Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters. If I got paid for this, I'd be quite happy for now… but I ain't.
Chapter 21: Boat Trip.
Naruto saw the large amount of ships getting close to them, and he also noticed that they weren't heading towards the island anymore: they were setting course to intercept them. He warned Kakashi, and he detailed the boats. He said:
- Those are pirate boats. Be careful.
Shikamaru thought while the rest of the group worked adjusting the ship's sails. Chouji navigated with fierce commands, and Asumi watched that everything was set up right. Shikamaru said:
- Hey, Chouji! Our destiny is the Island of Ice!
- Very well!
Chouji turned the wheel to the west. Shikamaru turned to Naruto and said:
- Naruto! Quickly! Use your wind chakra to hit the sails!
Naruto understood that they had to steer up to elude the pirates, and focused his chakra, moving his arms, legs and body in circular patterns, throwing strong wind blows to the sails. Hinata decided to help and walked downstairs to the crew's rooms. She focused her own chakra, sensing the water's movements. Slowly, she started redirecting the waves with her chakra, moving gracefully while being alone. As they noticed that they accelerated a lot more than what they could with Naruto's wind blows, Sakura felt curious. She saw Naruto move with great strength and agility, generating strong winds to the sails. He has earned such a control of the Air chakra that he's able to use it fluidly, as if he was breathing to replenish his energy after each blow. Once more, she felt sad inside, as she saw a Naruto that was completely different from the punk she used to deal with during her childhood. This Naruto is different…and he changed just because he stopped paying any attention to me… The worst of it all: I'm starting to like this Naruto, but he wants nothing to do with me anymore… I understand him now, but I can do nothing else than just that: understand him… She decided to peek through the sides, and realized that the water underneath them was moving in a way that allowed them to steer up faster.
Sakura walked down to the lower rooms, cautious. Hiding, she noticed that Hinata was moving through the whole corridor, dancing in a way that she was also captivated. Feeling the chakra movement, Sakura noticed that Hinata's chakra rose and motioned constantly and fluidly. As if they'd just breathe to gather more energy… They two have become so powerful, and also the nicest couple… Damn it! Sakura also noticed that Hinata's chakra turned thinner as it passed through the ship's hull, but it immediately matched the water's density when it was out, and then it was moved to motion the ship, moving according to the young Hyuuga's dancing rhythm. I never would've imagined this when I thought about Naruto and Hinata's combined techniques. They work in full coordination, with no need of signs or even to see each other. Sakura, with a bitter smile on her face, decided to go upstairs silently.
Shikamaru saw Sakura, made a sign to her and said:
- I guess Naruto's becoming a lot more powerful…
- Hinata helps him from downstairs… She moves the water to grant us more speed.
Shikamaru was surprised with Sakura's words. He turned to the rear, and he saw that the pirate ships were out of sight. He commanded:
- Go tell Hinata that she can come up now.
Sakura went to tell Hinata that they were safe now, and she returned up, seeing Naruto dry his sweat with one of his jacket's sleeves. Hinata ran to hug him and he returned the gesture. She said:
- Naruto-kun! Did you feel m-my chakra acting on the water?
- Yes, Hinata-chan! Perfect synchronization! We should do this again some other day! Maybe a boat race or something!
Hinata and Naruto giggled softly, together. The shy Hyuuga looked worn out, but there was something different on her expression. Yamato dared to ask:
- Don't you think Hinata seems to be a lot happier now, Kakashi-sempai?
Kakashi, glancing at the couple, and seeing how Kiba, Shino and Akamaru congratulated them, said:
- This is a masterpiece of Naruto Uzumaki, Yamato. The young, shy Hinata Hyuuga has become a world-scale threat.
- She summoned a dragon… the only person who could summon dragons, as I can recall, was the fourth Hokage's wife, and after her, there was not a word on the street about dragon summoners.
Shizune said, a little distant from them:
- The Alliance between Toads and Dragons is re-established… that's quite good for us…
Chouji, still serious,and kind of troubled, said:
- Well, people, great job. Let's go have lunch. The trip will last for two weeks!
The group nodded, and Asumi, with a quick movement, opened a small door in the deck that revealed the access to the ship's dining room's stairs. They all went down, ate and started to do different activities.
Naruto and Hinata meditated, when, all of a sudden, a chakra wrapped them. Both appeared together in a dark hall. Naruto recognized the place, so as the two people who showed up in front of them: Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. She spoke:
- Hey, Naruto, you never introduced us to your girlfriend.
Hinata blushed and Naruto hugged her tenderly. He said:
- Dad, mom, she is Hinata Hyuuga.
Minato got close to the young Hyuuga and held her hand sincerely. Hinata bowed, and Minato said:
- Don't worry, Hinata. I may have been the Fourth Hokage, but right now I'm just your boyfriend's father. You can be calm with us, Hinata.
Hinata blushed and held his hand. Minato smiled kindly to her, and then Kushina got close to her. She looked at her with curiosity and smiled:
- You are quite different to every single Hyuuga I ever met. You're even different to the twins. Even I realized that you became the heiress of my dragon summoning. Congratulations.
Hinata smiled:
- I-It's a great honor to meet you two…
Kushina took her husband's hand and said:
- Give us your hands, kids.
Naruto and Hinata glanced at each other and obeyed. In that instant, they felt how an enormous amount of chakra was revolved around the whole place, around them, and inside their bodies. Minato said:
- Your chakra levels are actually as big as the ones we had when we were alive… in just two and a half months?
Naruto and Hinata nodded. Kushina said, with a kind smile:
- That's really impressive, kids, but it's still not enough. You still have a lot of work to do. Hinata, you and Naruto need to work a lot on your personal chakra reserves. Else, I want you to train with the elder toads and dragons. You need still to handle the natural chakra with dexterity.
Minato continued:
- The higher your chakra capacity and control are, the more the quantity of natural chakra you can handle, and the best the control you can have of it.
All of a sudden, a figure appeared from the darkness, behind Minato and Kushina. Naruto recognized it as Kyuubi, in its fox shape:
- If you want to protect me, you must become even stronger than me, kids. Wake up; we shall take you to the mount Myoboku. The elders Fukasaku and Ryuuza are already waiting for you.
Kushina said, before starting to vanish:
- Learn from Naruto, Hinata-chan. Befriend the dragons. Let them know of you, and learn about them too. That way, the bond will become stronger.
As they actually vanished, Minato said:
- Naruto, Hinata, you've got our blessing. Be happy together.
In that moment, Hinata and Naruto woke up, hands held. In that moment, Aoryuu and Gamakichi appeared in the boat. Sakura, who sneaked in their room, had Kiba and Akamaru beside her. She desperately wanted to know what made them so powerful, and both Kiba and Akamaru agreed to find that out. The three of them heard the conversation, Naruto starting:
- Hey there, Gamakichi.
- H-hello, Aoryuu. – Hinata's voice was a bit stuttered yet; she wasn't expecting them to arrive.
- Guys, ready to leave? – Gamakichi's voice was recognized by the "stalkers": - Don't worry. With your actual level, in two weeks you'll become even greater shinobi.
Hinata seemed to be quite calm, and even relaxed in front of Gamakichi, and that startled Sakura. How can she be so fond of a… slimy and so annoying… toad? Aoryuu said:
- Probably, you'll finish before the two weeks of this boat trip, so we could drop you back directly in the Island of Ice.
Hinata turned to Naruto, blushed, and said:
- Well, we could… s-spend some time… together, Naruto-kun… but we'd have to do such a great effort.
Naruto kissed Hinata's forehead tenderly:
- Of course, Hinata-chan. I'll do whatever it takes to have some quality time with you.
Aoryuu and Gamakichi got surprised with Hinata's following words, and with her mischievous giggling, and they tried to contain their laughter:
- We almost have no time for ourselves, Naruto-kun; there's always someone stalking us… as if they wished to break us apart at the first slip…
Aoryuu and Gamakichi couldn't contain their laughter anymore, making it soundly as Naruto added, quite innocently:
- Yeah, yeah, Sakura-chan has been quite bothersome with that lately.
Sakura felt like she was beaten with a mallet in her chest. Hinata continued, also innocently:
- Poor Kiba-kun, he must be thinking she's in love with you still or something like that, Naruto-kun…
So truthful it hurts… Kiba, with no words, withdrew, and Sakura, returning to the real world, ran to their shared room, finding it was locked from the inside. Naruto and Hinata saw the toad and the dragon, and he asked them:
- Hey, guys, what's going on? Why are you laughing so soundly?
Hinata asked, being a little startled:
- H-Had we just said s-something… funny?
Aoryuu, still rolling on the air laughing (yes, Aoryuu doesn't exactly need to crawl if he doesn't want to; the Far Eastern snake-like Dragons can actually float and reach the skies), said:
- We shall tell you when we get to the mount Myoboku, Hinata-chan. Let's go.
Sakura heard how hand seals were armed in Hinata and Naruto's room, and, when she arrived, she saw a large smoke cloud there instead of the quartet. Crying desperately, she went back and knocked the door of the room she was sharing with Kiba. The dog ninja didn't open the door, and Sakura's knocks to the door only made two yelling voices come out of the room in front of hers:
- Let us be quiet! What a problem!
- Now one can't play Shougi around here? How troublesome!
Damn it, now Shikamaru and Temari are going to peek outside here. Sakura broke in tears and tried to talk, sobbing in a low voice:
- K-Kiba… p-please; open the… … for me…
- I'm sorry, Sakura, I need to be alone. – Kiba's answer was quite hurt, and cold.
- P-please…
- I'm sorry, if I'm going to be a consolation prize for you, let me assume it as such. Good night.
- But, Kiba-kun! You're not-!
- Good night, Sakura.
Kiba's final answer froze her, and Sakura felt her heart, once more, shatter into tiny pieces. The pink-haired kunoichi entered Naruto's room, decided to spend the night crying in Naruto's bed.
Shino and Maki talked quietly when they heard the whole spectacle in the corridor. They got up from their beds and opened the gate, seeing Sakura hide inside Naruto's room. Maki asked softly:
- Could that be something wrong with Kiba?
- Let's find that out, Maki. I can hear both their cries and sobs from here. Let's check on Sakura first.
Maki went to Naruto and Hinata's room, finding a lonely Sakura crying.
Meanwhile, in the mount Myoboku, Aoryuu and Gamakichi watched Naruto and Hinata. The humans looked so worried; as they found out they could have been the cause of a breakup between Sakura and Kiba, without even realizing it. Noticing that this was serious, Aoryuu said:
- I thought you actually knew that you had those brats sneaking up on you.
- Yes, that's why we were laughing, guys. I'm sorry. – Gamakichi bent towards them, just like Aoryuu. Naruto was about to say something when Hinata got the first word:
- The blame was ours. We wanted to make a point out of it, but we never thought that they'd be sneaking up on us together. I'm feeling so bad.
Naruto saw Hinata shed a tear and took his hand to her cheek softly, catching the tear in its fall. He said to her:
- Hinata-chan, I was the one who started this mess. I should've seen Gamakichi's look, or Aoryuu's, and realize that they were sneaking up on us. As I let Sakura's name get out of my mouth so carelessly, she might think that we were mocking of her… and of Kiba…
Aoryuu surprised the couple with a rather blunt statement:
- Even so, if they were so hurt and troubled by your words, it means that they were true somehow.
Fukasaku interrupted them, showing up with a small and old dragon, scales like diamond:
- Enough chatter, let's start our training.
Naruto and Hinata followed the recently arrived elders to the Stone Toads Fountain. Hinata would start her training there.
In the ship, Maki held Sakura's shoulders, and the last one cried inconsolably. Maki's sweet eyes tried to scan the pink-haired kunoichi's tearful look, while Shino looked at them from the room's door. Maki said:
- Sakura… please, listen to me; calm down… breathe and talk to me…
Sakura tried to turn her back on the green-haired kunoichi, but she spoke smoothly, holding her shoulders firmly:
- Please, tell me what turned you so down…
Calming herself down, but still in tears and sobs, Sakura replied:
- Naruto… He and Hinata… both… they left me completely naked…
Maki saw Shino, and he nodded. Maki said:
- Explain that to me; if they humiliated you somehow I'll slay them…
Sakura replied again:
- T-they read my whole emotional state as if… as if it was a magazine… right in front of Kiba… and now… - Sakura closed her fists in sadness: - now I'm going to lose the third guy I've had in my whole life…
Shino said, quite awkwardly:
- But, do you love Kiba, Sakura?
- Yes, I love him, a lot… b-but, I've treated him like every other guy: like a lap dog… and realizing that really hurts me…
Maki got close to Sakura and put an arm around her shoulders:
- If you love him that much, and if you feel pain when seeing him like that, then stop treating him that way. Sasuke doesn't even seem to be human anymore, and Naruto is really happy with his girlfriend. Remember that friends and crushes come and go with the wind, but if you really love someone, then you must be careful to not let the winds of time take him off from you. Ask him for another chance; I know he'll give it to you.
Shino assured:
- Kiba will be happy if you treat him the same way you wish to be treated like. If you treat him like a consolation prize, and I'm just using his words, he'll treat you the same way. Be smart, Sakura. Don't give him all what he wants, or ask him all what you want. Accept yourselves with what you have, and you'll be truly happy if you love each other for real.
Sakura nodded, still sobbing, and Maki whispered to him:
- Now, ask for the dog ninja's forgiveness. He'll appreciate it much if you do it sincerely.
Sakura felt how Maki pattered her shoulder, and Shino said:
- Better now than later. I know Kiba quite well, and if you don't treat this wound in him now, he'll just walk away from you.
Sakura stood up and knocked Kiba's door. After a sobbing forgiveness petition, said with really hurt words, and a small arguing in low voice, the door was open widely, and Kiba received a hug from Sakura, closing the door as she got in. Maki and Shino smiled, realizing they had played the matchmaker for once. Shino opened his jacket to kiss Maki, and then they returned to their own room, as, after the kiss, both yawned.
End of chapter 21.
A/N: Here comes another delivery for the few loyal readers and reviewers. Hope you still like it. Please review!