Here you guys go. A simple chapter, but good none the less. Remember, R&R!
Discalimer: See Chapter 1.
Chapter 3 Sun, Sand, Akatsuki. WTF?!
Naruto walked to his new home, feeling content. He had already changed things for the better. Sure, he had sped up Sakura dating Lee by four years, but hey, if it works in the end, who cares? He just didn't know what to do about Sasuke. He knew where he was and where he'd be. But he couldn't go after him yet. Right now, he had to prepare for his fight against the two Akatsuki who were going to try to capture Gaara. He knew what they would dp and when they would do it. So, he decided to leave tonight. He sent a clone to his house to make it look like he was there. He pulled out the Tri Pronged kunai Jiraiya had given him during their training trip, and channeled chakra into the blade. He flashed a few hand signs and teleported the kunai to suna. He could only teleport small items because that was the only teleportaion jutsu he had learned. He waited a moment before he felt the call from the kunai. Concentrating on it, he vanished in a bright flash of yellow.
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Gaara was breathing heavy. The blonde bomb maker was just grinning at him as he sent more explosive creations at him. Gaara barely managed to defelect them with his sand. Below him, he could hear the people calling to him, giving him their support. Pushed on by this, he stood up, tall and glared at the blonde.
"Oh. Looks like someone wants to see some more of my art, un. Here's a real bang, un!"
Gaara ready himself when a bright yelow flash shone brightly on top of the Kazekage tower.
"You want a bang? Well here's a little something for you!" Gaara looked closly and grinned.
Standing atop the tower, flashing through handsigns was Naruto Uzumaki, he first friend.
"Fire Style: Exploding Kraken!" Naruto let a humongus ball of fire that took the shape of the mighty kracken.
It flew at the blonde too fast for him to counter. It smashed into him, the tempurature alone would incinerate him. After a few seconds, it exploded, killing the blonde instantly. Gaara nodded to Naruto as he hrifted over to him.
"Uzumaki. A pleasue. your timing was impecable."
"Thanks. Get some rest. Their's one more I have to deal with."
Gaara only nodded before he reminded Naruto he couldn't sleep.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. Here, let me help you out." He made a few quick hand signs and slammed his hand against Garra's stomach. A mark appeared on his stoimach the same as the mark on his forehead. Gaara grunted as he felt the demons presance dissapear from his mind completely.
"What did you do?"
"I put Shukaku in a permenat stasis. He'll sleep forever. So, now you can get some rest."
Gaara didn't even hesitate as he passsed out on the roof. Naruto lept away to the entrance to the Hidden sand village. He moved as quickly as he could, knowing full well what would happen if this lone Akatsuki got away. Sure enough, he came acrossed a lone cloaked figure, hurrying away. Naruto threw a barrrage of kunai at him. The man turned and defelcted them with his tail like apendage. the man glanced around. Naruto could smell the fear coming off of him. His excellent night vision allowing him to see everything. The man turned out of the way before another kunai flew by his head. Naruto made a few quick handsigns and sunk into the ground. Sasori looked around, still afraid at the sudden attack. He felt a chakra signiture and moved silently towards it. When he got near, it dissappeared. He wondered where it went to when a hand shot out of the sand, pulling him down. Suddenly, he found himself incased insand up to his neck. The puppet master looekd up to see Naruto. He glared at the man, his blue eyes having slits for pupils.
"Well, hello, Sasori. We met again."
"I have never met you before, Nine Tails."
"Well, in a sense, yes you have. You see. I made a deal with the Death God. He let me come back to life after killing all of you and your weapon in exchange for me killing Hebi-teme. I'm just righting a few wrongs. Such as you assholes taking Gaara. Any last words?"
"Yeah. I lose."
"Heh. Ain't life a bitch? Rasengan!" He plunged the ball into the puppets head, blowing through the body parts, digging deeper into the ground, destroying his heart and his scrolls and everything he was.
Naruto pulled his hand out to the nicly dug crater, smirking.
"Heh. You guys are now screwed. Time to talk to the Hokage about getting Nibi into the village so she can be protected. Oh, damn. It'll take at least a day and a half to get back. Might as well enjoy Suna while I can."
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Naruto ended up staying for five days. Gaara had held a celebration in his honor for saving him. Naruto had been modest through the whole thing. He thanked them for their hospitality. And Gaara's brother and sister had even thanked him for sealing Shukaku the way he did. They said that Gaara had become more...people friendly. He waved goodbye to them as he headed back to the leaf village. He arrived back later that day, using hisspeed he got from kyuubi that would put Rock Lee to shame. He arrived at the gates, breathing heavy as he waved a hello to the Chunins on guard duty. He headed directly to the Hokage's Office just in time for the door to open and him to come face to face with Hinata. He saw her face go bright red as he grinned at her. She simply stared at him, wide eyed, mouth tightly shut.
"Hey, Hina-chan. You look great." He said, grinning widly.
Hinata's eyes shut as she fell forward, thinking one thing: Naruto-kun thinks I look great!
Naruto caught her and gently lifted her up, bridal style, walking back into the room. He set her down and tenderly wipped a strand of hair from her face, letting his fingers brush against her soft smooth cheek.
How did I never notice her? And when I did, it was finally too late. Not this time.
He stood up and turned around to see several different reactions. Kiba was grinning like a maniac. Shino's eyebrows had dissappeared into his hair line. Tsuande simply smiled and nodded at him while Kurenai looked stunned. Kiba walked over and draped an arm around his shoulder.
"So. You movin in on Hinata?"
"What's it to you, dog breath?" He and Kiba had argued like this for years, and they both enjoyed it.
Kiba glared at him and removed his arm. He walked over to the door and flashed him a knowing grin. Naruto shook his head while the rest of Team 8 filed out. He looked to the Hokage and sat down in the chair in front of her desk. She looked at him with a strange look before speaking.
"I take it the mission was a sucess?"
"Hai. Oh, here. Rings from the two Akatsuki. Deidria and Sasori." He placed two rings on the table.
"Naruto, how'd you kill them? They were at least Sannin level."
"I got lucky with a few perfectly placed shots. Nothing more."
Tsunade nodded her head, accepting his explaination.
"Well. I see you know how to handle yourself. Now, as to what your parents left you. The home I gave you the keys to? It was your fathers house. Also, you have inherited a large sum of money from them both. Other than this letter, there's nothing else." She handed him the letter.
He took it and opened it. He had already read it over a thousand times, but each time he read it, he always had the same reaction. The letter read:
Naruto, my son,
If you are reading this, than both your mother and I are no longer alive. While it saddens me to think that I will miss your fifteenth birthday, it also brings me joy to know that I can still leave you a message, and you will be alive to see it.
When I found out that I was to be a father, I was estatic. But I couldn't tell anyone. I did not want you targeted by my enemies. The only ones I could trust were my sensai, Jiriya, my student Kakashi Hatake, and the Third. That is why the Hokage presenting you this scroll was instructed to wait untill you became a man. I am sorry for the pain you must have felt at not knowing who your parents are.
I hope that by now, you have someone special in your life to share it with. If you do, never let her go. Always treasure her and love her. Always, always be with her no matter the cost. I love you son, and I hope you can forgive a loving father for wanting his son to grow up safe and happy.
Your loving father,
Minato Namikaze Fourth Hokage, Village Hidden in the Leaves
Naruto wipped the tears from his eyes and nodded to the Hokage. Tsunade looked at him solomly and nodded that it was okay for him to go. He was just standing up when he heard a groan. He looked behind him to see Hinata stirring. Grinnig, he walk over to her and picked her up, brdal style. He looked over his shoulder.
"I'll take her home."
"She'd better get there as she is now."
"You think Jiraiya rubbed off on me that much?"
"Yes. Now get going."
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Hinata woke up to see the ceiling of her room. She remembered coming face to face with Naruto and remembered what he had said.
"Hey, Hina-chan. You look great."
She blushed red as she sat up.
"So your up? Good."
She looked over to see a grinning Naruto sitting next to her bed. She turned pink as she yanked the covers up to her chin. Naruto chuckled.
"It's alright. I didn't do anything. I brought you home and asked your dad if I could stay untill you woke up."
She sighed in relief before turning to her crush. She was still blushing fercily as he smiled at her. She deciede to try to talk with him.
"So, Naruto-kun. H-h-how have y-y-you been?"
Naruto grinned at her. She had such a cute stutter. Not to mention her cute blush.
"Not much. Just training. You?"
"T-t-the same."
"Good. Training is a good way to get stronger."
"H-hai."
"Oh. That reminds me. You remember when we went after the sent bug, right?"
"Hai."
"And how I told Kiba about a beautiful girl I saw near the waterfall?"
"H-h-hai." Her face went redder as she listened.
"I know who it was." He said, moving to sit next to her.
She didn't say anything. He paused and looked at her in the face.
"Say. You hungry? We can go get something to eat. My treat."
Hinata couldn't belive her ears. Naruto was asking her in a date! Well, maybe not a date. She needed to clairify.
"Ano...is this a d-d-date?"
Naruto grinned widly.
"Yeah, it is."
A clunk was heard as Hinata passed out from happiness.
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Hinata woke up in her bed and sighed. She had been having a wonderful dream about Naruto. He had come back to the village and had asked her on a date. She assumed she had woken up before the date began, because she couldn't remeber what happened. She was just sitting up when Hanabi burst into the room, wide eyed and grinning.
"Hinata-nee-chan! Get up! You have a visitor!" She said excitedly, jumping onto her sisters bed, landing on her stomach.
Hinata smiled at her little sister.
"Okay." Hinata threw the covers off and noticed she was already dressed. She guessed she had just fallen asleep that way when she got back from her mission.
Hanabi was besides her self with excitment.
"Man. You get all the cute guys comeing for you!" She said enviously.
"I'm only waiting for one." Hinata said sadly, knowing it may never happen.
"Yeah, that Uzumaki guy. Listen. Get over him. He's not worth the ffort if he hasn't noticed you, You should be more intrested in the hot blonde guy in the hall talking with father!" Hanabi blushed.
"Blonde? Oh no. Father is trying to get me to go with one of the nobles sons again. I guess I should at least give the boy a fair chance." Even if my heart already belongs to Naruto.
"Well, let's go! I wanna meet this guy!" Hanabi grabbed her sisters hand and pulled her out of the room.
"You mean you haven't said hello?"
"No. Just spyed a little before I came and got you."
Hinata shook her head. It's a wonder she was related to Hanabi by blood. They were so diferent in personallity. They reached the hall where Hinata copuld see her father talking to a blonde boy about six foot with his back to them. He was a chunin at least. She could tell from the vest he wore. And he was a leaf shinobi from the style of the vest. He was blonde alright. Hinata was reminded of Naruto as the two spoke. Hiashi glanced up and gave Hinata a small smile.
"Ah. Here she is. I hope I can trust you with my daughter, Uzumaki-san?" Hiashi asked, looking at the boy.
Hinata's breathe caught. Uzumaki? Surly it can't be...
The boy turned around and grinned at her. Sure enough, it was Naruto. Hinata felt her face heat up.
"Yep. You can trust me, Lord Hyuuga. I may be many things, but untrustworthy isn't one of them."
"Good. I expect her home by elevan at the latest." he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Yosh! She'll be home on time." Naruto looked at the man.
"Good. Well, have fun." Hiashi turned and left the room.
Hinata stood on the other side of the room, blushing madly. Beside her stood a small girl who was looking at him, blushing too. Naruto shook his head, smiling. Perhaps he had some kind of charm tha Hyuuga women couldn't resist. He was just about to walk over to Hinata when Hanabi spoke up.
"Your hot. I can see why nee-chan likes you!" She blurted out.
She let out an 'eep!' as she slapped her hands over her mouth. Blushing bright red, Hanabi tore out of the hall towards her room. Naruto grinned after her before looking at Hinata. He walked over and bowed politle.
"Are you ready to leave, Lady Hinata?"
Hinata couldn't help but giggle. He looked up, seeing her smiling as she nodded her head.
"Well, shall we?" He said, opening the door, allowing her to leave first.
Naruto was grinnig the whole time as he shut the door softly and got up besxide Hinata. They didn't hold hands or anything. They just walked smiling. He would try to sneak looks at her face, rubbing the back of his head when he was caught. Hinata couldn't believe the amount of attention he was showing her. She hoped that this was real life and not a dream. Naruto looked over to her.
"Hinata? Wanna hold my hand? It's okay with me."
She looked at him for a second and nodded her head. She didn't trust her voice at the moment. So, she put her hand out. He didn't hesitate and took her hand, intertwinnig his fingers with her's savoring the feeling of her soft flesh on his. He grinned even wider. They walked aimlessly for a while before they came to a decent resturant. It was called the cresant moon. It was also one of the few places that showed Naruto any respect as a kid. Hinata looked at him, puzzled.
"We aren't getting ramen?" She could have sworn that would be the only place he would ever take someone.
He chuckled.
"Nope. Ramen is good and all, but it isn't exactly something you should live on. It blocks the development of the human body when you eat it like I did. It caused me to miss something very important that I didn't see untill it was taken from me."
Hinata noticed how sad he looked as he looked at her. She could see the pain in his eyes. Without thinking she rasied her hand and brushed it along his whisker marks. He let her do this. He felt the heat through her fingers as she ran them over the whisker maks. He would make sure she lived. He grabbed her hand with his free one and held it there, looking into her lavander eyes. He knew what he had missed. And he knew what he had ignored all those years. Not anymore. He released her hand and smiled again.
"Comon. Lets get something to eat."
Together the walked into the resturant.
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Kakashi, Tsunade, Iruka, and Jiraiya all watched as the blonde and the Hyuuga walked down the street, both smiling and holding hands. They watched their short exchange in front of the resteraunt about how something importanat had been taken from him. Tsundae looked to Jiraiya.
"What is he talking about?"
"I don;t know. We didn't even have contact with any human for months on end." Jiraiya told her, still watching the two as they sat down at a table near the window.
"Naruto wouldn't make something like that up. The pain in his face was real. Something happedned he's not telling us about." Iruka shidted in his position to get comfortable.
Kakashi however was watching the boy's hand as he tapped on the table. To the untrained, it could have been impateint tapping. But looking at his face let Kakashi know what it was. Morse code.
"He knows we're here."
"How?" They asked as one.
"I don't know, but he's tapping in morse code the way I trained him to."
"What's he saying?" Iruka asked, focusing on the silver haired man.
"He says that he'd appreciate the prvacy on his first date and asked us to kindly leave before he makes us leave."
"Alright. You heard the kid. Lets go. We'll talk kto him tomorrow." Tsunade said as they lept back to the Hokage's office.
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Naruto and Hinata finished their dinner and just talked over the candle between them on the table. At first, Naruto talked alittle about himself. Afetr a basic overview of his life, with a few details here and there, he let Hinata talk. She told him a lot more about her life then he had his. He felt sad that she had lost her mother at a young age. He was also pissed at the Cloud. He'd right that partricular wrong if he could. Now he listened how she told of how she had been the last few years. He nodded when she finished.
"Well. That was enlightening. I learned many things about you that I didn't know before."
"A-a-and I l-learned alot about you." Her stutter had, for the most part, vanished.
"Well, that's good. But I have one more thing to tell you. But we need to go somewhere private. It's a secret of mine that I won't tell to just anyone. Even my teammates don't know."
Hinata nodded and followed him out after he had payed for their meal. They walked hand in hand to the Hokage monument, coming across Sakura and Lee talking. Naruto tried to sneak by when Lee happened to turn and see him. His face split into a grin.
"Hello, Naruto-san. I see you are well."
Naruto was taken aback by the lack of shouting.
"Yeah. Doing great. I see Sakura listened to my advice." He teased her.
"And I see my nii-san has come to his senses." She teased right back.
"Well, I'd of sooner if you hadn't of kept knocking my head into the ground." He retorted.
"Just get out of here. Your date is waiting."
"I know. Comon Hinata. We'll leave them be." They left Lee and Sakura and made it to the top of the monument without coming across anyone else. Naruto leanded back against a tree and Hinata sat as close as she dared with out fainting. Surprisingly, it was right next to him. He sighed and looked to her.
"Hinata. I'm not going to sugar coat this. This is something that can't be."
She hoped he wasn't going to tell her that this night had been a waste, but then she remembered that he said he had a secret to tell her. She waited patiently.'
"Hinata. Fifteen years ago, Yodaime sealed the Nine Tailed fox in a newborn because he couldn't kill it. The newborn boy was going to be the hero of the village. At least was supposed to be. It ended up to be the xact opposite. He was the enemy. A wolf in sheeps cloths. Hinata that boy, that container, is, well was me."
Hinata was silent, her hand over her mouthy, shovk on her face. Naruto knew she wouldn't run. After all, he remembered telling his friends why the Akatsuki was after him after they had failed to get Sasuke after he killed Itachi. So, he waited pateintly. And she didn't disappoint.
"They hated you because of something you had no control in?" She whispered.
"Yeah. They beat me a few times, but I don;t blame them. They were just scared and didn't understand. You can;t really hold it against them." He said softly.
"Naruto. Thank you for trusting me. I hope you didn't think this would change anything."
"No. I knew you would be the first to accept me. That's why I told you first." Naruto checked his watch.
"Well. I'd better get you home or your dad'll kill me."
Hinata nodded and together, they set off for the Hyuuga compound, hand in hand.
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Naruto and Hinata arrived out side of the Hyuuga Compound. Naruto turned to her grinning.
"Did you have fun?"
"Hai." She smiled.
"Good. We'll set a date for our next date."
"D-d-does that mean I-I-I'm your g-g-g-" She couldn;t get the word out.
Naruto pulled her into a hug, still keeping eyecontact.
"Hinata Hyuuga, yes. You are my girlfriend." He said softly.
She sighed happily and placed her head against his chest. They stayed that way untill Hiashi came out the door. He asked the Gaurds when they arrived. He was pleased to hear that they had arrived five minutes before elevan.
"Hinata. It's time to come inside." He called as he returned back to the house.
Hinata pulled away and started to head to the dorr when Naruto spun her around. In one fluid movement, he closed the distance and pressed his lips against hers. It was a short, sweet kiss that promised many others. He pulled away, grinnig.
"See you tomorrow, Hina-chan." He said as he walked away. Hinata simply stood there, hand on her mouth. She could have died happy right here. With a blissful smile, she turned and walked into the house, waiting for the next day.