Naruto couldn't help but pace back and forth. If he was honest, he was a little disappointed that he couldn't get more information out of Kakashi. It seemed that the guy was so adamant about hiding the past from him. But why? Why would he hide it in the first place? Were his parent's good people or were they rather cruel? Hm, he couldn't be sure. He didn't have any scars on him from before Hinata found him. Not like he even had any scars now, well other than the scar that he had from the first time he fought a demon.
Now that was something that still bothered him but since then he had trained hard so he wouldn't have to deal with that again.
Shaking his head, the young man felt like he was going to go crazy. Hinata wasn't even awake yet, he couldn't bring himself to leave the room or even sleep a little longer. The thoughts of his past swimming around in his head caused him to sigh and of course, not want to sleep. There was just so much going on that he felt like he had to go and talk to someone. But who could he talk too at this time of day? "Oh wait, there is the old pervert." Naruto said with a chuckle. It had been a while since he had spoken to him though he just hoped that he was at the training grounds right now.
Normally he was though he did still travel but came back every few months or so. It was around the time that he would be back so may as well give that a chance.
Turning to the window, he saw that the sun was still far from rising, so that gave him enough time to find him and have a chat before Hinata even knew that he was gone. Walking around in his closet, the young man changed into his usual attire before grabbing his sword and made his way out of his room. Looking around, he saw that there was no one else around. Makes sense, a good deal of people were asleep besides those on guard duty. Rotation should be happening around this point so that should give him enough time to sneak out.
'God, I feel like a little kid again. Sneaking out just so I could train to protect her better. Heh, that's a little funny.' thought Naruto as he snuck around the walls, gazing around to make sure that no one was coming his way. 'Okay, everything's clear.' Naruto thought to himself before running through the halls, making sure not to make a single sound as he did so. There were a few light sleepers around the manor, and he had to make sure that nothing had given him away to them.
It didn't take him long, though Naruto had made his way outside. Smirking, the young man whispered "Still got it." He chuckled a little before making a break for it through the forest.
Making a mad dash through the trees, Naruto saw everything zip by him in blurs of greens, browns and a few other colours that he had assumed to be flowers. Maybe he should grab some for Hinata, the ball was coming up and well, he never did get her something for her birthday as of yet and he had to get her something. Maybe Izumi had something that he could buy for her.
Yeah, that would make things better. Though, what could he get her? What could anyone get for a princess who could easily get anything that she would ever want in her entire life even without asking for it in the first place? Ugh, he was making his head hurt at this rate. Shaking his head, Naruto knew that he had to hurry up and get to his master before the old pervert would take off.
Looking ahead, the young man saw the line of trees coming into his line of sight. It shouldn't take him much longer now to get there.
"You better be there." He grumbled before he managed to break through the tree line and rushed to the training grounds where he was taught how to use a sword. And of course proper sword techniques along with speed and endurance.
Rushing through, pushing more and more of his energy into his legs, Naruto couldn't help but worry and fear that there would be no one there. Though, that was a stupid thought on his part. Sniffing the air, he could mostly just smell the scent of pines, though he could faintly smell something else. He wasn't sure what it was exactly but there was a small lingering scent of booze and sword cleaner.
Once he had arrived, Naruto couldn't help but look around but what he saw? Well, he saw a small shack that hadn't been there before. Though then again he was further in the forest this time around so it was possible that someone had moved here since he was here last. Yet, at the same time who would want to move here in the first place? There was nothing here but the trees and possible stray demons that would feel the desire to attack and, worse came to shove, devour a human.
"What are you doing here brat?" came a voice, causing Naruto to jump out of his skin as he looked over to the side of the little shack and couldn't help but blink his eyes in confusion as he saw the man that he was looking for. How was it that he could bring himself not to be scared of when this man still managed to hide himself from him?
"What's up Pervy Master?" asked Naruto with a smirk on his face.
"You didn't answer me Naruto. What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, I was wondering if I could have some advice. I promise it won't take me long Jiraiya." Naruto said with a frown on his face.
"Alright, follow me. I've got a few chairs out here since I'm working on my place." Jiraiya said as he scratched the back of his head, making his way to behind the shack. So, was Jiraiya building something out here or what? He had no idea but it would make sense if that was the case. He has been out here a long time even with his travels. He did always come back here.
"What brings you out here this early Naruto?" asked Jiraiya as he sat down on one of the few chairs. Well, they sure looked freshly made, the wood had no ware or tear from age or weather so that had to mean that they had just been made not long ago. Taking a seat himself, Naruto sighed softly as he leaned back a bit. Trying to think on how to ask this. There was so much that he wanted to say but wasn't sure if he could.
Looking up at his teacher with a frown, Naruto tried to think his words carefully. "Well, a man came to the manor the other day. Someone from my past I guess." Naruto began, that seemed to make Jiraiya peek a bit in interest. Jiraiya knew that Naruto had no memory of his past, and any kind of link to his past was what seemed to interest Jiraiya the most. "I don't remember him but he seems to know me, and he knew my parents."
"What's his name?" asked Jiraiya.
"Um… Kakashi I believe he said. Yeah it was Kakashi." Naruto answered.
"Interesting." Jiraiya said as he leaned back, a strange look seemed to have crossed his face. His eyes seemed to have a bit of a shine at the thought of learning just a simple name. Yet, there also seemed to be a hint of worry in his gaze. Why that was, he had no idea. "What else?" asked Jiraiya.
"He didn't tell me much. He could only tell me my parents' names. To be honest, he said that he couldn't tell me more than that." Naruto said with a soft sigh as he rubbed his forehead. To be honest, he had hoped that he would be able to learn something about his past, about his parents and what they were like. The only thing he knew was that his parents did indeed love him, and of course how he got his name in the first place.
Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest as he seemed to be in rather deep thought. His eyes focused on Naruto for a moment before closing as he seemed to be trying to process whatever Naruto had just told him. "Tell me Naruto, what does this guy look like?" Okay, that was a rather odd request, even for him.
"Uh… silvery white hair that sticks upward, one eye covered, the other looks almost black. Um… natural coloured skin and he wears a mask that covers the bottom half of his face." Naruto explained with a small shrug of his shoulders.
"Interesting." Jiraiya said before opening his eyes once again as he stared at his student. "Naruto, from what you have told me, it seems that he is only hiding information that may be too soon for you to know. To even understand."
"I'm an adult Jiraiya, I'm twenty-five years old, and I can handle this." Naruto said with a grumble.
"That is true, but you also have to remember, you have no memory of your childhood from before Princess Hinata found you. You were alone, scared, and injured. That itself, would have caused you to have some kind of emotional scarring and should you learn the truth at an inappropriate moment then it could shatter you." Naruto frowned a little at that. What could that mean anyway?
Shaking his head, Naruto crossed his arms as he said "Look Jiraiya, I'm a grown ass man, I can handle the truth." Naruto was being defiant, but at the moment he didn't give a damn. He just wanted to learn his truth. Maybe even find them, there had to be a chance that they were out there, looking for both himself and Kakashi if that was the case. If they were seasoned warriors much like himself and Kakashi, then they had to be alive right?! "They are out there." Naruto declared.
"But what if they aren't Naruto? What will you do?" Jiraiya asked with a frown.
"…" He had no answer for that. All he wanted was to at least meet them, know more about them but… What if they were dead? What if they had been killed before coming to see him or Kakashi? Shaking his head, Naruto took a deep breath, hoping to calm his nerves as he looked up at his teacher. "I don't really know, but I just want to know who I am."
"Naruto, you may not have had a happy beginning, one that you don't even remember but that doesn't make you who you are." Jiraiya smiled a little as he stared at his student, a calm yet happy expression was on his face as he added "It is the rest of your story that shapes you into the person you are now."
Shaking his head, Naruto looked away. Was that even true? Wouldn't learning about his past be something that he would want to learn about regardless? Of course. He wanted to learn everything about them, or at least as much as he could and yet his teacher was telling him that it was best that he doesn't learn anything about his parents other than what he knows now? Shaking his head, Naruto calmly said "I'm sorry Jiraiya, but I still want to know. Or else it will just eat at me for the rest of my life."
Jiraiya sighed softly before looking up at the sky with a frown on his face. "So, something else is troubling you?" Naruto frowned a little. Okay, there was something else troubling him though how would Jiraiya know about that? "Maybe it has something to do about a certain princess's birthday?"
"How did you-"
"Everyone's been talking about it. The ball is when she'll have her party isn't it?"
"Yeah, I don't know what to get her." Naruto said with a sigh.
"Think about what she'd need, not what she'd want."
Blinking a few times at his teacher, Naruto couldn't help but think about what Jiraiya had said. There was a lot of things that Hinata had, so it was hard to think on what it was that she'd need. What would she need in the first place? She was beautiful, had all the clothes in the world that she would ever want or need. Not to mention she had every kind of hair accessory as well. Not to mention she was a warrior who had been trained similar to him in hand to hand combat and- wait. "Jiraiya, can you do me a huge favor?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I need you to gather a few things to make something for Hinata, but it has to have these special abilities."
Naruto returned to the manor just before the sun started to rise. He knew that he would still have some time before Hinata would wake up though, he wasn't sure what he could do until then. He had so much energy that he didn't think that he would be able to sleep for a little while longer. Running a hand through his bangs, Naruto wasn't sure what more was going on with his life. Staring at his hand, he couldn't help but wonder what he should do about his new found strength among other senses now.
They would still bother him though not as bad as an overload as when they first surfaced. It almost felt like a dam within his body had broken and would start to overflow him with new senses and abilities. Though what that was, he had no idea and it scared him.
What if he hurt Hinata?
Closing his eyes, the young man knew that he had to calm down, had to relax. Though what was he to do though?
"What are you doing out so early?" came a voice, causing Naruto to jump out of his skin and look over at the source of the voice. Only to blink as he saw that it was none other than Kakashi.
"Why are you up?" asked Naruto with a frown.
"Habit. I'm always up at the crack of dawn, mostly due to my training as a child." Kakashi answered, a smile could be seen under his mask as he stared at the blonde before him. "Now, why are you out here?" asked Kakashi, his gaze calm, it made Naruto uneasy.
"I was just out and about." Lied Naruto, not wanting to tell him about his teacher. It was one thing to tell his teacher, a man he's known for a long time to someone who, even claiming to know his past who won't share anything to know about who his teacher was. Looking away, Naruto asked "So, how did my parents meet anyway?"
Kakashi seemed a little surprised about that question. He looked up at the sky, almost seeming like he was in a daze. "I was young when they got together. I can't explain everything because it still ties to where you came from." He began with a small smile on his face. "It was a little after your father found me. Your mother was being attacked by a rouge and she was out matched by him. She had tried to fight him off but could only block."
Sighing softly, the older man ran a hand through his hair was he tried to think of his words carefully. "Your father and I arrived, he fought alongside your mother and they managed to fight off the rouges. I on the other hand was ordered to take the hostages that they had managed to capture before attacking your mother-"
"Why did they try to attack her if they already had hostages?" asked Naruto with a frown.
Kakashi chuckled a little as he answered the blonde's question. "To be honest? They thought that they could make our king surrender if they had hostages and knew your mother would be the best hostage."
"Why?"
"That is something that I cannot answer but what I can say is that your parents had very close ties to the royal family."
Naruto blinked a little at that. Did that mean his parents were guards as well? So, that meant that he had taken on their role without even knowing what they had done in their lives. Amazing, he was the child of amazing warriors that had to be the case! "Kakashi, where are they anyway?" He noticed how the silver haired man stiffened at the question. But why though? Were they on some kind of top secret mission or were they trapped somewhere? Or was it that he had no idea where they were in the first place? This just had him more and more curious.
"Naruto, you'll have to accept that there are some things that I just can't share with you about your past. You just aren't ready to know the full truth. I'm sorry, but I just can't tell you much of anything. What I am telling you is a risk itself." Kakashi said with a sigh before he looked up at the sky as he calmly added "Anyway, your teacher Iruka has told me a few things. It seems that you don't allow Hinata to fight for herself."
"How can I? She's a princess. She shouldn't have to fight in the first place. Not to mention, Hinata hasn't had the intense training that I have." Naruto said with a frown.
"That is true, but she can't get better if you don't allow her to improve. Without improvement, she can't be called a true warrior." Kakashi calmly said before looking back at the manor. "Plus, even a princess, nay, even a future lady can be a warrior." Naruto frowned a little as he thought about what it was that Kakashi was telling him. Sure, he knew that he was supposed to protect Hinata, to keep her from getting hurt in the long run. But, what was he to do? She was trained in self-defence. But otherwise, that was all he knew that she could do. Sighing softly, the young man was about to say something before he saw something being tossed to him.
Quickly, the young man caught it and frowned as he held onto the object in his hand. "An arm band?" Naruto said with a frown on his face.
"Naruto, I have been notified about abilities that you have started to develop. I know what these abilities are but I can't do much to help you with them right now. Though I can help you harness these abilities and over time you'll adjust to them. But first, I'll have to teach you how to slowly adjust to your powers since they are awakening far too quickly for you to learn properly since you have gone without them for so long." Kakashi said with a sigh before crossing his arms in deep thought. "For now, just wear it and we'll start on your training tomorrow, that should give your body time to adjust to the powers being locked away again. After that we'll start on adjusting to them."
Well, he hoped that would be the case. "Otherwise Naruto, think about what I said when it comes to our dear princess. Just because she is royalty, doesn't mean that she can't fight back." After that, Kakashi started to make his way back inside the manor. Leaving a confused blonde warrior in his wake.
Maybe Kakashi had a point, Hinata was a warrior in her own right. And she knew how to fight for the most part. Well, she could at least take care of herself against humans, demon's she still needed help with. Or at the very least a special weapon that could stop them. He has a lot of work to do that was for sure. For now though he'd have to go back inside and wait for Hinata to wake up and they could go to the meeting that they had to get to today.
Soon, the sun arose having Naruto make his way over to Hinata's room to get her. He knew that this meeting would be rather boring, though he also knew that he had to be there. Should another demon attack then there was a good chance that it would go after her, or Lord Hiashi. That was something that he couldn't afford. Hinata couldn't take over yet anyway, she had to… had to…
Shaking his head, the young man walked with Hinata to the great hall where the meeting would take place. He couldn't help but stare at Hinata from the corner of his eye. What was with the sad look on her face? Was something wrong or was it about the meeting? After the last time, no, more like the first time she's been nervous about going to meetings but this time she had no choice but to go.
As future ruler, she had to go to meetings more often so she could learn how to be a ruler. "Everything will be okay Hinata." Naruto whispered softly, only so that she could hear him.
"I know but, I can't help but worry. I just fear that another demon will come busting through the wall and attack us." Hinata whispered softly.
"What are the odds, that the only time we're back in on meetings after all this time that a demon will attack us?" Naruto said with a soft chuckle. Only to give her a soft and gentle gaze. "No one will ever dare of harming you again so long as I'm with you."
Hinata looked up at the blonde, her cheeks pinking slightly before she looked away from him. "That is true Naruto, but there will be a time where you won't be there for me. One of these days, you'll be off somewhere keeping the manor safe and I'll be left on my own."
He didn't even want to think about that. The very thought of leaving Hinata on her own made him sick to his stomach. Made him want to lash out at just the idea itself, though he knew that he couldn't do that. More so since the idea came from Hinata. There was that tiny part of him that wanted to attack the person who came up with that notion, but that same part knew that he couldn't since it was Hinata that came up with it. Unless, someone fed her that idea itself.
Shaking his head, the young man calmly said "Hinata, you have nothing to worry about. Yes, there may come a time where we are separated but otherwise, there is nothing that we can do about it." He gave her a soft smile before he turned his attention back ahead. To be honest, he feared for that day to happen. Sure, he knew that there would be a day where he wouldn't be around. More so because of his profession. Yes, he was a powerful warrior, a great one at that but even he could be killed in battle one day.
Leaving Hinata in anyway hurt him. But, what more could he do for her? "God, did they have to have these meetings so early in the morning?" grumbled Naruto.
"You're normally up this early anyway." Hinata said with a laugh.
"Yeah, but I still hate those meetings. They're just so boring and they suck the life right out of you." Grumbled Naruto, hating the idea of meetings all the more.
Giggling softly, Hinata looked up at Naruto as she carefully grabbed a hold of his hand. Naruto stiffened a little as he looked down at the shorter woman, then to their hands before looking back up at her. "Naruto," Hinata began as she looked away with a soft look on her face. "I find the meetings more bearable when I think about you. The only person, other than my father that means anything to me." Naruto felt his heart beat quickly in his chest. "So, if that works for me, think about the one thing that means the most to you." Yup, his heart was beating quicker no in his chest, more so than before.
He already knew that answer, the most important thing, or rather person, in his life was Hinata. The only light in his life, the only thing that he would lay his life down for. Taking a deep breath, he calmly said "Alright, though I just hope no one dares to mess with you because you know how I am." Hinata just rolled her eyes at that before letting go of his hand and started to walk away in a huff. "Wait Hinata! I'm sorry!" Naruto shouted as he tried to catch up to her.
If he was honest, well he wasn't expecting her to be mad about it. Okay yes, he tends to go a little overboard when it comes to her safety or, when people talk down to her.
But, that was to be expected from him. That was how he was, not like he even knew what the cause of it was in the first place. Once he managed to catch up with her, he got her to turn to face him, only to see her smiling face. "Naruto, I'm not mad. You should know me better than that." She said with a giggle.
"That wasn't funny Hinata." Naruto grumbled a little, a pout starting to form on his face. Though that only seemed to make Hinata laugh all the more. She had such a cute laugh, and that was more than enough to act like he does when it's just the two of them. Hinata was the only person that would ever see this side of him, and he would make sure that it stayed that way no matter what it costs him.
Though, he also knew that if anyone knew that he had a childish side to him that it would make him look bad in the eyes of the villagers or even the other guards. Something that he didn't want to have right now. Nor, did he need to deal with.