The man with mask ran towards Hinata and tried to hit her with the Kunai, Hinata watched his movements carefully with her Byakugan before using her Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm and knocked him back several feet.
The man stood up with a glare. "Very good but let's see how you handle this." He said before making a few quick hand signs and blowing a large amount of fire her way.
Hinata acted quickly, knowing she couldn't dodge it in case Shikamaru got hit; she began to spin, using her chakra to deflect the flames from both her and Shikamaru.
"Tch..." The man made an annoyed sound. "You're really getting on my nerves." He said as he came closer, he made five shadow clones and they all charged for Hinata at once, she managed to dodge 4 of their attacks and landed a blow on one of them; making it disappear in a cloud of smoke. Hinata fell back as she was punched, hard, on her face and she looked up angrily as she wiped the blood from her lip and stood up.
"You should just give up girl; the Kyubi's going to die soon anyway so you will have done all this for nothing." The man taunted.
"His name is Uzumaki Naruto and the Kyubi is called Kurama, and there is no way I would give up because that is my Nindo; my Ninja Way!" Hinata said determinedly. She focused her chakra into her fists until her Twin Lions appeared, the man's eyes widened as he took a step back before creating more shadow clones and charging for her.
Hinata ran towards him, she managed to hit four of the shadow clones and hit the man in the chest, he laughed as he prepared his chakra for his next attack before he coughed out blood into his mask and looked at her in anger.
"What have you done to me?" He shouted angrily, clearly not having experienced a battle with a Hyuuga before.
"I cut off chakra to your heart." Hinata told him with narrowed eyes.
"Good job Hinata." Shikamaru told her as he watched the man fall to his knees.
Meanwhile...
Sakura ran towards the red-haired shinobi as he stood up and used a water prison Jutsu to try and seal her, she used a substitution Jutsu and then used her Cherry Blossom Impact technique behind him; managing to break his leg as he flew several feet away from her.
Sasuke swung his Katana at a blue-haired ninja who tried to attack her from behind, cutting the man's arm off before he could touch her. The man screamed and desperately ran at Sasuke with a kunai before being impaled in the chest with his Katana; he spat blood out of his mouth before dropping to the ground.
"Why do you care so much?! It's only a Jinchuriki!" The red-haired shinobi screamed as Sakura began to walk closer to him.
"That Jinchuriki is my friend." Sakura said before focusing all her chakra into her foot, lifting her leg and slamming him into the ground, effectively silencing him.
"Sakura we need to get to Kiba and Shino quick, there are more rogues trying to stop them from deactivating the machine." Sasuke told her as he was watching the flurry of activity with his Sharingan.
"Lee how are you holding up?" Shikamaru asked him, Lee was on his sixth gate and panting heavily, every so often a cannonball would be shot and Lee would have to knock it back periodically and it was beginning to take its toll.
"I'm fine; I will save this village with the power of youth!" Lee said tiredly, probably more for his own benefit that than anyone else's.
"Sai, what's happening?" Shikamaru shouted up to Sai.
"Kiba and Shino are surrounded, the rogue shinobi are determined to keep the machine going so they are all heading there, there are only 6 left though." Sai reported, drawing tigers and sending them down to help.
Hinata had already joined her teammates, wanting to get Naruto out of the machine as quick as possible; grunts of pain could be heard from inside as the chakra was being pulled and she was worried it would be too late if they took any longer.
Shino had poisoned the white-haired shinobi that was operating the machine but he was still alive and determined to put up a good fight. The rest of the rogue ninja were trying to defend him as much as they could; determined not to let them anywhere near the machine.
Most of the rogue ninja were suffering from injuries and knew they weren't going to win this battle but they were determined to bring Naruto down with them. Kiba and Akamaru attacked a blond-haired ninja simultaneously and managed to take him down but not before he threw a flame seal at them. They flew back, earning a few minor burns but they stood up and ran back as fast as they could towards Shino as he was being attacked by three ninja.
"Shannaroo!" Sakura shouted as she punched a ninja with her chakra, dodging a thrusting Kunai before kicking another ninja into the ground. Sasuke used his Amaterasu technique and set two other shinobi on fire; they screamed as they ran and tried to roll on the ground to put themselves out but Sasuke kept his focus on them and before long, they stopped moving.
Hinata used her gentle fist to stop the chakra of the last ninja that was attacking Shino; she aimed for the all of the chakra points she could reach and the ninja dropped like a stone to the ground as he clutched his chest tightly.
Shino ran to the entrance of the machine, sending his insects in to jam it's circuits in the safest way so Naruto wouldn't be harmed, with a last Cannonball, deflected by an exhausted Lee, the machine shut down.
Hinata ran to the front of the machine to see if Naruto was okay, the others stayed behind so she could have a moment with him. As she opened the door, she gasped in horror; Naruto's formerly white t-shirt and pyjama bottoms were stained with blood and his bottom lip was cut and puffy but it looked like it was already starting to heal.
"Naruto-Kun? Are you okay?" She asked anxiously as he hadn't looked up, her Byakugan was still activated so she could see his heart was still beating, she pulled her Kunai out and began carefully cutting the chakra wire around him.
"I'm sorry Hinata but it's not Naruto." Kurama replied as he tiredly opened his eyes, showing Hinata the blood-red hue on the normally blue-eyed boy's eyes.
"Kurama? Are you okay? How is Naruto-Kun?" Hinata asked worriedly.
"I'm okay, thank you." Kurama answered as Naruto's face smiled kindly at her but the smile fell quickly. "Naruto isn't doing so well; he was forced to witness the machine kill a Cloud shinobi who was quite young. I told him that I would take over so he wouldn't have to see anything like that again but he's been unresponsive ever since...I need you to come inside, maybe you can reach him." Kurama explained.
"Okay." Hinata replied nervously, wanting to help Naruto as soon as possible, she freed him from the cuffs and helped him sit down in front of the machine.
"I need you to sit across from me and hold out your fist." Kurama told her, she did what was requested and closed her eyes as he held Naruto's fist against hers.
Hinata opened her eyes and looked around quickly; Kurama, in his original form, pointed a large hand towards Naruto who was sitting down and staring off into space.
"Naruto-Kun!" She shouted as she ran towards him, she knelt down in front of him and looked into his eyes. "Naruto-Kun? Are you okay? We're here to save you." Hinata told him gently.
"Hinata?" Naruto said slowly, he suddenly seemed to focus on her and he stood up quickly and rushed to pull her into a tight hug. "For a while there I thought I'd never see you again-ttebayo!" He exclaimed, squeezing her tighter.
Hinata was surprised by his speed but hugged him back just as tight. "I'm glad we saved you in time, I was worried for a while but I knew that you wouldn't give up." Hinata replied, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to come out.
"I didn't for a long time and then they used me to burn that kid and I just snapped." Naruto told her honestly, knowing he could tell her anything and she would never judge him or tell anyone, he pulled back so he could look at her face.
"There wasn't anything you could do Naruto-Kun, just remember that." Hinata told him reassuringly.
"I know but I can't help but feel like I could have done something dattebayo." Naruto said, looking down sadly. Naruto looked back up when he felt gentle fingers on his cheek and he was met with bright lilac eyes and a kind face.
"It'll be okay Naruto-Kun, let's go home." Hinata told him softly, closing her eyes as she smiled.
Naruto stared at her smile for a while, emotions running through him and without meaning to, he leaned down and kissed her. Hinata was shocked by the suddenness but was quick to kiss him back happily, she put her arms around his shoulders and he circled his arms at her waist.
After a few seconds Kurama cleared his throat, causing them to jump apart sheepishly. "I'm sorry Kurama." Hinata said with a blush.
Kurama just chuckled and lay down as he was exhausted from chakra loss. Naruto waved at Kurama before he turned to Hinata with a small smile and he pulled both of them up to the surface. They opened their eyes and dropped their fists, Naruto winced with a hiss of pain as the movement irritated his wounds.
"You need to get those seen to and I think your bandage is torn." Hinata told him anxiously, helping her injured boyfriend stand up and lifting his arm around her shoulder so she could help him walk.
"Thank you Hinata, I think the bandage will last until I get home." Naruto told her with a fond smile, he gingerly walked towards his friends with the help of Hinata and stopped when he saw Sasuke. "Hey I didn't know you were back." He exclaimed happily. "Sorry for the trouble everyone." He added attempting to rub behind his neck but hissing as the movement hurt his arm.
Everyone stared at him in shock, his pyjamas were covered in blood and the tears in his skin created quite a horrific sight.
"I came back yesterday morning." Sasuke told him quietly, preferring to have a full conversation with him in private.
"I'll help you sit him down Hinata; I'm just going to start healing the worst wounds here." Sakura said with worried eyes.
"I'll be fine Sakura-Chan. I heal fast remember?" Naruto told her with a tired smile, Sakura simply just ignored him and set to work.
"I'm so glad we were able to save you with the power of youth!" Lee said with an equally tired grin and a thumbs up.
Naruto smiled and gave him a careful thumbs up too. "Thanks for everything you guys. I'd probably be a goner without all of you." Naruto told them all gratefully, Hinata stayed by his side, helping Sakura heal any big wounds which were particularly nasty.
"We're just glad you're okay Naruto. I was wondering if you could tell us about how you got kidnapped, do you remember what happened?" Shikamaru asked him curiously.
"I just remember walking Hinata home, going home and taking a shower and then someone tried to choke me and did something to my neck before everything went black." Naruto explained, Hinata gasped quietly as she hadn't realised he had went missing so soon after their date and Naruto turned to her worriedly. "It's okay Hinata, there was nothing you could have done. Nobody could have known-ttebayo." Naruto told her with a reassuring smile.
"I'm still pissed that guy managed to go through the entire village to your apartment without being seen." Kiba said with an angry look.
"I would say Kakashi-Sama will up the security around the village to make sure this doesn't happen ever again." Sai replied thoughtfully.
Hinata and Sakura finished patching up the worst of Naruto's wounds. "Thank you Hinata and Sakura-Chan, I feel so much better." Naruto said as he stood up, moving a lot less stiffly than he did before.
After a brief meeting with the Raikage and a not so brief meeting with Killer Bee, the leaf ninja found themselves at a campsite that Shikamaru had deemed was safe. Naruto was exhausted and since he didn't have a sleeping bag, Hinata let him have hers as she wanted to watch over him. He gave her fond smile when he found out that she had actually taken his jacket on her mission and chuckled in amusement as she explained through a blush that she had been using the jacket as her pillow.
Bee had given Naruto some spare clothes that were slightly too big for him but he was just glad to be out of the bloodstained pyjamas he had been wearing, he watched Hinata tiredly watching the area for any danger and sat up worriedly.
"Hey, if you want to sleep I don't mind giving you the sleeping bag." He told her.
"It's okay Naruto-Kun, you need the sleep more than I do...I don't think I'll be able to sleep anyway." She told him quietly, trying not to wake anyone else up.
"Why not? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked her in a gentle voice, she gave him an affectionate look at his concern.
"Well, it's just that...I almost lost you." Hinata whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.
Naruto's face softened as he could see that she was desperately trying to hold back her tears as the tough front she had put up all day had started to wear off, he pulled her closer to him and hugged her. "I'm okay, thanks to you Hinata." He promised her. "Here, take the sleeping bag and lie down." He told her as he got up and began moving away.
Hinata grabbed his hand shyly, refusing to meet his eyes. "Umo..." She said quietly.
"Do you want me to stay with you?" Naruto asked her nervously, his own cheeks darkening slightly.
She nodded jerkily and he gave her an affectionate smile, he thought she looked so cute when she was like this. He joined her in the sleeping bag (it was large enough to fit both of them) and lay on his back, he set his jacket under her head and an arm under his own. Hinata lay stiffly beside him; too shy to make eye contact.
"Thank you." She whispered quietly.
"It's really no problem Hinata." Naruto told her with his grin that he reserved for her.
She turned to look at him on her side, "I'm really happy you're okay Naruto-Kun." She said with a sleepy smile.
Naruto just watched her with a content smile as she closed her tired eyes and fell asleep, it wasn't long until he fell asleep himself and if Hinata found herself sleeping on his chest with his arms around her in the middle of the night, well then that was okay.
Sorry to end it here, there will be one more chapter left, kind of like an epilogue but not really. I also want you to know that I'm sorry if the fight scenes were a bit weak but I'm not that great at writing things like that hope you have enjoyed. :3
