Because I Love You - Chasing After You

by The Flare Blade

Hiruzen knew that Tazuna's request was much more dangerous and important than it first appeared to be. He needed experienced ninja for the mission, but his hands were tied because of politics... until he sees a loophole. Using an educational project as cover, he will send two teams to Wave! A Naruto retelling with Hinata as a main character but with canon teams. (Ch1-5 revised!)

17. Chapter 17 - Shattered, part 4

Thank you for your patience and your understanding about SimplePotato's situation, guys! This delay was rough, given that college started again for both of us. Bye bye free time! (ugh!)

Before we begin... I'll take this time to leave a message to everyone that is reading this. It is not relevant to the fic but it is something that can make a difference in your life, regardless if you are an old adult with a stable job or a kid that is in high school and still isn't seriously considering this, but... pay attention.

You should pursue some sort of second profession in life. Some sort of backup plan if your first profession simply stops being viable. For example, decades ago, my uncle chose to specialize in fixing broken/defective typewriters. It went well enough for a big while, and he earned some good money... but guess what happened when typewriters became a thing of the past? Yes! So did he, as a professional.

So work to have another diploma, regardless of your age, and make sure at least one profession is stable and shouldn't go away forever decades from now. This kind of fear (among other stuff) is what led me to shove my dream of getting a degree on Game Design to the side and focus on a more... traditional profession. In this case, accounting. Years from now I'll pursue my dream, but if games become unviable for me as a profession, I'll have something to fall back on. (and I'm talking about console gaming here, as I refuse to work on mobile unless it's "work or go hungry" or part of college issues, and yes, I know it's silly.)

TL, DR: Make sure you have a Plan B before Plan A can go to hell in terms of profession. Don't be like my uncle, or wait until the last possible second like my dad.

So... just in case you missed it, this chapter was split in two and this is the second part. The first one and my profile explains why I chose to do this, in spite of possible reader losses. Even though it ended up being too big anyways... after the split, that is. A couple scenes proved themselves needed, as my beta convinced me to a couple days before posting this. I think it was for the better, though.

Lastly, this chapter forces me to remind you all that this fic is rated M. Last chapter had action. This one... has something else.

Without further ado, grab your sandwich and let's end this!

---

Land of Waves arc

Chapter 17: Shattered, part 4 (Current Version: 1.0.1)

---

Haku struggled to keep up with Kurenai's pace as they ran inside the mist, even though the kunoichi was carrying one of her genin students on her shoulders—for mobility purposes only, as Kiba's shoulder had been patched-up minutes prior. His bloodied coat had been discarded, however.

'Genjutsu is surely amazing,' the Yuki mused, sparing Kurenai a glance. What was supposed to be an interrogation to discover possible backup plans and weaknesses Zabuza might have had ended up revealing to both Kurenai and Haku that their final goals matched, to their complete surprise.

It all made Haku wonder if Zabuza had been that unaware, or simply didn't realize that Gatou was actually important to the Mizukage. Despite his wish for the hat, the swordsman had a certain distaste for politics... but in the end, it all meant nothing.

Haku had to reach Zabuza and inform him that Konoha was fighting on their side.

"Shino and the others are up ahead," he heard the Inuzuka reporting, and soon enough they found Tazuna and his two bodyguards.

Despite being the only one that wasn't a trained ninja, Tazuna somehow sensed their presence first.

"What in the blazes?!"

The bridge builder's shock at seeing Haku right behind Kurenai instantly made Sakura and Shino be on their guard as they turned around.

"Kurenai-sensei, behind you!"

"Calm down! He's on our side!" Kurenai shouted once both genin moved in front of Tazuna and drew shuriken. The two stood around confusedly as the woman lowered herself to drop Kiba.

"Sasuke is in this direction; Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei are in that one!" the dog-user said, pointing with his good arm to somewhere in the mist.

"Thank you, Kiba. Stay with them, and please don't move your shoulder if you can help it."

The Inuzuka didn't even have the chance to reply to Kurenai, as she and Haku took off immediately.

"...Okay. What was that all about?" Sakura asked while scratching her head idly. "Isn't that guy the one that was fighting Sasuke-kun? Why is he even coming from the other side of the bridge?"

Kiba became uneasy. "Um, look. I don't really get all the details but... ugh, I don't even know where to begin."

Seeing his teammate hiding his face in frustration, Shino tried to help him. "Start from the beginning."

"Why, thanks Shino," the Inuzuka muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Bug-boy is right," Tazuna frowned. "Last we heard of you, you were fighting that other masked person while the girlie came to get help. Start from there."

After a brief apology to Shino, Kiba spent a couple minutes explaining what had happened until that moment. From when Hinata rejoined him against Haru, to the end of Kurenai's illusion-based interrogation.

"...So let me see if I got it right," Sakura began, "Zabuza wants to be the next Mizukage, and Gatou is working for the current Mizukage, so it is in Zabuza's best interests to break his contract with Gatou?"

"Yeah, something like that," Kiba nodded, not fully confident. "They were kinda vague, but that's what I got out of it."

"No, that makes perfect sense," Tazuna said, crossing his arms. "This land has brought a lot of profit to Gatou ever since he took over two years ago. Not only is our country's economy his to do whatever he wants, but a lot of his ships and wares are stored here, and because he has the Daimyo eating out of his hand, he doesn't have to worry about taxes. The Land of Water is not far from here, so I'm sure many there, including their hidden village, depend on Gatou's shipped goods... legal or not, from food to weapons. If that Zabuza fellow really wants a shot at a coup d'etat then fighting against Gatou is the right thing to do."

"This country really is that important to Gatou, huh?" Kiba shot back as he scratched his chin idly.

"You have no idea, dog boy," the bridge builder scoffed. "I've seen the warehouses Gatou has. This land is more valuable to him than Konoha is to the Land of Fire, I'd wager."

Tazuna's musings left the group in silence as they pondered on his heavy words... until Sakura realized Kiba had failed to mention one thing.

"Hey, Kiba."

"What?"

"What happened to Sasuke-kun and Naruto? I mean, the guy they fought somehow ended up in the ocean, so they must have won, but they never came back..."

"Oh... S-sasuke? I... well..." he gulped and looked away. That was a question he had been hoping that Sakura would've forgotten about.

His nervous reaction was enough to cause the other three present to be on the edge.

"Kiba, did something happen to them?" Shino inquired calmly, but even he became unsettled when Kiba disclosed what he did know about the situation.

It started with a heavy sigh. "Naruto's fine but... listen, Sakura. About Sasuke..."

---

Hinata wanted to kick herself. Naruto had halted and, between the silence and the pained expression that his refusal to make eye contact failed to hide... had she, again, said something she shouldn't have?

'Maybe I should change the subject... no. No, this is too important to let go.' the girl decided.

Steeling herself, she slowly repeated: "Naruto-kun, w-where is Sasuke-san?"

His eyes closed shut with a deep frown. As much as he had tried to hold them back... as much as he tried to remain strong, the weight of the pain and his failures was too much.

Hinata had her answer when tears began to escape Naruto's closed eyelids, but he tried to force something through his throat anyways.

"Sasuke... Sasuke is—"

"This is worse than I thought..."

A new voice interrupted Naruto. But... it wasn't talking to him. It was a little too far away for that.

Hinata, by instinct, futilely tried to scan the area to find the voice's owner. Naruto on the other hand, practically flew towards it, as anger took over.

"I know that voice!"

"Huh?!"

The girl's shock wore off with a breath of frustration. Naruto had ditched her to run off towards the unknown, again. Left with no other option, she hurried to follow him before his chakra signature became too mixed with the mist's.

She caught up with him just in time to see Kurenai together with the unmasked—and completely soaked—Haku crouched over what looked to be Sasuke. The jonin's hands were glowing green as she tended to him, while Haku stood by, focused intently on the Uchiha's wounds.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Naruto demanded with a scream, pointing at Haku... and then, confused, he moved his pointed finger to Kurenai. "And you too... weren't you frozen?! And—!"

Kurenai just sighed, ending the Mystic Palm. "Naruto, calm yourself. This—"

Something inside him snapped.

"Calm myself? Calm myself?! How can I—!"

A tug on his sleeve interrupted him. When he turned around, Naruto was suddenly face-to-face with Hinata. The girl didn't even mind that her ugly Byakugan was there for him to see.

"Please Naruto-kun... calm down," she pleaded. The worry in her tone gave him pause. "They are trying to help him... yelling at them won't do anything."

He stared her down for a couple seconds until he was forced to accept her words, and despite his defiant growl, he backed down, allowing the girl to take over as his wrath receded.

Sparing one worried glance at Sasuke's needle-struck, bleeding form, Hinata faced her teacher. "Sensei, what is happening?"

Much like what Kiba had done to Tazuna and the other genin, Kurenai briefly explained their situation, all while Haku carefully analyzed Sasuke's body and removed a select few needles he deemed safe to touch.

"And... you're on our side now, is that right?" Hinata then asked Haku, wary. She had thought to thank Kurenai for saving her first, but that wasn't important right then. In the corner of her mind, she noticed her sensei no longer had her hands wrapped in bandages.

"Officially, not yet," the Yuki answered, frowning as he carefully looked over Sasuke's body. "I had planned to talk to Zabuza-sama straight away, but your friend's condition is critical. If I don't focus on him, he won't survive."

"Wait, Seriously?!" Naruto didn't notice Hinata wincing from his volume. "You can help him?!"

"I am trying to," Haku corrected, conflicted. "Uchiha-san surprised me in that last moment. I didn't have the time to aim as well as I normally can." Once Sasuke had gotten close up, it had taken everything he had just to slow the genin down, and he still managed to get punched away before Sasuke's body stopped working.

"So he can be saved, right?!"

Haku finally looked up to Naruto, and his expression wasn't encouraging. "This wasn't done with precise aim like with Zabuza-sama," he repeated, "nor with the same areas being hit by my senbon. I'm not fully sure we can make him come out of that near-death state now, or how he will be after waking up. Some of those needles hit nerves, vital organs, and important blood vessels as well. It's... complicated."

From what Haku could see, Sasuke had been forced into unconsciousness because each part of his body had been individually shut down, rather than all at once. A few of the needles, though, either only barely struck the spots they needed or went far too deep into the boy's body than what was necessary. And that is not considering the various other needles that struck him elsewhere or the ones that went in the wrong angles... knowing which needles were safe to remove and how to fix the damage each caused was, as Haku said, complicated.

That didn't squash Naruto's spirit. "But there's still a chance, right?! H-he's going to be fine, won't he!?"

Kurenai looked up at him with a pained face. "Naruto, I really wish we could say yes, but Sasuke will need a real doctor to look over him before we can really confirm. There might be lasting damage from this. We... simply don't know."

"Right now we are only minimizing the damage and healing what is possible with basic medical ninjutsu," Haku added, but unlike Kurenai, the boy had a small smile for Naruto when he raised his head. "But he isn't at risk of dying, that I can say for sure."

"Thank goodness..." Hinata sighed in relief, smiling. Said smile widened when she saw that Naruto, too, looked relieved and happy—concrete proof that he and the Uchiha heir had strengthened their bond in these past few days.

The moment was cut short when Kurenai found a use for them. "You two need to make sure Zabuza knows he shouldn't be trying to kill Tazuna anymore. I need to stay here to help him with Sasuke. Can you do that?"

"...You want us to go between that guy and Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto shouted with clear disbelief. That was just suicidal!

It was Haku that answered, without even looking up. "Use a clone and you'll be safe. You just need make sure to draw Kakashi-san's attention at the same time, or one of them will use the distraction to kill the other."

Naruto gulped but forced out a boisterous declaration and a thumbs-up nonetheless. "Alright! Leave it to me!"

Smiling, Kurenai then looked at her student. "Hinata, guide him with the Byakugan," she commanded, to which the girl immediately nodded.

"Kurenai-san, I will remove this needle but you must stop the bleeding as soon as possible and heal the nervous tissue as best as you can."

Kurenai turned away from them, now fully focused on Sasuke. "Right," she nodded to Haku, palms glowing green again.

As they resumed their work, Naruto and Hinata exchanged a look. Nodding in unison, they doubled back to follow the loud sounds of steel crashing against steel.

---

...Or at least, they tried to follow.

The sounds changed direction every few seconds—a testament to the level of speed involved in the battle—but before Kakashi and Zabuza entered Hinata's range the sounds simply ceased to be, almost as if to spite the two genin. The killer intent in the air told them they weren't too far, but they were forced to halt.

"Dang, I can't hear anything!" Naruto whined loudly, looking around aimlessly. "I hate this mist..."

'Are we too late?' Hinata thought with dread as she tried to force more chakra to her eyes. Her Byakugan was barely affected by the effort, but soon she stopped as her eyes detected movement. "I... I think the mist is going away!"

"Uh, it is?" Naruto looked around, but he couldn't see a difference.

"Yes!" the Hyuuga confirmed, happy that her special eyes were seeing more and more each second that passed. Until eventually...

"I found them! There's Kakashi-sensei and... what?"

"You fo—hey, what are you doing?!"

Unintentionally giving him a taste of his own medicine, Hinata simply took off without him, leaving an angry Uzumaki scrambling to chase after her, for once.

"Hey! Wait up!" he yelled as he ran until she braked as suddenly as she had started to run. Naruto almost knocked her over as he skidded to a stop.

"Why'd you run away like that?!" he demanded, hypocritically, but Hinata never answered. She just kept silently staring ahead with a horror-filled expression on her face.

It didn't take long for Naruto to follow her gaze and saw Zabuza, pinned to the ground by Kakashi. There were shuriken and kunai buried deep inside the swordsman's one good arm, and Kakashi loosely held his last kunai above Zabuza's neck. Zabuza was struggling to free himself, and in the position they were, Kakashi would've just killed him... but...

"To use and to be used... hehehe! How does it feel to be on the other side of that story, Zabuza?"

A new voice drew Naruto's attention and he finally understood why Hinata seemed so terrified. He had never seen or heard a description before, but there was no doubt in Naruto's mind about the man standing a fair distance away from the two jonin.

Dressed in a sharp, obviously expensive suit, carrying himself like he owned the world and flanked by dozens of dangerous-looking thugs carrying weapons such as swords, bows and pikes... there was simply no way it could've been someone else but the president of Gatou Corporation himself. Who else would be able to hire so many mercenaries?

He was mildly overweight, not very tall. Between the cane in his left hand and the bandages covering the other, his presence was far from intimidating. What horrified him and Hinata both wasn't Gatou or his bodyguards, but what he was doing.

"You will pay for that, Gatou!" they heard Zabuza screaming to Gatou as he continued to try and shake Kakashi off. He succeeded, but he could hardly stand up on his own. That didn't stop him from sending to Gatou a murderous glare with as much killing intent as he could manage.

"Didn't you hear what I just said, Zabuza? The whole point of this is not paying you anything!" Gatou laughed merrily, but soon he stopped. "Oh, I see," he feigned realization, "you are referring to this, aren't you?" he looked down to his feet.

One of them was buried in the unconscious Haru's neck, on which he was supporting his weight—just enough to not suffocate her.

"You know, I didn't like very much what you did to my hand, you little bitch. You gave me ugly burn scars that will cost me a fortune to remove!" he spat, literally, removing his foot from her neck. He took one moment to admire the big, dark purple bruise he had left on the defenseless girl, smiling at the sight. "And I know just the way to return the favor..."

He raised his cane and pressed a hidden button carved in the wood, making a small blade pop from the cane's bottom, and his smile turned outright wicked.

"Ah, it's a pity you aren't awake for this!"

Naruto and Hinata would never forget that moment.

Gatou slammed his cane on the girl's throat as violently as he could, grinning wickedly when it pierced skin and crushed her windpipe. He quickly removed the now-red cane from inside her and shoved it in another spot of the neck, repeating the process again and again and again... until Haru's neck became nothing more than a mangled mess in a bloody puddle.

The magnate never paid any mind to the screams he heard or the two people that moved towards him when he revealed his secret blade. He knew they'd never reach him in time.

"You bastard!"

The first one that moved was Zabuza. As soon as he got up he tried to rush at his former employer to give him the death he deserved, but Gatou had prepared his mercenaries in advance. A well-placed arrow to his thigh was all it took to stop the wounded swordsman's charge.

The second one was Naruto. Roaring loudly, the orange genin took off before Hinata could even think of stopping him, but the same couldn't be said for Kakashi. The silver-haired man moved faster than Naruto could see and grabbed him from behind.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"No, Naruto! Stop!"

Even though the boy was kicking his wounded torso while trashing around in an attempt to escape, Kakashi managed to turn Naruto so that they were facing each other. The Sharingan eye was locked on to the boy's own blue ones, but Naruto would later realize that even if Kakashi had resorted to genjutsu then, it wouldn't have mattered.

"There is nothing you can do anymore, Naruto. She is dead."

As if someone had dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on his head, the blazing fury in the boy's heart was doused by Kakashi's words.

It hadn't been too long since he had been forced to wrestle with that reality. When he came to his senses and rediscovered Sasuke's "corpse", he had felt that same guilt and uselessness—that he could've done something to stop it all—but the brutality of Haru's murder made it so much harder for Naruto to stop the tears from running free.

That Kakashi pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around his back in an attempt to comfort him just made it impossible.

"Dammit... dammit!"

Meanwhile, with no one to support her, Hinata was trembling, fighting her own body.

The Byakugan had many unsolved mysteries still, such as what were the conditions to trigger a burst of increased and more detailed eyesight. Hinata had no idea of what it could be, but she despised her eyes for choosing that exact moment to become stronger.

The blade cutting skin and muscle... the wooden cane crushing the larynx and fracturing the spine... the lungs, working desperately to get just a little bit of oxygen, only to be flooded with blood... the torn-up chaos that was a human neck... Hinata had seen it all in excruciating detail.

The Hyuuga girl's already pale complexion was even whiter than usual, and there was a mess inside her own throat trying to force its way up. It took a strength she didn't know she had to just stay conscious, especially when Zabuza released a burst of killing intent that it knocked out a couple of Gatou's goons with its sheer intensity.

To say that the swordsman was furious would be an understatement.

"Gatou..." he growled dangerously, getting up. "When I get my hands on you I'll make you regret that day that whore you call a mother brought you into this world!"

The gangster just laughed at him.

"Why are you so mad, Zabuza? I was just doing you a favor! From that speech about tools you gave earlier, I thought you didn't care. Or..." he smirked knowingly, "was that a lie? Is there a soft heart beneath all that coldness, Zabuza?"

That caught Naruto's attention.

Gatou only got a growl as a response, and it made him laugh even harder. "How pathetic! So much for a demon... tsk!" He turned his back on Zabuza and began to walk away, completely assured of his own safety.

"If you want to kill me so much, I'll be waiting at the end of this stupid bridge. Try to kill some of these guys for me, won't you? They cost me money too. Not that you'll do much, wounded as you are... Kitty of the Hidden Mist."

Gatou's mercenaries opened a way for him. While a few laughed with or openly glared at him—the archer, in particular, paled as he understood why he was told to not aim to kill—most seemed excited at the prospect of a good fight coming up as they readied themselves for battle.

With Gatou's mad laughter still echoing around the misty bridge, Zabuza fell back some steps.

"Kakashi... my contract with that scum is null and void. The price for betrayal is death, and I'm sure you realize what that means for your mission."

"Yes. We are on the same side now." Kakashi released Naruto and pushed the boy behind himself. "How do you want to do this?"

Zabuza glared at his left arm. 'Those burns...'

Even if his other wound could be healed, his career as a ninja was over. His dream of becoming the Mizukage... was officially out of his reach. With his followers either dead or captured... he had nothing to lose anymore.

"Gatou is mine; that's unnegotiable. I'll carve a path to him, you can take the cannon fodder whenever you want."

Before Kakashi could answer, Naruto got in the way. "But how are you going to fight?! Your arms... they don't look like they are working right now..."

Hinata forced herself to speak, if only to try to focus on something other than Haru's corpse. "T-the tendons... one is cut and the other is... gone." Looking at Zabuza's almost molten left arm hadn't been her best idea yet, even with her vision being devoid of color.

"Not a problem." Zabuza sucked in air through his mask, pulling the bandages inside his mouth and tearing them apart with the shark-like teeth he had kept hidden behind them.

Gatou's mercenaries watched him curiously, warily... and Zabuza knew that would be the last mistake of more than a few of them.

"Boy... toss me a kunai."

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto did just that. 'Why would he want... holy shit, this guy is crazy!' he screamed inside his mind when he saw Zabuza's head lash out to grab the kunai with his teeth.

Zabuza saw his death right in front of him and didn't hesitate. With a roar, he blazed through the mob of mercenaries.

As damaged and tired as he was, even with an arrow to the thigh, his speed and instincts were leagues above any of the sellswords Gatou had. From surprise alone he managed to kill five.

He dodged swords, slit throats, severed arms, punctured lungs, destroyed shields... all while moving forward as best as he could, with nothing but a mere kunai in his mouth. But skill could only take him so far.

The sheer range of an enemy's naginata was what brought about his first wound and his kidney's death sentence.

"Yeah, kill him!" Zabuza heard one of them cheering, but the man had made the mistake of being too close. A fatal mistake.

Despite their increasingly smaller numbers, the mercenaries were gaining momentum on Zabuza, all while Gatou was busy, starting with disgust at his bloodied boots

"Ugh, this was my favorite pair!"

...Then a head rolled away from the mob, leaving a trail of blood on the bridge until the skull stopped to gaze with its dead eyes at its former boss.

Screaming, the man jumped backwards, but the decapitated head was soon forgotten when a deafening roar came from within the crowd. A blur tore through the last human shields that that separated Zabuza from its target, and the wretched smile he wore was positively demonic.

"GATOU!"

"Aaaiie!"

Gatou saw his death right in front of him and didn't hesitate. He turned tail and ran a fast as his little chubby legs could take him, only to trip in his scramble to survive and crash on the bridge he loathed so much.

"No, no!" he turned and crawled backwards and Zabuza approached. "Someone do something! Help me!"

The mercenaries didn't move an inch. They all knew it was already game over. They did their best, though—there were enough weapons piercing Zabuza's back that he might've been mistaken for a porcupine.

Vengeance kept Zabuza going.

"You asked me for a favor, Gatou..." Zabuza began, grinning widely, showing two rows of sharp teeth to his prey and the kunai between them. "I did it. I killed quite a few of those trashy mercenaries... so now it's my turn to ask you something."

"SHUT UP!"

Desperate, Gatou shoved his cane at Zabuza. The blade barely nicked skin, getting stuck in the chainmail underneath Zabuza's blue sleeveless shirt. "Get away from me!" he screamed and shoved it further in, but the swordsman whipped his damaged arm and knocked the weapon away.

Gatou's bladder acted on its own will when he felt the bridge wouldn't go any further.

"Keep hell's gates open for me, will ya?" Zabuza grinned at him, like a predator that had cornered his next dinner. "I'm coming to torment you for the rest of eternity, Gatou!"

" I'll give you anything! Money! Weapons! Women! Whatever you want!" Gatou pleaded, bawling like a baby. "Just please... don't kill me!"

Zabuza stopped and made a thoughtful face, restoring Gatou's hopes.

"Hmm. In that case..."

A deep, malicious chuckle crushed them.

"How about your head?"

"Nononono! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOO—! "

The kunai mercilessly and completely tore through Gatou's neck in one wide slash, silencing him forever.

His head, frozen in a mute scream, rolled away until it fell into the ocean. The waters soon became the greedy man's official grave when Zabuza kicked the corpse with all his strength, sending the dead carcass to join the head.

The only thing that remained of the magnate was a thick trail of blood on the ground.

"An eye... for an eye, you bastard," Zabuza spat, with some difficulty.

He then turned around and saw many of the mercenaries staring at him as if he were some sort of demon. 'Just how I like it...' he almost chuckled.

A single glare was all it took for them to clear the way for him, and even though his vision was blurring horribly from the blood loss, he saw a familiar green shape hovering beside Haru's dead body.

'...Haku? He's actually alive?'

The thought that perhaps he wasn't hallucinating—or that Naruto had lied—gave him enough strength to keep moving forward... but his wounds were too grave. Zabuza managed only a few meters before his body gave out on him and he fell, surrounded by the mercenaries.

On the verge of dying, he heard one of the mercenaries rally the others, convincing them that since Gatou died that raiding the village was their best option to earn some quick money.

Zabuza knew that Kakashi was in no condition to handle a mob of that size. He wasn't sure that Haku could bring himself to fight at that moment either, and Kurenai... even if she somehow wasn't frozen, he doubted the kunoichi could cast a genjutsu on such a large area before the mercenaries advanced. Those high-level illusions simply take too long to use, and whatever remained of his mist's chakra wouldn't help. Even Naruto's shadow clones would amount to little on their own, given their frailty.

But judging from the sounds he heard in the distance... maybe there was worth in holding on for a little while longer.

If Haku was indeed alive... he had one last thing to do before death claimed him.

He refused to die just yet.

---

What had initially seemed like a hopeless situation was completely reversed as Inari arrived with hundreds of villagers in tow, all armed and ready to defend the bridge that represented their country's hope.

That had been enough to rally Naruto into entering the fight with a few dozen shadow clones of his own, and Kakashi helped sell the illusion with hundreds of intangible, normal clones.

"Let's get out of here!" one of the thugs screamed as he and the rest of them run away in fear, jumping from the bridge. Some fell to the ocean, but all of them eventually ended up in the ship Gatou used to transport them, and fled the country. Of course, thanks to Zabuza, there were far fewer men aboard than before. Many corpses were left to rot in the unfinished end of the bridge, but nobody paid attention to the bloody trail the swordsman had left behind.

"We won! We won!"

The laughter and cheers from the villagers were deafening. The smiles were contagious, and Hinata was no exception to that, as emotionally and physically drained as she was.

She saw Tazuna crying his heart out, clearly overwhelmed by the sight of the other villagers finally finding the courage and hope he had thought died with Kaiza. Tsunami had tried to speak with her father, but she ended up just being a shoulder for him to cry.

"I-I can't believe it...! Everyone came!" he exclaimed, crushing the poor woman in a hug.

Hinata also saw Inari and Naruto hugging each other, laughing merrily. She didn't understand how it happened, but there was no doubt in her mind that Naruto had found a way to change the boy's mindset... causing a ripple effect that resulted in this.

"You rocked, Inari! That was so badass!"

"Heh, it's all because of you! If you hadn't saved me and my mom, we wouldn't be here right now!"

Hinata's smile widened. Her eyes then caught a certain pinkette crying tears of happiness while Kurenai struggled to keep her away from Sasuke, whose condition was apparently still unstable.

"Sasuke-kun! Y-you're alive!"

"Sakura, no! He's still wounded!"

"Can't... breathe...!"

Hinata had no doubt seeing her crush bloodied and full of needles had been a shock for Sakura, but even as she watched the poor Uchiha almost being strangled to death, Hinata felt a surge of happiness that he was awake in the first place.

That happiness only increased when she spotted a limping Akamaru, who had somehow knocked Kiba to the ground and was licking his face incessantly. Seeing the little puppy's simple love for his master always warmed Hinata's heart, but even though Kurenai had already mentioned it, seeing Kiba alive and well lifted a weight off her shoulders.

Shino was with the two as well and nodded in her direction. Hinata was just about to wave to him and join them when she heard a sound full of grief amidst the loud cheers. Her head whipped backwards and she saw someone crouched over Haru's body.

Hinata's happiness drained away completely.

Haku was at just the perfect angle for her to see the terror in his expression. He was cupping Haru's face with his hands, shaking her desperately, begging her to wake up... but no matter what he tried, she never awakened.

Hinata saw the instant when reality overcame his denial, and almost all the strength left Haku's body. He buried his face on the girl's chest, hugging her tightly, uncaring of all the blood that soaked him as he clung to the last bits of her warmth. That his shoulders were still trembling uncontrollably was the only evidence that he was still crying.

The sight was almost too much for the Hyuuga, especially with the monochromatic memories of the other girl's murder fresh in her mind.

When she tried to look away, she saw Kakashi approaching, with Zabuza in his arms.

The multiple spears and swords that had destroyed the Mist jonin's back had been removed, and blood was flowing freely from his wounds down to Kakashi's arms. The Leaf jonin gently lowered the swordsman to the ground, right next to the Yuki siblings, drawing the attention of the only one of them that was still with the living.

The villagers were still too happy over their victory to notice what was going on, and the loud cheers made it impossible for Hinata to overhear Zabuza's final conversation with Haku. Not that she would've—she couldn't intrude on such a personal moment. And, most importantly, she didn't want to witness another death. Haru and some of the mercenaries were already hard enough for her to handle, and she had already seen the extent of Zabuza's wounds. That he still clung to life was a feat worthy of respect.

Wiping tears she hadn't noticed were there until then, Hinata left to join her teammates. On her way she saw that only one of her fellow ninja also had been watching their former enemy's last moments...

Like it usually did, her gaze lingered on Naruto for a little more than it should. This time, he caught her looking. In that brief moment, until he looked away, there was a flash of panic in his wide, blue eyes—or was it fear?—that Hinata couldn't comprehend.

Conflicted and without knowing what to feel about the end of their encounter with Gatou and his men, Hinata slowly made her way back to her team.

---

When Haku lowered his sister's body to her final resting place, the only thing he could feel... was hollowness.

One hour had passed between his master's last stand and then, but he barely registered it. The last thing he had a clear memory of was the last words Zabuza spoke, before he, too, perished.

Haku had never imagined he'd actually cry for him as well, but after hearing what Zabuza had to say...

"They need to be buried," Kakashi eventually told him, once he saw the boy didn't have any more tears to shed.

"We will help you," he remembered Kurenai's voice, but he didn't know when she had approached them.

The two jonin had sealed Zabuza and Haru's corpses into scrolls and eventually led him through the nearby forests to a cliff that overlooked the bridge. By the time they had arrived, the construct of concrete and metal was empty—the villagers had gone off to commemorate their victory and freedom, while the genin were sent to the local hospital to be healed of their injuries.

But Haku didn't dare to look towards the bridge. Even if it was too far away, even if most of it was now in his clothes, dried... he knew he'd see a pool of her blood somewhere. He was far too close to the edge of the cliff to risk seeing something like that, even if it was all in his mind.

Digging Haru's grave kept him busy. He didn't need to think of anything while his body was moving on its own, such as from where Kakashi had gotten a shovel or the small wooden pieces to make crosses to loom over the graves.

Even while seeing his sister's face slowly disappearing each time he dumped more earth into the hole, somehow, he kept himself from breaking down.

'She'd not want to see me crying,' he told himself over and over again, holding on to that mantra as if it were a lifeline.

It was only when there was nothing more to be done that he was forced to face the reality of the situation. Much like when he had first seen her body, his legs gave out and he fell, consumed by grief as the reality that he would never, ever see his sister again sunk in. That the layer of earth beneath his feet was forever separating him from the only person he had left in the world.

He didn't know where his body found the energy to cry and scream as much as he did, given how much he had done both on the bridge, but for what felt like hours... it was all he could do.

It took him a long time before he noticed the two jonin whispering among themselves. They had respectfully backed away after burying Zabuza, and Kurenai had taken the time to pass all the information she had gotten from using the interrogation genjutsu on Haku.

Eventually they went silent, but lingered. As much as he didn't want to, he decided to get up, prompting the two to approach him.

"I understand that this is a difficult situation for you," Kurenai began, gently, "but we need to talk."

His guess had been correct.

"I have been told you know about our mission's true purpose," Kakashi said. There was something like sympathy in the man's one uncovered eye, and Haku couldn't maintain eye contact for long.

"Yes," Haku somehow found the energy to speak again, even if it was barely above a whisper. He remembered Kurenai's explanation, still in the illusory realm of a genjutsu, about Hiruzen Sarutobi's plan to undermine Yagura's rule by weakening his supply line. A classic war tactic, from what Haku had studied before Zabuza's failed coup.

The two jonin shared a look, and Kurenai spoke once again. "Do you... know what you'll be doing with your life from now on?"

That was an excellent question, and one Haku truly didn't want to think about. But he had no choice.

What path could he take now? He had joined Zabuza because the swordsman could make him strong enough to ensure his sister's protection. But now that both were dead... he had neither the purpose nor the way to continue living to depose Yagura, the Mizukage.

He could still pursue the rebels and join them, however. If he could spare at least one person from the suffering he and his sister had to go through when their father killed their mother before turning on them, it would still be a worthwhile goal. He knew Zabuza would've liked to see him pursue the dream he had failed to accomplish.

Still... Haru had always been against it. The girl had been tired of seeing them risk their lives so much, of the uncertainty of their lifestyle. Haku knew that, wherever she was, his sister would have hated to see him traveling down that road. Now, by himself, trying to join the rebels was too risky. He could very well die before he even got the chance to help anyone, and even then... the odds were stacked against the rebels.

In the Land of Waves, he had the perfect opportunity to settle down. Zabuza was the one with a bounty on his head, not him. He would be safe in this country. And staying close to where he could still visit Haru... as much as it would hurt each and every time, he knew that was something he would want, now that nothing could be done about it.

Now that he had failed.

...He eventually shook his head, signaling his answer to Kurenai.

"We will remain in this country until the bridge is repaired and fully completed," Kakashi continued. "If you feel like you still want to fight to change your country... come to us. I'm sure our Hokage can find a way to help you out. The kind of fight you will be getting into is not something you can handle by yourself."

"But take your time," Kurenai interrupted. "This will still take about a week so... think about it, okay?"

The rest of the conversation went by quickly. Instructions about where to find Tazuna's house... and a warning about how forgetting how Naruto had defeated him would be better for all involved.

Soon, the two jonin left him alone with his thoughts.

With the chilling wind as his only companion, the boy reached for a scroll in his pouch and stared at it. Within, was Zabuza's sword.

'What am I going to do now?'

---

While the jonin were away, Tazuna had brought the genin to the local hospital.

Sasuke had awakened, yes, but he had suffered damage that required special attention and professional treatment beyond what Kurenai could manage, as she wasn't a specialized medic-nin. Kiba's shoulder and Akamaru's leg also had needed deeper examinations, and the minor wounds the group sustained were also patched up.

What made some of the genin suspicious was when they began to share their stories of the battle to Shino and Sakura. While Kiba painted a clear picture of his and Hinata's fight with Haru, Naruto had been surprisingly vague and evasive, much to Sasuke's vexing.

Hinata only had a foggy idea of why the Uzumaki was doing it and had the suspicion he wasn't lying entirely when he claimed he didn't remember the events very well. The bluenette was very confused by what she had witnessed after Kurenai rescued her, but seeing the worried glint in Naruto's eyes each time their eyes met as he fumbled for an explanation—almost as if expecting the one question he didn't know how to dodge—she hadn't the courage to make him more anxious.

But she still was very, very curious.

Later that day, after they all returned to Tazuna's house, Kakashi and Kurenai had pulled her aside and pressed her, correctly suspecting that she had witnessed Naruto making use of his bijuu's chakra. They offered little to no explanations to her own questions, and conflicting advice after stressing that keeping quiet about what she saw was of utmost importance.

"Just give him time," Kakashi said. "If he doesn't say anything, just return the favor. If he wants to tell you the truth, he will."

But once the Copy Ninja had retired to bathe, Kurenai gave her own suggestion.

"Listen, Hinata," the woman then crouched to her level. "Please, treat Naruto in the same way as you have done. If you do that, you might even be able to confront him about it. It won't be an easy conversation and you should indeed give him some space for a couple days at least... but I think there would be merit in seeking him out."

Kurenai's words and the events of the bridge, in general, kept floating around in Hinata's head throughout the following few days, feeding on the unease that she felt whenever Naruto was in the same room and her own nightmares. Still, the genjutsu lessons, spars and elemental training distracted Hinata when it was her turn to be on the bridge keeping an eye on Tazuna, as their contract had yet to be fulfilled.

What also helped Hinata to keep her mind clear was exploring the village during breaks.

For example, she and Sakura found a small bookstore in the one day they decided to eat out rather than bringing bentos. As they window-shopped, Sakura got the idea of gifting the still-bedridden Sasuke with a book, and Hinata scored quite a few points with her friend after suggesting a mystery novel.

The Uchiha wasn't known for his patience, but boredom caught up with him, and the book Sakura had bought soon became his newest best friend, to the girl's internal glee and to everyone else's relief—Sasuke had been in an insufferable mood ever since he woke up.

On the last day the two squads had spent in the Land of Waves, Hinata had used some of their free time before lunch to bring Shino to that same bookstore in order to buy some books.

Shino was carrying a small bag with their purchases, and Hinata had been surprised to discover that the Aburame was a huge fan of mystery novels like the one she had suggested for Sasuke. He had purchased the fifth volume of a series he particularly liked and was successfully trying to convince Hinata to start reading it while they made their way back to Tazuna's.

She was so focused on their conversation that only then she noticed they were already nearing the end of the wooden walkways that crossed the waters and led to the house.

"That's a really ingenious idea!" Hinata commented, awestruck, as she inspected the book's cover before returning it to Shino. "And you say the author managed to make interesting mysteries even with such a protagonist?"

"Indeed. While he can sense the emotions of the people around him, he doesn't have a mastery over that power. The idea allows him to analyze the other characters in a way you wouldn't expect from a first-person story, but his insights become muddy when he's around too many people," Shino clarified. There was a sparkle in his brown eyes, even though Hinata couldn't see it from behind his glasses. "And by the third volume he becomes quite famous for that ability, and thus, the suspects try to keep their emotions under control as well as other methods to mislead him such as—"

The Aburame was interrupted by a creaking sound followed by footsteps, which startled Hinata. She finally became aware of her surroundings and imagined the noise was from someone leaving the house.

"...I'm telling you, man. You heard it, didn't you?" That was Kiba's voice. Hinata and Shino shared a look, wondering what the context behind it was.

"Yeah... never thought I'd see Sakura-chan get angry at Sasuke like she does at me when I screw up, though." That was unmistakably Naruto, and Hinata tried to steel herself.

"Me neither. Glad I'm not on his shoes, though!" Kiba laughed as they rounded the corner and noticed his teammates.

"Oh, hey!" Kiba greeted them both with a wave of his good arm. The Inuzuka was just wearing a basic, sleeveless gray shirt instead of his usual coat ever since the battle, as it made dealing with the cast on his arm less of a hassle. "I didn't expect you guys would be back this soon."

Shino nodded to return the greeting. "The bookstore wasn't that far away from here," he said, before dropping his sight to Naruto's hands. "...Might I ask what those flowers are for, Naruto?"

"Oh, these?" Naruto raised the two white chrysanthemums for Shino to get a better look. "I was going to leave that on the hill. The graves, you know...?"

Hinata also took the chance to admire the pair of flowers, idly wondering where he'd found them.

"They are beautiful, Naruto-kun. I think they will like it," she smiled, looking up to Naruto.

The smile began to wilt when they made eye contact. The few times she had mustered the courage to talk with Naruto, he always had that same look from the bridge. A mixture of panic and fear that she couldn't understand why she would be the cause of.

Her gaze dropped to the floor, leaving an awkward silence to weight on the four kids until...

"I DON'T CARE THAT YOU AREN'T HUNGRY! YOU NEED TO EAT TO GET BETTER, AND YOU WILL EAT!"

Hinata swore the house had rumbled with that outburst. 'Why is Sakura-san screaming?!'

"...It looks like Sasuke is being difficult again," Shino stated after a moment of silence.

"Yeesh, looks like you were right," Naruto turned to Kiba, who was wincing from how loud Sakura had been to his ears. "Girls really are dangerous when they are on their perio—mmhf!"

"Hey, shut up! Don't you have any common sense, you idiot?!" Kiba whispered as he clamped Naruto's mouth, but the blond quickly overpowered his grip when the Inuzuka saw Hinata glaring frigidly at him, as her father had unknowingly taught her.

Naruto noticed it as well, and took it as his cue to flee the scene. "Er... his words! Not mine! Okaygottagobye!"

"Hey, get back here! Traitor!" Kiba yelled at him, only to shrink as he continued to feel his only female teammate's disapproval. "Uh... hahahaha..."

"Really, Kiba-kun? Sakura-san has been having trouble sleeping these past few days," Hinata scowled, remembering her friend's off-hand complains about restless nights. "You shouldn't just assume this kind of thing about us girls! Sometimes it's just a bad day and nothing more."

"Yeah, maybe," he conceded, "but cramps and such probably aren't improving the pink-haired goddess of patience's mood."

"...You sound very convinced about that claim," Shino observed, warily.

"Well, you see... I, uh... girls kinda smell different to me that during that time of the month," he admitted, looking away. "You know, I am an Inuzuka..."

Hinata's jaw almost hit the floor and her cheeks immediately became scarlet at the thought. "W-w-wait! So you... y-you know when...?!"

"Y-yeah. But don't worry, don't worry! I keep those things to myself," he promised Hinata with a thumbs-up... and she glared at him in return, now even harder than before.

"Then why were you disrespecting Sakura-san's privacy like that?! Naruto-kun is not an Inuzuka!"

"Hey, that was a last-case scenario! Lives were at risk!" Kiba swore, to Hinata and Shino's confusion. "He wanted to go talk to Sasuke and Sakura, and you heard what was going on! It was too dangerous!"

"...What you did was still wrong, Kiba-kun," Hinata lectured, sighing. "But... fine. I'll forget I heard this."

"Sorry..." Kiba apologized, ashamed. "But seriously, I couldn't help it. That kind of knowledge is what helped me stay alive all these years."

"You are exaggerating." Shino accused, but Kiba just laughed bitterly.

"You said the same thing when I told you how my sister and mom are, and I'll just repeat what I said then: I really wish I was. But, uh... Hinata...?"

Shino silently observed that Hinata had subconsciously assumed a defensive posture, with her arms protectively in front of her body. "...W-what is it?" the girl asked, unsure.

"Since we are already talking about all this uncomfortable stuff anyways and probably will never ever do this again and just to be safe..." Kiba shifted around uneasily. "You, uh, you're not the kind that flips out for no reason and/or starts hurling things at people, right?"

Hinata considered the question for a second. Memories of a certain incident flooded her mind and then... she started giggling.

"Yes!" she managed between giggles, which then became full-on laughter when Kiba very noticeably blanched.

"..."

"...I think you broke him," Shino commented to Hinata, holding back a laugh as well but keeping his voice and expression perfectly even. "You shouldn't lie to him like that."

That just made her laugh even harder.

"Wait," Kiba's system rebooted. "She's lying?! How can you tell?"

The Aburame raised an eyebrow at the obvious question. "Do you think she would be happy about that?"

"...Hey, that's true!"

Kiba then bared his teeth to the girl, growling... until he couldn't resist her laughter and joined in. Even Shino had a minuscule smirk behind his collar!

"Dammit, you got me there!" The Inuzuka wiped a tear from his eyes. "That was mean. Didn't expect a cheap shot from such a prim and proper girl like you!"

"Sorry!" Hinata spoke giddily, trying to calm herself with a deep breath. "Y-you just reminded me of a conversation I had with my sister once. I couldn't help it!"

"So I was the victim of an inside joke?"

Hinata nodded to her wounded teammate. "But... I wasn't lying. Technically."

"Eh?"

"If "people" includes myself," she began, swallowing a giggle at the memory of Hanabi's indignant pout, "then the way I consume sweets during those days definitely counts as throwing things."

"Eh," Kiba shrugged. "Worst-case scenario, a cinnamon roll probably hurts less than a chair. Or a ceiling fan."

Hinata's shock gave her pause, allowing her to cool down and feel embarrassed by the topic again. But since they already were talking about that...

"Um, w-well... I-I might start crying for practically no reason," she warned him.

This time it was Shino who spoke. "No reason?"

Hinata fiddled with her pointer fingers. "There was a time I cried because there was a shoyu stain on my kimono, for example, and another because I saw a cockroach flipped over in the compound's back gardens."

"Poor thing," Shino mourned. Hinata didn't notice he was talking about the cockroach.

What she did notice, was that Kiba now wore a decidedly evil smirk on his face. With his safety assured, it was time for his revenge!

"You know... my nose works for many other things as well," he pointed at Hinata, who took a step back. "And I wasn't trying to do this or anything, but yesterday I went to the room you girls sleep in, and there was a certain someone's smell in a second someone's bag, and saw a certain something hanging out from that second someone's bag...!"

Now it was the girl's turn to blanch. She had been too careless! "Y-y-you mean...?!"

"Naruto won't be happy when I tell him about it. Didn't take you for a thief, you know?" Kiba smiled cheekily.

"What does Naruto have to do with this?" Shino asked, confused. To his vexing, the question was completely ignored.

"Y-y-you wouldn't!" Hinata started to freak out. "Kiba-kun, you can't do that!"

"Oh, but I can... and maybe I will," Kiba teased her further.

Suddenly panic flashed across Hinata's features and she pointed to somewhere behind Kiba. "L-look! A-a shark!"

"A shark?! Where?!" Kiba whirled around, frantically searching for the marine menace on the sea... but when he felt a hand firmly grasping his wounded shoulder, just strong enough to not cause him pain yet, he knew that the true menace was right behind him.

"Will you, Kiba-kun?"

"...I-I was just kiddin'!" Kiba laughed nervously. The pressure on his shoulder ceased, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

When he turned back to face his teammates, he saw Shino shaking his head and Hinata smiling innocently, trying not to laugh again. "Sheesh, you've been spending way too much time around Sakura lately, you know that?"

"Sorry."

"You're not sorry at all!"

"...M-maybe."

"I still don't understand what you two are talking about," Shino reminded them he was standing right there.

"Don't worry about it, man. Nothing to do with you," Kiba waved him off, to the Aburame's annoyance. "But seriously Hinata, what are you doing with that?"

"...I was going to clean it, fix it and... return it," she explained, weakly. "Eventually."

"With the way you two are acting around each other? Really?" Kiba quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, not seeing it."

Hinata sighed. Her plan of bundling it with a letter and leaving the two things on Naruto's doorstep accounted for it. If you are cowardly enough, there's always a workaround.

"For that matter..." Shino spoke up, "I would say you and Naruto need to come to terms with whatever happened to cause so much tension whenever you are in close proximity to each other, as we saw just minutes ago."

"B-but... I know. I know that! I-I just don't know how!" she snapped, startling both Kiba and Shino. "I try to start a conversation, but... b-but I'm not good at it! And he avoids me when I try and, and I don't even know what the p-problem is!"

"Then tell him what you just said here!" Kiba shot back. "Look, Hinata, Naruto is not the kind of guy that runs away from stuff, so there's something really wrong going on. And he's not the sharpest kunai in the pouch either—let me finish," he shushed her with a finger, "you need to be direct with him, or nothing happens. I get that you like him and all of that, but you won't get anywhere with him like this."

Letting out a small whimper—Sakura had already told her something like that, hadn't she?—the girl continued to fidget.

Shino placed a hand on her shoulder and added his opinion. "Hinata, I understand that your introverted nature and your anxiety, among other issues, can make socializing with others a difficult task. But think of it like this: we are all part of the Sandaime Hokage's attempt at reforming the academy's teachings, correct?"

The girl nodded, offering him a small smile as thanks for the understanding.

"The possibility of missions where you and Naruto are together, from now on, are high. And this is not limited to our teams," he motioned to himself and Kiba. "With a smaller squad, these... unresolved matters between you two could get in the way, and potentially even lead to deaths."

She gulped.

"And... perhaps the key to your conversation might be what happened on the bridge."

"What does the bridge have to do with any of this?" Kiba inquired, noticing Hinata becoming more nervous.

"Naruto's wounds mysteriously healed before anyone could tend to him... and that surge of killing intent, that definitely wasn't from Zabuza, caused him to behave suspiciously when it became the topic of our conversation at the hospital," he explained.

"S-so what?" Kakashi and Kurenai's words echoed in Hinata's mind as she bit her lip.

Shino removed his hand from her shoulder. "...I trust you when you claim to not understand what is going wrong. But you know those things are in a way related to how he avoids you, do you not?"

There was a long, pregnant pause before Hinata admitted it with a simple nod.

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Kiba exclaimed. "Sasuke was really upset that Naruto was as banged up as him but ended up winning his fight against that masked guy anyways."

Shino watched Hinata fidget as the words left Kiba's mouth. "Do you know anything about that, Hinata?"

"...Not enough," she ultimately confessed. "But... but I'm not allowed to say anything."

"Not allowed?" Kiba parroted. "Wait, Kurenai-sensei or Kakashi-sensei forbid you from talking about it?"

The girl sighed, and once again nodded. "S-sorry. I—"

"Don't be," Shino cut her off. "They have kept many secrets about this mission. Between the training we received before the mission and the excessive defensive measures to protect Tazuna-san from just a possible bandit attack... and the kind of influence Gatou had in this country, which practically borders ours, clearly there was more to this mission than we have been told."

"Yeah, I thought that setup with Naruto's clones was way too much back then, "Kiba mused, scratching his chin. "Kurenai-sensei was kinda tense on the last day we had a Team 8 training moment, now that I think about. She pushed us way harder than before, and it seems she did the same for Team 7 on the next day too."

"I... didn't even notice most of that," Hinata confessed, feeling stupid.

"Well, with that whole duel with your sister thingy you spoke about the other day, I don't blame you," Kiba shrugged, and regretted it when his shoulder protested. "Dammit, whatever. They won't tell us anything, so screw it. We're done," he closed that conversation. "But I think you need to talk with Naruto too. It's been more than a week, for goodness's sake."

Hinata looked down. "I know... but I don't know if I can. W-what if I—"

"Nope! No what ifs! Come on, you're overthinking it!" Kiba lifted her chin with his good hand, forcing her to make eye contact. "If you tell yourself "I can!" then you can! Just believe in yourself a little, Hinata!"

"Somehow, Kiba is right."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Shino ignored him and faced Hinata. "Both of you told me about your fight at the bridge. If you are capable of going through that, you can face this challenge."

"Hmph..." Kiba grunted. "Mr. Know-it-All is right, you know?"

Hinata gaped, speechless. They actually believed in her, and the thought that someone actually did was almost overwhelming to the girl, so used to be put down by her failures.

"...Look, Hinata," the Inuzuka's expression softened, "you got knocked down by that girl and she was instants away from killing you, but still found a way to reverse that situation at the last second! That was amazing, and I know I'd have given up the moment I fell flat on my butt and had an Ice pole pointed at my head, and so would many others."

"I did not witness that fight," Shino conceded, "but I know that if you didn't believe in yourself in that moment, the outcome would've been drastically different."

Hinata realized that they must have been speaking the truth; she had not doubted her abilities then—she just acted. 'Could that be the key? Just... believing?'

A small bug suddenly began to hover above her nose, startling the girl.

"This will lead you to Naruto, if you want to chase after him," Shino explained.

Hinata still wasn't so sure about this whole "believe in yourself" thing. Perhaps she would never be. But if her teammates believed in her, she could at least believe in their judgment.

"Thank you. Both of you. This... it means a lot to me!" Hinata smiled brightly at them, even going as far as to bow to them, to Kiba's embarrassment.

The little bug then took off to avoid what for it was a headbutt, and Hinata hurried to follow it.

Once she was far enough, Kiba faked a sob. "Oh, they grow up so fast...!"

Shino just sighed, taking the moment to push up his glasses. The conversation had drained him, just as he was sure it did for their equally introverted teammate. He then raised both eyebrows in surprise when Kiba raised his hand, palm facing forward.

"We did a good job, huh?"

"...Indeed." They high-fived. "Now we just have to wait."

---

The two moved back inside the house to find Tazuna, Inari and Tsumani n the living room, chatting.

Inari didn't look very happy. "Do they really have to leave?" he pouted, glaring at the backpacks scattered near the stairs.

Tsunami crouched to her son's height, giving him a comforting smile. "Dear, they need to go back to their homes. But now that the bridge is finally finished, you could always send them letters!"

"But it's a shame those kids will be gone, eh?" Tazuna, who was sprawled on the sofa, smiled melancholically. "It's been ages since I've seen such a lively house!"

"Yes, it's a pity," Tsunami agreed. But she certainly wouldn't miss having to wake up at five in the morning just to make sure everything would be done by the end of the day. Even with some of the ninjas helping, there were still a lot of chores left in the wake of having eleven people and a dog in the same house.

Kiba saw the chance to enter the conversation. "Cheer up, Inari! You could always drop by our village too! There's lots of stuff to see!"

"Really?" the little boy whirled around, stars in his eyes.

"Konoha is a surprisingly popular tourist location, despite being a hidden village," Shino added as Kiba nodded to Inari. Before that conversation could continue, however...

"What are you two brats doing here?" Tazuna questioned.

"Excuse me?" Kiba raised an eyebrow as he entered the house, with Shino closing it after following suit.

"Father, could you try to be any ruder?" Tsunami glared at Tazuna before turning to the two genin. "What he means is that both of you left with someone else."

"And not even that long ago in your case," the old bridge builder pointed to Kiba. "Weren't you going to bring Naruto to where your teachers buried that assassin and the girl?"

"Oh... I-I was, wasn't I?" Kiba gulped. 'Well... gotta hope Naruto remembers the direction Kakashi-sensei gave us...'

The Inuzuka then felt Shino's reproving glare. "Kiba, don't tell me that—"

The doorbell rang.

"Hm? I wonder who it is..." Tsunami mused as she got up and went to open the door, leaving Shino to sigh as he was once again unceremoniously tossed to the background.

She opened the door, revealing an individual dressed in a simple light blue yukata and with a big backpack slung across his shoulder

"Hello?" Tsunami said innocently.

"Wait, what?!" Kiba dashed over to the door to see if his nose wasn't playing tricks on him. "You... you're that guy from the bridge!"

"Haku," he corrected the genin, as he bowed. "Haku Yuki. I apologize for the intrusion, but may I speak with Kakashi-san and Kurenai-san? I... have to discuss something with them."

"Um... of course!" Tsunami smiled at him, shakily, as she motioned for him to enter. "Please make yourself at home..."

"What the hell are you doing here, kid?" Tazuna blurted out curiously, ignoring the glare he knew his daughter was sending him as Haku approached them.

"Are you after my grandpa again?" Inari angrily stomped towards the older boy. "Because if you are, you'll have to go through me first!" he yelled, hoping that his volume would draw Kakashi and Kurenai's attention, as the two were upstairs, busy writing out their ridiculously long mission report.

"Oh no," Haku paled. "Please, that's not it! I'm not after your grandfather."

"Don't worry, kid," Kiba patted Inari's head. "This guy doesn't have a beef with us anymore, right?"

"It is as he says, Inari," a new voice joined them. Turning around, the group saw Kurenai walking down the stairs, with Kakashi following right behind her with his head buried in his favorite adult novel.

"So, do you have an answer?" Kakashi inquired, pausing his reading to spare Haku a glance.

"Yes," the Ice-user nodded. "I've thought about your offer and... I realized that you were right."

"Right about what?" Kiba inquired nosily, not being able to hold himself back.

"I have something I still need to accomplish," Haku faced him, resolute. "But I can't do it alone... I need help. And the only person that could provide me this help is—"

"Our Hokage," Shino interrupted him. "Isn't that correct?"

Kiba just rolled his eyes. 'Smartass. There's no way—'

"Yes! It will only be for a small while, but I plan on going to Konohagakure with you."

Kiba slowly turned to his teammate. "...Shino?"

"What is it, Kiba?"

"I hate you."

---

Hinata couldn't believe she had been stupid enough to make the same mistake again.

She knew fully well how bad she usually was at talking with people. If she needed to talk with someone extroverted or that she was at least comfortable around, she trusted them to help move the conversation along and that usually was enough. But when talking with the opposite kind of people, Hinata knew that having a plan before the conversation was crucial.

Not doing that planning almost blew up her attempt to get info on Sasuke almost two weeks before, and it had made her impulsive decision to talk to Inari after his fight with Naruto difficult. Now it might just be her downfall.

The situation was both a little better and a little worse than before, though.

On one hand, she had noticed this flaw a little before making herself known to Naruto and actually knew what she needed to talk about in a broad way, but on the other hand, she didn't know how and when to bring up each topic. Worse: she didn't know whether to go for the important stuff straight away of try making some small talk first. The latter would be extremely problematic in its own way, too...

Usually, this wouldn't be much of an issue. Even though Naruto intimidated her in some ways, he was very talkative and could get the conversation going easily on his own, like he had done thrice already. But... considering the way Naruto had practically ran away from her, she couldn't rely on his usually sunny personality as a crutch.

Her Byakugan had told Hinata that Naruto had yet to move away from the two graves, but he wasn't on her normal sights just yet. The bug Shino lent her had left already, and it was simply up to her to take a step forward.

'No, I can't overthink this!' she decided. Doing that would just give more time for that little voice inside her head to convince her this was a lost cause and she should just run away. Kiba and Shino's words of encouragement were still louder on her mind than her fears. 'I can do this!'

Hinata deactivated her dojutsu and moved out of her hiding spot, maneuvering between trees and bushes for a minute until Naruto's back came into view, with the bridge appearing farther ahead across the ocean. The boy was talking to one of the graves, and, not wanting to intrude until he was done, Hinata used a nearby tree meters away from him for cover until he was done. (Old habits die hard, as they say.)

There were two wooden crosses looming over the actual graves and Hinata had barely noticed the pair of chrysanthemums he had left beside the crosses when the shorter distance between them allowed her to overhear what he was saying.

"—end, I guess saying sorry doesn't matter, huh?"

Naruto's voice was heavy with sadness and guilt, which made it harder for Hinata to overhear him. Still... she had to focus on that, or else she'd be alone with her own thoughts.

"But I still really wanted to apologize," he continued, forlornly. "If I had been stronger, if I hadn't lost control and let that fox mess everything up... I dunno. Maybe you wouldn't be here right now."

'...Fox? Lost control?'

"But then again, it's been, like, a month since I found out the truth. I guess I should've asked the old man about my seal instead of fooling around with my ninja registry photo, hehehe..."

While Naruto smiled a bit at his "amazing" photo, which he had taken about an hour before his first encounter with Konohamaru... Hinata only felt more confused, as she now held more pieces of the puzzle in her hands and had no idea what they meant.

Her head lowered, taking Naruto out of her eyesight as she mulled over the clues. 'I suppose the "old man" is Hokage-sama... maybe?'

"I guess I should be going, though. It's almost time for lunch and I still haven't packed and..."

Lost in thought, Hinata failed to hear Naruto's parting words.

'But what is this about a truth and a... seal? Is he talking about fuuinjutsu?'

A gasp startled her. When Hinata looked forward again, Naruto was staring right back.

"Hin... Hinata?!"

Yelping, she tried to get behind the tree again, but her legs refused to cooperate.

"What are you doing there?" Naruto questioned reflexively, and then it dawned on him. "Wait... y-you didn't hear anything, did you?!"

Repressing the sudden urge to hunt for an escape route, Hinata gulped. Being caught off-guard left her speechless, but she managed a little nod anyways.

Naruto didn't like that answer. Before he knew it, his hands were already making a big mess out of his blond spikes. "Gnngh... you weren't supposed to be here...! Why are you here?!"

Seeing him so upset Hinata was inclined to agree. 'This was a bad idea... I shouldn't have come here!'

But then she remembered.

Kiba, Kurenai, Shino, Sakura, Kakashi... all of them, in their own ways, had helped her gather the courage to go through with this and everything she had accomplished in these past few days. Before them, there had been only one person, guiding her from afar without even being aware of the influence he had.

Despite all of her fears, Hinata had always felt like she could have done something for him. She could do something for him! His secret quite obviously revolved around why the people on the Leaf hated his guts so much, and if she were to run away now... Hinata knew that the key to repaying Naruto for everything he had done would be lost. Perhaps even forever.

Her eyes, briefly, fell to the graves and the white chrysanthemum flowers. She refused to let that regret be buried with her one day. She was sure Naruto hadn't brought those flowers because of that, but Hinata wanted to live up to their meaning

'No... I can do this!'

...The first step was the hardest one. To leave that tree behind and have nothing to shield her from whatever was up ahead was terrifying. But, determined, she walked out of hiding and stood in front of Naruto much like she had before when they sparred on Training Ground 3.

"Naruto-kun... I think—" She stopped herself mid-sentence and closed her eyes for two whole seconds to steady her breathing, and when she reopened them, Naruto saw that fire weaved in the lavender of her orbs. "No. We need to talk."

He, still nervous, stared at her for a few more seconds, trying to replicate that repulsive effect he knew he had on her. But she didn't back down.

His shoulders sagged with a weary sigh. "You... want to talk? A-about what?"

"...You know what," she accused, slightly miffed. Despite behaving out-of-character lately, Hinata didn't expect him to resort to that

And she was right: he knew. Kakashi had even been kind enough to warn him of the possibility Hinata would confront him about it, which he had never seriously entertained because of her unbelligerent nature. He had, instead, focused on the one tip his sensei had given him:

"You might want to tell her the truth yourself, though. It's in your hands, but... if I were you, I would."

The problem? Hinata was still a complete mystery to him.

The mere thought that the fox had gotten in the way of forming a friendship with someone else had made him so angry that he didn't even give a chance for Hinata to try explaining things. But when that fury wavered and he thought some more about it, there were so many doubts... and one certainty: he had shunned her without understanding her.

He was intimately acquainted with that sort of mistreatment, but Naruto never thought he'd be on the other side of that equation.

Shame was added to the confusion he felt, and it became even worse once after the bridge incident happened. Hinata didn't run away from him, and in fact sought him out at points, acting like she had never seen anything and had nothing to question.

It put Naruto on the edge like nothing else had.

He had forged bonds with his teammates, Kiba, Inari, and to a lesser extent even Tazuna and Shino, who accepted him to a degree. But Hinata's presence meant she could suddenly ruin all of that and send him right back to that stage of unacceptance and hatred that had almost consumed him before.

Or at least it meant that in his mind. She couldn't do much without the whole story, but Naruto couldn't see it. And so he began to avoid her, simply because he had no idea of how to possibly deal with this grave situation that couldn't be solved with fists or any of the ways he usually dealt with his problems.

Her actions threw him off before and after the incident. He didn't know if he could trust the girl with his secret, and there was nothing he could do to make sure she'd stay silent about it.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata prompted him again. Naruto noted that she was looking at him as if she was worried. Even though she was clearly becoming a bit frustrated with the silence—an irony neither failed to spot—the worry showed clearly in her expression. Her eyes were still burning with something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

They eased him into it.

"If... alright," he conceded, cautiously. "I'll tell you, but... you need to promise that you won't tell this to anyone, okay?"

She nodded eagerly, and Naruto wanted to kick himself because now he knew how to keep her quiet for sure.

"Look, I'm serious! The old man—I mean, the Third," he corrected himself, "he made a law about this. If you talk about this, you'll be in hot water. Like, volcano-hot!"

Hinata frowned slightly. 'So Hokage-sama really is involved...'

Naruto took a deep breath and began his tale. One that started on the day he was born...

"So... how much do you know about the Kyuubi's attack around thirteen years ago?"

---

"Um..." Naruto trailed off uneasily. Hinata spacing out was not what he was expecting to happen, but then again, he consistently failed in predicting her.

He had just shared the whole story about him being a jinchuuriki, and what was behind his transformation on the bridge, but... Hinata had barely reacted. She had muffled a gasp of shock with her hand early in the conversation, and that hand was still hovering in front of her mouth. Her gaze was focused on a random patch of nothing to Naruto's left.

She hadn't moved since, and he was becoming worried. "Hinata...? Are you even listening?"

Hinata actually wasn't. The moment Naruto mentioned that the Kyuubi was too powerful to be destroyed, and needed to be sealed, was when all the pieces began to neatly fit together. Between her observations from the past few years and what she had just overheard... everything finally made sense.

Completely. She didn't even need Naruto's explanation to connect the remaining dots.

"Hey, Hinata!" he called her again, louder... and cursed under his breath when he saw her shoulder and fists trembling and her eyes narrowing dangerously.

What had he done...?!

"So t-this... this is the reason? "A-are you kidding me?!" she cried out, literally. Tears began to flow freely down her face, and Hinata suddenly felt the world around her expanding on its own and had to make a conscious effort to force her Byakugan to deactivate.

Naruto had to take some steps back when he saw her dojutsu. 'Oh shit. Shit! This was a bad idea, a really bad idea!'

He knew where this was going. Undoubtedly, the fox sealed in his stomach had killed a bunch of her clansmen, or even possibly someone important to her like a sibling or parent. Between the raw emotion in her voice and the change in her posture—from guarded to aggressive—he wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly dived in to attack him and...

"This is the reason our whole village treats you like trash?! Because, because of something you never even had a ch-choice on?!"

...Naruto really should've known better than to try and predict Hinata by that point. He stared at the fuming, crying girl and his brain scrambled to keep up.

'She's so angry but... not with me? But why?!'

Hinata's words died out between sobs. She tried to wipe her tears with her sleeve but they just kept coming back and she couldn't stop crying, and Naruto knew that she needed to control herself before they could continue. Before he could get answers.

"Look," he slowly approached the girl, motioning for her to calm down, "I get that you're angry but... it's fine, rea—"

"I-It's not!" she loudly cut him off. "Don't you see it!? They, they act like you were some sort of evil monster when you aren't! They have no right to do that! You're human! Y-you're just a child, not the fox! It's horrible. It's unfair! It's s-stupid!"

Hinata turned away and glared at the ground, trying to gather herself. The situation reminded her far, far too much of the way some of her main house clansmen treated those of the branch house, which only made her feel even angrier about... everything! Nobody had the right to treat someone else like that.

She had always given the village the benefit of doubt. That maybe, just maybe, they had a good reason, but... 'This is so wrong!'

Naruto let the silence hang for a moment. There was even more he couldn't process but, again, he needed the shy and gentle Hinata back before he could go anywhere.

"You know... I... understand what you're saying," he began, averting his gaze to the nearby graves. "I... don't think it's right either. But life... it's not always fair."

The truth in Naruto's words was a bitter pill to swallow, Hinata realized.

"I know. I know, it's just..." she sighed, closing her eyes. Her head was pounding again.

"But seriously," he continued. "I wasn't kidding! Like, what does it matter what they think now?"

Incredulous, Hinata whirled around only to find Naruto smiling. And to her big surprise, it wasn't a fake smile just to try to make her feel better. It was genuine.

"I'll definitively become Hokage one day anyways! They will see me differently by the time I get that hat, you'll see!"

The confidence and determination behind his words and his smile that had always drawn her to him were just as strong as always, and Hinata found herself shakily smiling back as she dried the last tears that stained her flushed face.

"Yes... yes, you're right. You're absolutely right," she agreed; temper subsiding. She didn't know how and when, but she was sure that day would eventually come.

Naruto picked up on that sincerity behind her words, which, once again, puzzled him to no end. However, seeing as Hinata had calmed herself, to a degree, he decided he had waited long enough.

"Hey... I, uh, wanna ask you something too."

Hinata had an idea of where this would go. It was only fair, she knew, and that was part of why she even came to him anyways, but... as her anger vanished, she realized that so did much of her energy.

"Can... can you give me a moment first?"

"Oh. Um... sure! Maybe you should sit somewhere?" Naruto started to look around until he pointed to a random tree. "How about there?"

Silently, the girl accepted the suggestion and made her way to the small tree and the pocket of shade that surrounding it. The conversation with her teammates and with Naruto had drained her, and she needed to rest a little before continuing.

Hinata sat by the tree's roots, using the thin trunk to support her back while she hugged her legs, resting her head on her knees. Her lavender eyes closed for a moment, and she only knew that Naruto was sitting down by a nearby tree beside her because he wasn't trying to be subtle.

'Good,' she thought. 'At least, I can do this without needing to look at him. It'll be easier that way.'

Naruto, meanwhile, simply decided to stop thinking. He only had questions, and she'd answer those anyways—hopefully—so why bother? Instead, he just daydreamed while he watched the empty bridge. Tazuna wanted his escorts to be the first people to cross the bridge, so the structure was blocked off until then, despite being completed.

A couple minutes passed with only the wind and the occasional bird that flew by to break their silence, and Naruto's eyes slowly closed... he relaxed...

...

---

"Um...Naruto-kun?"

"Huh? What?! What?!" he looked around in a panic until his gaze settled on Hinata. She was looking with the weirdest expression, as if...

He frowned at her. "I wasn't asleep."

"I didn't say you were," she said, and her lips curled awkwardly in a restrained smile.

"Good, because I wasn't. Just so you know," he huffed, making the girl bury her face on her knees again. She was silent, but her quaking shoulders betrayed her laughter.

When it ceased, Hinata took a deep breath and raised her head, turning it to look at Naruto. "What... exactly do you want to know?" she asked, hoping that he'd give her somewhere to start with.

"I... I dunno," he admitted, unknowingly making Hinata panic on the inside. "I don't get it. I don't get you. I just told you that I have the freaking Kyuubi inside me, and you didn't insult me or ran away or, or did anything that I actually thought you would!" he gesticulated wildly. "You didn't even tell the others about the bridge even though they were asking me questions back at the hospital and... you seem to know a lot more about me than I know about you, even though we never even spoke to each other before this mission came up..."

"... I see." Hinata smiled slightly. Despite his first words, he did give her the key to take the first step. "So you really don't remember after all."

"Remember what?" Naruto looked back at her, only to find she, too, was focusing on the bridge.

But for Hinata, the bridge wasn't there anymore. All she saw was a forest covered by snow...

"Six years ago, on the day of the Rinne Festival... I was walking around the village to see the sights, alone. I eventually felt like playing around in the snow, but there were too many people around so I... ran into a little road that leads to the academy and began to play all by myself. Or... at least that was the case until three boys found me."

Naruto silently wondered what the hell that had to do with him.

"They started to pick on me because I was a Hyuuga and laugh at me because I had weird eyes, and I had no idea what to do and they kept insulting me and laughing, so... I just broke down and started to cry. But then... that's when another boy showed up. He confronted the bullies because he didn't like what they were doing, but the three bullies had no idea who the boy was. He said his name... and said that, one day, he would become Hokage."

'Wait. Hokage...?'

Hinata continued before Naruto could figure it out. "But this boy was just around my age, and the other three were a bit older and much stronger. They laughed at him too, and he actually managed to drive them away, but... only because they beat him up until they got bored, and then left. But not before destroying the red scarf the boy had been wearing."

"No... no way! A red scarf?!" Naruto got up in a hurry, angered. "Hey, I remember those bastards! And... wait, you mean...? T-that was you?!" he pointed at Hinata, unnecessarily.

The Hyuuga just nodded, struggling not to laugh at his flabbergasted expression.

Defeated, Naruto groaned as he slumped against the tree until he was sitting on the ground again. "Now I remember why I didn't remember that day..." he grumbled. "What a coincidence..."

"Isn't it? And... you ended up forgetting that day" she continued, "but I never forgot it. It is a very important memory to me."

"Because... I saved you?" he tried. To his complete surprise—again, not that he should've expected to be right—she shook her head.

"Because you smiled," she corrected, her expression brightly mirroring her words. "Even though those three mocked you and laughed at your dream... even though you got hurt and your scarf was ruined, you still had the strength to smile at me before you left and you didn't even cry!"

Naruto didn't have the courage to say that was the first thing he did when he locked himself inside his apartment.

"You showed me that you could keep going despite everything that went wrong," she proceeded. "That no matter how many people insult you, no matter how many people tell you that you can't or that you should give up, no matter how much they beat you up... it is possible to continue. This lesson you taught me... it was very, very important to me."

Naruto stared at Hinata with wide eyes, completely speechless. He had never imagined he could have such an impact on someone, and at such a young age no less! But... that last sentence she spoke also made him become worried. When she finished speaking, Hinata's smile had faded and her mood reversed completely.

"I'm the first-born of the Head of my clan, so I'm the heiress. But I never lived up to that title," she admitted with a pained tone. "I trained and trained, but I was always too weak and too unskilled to be the heiress. Always a failure. But I thought, "If Naruto-kun can still continue after everything he went through, I can continue too!" and..." she gulped. "There were many times where clinging to that idea was the only thing that kept me going..."

As she trailed off into silence, Naruto saw a window to speak."...I get the feeling you don't even want to be a ninja in the first place. I mean, no offense, but that's the impression I got."

He, personally, clung to the idea of becoming Hokage to give him motivation not... simply because he refused to give up. Not giving up for the sake of not giving up just seemed like idiocy to him.

Her reply was a small sigh. "I don't. I never did, but... I wanted to be the head of my clan one day."

"Like how I wanna become Hokage?" he interrupted her, drawing her gaze.

"Well, yes... but no. I'm not doing for the same reasons. There are... things," she hesitated, looking away, "that I wanted to change for my clan. To become the head, I needed to be a jonin and meet various others requirements."

"...Wait. "Wanted"? You don't want it anymore?" he questioned with a tilted head.

"I... it's complicated. A-and, anyways, this doesn't answer your questions, right?" she changed the subject. It was completely futile, but even though she'd be in Konoha by the end of the day, she still wanted to run away from the thought of what awaited her at home.

"Well, kinda." Naruto shrugged, thrown off by the mysteriously depressive note her story had ended on.

"So... you see, I was really happy when I enrolled in the academy and found out we'd be in the same class. I wanted to thank you for saving me on that day and helping me but... I... to me, talking to other people is... difficult. When I was younger it was even worse, if you can believe that, and I ended up not trying to talk to you because I was scared of what you'd think of me..."

"...Huh? Scared?! But... why?" The confusion, Naruto's old and annoying friend, returned.

"For almost the same reason you've been avoiding me," she answered without missing a beat, as her gaze focused on the bridge again. "Except that... you were scared because I saw what you wanted to hide. I was afraid that you'd find out what I kept hiding... that, maybe if I tried to be your friend, you'd see I was weak and useless like everyone else says and wouldn't want anything to do with me."

"Hold on! I... that's not exactly it," he argued. "What really... bothered me, was that you could've told what you saw to the others. Sakura-chan, Sasuke, Kiba... I... I feel like I'm making real friendships with them," he confessed, looking down at the grass. "But if they knew about the fox..."

"But didn't you say—"

"I forgot about the law until, like, now."

She shook her head, briefly amused, and moved on. "Perhaps there was more at stake for you, yes... but, you don't understand." Naruto looked up and saw that Hinata was blushing as she forced herself to make eye contact.

"To me, Naruto-kun... y-you... you are a hero."

His jaw fell to the floor before he ever had a chance to catch it.

"A...a hero? Me?!" Naruto pointed at himself, and, timidly, Hinata bobbed her head, and she didn't seem to be lying.

'Wow... a hero! This is so cool!'

He never thought someone would call him something as noble as a "hero". It felt simply amazing to be so highly regarded by someone else! (There was a small blush of embarrassment at how badly his voice had cracked back there, too...)

But it also put Hinata's account into perspective. 'I mean, if the Fourth Hokage suddenly showed up from the dead and said that I was a loser and that I'd never be a Hokage or something... no, wait, bad example.' He'd probably end up trying to punch the guy in the gut for giving him the worst birthday present in the history of birthday presents, in that case.

"I think... I think I get it now," he muttered. 'A hero, huh?'

Hinata glanced at him. Naruto was looking up at the sky, with a huge smile plastered in his face. It made her smile a little too, and she allowed him to enjoy the moment for a bit. It was a moment Naruto spent basking in that surge of emotions, rather than trying to rationalize it.

But she had yet to finish, and what she had to say next made her cheeks flush considerably. "So... b-because I was scared of trying to talk with you, I... uh, found other ways to know you better."

Naruto had a bad feeling about that one. "...What do you mean?"

Hinata barely noticed she was playing with her fingers again. "I... f-f-followed you around the village, sometimes..."

He suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "...You were stalking me?"

She frowned at that, though her scarlet blush persisted. "I-I have never used the Byakugan to spy on you. So no." Present day notwithstanding, of course.

"Um..." Naruto backed off, feeling like pressing further would be dangerous. 'Whatever floats her boat, I guess...?'

"And since I did that, sometimes," she took the time to stress that last word. "I... I ended up seeing things."

Her expression darkened, and that clued him on what she was implying. "You saw how they treated me, huh?"

"I did," she scowled. "But I didn't understand why, even after you began to prank them in retaliation. I'd understand if they were simply annoyed with you in that case, but... "

Naruto idly wondered what that "retaliation" meant, but kept quiet.

"I saw you being kicked out of the library right after you entered once, and people refusing to sell you things even when you tried to pay more for them. I saw when parents stopped their kids from playing with you and sometimes even goaded their kids into insulting you..." Naruto noticed her clenched fists. "I asked some people in my clan about it, but they only told me to stay away from you. That you were..."

Hinata looked down, fidgeting, and her pause was too long for Naruto's patience. "I was what?"

"Dan...dangerous."

A heavy silence hung in the air after that word was said.

Hinata didn't know what exactly to say after that. Naruto... knew. But it took him a while to find the courage to actually voice what he thought.

"And... don't you agree with them? After everything I told you and... what you saw while we were on the bridge, don't you think—"

"No."

Naruto's question died in his mouth and he almost choked. "No?"

Hinata reaffirmed her answer with a head shake, but Naruto couldn't accept that.

"Wait, what do you mean "no"?! You saw my fight with her!" he motioned to Haru's grave. "And, and her brother was way stronger and I almost killed him after I thought he killed Sasuke and the Kyuubi took over! Why would even say something like that?!"

It pained Hinata to see his outburst. He looked scared... vulnerable, and she had to pause to order her thoughts before risking an answer. It was her time to help him, as he had done for so long.

"Please... listen to yourself, Naruto-kun. You just told me! The Kyuubi is dangerous, not you!"

"But, but even so!" he insisted. "That power took control of my body before I even knew what was going on! What if it happens again?!"

"It could happen again, yes," she conceded. "But... you will find a way to control that power instead of letting it control you. I know it!"

No matter how much he searched, there wasn't a trace of uncertainty in Hinata's face. Naruto didn't know why he was even trying to convince her, after all that was already said but...

"How... no, why? Why are you so sure about that?"

The first part of Hinata's reply was a smile. Her hand then slowly moved up until it was level with her forehead, and with her pointer, she silently tapped at it twice, right in the middle.

"Uh, what? Is there something on my..."

He reached out to mirror her, and his finger brushed by the Leaf village's symbol emblazoned on his headband and his eyes widened in realization.

"You see? You earned that headband from a field promotion, of all things, mastered an A-ranked ninjutsu that is dangerous even to jonin, passed Kakashi-sensei's difficult genin test with Sakura and Sasuke even though many teams failed it before... and you even managed to change Inari-kun's mind about fighting to defend one's dreams! Your ninja career has barely begun and you've already done so many impressive things! I'm sure that if you could do all of that, you can find a way to control a Bijuu's power, too."

Now it was Naruto's turn to blush. "Wow... w-well... when you put it like that, I suppose I am really impressive, huh?"

He burst out laughing and Hinata was just about to join him... when a deafening roar rumbled through the woods, echoing dramatically as it announced to the world—

'Ugh. Not again...! Why now of all times?!'

—that Hinata was hungry.

The girl cringed, face as red as a cherry, but the laughter she expected from Naruto never came.

"Shit!" he got up in a hurry and made a hand sign and created a trio of clones. "You guys, go on ahead!"

"Yes boss!" they chorused and took off.

When he turned to face Hinata, she was staring at him in bemusement. "I... kinda forgot to pack my stuff, hehehe," he scratched his head.

"And why didn't you go with them?"

Naruto grinned widely. "Well, what kind of friend I'd be if I just left you alone here like that?"

"...F-friend?" she gasped, rising immediately. "D-do you mean it?!"

"Of course! After all this talking, I'm pretty sure we are friends already! Unless you—"

"N-NO!" Her blush returned at full strength. "I-I mean, no. I, uh, want to be your friend too!"

"Great! Then it's settled!" Naruto pumped his fists boisterously... and then his stomach growled as well.

Maybe it remembered Hinata's food and what their new bond might mean...?

Whatever the case, to Hinata's jealousy, Naruto shrugged the noise off as if it had never happened. "Well! I guess we should get back, huh? Before Zabuza gets mad and curse us or something," he smirked, making her laugh as well.

To the bluenette's relief, it barely took three seconds before Naruto kicked off a conversation, which they somehow maintained throughout their entire trip back to Tazuna's.

Both were smiling throughout the entire exchange, but that didn't exactly describe how they felt.

Naruto, the poor thing, was still confused. Not like before—he understood Hinata much better now, which did solve many of the questions the girl had left him with. But despite that, he realized he still didn't know how to feel about her. Or rather, he didn't know how he felt about her feelings for him.

There were so many things that he couldn't even process it all.

Hinata's admiration had truly caught him off-guard, and it was something much stronger than what he had managed to earn from Konohamaru or Inari, and it felt much nicer, too. There wasn't a bad first impression he had needed to fight against to earn her respect. She had gone as far as calling him a hero! He became a source of courage and inspiration to someone, and it wasn't because he had been strong or used a fancy jutsu. He had just lost to those three bullies, badly. And that still caused Hinata to respect and admire him, somehow! It was actually a bit funny to him.

On the other hand, he was also honestly creeped out that she had been spying on him for so long (or whatever she thought she was doing), and... there was something "not nice" that he couldn't identify, there. But... she had wanted to be his friend all those years ago despite seeing how much of a screw-up he truly was, and even now, after knowing he had a freaking demon sealed on his belly and could suddenly go on a rampage at a moment's notice? She still sought him out! It gave him hope that one day, perhaps, others would eventually accept him just like Hinata did, which is something that despite his bravado, deep down he had always doubted.

That the reveal about the Kyuubi made her furious at the village as a whole instead of him... he'd rather not think about that, and desperately shoved that thought away.

What had been truly amazing for him, though... was that faith she had. The way she had spoken about him conquering that which had been too strong even for the Fourth Hokage... and even the way she had revealed, without noticing, that she knew that he'd end up being the Hokage one day. The certainty behind her words was something Naruto couldn't even try to understand. Not when he, himself, wasn't as certain about it. As much as he never missed an opportunity to scream his dream to everyone who was close enough to hear, there was always that lingering doubt deep inside his mind.

Would he ever become more than just a loser? It surprised him that, to Hinata, he already wasn't. She saw all that he had accomplished, believed that he could do so much more than that and... just from the way she spoke, Naruto knew. She was rooting for him. She wanted him to succeed! To become something even greater than what he was! Even if he wasn't as great as she thought he was, but still,

All of those things... Naruto didn't know how he truly felt about that big package of discoveries. But that chaotic mess in his head and heart... it felt good.

He still thought she was weird, perhaps because he didn't understand everything she did. But now that they were officially friends, he knew he'd have the time to get rid of all this lingering confusion and doubt. He wanted to understand her. And if there was one that he knew for sure, is that this newfound bond with Hinata was something he wanted to keep.

Hinata, meanwhile, was struggling to control herself. Unlike Naruto, she knew exactly what she was feeling, and that was pure happiness.

Naruto had always been... unreachable, like a sun that shone brightly over the sky, but was always too far away. She'd never wholly believed that she could get closer to that source of light that had guided her for so long, especially not after how far away he went after her first real attempt at reaching out to him. And now, all of a sudden, she was his friend!

But that to Hinata, honestly, was secondary. Because... she had finally won.

She had finally conquered years of cowardice and self-doubt, and that was what made Hinata so happy. She now could finally start making up to Naruto for all the moments she saw him suffering from loneliness and, sometimes even isolation, but was too scared and selfish to do what needed to be done.

Years of fighting and losing against her fears and anxiety culminating on that one moment of victory... Hinata didn't know how she even managed to hold up a reasonable conversation with Naruto afterwards. She quite honestly wanted to scream, even if she didn't know what.

Hinata was sure that those ghosts wouldn't go away. Maybe they wouldn't revolve around Naruto as much as they had until then, but she knew it was a war she'd be fighting throughout the rest of her life. And at the end of the day, she'd have to deal with another of those battles: facing her father and whatever judgment he passes on her.

But this time, it would be different. She wouldn't run away from him, no matter what he had to say.

Because if she could win once... what was stopping her from winning again?

---

A/N:

...

*sigh of relief*

So, this is the end of Teams 7 and 8's adventures in the Land of Waves (finally!). While there are some unanswered questions... these will be addressed in the next chapter, as they are more "character arc" issues than raw plot issues and this is already way too fucking big. They don't need to be resolved in the Land of Waves, necessarily.

One question I can answer here, though: the white chrysanthemum. In the japanese language of flowers (hanakotoba), it means "Truth", which I think is a very fitting theme for the discussions Naruto and Hinata had. I did find one source that mentioned "self-esteem" too, which amused me. This flower is also heavily favored in japanese burials. To them, strong colors and strong fragrances are a sign of disrespect, so a white flower with a very weak fragrance? It works out well. (except, y'know, someone just died.)

What can we look forward to? You might remember that a couple scenes from the original series didn't show up here... namely, Zabuza's final words, and when Naruto decides on his way of ninja. I suppose that having our favorite troublemaker chat with Haku and Hiruzen respectively might solve those issues. (there was also the scene where they leave Wave, but that is practically the same as canon and can be dealt via narration)

As for Hinata, she needs to have a long talk with her father... as well as introduce us to the other Hyuuga that are important to her life: Hanabi, Neji, and her retainer, Ko. And an outlook on the Hyuuga's council will be there, too. She'll have a bit of a talk with Sakura before all of that, however...

I really hope you guys enjoyed this arc, as looooooong and bumpy as it was! The bridge alone was big as the anime's, I think. I... am not particularly happy with some parts of these last updates, as I locked myself out of even coming close to the original's emotional impact because Haru's life didn't exclusively revolve around Zabuza like canon!Haku's and I never got the end of the bridge part to work... but I think Haku's scenes and the Team 8/Naruhina moments at the end made up for that!

Hopefully! I was really looking forward to writing out that last scene! Though there are a couple things I've purposefully left out for future interactions, it was way better than what I had crafted in my mind one year ago, when this arc began!

...But what I'm sure nobody enjoyed were the delays, particularly the big ones in May-June and these last ones. So, I came to a decision.

I've been wrestling with a schedule for the entirety of 2016, and it was barely manageable. As you guys might have read in my profile, college in this year will have higher stakes. I absolutely cannot afford to fail a subject from now on because that will force me to work through—and most importantly, pay for—an extra semester. My family needs me to be graduating by December so that I can help money-wise when we go back to my hometown. And... that's assuming things at my dad's job won't go downhill, forcing us to move early to another state and messing everything up.

So this year, I cannot promise you guys any sort of schedule. Hopefully, in 2018 I'll have a stable job, no longer will have to deal with college, and can build a schedule again. But for this one, updates will go live when I'm able to find the time to work on them.

Honestly, it shouldn't be a significant difference in terms of update count from this past year (so about eight updates, maybe a lil' less), but I dunno if the word count total will go down or stay around the same. I cannot make any promises besides the fact that I refuse to give up on this story.

...Well. With that said, four last things!

First: I want to thank everyone that read this far, especially early "adopters" who had to deal with waiting for updates longer! I practically have 500 followers, so that's a lot of people! Thank you all! I hope it was worth all the waits!

Second: Please leave a review if it's not too much! I'd like to hear your thoughts, especially if they are nice! Haha. Ideas for future plot points really can help, too. (I've been struggling for quite a while to think of a different first test for the chunin exams, for example... not too sure a copy paste from canon would be well recieved)

Third, SimplePotato says: "Sorry for the delay, dudes, I have been a bad potato, but I'll try to be better. Still, my job would be easier if flareblade knew how to write overwhelmed. Or at least chose one single way to write it wrong, for fuck's sake dude…"

As you can see, I overwhelmed him! XD

Last: Guest Review Answers!

DanceSnapple: Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you liked the writing, descriptions and battles! As for your issues with canon, well. I plan to keep things close to canon, but I'll have to intervene from time to time.

I'll try my hardest to not do those things that would upset you, as they are pet peeves of mine too, but sometimes it ends up being needed. Or... sometimes what was done in canon was unnecessary—you will see a hint of this with a change during the chunin exams. Not in the sense of creating OCs, but in the sense of altering the base canon. This isn't set in stone, but the War arc in particular is a mess that, if I don't choose to embrace, will require some serious intervention to keep from happening.

And about Zabuza... I'm sorry for your loss. Your review broke my heart, and because I knew I'd break yours. Sorry! (You won't believe how much willpower it took to not make that arrow hit Zabuza's knee. Seriously! But he didn't deserve to be a meme.)

Mr. Guest: About your chapter 4 review... Kakashi actually openly criticized the entirety of Team 7 in their bell test.

My thought was that only truly major problems he didn't think would fix themselves with time are the ones he'd bother fixing himself, which is why he didn't try to stop the toxicity between Naruto and Sasuke from developing until it was a bit too late (or, rather, until Orochimaru and Itachi messed up with Sasuke and indirectly his dynamics with Naruto)

Note that he mostly focused on Hinata, but only because the issue he saw could easily get an entire squad killed by itself. Though for both Naruto, Sasuke and my fic's Kiba, the criticism doubled as taunts and subtle nudges about the bell test's true purpose, so there is that.

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Changelog:

1.0 to 1.0.1

Added a missing Line break (probably the most critical of the entire chapter, ugh. I hate that FFdot net erases openoffice's line breaks!), fixed a couple typos, including a few pointed out by gio08 in a review! Thanks! Zabuza thanks you as well, given that "an arrow to his tight" makes you wonder if the arrow didn't hit his butt.