DOWNFALL OF THE LIGHT
Chapter 4: Meeting Hatake Kakashi.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! I don't own Warcraft 3 either! If I did, I wouldn't be poor now would I? I wish I did though!
"...": Speech
'...': Thoughts
Scene Change will be shown in bolded italic brackets if you are curious.
AN: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS! Who would've thought that many people liked it. Personally, I really liked this myself. For those who reviewed it, you know who you are and you should be glad to support me. I need you guys a lot more than you think. For who wanted to know what my account name is on WC3, I don't have one since I have no time for games online. I have dial up, it sucks crap! (Sobs and wipes tears away) I will be getting cable eventually but I know it would be like in another 2 months or so. Yes, it's really annoying. Enough about me, this time is for you people! Now, for all you loyal people out there, he is the next chapter.
"IRUKA-SENSEI!" screeched Sakura at the top of her lungs while standing. "I have to team up with Naruto? This is an outrage!" Sasuke, Hinata and especially Naruto sweatdropped. Sasuke really didn't want to hear anymore girly screeches and anything similar that day, he had enough trouble facing the fact he lost to Naruto, the new guy. The Uchiha didn't hate the Death Knight, he saw him more as a worthy rival and possibly a friend since they had nearly the same personality. Better yet, Naruto was Hinata's friend making them have the same thing in common. Hinata was basically holding onto her friend's hand tightly and excitedly. Any smart person would know this was the happiest thing that happened to the cute Hyuga heiress. Naruto could obviously see that. The Death Knight shook his head a little trying to recover from that sudden shock. At the same time, he was curious of what Iruka had to say about Sakura's protest.
"Well, Sakura," began Iruka with a slight cough. "Hinata has to be on his team too, I don't see her having any problems with it... that's unless she has a problem with it as well."
"Oh, Hinata-san," begged Sakura. "Please say that you have a problem with this so the two of us could switch teams!" Anyone could see Sakura wanted to increase her chance to be on the same team as Sasuke, but the raven-haired genin didn't give a crap about what was happening. To be honest, he didn't even notice. Hinata shook her head slightly giving a no reply to Sakura. The pink haired girl was enraged. However, she won't back down without a decent fight. "Why do I... I mean we have to team up with a blind person anyway? There will be uncertainties in the future that his disability would be our downfall. It's unfair!" Then Naruto started to laugh.
"Sakura-chan," said Naruto with a smile. "I'm not blind." He then took off his blindfold to reveal his eyes weren't damaged in anyway. Sakura gasped in awe. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, so pure, so gentle, ever so attractive. His cerulean eyes matched his look perfectly, she couldn't help but feeling lost while looking at him. "Satisfied?" Sakura nodded which a faint blush on cheeks as the Death Knight tied the blindfold back on covering his eyes. 'He's cute...' thought the emerald eye girl.
"Do you still have any problems with your team, Sakura?" asked Iruka trying to get her attention. The girl shook her head blindly in response and sat back down. She was still looking at Naruto in shock, he was handsome. "Without further adieu, Team 8 would consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino."
Meanwhile:
"What, I don't get teamed up with Sasuke-kun?" exclaimed Ino angrily yet silently.
"Whatever, Ino..." said Shikamaru lazily. "What's so good about him anyway?"
"At least Sakura didn't get him, that's all it matters."
"Yeah, keep thinking that so you would shut up about your ranting."
"Who would want to team up with you anyway?" retorted Ino. "Do you know why no girl likes you?"
"How would I know? I'm not a girl." Ino's eyebrow twitched in anger at Shikamaru's response. They did this really often but Ino never got used to it.
"Team 10," continued Iruka. "Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru," Ino fumed even more at the fact she had to team up with Shikamaru. Outside she was angry, but inside she had a comfortable feeling being able to be with someone she knew very well. Shikamaru just yawned not caring at all. "And Akimichi Chouji. That would be all for teams. Now please meet your jounin instructors at the place they designated for you to meet them. Class will be dismissed and I wish you all good luck on your teams." Iruka said that and left the room. Soon, Naruto found out the meeting place they had was in this room. As most of the people left the room to their designated areas, Naruto moved down up front to rest with Hinata following him trying to give him a soft embrace. Naruto stopped as Hinata made contact with his body.
"Hinata-chan?" he asked a little startled by her actions. She felt his body stiffen a little.
"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," apologized Hinata stuttering with words. "I am just so happy that you're on my team..."
"You've been hiding your excitement haven't you, Hinata-chan?" questioned Naruto teasingly. She nodded smiling. She knew he could read her like a book, she couldn't hide anything. "Anyway, I'm glad you're on my team too." He then looked over to Sakura who sat there alone looking at nothing in particular.
"Should we invite her to come over?" suggested Hinata.
"Maybe we should."
"Hey, Sakura-san," called Hinata no louder than a whisper since she thought Sakura was still mad at her for beating her during the final test. In truth, the emerald eye girl wasn't. Hinata's voice caught the girl's attention. "We were wondering if you would like to chat with us?"
"Sure." Replied Sakura happily skipping down to their level.
"I really haven't introduced myself, have I?" said Naruto politely offering his hand for a handshake. "I am Uzumaki Naruto."
"I'm Haruno Sakura," said the mentioned person returning the handshake. "You don't have to be that formal with me, Naruto. We are teammates after all."
"I insist. Hinata-chan and you could be like my sempais in this place since you girls have been here for so long. Besides, Jiraiya-sensei told me this is a good way to know one another." 'What a guy.' thought the two girls.
"May I ask you something?"
"Ask ahead, be my guest."
"Why... why do you wear a blindfold?" asked Sakura blushing while remembering his clear eyes. "I mean, you look so... good without it..." 'GOOD? Amongst every word you have to use good?' screamed Inner Sakura. 'Now he would think you're a weirdo!'
"That'll be my little secret for now. Eventually I will tell you why. I'll say two things. I can see you right now and this blindfold isn't a phony." He then started to untie his blindfold to reveal his eyes again for the second time. However as he removed it, his eyes shined a bit of teal before turning back to blue. Both girls spotted this sudden change but decided to keep quiet for now. "Try it, Sakura-chan."
"Who allowed you to call me Sakura-chan?" asked the pink hair genin teasingly while taking the object.
"You don't like it? I could call you Sakura-san instead."
"No, no, you can call me that if you want..." replied the girl with a blush. "Sakura-chan sounds fine coming from you."
"Thanks for saying so." Naruto noticed the blush and wanted to smile since it looked real cute on her but on the other hand, he didn't want to make Hinata feel upset. As Sakura wrapped the cloth around her eyes and she couldn't see anything. Hinata then gave it a shot, she activated her bloodline ability the Byakugan. She could see through it then very clearly. She figured out it must've been something about his eyes that made him see through it. She handed back to the Death Knight and he quickly tied it back on his head with his forehead protector on top covering it a little.
'This guy is really good looking... and a lot more of a gentlemen than Sasuke-kun...' thought Sakura.
'Naruto-kun... I hope you tell me what those eyes of yours really are on day.' said Hinata to herself in thought. She wanted to know everything about him and he obviously could tell.
'I know you want to know but I really don't know how you would react after knowing my heritage...' The silver hair genin sighed at that thought and then took out a kunai for entertainment. It has been twenty minutes since the trio started waiting, all three of them decided to sit in the open area of the classroom. Naruto could feel the presence of the other genins already leaving the premises. His eyes showed him Sasuke's team left with a beautiful young female jounin with red eyes and Ino's team left with a man with a dark beard. What was Team 7 doing? They were still waiting for their jounin instructor. Hinata soon grew tired as she began to feel drowsy.
'Looks like she was still pretty worn out from yesterday,' thought Naruto seeing her yawn a little. Unknowingly, she fell asleep on the male genin's lap. The dark warrior's eyebrow raised a bit at the Hyuga girl's sudden action, he smiled at her while she closed her eyes breathing softly. He didn't know why, but he ran his hand through her silky hair, it was smooth, comfortable and the girl blushed when she felt his touch. He removed his own jacket and covered his friend so she wouldn't catch a cold. As he took off his jacket, he showed off his arms which were attractive to the emerald eyed girl. She could melt at the sight, he was very well built, not ridiculously wise but still very manly and appealing. Somehow, he looked at his bandaged right arm, something caught her eye. On his upper arm, their were brown stains on it, it was dried blood, she wondered what happened.
"Naruto-kun..." murmured the Hyuga girl nuzzling closer to the boy.
"Sleep well, Hinata-chan."
"Naruto..." called Sakura nervously.
"What is it, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto turning his head around with a smile. "Don't be so nervous around me, I won't hurt you. That's unless you want me to but I won't know why." She giggled at that remark.
"I know you won't. I just want to ask what happened to your arm?"
"This?" he asked looking at it.
"Yeah, it looked like a lot of blood came from it."
"It did, Sakura-chan. But, don't worry about it too much, it's not like the fact it happened to you."
"Mind if you tell me what happened?"
"It's a little embarrassing if you know what I mean."
"Oh, tell me!" the pink hair girl begged with puppy eyes. However, the Death Knight was one who could withstand that kind of begging. His little sister did it so many times that he learned how to resist it. "I promise I won't laugh."
"Well, I'll tell you but I'm still very certain that you would laugh anyway," said Naruto with a chuckle. "Okay, it happened a several days ago when I was doing my daily training. I was doing those upside down sit ups, you know when I hang upside down and it takes more effort but the training was worth it. So, anyway, I did that for about an hour or so, I was still fresh but that's where Jiraiya-sensei came in. In his point of view, it looked like that I fell into a trap and I tried to get myself out of it."
"But you clearly weren't."
"Correct. Being the dumbass that he is, he really thought I fell into a trap so he decided to 'help' me. Instead of coming to me directly, he tried to free me by tossing a kunai hoping to break the ropes. Due to his old eyesight, he missed and the weapon struck through my right arm."
"Did it hurt?" asked the pink hair genin holding his arm examining the wound.
"What do you think? Hell it did. If you value your life, don't let any dumbass be your sensei." Sakura giggled and Naruto smiled in return.
"Thanks for telling me, Naruto. And I want to apologize for what I did earlier..."
"You mean talking behind my back and how you didn't want to be on my team?" he questioned with a grin.
The girl yelped, she couldn't believe he knew. All she could do was nod slightly with guilt. The Death Knight gave her a pat on the shoulder which startled her. "It's okay, Sakura-chan, things happen." The girl gave a warm smile back, she was happy she was forgiven. It was a good start for this team, as long as their instructor arrived that is.
(Several irritating hours later, Naruto was on a verge to demolish something...)
Two long boring hours has past, Hinata was still sleeping sweetly resting her head on Naruto's lap while Sakura was sleeping next to him. The Death Knight sighed for he was getting tired himself. Then, he started to brush Hinata's hair without knowing. As he revealed that pretty face of hers, he was sort of in a trance. 'Hinata-chan is really pretty,' he thought. 'Wait... what am I doing? Damn, Jiraiya's influence is starting to get to me... must fight it... I can't think like that! But Hinata-chan is very pretty. She has a nice body too, small waist, good hips... NO! What the hell am I thinking? I am Naruto, I am not a pervert! Hinata-chan is your friend, so stop thinking about her like that!' While Naruto was battling with himself, as if on que, someone opened the door to break his thoughts. He really needed that.
"Yo!" called a man with gray hair with a green jounin vest. Naruto being the only person awake at the moment, gave the jounin an unsatisfied look. The silver hair genin observed him closely as he took on step into the room. The guy was tall, he wore his forehead protector in a tilted fashion that covered his left eye. As if that wasn't mysterious enough, he wore a dark coloured face mask that covered obviously his face and his down to his neck. 'What's the matter with his face?' thought Naruto. "Hey, was I disturbing something?"
"Not at all." replied an annoyed Naruto. He wasn't pleased that his teacher was this late.
"You know, you look real cute with those two girls next to you."
"Be quiet, human," snapped the only male genin in the room. 'Great,' thought the jounin. 'I thought I picked a real good student but who knew that he was blind...' "Hey, I'm not blind." The gray hair jounin's visible eye opened a little bit more than usual, he was quite surprised.
"Aren't you going to wake those two up? I don't like to waste time."
"We waited for you for over two hours, five more minutes wouldn't make much of a difference." As Naruto took a glimpse at the jounin standing a several feet away from him, he didn't like what he saw. Judging by the way the gray hair man was looking at Sakura and Hinata, he must've been thinking how lucky he was to have two pretty girls to supervise. With that action alone, the dark warrior knew his instructor was a pervert. He sighed inwardly and decided to wake the girls up. "Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, wake up." he said shaking them both gently. Their eyes started to open just to see Naruto's smile. Hinata blushed like a strawberry realizing her head was on Naruto's lap while Sakura rubbed her eyes from the tiring feeling.
"YOU"RE LATE!" shouted the pink hair genin loudly pointing her finger at the one visible eyed jounin. That burst of output startled the crap out of her teammates. Maybe only Hinata.
"Yeah, sorry..." explained the jounin scratching the back of head with a nervous chuckle. "You see, I was lost in the road of life and..."
"LIAR!"
"Yeah..." he coughed. "Whatever, I want some fresh air, let's go on to the roof." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura groaned with irritation and stomped her way to the roof while Naruto formed a set of hand seals and disappeared in a warp. The lavender eyed girl blinked with confusion not knowing where her friend went. It didn't matter too much since her Byakugan showed her he was on higher ground. The two girls made it on the roof moments later just to find the two males glaring at each other not exactly enjoying each other's presence.
"Sensei..." asked Hinata shyly. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, we're cool," said the jounin breaking eye contact with Naruto. "A pretty girl like you shouldn't be worrying so much." That comment made the Hyuga heiress blush and looked to the ground trying to hide it from the guys. The Death Knight muttered pervert under his breath and made his way to his teammates. The instructor sat on the railing so he could see all his students with his visible eye. He grinned under his mask knowing this would be a very interesting team. "So, we should start with an introduction. Tell me your names, likes, dislikes and goals in the future. This would help all of us know each other better."
"Maybe we could start with you, sensei," suggested Sakura. "We don't even know who you are."
"Fine, I am Hatake Kakashi, I like a lot of things which is my secret and for you to find out. I dislike a lot of things too but I have no intention of telling you. My dreams are none of your concern." The three genin's eyes narrowed. After what Kakashi has said, he told them nothing other than his name. One thing was for certain, Naruto knew Kakashi was a pervert and he liked being one.
"Me, my turn!" exclaimed Sakura. "I am Haruno Sakura, I am thirteen. I like... 'Sasuke-kun!' shouted Inner Sakura happily. My dream is to be... 'With Sasuke-kun! Hell yeah!' thought her inner self yelling victoriously. I don't dislike many things, other than Ino-pig maybe." After that introduction, Naruto just laughed silently since he heard every word Inner Sakura said. He found it amusing.
"What's so funny, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata tugging his arm to get his attention. Sakura looked at him blankly.
"Nothing," answered the silver hair genin shaking it all off quickly. "It's your turn, Hinata-chan."
"Okay... I'm Hyuga Hinata, age 12. I like many things such as my cousin and..." she then looked at Naruto with a slight blush and quickly looked away. "I also like people who are supportive..." she glanced at the Death Knight again with an even more noticeable blush. "I dislike my family for rejecting me..." that caught everyone's attention, Naruto clearly saw what she meant. "My dream is to be with the person I admire..."
"Who's this person?" questioned Sakura in a joking tone.
"I... um... uh..." The Hyuga girl had a lot of trouble maintaining her words clear. At that time, Naruto knew Hinata was secretly signalling for help.
"She'll tell you when she's ready," said Naruto not wanting Hinata to feel obligated to answer that question. "Now, I am Uzumaki Naruto," Kakashi's eye twitched a little when he heard his name, especially Uzumaki. He couldn't believe there was a survivor of that traitorous clan. He remained calm successfully, not wanting his students know his worries. "I'm 12, turning 13 sooner or later. I like ramen, my true friends and my little sister (AN: An OC, you'll know about her later, she does show up in this story.) who lives in the Hidden Village of Air. I dislike perverts," 'Yeah, Kakashi and Jiraiya' he thought. "And overconfident imbeciles. I don't have much of a dream, maybe just to follow my father's footsteps."
"Good," said Kakashi. "Now, before I accept you all as genins, there would be a test tomorrow that you three must complete. If you pass, you three would be officially be on my team."
"Why do we need to do that?" asked Sakura rather quickly.
"Didn't we pass the genin exam already?" added Hinata feeling worried.
"You guys will cry at what I have to say," said Kakashi chuckling.
"Just say it," demanded Naruto not finding his humour funny. "I have no time for games."
"Fine. The test you will be completing tomorrow would have a 66 chance failing system."
"What?" the three genins gasped in unison with Naruto's more of a statement.
"The reason to this is that only 9 genins out of the original 27 students from the graduate class could be official genins after every graduation. The rest would be sent back to the academy and try again next year," explained the jounin rather amused. "We can't have that many jounins being occupied with kids since we need to do missions as well to maintain the prosperity of Konoha. Obviously, those who aren't worthy would be sent back unquestioned. Oh yeah, if one of you don't show up tomorrow, I have no choice but to fail the entire team." 'Not like you three would pass anyway...' thought Kakashi evilly.
"Don't worry, Kakashi," said Naruto without adding sensei deliberately. "We'll be there."
"Glad to hear that. The meeting place will be the open area in the forest where the memorial statue is located. Arrive there at 7AM and be on time. The rest of the day is yours to rest and prepare. Ja!" As soon as Kakashi finished, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The Death Knight didn't waste any time either. Once his instructor left, he made his way to the exit door.
"Naruto-kun, wait!" called a timid voice causing the boy to turn around. The person was none other than Hinata.
"What is it, Hinata-chan?" asked the silver hair genin.
"I was just wondering..." the girl was extremely nervous.
"Wondering if I want have ramen with you?" asked the boy finishing her sentence with a grin on his face.
"Yes... would you like to go with me? I mean you don't have to if you already have plans, I'll understand..." Her anxiety level was above the charts and she was blushing like a cute cherry. Her small hands playing with her index fingers really made her look adorable. The heiress closed her eyes nervously hoping Naruto wouldn't say anything mean. Instead she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I would love to go with you," said the dark warrior with a genuine smile.
"You would?" Her eyes were sparkling with delight.
"Yeah, it'll be my treat."
"No, you can't do that, you treated me to dinner last night. It's only fair if I paid this time." she stated clearly with no stuttering whatsoever.
"How did we solve conflicts when we were kids?" he asked trying to remember.
"We never had any conflicts... how about we play rock, paper, scissors? Winner decides?"
"Deal." Both of them then took out their fist and prepared for the duel of the century. 'Poor little boys, always pick rock.' thought Hinata sinisterly. 'Yep, good ol' rock, nothing beats rock.' said Naruto confidently in his head. As they counted to three, they showed their result.
"Paper." said Hinata.
"Scissors." said the other. "You thought I was going to pick rock, ne, Hinata-chan?"
"That's not fair!" exclaimed Hinata blushing.
"Not fair?" he asked in disbelief. "You are getting a free lunch, I wouldn't complain if I were you."
"I suppose you're right..." she admitted in defeat. The boy smiled a little and gave a quick farewell to Sakura before taking off. It would be rude to just leave without saying goodbye. After the two friends left, Sakura just sighed knowing she had no place to go. So she decided to head home and prepare herself for tomorrow.
(Moments later at Ichikaru's Ramen)
"Yo, Mr. Ichikaru," greeted Naruto putting a grin on his face. "You still remember me?" The owner of the shop and his daughter Ayane (AN: If that is her name, tell me. I don't really remember.) took a close observation. They never recalled serving anyone who was blind before. However, judging by Naruto's voice, he seemed to know them. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable by the stares the Death Knight was getting, he realized why they didn't recognize him. "Maybe this would help." He then removed his blindfold to show them his cerulean eyes. The store workers gasped in awe.
"Naruto," said Ayane lightening up with surprise. "Is that really you?" The boy gave a nod along with a small grin. "We haven't seen you in ages, the last time I saw you I was like 10."
"Yeah, I know."
"Where have you been all this time?" questioned Mr. Ichikaru with curiosity.
"Training for 7 years, nothing special. Enough about me, I want a bowl of shrimp ramen if I may."
"Sure you can but what about that young lady behind you?" A sudden realization struck Naruto as he remembered his friend was here too, he nearly forgot about her.
"Hinata-chan, I'm sorry. I forgot you were here..." he apologized with guilt. The girl shook her head slightly.
"It's okay, Naruto-kun... I'm just glad to be here..." she said kindly. 'My heart is beating so fast... I can't believe Naruto-kun is treating me two days in a row, this is heaven... I think I'm going to faint...'
"Hinata-chan," Naruto spoke with a quiet laugh. "I can hear you heartbeat from here."
"Eh?" The girl then placed her hand to her heart. Holy it was beating fast, a little too fast. Knowing that was a bad thing for the girl, the boy embraced her gently, telling her to relax from time to time. His unexpected contact startled the Hyuga girl at first but when she found out he was trying to help, she couldn't help herself but to hug him back. When he assumed she was okay, he broke the embrace which made the girl let out a silent groan of annoyance and disappointment. "You okay now?"
"Yeah..."
"If you didn't relax and calm down, you would've died of high blood pressure." he stated as a joke.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun... may I have the same thing as you?"
"Fine. We'll have two shrimp ramen then." said the Death Knight to the owner.
"No problem," replied Ayane then giving Naruto an evil smile. "Naruto, you sure have a way to deal with your girlfriend." she teased amusingly. Hinata blushed like mad when she heard that g-word, but the cerulean eyed boy didn't react at all.
"Let's drop that subject," he stated calmly. Ayane just shrugged and went with the flow. Within a several minutes, their orders arrived. In another few minutes, the dark shinobi consumed all the food. It was somewhat scary but he was never the person who liked to take their time on things unless he really had to. Naruto sat in silence where Hinata slowly ate hers and took glimpses at him whenever he wasn't looking, which was often. 'His eyes are so beautiful...' thought the heiress dreamily. "I could look at it all day long and won't get sick of it. He's kind, gentle, considerate, sincere... good looking, any girl would fall for him. Even the whisker marks on his face became more faint. He's so nice to me, when can I tell him my true feelings? He's in front of me, we are alone, should I confess to him? What if he rejects me because I am too forward... if he hates me afterwards, what would I do? I can't let that happen, I just can't...' At that exact moment, Naruto was having thoughts of his own. His master wanted a little chat with him.
'Hello, Death Knight,' called a voice in his head. It was a girl, a beautiful young girl.
'Master, what brings you here at a time like this?' asked Naruto a bit surprised.
'Call me Kyubi-chan, my little dark one.' Kyubi, the demon within Naruto was his master. The one who granted him dark powers beyond imaginable and the runeblade Nightshadow. (AN: I made Kyubi into a girl, no specific reason, I just felt it would be better this way.)
'Kyubi-chan doesn't sound like something an apprentice would call to his master.'
'Don't think of me as your master, think of me as your friend.' said the fox in her humanoid form giving him a cheerful grin.
'Whatever,' he stated. 'Still, what brings you here at this time?'
'Nothing, watching you score with girls is something very entertaining?' she answered with a smirk.
'When did I try to flirt with girls?'
'Don't deny it, my little dark one.'
'What kind of ideas are you trying to give me? I am a Death Knight, not a women magnet. I was never one and I don't intend to start now.'
'Sure, whatever you say.' she said not too convinced.
'I have to say, unlike all the Death Knights, I don't seem to have lost my mind from your influence. I should be following your every command and obey them without question. I am a warrior for crying out loud, I need your guidance to my vengeance.'
'Naruto,' she said seriously. 'I don't need you to do anything reckless, my powers are yours to keep but not for you to do something like a massacre. You are the last of the Uzumaki clan, I don't want to ruthlessly sacrifice you. You've shown me kindness even in the most crucial moments in life, you changed me, I won't allow my old ways to take over you. Remember what I told you?'
'Yeah, you and I are one, you feel what I feel.'
'There are so many times I wish I did the right thing... I should never have tempted a kind soul like yourself...' Kyubi admitted with much guilt.
'What do you mean?' he asked with concern.
'I should've never tempted you, I should've allowed you to know how to fight the darkness within yourself so you would become a Paladin. Now, you are a hated Death Knight...'
'Don't worry about it, Kyubi-chan. If I was a Paladin, I don't think I would like it as much.'
'You see good in everything, don't you?'
'No, I don't. There's nothing for you to regret about, it was my decision.' he said reassuringly.
'You were only 6 back then, I should never have done this to you. Your physical corruption, your demonic blood, your deathly demonic chakra, the Death Knight's powers have truly turned you into a half demon. I am responsible for ruining your life!' she was basically yelling at this point.
'You didn't ruin my life, Kyubi-chan,' he then grabbed her shoulders looking directly in her eyes. 'Look, I am glad you gave me those powers. I was too young back then to handle my own problems and chose the wrong way to achieve a solution, that's why I was tempted. It's not your fault, it's what demons do.'
'Naruto!' she cried and started to sob on his chest. 'I'm so sorry...'
'Kyubi-chan, don't cry... it's not good for your apprentice to see you like this.' he said calmly.
'You have no idea how guilty I feel,' she continued to cry. 'It's all my fault! I can't let it go!'
'There, there, it's okay.' He then rubbed her back trying to bring his master back together.
'You became a half demon because of me, I'm not worthy of your kindness. I should rot in hell for doing something like this.' she said bitterly cursing herself every second that passed by.
'Kyubi-chan, listen to me,' ordered the Death Knight losing part of his patience. 'If I didn't have this power, I would've never been able to save Jiraiya or my sister's lives. I thank you master. The powers of this dark warrior is perfect for me, my vengeance is yours. I accepted this power willingly in the past and I take full responsibility of it. I wanted this power for my revenge, Konoha will pay for what they did to me.'
'Don't set your heart on vengeance, Naruto... just forget about it... live your life as happily as you can.'
'I can't do that,' he replied angrily. 'I am no Paladin, these fools have nothing to do with me.'
'What about Hinata?' asked Kyubi suddenly. 'What would she think about that?'
'Why did you bring her up?'
'Answer my question, Naruto.'
'She's my friend, my only true friend.' he answered without further questions.
'I'm certain she won't like it if she sees you in your most powerful demonic form.'
'You don't mean...'
'Yes I am,' she said seriously. 'Your vengeance is too great, Naruto. That dark spirit within yourself feed on that hate and resentment. Don't allow it to take over you or you would face a case of the Metamorphosis.'
'There is another way for the Metamorphosis to occur?' he asked worriedly. She nodded slowly. 'Could my vengeance go that far as if that could happen?'
'Of course it could.'
'I can't allow Hinata-chan be in danger...' he said realizing what his master was getting at.
'If you live a life with the goal of hatred, you have no idea how much more blood would be stained on your hands.' reminded the demon master cautiously.
'How do I thin out this vengeance?' asked Naruto wanting a solution.
'You could start with a smile every morning instead of shattering your poor alarm clock.' suggested Kyubi.
'That's a pretty tall order. Can't I start with a smirk and work my way up?' That alone resulted an immediate death glare from his master. The Death Knight sweatdropped. 'Fine, fine , fine, you win. I'll try to smile, okay?' Kyubi smiled happily while her apprentice sighed in exhaustion. 'Thanks anyway, master.'
'Call me Kyubi-chan, my little dark one.' she giggled as she gave him a hug.
'Sure thing.'
'Hinata is calling you, Naruto. Treat her as the most precious person in your life.'
'That sounds awfully familiar, what did you mean by that?'
'You'll find out soon enough, I'll find you later.' As Kyubi finished her sentence, she slowly vanished bringing back the Death Knight to reality.
(Meanwhile)
"Naruto-kun, Naruto-kun," said Hinata shaking his arm slightly. "Are you okay?"
"What is it?" he asked coldly still trying to regain his focus in reality.
"You didn't respond when I called you for over a minute."
"Sorry, I was just in deep thought. I must've been in another zone..."
"I thought you were dead. You didn't blink, your pulse was a lot slower than before. Don't scare me like that."
"Die? Me?" he asked amused. "Get real. Death Knights don't die that easily."
"Death Knight?" she questioned confused. "What is that?" The silver hair boy then realized he said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
"Nothing, Hinata-chan," he said trying to change the subject. "Looks like you're done your meal, let's get going." However, Hinata gave a firm grip on his arm not allowing him to leave. "Hinata-chan, what are you doing?"
"Naruto-kun, tell me who you are," she demanded softly. "I've so many questions I want to ask you, please tell me."
"It's none of your business, Hinata-chan," he snapped rudely.
"Naruto-kun, I'm your friend, you can trust me. I missed you so much, can't I at least know what happened to you all these 7 years? How you became this strong, why is your hair silver and why are your attacks all so death like?" Naruto's eyes widened a bit hearing her last question.
"You saw my move the Death Coil?" he asked raising his eyebrow.
"I saw you after I drank the stuff you gave me... what was that Death Coil anyway?"
"It's my healing technique, Hinata-chan."
"It looked more like death itself has devoured you... it was scary. How could you call that healing?"
"I felt better afterwards, that's all it matters, okay?"
"No, it's not. Who are you anyway?" He saw the emotional pain in her eyes when she asked him. He couldn't bare to watch it. the last thing he ever wanted to do was to hurt his best friend. By not telling her, he was hurting her. Despite how much he didn't want to tell her, he had to say something. In the end he gave in, but he decided he would tell her only a little bit.
"I am a Death Knight, one who accepted power from my master and what she wanted was my loyalty. It's the least I could do. She granted me plenty of very rare Hidden Techniques that she possesses and she is still giving me more today. More importantly, she gave me this runeblade and forged most of the techniques in here." He then took out his blade from his sheath. "This weapon here contains much more magic than you can imagine. This thing has become part of me, a critical object in my life that I can't live without. You possess one of those Hidden moves as well, Hinata-chan. The Mana Burn is something my master taught me. You know, this blade was forged with pure chakra."
"Pure chakra? Is that why you could execute moves with this blade?" she asked curiously.
"Exactly."
"I could feel a dark aura coming out of this blade... I am worried about you."
"Well, I could execute my Hidden Techniques with or without this blade. However, there are some attacks that I have to use this to cast, like my trademark techniques." he explained.
"Can I learn it?"
"My Hidden Techniques? Sure thing but my trademark moves you can't learn it. In fact, I can't even teach you because you don't have the blood, just like how I can never learn the Byakugan. You like it if I taught you some more useful moves in the future?"
"I would like that, do you promise?"
"I wouldn't lie." he stated simply giving her a grin.
"Okay... but your energies are so dark though... I am afraid it may hurt you in some way..." she said in a worried expression which made Naruto sigh a bit.
"I've wield it for 6 years, Hinata-chan, I can control it fine."
"I trust you, Naruto-kun." She certainly had a lot of faith in her admirer. Somehow, she knew he would be just fine. Naruto was just glad Hinata didn't find anything suspicious even though he didn't tell her the entire truth. However, the Hyuga girl knew there was a lot more Naruto wasn't telling her but she decided to drop it for the time being. She didn't want Naruto to feel pressured into doing something he didn't want to do.
"Hinata-chan, we have a big day ahead of us, we should get going." She agreed giving a nod as Naruto paid the bill. As the two walked together down the streets of Konoha back to the Hyuga estate, Hinata wanted to hold the boy's hand. But Naruto played dumb and pretended not to know what she was trying to do when he clearly did. The heiress was disappointed at that. Seeing her semi-pouting expression, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Once the lavender eyed girl was escorted home safely, the Death Knight bid a short farewell and walked back to his place to rest so he would be 100 ready for the task ahead.
While walking, he smiled as he remembered that smiling face of his best friend. She looked radiant and sincere, that was a face he wanted to witness from her ever since he was young. Whenever Hinata smiled, it always seemed so depressing. When she was with him, she would smile like an angel from the heavens, it was so beautiful that no one could resist. Smiling again, he looked back at the Hyuga mansion over his shoulder. His grin became wider when at the corner of his eye he saw Hinata's head sticking out slightly, he knew she was watching him. Not blowing her cover, Naruto simply continued walking with a smile still plastered on his visage. 'Good night, Hinata-chan,' he said in his mind as he melded into the dark shadows of the night.
AN: A long chapter done at long last. Longest one so far with over 6000 words. I'm sure the ones in the chunnin exam would be a dread to write. I have the story written out by hand already, so it isn't that hard to write the fic out. All your suggestions are great, luckily, al of them could be interpreted into my story. The next chapter would take a bit longer for me to deal with since it would be long as well. The reason I could update it so quickly is that I written a few chapters ahead of time and let some people revise it before I post it. Which means I already had stuff available to post, now I have to continue from scratch. Sorry if my plot is going so slow, I just need to get the important things out of the way first. I hope all of you would be patient and here is a small foreshadow for you all. There will definitely be Hinata and Sakura rivalry, that's why I put two girls on his team. It would make this story so much more interesting. JUTSU LIST UPDATED! The next chapter, what do you think it is? I'll just do a good job at keeping you all in suspence.