Chapter 32
A Threat From the Moon
Two years have passed since the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War. A period of peace has engulfed the ninja world. The village has expanded and the technology has become more advanced. Hinata sits in her home and knits a scarf. She remembers the day that Joshu lost his favorite scarf that his father gave to him.
"I know that you will love this Joshu. This is my gift for you after all these years of training with you," said Hinata.
Hinata gets up and walks out of her room. She walks down the stairs.
"He will love this. I know it," thought Hinata.
She runs towards the exit but turns back around.
"What if he doesn't? I'll just look like a fool," thought Hinata.
She turns back around and runs forward.
"I have to at least try. I have to give it to him tonight," thought Hinata.
She turns back around.
"It's too late. I can do it tomorrow," thought Hinata.
Hinata turns back around.
"No, tonight," thought Hinata.
Hinata continues to walk back and forth for a few minutes. A girl appears on a fountain outside.
"Stop walking around and give it to him," said Hanabi.
Hinata is surprised to see her little sister watching her.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were there?" asked Hinata.
Hanabi jumps and lands in front of her sister.
"It's fun to watch my sister fond over her love for her best friend," said Hanabi.
"I'm not in love with him!" exclaimed Hinata.
Hinata runs the other way. After ten minutes of walking, she finds Joshu, Naruto, Sakura, Choji, and Shikamaru eating at Ichiraku's Ramen.
"Ichiraku's hits the spot this time of year," said Joshu.
"Ichiraku's hits the spot every time of year," said Naruto.
Hinata walks up behind them. Sakura notices her.
"Hey Hinata, do you want to eat with us?" asked Sakura.
"No, no, I was just walking around," said Hinata.
Sakura gets up.
"I insist. You can have my seat," said Sakura.
"Come eat with us Hinata. It's my treat," said Joshu.
"Oh, ok," said Hinata.
Hinata sits down on Sakura's seat. Three fangirls run towards Ichiraku's Ramen.
"There he is!" exclaimed a fangirl.
"Not them again," said Joshu.
The three fangirls run up to Joshu.
"Can we have your autograph?" asked a fangirl.
"Fine, but after today, can you please stop bugging me," said Joshu.
"No promises," said a fangirl.
Joshu starts to sign their many pictures of him. Hinata grabs her bag and walks away.
"Hinata, don't go," said Sakura.
"It's alright. Thank you for the invitation," said Hinata.
"Joshu, walk her home," said Sakura.
"You don't have to ask me twice," said Joshu.
Joshu drops the pictures and runs towards Hinata.
"Hey, come back! We're not finished with you!" exclaimed the fangirls.
The fangirls start to run towards Joshu.
"Hinata run!" exclaimed Joshu.
Hinata starts to run as well. The two shinobi are now being chased by the fangirls. They stop running after reaching a playground.
"They really are crazy," said Hinata.
"Yeah. You're lucky that there weren't more of them," said Joshu.
Joshu and Hinata walk into the playground. They sit on a swing set.
"What's in the bag?" asked Joshu.
"It's nothing," said Hinata.
"I understand. You're just too shy to show me what's inside," said Joshu.
"I'm not shy. It's just that I don't want to give you your gift too early," said Hinata.
After mistakenly revealing her goal, she puts her hands on her mouth to stop herself from revealing anything else.
"I knew that it was for me. Let me see what it is," said Joshu.
"I really have to go. I'll give it to you tomorrow," said Hinata.
Hinata starts to get up, but she sees a man in the shadows.
"It's kind of rude to refuse to give a person their gift," said the man.
"Who are you?" asked Joshu.
"I'm Toneri Otsutsuki. I have come for her," said Toneri.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Joshu.
Before Toneri can respond, a robed man jumps down and tries to grab Hinata, but Joshu jumps up and kicks him away. More robed men jump out of the shadows. Joshu jumps towards them and punches and kicks them away. The number of robed men increases and Joshu is forced to run away. A robed man grabs Hinata. Toneri creates an orb and sucks out Hinata's chakra. The robed man jumps onto a rooftop. Joshu jumps up onto the rooftop and follows them. Joshu kicks away any robed men in his way. Joshu continues to run until he is nearly hit by an energy blast. He looks up and sees a bunch of robed men in the sky. They all charge an energy blast and launch it at Joshu. Joshu dodges them and jumps in the air.
"Lightning Style: Rasenshuriken!" exclaimed Joshu.
Joshu creates a rasenshuriken covered with lightning and launches it at the robed men. The lightning style rasenshuriken cuts them in half. Joshu jumps in front of the robed man carrying Hinata. More robed men launch energy blasts at him and cause him to move out of the way. Joshu takes out the robed men in the sky. He appears behind the robed man and pierces him with his lightning blade. This attack causes the robed man to drop Hinata. Joshu jumps down and catches her. They teleport away and land on a rooftop.
"Are you ok?" asked Joshu.
"I'm fine. Thank you," said Hinata.
Toneri appears in front of them.
"The final day is approaching fast. I will come get you before then," said Toneri.
"You won't touch her," said Joshu.
Joshu charges at him and tries to punch him, but Toneri disappears like a hologram. He reappears in the sky.
"See you later Hinata," said Toneri.
Toneri disappears. A piece of the moon comes off and rockets towards the Earth. It enters the Earth's atmosphere and lands behind the Hokage Rock and causes a huge explosion.
"What the hell was that?" asked Joshu.
"Was that his attack?" asked Hinata.
"Hagoromo said that the Otsutsuki were powerful, but I didn't know that they were this powerful. I should get you home," said Joshu.
Hinata grabs Joshu's hand and they teleport in front of her house.
"I should come inside with you to make sure that there are no more of those guys in there," said Joshu.
Hinata blushes and looks down.
"Sure," said Hinata.
Hinata and Joshu walk into the home. Hinata walks in the direction of Hanabi's room to make sure that she's ok. She opens the door and doesn't see her sister sleeping.
"Hanabi, come out. It's not the time to be playing tricks," said Hinata.
Hinata opens her closet door and doesn't see her sister. She walks outside and still doesn't see her sister.
"Joshu!" exclaimed Hinata.
Joshu hears Hinata's scream and runs into Hanabi's room.
"What's wrong?" asked Joshu.
"I think that Hanabi's been taken," said Hinata.
"Damn," said Joshu.
Sakura, Haku, Joshu, Naruto, and Hinata enter the office of the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake.
"Your mission is to save Hanabi Hyuga. Joshu, you will be the leader of this mission. Hinata will also be joining you," said Kakashi.
"Thank you sir," said Hinata.
"Joshu, put your hand out," said Kakashi.
"Why?" asked Joshu.
"Just do it," said Kakashi.
Joshu puts his hand out. A holographic clock with the Earth in the middle appears in the center of Joshu's hand.
"What is this?" asked Joshu.
"It's a clock that the five kage all have," said Kakashi.
"What is this clock for?" asked Haku.
"It's a countdown for the Earth's destruction," said Kakashi.
"What does this have to do with saving Hanabi?" asked Joshu.
"Toneri kidnapped Hanabi and is most likely manipulating the moon," said Kakashi.
"How could you determine that?" asked Naruto.
"A piece of the moon came crashing into the Hidden Leaf after Toneri escaped. That's why I believe that Toneri had something to do with it," said Kakashi.
"There's no time to waste. Let's go," said Joshu.
An hour passes. The group flies in the air inside of Joshu's susanoo. Hinata uses her Byakugan to look at the ground. She sees some footsteps.
"Down there," said Hinata.
Joshu lands his susanoo on the ground. Hinata runs out and kneels down near the footsteps. She removes some of the snow and finds a kunai. Sakura walks over to her.
"What's that?" asked Sakura.
"My sister's kunai," said Hinata.
Hinata puts the kunai in her bag. Sakura and Hinata return to Joshu's susanoo. Joshu's susanoo flies back into the air. After ten minutes of flying, Hinata sees something.
"There's a glowing spring in that cave over there," said Hinata.
"Ok, let's go down there," said Joshu.
Joshu's susanoo lands at the entrance of the cave. The group enters the cave and walks until they see the spring.
"This is it," said Sakura.
"Hinata, can you see through it with your Byakugan?" asked Haku.
"Something's blocking it," said Hinata.
"How is a pool of water blocking a dojutsu?" asked Haku.
"There's only one way to find out," said Naruto.
Naruto jumps into the water. The rest of the group follows. The group swims deeper into the water and enters another pool under the first one. This section of the pool is filled with yellow spheres. Joshu looks into one of them and is transported to a different place. He appears outside of the house of Hinata.
"This is a genjutsu, but I'm interested to see what it is trying to tell me," said Joshu.
Joshu enters Hinata's house and sees a younger Hinata crying on the floor of her room. He sees a younger version of himself appear in the window.
"What's wrong?" asked the younger Joshu.
Hinata is surprised to see her teacher sitting on her windowsill.
"Joshu, I'm not crying. I'm thinking," said Hinata.
Joshu hops through the window and lands in front of Hinata. He sits in front of her.
"You don't have to lie to me. I could hear you from a block away," said the younger Joshu.
"You could couldn't you," said Hinata.
"What's wrong?" asked the younger Joshu.
"Life is just hard," said Hinata.
"Tell me about it. I have to train from day to night every day. I never get enough sleep," said the younger Joshu.
"I thought my day was longer and more boring," said Hinata.
"You've been ignoring everyone for the past week. Why is that?" said the younger Joshu.
"I just needed some time to myself. That's all," said Hinata.
"It's a shinobi's job to get over anything that's happening in their personal lives in order to protect their village," said the younger Joshu.
"I know, but it's hard," said Hinata.
"Last week, Haku and Naruto became a couple. Before that, you would always follow him around. You like him. No, you love him," said the younger Joshu.
Hinata starts to blush very hard.
"I knew it. You're heartbroken aren't you? You're heartbroken because he never noticed you. You're heartbroken that he never accepted your love. I understand why you feel this way. I've never been heartbroken, but my father has and he has emphasized the feeling to me all of the time. You probably feel like the unluckiest person in the world. You probably hate and still love Naruto after he made his choice. You have to move on," said the younger Joshu.
"I'm trying," said Hinata.
"No, you're not. If you were, you wouldn't be locked in your room sulking because of his choice. Heartbreak can be very hard to get over. My father didn't get over his friends' death for a long time and sometimes I fear that he still hasn't, but you have me here to help you. It's just you and me to the end. I promise," said the younger Joshu.
Joshu puts his pinky in front of Hinata's face. Hinata connects her pinky with Joshu's. Joshu uses his finger to wipe the tear off of Hinata's cheek.
"I'll see you when you feel better. Have a good rest of your day," said Joshu.
Joshu jumps and exits out of her window. Hinata gets up and looks out of the window.
"Joshu, you truly are amazing," said Hinata.
The older Joshu closes the door.
"I'm good at talking with heartbroken girls. That could be a second career choice," said Joshu.
Joshu is teleported into an alleyway. He walks out of the alleyway and sees a group of men carrying a large balloon of the Nine Tails.
"This must be the Kyūbinokitsune no shi festival that happened a couple months ago," said Joshu.
Joshu walks until he sees a man walk up to a stand. The man grabs the microphone and prepares to speak.
"Hello villagers of Konohagakure. I'm the coordinator of this little bash. Usually, we don't do what I'm going to tell you, but I'm feeling special because we have one of the many heroes of the Fourth Great Shinobi War here," said the event planner.
The crowd looks at a barely younger version of Joshu and Hinata who wore fancy clothes. Hinata grabs Joshu's arm, very nervous about the attention.
"Um, hi everyone," said Joshu.
The crowd starts to cheer. Joshu's nervous look turns into a smile. Hinata let's go of Joshu's arm.
"In order to celebrate his heroics, choose your partner and get ready to dance," said the event planner.
"You heard him Hinata," said Joshu.
"But, I'm not a-," said Hinata.
Before Hinata can answer, Joshu grabs her hand and runs to the center of the crowd. They start to dance like a prince and his bride. The crowd sees this and starts to cheer them on. After a couple more minutes of dancing, they stop. Joshu looks Hinata in the eyes and moves his face closer to hers. Too nervous to kiss Joshu, Hinata quickly gets away from Joshu's arms and runs away from Joshu.
"Hinata, wait!" exclaimed Joshu.
Before Joshu can run after Hinata, fangirls block his path.
"Why did it have to be them?" thought Joshu.
The older Joshu runs from the crowd and follows Hinata. He follows her to her house. He sees Hinata enter her room and watches through her window.
"Oh my god Hinata, you're such a fool. He was going to kiss me and I just ran away and humiliated him. I'm in love with him and I'm still a complete klutz around him," said Hinata.
"I knew she liked me, but I didn't think that she was in love with me," said Joshu.
Joshu turns around. He walks to the vacant street.
"Joshu, wake up. It's a dream," said Sakura.
"I know. Let me rest," said Joshu.
Joshu feels Sakura slap his cheek and he wakes up.
"Ow! I'm up. I'm up," said Joshu.
The group stands in a large yellow sphere.
"What is this place?" asked Naruto.
"This pool must be a genjutsu trap that forces the victim to look back at his or her memories. Good thing Sakura was here. I don't know what we would've done if we didn't have someone who was immune to genjutsu," said Haku.
The group exits the water and runs forward. The group runs until they see another pool.
"Can you see through this one with your Byakugan Hinata?" asked Naruto.
"No," said Hinata.
"Let's get prepared for another dream hopping adventure," said Sakura.
The group jumps into the pool except for Hinata and Joshu. Hinata notices that Joshu is staring off into space.
"Is anything wrong?" asked Hinata.
"During the genjutsu dream, I dreamt of some very enlightening stuff. Just give me a couple of minutes," said Joshu.
"Ok," said Hinata.
Hinata jumps into the pool.
"Hinata, why didn't you tell me this? Now, I'm just confused," said Joshu.