A Looming Threat

Welcome once again to a new chapter. As before, I have to say that this story has been doing very well so far since its inception and I'm thankful to all of you who've been showing your support. It's been fun writing it so far and I hope to keep it going. So let's continue on with the story.

Even though Hinata had been up for a little while now, Boruto still slung on to his mother and did not want to let go. It was very unlike his usual self, but the sight his mother in an unconscious state truly shocked the young boy beyond words.

"Are you feeling well now? It doesn't hurt badly anywhere, does it? Is everything going to be okay?" He asked of his mother's wellbeing for the tenth time.

"As I've been saying all along – I'm doing just fine honey. You don't have worry about me anymore." Hinata replied while stroking Boruto's hair ever so gently.

"Are you sure?" Boruto inquired once more with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Of course I'm sure." Hinata replied with a tender smile. "Not to mention mama has overcome much tougher adversities in her time. Compared to them this is nothing at all."

"Is that so? Can you tell me of one?"

Hinata thought for a second and nodded. "Sure. Giving birth to you comes to mind. I still remember how tough that was. Natural childbirth is already painful but you certainly did not make it easy for your Kaa-chan."

Boruto could only imagine how much more devastating the event could have been if it was worse than what he witnessed earlier. He never knew childbirth could be so arduous. It made him feel bad for causing his mother such agony. "I'm sorry about that."

Hinata giggled after hearing her son's confession and caressed his cheek in response. "There's nothing for you to be sorry about. The day I gave birth to you was one of the happiest days of my life. I'm glad your birth happened the way it did without any complications. I wouldn't have it any other way."

Boruto was surprised to hear his mother's words of reconciliation. "But you said it was really painful right, giving birth to me?"

"Yes it was painful, but it was a good kind of pain because it meant you were healthy and strong."

"Pain is good?" Boruto asked in a very confused tone.

Hinata only continued chuckling in response. "Well, it's not something I expect you to understand. Only a mother can truly appreciate what it means to give birth to a child and what goes through her mind during that process. Giving birth and raising you has made me stronger than I ever thought I could be. So just remember, mama isn't going to be taken down that easy. I'm a pretty tough cookie."

His mother's pacifying words finally brought a sense of relief over Boruto and for the first time he felt like he could truly relax. But he still had more questions left to ask.

"How did all of this happen? How did you get hurt?"

Hinata was already expecting an inquiry of that sort and as such thought up an alibi earlier. "I stepped outside for a bit early in the morning to take a walk through the forest when all of a sudden a couple of thugs surrounded me. When they found out that I had nothing on me, they got very angry and attacked. During the scuffle one of them managed hit my leg pretty hard and slash my back with a weapon."

Boruto was both horrified and enraged to learn of his mother's experience. "Then what happened?"

"In the midst of the chaos, mama somehow managed to give them the slip and made sure they couldn't follow me back home. I guess living in this forest for so long and knowing it like the back of my hand really helped. In any case, it was my mistake going outside at a time like that. There are many dangerous people that roam under the cover of the dark, searching for their next victim. So learn from the error of my way and never repeat what I just did. That's a valuable lesson. Sometimes you don't have to make a mistake yourself to learn of its consequences. You can learn from the experiences of others."

Boruto gulped and nodded at the same time as an unsettling feeling washed over him. Truly this incident was a scary one and he would never want it to happen again.

"Now then, want to tell me your side of the story? What happened after I passed out? How did I get all bandaged up like this?" Hinata asked while pointing at the pretty sturdy bandaging around her waist. "This seems to have been done by someone who has a fair amount of knowledge in first aid techniques."

"When you were passed out, I started screaming and shouting in fear…" Boruto admitted despite not wanting to and his mother caught on to this fact.

"Wait, so you got really scared and lost your calm when I passed out?" Hinata now teased her son a little bit for fun. "Could it be that you cried for your mother?"

"KAA-CHAN, stop teasing me! This is not funny!" Boruto chastised his mother given the severity of the situation.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's kind of rare to ever see you cry. So just imagining my normally cool as cucumber son sobbing over my unconscious self made me kind of happy. I know it's a bit cruel but it shows how much you really do care, even if you may not let it on all the time."

"I find it a bit sad that you'd even question my level of concern for you."

"That's not it at all. I know how much you care. So as I said, I'm sorry." Hinata apologised sincerely to her son. "Anyway, continue with the story."

"As I was saying, hearing my call of distress, a man I had never seen before walked in and offered to lend his hand in treating you. Given the desperate situation, I accepted in a heartbeat. His name was Menma Arashi."

"That's not a name I've heard of in the village. Weird. Did he tell you anything about himself?"

"Yeah, I was curious to know as well. He said that he was new to the village and only arrived yesterday. So he didn't know his way around the area and was wandering the forest when he heard my cries and quickly rushed in to help. He is currently living in the mansion on the hill just outside on the other side of the village."

Hinata was very astonished to hear of his whereabouts. "Oh wow, he's living in that mansion? For the longest time that place has been empty because it was too expensive for anyone in the village to rent. I'm quite surprised someone who just arrived here was able to rent that mansion out. He must be quite rich."

"Yeah, he even went out and bought all the medicine and items that were required to tend to your injuries. I helped by taking him to the pharmacy in the village."

Hinata's eyes widened as she heard of her son's story. "You went out with this man!? What did I tell you about not following strangers!?"

"Well what the heck was I supposed to do!? Say no to him and leave you in the state that you were!? Come on now; think about how I must have been feeling at the time. This man to me was the last hope at a desperate time. I had no choice but to put my faith in him, or watch you…" Boruto looked down at the ground and did not even want to finish his last sentence.

Her son's statement made Hinata realise what he must have been going through at the time and thus she calmed down. "I understand dear. I really do. It's just that I worry about you all the time. You can't blame me for that – you're my one and only son after all. But in any case, he helped you after that?"

Boruto nodded enthusiastically. "YEAH! He turned out to be one of the nicest people I've ever met. He was so cool in how he happened to know about all the medicine that would be required and I watched as he carefully patched up your wound like an expert. It was really amazing."

"I see. I guess we got pretty lucky that a person like him just happened to be passing by at a time of such need." Hinata moved her body around and could feel how well it had been treated. "I need to go thank him myself for coming to our aid and pay him back for all the items he bought."

"Also, he's a really good cook as well." Boruto sang the saviour's praise. "He made this really delicious soup for breakfast that tasted just like yours. He even left some for you as well for when you would wake up. You want to have it right now? I highly recommend it. I'm sure it'll give you a lot of strength."

"Yeah, why not? I am kind of starving after this whole ordeal. Soup sounds like it could be really good, and if you're singing its praise, it has to be delicious." Hinata replied to her son. "But before that, I need to get out of these clothes."

Boruto instantly held up the set of clothes he had brought out earlier for his mother at Naruto's behest that caused the little scuffle between them. Hinata graciously accepted and got changed into them while Boruto went over to the kitchen and set up the food and tableware at the dining table. Once he was done, he came back to help his mother over to the dining table given her injured leg.

"Thanks dear." Hinata expressed her gratitude to her son as she sat at the table in front of a piping hot bowl of soup. It appeared to be absolutely delicious just from the smell and it beckoned her to take a sip.

As Hinata took a spoonful of the chicken flavoured soup, the taste surprised her completely. "You weren't kidding when you said it tasted like the one I make. And it's really good."

"See! What did I tell you?" Boruto grinned as he watched his mother drink the soup while sitting opposite to her.

"Wow…this person really is as amazing as you describe him. I really should thank him for his help. Perhaps I should send him one of my cakes."

"Actually there is a favour he asked of me that I really want to fulfil." Boruto informed his mother.

"A favour?"

"Since he is new to the village, he doesn't know anyone here or his way around the place. So he requested me, if you were doing well, to show him around the village if possible. And I really want to do so as thanks for helping us out. Can I, please?"

Hinata however was not completely convinced. "I don't know Boruto. He seems like a genuinely nice person but I'm not sure if it's okay for you to be meeting him like this, especially when I haven't even met him in person myself."

"Come on Kaa-chan. He helped treat you and he's a really good person. I can go out to the village on my own, so this really shouldn't be a problem. I'll just be showing him some of the main spots in the village. I really do want to thank him. Please, I'm begging you." Boruto requested as earnestly as possible.

Hinata rarely ever saw him this fervent about a matter and after quite a bit of thought, she caved it. "Fine. Given that I'm unable to move properly right now, I'll let you show him around. But it's only going to be the shopping district and the main spots. No going off anywhere else. Are we clear on that?"

"Of course!" Boruto looked genuinely stoked at the prospect of meeting Naruto once more.

"Now that that's taken care of, I think I'll go rest for a bit." Hinata told her son as he supported her to her room and stacked the pillows on the headrest of the bed, allowing her to sit comfortably and lean her injured back on the soft pillows.

To her surprise however, Boruto also jumped into the bed and rested his head on her lap, digging his face into his mother's midsection.

"You want to rest with mama for a bit?" Hinata happily asked her son while gently running her fingers through his hair, knowing full well how much he enjoyed it.

Boruto nodded his head while still keeping it pressed against his mother's abdomen, not wanting to show his face given what he was about to say. "I'm sorry for the mean things I said to you last night. I shouldn't have. Because you're the best mother there is and I'm thankful for everything that you've done for me. I just wanted to say that I…love you."

It was surprising of Boruto to be so honest and direct, but an immense feeling of joy overtook Hinata from her son's heartfelt confession. His words vindicated all the pain she had endured and all the sacrifices she had made since he was conceived.

"I love you too Boruto. You are my pride and joy, the apple of my eye. There is no way you could ever be an unwanted child because to mama you are at the very crux of her life. The bond we share is one that is truly irreplaceable."

Boruto nodded wholeheartedly in agreement with his mother. However, what came next was not something Hinata could have anticipated.

"I don't have anyone to call family other than you. You're the only one I have in this world. So please, don't ever leave me." He said in a very serious yet remorseful tone.

Those words, they shocked Hinata speechless. They took her back to a time when Boruto wasn't even conceived. She remembered that memory quite vividly:

Naruto's head was resting on Hinata's lap as he gently caressed her face with his right hand.

During that moment, he made a heartfelt request to her. "I don't have anyone to call family other than you. You're the only one I have in this world. So please, don't ever leave me."

"Of course, that goes without saying." Hinata replied with the utmost intent of always being there by his side.

However, after all these years, the present Hinata was once again reminded by her son that she never did keep her word to his father. Nothing but pain and heartache overtook her as she remembered the events that transpired leading to her departure. But despite everything that took place in her past, Hinata resolved to rectify the present and the future. She intended to always be there to take care of Boruto and support him whenever he needed her.

Thus Hinata gave her son a reply filled with utmost conviction. "Of course, that goes without saying."

On the other side of the village, Naruto was currently sitting at a desk in one of the many rooms within his new mansion. He made this particular room his new office and he was carefully reading through the scroll that Hinata had secured from the Kumogakure shinobi for the twentieth time. At that moment the door to his office opened and the two ANBU from before walked in. One of them had a cat mask on while the other wore a very long overcoat with a hoodie and sunglasses that obscured their identities.

"Naruto, the hokage shouldn't be here so far out of Konoha. I really can't agree with that." The one with the cat mask asserted strongly, clearly being in close terms with Naruto due to the way in which he addressed him.

"It's the weekend. I can be wherever I want when I'm off work." Naruto gave a curt response.

"Have you not read that scroll clearly enough!? This isn't a matter of how you spend your free time. There are people out there even within Konoha who are planning to take you out. If they were to find out that you are outside of the village with little to no security protecting you, this would be the perfect opportunity for them to strike. Not to mention, if the Raikage himself is involved as the scroll may suggest and it comes to his attention that you are this close to the border with the Land of Lightning, you could be under some serious threat."

"And you think I care about this little danger?" Naruto asked in an uncaring tone. "I've always had enemies in the past and I'll continue having them in the future. It's just part of being who I am. This isn't going to stop me from doing that which is important to me."

"NARUTO!" The cat masked ANBU was now getting angry and slammed his hand down on the table. "You are the Hokage now, not just some kid without any family or friends! This situation is not a joke!"

"As I said, I DON'T CARE!" Naruto replied in an even angrier tone as he stood up and confronted his ANBU friend. "You have NO idea about the situation I'm in. Do you have a wife who's abandoned you? Do you have a child who you've never even met since his birth? NO? I thought so. After eight long years of relentless searching I've finally located the only family members I have in this world and now you're telling me I can't even be near them? Stop with this nonsense! I don't care if my job is being the Hokage, but once I'm off work I'm just a father who wishes to spend whatever quality time he can with his son and a husband who's trying to rebuild shattered ties with his wife. And there's NOTHING that can stop me from me from doing so!"

The cat masked ANBU was surprised by Naruto's sudden outburst and subsequently sighed in defeat. "As stubborn as always. Even as the hokage you haven't changed at all. I understand how you feel but I'm just trying to look out for you, not just as the Hokage, but as a friend."

Naruto pouted like a little kid in response. "You're just a freaking cat lover and yet you try to act all concerned and stuff. It doesn't suit you."

That previous statement made the cat masked ANBU, nicknamed "Cat Lover", very frustrated. "I am NOT a cat lover. I HATE cats!"

"Then why are you called Cat Lover?" Naruto asked with a mischievous smile on his face.

"BECAUSE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KEEPS GIVING ALL OF US ANBU WEIRD NICKNAMES!" Cat lover flipped out.

"But it's fun though thinking up special nicknames that suit the people working under me." Naruto admitted to Cat Lover's further annoyance.

While the bickering between the two continued, the other ANBU in the room finally decided to make his presence known. "I hate to break up your conversation, but I have some matters that I wish to make known quite urgently."

"What is it Creepy Crawly?" Naruto asked curiously, knowing that whenever this man spoke it was generally of profound importance.

"As instructed, I've been…questioning…the Kumogakure shinobi we captured earlier, and he has divulged some information that I believe is of very serious cause for concern. Have a listen." Creepy Crawly brought out a voice recorder from his pocket and started to play a recording.

The Kumogakure shinobi that Hinata had taken out earlier, who was then subsequently captured by the ANBU was the one being interrogated in this track:

"Will you speak?" Creepy crawly asked in a calm yet deadly tone.

"YES! YES, I'll speak! So please, no more! Make them stop!" The enemy ninja begged desperately.

"Very well then. Tell me, the scroll that you were extracting as part of your mission – who exactly was it from?"

"I h-honestly do not know. The mission my team was assigned was to meet up with the agent from Konoha and accept the scroll from him. During our scuffle with the shinobi from Konoha, that agent slipped away and I never got to confirm his identity."

Hearing his answer, the Creepy Crawly raised his hand in disapproval.

"B-BUT! There is something else that I do know. This is information the Raikage shared with only a handful of us in regards to the Hyuga that he placed a bounty on. It would a-appear that the group in Konoha shared some very important facts with the Raikage about the defected Hyuga that got him interested in her in the first place." The Kumo ninja explained. "Our leader found out from the Konoha informants that the Hyuga in question was Hinata Hyuga, the heiress to the Hyuga clan. Of course, that alone makes her an important target, but what makes her even more valuable is the fact that she is supposed to be the wife of the current Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki. Although the Raikage has always been interested in the Hyuga's Byakugan, I think in this case his true motive behind placing such a hefty bounty on Hinata Hyuga's capture is due to her relation to the current Hokage."

As the recording came to an end, Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief from the information he just heard.

"T-This is impossible!" He exclaimed in a shaky voice. "My marriage with Hinata was never made public. It has always remained a secret. Only her immediate family members and my closest friends know about my relationship to her."

"This is really bad news." Cat Lover added. "If the Raikage knows about Hinata's background, both she and by proxy you could be in big trouble if he manages to get his hands on her."

"The Raikage's crossing the line if he tries to use Hinata to get to me!" Naruto's voice was now shaking with rage. He opened up the drawer on his table, took out a fox mask from within and wore it over his face. He then stormed out of his office and into the basement room where the captive was being kept with the two ANBU in tow.

As soon as the Kumogakure ninja saw the three walk in, especially Creepy Crawly, his face was overcome with fear and he shook his head in desperation. "Please, no more! I told you everything that I know! Not the insects! PLEASE!"

Naruto walked over to the man and firmly grasped his jaw with one hand, their faces now only just a handful of inches apart.

"Listen to me and do so carefully, for I have a message I wish for you to deliver to your boss." He demanded in a menacing tone. "Tell the Raikage that the Hokage sends his regards and that he isn't very pleased with the shenanigans the Raikage has been pulling within the Land of Fire. Although the relationship between Konoha and Kumo has been pretty bad to begin with, the Hokage is willing to sit down and talk out a peaceful solution between the two nations if the Raikage is willing. HOWEVER, and this is the important part – if the Raikage continues to keep placing bounties on the people of this country and attempts to capture any more leaf shinobi, the next bounty that will be placed by Konoha will be on the Raikage's head…and the Hokage himself will be the one to carry it out!"

Finishing that last statement, Naruto punched the Kumo ninja so hard that his body flew backwards into the wall and the chair he was tied to shattered into pieces from the impact, knocking the guy out for the second time in one day.

"That one's for her!" Naruto said as he took off his mask and two of his clones carried the enemy ninja out of the room. "Throw him somewhere on the other side of the border so that Kumogakure can pick him up."

Naruto now turned towards the ANBU who were stunned silent after hearing his message.

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Cat Lover shouted at the top of his lungs. "You just practically announced war on the Raikage with your last statement."

"Trust me; I know what I'm doing." Naruto replied as calmly as possible while walking back to his office.

"Do you? Because it really doesn't seem like it." Cat Lover asked back while following closely behind.

Once they reached his office, Naruto turned around and looked at the ANBU dead in the eyes to explain his thoughts. "Before I became hokage, for the past eight years I've been roaming all over the Land of Fire by myself searching for Hinata while doing high level undercover missions for the previous hokage. I've found out that this isn't the first time the Raikage has tried to secretly capture a Konoha shinobi, and it probably won't be the last, because he seems to have an unhealthy obsession with the powers the various clans of Konoha have. The previous Hokage became aware of this but were too afraid of starting a conflict and were passive about the matter, hoping it'd stop over time. But look where that has gotten us. Our own people have now started sell us out to this man. If we leave everything as it is, the Raikage's actions will only get progressively worse over time and he'll think he has a free pass to step on our toes as he pleases. I simply cannot allow that. As the Hokage every person in Konoha is precious to me and I'm not going to sit around and see them being threatened in this manner. It's time we sent back a message and stood by it. They say that when two superpowers bear arms against one another, both parties become hesitant to act in fear of the other side retaliating, which could in an odd turn of events eventually lead to peaceful negotiations. Let's hope that works out in this case. If not, I really will have to personally deal with the Raikage myself."

Cat Lover could see that Naruto had put quite a bit of thought behind his actions. As such he once again sighed in defeat. "Fine, have it your way. You're the hokage after all."

"Good to know I have your support. Now we just need to figure out who it is within Konoha that are selling out their fellow shinobi." Naruto took the scroll from earlier and handed it to the ANBU. "Take this to forensics and see if they can recover any more hidden information from it. We'll have further talks about this matter on Monday once I get back to Konoha."

"Shouldn't you return now given the urgency of the situation? I'm sure once forensics read through and analyse this scroll they'll be looking for you." Cat Lover stated as a matter of fact.

"Sorry, but I can't return yet. I have my first outing with my son tomorrow and there's no way I'm missing that. So make up some excuse to the others about why I can't be at the office right now." He ordered the ANBU with a large grin across his face leading to Cat Lover shaking his head in defeat once more.

"Sometimes I wonder how you can be so serious one moment and then chill the next. Fine, I'll think up an alibi. Just make sure you're back on time for the meeting on Monday."

Thus the two ANBU took their leave and set off on their way back to Konoha. Naruto on the other hand walked over to the large balcony behind his office and looked out into the distance in the direction where Hinata and Boruto lived on the other side of the village. Even though there were many serious matters he needed to tend to as the Hokage, Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of joy just thinking about being able to see his son once again.

Hope you liked the chapter. Did you get the identity of the two ANBU? Props will go to all next chapter who guess them correctly. This was something really cool for me since its a throwback to one of my older works. Also, as I said last time, the setting of this story is very much AU, so the Raikage's actions are rather hostile towards Konoha.

WhightGriger: I'm not sure about whether I'll be adding characters from the newer generation yet, but as you can see with this chapter, I will be adding more characters to the story in general.

m3i T3rumi: You know what, you are right. Everything does happen for a reason and things will *hopefully* turn out for the best in the long run. Okay, I know how things will turn out but I'm intentionally being vague here...I'm not evil :)

ZirconK: So you want Naruto to get a Jyuuken from Hinata, followed by a passionate kiss. Then you want them to spend a night together so that Himawari can appear, only to be spoiled by Naruto. I won't spoil how things will actually turn out, but I definitely laughed a lot at those sequence of events.

Jane: I'm glad someone else also likes the fact that Boruto is very protective of his mother. I think it makes sense since she is the only family he has had in this story. At least up until now anyway.

rolan00, Albert da Snake, naruhinakiralacus: You guys all picked up some of the finer details on why Hinata may have left Naruto from the little monologue he said in the last chapter, but there is a lot more going on beyond what he mentioned. Over time the blanks will start to fill up and hopefully it'll become more clear as to what happened.

Thanks also to Chewie Cookies, gio08, anne12fink, myzticmoon, You are troublesome (although I'm not actually a lady), Blackcurse11, piccolaNaruto18, jasmine 'n lavender, AUMaker, Misha, magikiz2sick, Fangirl17 (yay I have a fangirl...maybe not), orca285, PuppyLoveCharm, mocha lala, alga18, Flameraven, Hinata Hyuga Hime, I'm Me, Yuyi Hime, jztkn11, chandu-itachi, A.S.-sama, Trainer1232, willow1996 and the many others who have left me kind words or constructive criticism. They definitely help keep me chugging along.

That is all for today. Let me know what you thought and I hope to see you all next time.