Upload Date: 10/10/2022

Happy Birthday to our beloved MC Naruto! It's such a joy to write fanfiction about him again 😊

Obligatory statement that these characters are not and will not be mine.

Chapter 5 – Living

Hinata had moved into Sakura's chambers, as she had an extra bed, and Hinata had been grateful. Despite Naruto's promise on his men respecting them she still had a slight fear of them and preferred to try and steer clear of them if she could.

She took the effort to bathe and the grime and dirtiness from her skin had washed away, along with faint traces of blood that may or may not have belonged to her.

Sakura and Hinata both took the time to rest for a few hours, until a little after daybreak when the pair awoke at hearing the bustling and cursing of the crew that were out and working.

They looked at each other a bit bashfully, before getting dressed for the day. Their dresses had been effectively ruined and as all of their luggage had sunk with the Hyuuga ship, they were effectively without a wardrobe.

Disastrous indeed.

Neither woman cared however and Naruto had an abundant supply of clothes suited for men. He had given them clothes to wear during their stay on his ship and while Sakura had no qualms about wearing the men's clothes, Hinata was mortified.

She tucked in her thin shirt into the brown pants, grateful that the shirt was dark and covered her chest. The sleeves were a little too long, but the shirt fit well enough. She rolled the trousers up slightly and glanced at Sakura, who smiled widely.

"You look rightly handsome, like Neji! Especially with your hair down."

The mention of Neji's name made Hinata's smile falter, but she brushed the thought of him aside as she ran a hand through her hair.

"You look very handsome as well, Sakura. You make a fine gentleman." Hinata said, a coy smile lining her face as Sakura burst into laughter, her face pinkening slightly before bowing exaggeratedly at Hinata who bowed back, slightly clumsily in the new shoes.

A knock sounded at their door.

"Who is it?" Sakura called.

"It's me." Naruto answered and Hinata could feel her cheeks redden slightly.

"Oh, you may come in." Sakura answered.

Naruto walked in, his hair and face free from their coverings and upon seeing them in their new clothes he gave them a wide smile.

"Well now this is quite a sight."

"Do not offend us. We are still ladies despite how we look right now. I expect you and your men to keep the ridicule to a minimum." Sakura growled, swatting a handkerchief at Naruto's arm, before burrowing it in her chest pocket.

Naruto let out a small chuckle before nodding at them both. "I'm glad I didn't awaken you both. I wasn't sure if you had had enough time to rest. Come with me and we'll get some food in our bellies."

"Eloquent this one, isn't he?" Sakura spoke sarcastically, nudging Hinata's shoulder as she smiled at her.

They walked behind Naruto as he led his way further down his ship, until they came to a relatively quiet room where two men were sitting around eating, but they stopped the second they saw them.

Hinata fought against her instinct to look away and instead gripped Sakura's hand tightly as she kept her eyes on the men.

"Morning. These will be our guests. Look after them for a bit while I head above deck." He ordered to his men as they nodded and one stood up to disappear behind the kitchen area.

Naruto turned to look at them, "Make yourselves at home. There's plenty of food."

"Thank you." Both women answered simultaneously and Naruto simply nodded at them before disappearing into the hallway.

The young man who remained, with dark hair and even darker eyes bowed ever so slightly at both of them. "Greetings. You both look rightly tired."

There was a slight pause before Sakura rolled her eyes. "How gentlemanly of you, Sai."

Sai smiled, "Wonderful to see you again, Ugly."

Sakura's palm connected on Sai's cheek and Hinata was both dismayed and confused at the interaction that had just taken place.

Had this pirate really just called Sakura…ugly?!

Sakura's jaw was clenched as she retreated her hand. "Nice to see you again, Sai. Want to try that greeting again?"

Sai rubbed his cheek, eyes closed as a strange smile crossed his face. "Still as feisty I see." His eyes then opened into something slightly more serious. "Truly though, I am glad to see you alive."

At this Sakura blushed and she gave him a small bow. "Thank you, Sai." She turned then towards Hinata and gestured towards her. "Hinata, this is Sai. Sai is a competent artist. I've met him in Kiri before when Naruto and him perform occasional, legal business. Sai, this is Hinata Hyuuga. Heir of Konoha's Hyuuga clan."

"Pleased to meet you, Lady Hyuuga."

"Oh please, just Hinata is fine."

"Are you sure? You are a lady after all, unlike Sakura."

"Sai…" The warning was brightly evident in Sakura's voice and Hinata had to bite her lip to prevent from laughing at the ridiculous situation.

"Hinata is fine." She reiterated, amused at the casual interaction between Sai and Sakura. "I am not really Lady Hyuuga yet anyway as my father is still in command of our clan."

The other man who had gone into hiding in the kitchen came out with two plates of food and wordlessly placed them on the table, signaling to both of the women.

"Here's your food. Eat before it gets cold."

"Thank you, Mr.….?"

The brown hair covered one of his eyes as he sighed, seemingly exhausted at having to interact with the women. "The name's Utakata."

"Thank you, Mr. Utakata."

Sai was quite the character. As much as he seemingly pressed Sakura's annoyance, she seemed to genuinely like him better than most of the men on Naruto's ship. In between hushed whispers Hinata was able to deduce that Sai had been a civilian who had been trained illicitly by as a ninja by a man from the Third Hokage's reign. Upon the disbanding of this dark organization, Sai had chosen to flee rather than get caught and thus his face was still unrecognizable to people from Konoha.

It had been his painted masks that the crew members had worn that night of the attack on the Kiri pirates. He took great pride in explaining that his paint was infused with his chakra, and so it could glow or even move across objects he painted.

Hinata hadn't seen anything like that in the masks from the attack on the Kiri pirates, but she did recall seeing the eye slits of Naruto's fox mask red. The red paint obscuring the true color of his eyes was truly a crafty conception.

As the days passed on the boat and Hinata felt comfortable enough to go towards the deck, she began to notice all of the odd characters that were part of Naruto's crew.

Utakata, rogue ninja from Kiri who had been branded a traitor due to a horrible misunderstanding with his master. He kept quiet and stayed mostly away from others, often writing letters that he tucked into his kimono. Hinata imagined that he had someone he loved, hidden away somewhere because who could he otherwise be writing to?

Idate Morino was young man, only a year or so older than Hinata who took every chance to flirt with Sakura. The funniest thing was that Sakura would actually blush sometimes, stunned by the random praise which only made him more pronounced in his efforts. He had been a former low-rank ninja turned pirate upon being disillusioned with the ninja system. His brother Ibiki was a well-known jounin proctor in Konoha and thus Idate never stepped foot into the Land of Fire.

He was surprisingly cavalier in his attitude, but both Sakura and Hinata noticed that while he never directly asked for information regarding his brother or Konoha, he always seemed to want to listen in whenever they spoke of home.

Guren was the strange one who did her best to stay away from everyone, spending most of her free time writing letters as well. From what little Sakura and her gathered from Sai, while Guren was fairly efficient at her job, she did not like authority. The reason why she had joined Naruto's crew was largely a mystery, although Sakura suspected that money most likely played a large part. While the other crew members wore nicer clothing, Guren frequently wore older clothes from rougher materials. All of her earnings went to someone on the mainland, most likely to the same person she wrote letters to.

She was also the only woman crew member on board and Hinata wondered often what had driven her into becoming a pirate and condemning herself to a life of being on the run.

Jugo was a tall, bulky beast of a man who everyone, even his fellow crewmembers, stayed away from. He was warm and polite when Sakura and Hinata had passed by him on deck which contrasted with the way some of the men reacted to his presence. There was clearly a not so nice side to him that the women had not seen yet.

Kisame Hoshigaki in particular, frightened Hinata to no end. His shark-like appearance resembled the Kiri pirate and Hinata's hands would sweat each time she had to be in his presence. She did note that he did depart two days after their rescue, opting to take a smaller boat towards a different part of the Land of Fire. He clearly was not a permanent member of Naruto's crew and he had taken that strange chakra-stealing sword with him.

There were several others as well, who remained quiet around her and Sakura, and they ignored them for the most part, save Sai and Idate who both loved to torment Sakura albeit in different ways and after a couple of days, they finally reached the Land of Waves.

There was no grand port and so the only option was to dock at a slight distance from the shore, and take smaller boats to land.

Naruto helped Sakura into a small boat before reaching for Hinata's hand, "Ready?".

Hinata's face was flushed, but she accepted Naruto's help as he gently helped her down and rowed them to land, while some of his men stayed behind on the ship.

It was midday now and they were greeted by only a few villagers, among them an older gentleman who looked at Naruto with a stern expression, before bursting into a wide smile.

"I see you've grown taller."

"Is that really the only thing you have to say to me, old man?" Naruto teased, gripping the elder's extended hand and pulled him into a mighty hug. "Years go by and this is how you say hello?"

"Ah well. You're still a brat after all. If I sing you too many praises it'll all go to your head. You already think too highly of yourself as it is." The man smirked, as he winked at Naruto. "Now tell me, who are these women that you have with you?"

Naruto grinned. "Don't recognize her?"

At his words the elder man frowned and gazed at both Sakura and Hinata with intense scrutiny before raising his eyebrows as a wide smile ran across his face.

"My goodness. Sakura dear, is that you?"

Sakura tilted her head slightly, her face a mixture of confusion, before her eyes widened and she gasped. "Mr. Tazuna?"

Mr. Tazuna let out a loud laugh. "My word, it's been years since I've seen you! You've gone and grown up haven't you, dear?"

Sakura gave him a warm embrace before shaking her head. "I'm glad to see you're doing well, Mr. Tazuna. I apologize I didn't recognize you right away."

"Nonsense. These wrinkles aren't doing me many favors." Mr. Tazuna remarked, swatting at the air in jest.

He turned to look at Hinata, who felt strangely out of place and she bowed slightly. "Wonderful to meet you sir. My name is Hinata."

His eyes flickered in recognition, either at her eyes or her name, but he didn't ask anything further as he smiled and winked at her. "Great to meet you darling. Now you all follow me. We're going to discuss business a bit…"

Naruto and his crew headed with Mr. Tazuna towards a small shed in the back while Sakura and Hinata were immediately invited into his home. Mr. Tazuna's home was humble, but it was cozy and full of small paintings and portraits. Hinata noted that one particular family portrait was of Mr. Tazuna, his daughter and grandson, all smiling as they posed for the artist.

"Your home is lovely." Hinata commented as she smiled at Tsunami, the old carpenter's daughter.

"You needn't waste such words on me, milady," Tsunami scoffed, a chuckle escaping her lips. "But I do appreciate the sentiment."

Sakura was similarly looking at the portraits. "Inari has sure grown up. Is he working with Mr. Tazuna now?"

"Oh, yes, and he's quite the learner. He's made us proud, that boy."

Hinata learned that Team 7 had met Mr. Tazuna's family years ago, during an escort mission for him that had turned into a higher-rank mission than originally intended when bandits and rogue ninja had come looking for him as he was the planned master carpenter for a bridge they were to build. While Team 7 was able to defeat all of the ninjas who had come for them, they had been unable to save the bridge in its entirety as the criminals had burned what had been built of it to the ground.

Now Mr. Tazuna was building it again, piece by piece and frequently traded with Naruto's men in order to establish trades that would be lucrative enough to sustain the Land of Waves. He hoped that by having his work be sent off to distant lands, more people would want to purchase them to the point where the Land of Waves could be a prosperous land.

Naruto's men carried a couple of small bags inside the small shed behind Mr. Tazuna's home and carefully propped them open so that the elder could take a look at them.

Mr. Tazuna peered and glanced into each bag, raising his eyes towards Naruto. "Business sure is good for you, isn't it lad?"

"A bit." Naruto affirmed. "It has its ups and downs. If the merchandise is suitable for you, can I inspect the goods as well?"

"Of course. Go right ahead."

Tazuna waved his hand in front of several small wooden crates, filled with mineral ores and salt crystals. Naruto inspected the wooden crates and he smiled as he saw the supplies. "You all did great work this month."

"Give us some credit, we work hard for our trades." A voice spoke up that instantly made Naruto grin.

"Inari, you little brat. It's been some time."

"Who are you calling a little brat? I'm almost as tall as you are!"

Inari clasped Naruto's hand in a tight handshake before Naruto pulled the smaller boy in a warm embrace. "Good to see you Inari. You're doing great work with your grandpa."

Inari's face broke into a grin. "Of course, I am. Did you ever doubt me?"

"Not in the least."

Dinner that evening was a welcome distraction for all. Tsunami had made quite a large simple meal for them all and both Sakura and Hinata had helped her in serving as they all had loud boisterous conversation.

Mr. Tazuna went on and praised Naruto as a smart businessman while Naruto's eyes flickered downward for an instant before putting on a wide smile and steering the conversation in a different direction.

Hinata was mostly silent during the meal, preferring to listen to Sakura and Naruto tease each other about their previous time in the Land of Waves, arguing with each other on who had been more frightened, or who had been clumsier.

It was refreshing to hear them laugh and joke with each other like that and it was clear that despite their years without seeing each other the affection that they both had for Mr. Tazuna's family was still present. They had the distinction of being not only their first mission away from Konoha, but also the one in which they'd both realized their strengths and weaknesses.

By the time they had quieted down and finished cleaning, Hinata was feeling restless and separating herself from the crowd she had gone on her own to gather her thoughts.

"I had assumed you were heading to bed."

Hinata jumped slightly at noticing Naruto had come to stand beside her, near the water as she sat contemplating.

He chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

"N-No, it's quite alright." She stammered, her heart beating quickly as she noticed his unbuttoned shirt. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up and she quickly looked away, her face feeling hot.

He wordlessly sat down on her left, his eyes never leaving the moon that lit up the sky.

There was a long silence between them and despite Hinata's heart still a little unsettled by his close presence, she found it comforting as well.

"Naruto?"

He tilted his head in response. "Yes?"

"Do you ever," Hinata paused, gathering her thoughts. "Do you ever have nightmares?"

His eyes warmed, even though she didn't notice as she was looking at the ground. It made sense now, the continued exhausted look in her eyes despite being in his care.

"What about?"

Hinata bit her lip. She'd hoped he'd figure it out, but it seemed he either needed to hear her explicitly say it or he truly had no idea what she was asking about.

"The people…that you've had to kill."

His expression faltered a bit then. For him the act of killing had become something of a duty. For those who did not have the heart to repent they had to be purged. It was necessary for his goal.

"Not really." He admitted, a bit of shame crossing his face, before twiddling with a blade of grass. "You have to remember that the people I deal with have done brutal things."

Hinata raised her head in shock at his words. "But you do kill merchants, do you not?"

Naruto shook his head vehemently and hung his head as he warily turned back to look at her. "Of course, you have that opinion on me, but I truly don't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it. When I steal from merchants I do so without killing."

"Then, if you had reached us before the Kiri pirates-"

"I would have incapacitated your family without much blood spilt." He finished, his voice strong and steady.

Hinata pressed her legs up and rested her head in her arms as she cocooned herself. "I'm not sure what to think about that."

The way he treated death was strange at best and downright macabre at worst. In his eyes, lives were worth less depending on the deeds they had done in life.

"Those Kiri pirates had raided many ships before yours," he spoke, jaw clenching as he flicked a blade of grass between his knuckles, "They'd killed a bunch of women and kids from a previous ship and sold their possessions to the highest bidder. Perhaps their lives are worth something to you, but not to me."

Hinata was silent as she looked over at him, at the stern expression, at his clear eyes. Even she couldn't determine a response to that. She thought of her kidnappers as vile and cruel, but she was not to judge anything here, not their life or their death.

So much time had passed. She could only begin to imagine what he had seen during his travel. The sorts of deranged people he had met.

Clearly, he'd changed. He'd changed so much. She could see in the faded scars that lined his hands and arms that he had been through a lot. Perhaps she was naïve in thinking that evil people deserved pity from her.

And of course, he thought of some people as less than. She'd been brought up the same way, albeit in a much different manner. Her father and most of her family looked down on the common folk. Her family certainly thought their insignificant lives were worth less than theirs.

This was the same situation, only his reason was perhaps a little more justified.

But even then, she wondered if anything of the old Naruto remained. Was there a day he went without thinking that it may be his day of capture? Did he ever stop to think about his friends in the Leaf? Did he ever consider that perhaps there was more for him out there?

What was possibly worth risking his life and the lives of his crew members for?

"I don't think I could ever judge someone adequately." Hinata finally replied, her skin prickling as she felt his gaze on her. "If they deserved it or not, I suppose you would know."

It wasn't a statement of support, Naruto noted. In fact, nothing she had said had been positive towards his profession and yet he felt no judgement from her, no condemnation. There were doubts in those curious eyes of hers, but not towards him.

He didn't know exactly what to make of that.

"I think of the good." Naruto spoke, his voice almost a whisper.

Hinata's warm lavender eyes turned towards him, for a moment making him lose his train of thought as he realized her eyes were bright. Almost as bright as the moon. Strange how he never noticed them before.

He blinked, steadying himself. "I think of the good whenever I have doubts about my purpose. I think of the good that I do for my men who are trying to escape this life or for the people like Old Man Tazuna who put my spoils from piracy to much better use than I ever would."

Hinata couldn't help but smile back at him. The twinkle in his eyes as he said that, that was utterly familiar. She remembered he had gone through so much and yet he still put others first before his own benefit. There was something of the old Naruto there, well hidden under this colder exterior.

It was that twinkle in his eye that made her feel calmer despite his harsh words. Remembering the good in this world helped him and so she leaned into her legs, closing her eyes as she thought of everything good that had happened to her and the queasiness and anxiety from the nightmares wore off, just slightly.

Maybe his advice would work just enough to give her slightly more rest in the evenings.

She lifted her head to turn back to look at him. "Have you…thought of what you want for yourself? In the future, I mean."

Naruto shrugged, one of his hands ruffling his hair. "Well, for one I need my men to find refuge. Most of them were either forced into this lifestyle or tricked into it. Once I find something for them…maybe I'll think about myself."

That selflessness was worrying to her. "You aren't worried about being caught?"

"That's been a permanent risk for me, Hinata. It's something all criminals have to live with."

"But you could choose to be something else-"

"Pervy Sage taught me that this world is cruel," he interrupted, a sad expression haunting his eyes, "There is pain in this world. Pain and hatred side by side for much world. To forsake his search would be to forsake him and I would not be much of a man if I broke my promise."

Bound to following a dead man's wishes. She never imagined that was his goal now. And it was not just any dead man. It was his master, his sensei, and for all purposes the most stable parental figure he had had for a long time.

Even if she did not really understand his cryptic words or what his purpose was, it was everything to him.

"You've been burdened," she spoke out-loud and he frowned as he looked at her. "You've been burdened with following an important wish that your family has for you."

He scratched his head with one hand and tilted it. "I'm not sure I follow, but I suppose you can look at it that way."

Hinata smiled then. "Sorry, what I mean is that you are fortunate to choose your future, despite the difficulty lying ahead for you. You could have chosen to ignore Master Jiraiya's wishes and yet you yourself hold them close to your heart. For that you are fortunate that your future is still of your own choosing."

The way she spoke of it was sad. Her eyes had dimmed and a blanket of melancholy crossed the space between them.

"Surely your future can't be awful. You have a family that loves you."

"The family that loves me has obligations for me. Obligations that I must obey."

Naruto was silent for a moment. "Then according to you, what is your future like?"

She gave him an insincere smile. "Eventually my father will marry me off and my position as clan heir will pass to Hanabi who will be able to handle it with far more elegance than I ever would. She'll make a wonderful heir and be able to lead our family with strength into whatever comes our way in the future." Hinata paused momentarily, a surprising feeling of sadness crushing her chest as she kept speaking.

"My husband will most likely be from a noble family himself and if I'm lucky I'll bear him a son and live out the rest of my life in tranquility. If he's kind I'll even be able to visit my family from time to time."

They had never had a conversation of more than a couple of words, he recalled. Hinata had always been quiet. These thoughts were deep and by the easy way she spoke them it was almost a guaranteed future in her mind. Interesting how he'd perceived her life to be perfect despite her pessimistic view for the future.

The air between them was heavy and Naruto and Hinata remained in silence until he spoke again.

"That sounds like hell."

"You mean being married?" Hinata teased, wiping the unshed tears from her eyes as he cracked the tiniest of smiles in her direction, clearly amused at her nonchalant attitude.

"No, I mean lying."

She froze.

"You're lying to yourself, Hinata if you're willing to go through all of that. Forcing yourself to marry someone for the betterment of your family. Getting your rightful position ripped from you and passed on to your sister. Hoping for a son because no noble man would accept having a daughter as his first-born. You do realize you shouldn't have to go through any of that shit?" Naruto's voice had gotten louder and he didn't realize he had raised his voice until he saw her flinch.

He clenched his jaw as he fiddled with the grass at his fingertips. "You're meant for more than just a tolerable life."

Despite herself, Hinata shivered, the air was still warm, but his words had gone deep and it frightened her just how much he reiterated the feelings she hid deep down.

"Women don't get a lot of choices, Naruto. Especially noble ones. I'm not free to marry whoever I wish. A man from another noble family is the best I can hope for, there's nothing else for me to look forward to. I have no grand aspirations or ideas. I'm not a strong woman like Sakura. I'm not particularly talented at anything. This is the only way I'm able to become useful to my family. I've always known this." Hinata uttered, her words coming out fast, from some deep dark pit in her heart. She had never voiced this aloud, her fears about how there was nothing she could ever do to stop her fate.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Hinata gripped his fingertips in protest. "It's a process all noble women have to go through. Why do you think Ino Yamanaka hasn't wed? She has no grand aspirations to become a housewife and she's fighting against her family to remain unwed for now. All we want is the freedom to choose and the freedom to live, even just for a little bit. We can't even defend our country when the time comes even though a lot of us noble women have undergone kunoichi training. We have to pick and choose among two options, becoming a lady or becoming an old maid. There's nothing else out there for us."

She had let go of him and dabbed at her tears gently until Naruto spoke again. "I think that you can do anything Hinata."

"I can assure you that's quite incorrect." Hinata asserted, her voice twinged with the slightest hint of bitterness as she ripped blades of grass in between her fingertips.

"No really, I think you can do anything. Because while you may be a woman who deems herself a failure you are not. You were born to one of our great noble clans. A clan gifted with wondrous eyes that can see through almost anything. Your life is not a failure Hinata. Perhaps you just haven't discovered what you're meant to do."

Hinata had thought occasionally about what it would mean to venture into something new. She'd considered ideas for years, but her father had crushed her spirit early on until no fight in her remained. This mission was her last escape, something she had allowed herself to dream of and it would be taken from her as soon as she returned to Konoha, for her father would never again allow her to travel beyond the Land of Fire's borders.

Naruto was telling her that it was alright to dream, even though she thought all of those feelings had been crushed long ago.

She turned to him and his expression was impassive as he looked into her eyes, his bright eyes almost burning into her and she could practically feel the truth within them.

He was not lying. He was giving her faith and giving her warmth that she had killed within herself.

Hinata gave him a soft smile, her face pinkening as she realized he wasn't breaking away from looking at her.

"Perhaps you may be right."

It was dark by the time Naruto and Hinata walked back to Mr. Tazuna's home. He took the time to walk her to her room that she shared with Sakura and nodded at her in goodbye as he retreated to his own room.

Hinata quietly and carefully walked into the room and was surprised to see the candle still lit and Sakura peering up at her from behind her covers.

"It's a bit late, don't you think?"

Hinata blushed. "I'm sorry Sakura. I didn't mean to disturb you."

She winked at Hinata. "Oh no. I'm not disturbed at all. I'm just wondering how good the conversation was that kept Naruto from bringing you back at a reasonable hour."

Now she was truly blushing as her face darkened even more at Sakura's mischievous expression. "I-I'm not sure what you mean."

Sakura patted the bed and Hinata wordlessly sat on it. "What on earth were you two talking about?"

Hinata just shook her head. "We spoke about many things. Life, the future, the curse of being a woman born in this century."

Sakura's smile faltered then, but only for an instant as she wrapped Hinata in a soft embrace.

"Ah, serious topics then."

"What did you think we were speaking about?"

"Oh, something livelier I suppose. When you two wandered off after dinner I was expecting a midnight confession."

Hinata's face was hot. "It was nothing like that."

Sakura was about to tease Hinata again, when he noticed the saddened expression, she had on her face. Instead, she said nothing and continued to hold Hinata as she slowly relaxed into her grasp.

Hinata missed Neji. She missed Hoheto. She missed the rest of her cousins and family. The comfort Sakura was giving was nice, but she missed her family so much. It was like a plague that burdened every waking moment. The words and actions from others provided a distraction, but ultimately during the night, right before she fell asleep Hinata never felt more lonely or more worried for them. And perhaps those feelings in addition to the horrible memory, was what caused her to be plagued by nightmares.

But having Sakura there was a wonderful solace and distraction from the heavier things she kept hidden down. Despite all that had happened Sakura wasn't unkind and she gripped her in a warm, sisterly hold. Years ago, she would not have imagined feeling so close to Sakura, but now here they were, bound by trauma and friendship.

Perhaps she'd never be let outside of the Leaf Village again, but she would have the wonderful memories of seeing two people very dear to her once she returned home.

Author's Note: The longest chapter so far. It was meant to be a lot shorter, but I got so into the conversation that Naruto and Hinata had towards the end. Special thank you to Kakau whose last review left me feeling like I needed to include a little more on this AU version of Naruto. He definitely has morals, but they're a little loose when it comes to determining what constitutes a righteous kill.

Also, a special thank you to those who are reviewing/faving/following this story. I anticipated this story being short, but it's quickly grown into something with a lot more depth that I imagined so be ready for a longer ride! As Gai Sensei would say, "Thank you for your support!" 😊