Up From the Shadows

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own the anime/manga Naruto; nor do I profit from using any likenesses of the characters portrayed.

Dates appear as such: 'June 18 – 015 AK – Midday' meaning the obvious the 015 is basically saying that October of that year Naruto is 15

(Same day of his return)

Hinata was set down on the now clean desk while Naruto was being eyed by his two senseis. Tsunade proceeded to snap herself out of her daze and walked up to her desk and nearly started crying on the spot when she looked at the bruised and malnourished body of the dark haired girl.

"What happened to her?" asked Tsunade while she set in to heal her injuries.

"It's all my fault Tsunade; I was the one that caused her so much pain." He replied while stroking Hinata's lifeless mess of hair.

"How was any of this your fault?"

"She loved me, but I was too dense to realize it and then I kind of died causing her much pain. It took her a while, but she managed to find love again in Rantou, but she was hurt even worse that time when I died saving her life. Loosing two people you love like that in one lifetime is too much for one person to handle. I just hope she is willing to live again." Naruto was now gently stroking her cheek mindlessly until he saw her eyes jump open staring at him.

"Naruto-kun, How? You are alive, but I saw you burn and how do you know about Rantou? I thought I figured it out but I can't" her face turned sad again and she closed her eyes so she didn't have to look at him.

"I'm sorry I caused you so much pain… and to answer your question Hinata, I messed up the jutsu I wrote about, again, but it went worse this time and it kind of divided my soul into three parts. I kept the demon in this body, but my hyper loud half went to one, while the parts I didn't know of my self, like my affinity for wind and many feelings went to another. Basically saying, I kind of am Rantou. I have his feelings, power and knowledge mixed with my own so I really am neither Naruto or Rantou as you know them, but yet I am. I know it is confusing, but I'll tell you all more later, since I have much to talk about on that topic." Naruto saw his two senseis still staring at him like he was still dead, go figure. "I really don't want to sound mean by this, but I believe Hinata-chan needs some good food and a nice shower, I doubt she has had either in a while."

"You're right Naruto-kun, I haven taken care of my self, I really just wanted to die." She said ashamed of being so weak.

"I know Hinata, and I'm sorry. I never wanted to cause you this pain. Unfortunately we have some other matters to deal with. Since I basically am Rantou, that means I am still obligated to marry you. Now Hiashi will be here in about two and a half hours to challenge my claim to you, and we'll need everything we have to get through this." Nodding, Hinata was quietly taken out of the room by Tsunade to find her the meal and shower that she so desperately needed. With an exhausted sigh, Naruto flopped into one of the plush chairs while the two perverted senseis still were staring trying to make sense that the two people who died are really the one person alive in front of them, it baffled them to no end.

Naruto was no longer amused with his senseis and decided to meditate on what he should do until they returned. 45 minutes later Tsunade returned with Hinata and was definitely surprised to see Naruto quiet and even meditating. Her appearance brought the attention of the room back to her but Naruto's eyes darted away from the Hokage to Hinata. Her face was way too thin, but her hair seemed to be back to its usual luster. The worst was her usual clothing she wore looked too big on her which showed exactly how much weight she lost. Seeing her like this broke his heart as tears fell from his face. Tsunade sat at her desk with a smile until she saw the tears in the eyes that were staring at the girl. Hinata was looking at the ground as she walked past Naruto completely ignoring his presence thinking he was still either a dream or someone playing tricks on her. (her mind is messed up, so she will be second guessing everything for a while) She let out a loud squeak as she was unexpectedly grabbed by the wrist and pulled sideways into his lap. Naruto wrapped his arms around her thin frame and pulled her close as he buried his face into the crook of her neck letting his tears fall.

"Naruto-kun…" her tears fell from her eyes feeling his affectionate touch.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I never wanted to hurt you, can you ever forgive me?"

"Shut up." She ordered. Naruto's head jerked up hearing those words. Unbelievingly he stared into her sparkling pale eyes to make sure it was her.

"What?"

"Sometimes you talk too much Naruto-kun." Hinata's arms flung around his neck bringing him closer and planting her lips directly on his causing his eyes to widen in response. To say he was surprised would be an understatement, but as usual Naruto could improvise at a moments notice and this was no different. Closing his eyes he lived in that moment deepening the kiss as he held her tighter. For the both of them, time stood still, they enjoyed each others warmth, love and even the taste of their lips. They would have stayed in that moment forever, but unfortunately their lung capacity had other plans so they were forced to part. They looked at each other happily.

"So does that mean you forgive me?" he asked

"No, not yet Naruto-kun."

"Well then what was that for?" Hinata's smile grew slightly sinister.

"That… was for my own enjoyment."

"That's mean Hinata-chan." He pouted causing Hinata to giggle. "So what do I have to do to earn your forgiveness Angel?"

"That's easy my love, you will just have to make sure you marry me like Rantou, er, you promised." She informed him while blushing.

"Your blush is still so cute Hinata-chan, and of course I will still marry you, that is what I'm here for. But before then we will have to get you extremely healthy." Leaning in next to her ear "especially for the wedding night" he whispered causing nearly all the blood in her body to flow to her face. Still holding onto consciousness she decided to hide her embarrassment by taking his lips in another passionate kiss.

"Ahem… If you two are done, I believe there are some things we need to discuss." interrupted Tsunade. Reluctantly the two embarrassingly broke apart and Hinata moved to get up, but Naruto held her back and she easily gave in and nestled into his arms.

"Well before I explain everything, I need a certain paper shredded." Naruto announced. All four people in attendance looked at him like he was crazy, but one was hiding the sweat pouring down his face. "Ero-sennin! I will not have my future wife in your books, now hand it over." All eyes turned to the sweating white haired man, except for Hinata who was looking at Naruto lovingly after hearing the only four lettered word she wanted to hear, wife. Jiraiya gave a guilty look as he reached into his shirt taking out his notebook and ripped out the page and handed over his research. Naruto took the page and folded it, placing it into his pocket. "Ero-sennin…" He held his hand out expectantly. "All copies, including the one in your hair."

Jiraiya looked mortified as he pulled out a notebook from his hair, one from his sleeve, another from a pants pocket, one more from his shirt and one from his sandal. everyone was surprised at the amount of 'research' Jiraiya kept on his person. Naruto removed all references to Hinata from the books after actually reading it he smiled, folded one up and handed it to Hinata, who immediately pocketed it, and then burned the rest of the pages with a small Katon jutsu. Before the question was asked Naruto answered it for them.

"Well, you see, Ero-sennin created a jutsu that copies his single notebook into 7 others so even if he looses one or has it stolen or destroyed, then he will still have his research."

'Ha, the brat is still as dense as ever, he has never found there was an 7th, and he never bothers to count' thought Jiraiya until he smelled something. "Hey, do you guys smell something burning?" he asked before he looked down. "Oh, shit, hot hot hot" He ran around the office in circles while his last notebook burned in his pants causing the whole room to shake in laughter. Deciding to help, Tsunade used a small water jutsu, in the form of a bucket, and put out the fire, but there was nothing left of the research now.

"Hey, Ero-sennin. I've changed in the past few years. I can think now as well as count." Turning serious he started in again. "So, I suppose you would like me to explain myself?"

"That would be good, but I am still glad to see you are still essentially you." Interrupted Kakashi.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. You were so quiet; I almost forgot you were here. Why were you so quiet?" Naruto asked loudly.

"Just enjoying the show I guess." Was his reply. Naruto just shrugged it off and started his tale since he had all their attention.

"Well basically I was trying to create a new jutsu based on the kage bushin. I was attempting to make stronger versions of them so they could take much more damage, but I ran into many problems along the way. I refined it to a point where I could make two clones capable of generating their own chakra, but one looked correct while the other looked a bit faded. I just ignored that since I got what I wanted, man I was an idiot for not looking into that. Anyways, one of the interesting parts was when I dispelled them; I would get my chakra back as well, which was cool. Now another downside was the clones has to be dispelled manually meaning I needed to touch them, or they had to touch each other, to release them or I wouldn't get my chakra back. Now When I tried to give each of them more chakra to deal with, about half of what I had, I would then find myself wandering aimlessly not remembering what happened." He paused his story at that moment to reposition Hinata since she was slipping off his lap. Without looking at her he firmly grasped her scooting her further up on his lap earning a loud squeak since it was her backside that he grabbed.

"Sorry Hinata, I probably should have touched you like that." He apologized while she just looked dreamily into his eyes.

"It's alright Naruto-kun; you can touch me anywhere you want." Hinata gasped when she realized she said that out loud and found a nice deep red color for her face to turn and buried her face in Naruto's chest to hide herself. Tsunade seemed astonished at how forward she was while Jiraiya and Kakashi were giggling like little girls. Naruto being red himself decided to continue the story while stroking Hinata's back mindlessly.

"Anyways, I never got to finish the testing of it before Sasuke came near which got me the idea to create a clone to actually die by his hand so he could unlock his power, and leave the snake bastard. I knew the clone would need a lot of power so I decided to make a single clone and give it all the chakra I could spare, but things went weird when I tried that, I made two clones one about half my normal strength, who was perceived as me, and one with almost no strength, known as Rantou, while I ended up sucked into some weird place where I couldn't move or do anything but talk with the fox and see some of the surroundings. In the years I was trapped there we came up with a good reason for what happened." The soothing sound of his voice combined with the stroking of her back managed to quickly put Hinata to sleep. Naruto just smiled seeing her sleeping so peacefully and continued on.

"We figured the kage bushin was actually a form of dimensional manipulation. Every clone making jutsu, like the mitsu bushin, uses less chakra and is just as solid as the kage buishin but they can't transfer memories like kage bushin can. Another commonality between clone jutsu is the user must use a medium to for them, like water. This is where we thought that if you needed a source for them, you would also need a source for the kage bushins, and that is where the dimension comes in. Everything points to needing a small dimensional rift into a certain dimension for each clone. When the chakra is poured through the rift to form the clone, it pulls a shadow, or something like it, into our dimension to take the form of the clone, and the dimension rift remains open letting the memories to come back through when it is dispelled. That explains the smoke when one is destroyed. Where there might be a problem is if there are other things living in that dimension that could get out when a rift is created.

I was trapped in that shadow dimension and the creatures seemed harmless, but I can't be sure. Well anyways, just making the clones wont let these things out, but what I was doing was forcing more chakra through the rift making it large enough for something to enter, especially the last time. The only way I could get out of that dimension was if my clones touched each other after dying, and luckily the bodies were kept around by Hinata so it could happen. As a bonus I got all the chakra that was gained by the clones when they dispelled meaning I have about twice the chakra, and extensive knowledge of the wind element which has been quite interesting if it is combined with a few other jutsus. Even though that is a plus, the negatives out weigh it by way too much. First I cause so much pain to those that thought I died, and two, you actually think you died, and let me tell you, dying is more painful than the injuries that caused it. Between dying twice and the memories of Rantou in his life, I have become a much different person from the maturity it brought making me a lot less of an idiot."

Hinata was just waking again from her quick nap and quickly engulfed Naruto in a deep kiss once again surprising the occupants of the room, but it was going to get better since she really wasn't fully awake. She kept kissing him while running her fingers though his hair. She finally broke away and looked at him with wanting in her eyes.

"Maybe we should take this to our bedroom…" Hinata moved in and kissed him again even though his eyes were nearly outside of his head.

"H-Hinata… Are you awake?" Her eyes fully opened and she hid her head in his chest again.

"Oh god, I did it again didn't I?" she asked with her muffled voice from being buried in his clothes.

"Shhh, don't worry about it angel, you've been under much too much stress already."

"You know kid; we could always leave you two alone." Smiled the white haired pervert.

"Ero-sennin! Shut up, we have more important things to deal with. Hiashi should be here within the next 45 minutes, or so, to challenge my contract to marry Hinata which was signed by Rantou but it was basically my blood and it was signed using the symbol I use, so it is essentially signed by me."

"Well I guess that will make things easier. Kakashi, Jiraiya, you can go, but don't speak of Naruto yet, we need a plan to break the news." They were about to protest until they saw Tsunade crack her knuckles for a little emphasis, let's just say they decided to leave under their own power this time.

"Ok baa-chan, this is really going to suck, but I think we need to move to a larger room since I'm sure the entire Hyuuga council will want to be here."

"Yeah, it is true your mind works better now, you would have never thought of that before" smiled Tsunade.

"Yeah, yeah, now just shut it, let's get going." Naruto stood up and set Hinata's feet on the ground to stand, but she just stood there staring longingly at him with a slight blush covering her face "You know Hinata, you are still very cute with that blush, but we are definitely going to have to spend a lot of time together to get you healthy again so we can spar." He leaned a bit closer to her ear so only she could hear him. "And maybe if I get injured, you can give me one of those massages again" He smiled at her as he stooped closer giving her a kiss before grabbing her hand and following Tsunade into the conference room down the hall. They each took a set at one of the chairs except for Hinata who took up her spot on Naruto's lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. They really only had to wait 20 minutes before, the Hokage's assistant, Shizune, stepped into the conference room.

"Tsunade-sama, Hyuuga Hiashi and the entire Hyuuga council are here to…"Shizune's voice dropped off when she saw the blonde sitting in the room. "Naruto-kun, but how?"

"Now isn't the time for that Shizune, bring Hiashi in." interrupted Tsunade. Shizune nodded and left, moments later she returned with Hiashi and the council.

"Hokage-sama, I demand that worthless Hyuuga over there be return to the manor at once." With anger in his eyes Naruto hugged Hinata closer to him.

"I told you once and I won't say it again, if you enjoy walking, call her by her name." he calmly stated in a tone promising pain.

"He is right, she shall be referred as Hinata, and he will be referred as Naruto, no exceptions. Now what is the basis of this meeting?" demanded the Hokage.

"I challenge the validity that this boy has a contract for the female Hyuuga's hand in marriage."

"I understand that the document in question was signed in blood, therefore no forgeries can be done. Since this is the case, it will be easy to validate; where is the document." Hiashi pulled out the small scroll and handed it over to Tsunade for verification. She did a couple hand signs and the document started to emit a blue light. "Now, Naruto, place a drop of your blood next to the scroll, if it glows like the scroll, it is a match." Naruto pricked his finger and let the blood drip down. Once it came to a rest next to the document it immediately started to glow. "It is confirmed, Naruto is the signer of the contract so it is still in effect.

"Very well, she will accept disownment and the caged bird seal, and then you can have her." Hiashi stated.

"That is not acceptable. Nothing less then her being heir and marrying me will satisfy me or the contract. I'll be damned if you people get away with another generation of that stupid barbaric seal. Your children need love not constant training and discipline. You ended up forcing Hinata to become an overly shy and unconfident person because you disapproved of how caring she was. I have fought against her and lost and I would bet she could even beat you if she didn't hold back not wanting to hurt you. With her as heir and me the future Hokage, we will fix your F-ed up clan to the way it should be, a family."

"Well if that is how you want to proceed, I have no choice but to invoke an old law created by a Hokage that supersedes all other documents. It states that only the first born of a Hokage is allowed to marry the first born of the Hyuuga with out a unanimous vote in the council. But the part we like is that It also states that any previous vote taken can be overturned voiding the contract of marriage created if only one member of the clan council refuses it. Therefore I will never vote to keep the contract intact so the contract is null and void, you should have taken the offer I gave to you boy." Hiashi stood and ordered Hinata to follow, but was interrupted by maniacal laughter coming from the blonde Hokage.

"You do realize that that document only applies to the first born and heir and has no other stipulations right? Damn, Hiashi, you just brought the end to that cursed seal of yours. You acknowledged her as first born and heir in front of everyone." Her maniacal laughter brought smiles to the faces of the couple knowing there was something she was hiding that would fix it all.

"What are you talking about?" demanded the clan head.

"Let's talk hypothetically, now if you were Hokage and the only way to protect the entire village is to disown your only child and die yourself, would you do it for the protection of the village and your clan?" asked Tsunade

"Without a second thought, the village would survive and so would the child, but what does that have to do about anything?"

"It has everything to do about it. Now then, if I recall correctly, there were four children born within 12 hours of the Kyuubi attack. Now how could the Hokage sacrifice one child over the others if he was unwilling to place the burden on his own son?" most of the room turned wide eyed at the implication of what she just said.

"You can't be implying what I think you are." Hiashi stated in shock.

"No, I'm not implying it… I'm confirming it. He was to be told by his 18th birthday, but I guess you made me step it forward a few months." Tsunade cleared her throat like she was preparing a statement. "By the power granted to me by the village of Konoha, I hereby accept the marriage of Hyuuga Hinata, the undeniable heir of the Hyuuga clan to Uzumaki Naruto, only son of the Yondaime Hokage. By Hyuuga law Hinata will begin to take over the clan by her 18th birthday, and will be the full successor by age 20. As heir she will have the final say in any and all sealings with your cursed seal. Are there any objections?" all the members of the Hyuuga council hung their heads in defeat, not even they can go against the Hokage.

"No, none of us can. This is how it must be, on behalf of the council; I apologize for our behavior Hinata-sama and give you our full backing. Hiashi-sama, you are not to approach neither Hinata-sama nor her fiancé Naruto-sama. Doing so will be your downfall." Ordered the speaker of the council as they drug Hiashi out of the conference room leaving a silent blonde with his jaw still dropped.

"Um, Naruto-kun… are you ok?" Hinata asked her future husband as she pushed his jaw closed. "Hello, are you there Naruto-kun?" She still got no response so she decided to get drastic. With a smile she stole his lips, and breath, into a long heart felt kiss. When they broke apart, they were both breathing hard to catch their breath.

"Um, baa-chan?"

"Shhh, my love. Let it be for now. I know you want more answers, but I'm too tired to hear them with you and I don't want to be left out. We can return tomorrow after some sleep ok."

"Ok angel. Hey baa-chan, do you think you can spare a couple Anbu to stand guard out side her room just in case?" Tsunade just nodded and waved them out as she was going to start her search for some saké.

The engaged couple walked slowly through the darkly lit streets of Konoha back to the Hyuuga manor where they were greeted with smile from most of the Hyuuga, especially those from the branch family. They parted ways when they got to their rooms, after a quick kiss, and set in for the night. Naruto laid awake in his, Rantou's, room for the past two hours thinking of all that occurred that day when he was brought out of his thinking by the door sliding open.

"Um, N-Naruto-kun… Can I um… I can't sleep. Do you t-think I c-can sleep here?" he was kind of shocked by the request, but if that is what she needed to sleep properly.

"I guess it is ok. We are engaged anyways." Naruto slid over to the edge of the bed so Hinata, in her lavender silk nightgown, could occupy the other. Hinata was still very uncomfortable at the over one foot gap between them and wanted to be much closer.

"Um Naruto-kun, do you think you could touch me?" after she asked the question, Naruto's eyes bulged.

"Huh!? What!?" just then she realized the other meaning that the statement could hold and struggled to correct it.

"N-no, not l-like that, I'd enjoy that too much, Ahhh, no, no, no, I mean, what I meant was… I'm afraid this is all a dream and that when I wake up it will all be gone." She explained with tears falling again. "I can't sleep, because if this is a dream, I don't ever want to wake up. Could you just hold me until I wake up?" He looked over at her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer and kissed away the tears on her cheek.

"Don't worry, this isn't a dream, and I won't go anywhere my beautiful angel." He kissed her once more on the lips and hugged her tightly as she laid her head upon his chest and almost instantly fell asleep. 'Good night Hinata-chan, I guess tonight I will be your angel like you were to me' with his final thought, he too fell asleep quickly.

...Later