Chapter 21:Renewed Determination

It has been almost twenty-four hours since Sakura had returned to the village only to find Naruto in a dying state and his arm severed just below the shoulder. On top of that he had been muttering Hinata's name in his delirium the entire time. A year ago Sakura would have found it cute that Naruto finally understood Hinata liked him, but the past several months had been weighing on her heart heavily. She didn't know why but something about the whole situation was bothering her, like a bad joke that Sakura would never understand. What was more, with Naruto's apartment destroyed he was now living at the Hyuga mansion which did not exactly sit well with Sakura either. She tried to tell herself she was overthinking it but that only made her more irritated. SHe sighed as she walked through the garden entrance of the Hyuga complex and opened the side door only to find that Naruto was not in his futon.

"Oh, Sakura-san, you're back," Sakura heard Natsu calling out to her.

"Natsu-san, where's Naruto?" Sakura immediately asked.

Natsu sighed at the question. "He kept muttering Hinata-sama's name in his sleep until he finally woke up in a cold sweat. He didn't even seem to care that his arm was gone, since the first thing he asked was if she was okay…"

"And what did you tell him…?" Sakura asked, dreading the answer.

Natsu was taken aback by the question, but answered, "I… I told him Hanabi-sama and Hinata-sama were taken. He then said he needed some time alone and left before I could stop him."

"Oh… I see… Did he say where he was going?" Sakura asked.

Natsu shook her head. "Naruto was too distraught to say anything else…"

Sakura sighed, "I figured that was the case. Thanks, Natsu-san. I'll go look for him."

"Sakura-san, are you okay?" Natsu asked, noting how Sakura seemed to be not herself.

"Huh?" Sakura asked, blinking at the question. "Oh! I'm fine, Natsu-san. Why would you ask that?" Sakura nervously laughed as she headed back out the door.

Natsu shook her head. "Because Hinata-sama always acts the same way when it comes to Naruto-san…" she muttered to herself.

Sakura didn't hear her parting words of course, as she was already out of the garden by the time Natsu said them and she was going through a list of places Naruto would go by himself. Her first thought was that he would be at Ichiraku, he had managed to rebuild his stand despite the numerous attacks on the village and Sakura had to give the man credit for his dedication. Though she was sure Ayame had motivated her father a bit. But considering they most likely were replenishing their stock of ramen, it was unlikely Naruto would be there. The other possibility was he was at the Hokage monument but that was unlikely since the stone faces needed repairs from Shukaku smashing into them. Finally she deduced the only place he could be was at his personal training ground and started heading in that direction. She wasn't sure how but the walk felt shorter than it normally was and soon she could see Naruto in the distance sitting in the open field of grass as the moon came up.

"Oh, it's just you, Sakura-chan," Naruto said and Sakura noticed how his voice lacked its normal enthusiasm.

"I should yell at you for leaving your bed. You know your arm's gone, right?" Sakura asked, trying to hold back the lecture she wanted to give the blond.

"Oh… yeah… Sorry about that, Sakura-chan. I must have caused you a lot of trouble, huh?" Naruto asked nervously, smiling and scratching the back of his head.

"You're damn right you did," Sakura growled her hand forming into a fist and Naruto braced himself but the punch he was expecting never came. Instead, Sakura lowered her arm and unclenched her fist, making Naruto's eyes widen slightly before she sat down on the grass next to him. "But I didn't tell you I was running off on a mission, so I guess that makes us even…" she sighed, folding her legs to her face.

"Oh yeah, Hinata's dad mentioned that. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," Naruto said.

Sakura shook her head. "No, Naruto. You deserve to know this. We found Orochimaru's hideout in Kusagakure."

Naruto's eyes widened, "And Sasuke?"

Sakura shook her head again. "Sasuke-kun wasn't there. Just his sword…"

Naruto seemed disappointed and said, "Oh… well, that figures. Um… was there anything else?"

Sakura sighed, not wanting to tell him the rest of the story, but she knew she had to. "We also found… a few biological clones floating in test tubes. We believe Danzō used one of those clones to fake his death and pin it on you…"

"Oh, is that all?" Naruto asked.

"You're taking that bit of news better than I thought you would," Sakura said.

"Don't get me wrong, Sakura-chan. It's not like it doesn't piss me off. I mean, I got sent to that awful prison for seven months because of that bastard. But…" Naruto allowed himself a small smile and Sakura almost gasped, knowing it was a genuine smile. "With Hinata there, it wasn't so bad…"

Sakura felt her heart pound against her chest at Naruto's words. 'What the hell was that?!' she thought, almost losing her breath.

Naruto seemed to notice and raised his eyebrow, "You okay, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah… I'm… fine…" she said slowly, not sure if she was being honest or not.

Naruto frowned but let the question go. "If you say so, Sakura-chan."

"Anyway, I guess you're really worried about Hinata, huh?" Sakura asked.

"It's not because I like her or anything. I mean, I'm worried about Hanabi too," Naruto said and Sakura knew that he had let it slip out by accident.

"You let it slip," Sakura pointed out.

Naruto's eyes widened and he started to blush furiously. "What are you talking about? I'm just really worried about them!"

Sakura giggled before turning her head away from him. "It's okay, Naruto. I was just wondering how long it would take to sink into that dense skull of yours."

"You mean you knew?!" Naruto asked, his blush deepening.

"I knew Hinata had liked you ever since we were in the Academy. At first, I tried getting you two together so you would stop pestering me," Sakura admitted.

"Oh, was I that annoying?" Naruto asked, embarrassed.

"Kinda, but you never really liked me in the first place, did you? You only came onto me because I was obsessed with Sasuke-kun."

"That obvious, huh?" Naruto sighed. "I'm sorry I annoyed you, Sakura-chan. It won't happen again."

Sakura felt her heartbeat against her chest again except this time it felt like it was trying to push out of her chest. 'Damn it! What the hell is wrong with me?'

"Not like it matters now, though. Hinata's gone… and she isn't coming back. She's gonna marry that Toneri guy and start a new world with him, I guess…" Naruto said, his voice nearly breaking from the words.

"Come on, Naruto. You don't seriously believe that," Sakura said.

"Why not? Toneri said he was protecting her from me, and maybe he's right. I mean…" his voice trailed off for a few seconds before continuing in a more subdued tone, "I killed all those people, didn't I?"

Sakura realized he was talking about the Daimyō's army, and continued to avoid his gaze. "I was unconscious, but according to Asuma-sensei and Tsunade-sama… you used some weird chakra and they all just died on the spot. No injuries or trauma, it was like they just died for no reason."

"Heh… I thought so…"

"Do you know what it was?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No… I don't even remember doing it, I was just so angry you and Hinata were hurt and I just lost it…" he looked at her which made her look back as he said, "I wouldn't lie about that, Sakura-chan. Really."

Sakura giggled, "Why do you think I wouldn't believe you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe 'cause I don't believe it myself, or I'm just too scared to admit it…"

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered, not sure how to respond. She smiled after a while though, "It's nice to see you being honest, for once."

"Hey! I don't lie that much!"" Naruto protested.

"Maybe not to others, but you're really bad at being honest with yourself," Sakura pointed out. 'Like I'm one to talk…'

"How so?" Naruto asked.

Sakura put her right index finger under her chin and said nothing for a moment, contemplating the question. "It's like with Hinata. You never really liked me, so there had to be a girl you did like, right?" she asked, causing Naruto to blush slightly.

"I mean, I always thought Hinata was kinda dark and weird… but I do kinda like people like that…"

"Hinata probably feels the same way, you know," Sakura pointed out.

"Yeah, I doubt it. Not after I ignored her all these years and now she has that asshole Toneri," Naruto muttered. Sakura lightly bumped him on the head, but as she was physically stronger than everyone else in her age group, that light bop still hurt a lot. "Ow! What was that for, Sakura-chan?"

"Dumbass. You really think Hinata would change her feelings that easily?" Sakura growled.

"Why not? I'm a dumbass, like you said," Naruto answered, making Sakura immediately regret her choice of words.

"I didn't mean it like that…" Sakura whispered, sighing deeply. "I'm sorry, Naruto…"

Naruto seemed surprised at the apology, "For what?"

"It's just… Nevermind…"

"Oh, okay…"

Sakura looked up towards the sky with a smile and asked, "Anyway, you can't be thinking like that. Aren't you gonna go save her?"

"You make it sound so easy…" Naruto groaned.

"And you're making it sound too hard. That's not like you. The Naruto I know wouldn't let something some guy said stop him," Sakura said, trying to encourage him. She sighed again as she looked up at the starry sky, "Besides, I know Hinata, her feelings for you… wouldn't change that easily."

"You really think so?" Naruto asked with a bit of hope in his voice.

Sakura nodded. "Let's just say I have some… personal experience…"

"Oh right!" Naruto said standing up.

Sakura was surprised by his sudden change in attitude and looked up at him, "What's up Naruto?"

"I still gotta drag Sasuke's ass back here. I can't be moping around feeling sorry for myself, so first thing we are gonna go to Ba-chan to ask her to rescue HInata," Naruto declared.

"Now hold up just a second, Naruto. I didn't say you could rush into anything. You're still missing an arm," Sakura said far too quickly as she stood up.

"I'm sure you and Bā-chan can fix it, anyway I'm gonna go see if I can get some ramen. I'm starving!" Sakura tried to think of something to say, she didn't know why she was fumbling over her words so much and before she could say anything Naruto pulled her into a hug. "Thanks, Sakura-chan! I really needed that!"

Sakura felt herself blushing and her first instinct was to push Naruto away but she found she couldn't do it. In fact when he let go of her mere seconds later she wished the embrace would have lasted longer. "Naruto…"

"Well I'll see ya tomorrow, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out to her, waving at her before running back to the village. He was gone before she could stop him and she stood there motionless for a few minutes.

"Well, it's for the best. Those two were made for each other," Sakura said to herself. She then felt wetness in her eyes and wiped a tear falling down her cheek. "Wha…what?" The tears started pouring before she could stop them and she quickly gave up on trying to quash her sadness as she sank to the ground. "I'm….such an idiot…"

x-x

Karin wrapped the bandages around Suigetsu despite his struggling, "ouch! Can't you be a little gentler Karin?!" Suigetsu complained.

Karin's reply was to smack the bandage into place hard, eliciting another yelp from him. "You're the one who got cocky in that fight. If it weren't for Jūgo, Kisame would have killed you."

"I had it under control, you let him get away with that sword!" Suigetsu whined.

"Can it Suigetsu." Jūgo said, "Something is coming."

All eyes turned down the path and after a few heavy minutes Sasuke appeared, bloody and brushed and half his clothes were gone. Normally this would have sent Karin into a blush induced coma but Sasuke's injures kept her in reality, "Sasuke!" Karin yelled running over just as he collapsed in her arms.

"Well gee least she's not on me anymore." Suigetsu said thankfully.

Jūgo relaxed and saw Sasuke was still conscious despite his injuries. "We saw that massive fiery chakra and then a burst of lightning. After that, Kisame bailed. What happened, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sat down with some assistance from Karin and groaned before replying, "I'm not sure how useful it'll be, but there's something I want to check in Amegakure."

That got their attention, particularly Suigetsu. "There isn't much there. Whoever's running the joint has got their hands full with the local crime lords."

"That's exactly why I want to check it out. Something about that village feels wrong. Itachi said he would listen in on the Akatsuki leader's plans. He died before he could give me a location, but that got me wondering. If the Akatsuki didn't trust him, how did he have all this information? And more importantly, who was he telling and how much?" Sasuke asked as Karin began focusing her chakra on him.

"Why would you come to the conclusion there's something there just from that limited information?" Jūgo asked.

"Like Suigetsu said, that entire country is pretty much in total anarchy regardless of the measures their ruler takes. It would be the perfect place for dangerous individuals like the Akatsuki to hide in plain sight," Sasuke reasoned.

"Aren't we done with them? They aren't after us," Suigetsu reminded him.

"They will be once they learn Itachi betrayed them. More importantly, I'm certain their leader knows the location of the man who got us into this mess, Danzō." The venom in Sasuke's voice as he uttered that name left even Jūgo surprised.

"If I remember, he's that guy that was passed up for Hokage in favor of Sarutobi Hiruzen."

"He also made it impossible for the Uchiha to live in Konoha. He had the clan placed under surveillance after the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, like we were some kind of animals. Itachi killed the clan because otherwise, they would have rebelled and Konoha would have fallen in the ensuing civil war." There was a long silence as the rain continued to pour on them.

"Sasuke…" Karin whispered, realizing that Sasuke was doing everything he could to keep his sanity together.

Suigetsu sighed. "Well, I doubt we'll find anything, but we could always rough up some thugs for cash."

"I'll follow your orders, Sasuke," Jūgo said simply.

Sasuke nodded and sighed as Karin continued to heal him. "One more thing, Karin…" Sasuke said, holding his arm out to her.

Karin seemed puzzled but extended her hand as he dropped what looked like a pair of eyes into it, "These are…"

"Itachi's. I can't protect them if I have to fight. Don't tell Jūgo or Suigetsu, though," he told her in a more hushed tone.

Karin nodded and pulled out a jar from her bag and put the eyes in it before sealing it back in her bag. "Are you okay… Sasuke?" She knew he wasn't, but she had to say something.

Sasuke looked forward and Karin saw his eyes starting to drop. "I will be… thanks… Karin…"

Karin felt her heart flutter, it was the first time Sasuke had said that and it was genuine. Sasuke's head fell into her chest a moment later, completely exhausted. 'Why do I get the feeling… something… very, very bad is going to happen?' Karin asked herself as she hugged the man she loved.

x-x

Back in the central tower of Amegakure, Nagato, using the Deva Path of his Six Paths of Pain, observed the behavior of the group around him. Zetsu's two halves were bickering with one another, Konan looked disgusted with their scout, and Madara appeared a little too excitable.

"Itachi and Kisame are late," Nagato whispered to Konan.

"What's new? Those two do whatever they please," White Zetsu commented.

"Something isn't right about this, though. Itachi I have suspicions about, but Kisame has my trust," Madara said.

"Well, how nice of you to say that about me, Tobi." A moment later, Kisame's ethereal form materialized.

"I hope you have some good news," Konan said expectantly as he appeared.

"That depends on your definition of good, Tenshi-sama. Itachi is dead," Kisame informed them.

There was a brief moment of silence before Madara spoke, "So Itachi really was dying. Did he say anything?"

Kisame gave him a toothy grin and shrugged. "His eyes were gone when I checked his body. What that could mean, I have no idea," he said sarcastically.

"Stop beating around the bush," Konan, who was already fed up with Kisame's antics, ordered.

"It's fine, Konan. It means Itachi said too much to his brother," Nagato said, making Konan nod in compliance.

"That will make things difficult. I had hoped to convince him to join our side, but if Itachi told him the truth about our clan, that may no longer be an option," Madara said.

"If it ever was. I doubt Sasuke has the will to kill the Kyubi now," Kisame responded, apparently finding some amusement in the situation. "He also seems to have banded together with some of Orochimaru's former lackeys to form his own little mercenary group. A leftover experiment, an Uzumaki survivor, and Hōzuki Suigetsu. The Uzumaki girl isn't particularly dangerous, but she has annoying healing and sensing abilities. The other two… well, they gave me a bit of fun, to say the least."

"In other words, you went easy on them," Konan said disapprovingly.

Kisame rolled his eyes before his grin widened. "This is prey you savor. I liked the look in Suigetsu's eyes. He may prove to be a worthy challenge in the future."

"Sasuke aside, I've figured out who our third player is, and I think you all may find this one interesting," Black Zetsu commented.

"If it isn't Danzō, then who? Nobody could form an attack force large enough to besiege Konoha after that first battle," Madara asked.

"Who else? Our little Ōtsutsuki friend, except now I have an idea about his goal," Black Zetsu said simply. "His raid on Konoha was quite… revealing."

That got Nagato's attention. "How can this man wield the power to besiege an entire village?"

"That's pretty funny, coming from you," White Zetsu snarked.

"And while I couldn't tell you the… specifics… of his power, it's great enough to move an entire army of automated puppets with their own chakra. It can also subdue the tailed beasts and make their jinchūriki into the wielder's personal playthings," Black Zetsu continued.

"A power beside the Sharingan that can control tailed beasts?" Madara asked in a dark tone.

"Oh yes. The Shukaku was left at the mercy of the Ōtsutsuki's whims. The beast had no awareness of its rampage through Konoha," Black Zetsu said, with a chuckle from the White half. "I dare say that his power may even eclipse that of the Sage of the Six Paths."

Nagato looked over at Madara suspiciously. "Well, Madara, you would know more about it then us."

Madara shook his head. "The descendants of the Sage and his brother were already long disbursed by the time I was born. There aren't many surviving records of what Hamura did after he and Hagoromo sealed their mother."

"Well, the other bit of interesting news is that he took two hostages in the attack. Hyūga sisters, the daughters of the clan's patriarch," Black Zetsu continued. "One of whom is… very close to the Kyūbi jinchūriki."

Konan gave a harsh but concerned look to Nagato. "He clearly has no interest in the tailed beasts, then. He could have killed two jinchūriki by himself if he wanted to. What kind of power could give him that much of an advantage? That's almost as strong as you, Nagato."

Nagato's Deva Path remained stoic, but in his mind, the leader of Akatsuki was running through thousands of possibilities, the first of which was either Madara hadn't told him everything, or he was lying. "If the Kyūbi is no longer in Konoha, it would be pointless to attack them even in their weakened state. We will wait until he returns. In the meantime, Kisame, see if you can find out where Kakuzu is being imprisoned. Zetsu, keep an eye on the Kyūbi."

"I'll have to look into this Ōtsutsuki matter more. This goes beyond anything the Sharingan is capable of," Madara spoke up. "And what's his motive for kidnapping two Hyūga women from the clan's main family? What we know of him doesn't reveal any logical reasoning behind his actions."

"Whatever you do, make it swift. I sense our time for dealing with this Ōtsutsuki is running short," Nagato instructed. "In the meantime, I shall retrieve Itachi's corpse. He was a traitor, but he deserves a proper burial."

"That almost sounded kind of you." Kisame chuckled.

"Itachi had his reasons, just like the rest of us. I'm beyond vengeance. This world will be brought to justice soon. This world will know pain regardless of his actions," Nagato said, making Konan look up at him.

The group said nothing more as they all vanished one by one.

x-x

Asuma took out a cigarette as he and Tsunade made their way to the land of iron. "I'm honestly kinda surprised you only wanted me to come with you, Hokage-sama. Yamato is quite capable, after all."

"Oh, stop being so modest, Asuma. And you can drop the title while we're alone. You could probably take me in a fight if you wanted," Tsunade said. "Besides, Yamato's needed most back in Konoha to help rebuild after those two sieges."

"Fair enough. That Wood Style is very useful, I'm not gonna lie. He rebuilt almost a quarter of the village by himself," Asuma said, blowing out some smoke.

"There's another reason why I only wanted you to come, and I think you know why." Tsunade said in a morbid tone.

Asuma sighed. "I was afraid of that. Why aren't you asking Kakashi this?"

Tsunade decided to join him and reached for the sake bottle in her cloak. "It's only a precaution. It's not like I plan on dying. But with Toneri and Akatsuki to deal with, Kakashi has his hands full."

"You make it sound like I don't," Asuma chuckled lightly.

"Asuma, the only reason you hold yourself back is because you think you can't live up to your father. I've seen better than that. We couldn't have subdued Gaara if you hadn't been there," Tsunade told him. "You would be a fine Hokage, even better than Sarutobi-sensei."

Asuma took another deep breath before a cloud appeared around him. "You sound like Kurenai. You know that's not the point."

"Then what is the point? If you can't confide in her, then confide in me, as your Hokage," Tsunade said while taking a drink of sake.

Asuma leaned against a nearby tree. "If we aren't in a hurry."

Tsunade shrugged and leaned against the other side of the tree. "I don't mind making that gorilla wait a bit."

Asuma laughed. "You and Naruto are a lot alike, Tsunade."

"Yeah, Shizune tells me all the time," Tsunade responded thoughtfully. She sighed a moment later and said, "I don't understand you, Asuma. You don't seem to have any particular goal or agenda. Normally I wouldn't call that a bad thing, but I'm curious as to what motivates you."

Asuma scratched below his eyepatch. "Protecting the king is my job. I can't do that while I'm sitting on a throne."

It was Tsunade's turn to chuckle. "I guess you and Sarutobi-sensei are different in that regard."

Asuma nodded. "I don't need people thinking I'm a hero. The expectations that come with that aren't worth it. Sometimes, I wonder if Naruto even knows what he's getting into."

"I wouldn't say anyone thinks of me as a hero," Tsunade pointed out.

"Was that supposed to be a joke from a Sannin?" Asuma asked.

"Oh, come now, Asuma. I said titles are useless between us. Besides, you're more of a hero then me…" she whispered thoughtfully while staring at her sake bottle.

"What do you mean?"

"You probably could have stopped them from taking Naruto… I was too weak…" Tsunade said, her voice shaking as she hid her eyes from him.

Asuma sighed deeply. "You give me too much credit, Tsunade. Naruto was right there in front of me, and I just stood there and let them take him."

"You didn't let them take Hinata," Tsunade reminded him gently.

"Well, Kurenai might have been a little pissed off If I had let that happen," Asuma chuckled again.

"Fine, I'll talk to Kakashi at least, but will you think about it? You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, Asuma. If something were to happen to me, you and Kakashi are who I can trust," Tsunade told him.

"Trust with what, the village… or Naruto?" Asuma asked her plainly.

Tsunade was silent for a long time, but Asuma could understand that, Naruto was like family to her. "Protecting the king is your job, right?"

Asuma gave a final sigh as he watched the smoke around his head flow to the sky. "Alright, but only if Kakashi doesn't want the job. Though I have a sneaking suspicion there's more than one reason you asked me."

Tsunade nodded. "Quick on the uptake, I see."

Asuma narrowed his eyes in the direction they were going. "Gaara and his siblings left before us… we'd better get moving."

"I'm surprised Gaara recovered so quickly. He and Naruto didn't even say a word to each other that whole time," Tsunade said in a cautious voice.

The wind blew past, snuffing out Asuma's cigarette. "I don't like this one bit…" he muttered.

x-x

Hinata sat up and moaned, it felt like she had been drained of all her chakra at once, which would be a considerable feat since using a full reserve of chakra was difficult even when you were trying to do it. But all that mattered to her was that she felt groggy and dislocated.

"Oh, good. You're awake, Hinata," A voice said.

Hinata opened her eyes and saw a bit not much older than herself sitting across from her in a chair. "You…"

"Yes. If you recall, my name is Ōtsutsuki Toneri, and I would like to welcome you to my castle," he said graciously, a little too graciously for Hinata's liking.

"Why have you kidnapped me?" Hinata demanded.

Toneri set his tea down and sighed. "It was for your protection, Hinata. I'm sure you would have come to me eventually, but given all that has transpired, I could not afford to wait any longer."

"I don't need your protection," Hinata said shortly and angrily.

"That jinchūriki would have been the death of you had I not intervened. I'll prove it," Toneri said. The next minute the room went dark and Hinata saw herself looking at what seemed to be a giant screen. She saw what looked like Naruto flying above an army of samurai and he was surrounded in dark chakra. He had a massive amount of energy channeling into his hand and in the next second the screen went black as he brought it down.

Hinata gasped as the light in the room returned. "An entire army reduced to nothing in mere seconds. Are you sure you don't need my protection now?" Toneri asked her.

Hinata felt herself shaking, it wasn't that she saw it happen it was the fact that she could feel it. The coldness, the rage, and worst of all, the pleasure. "Th… that was Naruto-kun?"

"I've never seen that kind of power. It should have killed everyone in that village, and yet anyone he saw as an ally was spared."

Hinata shook herself out of it. "You may want to strongly consider letting me go right now. I very much doubt Naruto-kun will see you as an ally in this situation."

Toneri just took another sip of tea as if he wasn't worried. "Hamura's celestial decree will be enforced regardless of what he tries. In a few days, we shall be married and he won't be able to do anything."

"Are you insane?! Naruto-kun will kill you!" Hinata tried to warn him.

Toneri just smiled and opened his eyelids, and Hinata gasped when she saw the white flower pattern that almost mesmerized her. "I very much doubt that. The Tenseigan is an absolute power. He cannot even touch me."

"What have you done?" Hinata whispered.

"I simply empowered your sister's Byakugan. She is unconscious in the other room. Don't think badly of me, Hinata. I shall return her eyes to her once I no longer have any need of them," Toneri answered.

"Why would you think I'd ever marry someone who stole Hanabi's Byakugan?" Hinata hissed at the alien.

"You cannot fight destiny, Hinata. Your destiny is to help me rebuild the world after its coming destruction. The shinobi of the earth have continuously warred with each other over petty squabbles. Look no further than that massacre courtesy of your jinchūriki. Or the Akatsuki's hunt for the tailed beasts, which was enabled when one of their number stole the Gedō Mazō out from under my nose. The sins of mankind are too great. The world the Sage of the Six Paths created has failed, and it must be cleansed so the survivors can start over," Toneri explained.

Hinata wasn't exactly sure what to say, in a lot of aspects Toneri was correct, and seeing Naruto like that only made her worried worse. Toneri observed her lack of response and stood to leave. As he approached the door he stopped and asked, "By the way, due to it always being dusk here it grows quite cold. I was wondering, would you make me a scarf?"

Hinata looked up at that. "What?"

Toneri seemed disappointed by the response. "You refuse?"

Hinata said nothing for a moment before sighing and whispering, "I… I'll do it…"

Toneri turned back and Hinata saw what seemed like a genuine effort smile on his face. "Really? Thank you, Hinata." He turned away before saying one last thing: "You've made me really happy…"

Hinata couldn't help but detect the longing in his voice and for a moment, almost felt pity for Toneri. Still, she couldn't let that stop her from figuring out a way out of the situation.

"What do I do?" she whispered.

x-x

A/N: This chapter was mainly just an info dump and world building, so I know it wasn't all that exciting. Personally though, I feel like an info dump every now and then is necessary to make the story a richer experience. Though I suppose with the Boruto anime being basically just one long info dump it can be boring. (Not dissing Boruto like so many others; I actually like the manga and anime, but they need much better pacing.) With that being said, I'll try to keep info dump chapters to a necessary minimum. I would also like to thank my readers for being patient with the slow updates. I'm working a lot more these days and my editor has his own BS to deal with at home so we can't always work on this fic as much as we would like. Barring all that in mind, I hope you look forward to future updates.

Oh, and on a side note, my editor and I would just like to add that today is a very glorious day, as the Supreme Court of the United States finally overturned the unconstitutional Roe v. Wade and gave a huge victory to God and life, while stripping the immoral pro-choice crowd of any illusion of legal backing they once clung to. I will also be posting an Uzumaki Family one-shot to celebrate this decision and further piss off any leftists who are reading. No, I'm not sorry, if you think Naruto and Hinata would ever be pro-abortion when Naruto can sense chakra for miles around and Hinata can see her baby in the womb, you're deluding yourselves. Additionally, being as heavily ground in tradition as they are, the Hyūga Clan would naturally be extremely opposed to "no-consequence" sex taking place outside of marriage. The expression of love between husband and wife is the only correct way to have sex. And here's a fun fact: Japan itself is stricter on abortions then the freaking US (well, those states which haven't already completely outlawed the immoral act). The cutoff point for viability in Japan is 22 weeks, which is normally around the time the baby can survive outside the womb. Meanwhile, in ultraliberal shitholes like California, you can murder the baby the moment it's born. Yeah, safe, rare and legal my left nut. Also if you want an abortion so bad, I highly recommend moving to China, which has a history of aborting girls just for being girls. Imagine being killed just because you won't be born as a man. What say you to that, feminists and SJWs? Anyway, I think the point has been made and I hope that I'll still have some fans for this fic, but honestly, if you think I'm writing fanfic for attention, then you really haven't paid any attention to my fics at all.