A/N: Hey guys, sorry about the little break, I had to collect my thoughts and stuff then I got lost along the road of life. You know, typical Kakashi stuff, but actually I got really busy this last week and kind of stressed so I had a bit of writer's block. Anyways thanks to luqie10 for reviewing again! Thanks for the continued support luqie, I appreciate it a lot. Without further ado here is the new chapter.
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto as he always has, along with the characters and story of Naruto. Not much else to add here other than that I sort of own my created OC's I guess?
Chapter 4: Feelings
Missing-nin Base (Near Takigakure):
"Alright guys, I got the leader here so we can go now." Naruto said, referring to the unconscious body on his shoulders, "I always thought S-ranks were supposed to be super hard and stuff, but this mission was hardly a challenge!" he exclaimed.
The rest of his team sweat-dropped before Sakura turned to Sai asking, "Sai, are you able to walk?"
Sai tried to push himself into an upright position before collapsing back against the wall sighing, "Unfortunately, I don't think I am in good enough condition. I do not want to be a hindrance so you can go on without me, I'll catch up."
Sakura helped Sai stand up before draping one of his arms over her shoulder for support. "We aren't going to leave any of our friends behind Sai, that's the rule our team has always obeyed. I'll help you until you are in better condition."
Naruto began to lead his team mates out of the base passing by numerous unconscious and defeated missing-nin, while being addressed by the shadow clones which had defeated them. "Boss, problem dealt with!" one clone reported, before Naruto nodded and the clone dispelled. The team had similar encounters with Naruto's shadow clones as they exited the base, before beginning their journey back to Konoha.
Naruto decided that the silence that accompanied the team on their way back to Konoha was too quiet for his liking, so he decided to start a conversation. "Hey Hinata, you're pretty awesome for beating that Yakekoge guy by yourself!" Naruto said.
Hinata nodded at Naruto before replying, "Thank you Naruto-kun, but I would have lost against him if it wasn't for Sakura-san. Besides, you defeated the leader and his guard, which is much more than I could have ever done."
"Pfft, they were easy, I'm sure you could easily take both of them on!" Naruto responded.
"Naruto, you should've seen Hinata during her fight, without Hinata weakening the enemy I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to do much." Sakura said, further encouraging the shy and modest Hyuga.
"Thank you Naruto-kun and Sakura-san, but I'm really not that good." Hinata replied with a light blush at all the praise.
"Of course you are! You managed to land a hit on Pein and weaken his chakra rods remember!" Naruto exclaimed before slightly losing his smile as if he had remembered something vaguely (A/N: I'm basing this off what happened in the anime simply because I don't feel that the fight is really filler, as it is more of an extension of canon). The slight twitch was only noticed by Sakura who was looking at Naruto at the time, having a feeling she knew what he was thinking about.
"I actually was on a mission during the attack on the leaf, so I never actually heard what happened during the fight." Sai remarked, curious to hear what exactly had happened during the invasion. Naruto then proceeded to recite the story of his fight against Pein from beginning to end as night began to fall.
Land of Fire Forest, approximately halfway from the missing-nin base to Konoha, night:
The Konoha team set up a small fire before preparing to rest for the night. Dasu was tied to a tree and blindfolded, but upon waking up he started shouting so Naruto quickly knocked out the missing-nin leader with a punch to the back of his head. Naruto insisted he would take the first watch, allowing the rest of his team to get some well needed rest, giving him some time to contemplate.
As Naruto began to think, Sakura walked over and sat next to him, before starting to talk to him in a quiet voice in order not to awaken their sleeping comrades, "Naruto, I need to talk to you about something."
"Yeah, what is it Sakura-chan?" questioned Naruto.
"I'm not sure if you remember, but Hinata said some stuff to you before Pein struck her down," Sakura paused before continuing, "do you remember what she said?"
"Yeah, I do, she confessed her feelings towards me." Naruto said, while staring in the distance.
"Well, I'm not sure if you know this, but when someone confesses they usually expect a response, Hinata is a nice person, so that's the least you can do for her." Sakura said.
"It's just that, I don't know how exactly I should respond, I'm not really sure how I feel. I definitely like her as a friend, she's nice, caring and she has the same beliefs as I do. Also, I guess she's kind of…" Naruto trailed off.
"Kind of what?" inquired Sakura.
"I guess she is kind of.. kind of…she's cute?" Naruto asked, unwilling to share his true opinion.
"Hah, so you do like her then, why don't you counter confess?" Sakura asked.
"Its just that, it seems that everyone who is close to me dies, I don't know if I can endure like I always say I can. I already lost Ero-sennin, Neji, Kakashi Sensei, I just don't want anyone else who I care about to die, you understand that right Sakura?" Naruto replied.
Sakura eyes widened at the lack of a suffix in her name, before nodding in understanding and thinking to herself for a second, "Naruto, do you remember what Hinata said during the war, when you give up on your words and thoughts, that is when you are no longer comrades. You can't distance yourself from everyone else just to try to avoid hurt, sometimes things happen, but as long as you have your comrades around you you can endure. You don't need to endure alone Naruto, you have your friends and you have her." Sakura finished before pointing towards Hinata.
Naruto's eyes widened for a sudden before he closed them while nodding in understanding, "Thanks Sakura, I know what I have to do." he stated.
"I'm glad to have been helpful Naruto, good night." Sakura said, before going to sleep.
Naruto sat and continued his watch, before looking at Hinata, 'I have a lot to explain to her, but I hope she still feels the same way.' he thought to himself.
Konoha, the next morning:
Sasuke stood in the middle of a training ground, staring at a few training dummies with his only open eye. Four anbu sat in the trees to the side of the training ground, monitoring the Uchiha to make sure he didn't try to escape the village or commit any treacherous acts. Sasuke of course knew they were there, but did not pay any attention to them as he wanted to hone some of his new skills.
Sasuke opened up his rinnegan eye(A/N: I'm not going to bother typing sharinnegan every single time, I'm sure you know that his rinnegan is different.) while reaching for his sword before teleporting using his eye technique. The anbu in the trees quickly reached for their sheathed weapons and prepared to move, before they paused and relaxed upon seeing the Uchiha reappear in front of the training dummy a second later and bringing his sword across the dummy.
'I need to react quicker after using my technique if I want it to be useful. I should probably improve the precision of the technique too so that I know exactly where I am going to land when I change positions.' Sasuke thought to himself, before witnessing Suigetsu walk onto the training grounds with Zabuza's former cleaver on his back, which he had reacquired after the war.
"Suigetsu, what are you doing here?" Sasuke asked.
"I was just about to leave, but I thought I'd pay you a visit before I did." answered Suigetsu.
"Leave?" questioned Sasuke.
"Yeah, I'm not going to find anymore of the Seven Swordsmen's swords sitting around in this village." he remarked in an annoyed tone.
"Hn, very well." said Sasuke, before he extended his hand out, "Thank you for helping me out."
"Sasuke, when did you become so soft?" playfully asked Suigetsu before taking his hand in a handshake, "Don't tell me the leaf village did this?"
"Hn, maybe." muttered the last Uchiha.
Suigetsu sighed, before beginning to make his leave before turning back to Sasuke, "By the way, Jugo and Karin seem to be adamant on staying here, so I'll leave you to deal with them. Later!" Suigetsu finished, before leaving the village. Sasuke turned back towards the training dummies and continued to practice his teleportation technique, leaving the anbu curious as to what the two ninja had been talking about, but they decided to pass on finding out any details from the Uchiha.
Konoha Gate:
"Ah, home at last, lets hurry up and finish this mission." Naruto said as he casually walked into the village with a bound missing-nin on his shoulder, followed by the rest of his team.
The team went to the T&I Department where they handed Dasu to Ibiki for interrogation before heading to the Hokage tower. Upon arriving at the Hokage tower, Sakura took the lead of the group and knocked on the door of Tsunade's office before hearing her call out, "Come in!"
The group entered the office with Tsunade acknowledging who they were before saying, "Sakura, what does your team have to report."
"We completed the mission as intended and we turned in the missing-nin leader to T&I." Sakura said.
"A job well done, Shizune can you give the reward for the mission's success to each member of the team. Sakura I'm going to need you to stay behind to brief me about the details of the mission, the rest of you are dismissed. Oh, and before I forget, the funeral for ninja lost during the war will be in week." Tsunade explained, before everyone gave a solemn nod and everyone but Sakura left.
Outside the Hokage tower Hinata, Naruto and Sai stood facing each other, before Sai said, "I have to go now, see you later." and walked away.
"I still have no idea where that guy goes…" Naruto muttered before turning to Hinata, "Hey Hinata, can I talk to you somewhere more private?" he asked.
"Of course Naruto-kun, what place did you have in mind?" Hinata asked politely.
"Follow me!" he said before walking towards the Hokage monument. The pair walked up on top a flight of stairs before stopping on top of the fourth Hokage's head. Naruto took a seat before gesturing for Hinata to do the same.
"This has always been my favourite spot in the village, I always feel at peace up here, yet at the same time I feel like I can watch over the village like the previous Hokage did." Naruto started while looking in the distance, before he turned to Hinata. "Hinata, you remember what you told me when you defended me from Pein?"
Hinata nodded, before responding, "Of course Naruto-kun."
"Well Hinata I wanted to talk to you about that. I've never really learned what it means to love someone, but at the very least I can say that I like you a lot. I just wanted to know if you were willing to give me a chance to let my feelings develop more." explained Naruto.
"What exactly do you mean Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, thinking that he certainly didn't mean what he had implied.
"Basically, I meant to say: Hinata, would you like to go to dinner with me?" Naruto asked.
"L-like a date?" Hinata counter-asked, getting a nod from Naruto, "O-of course Naruto-kun, I'd love to!" she practically exclaimed before hugging the blond, who returned the hug.
"How does tonight sound?" Naruto asked.
"That would be great Naruto-kun, I need to go home to get ready, I'll see you later!" Hinata said before running off, a little bit too excited to go on a date with her lifetime crush.
"Bye Hinata!" Naruto shouted before sitting back down on the stone monument of his father with a goofy grin on his face.
Large Cave, undisclosed location:
Nine ninja stood in a large cavern; seven of them stood in a line facing two others. The man on the right of the two who were separated from the rest was the same figure who had previously addressed Yakekoge, who was not present in the cavern at the time. "We shall wait until Yakekoge and Shogai are at their location." the man who had previously spoken to Yakekoge said, his features unidentifiable in the darkness of the cavern.
A moment later two holograms, not too different from the ones used in Akatsuki's meetings, appeared next to the other seven figures; one of Yakekoge and the other of a well-built man in his 30s with slick short black hair. He wore a chest plate not too dissimilar of the kind worn by Hashirama and Madara, except without the shoulder plates.
"Let us begin the meeting." the other man in front of the group said, before the man on the right stepped forward into the light while the other man still stood in the shadows.
"Dusk, very soon we shall begin our operations. The five major shinobi villages are at their weakest point on years so they stand no chance at opposing us with our current power. Yakekoge has given us the necessary funding to prepare ourselves as I'm sure you have noticed with the large array of weaponry we have recently acquired", the man standing in front said before signalling behind him. "Unfortunately the leaf village has attained some substantial power from the war as two of their shinobi have gained significant power, so our very first task will be to cripple the leaf." he continued.
The man then turned specifically to Yakekoge and his partner, "Yakekoge, Shogai, the two of you are to draw attention outside of the leaf and pick off any shinobi they send to stop you. I expect them to send their strongest shinobi after you once you have been identified as a significant threat. I have something I personally have to deal with in the leaf, so you will hold off attacking the village until I am done." at this statement Yakekoge clenched his fist in anger, before the man continued, "Do not worry Yakekoge, I assure you that you will get your revenge in time, as well as you Shogai." the man identified as Shogai nodded, "The two of you will find a scroll in your current location which contains the weapons you requested for your raid on the leaf village, once I have finished with my task I will send a signal through a seal like this one," he held up a seal, "which is the signal to commence your attack on the village, I'll leave you to justify how much damage should be done to the village. Your task is important, we cannot have the Leaf interfering with our plans, do not fail you two." the man finished.
"We won't leader-sama." Yakekoge responded while kneeling in respect.
Shogai meanwhile scoffed, "Yea we'll definitely fail." he said sarcastically.
The leader did not even twitch at his remark before the other man still in the shadows called out, "You'd be surprised at the strength of the Leaf in these days."
The leader turned to look at him before turning back towards the other two ninja who he was previously talking to, "You can leave now." he stated, before the two holograms blinked out of existence. He then turned towards the other seven members of Dusk in front of him, "I shall be heading to the leaf now, your other leader will discuss what the rest of you are to do in the meantime." He then leapt over the other seven before stopping at the entrance.
The other man who was also identified as the other leader walked slightly out of the shadows before saying, "Remember, don't let them discover what you are doing, keep your emotions in check."
The leader turned his head towards his comrade with a piercing gaze of two purple sharrinnegan eyes which paled towards the center, "I've never failed before, so I have no intention to fail now." he stated before leaping out of the cavern. Leaving the rest of Dusk to continue the meeting.
A/N: Ugh, pre-relationship Naruhina stuff is actually pretty difficult to write so that it appears somewhat realistic. What did you think of dusk and their leaders? The group is going to operate mainly in pairs not too different from the Akatsuki, but their motif is yet to be revealed. I'm not sure when the next one will be up, I have a lot of stuff planned next week, but I'll try to at least get one out per week. Thanks for reading, and please post a review to let me know what you thought of the chapter.