The Wanderers
Chapter 24 – Naruto/Hinata – New World
A/N: Since they are the main characters, and their story is the longest of the Konoha group, I'm separating their story between the others, so that you get the greatest range of characters.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be relationships taken to the final stages.
***Previously-On***
After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.
Shikamaru appeared in the Land of Wind, and after nearly dying in the desert, he was rescued and sent to the Hidden Village of Sand. He was then set up for kidnapping the Kazekage and imprisoned, but was released by the Suna Siblings after a month in prison. With his assistance they tracked down the Kazekage in the Land of Fire, defeating a subordinate of the woman who set Shikamaru up. Working out that it was a trap; the four of them sped back to Suna with the golden statue of Kazekage. Shikamaru and Temari dropped off the Suna leader but then had to fight off several infiltrators that were slaughtering the civilians, while Gaara and Kankuro assisted the Suna shinobi army in their fight against the single attacker, Sasori. After destroying Sasori's puppet army, the Akatsuki member revealed a giant puppet that forced Gaara to release Shukaku for a limited amount of time. Despite his renewed father's protests at his actions, Shukaku protected the village and destroyed the giant puppet. The battle apparently finished, they moved to assist the fallen Gaara, but the Kazekage was killed by the hidden Sasori. He then moved to kill Temari but Shikamaru moved in front of her and took the strike, falling to the ground as she destroyed Sasori completely. Once he had recovered in the hospital, and after several 'conjugal' visits from Temari, Shikamaru accepted a high ranking advisor position to the new Kazekage, Gaara.
***End Summary***
***Two Minutes after Separation***
Naruto opened his eyes and was immediately assaulted by a huge volume of water on his eyes, forcing him to close them in pain. He tried to lash out with his arms, but found that it was harder than usual to move around in his area. Forcing his eyes open Naruto gasped at what he saw, and then regretted doing that as he was forced to swallow huge amounts of water. Feeling around he discovered that he was completely submerged; his body ached at the sheer amount of pressure pressing against it.
He tried to hold his breath and swim towards the single ray of light above him, but every stroke of his arms was extremely draining. Even with a pulse of chakra Naruto could see that he wasn't getting any closer to the light beaming down onto his body. Letting out a small air bubble, Naruto swore without speaking and continued to frantically try and swim upwards.
Shit, I'm almost out of breath. I'm not going to reach the surface in time…
Naruto looked around the water, noticing a large variety of fish swimming away from his position. He tried again to swim upwards, but a current swept past him like a gale of wind and threw him around within the water.
I'm not going to make it…wait…Hinata!
oOoOoOo
***One Minute after Separation***
Hinata didn't need to open her eyes to tell that she was falling; she could feel it all around her. Being a shinobi she resisted the urge to scream, popping her eyes open slowly to try and mitigate the wind pressure against her face. Through her white eyes Hinata was able to see that she had just passed through a patch of clouds, a large patch of earth beneath rapidly approaching her.
Without hesitation Hinata pushed her hands through the air and aimed them at the approaching ground, summoning as much chakra as she could. Modifying the technique on instinct she shot a stream of pure wind chakra from her hands. Her hair flailed behind her as she felt her rapid descent slow down, but she could see that the ground was still coming up far too quickly.
Biting at her lip nervously, Hinata strained her arms and tried to increase the strength of her wind technique. She felt a trickle of blood fall from her lip but forced herself to ignore the pain, the ground beneath her starting to show her the land's features. The closer she fell to the ground the more her descent slowed, but Hinata suspected it wasn't enough.
I don't have enough chakra… No! Naruto-kun wouldn't give up, and neither will I. I've got to gamble.
She cut off her technique and let herself fall towards the ground, pushing out her arms to increase her wind drag. Once she saw the details on the ground she moved her hands in front of her and took a deep breath.
Yelling in a vain attempt to increase the strength of her technique, Hinata pushed all her remaining chakra into her palms, blasting a huge column of air straight into the ground beneath her. Being a light girl, Hinata was able to counteract a large portion of her falling velocity with her wind technique. Underneath her hands the ground began to crack with the sheer amount of pressure she was placing on it. Her descent slowed to a halt a metre from the ground, Hinata hovering above the ground for a second before her chakra gave out and she fell to the ground, hitting the tough dirt with a sigh of relief.
She sat up with a struggle, feeling like her arms were on fire. Glancing up at the sky, Hinata saw that the sun was already setting across the horizon, something she hadn't noticed when she was trying not to turn into paste on the ground.
I could have sworn it was close to midday when we confronted that man. How long was I falling?
Hinata tried to stand up, but found her legs unresponsive, and she had no real motivation to rush herself. A loud crack of lightning thundered besides her, causing her to jump in fright and instinctively move to roll away until she saw what the lightning had brought with it.
A blonde shinobi coughed violently beside her, throwing up large amounts of water onto the ground. He gasped and glanced around while struggling to pick himself up from the ground. He finally noticed Hinata's surprised face, a smile coming across his face before he collapsed into the dirt.
"Naruto-kun!"
Ignoring her own fatigue, Hinata shuffled over and placed her hands on Naruto's back. She sighed in relief and collapsed on top of his back, laughing softly with tears in her eyes.
"I'm so glad…"
Beneath her arms, Naruto shifted with a groan, trying to turn his head to look at the young Hyuuga. "Hinata…you're…hurting my…back…"
She jumped up immediately before lying down beside him, still laughing in relief. Naruto struggled and rolled on his side, reaching out and gently stroking the side of her face with a hand. He smiled slowly before his hand fell limp and his eyes closed themselves. Hinata picked up his hand before it hit the ground and grasped it in both of her hands, holding it at her chest as she watched him sleep.
oOoOoOo
"You fell from the sky? Wow, and I thought I had it rough."
In usual fashion Naruto had recovered quickly, having woken up barely an hour after collapsing. After a quick exchange on information, the two of them looked around their surroundings, Hinata refusing to let go of his hand.
Neither of them recognised any landmarks around them, and the fact that it was now night was quite surprising. Hinata worked out that it must have meant they were a fair distance away from the Land of Rice Fields, due to the position of the rising moon, but Naruto wasn't so convinced. They couldn't see anyone else around them, the two of them figuring that the warrior had intended to separate them from each other completely.
Naruto stood up from the ground with a groan, helping Hinata up before grinning and kissing her on the forehead, causing the Hyuuga girl to blush like the first time they had kissed.
"You aren't getting rid of me that easily."
Hinata smiled warmly back and hugged him from the side. Naruto frowned and held her at arm's length, looking at her with a strange look. "Where's your pack?"
The young Hyuuga sighed and buried her head into his chest. "It got pulled off me in the village…"
As she thought about it a memory came screaming back to her, the grim look on her cousin's face before she blacked out during their retreat. "Neji-niisan!"
Naruto scanned the surrounding area quickly. "What? Where?"
Hinata took a moment before gripping the edges of his jacket with her hands. "He's…nowhere. I think he stayed behind to let us escape."
The blonde shinobi sighed sadly and placed a comforting hand on top of her head. "I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough bastard, that cousin of yours."
"I know. But…"
Naruto looked at their surroundings with a tired look in his eyes. It had gotten dark fairly quickly, and besides the occasional tree and patches of grass there didn't seem to be any signs of life anywhere near them. He shouldered his pack to the ground and hugged Hinata once more before opening it and rummaging around inside.
"What are you doing, Naruto-kun?"
The Uzumaki heir grinned at her and began to pull items out of his pack. "Being prepared."
Hinata drew the cold blanket across her body while looking out at the closed door of the small tent. She had tried to persuade him that he didn't need to stand guard outside the tent, but Naruto didn't want to hear it, spouting a tirade of manly statements that she just shook her head and conceded the point to.
He stood beside two shadow clones with their arms crossed, and Hinata didn't need to use her Byakugan to see how exhausted Naruto truly was. She was flattered by his act of chivalry, but when she saw the two clones disappear and Naruto's head dip slightly, she decided that enough was enough. She threw the blanket off her legs and went about preparing the futon in such a way to accommodate Naruto's size compared to hers, moving the blankets around before standing up and opening the door to the tent slowly.
Naruto turned around once he heard the zipper opening, smiling a tired smile at Hinata's warm-looking face. "Everything okay, Hina-chan? Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
His eyes widened when he saw her exposed shoulders, her front barely covered by her shirt. In one motion he removed the orange jacket from his back and placed it around her shivering shoulders. "You shouldn't be out here without your jacket, Hina-chan. You'll catch a cold or something."
Hinata smiled at his gesture, it was things like that that made her feel for him even more, but she forced herself not to be embarrassed, she had a mission to do. She reached up and placed a hand on the side of his face, feeling the rugged skin beneath her fingers. "Naruto-kun, you are exhausted. Come in here and get some rest."
Naruto shook his head, but continued to smile as she rubbed the side of his face affectionately. "I can't do that. We don't know where we are, or who might attack us."
You need to convince him, Hinata. He needs to be selfish at some point; otherwise he'll work himself to death.
She moved her hand so that it was at the back of his neck, and standing up slightly she placed her lips on top of his, feeling the warmth of his lips with a smile. Even during the kiss Naruto was unable to hide a grin, placing his hands around her sides and holding her while he enjoyed the tender feeling of her lips on his. After a few seconds Hinata released the kiss, sighing in happiness as she looked into his blue eyes.
"Naruto, you need to come inside. Please."
He went to protest, but after looking into her white eyes for a few seconds, and seeing how concerned she was, he sighed and conceded in defeat. She smiled warmly and pulled on the back of his neck, opening the door to let him through and nearly gently shoving him through, zipping up the door before turning around. The moment Naruto entered the tent he felt a huge weight slam into his shoulders, as if all the stress he had accumulated over the past two days had just hit him.
He looked down at the makeshift bed with drooping eyes before turning to look at Hinata. "How are we going to…there's only one…you know."
Removing Naruto's jacket from her shoulders and placing it carefully on top of his pack inside the tent, Hinata placed her arms outstretched in front of him. "Give me your shirt."
Naruto felt like he should have said something in return, but found himself removing his shirt and handing it to the young girl without a response. He felt himself slowly falling asleep, despite standing up and really not wanting to, but when Hinata guided him down to the futon and placed his head on the pillow Naruto was long gone.
Hinata smiled warmly and pulled the blanket over her boyfriend before watching him sleep. Normally Naruto snored, which Hinata didn't mind too much, but this time Naruto slept without making a sound, clutching at the blanket like a baby.
"There are times when even you should rest, Naruto-kun" she said softly, leaning down and kissing him lightly on the cheek before looking around the tent. She noticed that even with in his exhausted state, Naruto wasn't taking up that much room on the futon. It had been her intention to stay up and keep an eye on the surrounding area, but after seeing Naruto fall asleep so quickly she felt her own fatigue creeping up on her.
Maybe I can just lie down for a little bit, and then stand guard. If Naruto-kun was able to have that kind of stamina, then I should work harder as well. Just a few minutes.
She was careful not to bump Naruto as she stepped over his silent sleeping form, lifting up the blanket slightly before wriggling down onto the free section of the futon, leaning her head back on her folded jacket as a pillow. Turning her head to the left she felt herself blush wildly as she saw how close Naruto's sleeping face was to hers, the young Hyuuga watching his chest rise and fall on his side quietly. With her face the colour of a tomato, Hinata moved to the other side, her back to Naruto. Since their encounter just after Kakashi and Itachi woke up from their technique, Hinata had wondered what would have happened had they gone all the way with their budding relationship, but each time she did she found herself unable to continue thinking about it, she could hear her father's voice in her head telling her that she was meant to be proper, and innocent.
I know that someday I want to…and I think Naruto does too…but now…how much time do we have left? Everything seems to be going against us at the moment.
She smiled into her hands at the thought of the two of them being together, and then gasped as she felt Naruto's hands sliding over her waist and under her neck, a shock of electricity running through her spine as she felt his warm breath on the back of her neck. He hadn't positioned himself in an uncomfortable place for Hinata, in fact she found herself oddly comfortable in his arms, one of his legs barely touching her leg. A part of her wanted to activate her Byakugan to see what he looked like behind her, but a tired sigh from behind her and a nice feeling on the back of her head stopped her.
She smiled with a diminishing blush and placed one of her hand's fingers through Naruto's hand that was over her waist, feeling the strong yet loose grip with a happy sigh.
Maybe more than a few minutes.
oOoOoOo
Since losing the Kyuubi Naruto had found his sleep relatively peaceful, it was much easier to be in a rested state when a demonic fox wasn't threatening to eat you every ten seconds. However this morning was the first time Naruto had no motivation to get out of bed, though he couldn't figure out why. He opened his eyes slowly and the reason became immediately apparent. Lying right in front of his face was the sleeping form of Hinata, her dark blue hair having fallen across her face with the tips tickling Naruto's face gently. Now that he was awake he could feel her soft breath on his face, and he noticed how close Hinata actually was to him. Her legs were wrapped around his, and one of her arms was tightly bound around his waist.
Naruto watched her sleep for a few minutes, watching as her chest rose and fell with each breath. A strange thought arose in his mind, one that he hadn't thought in a while.
What did I do to deserve her? I must have done something, nobody is this lucky on principle.
Her eyes slowly began to open, revealing her pure white globes slowly before a smile grew on her face and she snugged her face down into his chest. "It's too early…"
Naruto laughed softly and tugged her lightly on the shoulder. "Weren't you meant to be guarding the tent?" he asked in a joking tone.
Hinata rubbed her head softly against his chest and groaned softly. "Five more…oh no!" She tried to jump up from the bed, but Naruto kept her down with his arm around her shoulder, whispering that it was okay.
After a few moments of struggle she gave in and fell back into his arms, continuously apologising for her mistake. "I just needed to rest my eyes for a few minutes…I didn't mean to…"
"Hinata, it's fine! I was the one who was meant to be guarding anyway, it's not your fault."
"But I…" Her protests were silenced as Naruto leant over and kissed her softly, feeling her relax in his arms before slowly pulling away.
"Just…relax. Let's just sit here for a little bit. It's not like we are in a rush."
Hinata smiled warmly, rubbing her head into her makeshift pillow as she felt Naruto place a hand behind her head and run his fingers through her dark blue hair. "O…kay…Nar…to…un…"
After a few minutes of lying beside each other, Naruto found himself tracing a finger along her neckline. He loved feeling her soft skin beneath his fingers, and the look on her face told him that she enjoyed it too.
"Hey Hinata…"
The young Hyuuga mumbled a few words before struggling to look up while still letting him play with her neck. "H…ai?"
He traced his finger along the side of her neck slowly. "Where's the pendant I gave you?"
She reached up slowly and touched his fingers with hers, trying not to look him in the eyes. "I…it got taken off me back in the Sound Village. I'm really sorry I meant to tell you…but then we came here…and I was really tired…"
Naruto smiled and shook his head. "I don't care about that. It's okay, I was just curious."
It took him a few minutes more to realise, but when he did Naruto took his hand off her neck and leant back slightly. "Hang on. If you don't have your pendant…how was I able to Hiraishin to you? There aren't any seals around here."
Hinata kept her smile on her face and sat up on the futon, letting the blanket fall to her waist. It wasn't very cold where they were, and to her surprise Hinata didn't feel a subconscious need to cover herself up, even though she was wearing a shirt and pants in the bed, like Naruto was wearing his orange pants.
"I…um…" She struggled to get the words out; it was difficult to describe what she had done. It felt quite silly when she thought about it. It had been a spur of the moment thing, more of a symbolic gesture than anything else.
With a slight blush developing on her face, Hinata reached up and pulled down on the neck part of her shirt, to the point that it showed just above her breasts, and what she had wanted to show him. Naruto's eyes widened immediately, he knew exactly what those symbols are, she had done it better than he had, even adding some seals that would have eased the transition.
"Hinata…you…" He reached out slowly and brushed his fingers along the ink on her skin. Hinata shivered slightly, he didn't realise it but Naruto had accidently brushed against the top of her breast, though she didn't say anything there was a part of her that wanted him to just keep going.
"Naruto-kun…I…"
She found herself unable to finish her sentence as Naruto removed his hand from her skin and lightly pulled her shirt back up to cover her front. She looked directly into his eyes and felt a huge flutter in her chest; he had a look in his eyes that she had only seen once before during their relationship.
Without a word he slowly reached up and placed his hand around the back of her neck, pushing himself up slowly with his other hand before placing a slight amount of pressure onto her neck, pulling her down towards him. Before she could say anything he placed his lips onto hers, further pulling her down until she lay completely on top of him. Pushing a hand up through her hair while moving his other hand so that it was against her back, Naruto began to kiss her more intensely.
A part of Hinata felt that they were about to go to a place they wouldn't be able to come back from, but that part was quickly squashed when she felt Naruto's hand go up the back of her shirt and gently rub at her shoulder blades. Giving in to her instincts Hinata let go of the long kiss and placed her face next to his, kissing his cheek slightly before making her way to his ear. In as soft a tone as she could muster, she whispered lightly into his ear three simple words. Those words set Naruto off completely, causing him to flip her on her back and kneel above her, a hungry look in his eyes as Hinata giggled softly at the overly dramatic movement. Naruto lent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead before moving down and kissing her on the lips as lightly as possible.
He smiled warmly, and for a moment time seemed to freeze as they stared at each other's eyes, there were no barriers that could possibly exist between them anymore. His smile turned into a grin and the hungry look returned to his eyes as he leant down next to her ear and whispered softly.
"I love you too."
oOoOoOo
Naruto moved a hand slowly over the curve of her back idly as he stared at the ceiling of the tent. "I…I'm not sure what I'm meant to say now."
Hinata moved the blanket so that it covered her legs a bit more, running her fingers along several of the scars on his chest. "Me neither."
"I do know something though." He leaned over and pecked her on the forehead, feeling the slight grip she had on his other hand with a smile. "I definitely love you."
Feeling a slight flirty side that she didn't know she had, Hinata playfully pecked him on the arm and leaned her head against his rising chest. "Doesn't count. Not after that."
"Eh? Why not? I think it would be a perfect time for that."
She leaned her chin on the centre of his chest and looked up at him, feeling the warmth of his skin against her own front, looking him in the eyes with a smile. "It's hard to take you seriously with that kind of look on your face, Naruto. You are just as bad as Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto couldn't help but smirk, glancing down at her only made his smirk widen. "Says you. Who's the one who took their pants off first?"
That caused Hinata to blush as she recalled their exploit from half an hour ago. She buried her face in his chest in an attempt to hide her red face, but the soft laugh from Naruto told her that the damage was already done. "That…don't talk like that. It's too embarrassing."
Naruto laughed again and continued to rub her back, remarking to himself how smooth her skin was in comparison to his own. "I don't know what you are complaining about. You have a beautiful body."
She looked up at him slowly, no longer caring to hide her red face. "Really? You don't think I've got…"
"…nope. I'm not just saying it because you are…you know…like that…I really mean it."
She gripped his hand tightly and kissed his chest several times before leaning her head back onto his chest, letting her hair fall to the side unmanaged. "Thanks, Naruto. That…thank you."
"You don't need to thank me. And hey, look at what you are doing."
"What am I doing?"
Naruto moved his hand down and poked her lightly. "You called me Naruto. No honorific or anything. That's pretty cool, Hinata."
It took Hinata a few seconds to grasp what he meant; she was still a bit out of it after their session. Once she did however she found herself suddenly full of energy, moving up and quickly kissing him roughly on the lips. A full minute later she released him and allowed him to breathe, though as he did she began kissing him down the side of his neck. Naruto took a moment to look at her before smirking again.
"I could g…"
He didn't get a chance to finish; Hinata had already planted her lips onto his and thrown the blanket off of them.
The dirt seemed to crumble in his hands. After several hours of walking, they were prepared to declare that there was no life at all in the country they were in. The trees around them seemed dry to the bone, but strangely the grass beneath their feet was lush and shook in the soft wind without a care in the world.
"Anything?" asked Hinata, trying to expand her Byakugan field of view but she could only see large fields of grass around them.
Naruto felt a strange shiver in his head when information flooded his mind. He turned on the spot and pointed to a direction to the right of their current walking direction. "There seems to be a building in that direction."
Hinata deactivated her eye technique and looked at the smiling shinobi. "How far?"
"Ten miles, maybe less. I didn't let the clone explore the area completely."
"Why not?" she asked, the two of them beginning to walk in the direction he had indicated.
Naruto gave her his characteristic grin and placed his hands on the back of his head. "Where's the fun in that?"
After a few hours they saw the crumbled down buildings that Naruto's clone had found, the two of them sharing a glance before moving into the area. It appeared to have been a village of sorts, not particularly large or small in their eyes. There were several buildings that looked like they had been burnt to the ground; they were made up of charred stones and splinters of burnt timber. Naruto felt the ground tentatively while Hinata scanned the area with her Byakugan. They didn't have much food or water, and while they weren't concerned about it at that moment, they both knew that they would need to forage for food fairly soon if they were to survive.
Hinata sighed and deactivated her Byakugan. "I can't see anyone here, Naruto."
The blonde shinobi nodded slowly, letting the dirt in his hand slowly fall to the ground. "Yeah. This place has been dead for a while."
He showed her an object he had found buried just under the surface, the young Hyuuga frowning as she touched the small bone in his hand. Her medical training kicked in and she recognised the general structure of the bone as human, though she couldn't tell what type of bone it was or how long its owner had been dead.
"What now?" she asked, letting Naruto drop the bone on the ground before looking back up at the dead village.
"I'm not sure. This land is very strange."
She nodded in agreement; her Byakugan had given her an insight that she knew Naruto wouldn't have been able to see with his regular eyes. "This place makes no sense. The land is fertile and young, but it reeks of dead bodies."
Naruto frowned and stood up from his kneeling position. "What have you seen?"
She motioned around the village with an arm, a sad expression evident on her face.
"They are all buried underneath the ground. There are bodies…everywhere."
oOoOoOo
They were glad to leave the dead village behind them, neither of them able to shake the uneasy feeling that had originated once they had entered that area. Naruto had suggested that he use his clones to scout out the area again, but Hinata had been forced to remind him that he wasn't completely recovered, and that without the Kyuubi he needed to treat himself with more care than he normally would. Naruto had quietly commented that she was like his guardian angel, but to his disappointment she didn't blush at his statement. She chose to simply smile and slowly work her fingers into his, the two of them continuing to walk with their hands bound together.
After an hour of walking they heard a trickling sound in the air, the two of them smiling at each other before moving quickly towards it. They moved over a large hill and once they cleared it the two of them took a moment to laugh in relief. Beyond the hill was a cliff formation that looked completely out of place in the surrounding area, a large pool of clear blue water at its base with dense vegetation surrounding it. A quick glance showed them that the water was quite deep, and there were ruined chunks of wood on the edges, as if there was a boardwalk there a long time ago.
Naruto grinned and turned to Hinata. "Wanna go for a swim?"
"What? Naruto we can't…hey!" She yelled and giggled at the same time as Naruto reached down and picked her up by the waist, hoisting her onto his shoulder before running down the side of the hill towards the paradise-like area.
A few seconds later Naruto placed her carefully down beside the water's edge and dropped his pack on the ground. He unzipped his jacket before kicking his shoes off and looking at Hinata with curiosity.
She smiled slowly, knowing that there was no way she was going to deter him; she'd already played her long-kiss card and he had his hands-through-her-hair card in retaliation. She reached up and began to shoulder out of her jacket, placing it carefully on top of his discarded pack. Turning around she heard a crash behind her, causing her to turn back around and see Naruto slowly swimming towards the centre of the water. She sighed with a smile and reached down to grab his discarded clothes, quickly placing them on top of the pack before placing her shoes next to it.
She went to place her hands at the top of her pants but stopped herself, glancing over at Naruto who was swimming back to the edge with a grin. "Naruto…I don't have a change of clothes."
Naruto bobbed his head into the water and sighed happily before looking up at the young girl. "So? Just come in with your underwear. That's what I did."
"My underwear? But that…"
"Hinata, I think we've gone past that, don't you?"
"Yeah but…"
With a short breath, Naruto launched himself out of the water and landed in front of her, shaking his head slightly to get the water out of his eyes. He grinned as he saw her eyes moved across his body, he wasn't used to being on the receiving end of such looks but he didn't mind it.
"The water's really nice, Hinata." He knew why she was sceptical, which didn't mean he understood it. "You don't have to be embarrassed. It's just the two of us."
She hesitated for another second before breathing out slowly and removing her burdensome clothes, letting Naruto guide her into the pond. To his credit he didn't stare, at least not that she noticed. The water was surprisingly warm, though it felt strange when the water reached her waist. She dunked her head under and sighed in relief when she resurfaced. It felt like an age since she had run her hair through water, running her fingers through the dark blue strands with another sigh.
"Hey Naruto…"
She watched the blonde resurface beside her, grinning as he kept himself afloat with his arms. "You should see how deep this place is! It's like a mini-paradise or something."
Noticing her concerned face, Naruto stopped grinning and swam around so that he was facing her head on. "What's wrong?"
"Do you think the others are okay?"
Naruto smiled warmly, reaching out to stroke the side of her face, Hinata smiling back in turn, she loved it when he did that. "That's what I love about you. You always think of others first."
Hinata blushed and touched his hand affectionately, kissing it lightly. "Thanks, Naruto."
"I'm sure they are fine. They always had faith in us, so we should have faith in them."
She smiled warmly and let go of his hand. "When did you get so wise?"
"Had to happen sometime. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I saw some fish down here." He ducked his head into the water and began swimming as deep as possible, leaving Hinata to laugh quietly to herself. It amazed her how easily he could deal with these kinds of situations, though when she thought about what he'd been through it made a lot of sense.
Later that night they sat beside a large fire, biting into several exotic that they had caught. Naruto had spent two hours trying to catch one with his hands, but after conceding and asking Hinata for her help they easily caught half a dozen with her water techniques.
"It's rare to see you just sitting here, Naruto" said Hinata, throwing another stick onto the growing fire. "Normally you have dozens of clones training."
Naruto nodded slowly, swallowing the last bit of fish on his stick before throwing it into the fire. "I've been thinking about that. The battles in the Sound taught me something important."
"What's that?"
He looked down at his hand with a sigh, glancing over the scars that hadn't healed completely. "I've only really got two techniques. The Kage Bunshin and the Hiraishin. I'm pretty sure I've taken my shadow clones as far as they will go, and my Hiraishin isn't getting better any time soon."
Hinata considered what he said; she had seen that as well but hadn't wanted to say anything in case it hurt his feelings. "You think you need more techniques?"
Naruto shuffled across and looked at her intently. "Can you show me a small gust of wind? We've both got wind chakra, maybe I can get something from seeing you do it."
"Um…sure." She placed out a single hand palm outwards and concentrated her chakra flow. For something so small she didn't need her Byakugan, she had trained herself to not rely on the doujutsu as much as she used to. A tiny cyclone emerged from the centre of her palm, hovering a few inches above her skin.
Naruto smiled his usual grin at her, nearly causing her to lose control of the technique. "That's amazing Hinata. I could never have that kind of control."
She dispersed the wind technique and smiled back at him, not sure how to respond, she still wasn't used to getting praised for her abilities.
Naruto got up and stared at his hands. "You guys can create your elements out of nowhere. I've only been able to use them with a few limited techniques."
He made a punching motion above the fire. "Bam…" he said softly. "If only I could do that air technique you and Neji know. Maybe I could have fought that guy…"
Hinata stood up and hugged him from the back, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You shouldn't blame yourself. None of us could do anything."
He leant his head onto hers and felt her hands against his waist. "I know. But I still feel like I need to do more."
"Well…we have time. Why don't we do some training in the meantime?"
Moving around in her grasp, Naruto looked past her head to make sure that the ground behind her was nice and flat. He grinned wolfishly and stared into her soft white eyes. "But before that…"
Hinata gasped as he threw her to the ground playfully, giggling as he began to slowly trace his hands across her face.
***One Week after Separation***
"Naruto we may have to limit how many times we do that in a day."
The blonde shinobi looked at her with pure horror, "Why?"
She found herself forced to pat him on the shoulder reassuringly while they continued to walk through the light grasslands. "I don't mean stopping. Just…there is such a thing as too much of a good thing."
Naruto laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Of…of course. I'm sorry; I've been really selfish, haven't I?"
"Not at all. I've wanted to just as much as you have." It wasn't hard for Naruto to hear the slight embarrassment in her voice. If he didn't know better, he would have thought she was actually embarrassed. But he knew that Hinata was just struggling against her rigid upbringing, and that when she was given the opportunity she was more open that one might have expected from an heiress.
Naruto went to continue their conversation but the sound of metal striking rock drew his attention to their side, causing him to turn and see whether Hinata had heard it. The young Hyuuga already had her eyes activated and was staring intently in the direction of the sound.
Naruto had no need to ask her what she saw, he simply run after her when she moved towards the sound, a battle strategy already forming in his mind. After a minute they came across a very strange scene, one they wouldn't have expected after nearly a week without any contact with other human beings.
There were three men dressed as typical bandits, wielding axes and spears, attacking a seemingly defenceless old man covered in a dirty dark blue robe with a wooden cane in his hand. However it became clear that the battle wasn't what the two shinobi thought it was, as the old man seemed to be laughing while dancing away from the bandits' blows, the sharp metal weapons barely missing him each time. They fought beside a rundown wagon attached to a surprisingly spry horse, one that appeared to be suspiciously empty. The old man stood and watched an axe strike fall in front of his face, his cane lightly rapping the bandit on the side of his face while the old man jumped back and cackled.
Naruto and Hinata shared a look, both of them thinking the same thing. "Should…we help?" asked Naruto with hesitation, watching as the old man dodged a spear thrust and moved closer to the wagon.
Hinata stared at the three bandits and old man with her black and white vision, unable to analyse how the old man was able to move like a man a third his age, she could see that his body was falling apart at the seams yet it seemed like he was just playing with the bandits.
"I guess it couldn't hurt…oh look." She pointed down to the melee, Naruto seeing that the old man was waving at them with his cane, a wide grin across his face as he continued to laugh.
Rolling up the sleeves of his jacket, Naruto indicated for her to go first. Not sure what else to do, Hinata began running towards the battle, concentrating her sight on the two axe wielding bandits that had turned to face them. Naruto ran beside her towards the spear user attacking the old man, several clones already appearing beside him.
Swallowing the tiny amount of fear that accompanied her at the beginning of every battle, Hinata danced away from an axe strike and drove a palm into the bandit's face, sending him spiralling into the air. She jumped back and stared at the fallen bandit with surprise, she hadn't meant to put so much strength into it, but like she had experienced before it seemed that her wind techniques had a mind of their own. Her black and white vision caught the retaliation strike by the bandit's companion, the Hyuuga girl reaching out to catch the hilt of the axe easily.
The bandit's eyes widened as he looked into her serious expression, not able to do anything except watch as the white-eyed girl wrenched the weapon from his hands and threw it to the side. With a small spike of chakra Hinata rapidly tapped at the points on his body where chakra was generally moulded, but to her surprise he seemed undeterred by her attacks.
Leaping back, Hinata stared at him more intently with her Byakugan, her eyes widening when she saw why her attack hadn't worked. Just as the white-armoured warrior that had separated them, the bandit didn't appear to have any chakra. Hinata mentally kicked herself for not seeing that before, changing the nature of her chakra before collecting her hands in front of her chest. Even without a weapon the bandit still charged towards her, his large fists raised to strike her in the face. Hinata waited until the bandit was within range before reaching down and slamming her hands into the ground.
"Suiton: Suiketa" (Water Element: Water Column)
A small cloud of water appeared above the two of them, hovering for half a second before striking straight down into the bandit's head like a bolt of thunder, causing him to strike the ground face first, blood spraying everywhere.
Hinata breathed out slowly and stood up from the ground, looking over to see Naruto and two clones coming crashing down on top of his opponent, slamming into his back before leaping back. He turned around and gave Hinata a grin before dispersing his clones and turning to the old man.
The seemingly helpless old man let out a childish giggle and leant on the wagon with a grin, watching as Hinata ran up to join her companion. "Ah, well this is a surprise! Thank you younglings."
"It's no problem" replied Naruto, grinning as Hinata moved beside him, cancelling her Byakugan.
The old man laughed again and tapped his cane on the ground. "Well this is a surprise. To be helped by a handsome boy and a beautiful lady."
"Why were those men attacking you?" asked Naruto.
"Ah, it was all very amusing. Their leader lost a lot of money to me at cards and sent those men after me, accusing me of cheating him out of his money."
Naruto laughed and looked down at the fallen bandits. "Did you?"
"Oh, without a doubt. He just didn't like that I got away with it."
"You're a strange old man" said Naruto.
The old man laughed again, hopping up to sit on the back of the wagon, laying his cane beside him. He pulled up a small pouch and reached in up to his elbow, taking a moment before pulling out a large piece of fruit. "Want an orange?"
The two of them shared a look before both shrugging and nodding. The old man grinned and reached back into the small pouch, producing two large oranges and tossing them to the couple, the shinobi easily catching them. They began to peel into their fruit while the old man bit into his orange, letting the juice run down his bald chin.
He chewed softly and stared at the two of them with a comical look on his face. "You two are shinobi, no?"
Naruto swallowed a piece of orange and looked at Hinata before turning to the old man. "Yeah."
"Well isn't this a surprise? Haven't seen one of you lot in years." He ate the last bit of his orange and hopped back onto the ground, standing in front of the two of them. "And young ones too."
Hinata bowed slightly in thanks for the orange before looking over the old man with her white eyes. He didn't appear to be much, but there was something about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on, though she kept her observation to herself.
Naruto tossed the peels in his hands on the grass before licking the juice from his lips. "You wouldn't be able to tell us where we are, would you?"
The old man frowned at him before tapping his cane lightly on the ground. "You mean…here? Or the country itself?"
"We are a bit lost" said Hinata, placing her peels into a side pocket of Naruto's pack on his back.
"Well, that would explain a lot. There haven't been shinobi here in centuries, so it makes sense that you don't know where you are." He indicated to the area around them with his cane. "This country doesn't really have a name. There aren't enough places of people who agree with each other."
Hinata picked up on his comment about shinobi instantly, but again kept it to herself. She didn't sense any hostility from the old man, and after a week of travelling it was nice to see somebody else.
"You guys want a ride? It'll be nice to have some company other than the horse for a change."
Seeing no reason not to, the two of them smiled and accepted his proposal, introducing themselves politely. The old man hopped up onto the driver seat of the wagon and pulled out another orange from his pouch, biting into it slowly. "Well it is nice to meet the two of you. I am known as Magnus."
The Konoha shinobi hopped into the back of the wagon with a shared look of amusement, and they were off.
oOoOoOo
As night fell in the strange land the wagon came to a slow halt, neither of the shinobi recognising any difference in their surroundings from the other areas of the grasslands, though Magnus seemed fairly satisfied with their progress. They had asked if he was going anywhere in particular, to which the old man merely chucked and offered them an orange.
Hopping out of the back of the wagon, Naruto stared at the small pouch at Magnus' side. "How do you keep pulling oranges out of that thing? It's tiny!"
Magnus laughed and jumped off of his seat. "It's a trick."
He didn't offer any other explanation, Naruto asking if Hinata could see anything with her Byakugan. The Hyuuga girl looked at it for a few seconds before shrugging and turning her eyes back to normal. "It doesn't appear to be chakra."
"Pfft. Is that all you shinobi can think of? It's a trick."
Naruto frowned at his dismissal, quietly asking Hinata if she had seen what he had suspected. She nodded slowly, causing Naruto to look at the old man in a different light. "You don't have any chakra, do you?" he asked carefully.
Magnus turned around with a confused look on his face. "Of course not. No one here does."
Seeing the surprised looks on their faces, their companion tapped his cane and nodded slowly. "Ah, you don't really know where you are, do you? How did you get here?"
The two shinobi looked at each for a second. "A strange warrior clad in white armour sent us here" said Naruto hesitantly.
"Never heard of him. Mustn't like you very much, sending you here."
"We don't know what his motivations were" said Hinata.
Removing his pack from his shoulders, Naruto commanded half a dozen clones to set up their tent, watching the task being quickly completed. Hinata asked Magnus if he would like to take the tent, to which the strange old man merely laughed her off.
"Don't be silly, young lady. Young couples like the two of you need to have your fun together. I always sleep underneath the wagon."
Hinata felt a slight blush across her face. "How did you know we were together?"
Magnus grinned back at her, pulling up his dark blue robe to scratch at his tanned skin. "It's written all over the two of you. The little looks, the way you stand close to each other…a blind man could see you guys are in love."
Dispersing his clones with a laugh, Naruto slid an arm around Hinata's shoulder. "You're pretty observant."
"Comes from years of cheating at cards. You learn to notice the little things."
They got a fire going quickly, and despite his queries the couple had decided they had eaten their fill of oranges, choosing to eat the last few fish they had preserved over the large fire.
Sitting with Hinata head resting on his legs, Naruto slowly stroked her dark blue hair before a question arose in his mind. "You seem to handle yourself pretty well against those bandits before we came. Could you have fought them off?"
Magnus took a swig from a water bottle and regarded the blonde shinobi with amused eyes. "Who knows?"
"Is it true that no one has chakra here? I find that really difficult to believe, I thought everyone had chakra."
Hinata turned her head slightly and patted him on the hand. "Everyone has the capacity Naruto, just not the ability."
Naruto smiled at her and continued patting her hair affectionately. "So why don't the people here have chakra then?"
Their companion found himself grinning again at the young couple's interaction. "It's as the young lady said. None of those born in this land have the ability to create chakra." He turned and looked at the reclined young girl. "I assume you know how chakra is made, yes?"
Hinata nodded slightly. "It's a combination of physical energy and spiritual energy."
"So do you guys not have spiritual energy or something?" asked Naruto.
Magnus laughed and pushed himself up from the ground with his cane. "Not at all. Here, let me show you. Come over here with me."
A clone appeared beside Naruto and walked over to Magnus, the old man grinning and standing his ground beside the fire.
Hinata looked up at the original Naruto, who was still stroking her hair affectionately. "Why did you make a shadow clone?"
He looked down at her like it was obvious. "I didn't want to move. I'm comfortable here."
Their companion coughed loudly to get their attention, standing opposite the blonde shinobi's clone with a grin on his face. "When you two are quite finished…"
They both smiled awkwardly and apologised, motioning for him to continue. Magnus breathed out slowly and coughed a few times before indicating to the clone. "Hit me."
"What?" responded the clone, unsure what he meant.
The old man grinned and dropped his cane to the ground. "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."
The clone of Naruto looked at the original with a confused look, Naruto simply shrugging and indicating for him to proceed. The clone shrugged his shoulder and pulled back a fist. Magnus continued to grin as the fist came directly at his face, but at the last moment he ducked and stumbled out of the way. "What are you crazy? Striking an old man?!"
The shadow clone stared back at the original with a horrified look on his face, but Naruto only laughed, wiping his eyes with a wide smile. "That was hilarious. The look on your face…"
"Naruto, don't tease him. Be nice to your shadow clone."
The blonde laughed again and apologised to the embarrassed clone. Magnus stood back up properly with a matching grin and motioned for the clone to try again. After making sure that he actually was meant to hit him, the clone gathered a small amount of chakra into his fist and slammed it straight into the old man's face.
To their amazement, he didn't flinch at the strike, the punch not even causing him to move an inch. The two of them looked closer, seeing that the punch had indeed connected, but its strength seemed to have dissipated against the old man's blocking hand. Neither of them had even seen him move his hand, but Naruto had at least expected there to be some damage.
Pulling back his fist and staring at it, the clone was unable to keep an amazed look off his face. "How did you do that? It was like hitting a wall of steel."
Magnus grinned and picked up his cane off the ground, moving back near the fire before sitting down slowly. "We might not have chakra like you shinobi, but we here have our own tricks."
He turned to face the couple; looking at Hinata who had her Byakugan activated and was looking at him intently. "You saw it, didn't you?"
Hinata deactivated her doujutsu with a slow breath, noticing the shadow clone disappearing in a small cloud of smoke. "I…think so. You weren't lying; you don't have any chakra points at all. But when his punch connected, there was a weird pulse of power and all the strength seemed to disappear."
Their companion nodded and reached into his pouch to produce yet another orange. "You're close. It's a pretty simply trick; it always surprises me when shinobi don't understand it."
He placed up a wrinkled hand, showing them the open part of his palm. "It's like you said earlier. Everyone has physical energy, and spiritual energy. That's all it is."
It finally clicked in Naruto's head, causing him to show his surprise clearly on his face. "You just use physical energy…that's amazing. So you make your body do the work for you?"
"Exactly. You can do a similar trick with spiritual energy as well." He indicated to Hinata with his open hand. "In fact, you did it earlier."
"Really?" Naruto looked down at the young girl lying on top of him. "Hinata, you are amazing!"
Hinata couldn't help but blush slightly, but she still took a moment to look at her hands, remembering the fight with the bandits. After a few seconds it clicked, and she realised what their companion was talking about. "The wind techniques…it wasn't using chakra…"
"Want an orange?"
The two of them glared at him, causing him to put up his hands in defence and drop the orange in his hands back into his pouch. "But yes, that was spiritual energy manipulation. I must say, it was quite surprising to see, shinobi tend to not have that skill. You lot tend to use the elements like blunt instruments, which isn't how they were meant to be used."
They spent half the night discussing the different types of energy with Magnus, the old man having a surprisingly large spread of knowledge on chakra, though he kept insisting that his abilities were just tricks.
Hinata coughed lightly into her hands, standing up slowly before breathing out slowly, turning to Naruto with a tired look. "I'm going to get some sleep."
"I'll be along in a second. I've got a few things I want to talk to Magnus about." He watched as the dark haired girl entered the tent, closing the door behind her.
"You're a lucky man. She's a remarkable girl" said Magnus with his trademark grin.
Naruto looked back at the tent with a slow smile before turning back to the fire. "Yeah. I keep wondering how it happened, and I can't think of why she would be interested in me."
"Don't try to understand women. It can't be done." Magnus took a long swig from his water bottle before leaning on his knees. "It's nice to see people like the two of you though. I remember being that way, a long time ago."
"I worry about being able to protect her though. Our enemies seem to be getting much stronger…"
Magnus looked over at the tent. "She looks like she can look after herself."
Naruto smiled proudly, "Yeah, she's gotten really strong. Without a doubt she is stronger than I am. But the man who sent us here…he was on another level."
"Then get stronger. What's the problem?"
Naruto laughed sadly, staring into the flicking flames between the two of them. "I don't know how. I could learn more ninjutsu, but it seemed like chakra doesn't work against them."
Magnus rocked on his seat slowly, watching the blonde shinobi with interest. It hadn't been his intention, but Naruto found himself easily able to talk to the strange old man, telling him his concerns that he didn't want Hinata to know about. Magnus kept it to himself, but he knew that Hinata could hear the two of them, and that she wasn't asleep.
"It sounds to me, that you need to learn some tricks."
The Uzumaki heir frowned and clenched his hands together. "Do you mean what you were talking about earlier? Wouldn't that take years of training?"
The old man snorted loudly, "Years of training, my foot. Give me your hand."
Naruto frowned but still extended his hand, Magnus grasping it with his quickly. He took two of his fingers and pressed them into the centre of Naruto's palm, causing the shinobi to wince in pain before his hand was released.
Magnus nodded and moved to reach into his pouch. "There. Now you just need to work out how to use your spiritual energy properly."
Looking down at his hand, Naruto didn't feel any different. "Is that like using elemental chakra?"
His companion shrugged and stood up slowly. "That's something you need to work out for yourself. Tricksters don't reveal how they do tricks completely."
Naruto grinned and stood up himself, throwing dirt onto the fire to get rid of the flames. "A task for the morning then."
Magnus nodded and moved to his wagon while using his cane to walk along the grass. Naruto watched him pull a blanket from inside the wagon, before moving underneath the vehicle. He turned and moved to the tent, smiling as he pulled back the door.
Author's Note:
If you were disappointed that I didn't describe the scenes between Naruto and Hinata in full detail, there are dozens of sites that can do that for you. In my mind, the best scenes like that are the ones best left up to the imagination. I know this chapter was quite lovey-dovey, but why not, this is a Naru/Hina fan fiction on a basic level.
Also, massive props to anyone who recognises who I'm doing homage to with the Magnus character here. He's one of my favourite characters in fiction, and I couldn't resist.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.