Back with the next part. Now I know some of you may not have been too pleased with the way Hinata was treated last chapter. I know I've been mean to her, but no more. She's getting some very special treatment for the hell I've put her through and in my opinion, it's about damn time. And just so you know, like the last chapter, this one will be a bit graphic at the end.
Chapter 4)
When they had gotten to the hospital the first thing that Tsunade had done was treat Hinata's head wound. While she was doing that she discovered she was in the same condition that both Kakashi and Sasuke had been in after their own respective counters with Itachi. She did the best she could, but since Hinata did not possess the Sharingan like Kakashi or Sasuke, she wasn't sure how well things would turn out.
Both Twisted and Naruto were in better condition. Naruto's leg was fixed and Jiraiya removed the Five Pronged Seal. Twisted's abdomen was healed up nicely but Tsunade made him spend the night at the hospital along with Naruto. He had somehow ended up in the same room as Hinata, and Naruto was just down the hall.
Everyone had been worried when they had heard what had happened. Well, worried about Naruto and Hinata. No one aside from Tsunade and Jiraiya seemed to give a damn about the well being of Twisted, although Kurenai had told the other jonin about how he faced off against Kisame alone. At least they seemed to hate him a little less.
Currently Twisted was sleeping in his bed and Hinata had yet to wake up. It was early afternoon and Sakura was doing some rounds at the hospital. It wasn't so bad, although she had to deal with Naruto trying to sneak out so he could have some ramen at Ichiraku's. In the end she had agreed to have some delivered for him if he'd shut up and lie back down. Other than that, it was pretty quiet.
A small group of visitors had gathered in Hinata's room, all worried about her and hoping she'd wake up soon. The group consisted of Neji, Kiba, Kurenai and Shino. Hiashi had been there earlier but couldn't afford to stay all day. Even though he disliked it, he had to return to the Hyuga compound. Before he had left he had ordered Neji to inform him if Hinata woke up.
Time passed and everyone found their own way to pass the time. Neji and Kurenai sat patiently at Hinata's bedside, Shino stood by the window, and Kiba paced the floor. Minutes seemed to pass by as though they were hours; the only sound in the room was the sound of breathing.
Morning became afternoon, the visitors in the room coming and going, needing to stretch their legs and get fresh air. But they didn't leave the hospital, wanting to be at Hinata's side. It was not long past three in the afternoon when Hinata stirred. The simple action of her opening her eyes gaining the attention of every one of her visitors. Kurenai was at her bedside first, overcome with joy at seeing Hinata conscious.
"Hinata, you're awake! How do you feel?"
The Hyuga girl sat up, looking around the room. She saw her teammates, cousin and sensei. But she didn't see the person she was looking for.
"Naruto-kun. Where's Naruto-kun?"
Kurenai place her hands on Hinata's shoulder reassuringly, "He's alright Hinata. He's just down the hall."
Hinata didn't seem to hear her and looked around the room again frantically. Still not seeing the boy, she began to panic. Trying to think of where he could be, she suddenly remembered the things she had seen when Itachi had used the Mangekyo Sharingan on her. Unable to think clearly, she assumed the images she had seen were real and that Naruto was dead. Her eyes shot wide open in fear and then filled with tears. She began to sob, startling the others.
"Where's Naruto-kun!? I want my Naruto-kun! Give me back my Naruto-kun!!!"
Kurenai tried to calm Hinata down, but the girl continued to bawl and call out for the blonde boy. After a minute Twisted, who had been woken up by the noise, let out a frustrated cry and got out of his bed. He left the room and returned a moment later, dragging Naruto with him.
"Here! Now stop crying and let me get back to sleep!"
Twisted shoved Naruto towards Hinata; the boy stumbling and falling onto her bed. Hinata stopped crying out of surprise from the boy practically landing in her lap. She stared at him in disbelief, as though she couldn't accept that he was alive and right in front of her.
Naruto got up, grumbling and cursing Twisted beneath his breath. The next thing he knew, Hinata threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. She started to cry again, but this time out of joy. She calmed back down after a minute and just kept resting her head on his chest. Naruto felt a little awkward but wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug. Hinata let out a coo, smiling and nuzzling him.
The others looked at the two in amusement, Kurenai thinking it was the cutest thing ever. Twisted sighed, not feeling tired anymore.
"So much for sleeping. I'll go find Tsunade and tell her Hinata's awake."
Leaving the room again he went to find the older woman. She wasn't in the hospital and when he tried to leave a nurse stopped him. Pushing her aside he stepped onto her shadow and sank into it. He popped his head out from the shadow from Tsunade's desk a moment later and told her Hinata was awake. He then returned to the hospital, emerging from the shadow of the same nurse, startling the woman. Laughing at her reaction, Twisted returned to the hospital room he shared with Hinata and climbed back onto his bed.
Tsunade had rushed over as quickly as she could, arriving in a matter of minutes. Kurenai told her how Hinata had acted after she had woken up. Checking Hinata real quick showed that she was physically fine, but between the blow to the head and the affects of Itachi's jutsu had left her a bit unstable mentally.
"When I treated Kakashi he came out alright because he has the sharingan and was able to handle Itachi's jutsu better. But Hinata doesn't have the sharingan so I didn't know what to expect. I believe that, along with the concussion she received before Itachi cast his genjutsu on her, has affected her much worse than it had Kakashi."
Kurenai looked down at her feet, disheartened at hearing the news. "Will she be alright? I mean, you can heal her right?"
"Yes, but it will take several sessions to do. Like I said it isn't a physical wound, but a mental one. Plus the concussion may or may not have resulted in minor brain damage, but I can take care of that easily. Although it will have to take precedence over the other treatment if that is the case. If I put it off too long it may be too late to undo the damage."
A look of relief came to Kurenai's face. She knew if anyone was capable of helping Hinata, it would be Tsunade. Now knowing that she was going to be alright, everyone seemed a little more relaxed. Neji sat next to the bed, telling Hinata he was going to go and get her father and how worried they had been.
Sakura poked her head into the room, looking around. Spotting Naruto she entered and walked up to him.
"There you are. I've been looking for you. You're ramen order is here; it's in your room."
Naruto's face broke out into a wide grin. "Alright, I'm starving!" Pushing away from Hinata, he got up and started to leave. Hinata didn't like Naruto suddenly getting up and taking off like that. The look on her face was similar to that of a small child who had just had their favorite stuffed toy stolen right out of their hands. She got up and threw herself at Naruto, knocking them both to the floor.
"No! Don't go! Don't leave me again!"
Fresh tears fell from her eyes, leaving a bewildered Naruto trying to figure out what he had done wrong. Sakura took one look at what had occurred and then looked up at the others with a raised eyebrow.
"What's with Hinata? Is she alright?"
Tsunade turned to her student, "Well, to sum it up Hinata is emotionally and mentally fragile after the incident with Itachi. She woke up crying because Naruto wasn't around and she doesn't seem to want him to leave her side. Probably wants him nearby as a form of emotional support."
Over on his bed, Twisted sat up again; a curious look on his face. "Actually I think it might be something else. Let me try something out." He got up and walked over to Naruto so that his shadow was next to the boy. Looking at Hinata, he pointed outside the window.
"Hinata, would you look over there for a moment, please?"
She did as he asked of her, turning to look out the window. The second she was looking the other way, Twisted forced Naruto into his shadow, the boy letting out a short cry as he disappeared. Hinata turned back when she heard him, but saw nothing in the spot he had been in just a second before. Starting to become upset again, she looked up at Twisted.
"What happened to Naruto-kun?!"
Twisted smirked at her sadistically. "I killed him. Couldn't stand looking at his face any longer."
Everyone looked at him in shock. Aside from Tsunade, no one really understood how Twisted's kekkei genkai worked, so they thought he had actually killed Naruto. What they didn't know was that Naruto was alive and well; trapped inside Twisted's shadow. They all glared at him, some ready to attack him. But Hinata looked the most upset. She turned her head from side to side, in denial that Naruto was truly gone.
"No…no…You're lying! Give him back! Give me back my Naruto-kun!"
She started to cry again, throwing herself at the older man and pounding her fists against his chest. Twisted pushed her aside and knelt down, reaching into his shadow. A moment later he pulled out Naruto and stood back up. The blonde boy looked up at him, enraged.
"You jerk! What the hell did you do that for!?" He stood up, clenching his fist. "I oughta kick you're aaaahhh!"
While he had been occupied yelling at Twisted, Naruto hadn't seen Hinata tackle him from behind. With tears of joy in her eyes, Hinata held Naruto tight and buried her head in his chest. Twisted smiled, satisfied his theory had been right.
"You sure you don't want to rethink what you said earlier Tsunade?"
Tsunade nodded, "I see what you were trying to do. It isn't that Hinata wants Naruto by her side. It's that she thinks he's been taken from her when he isn't in sight. Itachi's jutsu must've affected her worse than I first thought." She closed her eyes and thought a moment. Hinata had panicked when she had woken up and Naruto wasn't in the room. Then she had tackled him to the ground when he tried to leave. Finally she had thrown a fit when she had thought Twisted had killed him.
So far Hinata couldn't stand the idea of Naruto not being in the same as her or even just trying to leave her side. The only question was how long would this last? Would she eventually get over it and not mind Naruto's absence or would Naruto have to remain by her side until she was better? There really wasn't any accurate way to tell so for the time being it looked like it would be best to have Naruto stay at the hospital a little longer than he needed. After all, Hinata seemed much more calm and content with him around. That would make the healing sessions much easier for her if she could keep the girl calm and happy.
"Naruto, I'm going to have you stay in this room with Hinata until she is better. I'd also like you to help take care of her since she seems so fond of being by your side."
"Huh? But, what about my training? And missions?"
Tsunade sighed. Naruto wasn't going to like this. "For the time being I'm not going to send you on any missions and you'll have to hold off on your training."
"What!? That isn't fair! Just because Hinata isn't better yet I gotta stay in the hospital with her and can't train or go on missions!? That sucks! I want to leave!"
Hinata looked up at him, hurt. "You…you want to leave me? Is it because you can't go on missions anymore because of me?"
"Wha..? No! it isn't that. I just don't want to have to stay cooped up in this hospital with you until you're better."
Naruto's attempt to explain himself didn't seem to make Hinata feel any better. She started to sniffle, thinking that the boy was angry with her. Sakura smacked Naruto on the back of his head, glaring down at him.
"Naruto you idiot, look what you did! Didn't you hear Lady Tsunade just say that Hinata is emotionally fragile right now!?"
Holding his hand to the sore spot on his head, Naruto saw that Hinata did look upset from what he said. Feeling a pang of guilt he stuttered out an apology.
"I'm sorry Hinata, I didn't mean it that way! I don't mind keeping you company while you're here at the hospital. I just wish grandma would let me go out to train a little at least. Please don't start crying again."
Hinata laid back in his arms, not saying anything. She seemed alright with his apology, but still a little hurt by hearing what he had said before. Tsunade shook her head at the boy. He had a long way to go as far as understanding a woman's feelings were concerned.
"Well, we'll see how Hinata's treatments progress and depending on the results I'll let you head out to train for a little each day once she starts to recover. But for now I need you to help me out by keeping an eye on her and keeping her company. I'm going to start by finishing healing her concussion. So I'd like it if you got her off the floor and back in her bed."
Naruto nodded and stood up, trying to get Hinata to stand as well. She didn't seem too keen on leaving Naruto's arms so he had to pick her up bridal style and carry her to bed. He laid her down gently and sat on the edge of the bed, holding her hand. Tsunade made a couple hand signs and placed her hand on Hinata's forehead. A calming green glow enveloped her hand, the healing process beginning. A minute later she pulled her hand back, smiling at her success.
"Feel better now Hinata?"
The girl gave a nod and turned onto her side, her gaze falling on Naruto. While she stared at him happily, Tsunade turned to Twisted.
"You should be fine with just a little more rest so you're free to go. Also as a result of your mission, along with your encounter with the Akatsuki, I've decided to not only stop monitoring you with the Anbu black ops., but to also restore you to jonin rank as well."
Twisted scoffed, "What is that supposed to be a 'thank you' or something? If you really want to do something nice for me then let me leave this damn village! I can't stand being here any longer. Just let me leave already!"
Tsunade sighed and looked at the man sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but you know I can't let you do that. I just want to help you Twisted…"
"Who the hell said I wanted your help!? I just want this village to leave me alone now! It's obvious since I've been caught by you that I can't hope to continue my plans from before so just let me leave!"
"I told you, I can't do that! Orochimaru is still out there!"
"Well maybe if the Third Hokage wasn't such a soft hearted fool he would have killed the bastard when he found out he was practicing forbidden jutsu! And because he didn't the snake ran off and now he's performing his sick little experiments on the ninja of other villages! How can you act so calm knowing your village let a psycho like him out into the world and has, as a result, caused countless deaths, including entire clans…just…like…mine!!!"
In a fit of rage he stormed off, not wanting to discuss the matter further. Tsunade looked down at her feet, just as angry but knowing that yelling back at him wouldn't change the truth. The others had watched the scene in silence, unsure of what was going on between the rogue and the Hokage. Naruto was the first to speak after the older man had left.
"What a jerk! Couldn't he be a little more grateful? Grandma Tsunade saved his life and even went and made him a jonin again! What the hell is his problem?!"
Tsunade turned to give Naruto a quick glare, "That's enough Naruto. I can understand why you don't like Twisted's attitude but I honestly can't blame him for it. Although I wish he'd stop hating the whole village and just hate Jiraiya and myself. After all, in a way it's our fault that he's stuck in the village in the first place."
"Huh? What are you talking about grandma?"
The older woman sat down and faced the others. "The reason Twisted hates being in this village and has a grudge towards it, is because of Orochimaru. As you know he lived and was raised in the village and even learned to become a shinobi under the third Hokage's tutelage along with Jiraiya and myself. But when he was discovered killing off villagers and other leaf village shinobi to practice his jutsu on, he ran off. The third Hokage had a chance to stop him, but that meant he'd have to kill him. He couldn't bring himself to kill his own student, so he let Orochimaru go. Jiraiya went after him, much like you did with Sasuke, Naruto. But he only ended up failing as well. Orochimaru left the village and continued his research elsewhere."
Naruto tilted his head in confusion, "Okay, but what does that have to do with Twisted?"
"Orochimaru is obsessed with learning and creating new jutsu. He believes the more jutsu you know the stronger you are. So naturally one must understand that there are some jutsu that one can't learn. Kekkei genkai are an obvious example. But Orochimaru won't let that stop him. He gets hold of ninja from clans that have kekkei genkai and either studies them to learn about the jutsu or use the body of the ninja as his own. Twisted has a rare kekkei genkai from what was a small clan. The only remaining members were him and his father until ten years ago. That's when Orochimaru kidnapped Twisted and his parents."
-Flashback, ten years ago-
"From what we learned when we probed his mind, he was an only child living in the village hidden in the mist with his mother and father. Orochimaru had his followers take them away in the dead of night, easily overpowering any opposition in the way. As an added precaution Twisted and his mother were held hostage to keep his father, an elite jonin, from trying anything. Once inside his hideout, Orochimaru locked them up and began his experiments."
Twelve year old Twisted sat in a small cell, hugging his knees to his chest in fear. His mother and father had been taken away, leaving him all alone. In the next room he could hear voices, his father and Orochimaru. It seemed as though his father was threatening the sannin, ordering him to let them go. Twisted got up and went to the cell door. He was just tall enough to peek through the small, barred window that was in it.
He could see his father, a mid thirty version of himself with toned muscles and short, black hair. The man was glaring at Orochimaru, the only thing keeping him from attacking the man was the fact that his wife was currently in another room being held hostage by Orochimaru's men.
"I'm only going to say this once you bastard; let me and my family go! Or else I'll see to it you die a slow and unbearably painful death!"
Orochimaru chuckled, unfazed by what the other man had said. "Go ahead, attack me. You'll be lucky to last ten seconds and while you're occupied with me, your lovely wife will be killed. Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?"
Twisted's father clenched his fist but then calmed himself. "Fine. What the hell do you want with us anyway?!"
"It isn't your woman and brat that I'm concerned with. It's you, or rather your clan's kekkei genkai. Its seems like such a useful jutsu and I'd love to learn more about it."
"Orochimaru made it clear what was to be done. He'd perform a series of experiments on Twisted's father to learn about the jutsu and enhance his body so Orochimaru could use it as his own when the time came. In exchange he promised to leave Twisted unharmed. But to make sure there wouldn't be any problems, Orochimaru made an example using Twisted's mother."
Two sound ninja entered the room, carrying a woman in her late twenties with long silverish hair. She had tears running down her eyes and it was obvious by the state of her torn clothing that her captors had been enjoying the job of detaining her. Twisted's father glared at the men, but didn't do anything lest he should give them reason to hurt her even more than they already have.
Orochimaru looked at Twisted's father, smiling maniacally. "Pay close attention, if you so much as put one toe out of line, this is what I'll do to your son."
Turning to his men, Orochimaru gave them permission to proceed with the demonstration. They each took out a large club with spikes on it and began beating Twisted's mother, the woman wailing in pain and agony. From the cell, Twisted watched in horror as his mother suffered.
"Both Twisted and his father watched helpless as they beat her to death, Orochimaru fully intending to do the same to Twisted if his father didn't cooperate."
Twisted's mother stopped screaming and struggling, lying perfectly still on the floor. Tears flowed from Twisted's eyes as he backed away to the wall in his cell and collapsed to his knees, crying. His father looked at the dead body in grief and in an instant vanished into a shadow on the ground. From the shadows of the two men who killed his wife, his arms came out. He grabbed them each by the ankle and pulled them into their own shadows.
"Ninja art: Black Massacre!"
The two men screamed as their shadows fully enveloped them. A moment later, their bodies flew back out, disfigured and butchered. Their corpses landed on the cold stone floor, blood pooling around them. Twisted's father emerged from Orochimaru's shadow and attempted to drive a kunai into the back of the sannin's neck. When the blade struck, Orochimaru vanished in a puff of smoke; a shadow clone. Twisted's father had no time to sense Orochimaru coming at him from the side, wielding his sword. In a single swing, he lopped off the other man's arm. Twisted's father cried out in agony as his dismembered limb fell to the floor.
Orochimaru smiled and licked the blood from his sword, "Such a shame you had to make me do that. Nevertheless, I did warn you not to try anything. Consider that a warning, next time it'll be that brat of yours who loses a limb."
"With his wife dead and son held prisoner, Twisted's father had little choice but to let himself be used in Orochimaru's experiments. Unfortunately, he couldn't take them and died as a result. Now being the last member of the clan, Twisted became the target of Orochimaru's experiments."
Twisted sat in the corner of his cell, scared and alone. With both his parents gone, he had nothing left. He heard footsteps approaching the cell door. It opened a moment later and Orochimaru entered, smiling down at him.
"You're a bit young to use for my new body, but with a little training I think we can fix that. Such a shame your worthless father was so weak. If he wasn't then you wouldn't be here right now."
Twisted said nothing and tried to curl up, making himself as small as possible. He hated and feared the man in front of him, but knew he couldn't do anything. He wasn't even a genin yet and would stand no chance against one of the sannin.
Orochimaru stepped closer, reaching down to pull the young boy to his feet and drag him off to force him into training. Twisted closed his eyes and pushed back against the corner he was in, praying desperately for something, anything to save him. Almost as if to answer his prayers, he felt the walls behind him vanish as he began to sink into nothingness.
"Just as all hope seemed lost for him, Twisted's kekkei genkai activated for the first time and he escaped from Orochimaru."
Orochimaru watched as the boy vanished before his eyes, melting into the darkness of the prison cell. Realizing what happened, he swore and left the cell, alerting his men.
"The brat escaped! Search everywhere and bring him back to me alive! He couldn't have gotten far! Failure will NOT be tolerated!"
But it was too late. Sticking to the shadows like any true shinobi would, Twisted navigated his way out of Orochimaru's maze like lair and did the only thing he could. He ran for his life.
-End Flashback-
"After that he made his way back home and ended up being adopted into another family. He became a genin and trained hard, eventually earning jonin rank. But he never forgot what Orochimaru did, and blamed our village for everything that happened. So when we managed to capture him and learned of all of this, I took it upon myself to keep him in the village for his own safety. As long as he's still alive, Orochimaru will most likely still try to capture him again to use his body as his own. And if that happens, Orochimaru will become more dangerous than he ever was before. Using the shadow-stalker jutsu, he could kidnap countless more ninja, steal nearly anything, gain information with ease and most of all, become almost impossible to capture."
Tsunade finished the retelling of Twisted's past, being met with only silence from everyone else in the room. Each of them let the information sink in as they gained a new perspective on the rogue ninja. Getting up she excused herself, needing to return to her office. Before leaving she requested that Sakura to help Naruto keep an eye on Hinata for the rest of the day to make sure there weren't any other problems. After that, Neji left to inform Hiashi that Hinata was awake. He wondered how his uncle would react when he saw Hinata cuddling with Naruto in a hospital bed.
Meanwhile, sitting on the edge of the hospital's roof, Twisted looked out on the village. Letting out a sigh he looked down to his bandaged arm with the seal on it. As long as that was in place, there'd be no point to leaving the village. He knew that Orochimaru was still out there and that the sannin still wanted him. Clenching his fist in anger he decided to stop focusing on the village and return to his sole purpose in life.
Killing Orochimaru.
TBC.
Well that's that. Now that all the serious stuff is out of the way, I can get back to having fun with this fic. Got a lot planned for the rest of it and poor Ino better watch out, it's time for Tenten to get serious.
