Two, the content of this chapter is bound to bring some debate, but hear me out: I don't know whether or not Rin lives or dies, but for this story, she lives. I will listen to anyone who says they know her real fate, but I am sticking with my story, no matter what anyone says. Maybe in another story, I will research her more, but for now, the explanation in this chapter is her story.
By the way, most of you got the person right! Good for you! -showers them in confetti-
For the Love of my Friends
Chapter Thirty-five: The Day Before the Chuunin Exam
by Foxie
He gave his team the day off. Very generous of him, if you asked his opinion. They were all nervous, probably scared out of their wits. Even Sasuke was edgy, and it took a lot to make the last Uchiha edgy. It was very kind of him to give them the day before the Chuunin Exam off.
But Kakashi had to admit one thing. He didn't give a rat's ass about the Chuunin Exam, or his students' fears about it. To him, it was simple. They'd either lose or succeed. If they lost, they'd try again in six months. If they succeeded, well.. He would just have to lose that bet with Zabuza, now wouldn't he?
Kakashi had a lot of faith in his team. They were strong, resourceful, gutsy, and most important of them all, very loyal to one another. But he seriously doubted them when compared to the top notch genins coming in all over the world for the exam. Could Sasuke compare to the cold blooded genins from the sand? Could Naruto match the strength of the mysterious sound genins? Could Sakura match the cunning of the genins of the grass?
Zabuza had much more faith in Kakashi's team than Kakashi himself. The copy cat jonin found that small fact to be strangely sad.
He let the kids off for the day for something a bit more personal. Like the letter than was burning a hole in his desk. It was about time he answered it.
In only a pair of sweats, Kakashi grabbed a mug and filled it with some tea. His apartment was dark, though the sun beat furiously against the other side of his closed curtains. Sighing, he ran a hand through his wild hair and slowly walked over to his desk. There, sitting innocently, was a scroll, a letter from his only surviving team mate. And it had sat there, for the last month, touched only by Kakashi's occasional glances in its direction.
It was the routine. Though the messenger birds could get their letters back from the northern mountain ranges to Konoha in less than two days, neither of them sent a reply back rapidly. If he knew Rin, he knew that she hated the reminders of the past almost as much as he did. But, where he lived with the reminders just because he hated them, she had fled, seeking shelter from it and using the excuse of training in the ancient way of the healers, in the only place where the traditions were still kept, in northern Fire Country, a hundred miles from anything resembling civilization.
Did the silence help any? Or did it only serve to bring her more pain? Those were questions he didn't dare ask, lest she cut off her one connection with Konoha.
He sat down heavily, putting down his tea as his other hand reached out for the scroll. Kakashi considered for a moment, when the texture of the paper registered in his palm, putting it off for a few days. His sharingan suddenly throbbed with intensity.
Alright, alright. Today it is.. he thought to himself, grimacing slightly. He opened the scroll, unconsciously frowning when he saw how short it was. Rin was the sort of person who wrote epic length letters, no matter what was the situation at home. Was she already withdrawing from them?
Hey, Kakashi. How are things in Konoha? Just great, I can imagine. He replaced his own mental voice with the memory of hers. Sorry I took so long answering the last time. Things came up. Things always came up. But Kakashi understood, so he never said a word. She then gave him a brief description of what was happening in her training. They were apparently coming up with a type of instant heal sutra that, with a brief surge of chakra and with the application on the injured person, could instantly heal them. It's one of the best things we thought of so far, don't you think? It makes me wonder though. If we had one of them, would Obito have lived?
It was strange. So many things, brutal and gory scenes, terrifying sights of a demon, even crueler humans killing their fellow man.. none of that shaped him more than Obito's death. It was the same with Rin. Though it had been a bit more than a decade, still, they both silently debated: If I had done this, or had said that.. Maybe if I had just been a bit quicker... But the fact of the matter was that they were just three kids stuck in the middle of a war. There was nothing they could have done.
I have a confession to make. I am seriously considering leaving Konoha for good. The mug, only a scant inch away from Kakashi's lips, slipped from his grasp, hitting and shattering against the table. The tea quickly spread and made the words on the letter smudged and illegible.
She woke up to the sounds of knocking. The loud knocks pounded on the door frame. From her position on the couch, tangled up in blankets and a warm body, she could see the door shake under the force.
"Dammit Naruto!" Hinata's eyes widened, recognizing Sakura's voice. "If you don't open the door right now, I'll beat your stupid head in!" Hinata started to get nervous. Half up out of the comfortable cocoon of blankets(and Naruto) and half trying to hide, her hands started flapping in a anxious state. There were consequences in opening the door for Naruto's team mate, but even more if she kept the door closed. There was no believable excuse for Hinata to be over Naruto's house so early in the morning. Not to mention that they had slept together! Sakura was a big gossip. Would Hiashi refuse to let her see Naruto if he heard?
She chanced a look down at Naruto. He was awake, a faint smile on his face, clearly amused at her nervousness. They, in celebration of the next day being completely to themselves, had stayed up until midnight, watching an anime marathon, and had ended up falling asleep next to each other. Continuation of the knocks jolted her out of her thoughts and she started spazzing again, looking between the door and Naruto. He lazily reached out and tugged her back on the couch. Hinata didn't resist.
"I'll take care of it." he assured her, tugging so she'd lie back down. "You just go back to sleep"
"B-but.." she stuttered nervously, hands fiddling with one of the blankets. Naruto smiled easily, shushing her with one finger. The knocking started again.
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, about to threaten her team mate again.
Naruto lifted his upper body off of the couch. "GO TO HELL!" he bellowed. Hinata squeaked. This is his idea of handling things! With a loud bang, Sakura kicked in the door, effectively breaking off a part of the wall and the lock. Miraculously, the hinges held. Squeaking again, Hinata tried to get up and hide but the light pressure of Naruto's hand on her stomach kept her in place. Sakura stomped over, anger all too clear in her green eyes.
"Good morning, Sakura-chan." Naruto said pleasantly, as if he hadn't been the one to provoke the kunoichi into nearly breaking down his door. "Must you go to such extremes? The door didn't do anything to you.."
"Why the hell didn't you open the door, you damn fool?" she sputtered, her hands clenched in fists. Hinata bit her lip, waiting for the pink haired kunoichi to notice her there.
"I was sleeping." Naruto said, with a hint of a smirk. "Most people sleep, you know. It's a fairly common habit of humans. I'm sure you've heard of it.." Sakura growled.
"You.."she hissed, advancing on him. In midstep, she seemed to remember herself."Ugh, never mind, it's too early for your wise ass remarks." she crossed her arms over her chest, sighing and looking very annoyed. "Do you have those extra clothes? We're exchanging them, Tenten and I, so we can give them back to the right people. Here's your stuff that I had, by the way." She tossed him a pair of shorts and his forehead protector. Naruto was quick to keep them from falling on Hinata.
"Sweet! I was wondering where this was.." he said. Hinata, in horror, watched as Sakura looked over at her.. past her.. through her? Naruto seemed to remember her question. "Oh, yeah, they're by the door, on the ground."
While Sakura grumbled and picked the carelessly tossed clothes off of the ground, Naruto glanced at Hinata and grinned. The Hyuuga was confused. Was Sakura blind?
"Ugh. No respect for other people's things.." Sakura grumbled under her breath. She opened the door, quick to leave.
"Don't let the door hit you on the ass!" Naruto called out cheerfully. Sakura slammed the door shut violently. More plaster fell. Snickering, he gazed down at the small girl trying to meld with the couch. "See? Was that so bad?"
"I.. she.. I.." Hinata was at a loss for words. Then she happened to glance down. Where there was supposed to be her body, somewhat tangled up in the blankets, there was nothing. "N-Naruto-kun!" Naruto looked, first confused then understanding.
"Ah, right, sorry." his hand retreated from her stomach. Her body reappeared. There was a silence between the two. "I don't.. understand." she said softly, breaking the pause. Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Henge no Jutsu. Made you look like the couch and the blankets." he said with a grin. "An extremely bastardized version of it. No hand seals or anything. Cool huh? 'Course, if Sasuke-bastard was here, he'd probably be able to see through it.. it's not too strong, you know.. kinda need the hand seals to make it strong..." and he continued to babble, for some reason, embarrassed by the admiring look in Hinata's eyes.
After all, it took a lot of raw skill to mold chakra into a jutsu without the hand seals. Hinata knew that, and knowing that only made her more proud of Naruto. "Eh.. well.." he mumbled, staring into her eyes. This time, it was she who shushed him with a finger.
"Let's go back to sleep, Naruto-kun." she whispered with a faint blush. Naruto glanced at her, then at the door, naturally aware of the broken lock as much as a streaker would be of his or her own nakedness.
Aw what the hell.. he thought, settling back into the couch. I can worry about that later...
With a sense of urgency, Kakashi whipped out some paper and a pen. He didn't bother with the polite formalities. Hey, Rin. he wrote quickly, don't be so hasty. Before you make your final decision, come back to us. See your family. Exchange tips with Konoha's finest medic nins,not thatthey couldn't hold a candle to you. Visit us- here, he crossed out us and put me. The strange duality of his existence that was brought up in Tessai's genjutsu still had a lingering effect on him.
You have to meet my team. They're really something else. One's aloof, one's a prankster, and the other is in love. You can just imagine how much they get on each other's nerves. I entered them in the Chuunin Exam and plan to nab them seats for the Chuunin Final Exam. He paused, wondering if they would get mad at his assumption that they wouldn't make it all the way through. Oh well, they'd thank him later for the seats.
Come watch it with us, and we can relive old memories. Then, if you really want to, we'll go up to the Hokage's office and request that you be permanently suspended of your ninja license. He bit the end of his pen, reading it over. It would just have to do. He signed his name and rolled up the piece of paper. He planned on going to the post office and sending it out later. But for now, Kakashi sighed heavily, resting his forehead in his palm. He wondered if the Fourth or Obito could have handled it better.
Shikamaru blinked, the involuntary motion doing nothing to ease the intensity of his stare. Many had fallen, yet there was still a great number of the enemy left. They surrounded his group, blocking every avenue of escape with one of their men. Dark eyes took in the situation, assessed it, tried to find a way out of it, then found a simple solution in all of the chaos.
He moved his queen forward three spaces. "Checkmate." he said blandly, indifferent to the curses that spewed out of his teacher's mouth.
"Aw, this is so boring.." Ino muttered, attention shifting from Chouji's frantic eating to Asuma and Shikamaru's game. The four of them had met up in the street, all in varying degrees of boredom. Although Asuma, like all of the other jonins, gave his team the day off, they ended up eating at Chouji's favorite barbeque restaurant, just like every week's end.
"I would play you," Shikamaru said slowly, mocking her, "but you'd lose faster than he would." She gave him the look of death, one that made him feel grateful that she was sitting on the other side of the table. His shin felt her wrath, though.
Ignoring Shikamaru's wince when her foot made her opinion of his crappy attitude perfectly clear, Ino looked out the window. The Chuunin Exam was tomorrow. She felt conflicted, both nervous and excited. She couldn't wait to show everyone why she was the best kunoichi of their year! But, then again, what if her best wasn't good enough?
Chouji stopped eating, the vulnerable look on his face nearly identical to Ino's. Shikamaru stopped fiddling with the pawn piece in his hand and stared at the table, a frown contorting his face.
Asuma was suddenly aware of the mood change in his team. Each were probably thinking of the next day. He couldn't blame them. His first Chuunin Exam had ended horribly. His two team mates had been mauled by the vicious liger that they were supposed to be taming and had barely survived. Asuma, though he had escaped mauling, had been dragged a half of a mile by his broken arm by the hybrid before he was rescued by a fellow leaf nin. Needless to say, he was always very edgy when he was in hidden grass territory, unsure if a tiger or something of the sort would jump out at him and maul him to death.
Asuma decided to leave his story for a rainy day. No sense in making them more jittery than they already were.
"Hey.. isn't that one of Hinata's relatives?" Ino said suddenly, drawing them all away from their own thoughts. They all looked out of the window. Neji stood there, arms crossed over his chest. He was speaking to Kiba, who looked pissed off. Obviously, their conversation wasn't pleasant.
"The eyes kinda give it away.." Shikamaru muttered, without his usual biting tone.
Wanting to see the action up close, Ino pushed Asuma out of the way and ran out of the restaurant. Shikamaru and Chouji slowly followed, leaving Asuma with the hefty bill.
"..don't know where she is, you arrogant bastard." Kiba was growling out when Ino caught up to them. "Is there something wrong?" she asked hesitatingly. She had heard rumors about the boy in front of her. Strong, ruthless, and one of the most promising genins of the Hyuuga clan. What would he want with one of the Rookie Nine? Kiba shot her a grateful look.
Neji glanced over, barely noticing her flinch when his cold eyes met hers. "I am merely following orders." he shot a venom filled glare at Kiba. "That is no reason to get mouthy with me."
Akamaru growled. "Like hell, you ass. Why do you wanna know where Hinata is? It's not like you've ever cared before." Kiba said, hackles rising.Shikamaru and Chouji caught up to them, both standing behind Kiba.
Neji sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're so dense.. or maybe she didn't mention it?" he murmured to himself. He closed his eyes. "Hanabi-sama and Hinata-sama.. got into a bit of a disagreement. Hinata-sama left home and hasn't been back for the last couple of weeks."
"Hinata's gone!" Ino cried out, her hands covering her mouth. "That's horrible." Kiba started to shake his head.
"I dunno what the hell you're blabbering about but Hinata-chan only missed one practice in the last couple of weeks." he said doggedly. "She seems just fine." Better, actually.
"Then she must be over someone's house." Shikamaru said, sighing as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Case closed."
Neji shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Hiashi-sama- that is, Hinata-sama's father- wishes to speak with her."
"Have you asked Sakura if Hinata is staying over?" Chouji added in, thinking of the few
people he saw Hinata with that were outside of her team. "Or.. Naruto."
Ino started coughing, a misplaced gasp and a laugh choking her up. "N-Naruto!" she said, shaking her head. "They may be good friends, but Hinata's too shy to ask if she could stay over." Which was very logical, and what would have happened if Naruto hadn't practically forced the girl to stay over, after he learned of her plight.
"Hm.." Neji murmured, loathing to ask for help but knowing it was necessary. "Where does Sakura usually... 'hang out'?"
Several hours later, Naruto cornered a very irritated shadow user in one of the training areas during his cloud watching. He stretched out on the grass next to him and waited for the other to say something first. He didn't have to wait long. In a rare ranting mood, Shikamaru told him about the encounter between Kiba and Neji. Naruto gulped nervously and tugged on the collar of his vest.
Neji's looking for Hinata?That can't bevery good..
Can't he go get his own girl? Kyuubi grumbled. Naruto completely missed the fact that the demon seemed truly annoyed instead of just being his sarcastic and mocking self as usual.
Feeling much more relaxed, now that he had vented his annoyances on Naruto's listening ear, Shikamaru glanced at the blond. "What was it you said you wanted again?"
Naruto fiddled with a blade of grass, his eyes focused on the seemingly endless stretch of blue sky. "I didn't." What did he want? Comfort. Confidence. Hell, even an order would be accepted with open arms. But the Shikamaru he wanted to hear an order from was ten years in the future. And dead, for that matter.
The war's origin point was the Chuunin Exam. From Orochimaru fighting and killing Sarutobi, to Sasuke getting bitten and having his mind warped and corrupted by tainted chakra, to Kabuto betraying them all.. It all had something to do with the Chuunin Exam. And, directly and indirectly, Sasuke himself.
If Naruto could just, somehow, prevent Sasuke from getting bitten, he just knew, even if it wouldn't prevent a war, it would definitely make things easier in the long run. But that wasn't his only reason for wanting to protect Sasuke. He was naturally possessive of his friends, the few and far between. No way in hell he'd allow Orochimaru to steal Sasuke for the second time.
He considered not accepting the invitation, thus disqualifying his team, but two things stopped him. One, Hinata was entered in the Chuunin Exam and he wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her just because he ducked out, and two, his other natural personality trait: competitiveness. He hated losing, retreating, and any other path that had something to do with him not winning.
Besides general feelings of anxiety, annoyance, and anticipation.. Naruto was really scared. He didn't want to relive his bloody and gory life over again. Nor did he want his friends to suffer the same fate.
"..If I told you that I was really twenty-two years old, and had come from the future to save all of your sorry asses, what would you say?" he asked Shikamaru on a whim. Shikamaru glanced at him through the corner of his eye, pulling out of his trance. He considered for a moment, then answered evasively.
"If that's supposed to be some kind of deep and meaningful question in the same league as 'how was the universe created?' or 'why do girls like Sasuke?', then you're wasting it on the wrong person." Naruto quirked a smile at Shikamaru's escape, but patiently waited for the shadow user to realize that he really had to answer the question. Shikamaru grimaced. "Ah, crap. You're not going to let go of this are you?" Naruto shook his head. "Okay then.. I'd say 'that's a pretty elaborate prank'. Or something along those lines."
"And if it wasn't a prank?" Naruto prodded. The other boy sighed.
"Then it would be one hell of a story." Shikamaru said truthfully. He waited for a moment, very aware of the almost unnoticeable signs of nervousness pouring off of Naruto. He sighed again. "Go ahead. I'll listen, but I probably won't believe"
Naruto launched into his story, leaving out the Kyuubi and any personal parts of the ten year period of time. He focused instead on the enemies, their names, and the cold hard statistics. Even though Shikamaru told himself not to believe, he was sickened at the idea that Konoha could fall, that so many powerful people could die in such a short time. And curious too, dammit. He wanted to know what happened to him. Where the hell was he when all of that happened!
Just a story, he reminded himself when his temper spiked. It cooled down a little. "So.. hypothetically.. If you were a time traveler, and you came back to prevent a war, wouldn't that screw just about every scientific theory man has ever made about time and space?"
Naruto looked at him blankly, but not in ignorance. He smiled. Trust Shika to be the only one who thinks of it that way.
Shikamaru continued, misinterpreting the look on Naruto's face. "There's a bunch of problems with the time travel theory. Paradoxes, especially. Such as the grandfather paradox. If you went back in time, met and killed your grandfather, how could you have ever existed if your father wasn't born?" Naruto sat up, fascinated with the turn in the conversation. "Of course, there's the theory that every event, every choice(since humans have free will) creates a parallel universe, and there's an infinite number of universes to begin with. It could be something as simple as whether or not you wore your underwear. So if time travel was possible, you'd be creating a parallel universe to your future, and if you tried to get back, you might just accidentally go to a different universe. Ever seen Planet of the Apes?" Shikamaru continued, not expecting an answer. "But, all of that aside, time is one of three things: fixed, flexible, or fluid. Meaning that time cannot be changed, it could only be changed a little, or it could be changed a lot. Don't even let me start on religious views of it.." he said, a bit of a groan at the last part.
Naruto flipped on his stomach. "Hmph. Ninja theories are better than scientists."
"A bit biased, aren't you?" the other said with a half smirk. Naruto shrugged.
"Anyway, smart ass, back to what I was saying before.." he trailed off for a moment, trying to think of the best way to say what he thought. "Look, I don't expect you to believe me, all I ask is that you listen to a few things I have to say, and treat them as if they weren't just a fairy tale you plan to wipe from your mind the second I leave." Shikamaru winced. Damn, Naruto had caught on to him. "Just a couple of warnings. Stay away from the sound trio, Dosu, Zaku, and.. Kin, I think the girl's name was. And Kabuto, though he's a leaf nin. He's a damn back stabber, trying to get information for his leader, Orochimaru. Stay away from the sand trio, but if they fight you, go for Temari or Kankurou. Do not, by any means, go after Gaara. He's a demon host, he'll kill you faster than you can say 'Chuunin Exam'." Naruto stood, shoving his hands in his pockets. "When.. not if, when.. you realize that I'm telling you the truth, come to me, and I'll tell you more." He started to walk away.
His mind full of jumbled questions, Shikamaru sat up, throwing out the first thing on his mind at the blond's retreating back. "Why are you telling me this?" Naruto paused in mid step, then turned slightly.
"I really.. need help." Naruto admitted in a quiet voice. "I don't.. know shit about anything other than fighting. And in this body, I can't even take on Kakashi without getting my ass kicked, let alone Orochimaru. I need a sharp mind, I need your mind, Shika." he laughed quietly. "You may be ten years younger than the Shika I remember but at least he always steered me in the right direction. Can you do the same?" he waved. "Talk to you after the first test."
Shikamaru stood, watching Naruto walk away. "What makes you think your secret is safe with me?" he murmured to himself, surprised at Naruto's strange sense of logic. Naruto, to Shikamaru's great surprise, just laughed. How could he have heard! He's out of ear shot! A normal human's ear shot, that is.. he was suddenly remembering the dark red eyes he saw in Ino's vision, the one she showed the Hokage in his orb.
"Really, Shika... Who would believe you?"
TBC..
Next Chapter: "There are certain things allies must know in order to work seamlessly with each other, but this is one thing I know you want to keep to yourself. Remember, secrets have consequences. Telling people that you are who you are will endear you more to them than if they learn about it by themselves." He paused, one hand going to his comrade's shoulder. "Be careful, Naruto."
The day of the Chuunin Exam! Naruto extracts a promise, sees that randomized really means just that, and runs into one of his most hated enemies, Kabuto! Even though control keeps him from riping the traitor's face off, he cautiously keeps an eye out. Where is Orochimaru?