Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the original characters mentioned.
A/N:I would like to thank everyone who added this story to their favorites and follows as well as everyone who reviewed the last chapter.
"You think you're ready to go back to the dorms, Hinata?"
Hinata plopped herself onto the grassy floor as Kiba offered her a tiny frown. It had been hours—so many hours—since she met that Sasuke doppelgänger. But her heart still raced with adrenaline and there was still a lingering sweat on the palms of her hands. Those lingering symptoms should have gone away by now but it was still there.
She leaned her back against the rough tree bark and exhaled. "I don't know how I can go to the dorms after running away from the canteen like a mad woman."
Akamaru trotted up to her and licked her cheeks but if he was trying to comfort her, then it wasn't working at all. Hinata took a deep breath and scratched the large dog's ears as her brown-haired teammate took a seat right beside her. He didn't say anything to her. Not even made an attempt to comfort her or lie to her about how she wasn't a mad woman.
It actually reassured her.
"Look I don't know the dude," Kiba began. He tilted his head up and stared at the glossy green leaves hovering above them before darting his eyes back at her. His brown eyes flashed with a rare thoughtfulness that she rarely associated with Kiba. "But you know as well as I do that he isn't Sasuke, and Naruto doesn't seem to have any problems with him if she is friends with the guy."
Hinata took in a shaky breath and cradled her legs close to her chest. Kiba had a point because the way that blue-haired girl talked, told her that the whiskered teen definitely had no problems with being around a boy who looked just like her childhood friend. The only reassuring thing was the fact Naruto was in a relationship with Todoroki and not with that Sasuke doppelgänger.
"Naruto-chan might not have any problems but I have a problem." She closed her eyes and sniffed the fresh air. "If Naruto-chan hadn't broken down the way she did then I don't think I would have reacted that way. I could just forgive and go with the flow like Naruto-chan, but I can't do it. I thought I could when I saw him in her workplace, but I really can't pretend that I'm fine."
Kiba kept quiet but the silence hovering between spoke of his judgment. He probably thought she was irrational for not being fine at the sight of the doppelgänger, but it was difficult for her not to panic at the sight of that male. The blank, glassy eyes of Naruto would always flash before her eyes, a constant reminder of the lowest point that the whiskered teen broke down.
"Was it that bad when Naruto broke down?" He asked. Akamaru jumped off of Hinata's lap and jogged towards Kiba. The large dog rested his head on his lap. "I have never ever seen you react this way, and I remember how much you wanted to maul Ino and all those girls for trying to bully Naruto because of their stupid admiration for Sasuke."
She closed her eyes. During all those times, her blond-haired friend would always flashed her a warning look before telling her that she could handle those delusional girls. But there was a difference of wanting to murder a bunch of insensitive, childish little girls and an intense, murderous desire to use a gentle fist on Sasuke's heart.
"I told you that it was that bad, didn't I? She didn't eat anything and never answered to anyone," Hinata replied with an exhausted tone. Her head was so heavy and her throat was so damn itchy but that might be because she hadn't had a drink since the incident. "You go day in and day out with the wildest hope that Naruto would just snap out of it…and just scream. But she does nothing, not even smell her favorite flowers or even try to smile at me."
Kiba winced and Hinata waited for him to bolt away like he always did whenever things got emotional. But her friend surprised her when he swung his arm around her shoulder. On any other day, stream probably would whistle from her ears and her face would be a flaming shade of red but she couldn't bring herself to enjoy his earthy whiff.
"Out of everyone from our graduating class and our senior, you are probably the strongest one between us," Kiba declared. Hinata swirled her head at her friend and arched her eyebrow at him. Why would he say that? Her expression must have shown her question because the older boy continued on. "Look Sakura might have learn that chakra strength from Tsunade, but you kept trying to be there for Naruto when she was in that state. You are the one that kept pushing on even when Neji was tearing you down mentally and emotionally during your fight with him."
She frowned. "Who told you that?"
"Who do you think would praise you for that action?" He asked with a rhetorical tone and a laugh. Naruto. That was the only answer to his question because Shino scolded her for her actions while Kurenai had been so disappointed with her. Only Naruto would see her actions and praise her for not giving into the self-fulfilling prophecy.
She smiled wearily and stared at the tall, thick bushes standing right in front of them. "I'm surprised Naruto would tell you about it when she was so busy training to beat Neji-niisan and fretting over how she can win against Gaara."
"Shino wouldn't tell me why you had to go through an emergency operation," Kiba explained with a grimace. "It was really hard to track Naruto down at the time but she told me the whole story, before declaring to me that she was going to knock some sense into your cousin."
The slight anger in Kiba's tone almost brought out a smile but the corner of her lips were like lead, too heavy for her to lift upwards. All she could do was close her eyes and listened to the muffled chatter behind the bushes. She could also feel the concern coming out of Kiba's eyes, almost drowning her but it wasn't enough to make her open her eyes.
"It's so frustrating that Naruto-chan would protect me but she never lets me protect her," she admitted. "It is like she has this intense desire to prove to the world around her that she isn't breakable, that nothing hurts her and I hate it. I really hate that part of her because she doesn't have to be like that around me."
Her teammate only nodded. "You know I'm surprised that you and Naruto never had a falling out like Ino and Sakura. The both of you became friends in the same way but neither of you decided to become rivals."
She quirked the corner of her lip and took a deep breath. Rivals. What did she have to prove to Naruto? That they were equals or that she was better than her? That would have been pointless because her best-friend had never been that type of person. Even when her best friend had those episodes, she knew that her friend wasn't in the right state because Naruto didn't truly think those horrible things about her.
"Ino might have rescued Sakura from those bullies but she would always do subtle things to remind Sakura of her place," Hinata commented. Kiba blinked and then frowned as if he found it hard to believe. "Sakura had always been in Ino's shadow because everyone would just notice Ino when they were together. When they broke their friendship over Sasuke, well I knew that wasn't the reason."
He blinked. "You think the whole stepping out of her shadow was the reason?"
"They used Sasuke as an excuse," Hinata explained with a tired sigh. "I think if Ino did what Naruto does and just simply encourage her to just break out of her shell then they wouldn't have that problem. Do you know what Ino calls Sakura when they were still friends? A bud. You know what Naruto-chan tells me? That I'm a lion cub who is going to be so strong that Neji-niisan and Father have no choice but to acknowledge me."
Kiba grinned. "Well Naruto is right about you."
The Hyuga heiress didn't crack a smile at those words, instead she only stared up at the orange-painted skies. Her heart did flutter with joy at her crush's acknowledgment but that was it. There was no emotion coursing through her, then again why could she be happy? Her friend spent most of her time building people up but her own teammates would rather tear her down. She had to be the lucky one.
A single leaf wobbled from the branch above her, flickering and wavering before it tore itself away the tiny branches. It glided down and tangled into her hair when a loud chomps sliced through the air. The sound was sharp and from her limited experience, Hinata could only conclude a woman was making her way through the grassy path. But that was the only clue she had.
Was she old? Young? That was yet to be determined.
Akamaru barked and jumped off Kiba's lap, drawing Hinata's attention away from the tree and onto the path. A white-haired woman glided through the path, smacking away a couple of branches with a scowl before stopping right in front of them. She had almost doll-like features with her large, bright blue eyes and sharp nose but there was also a relative sharpness to them.
There was also something familiar about her appearance too if you asked her. It must be her eyes because they look really similar to Naruto's eye color. That had to be the explanation. Hinata paused and inspected the woman with a closer scrutiny. The scowl reminded her of Naruto too alongside that nose shape.
"Can one of you kids tell me where is 1A dorms? I think I might have gotten lost again!" The old woman asked. The scowl on her face faded, replaced with a warm, friendly smile that felt oddly reminiscent to her best friend's smile.
Kiba blinked. "Do you want to take us to take you there? I was going to go and take Hinata back."
The old woman furrowed her eyebrows and shifted her gaze towards her. Recognition lit up the woman's features as if she knew exactly who she was, and Hinata frowned. Had she ever met this old woman before? She looked familiar but why? It wasn't like this old woman had one of those faces that blended in the crowd. If anything, Hinata had no doubt that the old woman had turned a couple of heads when she had been young.
"Actually I don't need to go over there anymore because I found the person that I was looking for and she is right in front of me," the old woman chirped. The smile on her face stretched even wider and Hinata inched back when the elderly woman knelt down till they were at eye level. "Tsunade told me all about my granddaughter's best friend."
Kiba blinked and then jolted. "B-Best friend? Hinata's best friend is Naruto and for you to have a granddaughter would mean—"
"—That Naruto is my granddaughter?" The old woman replied with a raised eyebrow. Kiba didn't say anything, he only nodded as Akamaru charged towards Naruto's grandmother. The elderly woman remained still and only chuckled whenever the large dog sniffed her. "Do you believe Naruto came from nowhere?"
The brown-haired teen blinked and swirled his head at her.
"Hinata, can you please explain what the hell is going on with Naruto?"
The Hyuga heiress had a feeling that she wasn't going to be back in her room until the early hours of the morning.
"Naruto, do you have time to talk?"
Naruto blinked and stopped in her tracks at the sight of Shouto standing right in front of the door. Her boyfriend gazed at her with unreadable eyes but the little tap against his muscular hand told her everything that she needed to know. He wanted them to resume their discussion even if his eyes looked absolutely uncomfortable with the idea.
If this had been a couple of hours ago, she would be more then ready to resume everything but right now…
"I really don't have the time or the desire to talk, Shouto." Her heart was still heavy with the seething rage at the fact Hinata kept a secret this big from her.
Shouto's eyes shone with concern and the 15-year-old boy strolled closer to her. He stopped right in front of her—only a couple of inches away from her—and he dropped a large, warm hand on her shoulder. The heterochromatic-haired boy squeezed her shoulder and tilted her head up, forcing her to focus her eyes on those calm, steady eyes.
"Something happened?" He let go of her shoulders but his eyes did not lose any calm, only kept shining with reassurance. Reassurance was good. That reassurance allowed her to gather all of the courage inside of her bones. It allowed her to swallow down the thick, ball-like lump inside of her throat because she had Shouto.
She took in a deep breath and nodded. "Aizawa-sensei told me that Sasuke is cooperating with the League Of Villains."
"You don't seem completely surprised by it," Shouto observed. His heterochromatic eyes gleamed with surprise as if he hadn't expected her to be this calm and she couldn't exactly blame her boyfriend for looking at her like that. With the way she always tried to make excuses for Sasuke, Naruto guessed he thought she might had been completely blind about her friend's flaw.
Naruto offered him a bitter smile. "If he is mentoring under Orochimaru, then I can suspect that he would help them out if his mentor orders him to do it."
"And that is the reason you are upset?" Shouto guessed.
She paused. Was she upset over the fact Sasuke had officially helped out a villain? Her blood did boil with irritation at the fact that the idiotic boy went that far but that wasn't the reason her head had constant aches. She had already spent too many years moping over her former teammate, and once you moped around that long…well at one point only numbness remained.
"I didn't spend three hours locked up in my room because of the Bastard," Naruto shook her head and stepped to the side. "I'm upset over the fact that Hinata-chan didn't tell me about it and made me think I was actually imagining things."
Her boyfriend bobbed his head but his heterochromatic eyes lacked any surprise. His eyes didn't widen, blink or even gave any other indication of surprised. But his eyes did show the typical characteristics of guilt. Those pretty eyes would flicker to the walls as if they couldn't meet her own eyes. The younger boy also shifted around as if there was something weighing him down.
Naruto furrowed her eyebrows together and then a creeping realization washed upon her. "You knew about it, didn't you?"
The younger boy didn't reply but he did stiffen as if he hadn't been expecting her to realize it that quickly. That only made her balled her hands into her fist as Shouto avoided her eyes. She took in a deep breath. If she kept breathing like this then maybe her boiling blood would begin to cool down, but if anything her blood boiled even harder from the gesture.
"I asked Hinata after you told me about what happened in your work place," Shouto confessed. Guilt and reluctance colored his tone as if he didn't want to confess those words to her, but at least he confessed without trying to lie to her. "She told me that he was there at your workplace."
Naruto's knees buckled. Shouto reached his hand out to her shoulders and steadied her, pulling her back into place. He looked right into her eyes and that guilt in his eyes made her clench her jaw. If this had been a little white lie or a small, safe secret then she could bottle everything up but what her boyfriend did wasn't something simple.
"Why the fuck didn't you think of telling me this?" Her voice rose and rose as her heart battled against her ribcage. "Why the hell did you think that it was a smart idea of hiding this from me? Did you and Hinata think that I'll never find out about it?"
He averted his eyes away from her and shifted in his spot as if he was a guilty man. She supposed her boyfriend was guilty because he probably hoped she would never find out the truth. But the truth would always come out whether they liked it or not because there was always an event that linked back the truth. She would know after all.
"I was worried that you would go after him," he admitted, dropping his shoulders. "It is way too soon for you to go after him."
Naruto curled her hands into a fist and took a deep breath. "And you don't think I know that, Shouto?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
She pinched her nose and began to pace back and forth through the large room. How should she answer him? A scream because god knew Naruto wanted to roar at her boyfriend for underestimating her rationality. But screaming did nothing but caused pain to the both of them. I never felt good or think things through when someone yells at me, and his Dad probably scream at him when he was a kid. She blew a strand of her head.
"Just explain why did you decide to make decisions for me," she tried and probably failed at keeping her righteous rage out of her mouth. "Why didn't you think of just discussing with me about this? How are you any different from Endeavor and what he did to you? You shouldn't make decisions for me!"
Shouto only kept quiet and stared at her with thoughtful and hurt eyes. Naruto froze and then looked away from Shouto. The part about Endeavor was probably too far but what was a better comparison? She cleared her throat and glanced at the heterochromatic-haired boy. She felt her heart tightened when she caught sight of the pale look on her boyfriend's face.
That pale look faded into a guilty expression, but he didn't try to reach out to her and truthfully? She was glad that Shouto kept his distance from her. Because if that boy even tried to touch her then she might just smack his hand away from her. Actually, Naruto wasn't even certain if she would have stop with a smack because…it felt like he took the power away from her.
That she had no right to make a decision.
"Because I was afraid," Shouto admitted quietly. He rubbed the back of his head and took several deep breaths. "I wasn't afraid just for you—a part of me was afraid where I stood with you."
She slacked her jaw and then tightened her jaw as a cold realization washed over her. "What the hell do you mean you were afraid where you stood with me? Haven't I made it clear that I like you and not that asshole? My relationship with Sasuke is so different from my relationship with you!"
He stared at her for the longest time before making his way to the kitchen. His steps were slow as if every step was filled with guilt and doubt over making her scream, and Naruto let out a shaky breath. Was she taking things too far? But what did she have to do to make him realize that their relationship was never ever going to be endangered by her former teammate.
"It isn't just you," Shouto commented quietly. She frowned as the heterochromatic-haired boy pulled open the fridge's door. "This is more of my problem then your relationship with Sasuke. I can't help but think that the two of you have a long history, a history that I'm not part of and…I guess I wonder how the fuck I can compete with that? Even if your best friend reassured me, I can't help but always think if I'm a replacement. This is more of my problem than yours, Naruto."
Oh. The anger inside of her frizzled just a little bit at those words and she dropped her shoulders. What could she tell him? Did he want her to stop talking about Sasuke? Because she tried to limit the whole talk about her former teammate. What else could she do to reassure him when it came to that point? An idea suddenly formed in her mind.
"I can't keep reassuring you, Shouto because that is going to be exhausting," Naruto admitted. Shouto nodded and the whiskered teen stopped right in front of the door. "But I want you to think about this: if I wanted a replacement then why didn't I try and ask Amajiki out? He would have been an actual replacement. Shouto, I…really like you but I am out of my wits on figuring out how to keep showing you that I like you."
Shouto leaned his whole body over the counter and stared at her with pained eyes. The silence suffocated her but it also spoke everything that her boyfriend couldn't vocalize to her. I'm sorry for putting you through this. She turned away from him and hovered her hand on the doorknob. This would be the perfect time for her to leave but her boyfriend called out to her.
"I wish I told you earlier and thought of how you felt about this," he admitted. "I wish I could turn back the time and tell you about this."
She sighed and placed her hand around the doorknob. "Shouto, I understand your reasons but the real problem isn't that you didn't tell me about Sasuke. Honestly that part is something that I kinda get because if someone did you dirty like Sasuke did me, then I would have the desire to try and keep a secret."
"Then is it the fact that I'm insecure about our relationship?"
She wanted to say yes but it felt wrong and completely irrational to blame him. If Shouto had a female friend with a history like hers and Sasuke then she would be just as insecure, maybe even more so with her past. So what was the main problem? What was the real thing that stabbed her in the heart? Was it the doubt? No.
It took her exactly five minutes for her to figure it out and when she did figured it out, she finally said. "It isn't your insecurity about my relationship with you, but the fact Hinata and you decided to take things onto your own hands without even consulting me. It feels like you don't have faith in me to think rationally when it comes to anything. It feels like you are controlling me and think my own opinions don't matter."
Shouto closed his eyes.
"We didn't mean to make you feel like this."
Naruto turned the door knob and looked over her shoulders. "I know Hinata and you had my best interests at heart, but I'm stronger and more rational then the both of you think and the fact that you have so little faith in me…well that hurts more than any chidori."
She didn't even wait for him to explain himself before shutting door on him, because Naruto knew that if she stayed any longer then tears would be spilled and her heart would throb in pain. No, it was better for her to leave now with her dignity intact and talked again with Shouto and Hinata when she could talk without yelling at them.
There are so many people in this meeting.
Naruto rubbed her sweaty palms against her pants as her eyes scanned the principal office. Almost all of the teaching staff on the table with grim faces, with the only exception being Aizawa-sensei and Principal Nedzu. Her teacher must have given up his spot to Tsunade because she sat closest to the big black chair that stood right in the middle of the room.
She didn't know who the elderly woman was but Naruto guessed she might be the President of the Hero Public Safety Commission. It was the only explanation as to why the old woman had taken the Principal's seat.
The blonde shook her head and continued to inspect the room. Kakashi-sensei and Hibiki stood right behind Tsunade like looming shadows and across the other half of the room was Endeavor, Hawks, Eisuke and Kenji. Her former mentor offered her a lazy smile and waved his hand before sneaking a glance at Endeavor.
Naruto frowned when her eyes finally took in the state of her boyfriend's father. Despite the flames covering his face, she could see dark circles underneath his eyes like he hadn't had any sleep for the past couple of days. That was completely odd but what was even stranger was the air of absolute gloom and misery around him alongside the sickly whiteness of his skin.
Did something happen to him? Once she was done with figuring things out with Shouto and Hinata, then she should probably try and ask him about his father.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Principal Nedzu informed us that the League Of Villains contacted you during the Provisional Hero License Exam," The Old Lady stated. She scrutinized her with such freezing, cold eyes that the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up. "And they requested that you should join them, am I wrong?"
Naruto shook her head. Those weren't the exact words she would have used but the old woman had summarized the whole thing quite simply for anyone who might not have been aware of what had happened to her. And if she had to guess from the slightly largened eyes of Hibiki, the man had been the only one in the dark about what happened to her.
"They made me an offer and I told them that I would think about it," she folded her arms against her chest and kept her gaze fix on the old woman. "I think they got interested after my spurn-on-the-moment speech in that viral video."
The President thinned her lips, not looking one bit pleased by the reminder of her infamous video. The same infamous video that seemed to have touch Himiko if that rather awkward confession told her anything. Of course that part certainly did not have to be said, especially with her former teacher and her godfather in the room.
"Normally it would be easy for me to hand you a mission," The President commented. Naruto jolted while a couple of the heroes leaned closer to each other and whispered among themselves. Too young was the common word floating around in the air and the whiskered teen tightened her jaw. The old woman clasped her hands together. "However, you are also a kunoichi from Konoha so your situation…is a little bit more complicated."
Naruto nodded. "Because I'm still a member of another nation's military fraction and so you need to borrow me from Tsunade-sama?"
"That's correct," the old woman replied. The President clasped her hands together and glanced at the brewed pot of tea sitting right in front of her before darting her eyes back to her. "The Fifth Hokage has some valid concerns about handing you this mission due to certain matters in your past, while I believe that a smart, resilient woman like you can handle this mission as long as you undergo psychiatric evaluation every two weeks."
The whiskered teen felt the intense urge to glare at Tsunade but only mustered a calm expression. If she even gave the slightest indication to the Fifth Hokage and the President that she was steaming with irritation then this potential mission could be snatched from her. It would prove everyone's point that she wasn't able to handle anything, anymore.
"If you're concern I am going to scream and cry to bring my former teammate back then you underestimate me," Naruto said with a calm and even tone. She glanced at Kakashi before shifting her eyes to Hawks. The Number Two Hero offered her a simple thumbs-up and the blonde continued on. "But do I have a say on this?"
"The President of the Hero Public Safety Committee relented on allowing you to have the final say," Tsunade reassured her. She threw a scratching look at the President, who seemed absolutely unfazed at the look, and continued on. "But if you do take this mission then I'll encourage you to take those psychiatric evaluations, Naruto because we don't want an incident like the one with Uchiha Itachi."
Naruto frowned as everyone from Konoha bobbed their heads. She knew her leader was probably concerned about the possibility of having a mental breakdown like the one Itachi had been rumoured to have had, but did Sasuke's brother really have a breakdown? The fact he had been able to come in and track her down after two days, while the ANBU couldn't find him in the same amount of time was absolutely fishy.
Of course this was definitely not the time to vocalize her doubts and suspicion to the Fifth Hokage.
"I understand," Naruto said curtly. She glanced at the window and frowned once she caught sight of a raven watching her. Well it felt like it was watching them with how its beady eyes seemed rather focus on her. "But what exactly do you want me to do?"
Uncertainty and resignation crawled and burrowed inside of her stomach when those cold eyes gleamed with a cruelty that almost reminded her of one of the councilmembers in Konoha. That old woman was a snake. Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say she was a scorpion with how poisonous her intent seemed to be.
"We want you to take up the offer and gather intel on them," The Old Woman replied. She picked up the teapot and began to pour herself some tea; her cold, poisonous eyes remained fix on Naruto. "We want you to spy on them and find out their future plans, and if possible lock them up before we can have another tragedy like one in Kamino Ward."
Naruto grimaced and slapped her trembling knees. Bile rose up to her throat, burning everything in her throat as those cold eyes looked at her with absolute seriousness. Four years ago, a mission like this would have made her bounce in her spot and even possibly tempt her into launching a hug at this woman but all she could do was thinned her lips.
After a couple of seconds, she swallowed down her nerves and stated. "You want me to befriend them and then betray them?"
The President looked bemused but nodded. She arched an eyebrow at them. "Do you sympathize with those scoundrels despite the fact they looted from innocent people and even murder people?"
The blonde bit her lip long enough for a copper taste to seep and destroy her taste buds. She knew people would rather believe people were born villains. It was an easier thought process then for the harsh reality that society seemed to love to ignore, because they always believed that they were above it. But anyone could be a villain.
"Why wouldn't I sympathize with them? They bleed like you and I; they have feelings like we do," Naruto declared. Some of the heroes looked away, almost uncomfortable with her words but the whiskered teen didn't care about their feelings. "The only difference between them and you is that they probably have valid reasons for being so messed up in the head."
From across the room, Eisuke snorted. "You can say that again."
Kenji threw an exasperated look at the younger male and subtly whacked him in the head. Naruto furrowed her eyebrows and her frown deepened when her two distant relatives glanced at Endeavor. The red-haired hero had been awfully quiet, not even making any obvious attempt to change her thought. If anything, Naruto noticed that the man flinched and seemed to be trying to make himself smaller.
Yup, something definitely happened to Endeavor.
"Those villains can and will possibly hurt more innocent people," The President stated, drawing her attention back to her. The old lady threw an annoyed look at Eisuke before thinning her lips at Endeavour. "The greater good matters more than any personal feelings that you have towards them."
Naruto pulled her bottom lip back and replied. "The greater good matters but those villains are still people. They weren't born evil and even though I never had any intentions of accepting it, I have absolutely no desire to stab them in the back. That will just make the whole problems with the villains even worse because they deserve to be saved too from whatever problems that they have!"
Whispers broke out in the room. Most of the heroes looked at her with pity in their eyes as if they believed that she was completely naïve for having this belief. But she wasn't naïve. Those people who had no problem torturing cats and dogs from a young age and then get progressively worse? They could rot in a dirty old cell for all she cared, but those people who had trauma wounds…they deserved to get help.
They were lashing out because they felt like society didn't give a damn about them.
"For a kunoichi, you have a naïve belief about people." The President observed. "Do you believe that villain's feelings matter more than their potential victims? Do you realize why we have a justice system in place?"
Naruto clenched her jaw. "Those victims have every right to lash out and to demand for justice, but we aren't fixing the problem. Some of those villains are victims of a system that allows them to fall through the cracks! We should help them if they experienced trauma, if they went through something that makes them think that it is better to hurt people then to help them! We need to get them to take responsibility for their actions because they will always blame someone and continue those acts if we don't have them admit to their wrong-doings!"
There was only silence as everyone in the room processed what she had just admitted. Naruto kept her composure and tried to slow down her raging heart as a few of the heroes looked at her like she was insane. She wasn't insane. Unlike her teachers, she had been a thief in the eyes of Konoha and still the Third Hokage forgave her for her actions.
He did dock her pay for the first two months but there was no need to mention it.
"And that is why we keep those criminals lock up for a very long time," The President finally stated.
The blonde eyed her. "Yet crime is still up and seems to be rising even more with All Might gone. If you compare Japan to America then we are doing a better job but how much money are you wasting on them when you keep all of those kind of criminals locked up?"
"Too much money," Hawks commented. The President shot the man a scowl and the blond-haired man held up his hands like a guilty person. But the number two hero didn't look one bit sorry for pointing out the obvious to them. "You would think that the threat of the death penalty and life imprisonment would make people less likely to commit crime, but if anything it doesn't stop them."
Several of the heroes bobbed their heads, looking almost troubled at the reminder. Naruto guessed that all of them had a similar thoughts to her former mentor when it came to prison sentences and their correlation to the crime rate in the country.
The President pinched her nose and shifted her gaze at Naruto. "Villains will rarely take responsibility of their actions and they are incapable of change."
"They are capable of change if they have the motivation and the right hand reaching out to them," Naruto argued. From across her, her mother's cousin frowned and eyed her like he had a strange inkling of what was going through her head. "I have seen a mass-murderer go from murdering a lot of people to being the last person that you would think would kill people! He changed because he saw what he did wasn't the right way!"
The President shook her head. "That was only a fluke. What makes you think that you can infiltrate them and make them change?"
The whiskered teen lowered her head and bit her bottom lip. She knew the answer but could she really tell the old woman that she had done it a couple of times? It would sound so arrogant and pig-headed, which was the old Naruto. The new her should probably avoid making these kind of claims to her. She should try and think of another way…
"Because Naruto has the talent and capability of changing even the coldest person's heart," Kakashi declared. Naruto blinked and twisted her head to her former teacher. He had his eyes fixed on her. "She managed to get the soon-to-be Fifth Kazekage to stop his murderous desire and got Tsunade-sama to change her mentality and come back to Konoha. With her track record, it is a huge possibility that she can do it."
For the first time since Kakashi came back into her life, Naruto flashed a grateful smile to her former teacher. He offered her a thumbs-up and despite the fact that he messed up when it came to teaching her, it was reassuring to know he would back her up when it came to this. At least she had someone willingly side with her on this matter.
"Those villains can never walk the streets of Japan," The President commented. "There are victims that believe in the eye-for-an-eye approach; prison can actually protect some of them. And even if they do change, it will be impossible to support them and makes light of what their victims experienced."
Naruto frowned. "But they also deserve to be given the tools and opportunity to change their life around."
Hawks grimaced and rubbed his back, flinching just a little bit as if he recalled something completely horrible. What happened to Hawks? He doesn't seem completely happy with the idea. Naruto frowned and glanced at Eisuke, hoping that the older male would know what was wrong with the winged-man. They seemed to be friends if her first internship told her anything.
Her relative only shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, looking just as mystified as her.
"The public would cause an uproar even if we did such a thing," The President said grimly and reluctantly as if she certainly didn't like the idea of actually giving the criminal a second chance. "And any potential, future families—that they could have—will have to suffer the shame of being related to such a big-time criminal."
Eisuke cleared his throat and all heads turned to him. Kenji shot a warning look at the red-haired male but the green-eyed man shook his head and kept his gaze focused on the President. "What if we could give them a second chance without the public knowing and punish them at the same time? A better way in which they could also compensate their victims for the rest of their life?"
Naruto frowned.
For some strange reason, she had a very bad feeling of what her relative wanted to do.
(Weeks later when Itachi made an appearance and made his demands, Naruto would forever blame Eisuke for his plans because Itachi played her like a fiddle).
A/N: So Hinata and Kiba had a talk and met Narumi. Naruto and Shouto argued over what Shouto did and Eisuke had decided that it was the brilliant time to tell them about his idea. The whole thing about the death penalty and life imprisonment does not reflect my views at all in case anyone was curious about it.
Once again, please do drop a review because they can be good motivation to continue writing.