Chapter 8. Splitting up
Naruto and Hinata had been distant for two days now. They travelled side by side. They walked in the cold within a whisper of each other, but Naruto allowed his stubbornness to get the better of him, and Hinata her shyness and disappointment. Shikamaru didn't really care and thought it was probably better that they were distant. They had much bigger problems, with the most immediate being the group moving to the west of them- they had found signs of a fight moving west, so they detoured, and found a dead rain ninja; they detoured again, and found two more.
Hinata strained her eyes. They were closer now- she could make out the shape of ninja chasing someone- a woman and three teenagers. One of the teens was hurt, and the woman was hurt. And their headbands- "It's a wind ninja, and…and three chounin!" she said. "And one of… one of them is badly hurt."
"What?! Let's go!" Naruto scooped Hinata up and darted off, leaving Shikamaru the difficult task of catching up.
Naruto heard sounds of fighting, then smelled blood like an iron fence. He stopped just in time to see Temari shielding one of the teens and get hit in the process. Naruto jumped between Temari and her attackers, and glanced back at her, and shielded Hinata as he sat her down. A kunai was sunk deep into her thigh- a kunai covered in spider webs? Naruto looked closely- the webs were holding her to the ground, and hurting her. She was still standing, but barely. She was out of chakra, and exhausted, and looked like she hadn't slept in days. One of the three teens was nearly dead, his neck cut open; the other two didn't look so good. Hinata pulled the kunai out of Temari's leg and put her hand over the cut, also getting hurt by the webs on the kunai- they were like acid. He looked back at the Rain ninja- since when did rain ninja know spider-like jutsus?
"Naruto!" Temari gasped, relieved. Though she came from the Wind Village, and he the Leaf, they knew each other, and had fought side by side a few times. He had also saved Gaara's life, which earned her respect- he had actively tried to help her village, and the people in it. And she knew he was also one of Shikamaru's best friends.
He didn't need to ask what had happened- he could feel the God Tree in their packs, even from this far. Each one of these three were carrying the God Tree on them; they looked exhausted, and damn near starved- their lips were drawn back, and their eyes sunken and dry. They were dying.
The three Rain ninja did not look at each other, nor speak, but in unison withdrew, and ran northwest, towards the Rain.
Naruto dashed for the one in the rear. The rain ninja turned and made a quick hand sign and thick spider webs sprung up, an effort at slowing him down. That was a feint- a fourth rain ninja- who had stayed hidden till now, jumped at Naruto from above, and made a sign above his head, a type of air-palm, which sent him hurtling down. The impact broke the rain ninja's femur and hip, and he crashed off Naruto, and twisted and landed sideways, breaking his neck. Naruto saw the attack coming with just enough time to adjust his body, taking the knee to the stomach, and bracing himself. He was driven through the snow, into the ground, and bounced off the rocks a couple inches down. He rolled, and tasted blood, and his stomach lurched. And he felt the effects of being too close to the God Tree- nausea ran through him, and he nearly threw up; he turned, and rolled away from the dead ninja- trying to get further away from that damned tree.
"Naruto!" Hinata yelled.
He crawled to his feet, and wobbled a step, then went after the original ninja he had been chasing. This ninja threw off acidic chakra webs, aimed at stopping and inflicting great damage. A destructive, swirling ball of pure chakra appeared in Naruto's hand, what his master Jiraiya had called the rasengan, and he hurled it forwards, ripping through the webs and striking the ninja in the shoulder, doing irreparable damage to both the ninja and the tree it propelled him into.
Shikamaru arrived just in time to see the attack that Naruto was hit with, and the one he delivered in return.
"Shikamaru!?" Temari asked, looking up at him. Black eyes, focused; he scanned her and the chounin for just a second, and she noticed- his eyes lingered on hers the longest.
Naruto coughed, and his eyes burned, and his back and legs ached, being nailed in the stomach and being this close to the God Tree- he grabbed the ninja and pulled him out of the tree. He should have been in great pain or unconscious after being hit with that attack, but wasn't. His shoulder was broken, his muscles torn, and huge gashes ran in a spiral pattern from where he had been hit. Naruto grabbed his pack off his other arm and hurled it away, and leaned over and threw up in the snow, still holding the ninja. God damn that tree. The ninja's arm was dangling, yet he was still trying to make a handsign, for a jutsu- except his hand was no longer working, what with his arm disconnected. Naruto surged chakra into him to break the genjutsu, but couldn't. Glazed eyes. Why? He tried again- nothing. Why wouldn't chakra or being hit with a rasengan break the genjutsu? He tried a third time, with more than enough chakra to break him out. He pinned him with his stump of a right arm, and slapped him. Nothing. He looked at his shoulder- he would bleed out soon, which might be a blessing- he looked like he hadn't slept or eaten in a week. "I'm sorry," Naruto said, nearly lurching, and pulled a kunai from his pouch, and whispered, "Rest in peace," then he slit his throat, and the ninja slid to the ground, dead. They all watched as he did this. Shikamaru ran after the other two and extended his long shadow like a dagger over the snow, between the trees. He caught one, but could not grab the third. The day's pale attempt at light was not enough for his shadow to extend far.
Hinata leapt after the third. This last Rain Ninja responded by throwing three kunai at her, which she dodged with ease. Hinata had to get close to an opponent to fight effectively, and she was driving at him with that in mind. She cloaked her hands in chakra.
"Wait!" Naruto yelled as he saw the last ninja's hand sign- it was the same web jutsu, but this time clearly imbued with poison, or something black and thick and nasty, hanging in her path. He hefted the body of the dead Rain ninja and hurled him forward, past Hinata, through the webs, and hitting the second one in the process, breaking Shikamaru's hold. The two remaining rain ninja gathered themselves quickly and ran on, paying no attention to the two dead ninja on the ground, or any injuries they sustained. Naruto shook his head- that rain ninja had weighed perhaps a hundred pounds. He was starving to death. He was locked into a fate of feeling himself starve to death. Did being near the God Tree make him feel sick, too? This was horrible. That poor ninja was trapped in a cage worse than hell.
Shikamaru tried to catch them but couldn't.
"What are you doing!" Temari shouted at the two. "Don't let them escape." Temari jumped forward, then fell; her leg couldn't take her weight.
He grimaced as he walked over, and looked back at the teens, probably chounins, and then put his hand on his stomach- god damn that had hurt. He grimaced, and coughed, and rubbed his eyes, and reached out his hand, and she took it, surprising Temari. "Did you see the one who hit me?"
She nodded.
"He killed himself to hit me. The other one was being controlled, too." He held her eyes, and looked sad. He didn't like killing, especially someone innocent. There was no doubt- these ninja from the rain village were under the genjutsu- it looked like his normal, brown pupils were glazed over with a film of purple byakugan.
Temari pulled herself up and hobbled towards Naruto and stood in front of him, glaring. "Is that the best you can do these days? Really?"
Hinata looked at her, then back at Naruto. "Are you ok?" she asked, quietly, and gently put her hand on his stomach.
"Yes, but we shouldn't let go of each other next time. Did you see their faces?"
She agreed, and she nodded- those rain ninja were starving to death. Dying of thirst and exhaustion. Was it the same genjutsu they had been hit with? If so, why couldn't he break them out? Killing them would be a kindness.
Naruto brushed Temari aside with his stump of an arm and went to the chounin with the badly injured neck. He would bleed out very soon. "Hold my side," he said, then placed his hand on the young man's neck- his palm having a sun tattoo- a gift from the Sage of Six Paths. He did not know how to use or control this power, but concentrated, and there was a heavy thud, and organic black lines extended around the chounin's neck and outwards down his body. Then Naruto sat back in the snow, and shut one eye, as if grimacing.
Shikamaru arrived back. "They're long gone." He looked from Temari to Naruto and back. "Naruto, we could've done a little better than that. If we're a team, then we work together, not around each other."
He looked up at his old friend. "Shik, you saw. Cut their throats, tear their arms off- we just killed two innocent people, and the other two are-"
"Innocent people!" Temari shouted, and tried to stand again, and did, and stomped over and glared down at him. "How the hell were they innocent when they nearly killed us?"
"They were being controlled," Naruto answered. "And I couldn't break them out." He looked at Shikamaru. "The other one used a jutsu much too powerful to handle and killed himself trying to hit me. I couldn't risk Hinata being hit with something like that. And so you know, those webs were stronger than they look. My rasengan didn't do the damage it should've. Look at Temari's leg and tell me that's a normal kunai wound from a normal rain ninja. Go look at his face-" Naruto motioned with his eyes, and looked to the right, "Tell me what you think."
Shikamaru did both- bands of singed fabric, and a burn pattern ran out from the wound like scars from acid, in the shape of a spider web. Then he walked over to the rain ninja with the slit throat, and turned him over- Naruto was right- he was waisted away- anemic and dehydrated and starving. "Hinata, look for the caster."
She obliged, and looked in every direction, as far as her eyes would allow. She strained- twenty miles, twenty five miles, but nothing. She shook her head.
Who in the hell can cast a genjutsu from that far away, Shikamaru thought. What was to the west, the direction Temari and the Rain ninja had been coming from? "Temari, where were you coming from?"
"An outpost near The God Tree. To deliver reports, and back."
And the Amegakura ninja also came from the God Tree? Under a Hyuga genjutsu? That the rasengan didn't break.
Hinata knelt and started working on the other two chounin, healing them and tending to their wounds, as best she could. Naruto kept his hand on her back. She noticed the grimace on his face- he had been hit very hard; Hinata paused, and pulled her canteen off her side, and poured water on her shirt sleeve, and wiped his eyes, and face, and gave him a weak smile; she held her canteen up, and forced him to take a couple sips, then went back to the chounin with the broken arm.
"How many times did they attack you?" Shikamaru asked.
"A lot."
He knew Temari. A lot had changed about her over the years, but Shikamaru knew one thing for certain- a lot of Rain ninja were dead. Which meant now she would be a target, or she just caused quite a few problems for the Wind. But then again- if these ninja were being controlled why push them to the point that they could die of exhaustion before they return? Were they being tracked? Were they that expendable? Their odds of success would be greatly increased with nothing more than eating snow. Something about this bothered him. A lot. He turned back and looked at Temari- she had almost no chakra left. None of these four would survive the trip back to the Suna, the Wind Village.
Temari glanced at Naruto- holding Hinata, and scooted close, and helped her wrap her chounin's neck.
Hinata moved to the other injured chounin and began wrapping cuts on her arm. This one, a pretty, young girl, had multiple broken ribs, which she could not fix. Hinata patted her head, as Naruto watched, then turned back to Temari, and began working on the many injuries she had suffered.
Temari was very grateful this group showed up to help, but she was also furious- mostly at herself, for not being able to defend her chounin any better, but she aimed that fury at Naruto, her rescuer. Innocent my ass. She had seen Naruto fight many times, and knew he could have done a lot more than stand dumbfounded while pinning a ninja against a tree, or get hit by some idiot out of the air. Not only that, but he had ruined Shikamaru and Hinata's chances of stopping the others. Why the fuck were these rain ninja attacking her anyway? She glared at Naruto, and cussed under her breath, and pulled a blanket from her pack. "Can you please help strap him to me," Temari asked Hinata.
Shikamaru noticed- she asked Hinata, and not him. He shook his head, and lowered his eyes, but then realized- this was for the best. If worked far better if she wanted to maintain distance and separation between them. "Naruto, Hinata," he looked at them, troubled at the words he was about to speak. "You two go to Amegakure. I'm changing our mission from stealing to scouting. Don't steal anything, but watch the two that ran off. Map out the Village. Listen to gossip; try to figure out why Amegakure would send ninja to the God Tree."
"Shik, the only reason we came here-"
"I know what we're here for. Do what I said. Wait for me. Hinata- I've got him." Hinata was starting to strap the young teens body to Temari's back, and paused.
The two men looked at each other, hard, but then Naruto softened, and was about to offer to go with them, when Shikamaru said, "If we attack them in Amegakure, that's it for us- our path is set. It's one thing out here- we can say they attacked us and we defended ourselves. But in Amegakure- there aren't any excuses, and Sasuke needs more time. Scout. Watch. Count the number coming and going daily, and where it's going once they return to Amegakure. Map the city. Wait for me. Understand?"
Naruto sighed. Shikamaru was right on many levels: Sasuke needed more time in the Leaf, and it would be better for all of them to simply leave Konoha, instead of leave Konoha as criminals. They were still accomplishing their goals by camping around Amegakure, and it would be better not to put Hinata in danger. Then it occurred to him- this also provided him a week alone with Hinata. He glanced at her and she looked away. Their argument was still hanging over them. "Ok. But this is pretty dangerous for you."
"I'll be fine."
"Shik, we-"
"I'll be fine. I think I've got their pattern." He lied. Blatantly. But he also wasn't that nervous. It seemed to him that the genjustu was being used to hunt Sasuke and the Hyuga clan, and anyone who tried to help or interfere. If he was right, then he should be fine so long as he was away from Hinata, and not helping her.
"Seriously?"
"You're… you're taking them back to… back to Suna?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah, then I'll catch up. I'll be back within one week."
Naruto was very surprised, and wasn't sure he believed him, but, it was Temari he was with. It should be fine. "Avoid Gaara, if you can. He's being watched. It would be better if you didn't even enter Suna." Naruto stepped over and put his hand on Temari's shoulder. She jerked away, so he left his hand in the air. The young chounin with the broken ribs was looking up at him, wide-eyed. "I'm sorry," he said, to Temari. "Sorry you were hurt. Sorry about your chounin. Get home safe."
Temari glared back at him, unable to hide her anger. "They are not innocent. If he dies, they are not innocent."
Naruto had always liked Temari, particularly because Shikamaru had spent many evenings telling him all about her; they had also helped each other in the war. She was a very strong and intelligent ninja, with a good heart, who didn't need to be pulled into this. But she was wrong. The ninja he killed was innocent, but saying that again might force an explanation. "We'll investigate them, and deal with them, and send you a report. Go home. Rest, and help Gaara." He looked at Hinata, and squeezed her hand, "Ready?" She nodded, and the two took off through the trees without looking back, leaving Shikamaru and Temari to tend to and escort the injured chounin.
Temari watched them go. To Amegakure. Were they on an official mission? Something felt off about this. He had said the only reason we came here, which wasn't the words Temari would've used if she were on a mission. "What's up with him?" she asked, bandaging her arm.
Shikamaru was making a cot out of a sticks and a blanket for the young girl with the broken ribs. Her breathing was labored. He debated whether he should tell her or not. Clearly Naruto and Sasuke did not want this information getting out, but her face showed her exhaustion, and worry, and concern. He also knew the best way to explain this attack, and their lack of success at subduing even one of the ninja, was to tell the truth. Besides, she had already been attacked, and already heard a few things they had talked about. "He and Sasuke were hit by a long-distance genjutsu. We all were. Those rain ninja were. Someone is attacking us, so we're..."
"Long distance?"
Shikamaru nodded. "This is going to hurt a little." He looked down at the young girl, and started strapping her to the cot. She groaned, and looked at him with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you," the young wind ninja said. She was a pretty girl of fourteen, with the characteristic maroon garb of a Wind Village ninja. She had short, black hair and velvet green eyes, and a heavy white and maroon coat. "That was Naruto? Uzumaki?" she asked.
"The one and only."
"Did he… did he heal him?" she asked, looking at her brother, his neck bandaged. Her brother was the color of soot, and if he had life left in him, it wasn't much.
"Yes, for now," he answered. "We need to get him home quick, understand?"
The young girl nodded, and did not utter another word of pain or protest.
"Is that why you three were going to Amagakure? To look for this genjutsu caster? You mentioned stealing something." They mentioned more than that- Sasuke needs more time. Avoid Gaara- he's being watched? How would Naruto know that? Watched by who?
Another tricky question, this one he probably should not answer. "Not… exactly."
She wanted to ask him questions- lots of them. But, as in the war, he made her nervous. His intelligence, and his abilities, and… he was the only man who had ever beaten her in a fight. An honest one, anyway. His strength made her nervous. His ability to control people with his shadow made her nervous. And, if she was being honest, his voice, and the way he looked- now a handsome man, instead of an ok teen, made her nervous. "Thank you for helping, but… they… probably need your help more than I do."
Shikamaru looked at her curiously. He had noticed in the war, but didn't have time to think about it- she had an accent now: she slurred her S's and drew out her R's, and she had lost some of her fire. A lot of her fire. She had also grown up into a beautiful young woman, though it had been harder to tell in the war. Regardless, for many reasons, he should not tell her what was going on. He needed to get her home quickly. Bringing her into this was not only cruel, but it would greatly complicate his life. He had told her goodbye in his last letter. Now he needed to tell her goodbye in person. He took the body of the nearly dead chounin and strapped him to his back- Temari wouldn't be able to carry him far on her leg. He also pulled the young girl behind him. The young man with the broken arm fell silently in line.
They were holding hands, and going slow. There was no reason for speed at this point- they knew where the Rain ninja were going, and they had a week to get there.
"Hinata," he asked, "Can you see their faces- what they look like?"
She was slow to answer. "Yes. One has…has long black hair and a…and a stubby beard. The other has an eyepatch, and…and short brown hair. I will…I will…I will recognize them if we…" She cut her words off. There were not many people in her life that listened to her; most got tired of the stuttering and cut her off at some point. And then she realized- Naruto was perhaps the only one, other than her mother, who was long dead, and Tenten, who had never cut her off. But now they weren't getting along.
The forest was quiet, the trees starting to thin out. The snow was above their ankles, and in places above their knees.
Naruto could tell she was worried and slowed down and stopped. She stopped with him- they were holding hands.
"What is it?" Hinata asked.
"We need to talk."
Those words scared her. "O…ok," she answered, shifting, fidgeting. She was worried about quite a few things. Being alone with him. Being in danger. What if he decided to stop protecting her, or wanting to be around her? Clearly he thought less of her now that she was a Branch member. And continuing to Amegakure. And he's still mad at me, and we're going to get kicked out of the Leaf, and branded as criminals, and then Hinabi will be sent to the Branch in my place, and...
"Hinata, don't worry," he said. He counted her problems with each blink, and each glance she cast off to the side. "I will protect you; I promise. You have my word."
That was one thing, at least. But not nearly her biggest concern. "Thank…thank you, Naruto." She said, and looked down at her feet.
"And…" he started, unsure of how to say the words he wanted to say. He had thought about it the last two days; he knew what needed to be done, but not how to say it. And, honestly, not even how to accomplish what he intended- not without the large negative impact it might have on Hinata and her sister. "And also, I know it's not that easy to refuse your father."
She looked up. "You're not…not mad at me?"
His face was kind and soft. "No. I never was. I'm mad at your clan."
"Not…not me?" she asked, and he shook his head no. In truth, she was mad at her clan too. They continued to hang unnecessary and cruel fates on her shoulders like funerary shrouds, and pile them on her back.
"I will refuse your father," he said. "I will refuse him for you, and I refuse to allow Hinabi to be sent in your place. You're not going to the branch. Neither is Hinabi."
His gaze was steady. There was no shadow of doubt in his words, or his eyes. And he knew she was worried about Hinabi? "How…how will you…"
He held her pale purple eyes with his. Her breath hung in the air so close it touched his cheeks. "I don't know how, but I will. For you, for Neji, for Hinabi- I refuse to accept it, and I will change it. I promise you. From now on, do not consider yourself in the branch family. I will stand in the way, all day and night if that's what it takes. Or they can have me instead."
Have me instead? She choked, and coughed, and her left knee nearly buckled. No one, as far as she knew, had ever suggested taking the place of someone being sent to the Branch family. A lifetime of servitude, while at the same time forced by a curse mark to lay down your life for anyone in the Main family, at their whim? He was doing this for her? He was putting himself at so much risk, for her. "It would've been…been easier if you had…you had kidnapped me against my…my will."
"For which one of us? I'm keeping you and your sister out of the branch family, and I'm keeping you both safe- no matter what it costs me. I care about you far too much to let you be hurt like that."
Far too much? Her heart was glass, and it was shattering, and he was catching the pieces. In how many different ways could he save her? She knew he had always been this determined. She knew he kept his promises, and as far as she could tell, he had always kept those promises, and never failed, regardless of the difficulty or the cost. And here he was, making the same hard-to-keep promise to her. Because he cared about her. Far too much. Very beautiful eyes. She couldn't imagine the level of difficulty he would face; she couldn't even think of how he could accomplish it. He was going to change generations worth of culture, for her? Why? Did he like her that much, or was he just being nice? Her emotions, like glass, cracked and crumbled into his hands, and she collapsed against him, and wrapped her arms around him, and cried into his chest.
He held her for a long time, the only other sound the occasional creaking of a tree under its heavy blanket of snow. He sighed inwardly; he had spent a lot of time lately thinking about her, and wondered why. He should've missed Shikamaru, and Kakashi, and Sakura. Choji and Sai and Ino. But no- when he sat alone with his thoughts, they turned to Hinata. He knew it was more than protection at this point. And more than friendship. He hadn't been joking about kidnapping her. He knew if he hadn't had Sasuke with him when he heard her that he would not have made it in time. Hinata would've walked into the woods, and her eyes would've been gouged out, and she would've died, slowly freezing to death, scared, alone. He had thought about her the weeks he was away, and he couldn't figure out why. Why did he miss her more than any of his other friends? He kept replaying a day in the war, when they were fighting, and she put her hand on his cheek, and reassured him, and took his hand, and held it, and pulled him to his feet. This strong young woman… The idea she could've died, and been lost, forever, hurt him worse than he thought it could. It cast a cold fear over his heart- one he couldn't bear to think about. Please don't leave… Her hair was in his nose, and it was intoxicating. He inhaled deeply, and kissed the top of her head.
Her crying had slowed, and this kiss stopped the flow of emotions and her tears out right. He kissed me? She looked up; he was holding her close, and tight.
"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't…sorry," and he brought his hand around, and touched her cheek, as he had almost done a couple times now, and wiped her tears away.
"Naruto…I…I…" she stopped. What was she about to say to him? She had to be careful with her words because, at least this time, if she was to throw the truth around carelessly, it would hurt him. It could do worse than that. Branch family, main family- this was a problem, but only one of them. Her future was already spoken for. And there was only so much she could expect him to save her from.
"What is it?" he asked, starting to let go of her.
"Don't," she said. "Stay like this. Hold… hold me." And she held tighter and buried herself into him, and began crying again, though quietly this time.
He pulled her close; he could feel her sobs as she trembled in his arms, and so he held her that way for a long time, as the afternoon settled around them.
"Do…do it again," she said, not looking up, her words muffled against his chest.
Do what again, he thought. Then it was obvious. He kissed the top of her head again, his lips lingering, the lilac smell of her black hair hanging in his nose. He held her tighter, and rested his cheek on top of her head, and the shadows grew longer, and the silence of the snow-draped forest deeper.