Chapter 4: Strength

Naruto approached the tent and tried to hear the conversation from the outside.

Inside, Hiashi, Hanabi and the Hyuuga man reached Hinata's bed. Hinata had been sleeping for a long while, but she was awoken by the sound of the approaching steps. When she opened her eyes, her father was sitting in a chair in front of her.

Hiashi turned his head to Hanabi and the other Hyuuga, who were standing silently behind him, and ordered, "I want to talk to her privately. Leave us."

The others obeyed and left. They found Naruto outside just in front of the tent.

"Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?" The Hyuuga man asked nicely. To his surprise it seemed as though Naruto was nervous, the blond even gulped when he started speaking.

"W-wait, it's not what it looks like! I wasn't spying on her, I'm not a pervert or anything like that."

"You would be just like a pervert if you were trying to see my sister in there while she was sleeping defenselessly." Hanabi stated, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Naruto sighed in relief, apparently the danger was over. However, his relief was broken when the little girl added, "Just by trying to listen in on her conversations, you're nothing more than a stalker."

Naruto made a depressed face. This is almost as bad as being a pervert. Maybe worse.

The boy heard whispers coming from inside the tent, so he forgot about the others and paid more attention to the conversation.

Hiashi was staring at his daughter with serious and severe eyes. Hinata sustained the look, but in a far more gentle way. "Father, weren't you, Hanabi and other members of the clan on a special mission?"

"I received an urgent letter from the men I left in Konoha explaining what had happened. I let the people I trusted the most behind to finish the mission and came back with Hanabi."

"I see," Hinata whispered, with a sad, but somehow resigned expression, "Konoha was in trouble so you came back as soon as you could."

Hiashi examined the girl for some seconds before answering with a solemn tone, "I didn't come back because of Konoha's problems."

Hinata went pale when she heard that. No, it can't be! She tried to repel such thoughts from her mind. It was ridiculous to even consider the possibility of her father having left a mission and returned to the village because of her.

"Hinata, did you really try to fight the Akatsuki's leader?"

Hinata was surprised by such a direct question and even more surprised by the face her father had. It's as if he's worried about me. But why would he worry about someone like me? Haven't he told me so many times that I wasn't worthy of the name Hyuuga? That I wasn't worthy of his time?

"Yes, Father," Hinata answered, when the silence was beginning to get awkward, "I tried to fight Pain, the leader of Akatsuki."

Hiashi's eyes were wide. Hinata could swear she had seen a proud smile forming in his face for two seconds. Then, she convinced herself it was probably just her imagination playing tricks on her.

"Why did you do such a reckless thing, Hinata? You actually thought you could beat him?"

"Of course not, Father," Hinata answered with a firm voice, "I knew since the beginning that, if I fought that man, I would die for sure."

Hiashi's face paled a few shades hearing that blunt statement from his normally so timid daughter. Hinata really...?

"Weren't you scared? Why didn't you run away from that man? You must have known you didn't stand a chance."

Hinata smiled in a serene way and answered, "I couldn't be scared or run away. I had to fight, even if it would be useless."

"Why?" Hiashi asked almost in a whisper and watched breathlessly as Hinata replied without hesitation.

"Because I didn't want Naruto-kun to die. I'd give my life thousands of times to avoid it."

When the silently listening Naruto heard that, he went deadly pale and almost fell to his knees. Thousands of times? Does Hinata care so little about her own well-being? Or does she really love me that much? The shaken boy walked away from that place quickly, with a frightened expression on his face. He felt pain in his chest. The air was leaving his lungs.

The two Hyuugas didn't understand what had gotten into Naruto, they watched him walk away with frowns of concern on their faces.

Naruto didn't notice, too caught up in his thoughts. Thousands of times... she would die for someone like me thousands of times over...

In the meantime, Hiashi was looking down at his daughter with an enigmatic expression etched into his face. "Hinata, you really love Uzumaki Naruto that much?"

Hinata didn't understand what her father was getting at. What was the point of stating the obvious? None the less, she answered without stuttering once, secure in her answer. "Yes, I love Naruto-kun more than anything."

"Why?" Hiashi asked in a serious tone

Hinata didn't feel intimidated. "Naruto-kun was the first person that recognized me. The first person that believed I could change and become stronger. I was so pessimistic, so unsure of myself. You and everyone else made me believe that I was weak and worthless; that I was a burden and a shame to the Hyuuga name. No matter how hard I trained, your opinion about me never changed. I could easily have taken the wrong path. I could have accepted it and become an unhappy person forever. But, when I met Naruto-kun, everything changed."

Hiashi was listening with rapt attention, without interrupting. Hinata continued, looking just as serious as her father, "Naruto-kun had suffered a lot more than me, but he never gave up. And he never let me give up either. Every time he smiled, every time he stated that he would surpass everybody and become a great Hokage, even when people laughed at him or treated him badly, he said 'don't underestimate me!' And, when he did that, I felt my heart being filled with hope and courage. When nobody saw me, when nobody believed in me, Naruto-kun gave me the strength to go on. Thanks to him, my heart is a lot stronger now."

After Hinata finished giving her reasons for loving Naruto, Hiashi was silently contemplating everything. Hinata, when have you become this person? How haven't I ever noticed what you were turning into? A person who fights without fear and loves without hesitation. Right now, you really remind me of your mother... I miss her.

"Having a strong heart didn't help you against Pain, did it?" Hiashi suddenly stated with a severe expression, "Akatsuki is not defeated yet! There will be stronger enemies who will come after Naruto. Next time, you might not have the luck to be healed by a ninja doctor. Next time you might not be able to stop Naruto from being taken away. Do you understand this, Hinata? If you insist on fighting for Naruto's sake, you'll end up dead!"

Hinata thought about her father's words for a while. Then, she smiled and said, "There's nothing I can do about it. If my choices are between dying or letting Naruto-kun be killed without doing anything, I'll always choose the first alternative."

Hiashi stood up abruptly. He was looking at his daughter and even with her almost all seeing eyes, Hinata couldn't decipher what he was thinking. His eyes showed a mixture of many conflicted feelings.

Finally he seemed to reach a decision, "You're an idiot, Hyuuga Hinata!" The man stated, but then quickly added, "But I've never felt so much pride in being your father."

Hinata's eyes were widened in disbelief. Was this really happening?

Hiashi gave her a nervous smile and spoke again, this time his voice was oddly reminiscent of the timid tone Hinata usually used, "I always thought you were weak and a coward. But you have a strength that few people in this world have. And this strength is more admirable than any taijutsu or ninjutsu that you could ever hope to learn."

"Father..." Hinata didn't know what to say. Her eyes, for the first time during the conversation, were filled with tears.

Hiashi put his hand over her head gently, "However, this strength of yours is not enough to stop Akatsuki or protect Naruto." Hiashi paused for a long second, before speaking again with a much more stern tone of voice, "Which is why I've decided that I'm going to give you the hardest training any person in our clan has ever had the misfortune of living through."

Hinata was staring at her father with happiness and incredulity, barely taking in her father's words as he kept talking. "So you, Hinata, will have a body as strong as your heart." She heard him finish.

Hinata didn't worry about the upcoming hardship; she simply beamed in a Naruto like fashion and said without the least bit of hesitation. "Yes, thank you, my father."

In the interim, Naruto was still walking in silence, thinking seriously to himself. What am I supposed to do now?