A/N: I want to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as reviews for the last chapter. I am glad that the pace of the story is better than the original story.

Why am I in Konoha's hospital?

Naruto curled her lips into a frown and flickered her eyes around the hospital room. The room looked familiar too, almost like the same room she stayed in after her battle with Sasuke. But she left Konoha when she was thirteen. So why was she here again? She should be inside her small apartment in Japan. Not in a cold hospital room, where her only company were a bunch of orange lilies and a young blond-haired girl, who stared at the wall like a dead person. Her hand clutched her chest, tracing it in a pattern that looked almost like the chidori scar Naruto had on her chest.

Tilting her head, Naruto glided over and blue eyes grew wide at the sight of herself staring back at her. Where was she? Was this a dream? Or a memory? If it was a dream then she could grab control of it, right? She nodded, raised her hand and slapped her younger self on the face…only for her hand to go through it.

What the hell was happening?

The door to her hospital room slid opened and Hinata stepped through, her hands wrapped around a pair of orange lilies. When did Hinata-chan visit her? Did Hinata-chan visit her in the hospital? Naruto nibbled her lips as Hinata sniffed and rubbed her eyes. Did Kiba act like an inconsiderate asshole again? She reached out to hug her best friend, only to stumble as Hinata walked through her.

The blue-haired girl took a deep breath, removed the orange lilies from the vase and replaced new ones. "The boys are getting better, Naruto-chan. Neji-niisan's surgery was a success and Kiba-kun is almost ready to be discharged. I told Kiba-kun since he is better now that he can come visit you with me…but he refused. He still feels guilty for what happened."

Her dream self doesn't smile, doesn't even puff her chest and calls Kiba a whimp. She just stared blankly at the wall like nothing seemed to matter. This had to be a dream. If something like this happened then it would be in her memory. She bobbed her head. This didn't happen because Dog Breath never felt guilty. If he felt guilty then he would have visited her. Yup, this never happened.

Hinata frowned, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Are you really not going to answer me, Naruto-chan? You won't even talk to me. Please just say something to me, Naruto-chan!"

Her dream-self clutched her chest even harder and gazed at Hinata. Blue eyes shone with so much grief that Naruto itched to slap her out of it. Hinata-chan was going to cry and the girl lying on the bed wasn't even trying to reassure her that she was fine. Naruto grinded her teeth, launched herself again at her twelve-year-old self but only to crash against the wall.

"I don't even want you to talk, Naruto-chan!" Tears began leaking out of Hinata's eyes and pain erupted from Naruto's heart at the sight. Her fingers reached out to wipe the tears, to hug her but she brought her hands down. Right, this was a dream. "Do something! Cry! Just let me know that you are listening to me.'

Hinata never cried. Not when her father acted like an asshole and not when Neji kept putting her down, her best friend always kept her composure. But this was not the Hinata that Naruto loves and knows. Hinata was crying, snot dribbled down her nose as she hugged her against her chest.

Hinata was stronger than this.

'You are stronger than this, Naruto!' Hinata hiccupped and looked around the room while her dream self just didn't respond to these accusation. 'This isn't you.'

"That isn't me, Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled. She swirled her head at her dream self. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Hinata-chan is crying and demanding for you to get back up on your feet. No way in fucking hell did this happen."

Hinata was right because Naruto always picked herself back up. But she didn't exactly pick herself back up when Sasuke shoved the chidori up her chest, did she? She knows it wasn't the best time. Sometime during the battle, her heart broke into a million pieces. She chewed on her bottom lip. Was it possible that this happened? No. She gritted her teeth. She picked herself back up after the incident.

This was just a dream.

"He isn't worth this, Naruto-chan." Naruto balled her hands into a fist as her dream self (no way in hell that was her) burrowed herself deeper into the bed. "I know you and Sasuke-kun have always been the best of friends, even if the two of you have your rough patches, but he isn't worth it. Sasuke-kun hasn't been a proper friend to you since his clan got murdered."

Yeah, Sasuke had been an ass since Itachi murdered his parents, cousins and various clansmember, but he was always special. Tears leaked down Naruto's eyes and she gritted her teeth, rubbing her eyes furiously. Before Hinata-chan, Sasuke had been the first kid to acknowledge her. He played with her, brought her to his house and promised to be her best friend forever.

"You are right," it was pointless to tell Hinata but it wouldn't hurt for her to tell Hinata why it hurt so badly. "The Sasuke that I fought in the Valley Of The End isn't worth this, but don't you remember Hinata-chan? The Sasuke that always gave advice to us even if it was obvious I was better than him?"

Her heart became heavier as her younger self rolled away from her.

"The boy that always even in his own subtle way defended us," she shook her head. "I might have been jealous of the bastard but he always had a good heart. My brother didn't try to kill me. It is Orochimaru's curse mark that caused him to do this. The bastard I knew would never break his promise to me, to us."

Oh.

That was why it hurt so much after the Valley Of The End because Sasuke tried to break his promise to her. Maybe this was where all her trust issues with friends began. It started when Sasuke wanted to break the promise of being the best of friends for the rest of their lives.

The world around her faded to black as Hinata continued to plead for her to respond.

I don't remember this happening.

Naruto folded against her chest, sat down on the ground as Jiraiya took the empty seat right beside her bed while Tsunade grimaced at the sight of her sleeping self. The usual goofy smile that her teacher had seemed to be gone, replaced with a serious and concerned look that made Naruto's throat tightened. This definitely didn't happen.

"Are you sure that Naruto wasn't in love with Sasuke?" Naruto pulled an expression, bile rising up her throat as Jiraiya shook his head. She pressed her lips into a frown as her dream-self fluttered her eyes, flickering at the two Sannin. "Are you really sure, Jiraiya? She is acting like a heart-broken girlfriend. Not even their teammate was acting like this and I saw how Sasuke was with his other teammate."

"Listen to me, you Old Hag! Sasuke and I are only friends!" Naruto grinded her teeth and raised her middle finger at the woman. Why did everyone think like this? Couldn't someone be this upset if this was their friend? But even she had to admit that she looked kind of pathetic. God, Sakura was even handing things better and her teammate was in love with Sasuke.

"From what I understand from Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke are childhood friends." Naruto bobbed her head as her dream self rolled to the side, ears perking up as Tsunade raised her eyebrows. "For both Naruto and Sasuke, they are each other's first friends. For someone like Naruto, Sasuke is her first proper bond after the incident."

"What incident?" Naruto rushed forward to grab the man, only to groan when her hands went through him. Tsunade grimaced, lips pressed into a thin line as her hand combed through her tangled hair. Blue eyes widened at the almost tender look being directed at her. Since when did Tsunade look at her like this? She nibbled her bottom lip.

"When all the other kids ignored her, Sasuke acknowledged her." Naruto closed her eyes and took several deep breaths as Jiraiya focused his attention on her bright blond hair. "It is strange but Naruto isn't a normal kid."

Tsunade frowned. "Even if they are friends, this is just too much. This isn't healthy for her, not just as a kunoichi but as a person! I thought my grandfather was bad but Naruto is even worse than him."

Jiraiya took a deep breath, lips pressed into a thin line and black eyes looked almost pained. Why was he in pain? She should be the one complaining and whimpering about how crappy things were. If she was fine then Ero-Sennin shouldn't act like this. Honestly, how did she get out of this suffocating place? She pinched herself, only to frown when the scenery didn't change.

Great, just great.

"I know," Jiraiya nodded. "That's why I am considering just taking her out of Konoha and have her train under me. Maybe a few years of travelling would do her some good."

This never happened.

Jiraiya never offered to take her out of Konoha. Her mind must be playing tricks again because her teacher would never say anything like this. She curled her lips into a frown. But the man did bring her to Japan. He didn't even make any comment to convince her to stay in the Elemental Countries, or tell her that she had been imagining things. He looked just as considerate as the dream Jiraiya standing before her.

Tsunade grimaced. "After what you told them about the Akatsuki and their plans for the jinchuuriki, the council has been insisting that Naruto has guards placed around her and all her missions are conducted inside the village. They want to keep an eye on her and will insist that you train her here, especially with her mental state."

"I can't train her in Konoha," Jiraiya picked up an orange lily from the vase and twirled it around. His black eyes focused on her dream self. "There is my spy network to consider and staying in Konoha won't help her in any way, not when this place is filled with memories of her friend."

That wasn't the reason Naruto wanted to leave. She balled her hands into a fist, lips pressed into a thin line and swirled her head at her wide-awake dream self. Why wasn't she denying it? Just staring at the stupid wall like it had the answers. She should be arguing about how Sasuke didn't affect her one bit. Not acting like some stupid zombie in the movie.

She should be damn grateful that the dream Ero-Sennin cared enough for her, because Naruto knew damn well that the real Jiraiya would never do this.

Tsunade pressed her lips into a thin line. "Then what if I 'exile' her," the woman put air quotes and a a sense of dread build in Naruto's stomach as her lips trembled. The word exile had popped up before. Tsunade used that word instead of banishment. Even now her heart ached because what did she do to deserve it? "You get to train her without having too many problems from the council and you can protect her from the Akatsuki."

Jiraiya frowned. "Naruto won't think like that and the council won't believe it."

"What choice do I have? I might be Hokage but the council are always blocking off my ideas and plans for the future especially when it concerns Naruto," Tsunade growled and balled her hands into a fist. "They won't give her missions outside the village, so this is the best option we have. This is the only way we can protect her and make sure that she doesn't do anything reckless like chase him, since the only authority I have is on exile and missions."

No, this couldn't have happened.

Naruto would remember if the old hag didn't intentionally mean those words. Because then it would mean the Old Hag cared. She shook her head. Her mind had to be imagining things. The Old Hag would never actually exiled her for her own protection, just so that Ero-Sennin could train her. Nope, this had to be a lie. She clenched her jaw as a lump formed around her throat.

"Exile?" Her dream-self whispered. "But I was trying to bring him back. I don't deserve to be exiled."

God.

Oh God.

Horror washed over her as her younger self's blue eyes hollowed, looking so lifeless that it hurt. The way her eyes seemed broken reminded her of the first morning that Naruto saw herself in the mirror in the inn near Konoha. The pieces of a puzzle began to piece together as her whole body trembled at her actions. She wanted a hug. She needed some reassurance that everything was going to be fine.

Because this wasn't a dream. This was her own god-damn memory being played because those had been the words she uttered when she decided that enough was enough. It meant that what happened with Hinata was true.

No.

She couldn't be that pathetic.

There was no fucking way that she disregarded her best friend's pleas and acted like an absolute bitch. Even though her self-imposed title was Head Bitch In Charge, not once did Naruto act like one to Hinata. Her heart ached and she crashed onto the ground, hands and body rocking back and forth at the realization.

"This whole time I thought that the Old Hag exiled me because I failed in my job," she gulped down a lump. "But she was trying to protect me from the Akatsuki and wanted Ero-Sennin to train me. She wanted to protect me from myself. Hinata really did cry. Oh god. Oh god. I am a shitty person."

She took a deep breath and steadied herself. Not the time to panic. Right now she needed to see and hear what her past-self was ignoring, because she needed answers. Answers that only her memories could give her, because if she can't trust her own memory then what could she trust?

Did she even know what trust was?

Everything seemed to be crashing down and Naruto just wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

"How long is her 'self-imposed' exile?" Jiraiya questioned. "You need to word things carefully, Tsunade before you order it. One wrong move and everything will blow up for her. If she has a time-limit then she can be safe from the ANBU for a while. You can't hunt someone that you exiled personally."

Naruto trembled as Jiraiya flickered his eyes to the frog purse that Konohamaru's father bought for her on her sixth birthday. Could you cry inside your own memory? It seemed like it. She rubbed her eyes. This whole time, they had been thinking about her and were on her side.

They had never hated her.

" If you don't put a time-limit then the ANBU will hunt her down if there is no chance for her to come back," Jiraiya rubbed his chin and sighed. "The council will also want someone to keep a watch on her to make sure that she doesn't spill any secrets or deflect to another village."

Tsunade pressed her lips into a thin line. "I will assign you and Monkey for this task. No one would question the motives if I used an ANBU commander."

"Danzo might question it." Jiraiya pressed his lips into a line. "Considering who Monkey's father is, they might think that you have other motives and Danzo will play with it. He might demand to put his own guard in there."

The Slug Sannin sighed. "He is a snake, but Monkey hasn't made any contact with Naruto since she was a little girl. No one would think that the man is partial to her; the man barely sees his own son, so no one would question it."

"Monkey is like his father." Jiraiya commented. "It is a wonder that he didn't rebel like his brother did."

"He had Minato as a voice of reason."

Jiraiya chuckled but the black eyes looked pain. Minato? Blue eyes widened. Oh right, Ero-Sennin was the teacher of the Fourth Hokage. She curled her lips into a frown. How could Ero-Sennin train someone as great as the Fourth? But give her crappy jutsu to learn and make her focus on her chakra control. She shook her head as Tsunade blinked, swirling her head at Jiraiya.

"But how long do you think you need to train her?" Tsunade demanded. "The exile can't be too long or else the council will start demanding to know why don't I just banish her."

"Six years."

Tsunade frowned. "Six years? That's a long time."

"It is long enough that Naruto finally matures emotionally and handle her battles with more care," Jiraiya sighed. "The girl is smart, unpredictable and a beast if you think about it, but it goes away when her emotions comes to play. That girl reminds me—"

The words muffled as the world around her turned dark but it didn't matter to Naruto.

All she know was that she needed to contact Jiraiya and apologized to him because he did care. Tsunade cared too and maybe she should have never been so hasty with jumping to conclusions of what happened. She laughed. But it was just like her to jump to conclusions.

To judge people without getting to know them and that wasn't right.

Her classmates and memories were proof of just how wrong she could be.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter. What do you think of the changes being made from the original story? And what could be improved? Thank you for reading this chapter.