Here is the next revision of Horseman's Glory.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Darksiders.

Horsemen Chronicles

Chapter Three

Salvator Fortunatis

The next morning came a bit faster than Naruto wanted and he awoke in a slight daze. His vision was slightly blurred from the use of his powers the night before due to the nature of his being there in the first place. When he tried to move he realized that there was a weight, albeit a small one, on top of him. With his daze leaving him, he was able to see the sleeping form of Hinata Hyuuga curled up on his lap with the cloak still draped around her small form. 'It would seem that the girl favors her savior…don't you think, Naruto-san?'

Naruto sighed as he laid his head back before answering the demonic merchant's question. 'I'm not entirely sure, Vulgrim. It's quite obvious that she admires me but can I really continue to do this to her? I saved her once before this and then I disappeared. What if something were to happen and I were required to leave soon once more? That would mean that I would be leaving her again.'

While Naruto spoke with Vulgrim, the Watcher was listening in and groaned at Naruto's words. "Oh for the sake of the Creator, does it really fucking matter? The girl obviously wants you and you are squandering it away because of your pathetic little morals! So you don't want to sleep with a girl because of the fact that you may have to leave?"

This got Naruto's blood boiling as he narrowed his eyes before sending his mental reply to the sprite. 'I can not do this to her, you insolent dog! Not only that, but this conversation has nothing to do with sleeping with anyone! This is about her feelings! What if she finds out that I am who I used to be and I am REQUIRED to leave? How would she take that? I cannot allow that to happen and if I have to lie to her to protect her feelings then I shall!'

As the pale horseman roared mentally to the malicious sprite, he soon felt the weight of the Hyuuga shift on him, telling him that she was awakening. This roused him from his thoughts and he looked down to see her staring up at him with a blush adorning her porcelain face. He smiled and spoke. "Well how are you this morning, Hinata-chan? Are you feeling okay?"

Hinata nodded her head softly before she started to snuggle into his chest again, closing her eyes with a cute little yawn. This made Naruto smile before he spoke once more to the tired heiress. "I understand that you are tired but are you planning on eventually getting up? I'm sure that the bed is more comfortable than my armor, anyway."

She shook her head no and continued to snuggle into him, gaining a small chuckle from the teen boy. Naruto glanced over at the clock that was beside the hospital bed with a smile and saw the time. "You do realize that we have only fifteen minutes to get to the classroom before they assign teams, right Hinata-chan?"

As she heard this, Hinata shot up with her eyes wide open until she realized that she didn't have a change of clothes. She looked hopefully at him, thinking that he'd know what she needed without her having to embarrass herself and say it out loud, risking someone hearing from outside. Luckily for her, he knew what she needed and used his mastery over the shadows to create a slick, long-sleeved, formfitting black outfit.

As she grabbed the outfit from him, Naruto stood before turning around so that the shy Hyuuga could change from the hospital gown that she wore. It took her a minute for her to figure out how to get it on but she was able to do it soon enough. It was simply pitch black and covered her feet with boots that seemed to be a part of the outfit itself and when she saw just how formfitting it was, she threw on the cloak that she wore the night before.

Naruto turned at just the right time as she was all dressed. Seeing that she had the cloak on, he chuckled and mused to himself about her physical shyness and modesty. As these musings ended, he smiled to her and waved his hand to the door. "So are you ready to go, Hinata-chan?"

The pale-eyed girl nodded to him and they walked out the door and down the hall. When they came to the front desk, Naruto walked over to the woman that he recognized from the night before and remembered their little incident. "Please forward the bill to the Hokage, please. And I hope that you do not do anything like last night to anyone else. Because if I find out that you did, I'll finish what I was so merciful to stop."

The woman didn't even try to argue nor speak with the dark swordsman out of fear of death and simply nodded her yes to him. As they were getting ready to walk out of the front door, they came face to face with a man dressed in white robes, about five foot nine and had the same pupil-less eyes that Hinata had. Naruto recognized him instantly as the father to Hinata, Hyuuga Hiashi. He smiled his best and bowed to the man before speaking. "Ah, good day to you Hiashi-sama! I believe that you are having a good day?"

The Hyuuga clan head looked at Naruto with disgust and scoffed at him before placing his hands into his sleeves. His voice was like ice as he spoke with a condescending tone to Naruto. "Am I supposed to know you, commoner? I do not think so...so remove your person from in front of my path this instant."

Naruto's eyes widened as he was visibly struck by this. Every single time that Naruto had gone over to see Hinata for a play date or just to hang out, Hiashi had always been so nice to him. He could only think one thing at that point in time. 'What happened to him?'

The blonde tried his best to laugh and shook it off; wanting to think that it was simply a public appearance that he was trying to keep up. He did have a reputation for being rather cold to people, after all. "You probably wouldn't know me, Hiashi-sama, but I'm guessing that you know the woman beside me?"

Hiashi stiffened at the mention of her and his eyes narrowed before he spoke back to Naruto, though this time his tone was iced towards a different person. "I do know her. She is my...daughter. She is also a sickening disgrace to my clan. I received the message of her admittance to the hospital this morning and all of the details of why she was here. She should have been stronger than that. She should've been strong enough to stop a few rapists from trying to take out their desires upon her disgraceful body."

Naruto's eyes only widened more as he felt the venom dripping off of his voice. Not only that, but he was shocked that it was aimed directly at his own daughter. Who he had once thought of as a kind man had now become a cruel person that felt no pity for even his own flesh and blood. He visibly angered at him and clenched his left gauntlet, causing a slight bit more energy to pour out of it. "How dare you speak of her like some dog for you to control! She was caught off guard by those men and was in shock!"

Hiashi scoffed at the words that Naruto threw at him and looked over to his daughter with cold, stoic eyes. "This conversation is over now, child. I would wisely suggest that you remove yourself and allow my daughter to pass by you. Hinata, come now!"

The aforementioned Hinata sunk behind Naruto, using him to block her father from her view so that she did not have to look him in the eyes. The old man's rage was blatantly obvious to everyone in the lobby, including all of the bystanders that were either already there or were just now entering. "Hinata!"

Naruto's protective nature and judgmental rage caused his eyes to change to their full blue and it also caused his whisker marks and fangs lengthen. His voice echoed as if there were three of him speaking at once. "She does not go anywhere with you, Hyuuga-sama! I will not let the innocent souls be commanded by the corrupt and tainted hearts of this godforsaken world. "

Hiashi just scowled at Naruto and moved to grab his daughters arm from his shoulder. He was quickly stopped short by Naruto's sword at his throat, ready to slit it at a moments notice. The Hyuuga head growled and everyone in the lobby shook in fear at the growing tension between the teenager and the experienced Shinobi. "You would dare deny me, boy?"

Naruto once more spoke with his echoing voice sending chills to everyone around him. "I do not deny only you, Hyuuga. I deny Konohagakure no Sato as a whole. I deny everyone here that has ever wronged me. But I cannot act against them for it is my duty to protect the innocent and to exorcise the demons that reside within this world."

Hiashi pulled back from the edge of the blade and kept his face straighter than a ruler. He turned his back to the two before speaking in a cold and unforgiving tone. "Then do whatever you wish with her. She is now your problem. I disown her. She no longer carries to Hyuuga name and is no longer aloud upon Hyuuga clan grounds."

At his final words, he left through the door that he came in through. Hearing sniffles, Naruto turned to Hinata, seeing glistening tears welling up in her eyes. His face softened as his anger left him, leaving him normal once more. She went down to the ground on her knees and Naruto followed her, kneeling down beside her. "Are you okay, Hinata-chan?"

She was hesitant at first, but then forced herself to nod slowly to the ground…trying her best to understand what had just happened before her eyes. "Why…w-why would he d-d-disown me? Was I never...g-g-good enough...i-i-in the first place?"

Sighing, Naruto used his hand to gently lift her face to his and he looked her in the eyes with his calming blue orbs. "Do not worry about him, Hinata-chan. My brothers and I shall protect you from this day forth with our lives and no one will harm you ever again. By my honor as a swordsman, no harm shall ever befall you again."

She smiled softly, still hurt but better knowing that he would be there alongside her. He lifted her into his arms the way he had her the night before and smiled down to her before speaking. "Come on now, Hinata-chan. We should get moving before we are late for the team placements."

She nodded dumbly as she felt his muscled arms around her and she consciously snuggled closer to his chest once more. Naruto took off through the streets while throwing his own cloak over to cover himself and soon moved faster than even the Sharingan could see. He launched himself off of the ground and landed on a wall running. He used Shadow Flight to gain more speed and jumped from the walls flying. The people who saw him would swear that they had seen a fallen angel dashing across the rooftops. When he lost speed, he threw away his concentration of Shadow Flight and landed with a loud 'CRASH', right outside the door to the academy.

He set Hinata down and smiled at her but couldn't help but laugh as she found it hard to stand from the adrenaline rushing through her veins from the superior speed that he had displayed while holding her. "Could you lead the way now, Hinata-chan? I'm new here and don't quite know my way around this place just yet."

She smiled and nodded. They went into the school with her body still quivering slightly but she managed to stay up. As she led him through the halls, he got caught in another conversation with the souls in his body. 'Do you really think that giving the girl the pledged protection of the Horsemen is a good idea? You know what will happen if we fail to protect her, right? You realize what can happen to us all?'

Naruto sighed and knew from the moment that he had pledged to protect Hinata that the conversation was coming sooner or later. He honestly had hoped that it would've been later than sooner. It would've at least given him time to think of a decent argument for him to explain himself with. 'I know, Fury. While I may have overdone it a little, I think that it was necessary for the moment that we were in back there with Hiashi-teme.'

'I just hope that you know what you are doing, because if that happens to us, then I'll kill you myself, Naruto-san. Do you understand that? I will rip out your heart and crush the skull that harbors that brain of yours.'

With Fury's words spoken to him, Naruto once again shut his mind off from them and continued down the hall to his and her class with her. As time passed on their walk he decided to strike up a small conversation. "So has your father always been so charming?"

Hinata froze for a split second before she shook her head and continued the trip to class while she began to speak. "Tou-san was a nice person once. He would always play with Hanabi-nee-chan, Naruto-kun and I when we were younger. He started to become this way after Naruto-kun was ran from the village by the mob that night... Naruto-kun was like a son to my father...the son that he had never had..."

Naruto froze in his tracks as Hinata kept on walking towards the classroom. He couldn't help but let the whisper of a thought that had squirmed into his brain out. It was low, but it was easily caught by Hinata. "So it was my fault…"

Hinata heard him mumble and turned her head to him before speak out to him. "What was that, Tenebrae-kun?" Naruto shook himself free of his troubled mind before smiling as best as he could and replied back to her. "O-oh...it's nothing, Hinata-chan. Actually, I noticed that you aren't stuttering at all like you were when I met you last night. Were you simply in shock?"

She smiled at him and walked over before giving him a gentle hug while speaking. "I guess that knowing that I now have a protector from everything is healing my broken spirit. It has been so long since anyone has ever stood up for me...and I never had the backbone to stand up for myself. It just...made me weak..."

Naruto smiled at this and looked down to her violet head before placing his armored hand over her hair. "You needn't worry about anyone else, Hinata-chan. I shall protect you with all of my power and I will not allow harm to befall you in any way shape or form. I'll stand by your side in any conflict to keep you safe."

This made the Hyuuga smile and let go of him before turning with a small blush adorning her cheeks. "I think that we should hurry and get to class, Tenebrae-kun." This made Naruto chuckle a bit before he continued to follow her down the rest of the hallway to the door to her, and in turn his, classroom. Turning to him, she listened to Naruto speak to her. "I hope that you and I may get the teams that we wish for, Hinata-chan."

Hinata smiled and gave him a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek before she nodded and slid the door open to the class. She walked in while signaling for him to wait. He did so and as she approached the desk, Naruto could hear the various comments on her choice of clothes. While she spoke with the teacher she signaled for him to come in.

When the first thud of Naruto's armored foot hit the wood inside of the room the people started to whisper back and forth with far more vigor than before. As he walked, the thuds of his feet seemed to make the class grow silent, as if they were waiting for something spectacular to happen. He soon came to a halt in front of the class and they went silent as he turned towards them and kept a straight face under the cloak of darkness that he wore. 'I think that for now, I shall allow you to indulge in your fanatical, terrorizing ways, Watcher. What say you to that?'

The dark laughter that rang through his head was answer enough, but he then heard the voice of the aforementioned Watcher come after it. "You took the words clean out of my mouth, Horseman!" Naruto had to resist a chuckle before answering the sprite that resided within his body along with his brothers, a demon fox and a demon merchant. 'Not yet though. We shall do it when the time is perfect for them to be scared shitless.' "Oh-ho I can't wait!"

When Naruto heard Iruka begin to speak, he then began to pull his hood down with the official greetings being read off but he came to a stop when Iruka came around to announce his name. "Class, please give a warm welcome to...what? How do you pronounce this?" Naruto turned to him with his hood still up up. "Please just do it as best as you can, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka nodded with a small smile and finished up the sentence. "Please welcome, Tenebrae!" With this being announce to everyone, Naruto turned and in a flashy flourish, his sword materializing from the shadows and his cloak was torn to shreds to reveal the silver armor underneath. 'Now, Watcher!'

As everyone in the class except for a select few gasped in awe and fear at the sight, they now trembled as black smoke began to pour from his terrorizing left gauntlet. They watched as the smoke itself seemed to have a mind of its own as it took form of the Watcher. They stared in fear and silence as to what would happen next. The Watcher began to rise high up off of the ground and with his most serious voice, spoke as calmly as Naruto did. "Boo."

The children all ran screaming except for a few kids who were asleep or brooding. Even Iruka ran in terror of the thing before him. Naruto laughed as he saw them running in terror from his own power. He then turned to see Hinata with her arms crossed outside of the cloak with a look of mock-annoyance at him. He threw his hands up in defense but she then smiled and walked past him while slapping the back of his head. He turned and chuckled while following her back.

As he walked behind her and stood there, he spoke with the Watcher. "So is that seriously all that we are going to be doing to these kids? I could think of loads more to do to them!" Naruto sighed and shook his head. "I only wanted to scare them, Watcher. I do not wish to scar them for life. Besides...if they were afraid of you then they have no need for being in a profession like this where even weirder things happen from time to time."

The Watcher nodded his head but then switched the conversation to something far more different. "So...this is Hyuuga Hinata, I presume? You definitely are easy on the eyes, girl." Hinata blushed at this but Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously at him, though this did not stop the sprite. "I can't possibly see why Tenebrae wouldn't want to get with you...it remains one of my many unsolved mysteries. Personally I'd be out here screwing your brains out!"

Hinata couldn't help but let her blush roar over her face, though Naruto took a far different road than her. He cocked back his arm and slugged the Watcher clean in the face, sending him flying into the double-sided chalkboard while he yelled after him. "I fucking warned you, Watcher!" As he turned back into smoke and sank into Naruto's body, the people soon came to their senses and made their way into the classroom once again. Naruto calmly took his seat next to Hinata with a small sigh.

It was at that point that Iruka began to pass out the headbands to the children that had passed the exams the day before. When he came to Naruto, he was very cautious and tossed it to him. In one swift movement, he ripped the cloth from the metal plate and slammed it onto the back right gauntlet. In an instant it was molded into the armor, never to come out. Iruka then returned to the front of the class with his normal high and happy voice. "Okay, now that our little terrifying incident is done, I will announce the teams."

The students looked on in anticipation at who they would be placed with. As the Chunnin sensei named off the first six teams, the children cheered in excitement of being tagged with their friends and buddies. He then came to the final teams that would soon, unknowingly to everyone around, create the most famous of all of the rookie squads. "Team number Seven shall be; Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Tene…"

As he was getting ready to name the last person for the team, a long sword with runes etched into it found its way sailing past his head and into the board behind him. He cautiously looked to see Naruto standing with a deadly look on his face. "Do not…place me…on his team! I will not stand for such a thing!"

Iruka quivered in fear at the malicious tone in his voice. He innocently pointed to the clipboard in his hands that held the team formations upon them. "B-but y-y-you were p-p-p-picked by K-K-Kakashi-san. I can't undermine his authority..."

Naruto's face softened when he heard this name. It brought back many memories and most of them were good...in a way. "Okay then...at the least, though, please remove that damned fan-girl then. I wish for the one under my protection, Hinata-chan, to be on my team with me. If you have any flak from anybody then please just tell the Hokage that I ordered it. He will hopefully understand my reasoning for this."

Iruka nodded to Naruto and tried to take a few breaths in order to calm himself before he continued on with the list of names. "Okay then. Team number Seven shall be Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata and Tenebrae underneath the Jonin instruction of Hatake Kakashi."

Sakura fell to pieces when she heard that she wasn't going to be on the same team as Sasuke. When she was out, courtesy of a quick chop to the neck by Naruto, Iruka named the rest of the teams off with Sakura being with Team Eight instead of Team Seven. "Okay, break for lunch and then come back here to meet you team's sensei. Good luck everyone and I hope to see you all again sometime!"

As the kids got up to leave, Naruto and Hinata stayed behind within the classroom by themselves. He looked over to her to see that she was looking him over. 'It's quite obvious that she has somehow become infatuated with me. But I cannot let her do this to herself. There is no love to be had with me.' "Hinata-chan?"

She looked up to him and smiled while blushing a little bit at the sound of his voice. "Yes, Tenebrae-kun?" Naruto sighed before he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I was wondering...why is it that you have not taken your eyes off of me since you awoke in the hospital bed?" The girl blushed even harder before looking away quickly. She tried to think of an answer quickly but she was too slow.

"Do you like me, Hinata-chan?" This caught her completely off guard and she was not prepared for him to be so forward. She stopped fidgeting and began to poke her thumbs together while she also tried to think of a viable answer. "I...uh...I think...I think I do... You are a really nice person...and you saved me! You stood up for me before Tou-san and you pledged to protect me... You seem so much...you remind me so much of Naruto-kun..."

Now it was Naruto's turn to be caught off guard. 'Am I still that much like my old self? Have I really not changed when acting around her after all these years of being away? Damn it...' Naruto was quicker to regain his composure than she was and spoke up about what she had said. "Hinata-chan...I must tell you now...I cannot get involved...with anyone...it just isn't possible for me right now..."

This made Hinata's eyes drop as she listened to him continue on in a soft voice. "It's not that I wouldn't want to ever be with you, Hinata-chan. It's that I am bound...I have committed crimes that have gained me enemies and have put me under restrictions by my lord... Until I am granted amnesty...I cannot be the one that can be with you. I hope that you understand that now..."

Hinata nodded her head quietly but kept her face down so that she didn't have to look him in the eyes. 'It has only been a single day...not even a full day...and I have already fallen for another that cannot return my feelings. It's always them...always the nice ones...the ones that protect me and the ones that stand up for me...always them that I fall for...'

As Naruto looked at her with saddened eyes, he heard the voice of Fury come into his mind. 'Naruto-nii-san...I understand that you are trying to keep her from being hurt, but while you are under the hold of the Creator, you yourself must also be happy. I can feel in your heart that you care for this girl...you care for her more than a friend would and you want nothing more than to express it to her. At least say something to her to reassure her. Let her know that if that day will come, if she is willing to wait for you, then you would be more than happy to give a relationship a try.'

It was then that Naruto for once thanked the Creator that he had his brothers and sister placed within him when he was so young. He looked back down to Hinata and used his finger to lift her face to his. She looked up and he saw that she was crying. While it was not hard, it was enough to make him feel bad. "Hinata-chan...I ask you to please not cry. When that day comes...if you are willing to hold on for me...if you truly do think that your feelings for me are true...then when the day comes that I am released from my servitude, I willing happily stand alongside you. I stand beside you, not only as your protector, but as your lover as well."

Hinata's eyes were wide and she smiled a big smile before engulfing him into a huge hug. He grunted a little bit but soon returned the show of affection with a smile. He looked down into her violet hair and stroked it while thinking to a certain someone in the utmost seriousness. 'Creator...please...I have done everything that you have asked of me. I have atoned for my crimes and have served you with vigor and grace. I ask only for the chance to be with the one that started all of this...the reason that I left in the first place to become stronger...'

'Please...'

END:

Next revision is up. I haven't had as much school work so I'm hoping to get back into a normal writing mantra. Fans of Outbreak do not despair! The next chapter is almost done and for those that are getting sick of the emo behavior from Naruto in that one (Much like myself {I hate emo behavior}), I'm fixing it and his balls are going to come back like fucking thunder!

R&R

Elemental Shadow Out!