Tsunade-Sama had arranged for Hinata to do the planning for the centennial ball that was to be held that week for all the gods.

Thankfully, Hinata was able to juggle both jobs at the same time, thanks to all the practice she had with their other double assignments they had her do prior. Unfortunately, the two Gods proverbially blew up at each other, after the five centuries of cold war between them.

The other Gods, seeing this, decided it was high time for them to stop fighting. Tsunade, being the Goddess of the terrains and ground and Gaara, the God of the seas and waters should not be fighting. Gaara, being the God of the Sea was needed to bring water to the sandy deserts that Tsunade created so that the other Gods' creations could survive. And Tsunade had to shape the terrains into something that could contain the waters in for the animals.

.

This brought Hinata back to the awkward situation she was in. The five years of cold war between the two Gods had finally come into fruition. The gift that the other Gods had advised Tsunade-Sama to give had been lost.

Tsunade had meant for the gift, a raw diamond of a grayish-blue made from within the terrains of her creation, to flow down the river that led to Gaara's seas. However, without updated knowledge, Tsunade was unaware that the river dries up in the summer, so now the precious peace offering was lost. And with Hinata being the unofficial ambassador between the two, she had to find it.

She had to find it.

Hinata sighed out loudly when she found out that the stone was enchanted by Orochimaru, the god of the presiding laws of science that governed the physics of the other world. Aside from his godly duties, Orochimaru was also infamous for the experiments he did that often contradicted his own laws of science. This lead to many unexplained occurrences that happened in the human world which eventually became myths and fairy tales.

Normally the enhanced items he made had minor repercussions in exchanged for the fortune it'll give. They were usually as small as a paper cut or stubbing a toe on the corner of a table. However, it was different for humans. They weren't immortal like the gods and the deities so things of much higher degree would happen if it the diamond was carelessly kept. Thinking back at the other times that such items fell into mortal hands made Hinata's head hurt. There was an enchanted necklace which made one look as captivating as a Goddess, but started a war. There was another time when an enchanted flower fell down that cured all diseases, but left the user in solitude.

Personally, Hinata hoped it wasn't anything unnoticeable like the owner being in solitude for the rest of his or her life. It would be much easier to find if it was something big— something that would help news travel. As long as she went where the gossip was, she'll find the diamond.

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From the villages by the dried up river, the hottest piece of news seemed to be about a thievery that happened to the Prince of Northern lands. Coming back from a meeting in Suna, the prince was attacked by ordinary bandits living between the two Kingdoms. From this line of reasoning, she suspected it might've been stolen by the said thieves. Perhaps it was part of the stone's fortune that allowed them to have escaped the Royal Guards that must be looking for them right now.

Hinata decided to disguise herself as a traveling priestess out to help anyone that needed assistance. This allowed her more room to roam and since most of the people residing the Northern and Western lands were between the range of accepting religious beliefs to highly religious, she figured it shouldn't be a problem to go pass any guards.

.

It took Hinata a day to find the thieves that raided the prince. There were only a few villages on the borderline and since they were small villages gossip traveled fast, so it wasn't too hard to find. This village was apparently the one that was the worst off compared to the others, but recently, they received an anonymous benefactor who donated many supplies and food. After meeting all the villagers, which was only about twenty people tops, Hinata made a list of possible candidates for the thieves. Excluding all the sick, children under the age of ten, and the elderly, there were only about five people who could have done it.

The first one is a man about five foot nine inches. He was one of the few who could still work efficiently. He had a strong build and was the one in charge of the firewood and other chores that included hard labor. His name is Ichirou, the first son of the village mayor.

The second suspect is the brother of Ichirou and the second son, Jirou. He looked healthy as well and helped with many chores. He walked with a slight limp that apparently happened due to his clumsiness of falling down the stairs—something that happened often according to the villagers.

The next person is a woman. She is someone with a strong will and a hope for the gods and Hinata is sure that Tsunade would love her. She's a little shorter than Hinata, but not by much, making her of average height. She helps with her sister's farm everyday ever since her sister became pregnant. Her name is Kana.

The fourth man is the farmer who owns the farm that Kana works in. With his wife pregnant, and the productivity low, he has the most motive to find an outside source to take care of her. His name is Tanaka.

The last person who could've been part of this is a sixteen year old boy named Yuto. He was a boy who wandered into this town when he was orphaned and the town took him in. Since then, he took it upon himself to take care of the town the best he could in return for their kindness. Hinata didn't want to believe such a sweet boy would commit thievery and murder, but she figured it wasn't in her place to judge.

"Hinata!"

Hinata turned her head towards the direction of the sound and saw Yuto running to her. Seeing him, she smiled lightly. When she came to the village, she found many of the villagers sick with a fever. It gave Hinata a valid excuse to stay for the villagers and when she proved herself efficient with medicines and tending to the sick, they wanted her to stay even more. While Hinata was flattered and thankful for the chance to investigate further, she wondered what happened to make almost half the villagers sick.

"What's wrong?"

"Haruka started burning up again."

Hinata frowned and followed Yuto who lead her into Haruka's shack. Feeling the patient's forehead, she was indeed burning up again, but not as bad as it was before. Hinata turned to Yuto and smiled.

"Don't worry, she'll be okay."

Yuto let out a sigh of relief.

"Can you bring me to your medicine shack again? I'll boil some herbs together that can help everyone recover quickly.

"Of course!"

Yuto bounded up again and dragged Hinata to a familiar looking shack. Once they were inside, Hinata walked over to the herbs and carefully examined the ones she needed in case it wasn't usable anymore.

"You know, you could stay here. I know it's a dingy village, but every here is grateful and loves you."

Surprised, Hinata turned around to face him, only to find him looking away blushing. He must not be used to telling people to stay for him. Hinata gently smiled and walked into his line of sight in order to force him to look at her.

"Thank you," Hinata said as she patted his head. But, she couldn't stay. Whether the stone was here or not, she wasn't allowed to stay. She was here to patch a peace treaty and return to Tsunade-Sama's side.

"Are you going to stay?"

Hinata paused.

Changing the subject, she asked, "Where did you get these supplies?"

"Hu—what do you mean? We got them from some unknown rich guy."

"I know you were one of the raiders two days ago."

Silence. Hinata could feel the tension in the room and she knew she was right. He was one of them.

"It's alright, I'm not with any authorities and I'm not here to take you to the capital."

Yuto let out a sigh. "Then what do you want? There's gotta be a reason why you asked that."

"I'm looking for something. You might have taken it with you along with the other goods. It's a blue stone. About this big."

Hinata shaped her hands together into a size of an egg. Yuto stared at her hands in thought.

"A stone that's blue? Nope."

Hinata let her disappointment show in her features and let out a sigh.

"Thank you."

Yuto saw her disappointment and frowned with her. Feeling bad, he decided to give Hinata an offer.

"I wasn't the only one in the raid, I can ask the others if they saw something like that."

Hearing that, Hinata's face beamed.

"Thank yo—"

"But, you have to stay until everyone's cured before I tell you."

Smiling, Hinata replied, "Of course."

.

On the fourth day of Hinata's stay, the villagers were looking much better. As promised, Yuto tells her about what he has found out. According to him, they never took anything that looked like the stone that she described. However, one of them did see the man they attacked holding one like that.

"Come back to visit us some time," says a villager.

"I will," Hinata responds. Though, privately, she knows she may not have a chance to.

"Do you have enough food? Our crops are looking better again, so you should take some more." She knew Tanaka was lying about the crops but decided not to comment on that. The way he spoke to her was like a father sending off his child and Hinata appreciated that he saw her as family in the last four days.

"Thank you, but this is enough. The trip isn't too long."

Bidding her farewells, Hinata set north to the Konohan Capital. Once she was out of sight, she decided to shorten her journey using her natural powers given to her as a deity. Closing her eyes, Hinata slowly slipped back into the immortal realms. Here, in her own world, she could choose the place she wished to visit with more precision and much carefully in order to avoid any humans accidentally witnessing her sudden appearance.

Deciding on a spot under the shade of a tree about a hundred meters from the city entrance, Hinata slowly opened her eyes again to see the city walls approximately a hundred meters away. Looking around, she made sure there were no bystanders. While this method does prevent most accidents from happening, there was still a slim chance of a mistake.

In all of history, there were only about four percent of all the slips that she and her coworkers have done that resulted in a mistake. Either minor or major. The mistakes normally came from the five second interval between after combing through the area for human life forms and the actual warping.

Hinata felt ashamed to now be a part of that four percent of mistakes as she locked eyes with another person across the field.

.

He was a fine man. Blond hair and blue eyes that looked like the clear skies above her. She guessed that he must be in his late teens by now, maybe around eighteen or nineteen. He was one of Tsunade-Sama's favorites. He worked as a disciple to the largest temple in Konoha and there was talk of him becoming the next head priest to stand next to the king as the first advisor.

Hinata supposed she could relax a bit knowing it was such a religious person who saw her and not a cynic. Smiling, she walked slowly towards him.

"Hello, Naruto."

.

He was a messenger of the gods.

That was what he and all the others in the temple told all the villagers who pray there. However, although he was a messenger, all they did was relay the teachings of the script. Studying it. Interpreting it into a modern use. And to calm people in times of worry. That was what a priest does. All his life, this is what he believed his job was to be when he studied the scrolls of information. There were some pieces that told stories of how they met and talked to one of the holy beings which they served, but never once had he thought he would become the main character in those stories.

Standing in front of him, three meters away from him was a lady who had just appeared in front of him. He blinked. A hallucination?

She greeted him by his name.

No. She was real. She knew his name. A woman he had never met before knew his name. Dark blue hair. Almost black. Pale skin and even paler eyes. She looked almost regal— divine, inhumane. Those were not eyes of a regular human. He swallowed thickly.

In front of him was one of gods he prays to everyday. How does he address them again? Naruto can't remember as he stares at her, wide-eyed.

"H-Hello," He stammers.

.

An hour later, Naruto learns that she is not one of the gods— just merely a servant, in her words. But he thinks that regardless of her status in her own world, she is still regarded as divine in this world. Her name is Hinata.

He walks her into the capital and the guards pay her no mind as he explained to them that she was a priestess from an allied temple and that she was here to help around, similar to an exchange student. The guards didn't ask. He was, after all, son of the current head priest and successor to the role. He learns that she is here on a mission, but she refuses to talk in an open area full of ears so he invites her into one of the inner rooms of the temple where people could speak privately.

Naruto sets a teapot and two cups on the table and gestures the tea towards her.

Hinata takes a sip and gives a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Without Naruto, she wasn't sure if she would've gotten in as easily as she did. She saw the way the guards had inspected the other visitors extremely thoroughly and she was certain that there was no way she would've gotten in without something to prove her identification. On her way to the temple, Hinata thought that maybe it was no accident that Naruto bumped into her. Maybe it was Tsunade-Sama helping her on this mission. Giving a silent prayer of thanks, she turned to the blond in front of her again.

"It has been my Goddess's will that I find a precious stone that has been lost during its deliverance to the Sea God."

"Your Goddess? So you serve...?"

"Tsunade-Sama."

Naruto nods and hums in thought.

"And this precious stone you gotta find...It's here?"

"Yes." Hinata paused. It wasn't quite here in the temple, she suspected. "I believe it may be with the royal family of this citadel."

"In other words, you'll need access to the palace in order to search for it."

"Yes."

"In other words, you'll need our influence as the royal family's temple."

Yes, she would. There was no way she could do it otherwise without being suspicious. A traveling priestess cover up would work in a small town, but in a city this large, and the capital where the King and his family lived— that wasn't a story that would hold.

Doing the only thing she could offer, Hinata lowered her head into a bow.

"Please. It regards the thinning relations between the Goddess of the Earth and the God of the Sea."

Additional Notes: Yuto is so ever slightly based on Jutta (pronounced: Yutta), Werner's little sister in All the Light We Cannot See. But really tho, just the name. Expect more mini references to the book in the future as tribute to the book.

Which of the five that Hinata mentioned were the four that attacked Itachi? Find out nex- or don't. This was in Hinata's POV, so she doesn't really care to find out who actually did the deed if it doesn't involve finding the diamond. This chapter was basically necessary to explain some of the details of Hinata's world as well as her thought process.

How am I doing with these chapters? I feel like my writing is a little roundabout. Real talk though, tell me about what to fix. Also, still looking for a beta reader if anyone wants to volunteer. It's embarrassing to read my own writing v/ / /v

Also, a reader asked in a review last chapter: what time period is this going to be? Well it's almost nowhere and somewhere. This is not in our universe obviously, but it is based on our history. I put some hints in this chapter about the time period it will be based on for those who don't read the notes. It is a time after Helen of Troy, probably after Rapunzel is forever alone in a tower, and maybe after the stethoscope (the one Sakura used last chapter) was invented, and definitely before cellphones were invented.

Here's the answer: circa 1820-1850. subject to change. ( :