I knowww, I didn't make my Thursday mark. I figured I would edit and upload while on my midnight shift lol. I hope you all enjoy this, I enjoyed finally having Hinata and Tsunade together without anyone around. How it would go down. Tsunade had guilt like everyone else and Hinata finally voices how she feels about it. Also, I want to thank you guys for the reviews, follows and favorites! I'm happy you guys are enjoying this!
To say chaos was erupting would be down playing what was happening right now. Civilians were being evacuated into safe zones, shinobi and kunoichi were being called upon to assist, all while giving their spouses their goodbye affection before going off. Barricades were being put up; everything was moving so fast for the invasion of the Akatsuki member Pain. Tsunade went ahead of everyone in the mist of the preparations of the assault, doing her rightful duty as Hokage, to protect the village with everything she could, even with a heavy heart of the situation between her young ninja's.
She divides Katsuyu out to heal the village for the people that could not avoid the assault and she is just pushing out more chakra than she can afford to. To say she wasn't mentally or physically worn out would be an understatement.
Still, this was the job of the Hokage, to hold the burden, to endure the pain and carry the weight. She would do this superbly.
When she came upon the man that was responsible for her village in shambles and someone dear to her missing an arm, she couldn't help but feel nothing but hate for this man. She knew Jiraiya told her of this man's past and that he was a misguided man, but at this moment she could give two rats ass about this man's personal, mental issues. Everyone had pain and trauma.
Pain demanded to know the where about of the jinchuuriki, of course she would never give it up. She would endure pain for Naruto, the kid changed her life so much and she cared about him and his safety deeply. Even if he borderline despised her at the moment pertaining to a certain Hyuga. She vows to defeat the six paths of Pain; she would not let this vile monster get the best of her or her people.
"Perhaps the jinchuuriki will come out with a little bit of coaxing…. Come forward." Tsunade watched as he snapped his fingers and silence eloped them. Moments later, she watched Hinata flicker into existence, a steel collar around her neck connected to a chain that Pain now held. Tsunade stared in shock as the Hinata that she observed come back months ago was no longer there. She wasn't calm or graceful now she looked like a feral animal. Images of Hinata and Ino's time with Orochimaru popped in her mind and the torture started to replay in her head. The painful screams Hinata let out, pleading for help. The torture, and now she went through it again, alone. The young woman just couldn't get a break.
"You bastard! What did you do to her?!"
The man looked at Hinata and then at Tsunade, "I didn't really have to do anything to her, she was already broken when I found her. Actually, she was the one that interrupted my battle with the toad sannin. I see that Orochimaru had gotten ahold of her with the curse mark. From what I understand, if you lack the will to fight off the mark and you let it just engorge than it will drive you mad. Apparently she was already a twig away from losing to the curse mark, Orochimaru's darkness still flows through her and no matter how hard she fights she's still losing. Why? Because she is no different than the snake himself. If you think someone like this belongs in your village then I'm doing justice by destroying it."
At this Hinata snarled at him, drool pouring out of her mouth, she was clearly offended by the insult. "Don't be upset, I'm just telling your story." Pain looked over at the barbaric Hyuga with a blank stare. "I'll let you off the leash if you to attack her, I hear her blood is warm and satisfying." With this the Hyuga had a hysterical laugh, her dark-inky colored hair was untamed in her face so you could barely see her eyes. The Hyuga were close combat fighters, so if you could see her eyes than you were too close, and she was already close to killing you.
"No matter, I have found other means of locating the boy. Hyuga, kill her while I go capture him. A deal is a deal, you kill her, and I will send you away peacefully." With that Pain took the chain off Hinata and flickered away. Leaving a wild-deranged Hinata in front of Tsunade. Tsunade observed Hinata as the young Hyuga made no move to do anything, she was just watching Tsunade with unseen eyes. Hinata was breathing heavy and was hunched over, saliva still pouring out. Tsunade replayed what Pain just said about a deal and sending Hinata away peacefully and realized the Hyuga had much more deep-rooted problems that she again blamed herself for not noticing when the two girls came back to the village. Hinata was suicidal. She should have noticed. Tsunade felt like she kept failing her.
"Hinata."
Just like that Hinata went into a violent outbreak, charging at Tsunade with speed faster than what Tsunade could handle. Tsunade understood the Hyuga clan and how they fought their opponents, but she was told a long time ago Hinata never fit the traditional Hyuga style. Hinata molded chakra different, her Byakugan was more advanced than the other Hyuga's at a young age and she had to create her own Hyuga style jutsu's to substitute for weakness in not mastering their typical moves. Hinata, like Naruto, was different. They had to try a little harder than most people.
So, in all actuality, she wasn't sure how Hinata fought now. Especially with a time gap with Orochimaru. From the reports of she has gathered so far on the young Hyuga, she was sneaky, untrustworthy, a liar and deadly.
The women attempted to move to the side of the blunt attack, but it was like Hinata could predict the move and already was attacking her from the new positions she moved to. Either that or she was in such a state of frenzy she was just attacking any and everywhere. Hinata was a close combat fighter and Tsunade couldn't get the space to distance herself from the Hyuga.
"Hinata I don't want to hurt you!" Tsunade was able to grasps Hinata's hands and pull them down, Hinata wasn't fighting like a trained Ninja, more like a savage animal. With the lack of hands and being face to face with Tsunade, Hinata uncharacteristically and swiftly sent a head butt to the sannin. It was hard, enough to make Hinata's forehead bleed and a gash to appear and it made Tsunade see flashes of light the impact was so hard; she was sure she had a concussion. Both of them had to have one. For the first time Hinata backed up for space and sent a slew of snakes the sannin way, all wrapping around the woman. Tsunade started to feel her chakra being drained when they sunk their teeth into her soft skin, she noted that while Hinata was in a foggy mind frame she still could form battle plans.
She figured the plan was for Tsunade to get as close to Hinata as possible, she should have known better, she was close enough to see Hinata's empty steel eyes. Hinata knew that physically Tsunade could over power her and had to find a way to get the sannin thrown off guard if only for a moment. She then knew she had to bring Tsunade down to her level in regards of chakra, so the woman couldn't use it to overpower her. The female sannin had a vast amount of it, she was Hokage and they were feared for a reason. Hinata was knowledgeable, she rarely showed her intellectual skills in fights when she was younger, taking to the shadows, but in reality she was very smart. She studied a lot on her opponents, and she knew that Tsunade was a broken woman that suffered from guilt. Guilt for many things, none of which was really the older woman's fault, but she was a woman that had a tendency on taking on unnecessary burdens.
Tsunade briefly believed maybe Hinata was the perfect replacement for Orochimaru, they both played the same games of manipulation.
When the snakes were full they would unlatch and fall off the Hokage, crawling back onto Hinata. She was still in the fight, but she would assume about 40 percent of her chakra was available. She has been overworking herself ensuring the village was safe, people were healed and with battling Pain. Now, Hinata had successfully made her brain bounce back and forward and drained more of her chakra. "Hinata, I know you can understand me. Don't let these men win! Don't let Orochimaru win, don't let Pain use you like you're his pet." Hinata ignored the sannin, and Tsunade noticed how the Hyuga took her sword out channeling chakra to her trusty companion. "I know you don't want to hear from me, I'm the last person you want to even be around…I spoke to Ino. She told me how you two felt."
She noticed how Hinata paused for a moment, the name of someone she holds dear to her heart pausing her in her tracks. She shook off the notion and Tsunade found herself in close combat with the Hyuga again. With the chakra that she could force into her hands Tsunade landed a closed fist into the Hyuga's stomach. Sending her back and making needed distance again, she watched as Hinata got up like the impact couldn't have caused internal bleeding. It more than likely did. Hinata was still hunched over staring at the Hokage through hair covered eyes.
The Hokage was right, the last person Hinata wanted to talk to was her. Why was she trying so hard to talk to her? She kept pushing her away just to say nonsense, didn't the Hokage understand none of this mattered. Whether she succeeded in killing Tsunade or not, the end result would still result in Hinata's death. Really, Hinata felt like she was fighting half-heartedly. Like she stated to Pain, she didn't care about this invasion, the village or the world anymore. Over the years Hinata had taught herself to kill to feel alive, she was merely trying to just FEEL, right now. To be cold and numb 24/7, 7 days a week was maddening. Killing made her feel and the warmth of someone's blood made her feel warm. There was only one person that made her feel warm and not numb, and he was fighting to save this fucked up village.
God, she was so confused right now.
"I want you to know, I never hated you. This has haunted me for YEARS Hinata, and I can only beg that you forgive me. I admit, I shouldn't have planned it, I shouldn't have approved any of it. I'm SORRY, I'm so fucking sorry." Tears, the Hokage had tears in her eyes, she was putting raw emotions out there for Hinata to reach for, a lifeline to redemption and freedom.
Yet, her being haunted for years was nothing compared to living the nightmare.
"I don't care about your fucking apology." Hinata whispered this into Tsunade's ear, the woman realizing that in front of her was a shadow clone. It took 3 seconds for Tsunade to realize this and it took half of those second for both Hinata's to attack the Hokage. With that Hinata went into an assault attacking the Hokage's tenketsu system from the front and back, she wanted to leave the woman immobile, so she could enjoy carving her. She was so numb right now; she was desperate to feel something.
The clone disappeared and the original Hinata straightened herself up, she wiped herself free from the saliva and sneered at the woman now on the ground before her. "Such a strong woman, you definitely deserve every title that was given to you. I wish you fought me with the same malice that you were promising to give Pain."
"I'd never want to hurt you Hinata." Tsunade struggled to breathe at this point, let alone speak.
"You never wanted to hurt me, you never hated me?"
"YES! Never!"
Hinata gave a cold smile as she picked up her sword, she made her way over to the sannin and decided she didn't want to feel the blood run down her hands this one time. She would just behead her and carve her up from there. Just to make her stop talking. "That's funny, because I spent four years thinking about how much I hated you." She lifted her sword and was about to come down on the woman before her.
"HINATA!"
Hearing Ino's voice the Hyuga froze, she looked over and saw Ino with Shikamaru, Asuma, Sakura and Sasuke. Four out of five of them looked ready to kill the Hyuga on spot, all of them knowing they wouldn't be quick enough to save the Hokage. Hinata arms were still raised and she turned her head from Ino, she didn't think she could stop herself even if she wanted to. When she got like this, she wasn't in control anymore. She wasn't Hinata right now, right now she was a monster, it was embarrassing. It was like her body was urging her to do it, like she couldn't control that dark voice in her head that said she wanted Tsunade's blood NOW.
"Ino, go away. I don't want you to see me like this." Hinata noted how her voice didn't sound like hers, she was sure she reached a certain level where the curse mark had consumed all of her body, mind and soul. She felt so hollow, like just giving up with everything. All she felt was anger, red loud anger. She lost, she told herself that she would come out as the winner but every corner in her mind she tried to escape to she saw that fucking snake.
"Hime…" Ino's voice was broken, if Hinata killed Tsunade than there was no turning back. The Hyuga had already done enough damage, she imagined the wrong people saw the Hyuga fighting the Hokage. Civilians and ninjas, they all saw the Hyuga for what she was. It probably drove Hinata even more into a depressed state, Hinata was a shy, quiet-reserved person, she didn't want anyone to see her like this.
Like a monster. She wasn't supposed to be like this, her life wasn't supposed to be like this!
"PLEASE. Just…come with me Hime. We'll get out of here and never come back. Just me and you, like always. I told you I would never leave your side Hinata and I give you my word!" Ino meant it, she would take Hinata and disappear, they would never come back to this village again. She was okay with that if it meant Hinata was going to live and be okay.
Ino's words really pulled at the dark-haired woman's heart, but the Hyuga found that she couldn't cry. She was still so RED, it was blinding, it was infuriating. "INO! I said go away! You don't deserve this, you're better than this. You're the princess, you're the one that deserves happiness. Just take the Nara and go. So, when the rest of them kill me for killing her you don't have to watch." Hinata noted that Ino was quiet and she hoped the Yamanaka listened to her.
Ha! She should have known Ino was stubborn, she never listened.
"If you die than I die Hime." Hinata's eyes were wide as saucers as she heard Tsunade speak in an Ino matter. "Go ahead and do it, you'll cause me the equal amount of pain... You said you would write your own destiny Hinata! You were going to be better than Orochimaru, you better not go back on your word and let that fucking snake get the best of you. You control your destiny, take back your mind, your body! He can't hurt you anymore Hinata, he can't touch you again." Tsunade/Ino turned to look at Hinata and saw the girl breaking in front of them, it broke both the blonde women hearts. Hinata dropped her sword and backed away from the blondes like they were scorching hot and burning her.
"You…are so hard headed." Ino gave a soft smile at Hinata's words, she saw as the rage left Hinata's eyes and the Hyuga looked at her with fear in her eyes, "I don't think I can win this Ino. I-I'm not well. I'm SICK…I'm not as strong as you think I am." Hinata turned and looked at the shocked and guarded faces of Sakura and Asuma. She felt disgusted with herself, she sunk so low to try and kill the Hokage. She was scum, worse than scum. She let the man Pain taunt her into insanity, she let him twist her mind until she fully gave into the curse mark.
She deserved to die. "I'm so sorry."
Shikamaru, who was holding Ino's body, watched as she came to within her body and gaze at Hinata. "Ino traveled non-stop until she got to the village to demand a search for you. She went ape shit on the Hokage, she never stopped caring for you. She never stopped pushing for you, the least you can do is keep fighting against the curse mark. Ino can't do it solely for you."
Hinata shook her head in disagreement, "She shouldn't have to, you're right. She deserves better. I cannot be the friend that she needs anymore. You all were right about me, I am scum. Worse than cancer, I don't deserve the redemption that I wanted. I can't keep fighting this... It's too much."
Asuma watched as Hinata pulled her sleeve up and bit down on her thumb, something wasn't right, "Everyone get out of the way!"
The all separated and Shikamaru had to pull down with all his strength for Ino to follow suit. With the hand seals in motion Hinata summons her snake, the serpent was humongous, and its scales were white borderline opal. The eyes were yellow and had a lavender turban wrapped around her head, Hinata thought the offspring of Hakuja Sennin, Oparu, was beautiful and fit her just fine.
"Hmm, what seems to be the issue child. I haven't seen you since your Orochimaru days. Word has it you escaped his clutches by beheading him." Hinata was breathing hard but still stood up, "Yes, I did behead him. I don't really consider myself free from his clutches just yet." The snake tilted her head at this, "How were you planning on freeing yourself than child, I do not understand?"
"By making things right. Please, follow my instructions to get to Naruto, I want to ensure he doesn't need help. If he does, we fight until I draw my last breath. I don't want Hakuja upset with me over her pride and joy, so when I die you are free to leave, and please leave." Hinata leaped on top of the serpent and looked down at Ino. "You shouldn't have to worry about me Ino, I'm done hiding who I am and what I've done... I'm Hyuga Hinata, protégé of the snake sannin Orochimaru. Tell the Hyuga's I'm sorry. Tell my father I'm sorry. Shikamaru…you take care of her." With that Hinata and the snake headed off in pursuit of Naruto.
Ino was left looking at the position Hinata was at, eyes and mouth wide open. "We have to do something; I have to do something." The Yamanaka stood up and attempted to move, almost like on autopilot, however, Shikamaru still had his vice grip on her. Asuma stood in front of her as well, more on alert from the last time he got too close to her. "Ino, you can't keep protecting her." The young blond looked up at her former sensei, her temper rising, "You people can give up on her, but I won't." Her face told him that she still had fight in her, she wasn't totally physically drained, but her mind wasn't in the right place at the moment.
"If you want to go, I'll go with you." Sasuke spoke up, looking at the disgruntled kunoichi.
Naruto gave a good fight, a damn good fight. He was able to defeat the Asura Path and Animal Path, however in the end Pain eliminated Fukasaku and was able to pin Naruto down to the ground. Pain told Naruto all the plans of the Akatsuki, his plans and how the world would be a better place. It was nonsense to Naruto really, the man was speaking nonsense and had the power to be able to not listen to any reasoning. He hated people like that.
Preparing to take Naruto the man paused when he felt a surge of chakra coming his way. Him and Naruto both turned to see Hinata in all her glory come booming in with a snake summons. Pain showed little shock by this, but his annoyance was evident, "I should have known to take the Hokage out myself."
"You should have known a lot of things." The Hyuga wasted no time activating her twin lion fists and made a beeline to Pain. The man could easily dodge her moves though, "Oparu, now!" The snake rammed Pain head on into a bolder. The man being crushed into it. With the distraction of Pain, Hinata rushed over to Naruto. "It would seem that Oparu has him distracted, I am sure not for long." Hinata struggled to get the rods out, fuck these things were in there hard.
"Hinata! What are you doing?! You're going to get yourself killed!" The man in front of her was worried for her safety even though he was the one in danger, it was so Naruto. "I'm hoping that it boils down to that. I would rather be the one to die then you Naruto."
"What!?" The blond froze at this, he didn't think he heard right.
"I told Ino she was too good for me and I want to let you know the same. I'm sure you will hear about all the things I did wrong and I want to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I waited so long to tell you, I really care for you Naruto. I've wasted so much of your life, making you worry over me when I was being a coward and didn't want you to see the real me. I'm sorry for hurting your precious heart and your precious people, I don't deserve you..but I care for you. I cared so much for you, even before the academy. You always wanted to be a shinobi and protect people; I was a little scared girl and you protected me. You took my heart and became my hero. I deeply care about you, I wanted to grow up with you, have kids with you and grow old with you. Now I just want the honor of dying protecting you."
She pulled a rod out and she was able to remove a second one when she noticed Oparu being flung from the high position that they were currently up on. She sent a shadow clone to attack Pain while she still attempted to remove more rods, but the man went through her clone like butter and to get to the original.
Tears, Hinata noted, they finally came out of her eyes. She was beginning to think such a thing couldn't happen to her. Naruto had a way of making her feel warm without causing pain. Hinata stood up from her position and came to terms that she was low on chakra, she sent Naruto a proud smile and came to terms of her fate. She turned around to face Pain. "You said you knew the tricks of Lord Orochimaru, well his tricks are nothing compared to mine."
"I can't believe I agreed to this." Shikamaru grumbled under his breath as he followed closely with Ino, Sasuke, Asuma and Sakura. The Yamanaka was silent and didn't acknowledge the complaint, having tunnel vision on getting to Hinata. Just than Sasuke put an arm out to stop the group and they all looked up to see Naruto unleashed the nine-tails.
Thats it for this chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it, fights are not my forte. The next two chapters are pretty angst, but it's good! It helps Hinata and Ino open up more. It's never dull when you get to read Naruto's reaction to Hinata being with Orochimaru. Until next time!