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!)

33. Chapter 33 - A Vow Renewed

Yo! Been a while, huh?

For the curious, I've spent the past few months going after a promotion, but in a very self-destructive way. I ended up having no energy to spend on this fic, even after I got the promotion and went to a vacation in October I didn't really recover well enough to progress as much as I wanted with the fic.

But here we are, chapter 33, finally!

This chapter deals mostly with the arc's antagonists, mostly focused on setting the scene for the upcoming Naruto vs Neji fight (and by the original series's standards, you can say the fight began in this chapter).

There is also a meaty Naruhina scene! I gave Hinata a 2K-word script and she threw it at my face, then she stole my notebook and left me with a 5K-word script instead. This girl, I swear…

Hope you guys will enjoy it! The final pre-finals chapter!

PS: Due to popular demand and a few objectively good reasons, I won't be renaming the fic anymore. Guess this is the hill we all are dying on!

---

The Chunin Exams Finals arc

Chapter 33: A Vow Renewed (v1.0)

---

Before Hinata knew it, one week had passed since Naruto first contacted the Kyuubi.

Had anything changed since? …Perhaps. They were definitively having an unusual morning though, as Hinata usually didn't meet with Naruto until lunchtime.

Plus. They weren't alone.

"Damn," Kiba whistled to himself, impressed. "So that's what fighting a Hyuuga prodigy looks like, huh?"

"A far cry from fighting someone like me, correct?"

Kiba gave her a searching, almost reprimanding look. "You know I didn't mean it that way, Hinata. Don't talk like fighting against you is easy, girl."

She was sure a bit of pink dusted her cheeks at the compliment. "...But I'm not wrong, am I?"

Her teammate's shoulders slumped slightly as he turned his attention back to the explosive duel unfolding in front of them. "Yeah... you're not. Being real with you, it's actually scary. I don't know how Naruto does it. Or maybe he's just too stupid to get it."

"Don't call him stupid." Hinata made no effort to mask the iciness in her eyes, especially knowing Kiba was not going to turn her way so she could freeze him over. "And... what are you talking about, Kiba-kun?"

"He doesn't look the least bit worried about it. It's the same old Naruto, annoyingly determined to keep pushing forward until he makes it."

Hinata knew Kiba, despite his rough demeanor, admired Naruto's drive. Almost everyone that got to know him eventually did. But unlike other times she caught people praising him, Kiba just looked apprehensive.

He then motioned to the fight.

"Thing is, I don't think he'll make it this time. It ain't looking too good, not gonna lie."

"..."

"But then we talk to him, and it almost feels like he never stopped to think of what's to come. It's the same old Naruto," he repeated, shaking his head a bit.

Hinata understood Kiba's concerns. She could see from where he drew that conclusion.

But Kiba was wrong. She knew things he didn't. Had spent enough time watching the blond to spot differences he could never see.

The truth was, Naruto wasn't the same as ever. At least... not since what had happened one week earlier, the day Naruto had tried to talk to the Kyuubi.

She tried not to sigh at the memory.

They remained in silence for a couple more minutes, watching as Naruto struggled to combat the ferocity of a natural-born genius.

He had miraculously forced an opening to give him just enough time to summon clones, just as he and Hinata had trained to... but in the end, one by one the clones fell, and so did their original with a vicious palm thrust to the chest that sent him flying.

"And it's over! The winner is... ugh... it's Hanabi," the fight's judge spat in disgust, the one and only Konohamaru Sarutobi.

The little Hyuuga crossed her bare arms over her black, sleeveless shirt and threw her classmate the smuggest of looks before walking up to where Naruto had landed after her attack. Then, she offered him a hand. "C'mon onii-sama, up!"

Hinata could feel Kiba's smirk but refused to entertain him again, too busy burying her now-scarlet face in her hands. It was already mortifying enough that Hanabi had chosen the most embarrassing of all honorifics to use when talking to Naruto, just for the sake of teasing her.

Naruto, bless his innocent soul, never caught on to what the conniving Hyuuga's intentions and his visible confusion only him a "don't worry about it" from Hanabi the first time she said it earlier that day.

He entertained the little girl, taking her hand even though he rose mostly by his own strength.

"Ouch... you really don't hold anything back do ya?" he let out a strained laugh.

Hinata could relate.

"Of course not! Especially not against you," she shot back. "Even though I'm just a student, you still took me seriously," she pointed to a bruise forming on her shoulder from a good hit Naruto managed to get in thanks to his clones playing decoy.

A gambit that Hinata proudly noted that it wouldn't have worked if that spar had happened when Naruto first began training with her. He was definitively improving.

"Bah," Konohamaru scoffed as he approached them with a bag of candies in hand. "Whatever, you just wanted my sweets."

Hanabi happily snatched the spoils from her victory against not just Naruto but his self-appointed student, who had bet against her.

"Not at all," she pocketed the sweets. "What I wanted the most was to see for myself if onee-sama made the right choice. Plus it was fun!"

Naruto looked lost. "Choice?"

"Hanabi!"

The little girl just giggled evilly in response. "And she was right after all."

"Kiba-kun, just kill me please," she whimper-whispered to her teammate, who helpfully laughed at her while clapping her shoulder.

"It's only going to get worse from here on out. Trust me, I know all about how much of a little shit younger siblings can be."

'Ugh.'

By that time, Hanabi crossed the distance between them. "So! Onee-sama, how d—"

"Boss! I can't believe you lost to a girl!"

That made Hinata lower her hands, just in time to see a furious expression twisting Hanabi's face.

Before the fireworks could go off, though, Naruto bonked the younger boy on the head.

"OW!"

"Shut up, Konohamaru! Girls can be just as strong as boys you know!? Plus I don't wanna hear you whining when you can't beat her either!"

...And that was just enough to bring back the satisfied smirk to Hanabi's face. "Onee-sama, I approve of it."

Kiba burst out laughing.

"Hanabi! Sh-Shut up!"

"Oh man," Kiba wheezed, "I never heard you say that to anyone before! Hahaha!"

Hinata just wanted to die, but it all went away when her favorite little sister wrapped her hands around her and looked up at her with admiration written all over her pure-white eyes.

"Did I fight well, onee-sama?"

As always, it melted Hinata's heart. "You fought wonderfully, Hanabi-chan," she squeezed the girl in her embrace. "I feel so proud of you each time I see you fighting."

Hanabi giggled and broke the hug. Her attention shifted from Hinata to Kiba.

"Okay! You're next, right, Kiba nii-chan?"

She then cried out as Kiba ruffled her head. "You know it, squirt!"

"Argh! Stop it!"

"Hehe. Sorry, sorry! Here!" He took Akamaru from his resting spot atop his head and offered the puppy to Hanabi. "I'll let you borrow my partner as an apology, okay?"

The girl's delighted giggles as she took Akamaru from him were answer enough.

"Alright," the Inuzuka pumped a fist. "It's time for some ass-kicking!"

"Yeah, get over here already so I can kick your ass," Naruto challenged with an eager grin that Kiba soon mirrored.

"Oh, you're on!"

While the two of them got ready to start their bout, Hinata let her eyes wander to Konohamaru, who was sulking nearby.

"Why don't you take Akamaru and go play with Konohamaru-kun again for a bit before we break for lunch?"

"I don't want to, onee-chan," she said in a whiny tone as she petted Akamaru. "He's already plenty annoying when he's not being a sore loser."

"Hanabi," she warned, neutral in tone but not in expression.

"Alright, alright, you don't need to look at me like that," the younger girl complained, but then headed off to drag Konohamaru so they could play with Akamaru somewhere nearby, just far enough to avoid getting in Kiba and Naruto's way.

Hinata smiled to herself. As much as she did not want to give her baby sister any more ammunition, she could not be more pleased that girl had taken a liking to Naruto. But far more importantly, it warmed her heart to see Hanabi bonding with someone else.

The girl had insisted on accompanying Hinata that morning, knowing she'd be bored at home that day thanks to the academy closing down due to a national holiday. It was a bit of a gamble on Hinata's part to convince Naruto to invite Konohamaru, but she was glad to have pushed for it to happen.

As a result, though, she was left alone to watch Kiba and Naruto brawling it out.

And as she was so prone to do when left to her own devices, Hinata worried.

Because Kiba was right.

She didn't want to lose faith in Naruto, especially not when she was aware he had already beaten Tenten on a 1-on-1 despite the older girl being so much more experienced and, really, better trained.

However, when Hinata had agreed to help him, one factor had stood out in her mind: he was going to be taught how to use the Kyuubi's chakra. That wild card had given her hope that Naruto would have a way to even the odds against her cousin. The gap between herself and Neji was much smaller and she still lost decisively; Hinata knew Naruto needed an ace up his sleeve to close that gap.

And yet...

"You're going to get wrinkles way too early if you keep frowning like that, girl."

She yelped as she turned around only to find a towering presence right beside her.

"Oh! Jiraiya-sama! Y-You're back!"

He gave her a lazy wave. "Yup. What's the dog brat doing here?"

"Oh, Kiba-kun?" She looked back at her teammate. "We've met early this morning to train with Shino-kun for a bit. When I told him I was going to train with Naruto-kun afterward, he… well, invited himself," she gave a small shrug while giggling. "He wanted to see how Naruto-kun was doing, I think."

"Just too prideful to admit it, eh?" Jiraiya smirked, shaking his head. "Ah, boyhood… I suppose you've shown your friends that jutsu you've been working on with your grandfather?"

Hinata nodded eagerly. "I did! T-They were very impressed, even though it's not really complete just yet," she replied, blushing.

Her grandfather had been combing over the clan's archives in hopes of finding out if there were any registers of Hyuuga like herself, who had been born without the Lightning chakra affinity that their taijutsu relied upon, and the results of which…

Well, as Hinata had just mentioned, it was a work in progress.

"How was Sasuke-kun?" she changed subject.

"Hah, the boy's doing well. After last week's scare, he's learned not to push things too far. Anko's doing a good job in helping him find his boundaries with Orochimaru's stupid seal."

Jiraiya's gaze then landed far off where the boys were fighting.

"If only we could say the same about him, though... have you managed to get anything out of him while I was gone?"

Hinata let her head hang low. "I-I didn't try. But... I don't think he'd tell me."

Jiraiya breathed out a heavy sigh. "That kid..."

Her lavender eyes wandered back to the boys' duel, but her thoughts were far from them.

Truth was... while Hinata didn't think very highly of herself, she realized she had developed a certain amount of pride in being a confidant to Naruto. She was the first among their peers to learn about his secret, the first to accept him, and knew her support had been essential to helping him come clean to his teammates before the secret could cause any meaningful rifts between them.

But it only took Naruto a single day after that to find a new secret and bottle it up.

She had hoped that after all they had gone through, Naruto would trust her enough to tell her these sort of things, but he didn't.

All they knew was that something had gone wrong when he tried to talk with the Kyuubi. Naruto appeared to have drifted off into a meditative trance for a few seconds only to suddenly break out of it, furious.

'Who needs that stupid Fox's power anyway!? Forget about that furball! I can win by myself!'

Neither herself nor Jiraiya could pry the truth from Naruto. He dismissed their concerns and insisted for them to train like usual.

Jiraiya had pulled her aside later that day and they both decided to give him some time, but he had... not reacted very well when pressed, no matter how they tried to go about it.

Naruto didn't take Jiraiya all that seriously ever since witnessing the man's true nature, and Hinata cursed herself for not being able to take a harsher stance with him even though it came so easily for her when scolding Hanabi. With anyone else, she crumbled before she even tried.

She had one last hope: their former academy teacher, Iruka. She had wanted to talk to him that very day, but after Hanabi told her it was a holiday she simply didn't have the heart to intrude on the man's rare day off.

'Or the means to discover where he lived, come to think of it. But tomorrow I'll find Iruka-sensei at the academy and talk to him!' she nodded to herself.

"Well... in other news," Jiraiya coughed, "It looks like Guy's mini-clone... Rock Lee, was it? He's recovered enough that he can receive visitors. Thought you and the brat would've liked to know. I'll give you two a day off tomorrow after lunch to visit him if you want to."

And just like that, the perfect opportunity fell on Hinata's lap.

---

Once the next day came, as promised, Jiraiya let Naruto take a break from training to go visit Lee. Hinata didn't even need to awkwardly try to invite herself to come along, as Naruto appeared to immediately assume she'd be going with him.

She'd never be able to admit how much that pleased her.

They met up for lunch, as usual, then headed to the village's main hospital. It didn't take long for the receptionist to let them through, and after crossing a multitude of hallways and climbing a few staircases, they found the door to Lee's room ajar.

Hinata knocked on it anyway.

"Um, excuse me… Lee-kun?"

"Ah, Hinata-san, Naruto-kun! Please, come on in!"

She took a step back, letting Naruto enter ahead of her.

"Hey bushy brows!"

"Hello," Hinata said in a much lower volume, clutching a small flower vase tightly.

"What a nice surprise to see you two!"

Lee was… well, Hinata didn't know why she expected anything less. He was dressed in the usual hospital gown, and despite having both his left arm and leg in casts, he looked as energetic as ever. A clear contrast to the boring hospital room he was occupying.

The only thing of note was a small flower vase that had some daisies, and Hinata left her own vase with peonies to help give the room more color.

"Thank you for the gift, Hinata-san!"

"It was nothing," she smiled, doing her best not to stare at the bulky cast over his leg. It was noticeable even under the covers.

Naruto was nowhere as subtle.

"So how are things? I know you got hurt pretty badly…"

Lee just laughed at him.

"As well as it's expected, really. The staff has been treating me very kindly! As for my recovery… unfortunately, they haven't come to a conclusion regarding my legs. However," Lee used his right hand to tap his left arm lightly, "the doctors believe my arm should be fully healed by near the end of the month! This would at least allow me to use a wheelchair effectively in the future, which means I should be able to be present for the upcoming finals."

Hinata nodded to herself at that. She still could remember the moment vividly: Gaara's sand tendrils clamping on Lee as if they were a shark's jaws, shattering bone and muscle alike as if the boy was made of glass. She'd known on the spot that the arm wouldn't be a huge issue, but it was the leg that got caught by the bigger, denser tendril of sand that took the most damage.

She wondered if the doctors truly were still deliberating about his condition.

"Unfortunately, as you can see, I'm still stuck to this bed so I don't have much else to share. That being said, Sakura-san came to visit me earlier this morning," he announced with a bright, dopey smile, and waved at the flower vases. "She was the one that brought me those wonderful daises!"

Hinata nodded to herself, unsurprised. She had bought her flowers from the same place Sakura had—the Yamanaka's flower shop. Ino had mentioned that Sakura passed by earlier, amid all the teasing about how much time Hinata spent training with Naruto lately.

The girl fought a blush and refocused on Lee.

"I was told about the fights I missed," he continued, eyes falling on Hinata with an odd mix of apprehension and awe. "It's a pity someone like you ended up having to face Neji. Though it was quite the impressive fight from what Sakura-san said!"

The blush won in the end. "T-Thank you," she said with a small smile. "It… it was unfortunate, but… in the end, I'm glad I had the chance to face him like that."

"What? You're glad!?"

The temperature plummeted and when Hinata turned to Naruto, his eyes told him why. Their vibrant blue had become stormy.

"Hinata! He… he almost killed you! Just, why would you be happy about it!?"

His volume and angered expression made Hinata cower, but she only realized it when Lee spoke up.

"Naruto-kun, please control yourself," the older genin said in an unusually harsh tone. "You're scaring her!"

It was like a bucket of cold water.

"…S-Sorry about that," he muttered, turning away.

"It's… it's okay," Hinata replied almost in a whisper, gazing at Naruto's back worriedly. "I'm sorry," she echoed him without thinking.

"You don't need to be sorry. I'm angry at him, not you," Naruto said with a frustrated sigh. "Didn't mean to lash out like that…"

The room fell into an uneasy silence.

"…Hinata-san, is that true?"

Lee's voice drew her attention back to him. She gulped, and then nodded.

It… was not up to debate.

"Hinata couldn't even walk anymore, you know," Naruto, who still faced away from them, practically growled. "And he still did it. He tried to hit her right in the heart! If not for Hinata draining some of his chakra she could've died right then and there! What he did do was leave her on the floor, coughing blood, and then he still tried it again! Only the stupid proctor stopped him first!"

It took a long time before, eventually, Lee nodded to himself and said: "I… had a feeling Sakura-san was holding something back when she recounted the end of the fight. She only told me Neji became very upset at something you said, Hinata-san. Was it about… his seal?"

Hinata couldn't mask her surprise. "I-It was!"

She heard a small gasp from Naruto.

"I… I was too hurt to walk. But I could still fight, if only he came close enough, so… I… said what I needed to get him to approach."

"…I see."

"Wait a moment," Naruto waved his arms around in an X-shape. "What was that again? About a seal?"

Only then, at that very moment, that it occurred to Hinata that Naruto didn't know.

"May I, Hinata-san?"

She nodded before she realized, and watched as Lee revealed it all to Naruto. Hinata felt no need to interrupt Lee as he covered the details about the Hyuuga Clan's two houses, all with surprising accuracy. He never went too in-depth, but he knew about all the aspects that mattered:

He talked about the seal that was etched on the forehead of all branch members, about the devastating impact it caused if a main family member activated the seal, how that power led to the branch being lower-class among the Hyuuga and servants to the main house. Lee also spoke of how the branch was restricted from things that the main house could do freely, such as learning certain Gentle Fist techniques.

'Lee-kun is very well informed, she pondered to herself. 'He clearly has done his research… I suppose that Neji nii-san being the way he is would naturally draw questions from his teammates.'

In retrospect, Hinata felt like an idiot for never broaching the subject with Naruto. She'd always been aware that he strongly disliked her cousin yet perhaps if he knew why Neji behaved that way, if he knew that despite it all they were both individuals haunted by seals they never asked for…

No.

She abandoned that hope the moment she took a good look at Naruto's face and found it had morphed into something completely unreadable.

It… scared her.

"…Sorry guys, I-I think I have to go outside. To breathe a little, y'know?" he said, turning away and heading toward the door. "It was cool to see you again bushy brows, and…. and Hinata, I'll wait outside okay?"

He was gone before anyone could object, leaving her alone with Lee.

"I… my apologies, Hinata-san. Perhaps that was a mistake? I admit I didn't expect him to react this way," Lee said, lacking his usual vibrancy.

"No, no… I… he needed to know about those things, eventually. I think you explained it much better than I could, anyway."

Lee sighed. "I wasn't even able to congratulate him for his victory against Tenten. Perhaps I should have opened up with that… it was quite the match from what I was told!"

Hinata gave him a small smile. "I'll tell him once he calms down a little. I'm sure he'll be pleased to know."

"Good! Now… I hate to cut this short, but I think it'll be for the best if you follow him," Lee said, glancing up at a clock on the wall. "I… oh no."

She followed his gaze and was left confused. "Do you have an exam right now, Lee-kun?"

"No no, it's just that yesterday Guy-sensei said…"

…Hinata gasped after Lee was done speaking, and with a heavily stuttered goodbye, ran out of the room as fast as she could.

---

Hinata dashed into the long hallway that connected two of the hospital wings, convinced that some god out there hated her. Things were too contrived to be mere coincidence.

She'd almost say it was fate if it didn't make her want to vomit given who she could spot near the middle of the otherwise empty hallway—due to it being lunchtime.

The person was none other than Neji, who was staring down Naruto. She'd heard their voices from afar but even with Naruto being so loud she didn't make out any words until she got close enough that her cousin noticed.

As did Tenten, who was hovering a small distance from the boys, massaging her temple until she spotted Hinata.

"Oh? And Hinata too?" she said.

Neji's pure-white eyes landed on her for a second before he bowed. "Hinata-sama. Were you here to see Lee as well?"

She stopped just a step behind Naruto. "Um, y-yes! We were just done with it, r-really. He's waiting for you two!"

"Great!" Tenten immediately began to march forward, as if eager to end the ongoing conversation before it could blow up. "Let's go then, Neji! Bye Hinata, Naruto!"

Naruto humphed, but waved at the girl as she passed him by. "Sure, bye Tenten. Let's go back too Hinata, we've still got a lot of training to do."

He began to walk away as well, leaving Neji behind him. That was the only reason Naruto didn't caught the smile that flashed across his future opponent's face for a split second.

Hinata knew it was too late.

"Forgive me if I misunderstood," Neji said, stopping both Naruto and Tenten in their tracks. With their footsteps fading, Neji turned around to meet Naruto's eyes. "But does that mean that you are training with Hinata-sama in preparation for our fight?"

Tenten groaned from behind Hinata. "Why," she thought she heard the other girl mutter, defeated.

"Yeah, you got that right," Naruto spat, stomping until he was mere inches away from Neji. "You got a problem with that, huh?"

"…None. I found it amusing that you chose the person that lost to me as your training partner, but on second thought she is a Hyuuga, however perverted her Gentle Fist is. It's not without merit."

Hinata wondered if that qualified as a backhanded compliment or was just a plain insult.

"But it matters not in the end. You will lose no matter who you pick to train you, as is your fate."

She heard Naruto growl. "You have no idea how hard I'm going to beat you up one month from now, you asshole!"

"Boys, this is a hospital. A hospital. Can you not? Please?"

Tenten's pleas went unheard.

"Don't let your victory over Tenten get to your empty head," Neji said in a frigid tone. "That was a fluke—and it only happened because, clearly, I am the one meant to teach you this lesson, lest you learn it the hard way on the field and die for it."

'Such kindness,' Hinata thought dryly.

"A fluke!? I won fair and square! You weren't even there to see it!"

Neji shook his head. "I know what happened. And none of what you did to barely eke out a win will work against me. Most of it already doesn't work against Hinata-sama, as I'm sure you know by now."

Naruto seethed, and Hinata felt herself looking away. They were aware. Naruto was clever, but the Byakugan was extremely difficult to fool.

"Sure, whatever! Maybe it doesn't, but who cares!? I'm going to find another way to win, just watch me!"

Neji just shook his head, with his long and impossibly pretty hair flowing along with his movements.

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Ah, right, almost forgot! It's useless to try, because of fate or some bullshit right?" he sneered.

Neji's glare was palpable even when Hinata couldn't see it.

"You're just like Lee. A fool who just continues along relentlessly, ignoring all the signs that the world shows that you're not meant for greatness until life breaks you."

That comment earned him a finger-pointing from Naruto.

"Shut up! You think you're always right, aren't you? You act like an old man who knows everything even though you're not even two years older than me!"

Neji batted Naruto's arm away so swiftly it almost looked like a sword strike.

"I don't owe you any explanation. But I'll humor you."

One part of Hinata wanted to laugh at Tenten's defeated groan, if not for her suppressing one of her own.

"Yes, we are almost the same age. Yet unlike you, I was forced to accept what my destiny had in store for me and what it hadn't from a young age." Neji lowered his head a bit, his voice losing a bit of its edge. "There are paths I cannot take, no matter how strong I become or how hard I try, its simply impossible. Unreachable. Inescapable. It's the same for all of us."

She watched as Naruto's pissed expression melted, morphing into realization. His eyes landed on her for a moment, then shifted back to Neji.

"You are talking about your seal, aren't you?"

'Oh no.'

Hinata felt stupid. She should've known Naruto would make that connection after what Lee revealed, but given how much of a sensitive topic this was to her cousin… but perhaps…

She sensed Tenten moving toward the boys, but Hinata put her arm out to halt the older girl before she could realize, only getting a "Huh?" from Tenten in response.

"How do you know about that?"

"Bushy brows told me just now."

"Of course." Neji scoffed, turning away slightly. Hinata could catch roughly half of his expressions now. "As if he'd know any better."

"Listen you—!"

"No, you listen!" Neji cut Naruto off and almost closed the distance between them. "Don't presume you actually know anything just because Lee shared basic information anyone could learn about our clan," he said, harshness dripping from his tone like poison.

Naruto glared right back at him but didn't interrupt.

"You don't know what it's like to actually live that life, to be limited and judged and belittled by something that is completely and forever beyond one's control. From the moment a Hyuuga is born to the Branch, their fate is sealed just as their body will be! A simpleton like you couldn't possibly comprehend what is to suffer like that, all because of a cursed brand."

A whisper found Hinata's ears.

"Stay still."

Hinata felt a hand on her shoulder. Tenten's.

"I think we're being watched."

Hinata's eyes went wide, then so did her sightlines as her Byakugan came to life.

A pocket of chakra at a corner on the ceiling immediately drew her attention.

"Hey Hinata, why are you using the Byakugan?"

Naruto's innocent question spurred Neji into action through a flash of chakra in his eyes as he spun around with an arm forward in an offensive stance. "Show yourself!"

She heard a small laugh as chakra coalesced between herself and Neji, making Hinata take a few steps back.

"How amusing."

Her vision normalized, only for her to see someone she most definitively wasn't expecting or wanting to see.

The one that left Lee bedridden and possibly crippled… Gaara himself.

"You!"

Unlike her, Neji kept his dojutsu active as he narrowed his eyes at the foreign boy. "None of your teammates were injured during the exams. What are you doing here?"

"I came here to prove my existence," Gaara said, arms crossed and with little to no emotion in his tone.

"Prove your what…?" Tenten questioned, suspicious. Hinata noticed the girl's hands were glued to her weapons pouch, however futile that would be.

The boy from Suna merely glanced at her. "I was told I could not kill the Uchiha yet. I tried to anyway, but the man with silver hair left mother rattled, so I left. But then I remembered…"

Gaara's hand went to his face, his emotionless expression twisting into something tortured and wild.

"Him. I couldn't kill him before, but he will have to do now…"

Hinata felt her throat locking up. 'Did he come here just to kill Lee-kun!?'

"Are you nuts!?" Naruto yelled, at the same time that Tenten drew a naginata from a scroll.

They both entered a fighting stance. Hinata, however, did not bother. In a long hallway like they were in, they were already checkmated.

There was only one way out of the situation, and it wasn't through combat.

"You already defeated him in the exams," Tenten pointed out, "there's nothing to gain by killing him!"

"Nothing to gain? You misunderstand." Gaara let his hand drop, with his stoic mask raised again. "I just want to kill him. Nothing more. And if any of you stand in my way, I will kill you as well."

Sand began to leak out of his gourd, slowly pooling around the boy's feet as killing intent began to spike.

Neji was still unshaken. "Your performance at the exams was impressive, but make no mistake. All of us here have ways of going around your defenses. You cannot win, and we won't let you harm our friend."

Hinata could sense the bluff. She had watched Lee's duel carefully, and was fairly confident that Gentle Fist would be stopped just as easily as normal taijutsu. Perhaps ninjutsu would be more effective but none of them had the raw firepower to convince Hinata that such a thing was viable.

Gaara's eyes moved to where Neji was.

"You cannot stop me."

"But… b-but how could you!?" Hinata blurted out, even if it drew Gaara's sights to herself. Her shock made the words tumble out of her mouth effortlessly. "Are you truly saying you came here to kill someone just for the sake of it? To ruin a life and hurt all the people that care for him and love him, for literally nothing!?"

She could not stand for this blatant disregard for human life.

The boy from Suna gave her a searching look. He wasn't assessing her as threat, perhaps because he recognized her unwillingness to fight.

"All the people that care for him and love him, you say…"

Gaara began to shake.

Then, he let out a cold, low chuckle that grew and grew and grew until it was became crazed.

Deranged.

"Don't you dare judge me by your childish ideals. Love…? Let me tell you a story about love...!"

Gaara brought his hand to the scars in his forehead, the ones that spelled out the kanji for that very word.

…In the next few minutes, for reasons that Hinata could not understand—not right then—Gaara shared his story with them. A childhood of torment, of a child made into a weapon before it could even take its first breath.

Of another child whose life was ruined by a seal. By a monster. By a person that had no right to call himself a father.

Of someone that had nothing left to live for, but who found in death, of all things, a reason to keep living. Of someone that found a meaning to the word "love" that should have never existed.

The sheer tragedy of it, of the emotions she should be hearing in Gaara's voice but weren't there, chilled Hinata to her core. And it wasn't just her. Neji and Tenten were both visibly rattled, and Naruto looked like he was seeing the reaper himself before him.

Hinata couldn't even reach out to her friend, for her feet rooted her in place and refused to move.

Tenten was the first to recover once Gaara went silent.

"That's… why tell us this? If you wanted to kill Lee so badly, you didn't need to make yourself known let alone share your past with us when nobody even asked you to."

A small hint of a smirk, of all things, crossed Gaara's features. "Because I overheard this entire exchange. And it amused me," he said, turning to stare at none other than Neji.

Her cousin scowled at the foreigner. "Amused you?" Hinata could feel he was eager for this to come to blows. "That was the first thing you said."

"Yes."

Yet for all his speech about killing people as a way to validate his own being, Gaara didn't seem to be looking for a fight.

"I found your words amusing. Preaching about all the suffering a seal could bring, unknowing that you spoke with someone that knows that reality far more strongly than you ever did, or will."

"Yourself?"

'No,' Hinata thought.

His story… the demon he held.

There was only one person Gaara could be talking about.

"Him."

Gaara said with an outstretched arm. Gaara began to step in that direction, until he was inches away from Naruto.

She had never seen Naruto look so scared before.

"Mother senses him inside you."

And that statement became outdated instantly.

"Mother…?" Hinata heard Tenten muttering to herself. "Didn't he just say she died when he was born…?"

Her question wasn't loud enough for Gaara to hear or address.

"However. Each time we crossed paths, you feel differently to her. I will say this only once…"

Hinata could tell that Naruto was one hair away from fleeing, and it scared her.

"Release him. Bring him to life. Only then will we battle. Mother doesn't want you dead if her siblingisn't there to see her power overwhelm his."

'…Sibling? What is he talking about this time?'

Gaara offered no more explanations, and instead swiftly turned around. His eyes were set at the end of the hallway behind Hinata.

"Now if you excuse me… I have unfinished business to attend to."

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

The booming voice was, as always, accompanied by a burst of green. This time, coming from an open window near one end of the hallway.

"Took you long enough, Guy-sensei," Neji remarked as the man landed gracefully.

"Hahaha! My apologies," he said, sporting his usual blinding smile with a thumbs-up pose combo.

But Guy could look like a serious adult when the situation called for it.

"Now then, young man," he said to Gaara. "I appreciate your eagerness, but there's a time and place for everything. Save it for the finals."

Gaara just looked at Guy for a few seconds, before clutching his head and almost crumpling on himself, moaning in pain.

It took Hinata a lot of self-restraint to not approach to try helping him… yet it would have proven futile, as Gaara quickly, if not violently, shook himself free of whatever was happening and dragged himself to the other end of the hallway.

"This isn't over," he muttered as he passed Neji and Naruto, looking at neither boy. "I will still kill all of you. Sooner or later…"

With that foreboding promise hanging in the air, the redhead vanished.

The tension he brought finally dissipated. Not fully, but enough that the haunted look on Naruto's face was gone. Tenten and Neji also dropped their stances, finally allowing themselves to relax.

"That was so out of nowhere," the older girl remarked as she re-sealed her weapon.

"What a demented person," Neji spat, shaking his head. "Killing for so little… how can someone have so little regard for the lives of others?"

Hinata found herself nodding. She… could feel the suffering behind Gaara's emotionless words, she could see how someone like him could be led to the path he chose.

But would that ever be enough justification for his behavior?

No.

Then, suddenly, a chuckle. A brief, cold, humorless one. Unbecoming of the person laughing.

"Like you're one to talk."

Without saying another word, Naruto walked away at a brisk pace.

The mood shifted right back to unbearable.

Refusing to meet anyone's eyes—especially of the person Naruto had targeted—Hinata uttered a shaky farewell and hurried after him.

---

'Old habits die hard, apparently,' Hinata mused to herself.

After all she and Naruto had gone through, she didn't expect to revert back to… tailing him around the village.

Well, Hinata had to give herself some credit. She was only a few steps behind Naruto and there was zero effort in hiding her presence short of her not speaking. It was a far cry from her younger self's antics.

Questions about his well-being were on the tip of her tongue but she held them back. Not due to her personality as it was often the case, but due to instinct. Something in her gut told her that it simply wasn't the time nor the place to talk.

Thus, curious and concerned, Hinata followed her friend around the village. His bright blond hair and orange clothes made it easy to keep track of him even with the village at peak activity thanks to lunchtime.

Eventually, as Naruto moved from street to street, they began to walk over a more peaceful neighborhood. One that Hinata was mildly familiar with, thanks to one building that loomed in the distance, growing ever closer to them as they moved.

'The academy… huh.'

It was almost funny. Hinata had planned to make an excuse to visit the area with Naruto to see if their former sensei, Iruka, could get Naruto to open up… to think that he'd just bring her there instead.

'But why?'

Entering the academy grounds was easy enough. The place wasn't guarded, especially not at a time of the day where no students were present. The only people inside would be teachers grading tests and the staff busy cleaning the place.

Naruto did not walk into the building, however. He circled it entirely, heading towards the backyard area, and that's when Hinata realized where he was unintentionally leading her.

Training kids to become ninjas was a serious matter, but kids were still kids, and thus the academy did offer a few forms of innocent entertainment for them…

Like a small swing in the corner of the area, bathed in the shadows of the tree it was tied to.

When Naruto made a beeline for it, Hinata halted, took a single, deep breath, and continued toward her most hated place in the academy.

Naruto sat in the swing's unpainted wooden seat, sideways, which made him face the academy's gates in the distance.

Frowning, Hinata walked up to him, them around him so she was between the swing and its tree, and sat down. She had the perfect angle to see Naruto's features.

He took one glance at her, a weird mix of sadness and numbness. "You didn't need to follow me."

"…Of course I did," she rebuked softly. "You're not well."

He gave her a single, empty laugh and went silent… yet that quietude was just fine for Hinata. It wasn't the uncomfortable kind of silence, the one that threatened to crush her under the weight of her own anxiety.

All she had to do was wait until Naruto gathered his thoughts. If he did not want to talk to her, he'd have pushed her away already.

As she waited, she reflected some more on their encounter with Gaara. Hinata already had a few ideas of what had rattled Naruto. Knowing what she did, it was hard not to. But, as her instinct told her, the initiative had to be his.

Instead, Hinata let her eyes trail the length of the swing's ropes, the same one Naruto was gripping tightly.

The swing… that was one of the places that Naruto usually retreated to when he was feeling down, or at least down enough that he had no energy left to hide it behind those sickeningly wide smiles of his, or his anger. Whether it brought him any real comfort was beyond Hinata… it certainly didn't look that way to her whenever she had caught him there.

Perhaps she was biased. She hated that swing, seeing it as a testament to her incompetency and cowardice. There was no purpose in knowing Naruto was suffering if she was too scared to do something about it. A wooden plank offered him more support than she could.

Hinata scowled at the damn thing for a moment before she caught herself and sighed at her foolishness.

'Jealous of a swing, of all things.'

Perhaps taking her sigh as a sign of impatience, Naruto began speaking.

"That guy, Gaara… he's… he has one too, doesn't he? A demon…"

Gaara did not name the monster sealed inside him, only referring to it as a strong sand spirit. But his parting words to Naruto… there was only one way to interpret them.

"I… think so, yes. I, uh… I asked my father about them, not too recently, and if I understood it right… Gaara probably is the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi."

When Hashirama Senju had given the beasts he'd captured to the other major villages, the Land of Wind's had kept only one: the Ichibi. It was the weakest beast of the nine, but it very well could be the strongest if faced in its own element, a desert with a near-infinite supply of sand.

If it wasn't the Ichibi, it made no sense for Gaara refer to Naruto's demon as a sibling to his own.

Hinata watched Naruto's expression carefully. It had yet to change.

"He's me."

She blinked. "Uh..."

"He's me," Naruto repeated, his voice trembling ever so slightly. "He's… what I could have become. What I can still become."

Hinata gasped. "What? No! Naruto-kun, what're you talking about?"

He snorted, looking down. "Looks like you forgot what happened in Wave."

Her eyebrows scrunched up. "I did not," she replied, fire seeping into her voice. "You lost control, yes. But… that was an accident. We both know that."

"…"

"Plus, remember how Gaara's story began? He was… bred to be a weapon," Hinata said, repulsed. The idea was simply revolting. "He doesn't seem to have people helping him, not anymore. That's… that's part of why you see yourself in him, right? Loneliness. Isn't it?"

Naruto went rigid and looked away.

It might as well have gone unsaid. Though not as intensely as Naruto or Gaara, she had lived through that too. Needing someone but having nobody. Wanting love but finding hate and apathy. Asking for support only to be put down more and more.

Hinata shared their pain. But she was recovering… and she wasn't the only one.

"Naruto-kun, you're not going to end up like him. You have friends now, and people watching out for you,cheeringfor you. People who care. Do you need me to list them all out for you? I can do that." She began to play with one of her longer hair strands. "It… helps me, sometimes. To remind myself that things aren't as bad as they were anymore."

She caught Naruto gazing at her. His eyes and smile both seemed thankful, but still sad.

"I… I know what you're saying," he admitted. "It's not that I'm not thankful, or anything. It sure has gotten a lot better now!" he let out a small laugh. "But…"

He didn't follow up on that, and his expression feel.

"…But?" she prompted.

"…I… I sometimes get scared," he admitted in a weak voice. "Back in Wave, I lost control because I thought Sasuke died and that you all would be next. And it was pretty similar back against Orochimaru, I think you saw that right?"

She nodded dumbly.

Surely he was not going where she thought he was going, was he…?

"Well," Naruto continued, no longer looking at her. "If not for Orochimaru messing with my seal, I think there might have been a third time."

Hinata felt her heart stop for a second.

'A third time!? But… but when?! Did something important happen to Naruto-kun and I just missed it…?'

The arrogance of that thought struck her like a bucket of cold water, but it was nothing compared to how his next words injected ice into her veins.

"It was during your fight with your asshole cousin," Naruto explained with an ugly scowl. "Listening to him, seeing what his words did to you, having to watch him toy with you, underestimate you, insult you… it just made me so angry! I wanted to jump in there and punch him in the face! Maybe not angry enough that the Fox's chakra would have come out, but… he tried to kill you."

His tone was much darker and colder than she expected from Naruto. The words were heavy, and not just with emotion. Hinata could sense the questions—the accusations—that hid underneath them.

That knowledge formed a jagged lump inside her throat, one that she had no choice but to painfully, dryly swallow—they could not get sidetracked.

"You… see your bonds with me and with the others as a source of danger."

Naruto deflated, slouching over one of the swing's ropes. "Yeah. A bit. Sometimes… sometimes I wonder if, you know. If maybe going back to how things were before wouldn't be better for everyone in the end."

Hinata got up in an instant. The movement jolted Naruto, loosening his grip on the swing's rope just enough that she was able to snatch one of his hands.

She held to that hand tightly with both of hers.

"Naruto-kun, giving up on us is just about the worst thing you could do to everyone that cares for you, and to yourself! Our bonds are what give us strength. That's the one thing that you should've taken from hearing Gaara's story. He fills the emptiness in his heart with other people's blood, and he will never stop killing because there is nobody to give him something truly fulfilling. Care, friendship, love. If you throw us away… that is when you'll become like him."

He just stared at her, wide-eyed. It was a good thing; she knew she had his attention.

"It's true that you have a monster inside you. But… it doesn't define you unless you let it. Gaara does, but it's because it was all he had left, and even then it doesn't define him either. Not entirely."

She brought his hand closer to herself, allowing his fingers to touch the cold metal of the headband she wore around her neck, making sure they could trace the Leaf's emblem carved into it.

He could recall she had done something like that in Wave, too.

"You thought I forgot about Wave… I think you might be forgetting the Will of Fire."

"I-I don't!" he protested immediately, almost offended. "I could never! What kind of future Hokage would forget something like that!?"

It made her smile as she pushed his arm back a bit and let go of him. "Then there's nothing to worry about. Right?"

To her immense relief, he smiled back at her. A smile of gratefulness and defiance. "Heh. Guess you're right!" He laughed a bit, scratching his head. "Geez… I must look so uncool right now, huh?"

She tilted her head a bit, before sitting down again, bringing her knees close to her chest. "What do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

It hadn't been the first time he had blurted out something in that vein.

"Ah, just… nah, forget it," he looked away. "It's nothing."

"…It doesn't look like nothing." Hinata threw him a slight frown but smothered it out lest she ended up unwelcoming or even intimidating. "You… you can tell me," she insisted.

He scratched his head some more.

"It's just… argh! It's just, you're always there to see me moping or scared or just being stupid."

Hinata was thoroughly confused.

"I mean! It's just, the stuff you told me back in Wave, before we left. Like I inspired you to keep going, and you look up to me. Then I go ahead and do these things when you're around and just… I dunno," he trailed off with an embarrassed laugh, of all things.

It made Hinata pause.

'What is wrong with him…?'

Naruto looked at her expression of pure bewilderment, and with a brief and little sigh, decided to elaborate.

"You said I was your hero. But when I'm around you… I don't really feel like one."

He then laughed a bit, but unfortunately for him Hinata could spot his fake ones from miles away. "Aw, forget about it, we should get out of here and tr—"

He was about to swing his legs to get out of the, er, swing, when Hinata clamped down on his ankle.

They stared at one another for a silent moment. She released him.

"You're really red," he remarked

'I know,' she thought pitifully. Her cheeks were burning up as if lava was flowing under her skin, for reasons that had nothing to do with physical contact.

She could not believe herself.

"I… I'm sorry, Naruto-kun!"

Her head hung low between her knees, making her miss what had to be a panicked look from Naruto, given his tone when he said: "W-Why are you apologizing!? You didn't do anything!"

"I-I did!" She raised her head just enough to peek at him. "I said something completely selfish without thinking of how you'd take it…"

"That's…"

He failed to elaborate, so she gathered the courage to raise her head and continued.

"Naruto-kun, if… if you'll allow me another chance to explain myself? I… may have expressed things poorly back then."

"Um, shoot," he said, unsure. "Go for it."

Her head bobbed. Her eyes darted around erratically, thankfully finding no one around them. Which she already knew to be the truth, but it was a small comfort for her nervous soul.

Hinata took one deep breath, focused on Naruto's shadow under the swing, and began.

"I, um, w-when I said that… about you being a hero. I didn't mean it in a more general sense but… a more personal one."

"Personal?"

"Y-Yes."

He wasn't simply a hero…

"One of the things we have in common, I think, is failure. Of trying, as hard as we can, as often as we can, but not quite getting to where we want to be at… right?"

She dared to look up, and caught him nodding somberly, gazing emptily at the academy as if reliving something. She understood the feeling it well—the academy was a physical representation of his failures, just as much as her own home was for Hinata.

"However," she kept going, "when those things happened to me, I often got discouraged until I couldn't handle it anymore. I'd stop putting my heart into it, and soon I'd give up. But not you."

Now he looked at her.

"You just keep going. Even when people say you can't, even when the results aren't there… you get knocked down but you rise anyway, you challenge life again. And again. And again! However many times you need before you make it, even if it hurts so much you have to hide behind a silly, fake smile to protect yourself, you still stand up and walk again."

A silly thought crossed her mind, making her laugh.

"To me… you're a proud failure. Even if it hurts, you embrace your shortcomings and strive to do better the next time. That determination—that courage—is what makes you so strong! It's… what makes you my hero."

For once, even though she was blushing up a storm, she did not break up eye contact with Naruto. No, she wanted to keep looking at him. To imprint on her memories the way he gaped at her as if she was spouting unbelievable nonsense.

"You're not perfect. I know that… and if you were, you wouldn't inspire me as much as you do. Anyone could've saved me from those bullies back on that snowy winter night when we first met. But if they had just scared them off… it wouldn't mean anywhere as much to me. It wouldn't have taught me anything. So you don't need to worry, Naruto-kun."

Hinata gave him her best smile.

Not on purpose.

It simply happened.

"If you stumble or fall, that's alright. We all do. I won't think any less of you for it, not even if you need help to get back up again, be it from someone else or… just me."

Nothing lasts forever, and she finally couldn't fight her nerves and looked away to the grassy ground again.

"If I can help you, even if I can't do a lot, I will be there to help you up. I owe you that much…"

Hinata had no words left to say on the matter. She just closed her mouth and waited for Naruto to process what her heart made her say.

'Hopefully, this time, without any misunderstandings.'

She began to twirl her fingers for a bit, until she caught herself and clamped one hand on the other. She had to kill that stupid nervous tic for good one day.

Eventually…

"Hey, Hinata?"

Lavender met blue. He was smiling at her, almost apologetically.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Two simple, sincere words, but they were enough to set free the butterflies in her stomach. "Y-You're welcome!"

"…But. You know, there's… something I have to say to you. Or, well, about you."

His tone had changed to something not as comfortable as before, and his eyes evaded hers again.

"Something that's been bothering me for a while already. I couldn't really put a finger on what it was until just now."

She stared at him, anxious curiosity flooding her veins. What had she done wrong this time?

"You've said a lot of times now that you owe me, and stuff like that."

"Yes." It was the truth, plain and simple.

"…Is that the reason you go so out of your way to help me?"

"Uh… I-I don't understand."

"I mean! Cooking for me, helping me train, cheering me up… you don't need to do any of that, but you do it anyway. Then you keep saying that stuff about owing me. I… it's just, it's not like I don't like that you do that!" he said, waving his hands as if to placate her, and then kind trailed off with a feeble: "But… you know…"

Hinata stared at the grass for a bit. She felt like she knew what he was hung up on.

"Naruto-kun… that's not the main reason I do what I do for you. It's because I want to help you. I do have a great debt with you, and I don't think I can quite explain to you how much you helped me … but even if I didn't feel that way, I'd still aid just as much as I do now. Does… does that make sense?"

She looked up. He took a couple seconds to offer her a nod.

"Then can you drop it?"

Hinata blinked. "Drop… what?"

"…Look, I get where you're coming from. You told me about how you were when we were younger. But… man, Hinata, you've helped me a lot lately! I don't think I could explain how much, too," he said, laughing with slight awkwardness. "Almost feels like you do too much sometimes, you know?"

Was that a light blush on his face, or just her imagination…?

"I don't think you owe me anything, not anymore. So… just don't say stuff like that. Alright? Makes me feel like you're just hanging out with me because you feel like you have to."

Shame crept up on Hinata like a ghost. "I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun! I didn't mean to make you feel bad… I-I will try not to say those things again, okay?"

"No need to feel sorry about it, Hinata. It's all good."

Hinata shook her head, rejecting the notion. "A-And, and I'll try not to be as overbearing and meddle when I—"

"Wait, wait, stop right there" Naruto waved his hands in front of himself almost frantically. "I-I didn't mean you bother me or anything, okay? Trust me, if I ever feel that way I'd probably blurt it out to you without even thinking about it," he laughed a bit.

"…Really? Y-You don't want me to stop…?"

"Nope! You keep being you," he beamed widely at her and practically jumped out of the swing.

She felt relief wash over her.

"Alright! Enough moping around then! Let's go train some more! I'm itching for some action."

Naruto began to walk away, laughing a bit to himself. He obviously expected his training partner would just follow along as usual, yet for once…

She didn't.

Hinata had a decision to make. Getting up to spar with Naruto was the easiest choice. Their conversation had ended on a relatively positive note, and she had cheered him up too. Ending things there was very tempting…

But she knew she couldn't do that.

"N-Naruto-kun, wait!"

She reached out a hand in his direction, which he stared at confusedly when he turned

"I… think there's one last thing we should talk about, m-maybe."

"Huh… sure?"

He walked back to the swing and sat on it, properly, and twisted his torso slightly so he could face Hinata.

"What's in your mind?"

Her eyes darted between his own and the ground a few times.

"About… something you said earlier. About Neji nii-san."

The boy's expression tightened in response, the curious blue in his eyes becoming something harsher.

"What about that jerk?"

"…Do you really that the Kyuubi's charka would have come out during my fight with him if Orochimaru hadn't placed that seal on you?"

He grimaced. "I said I didn't know. It's… just a feeling, that it might have happened. Why?"

Worry began to fester inside her heart.

"…Because you might end up needing that power against him, Naruto-kun. You… know that, don't you?"

"Ugh… I know…" he almost whimpered.

The last thing Hinata wanted to do was discourage him, to undermine all the effort he—they—had put into honing his skills… but as much as Hinata believed in him, the gap between her cousin and her friend might as well have been a chasm. The Kyuubi's power was one way to even the odds, but with how things were going between those two…

"Naruto-kun. I'm not going to ask about what happened between you and the Kyuubi when you talked to each other last time… though I am here if you want to. But… I just wanted you to promise me something."

Her mind went back to a dark cave. She saw Sasuke, shirtless, covered in black marks and radiating foul chakra. He acted nothing like the Sasuke she knew.

When she focused back, she saw Naruto waiting apprehensively for her to proceed.

"If you end up using that power against Neji nii-san… I-I shouldn't doubt you, I know that, but still! C-Can you promise you won't use it to truly harm him?"

Hinata wanted to kick herself. They were going to fight for goodness' sake, of course he'd use that power to harm, that was the point.

But when she dared to meet Naruto's eyes, the conflict she saw within… Hinata knew he understood her intent.

"I can't promise that."

…It took several seconds for Hinata to process what she heard.

"What?"

He turned away from her. "I… can't promise that. I can't!"

Hinata had not expected that.

"B-But why? Naruto-kun do you mean that—"

"Look, listen to me," he interrupted. "Pervy Sage said that negative emotions become much stronger when using the Kyuubi's powers. You were there, you know that. And that asshole, he… argh! He pissed me off so much, and that's just when he's talking to me! I can't control what I feel, or how I feel."

That jagged lump clawed its way back to Hinata's throat again. Did… Naruto actually hate Neji?

She didn't have the courage to ask that.

But Naruto had the courage to ask the reverse.

"Dammit, Hinata, why are you asking me these things? Why do you even care about that guy!? He doesn't deserve it!"

She gasped. "W-What!? Naruto-kun, he's… he's my cousin. We're family! O-Of course I care! I… don't need a reason…"

"…You know. Before, I told myself that was it. He's your family. I don't have a family so of course I wouldn't get it."

Hinata felt like his words stabbed her in the heart. How could she have used those words, knowing who she was talking to? 'What an amazing friend you're proving yourself to be, after all that spiel about wanting to help him,' her mind quickly supplied.

"But even I know family's not supposed to be like that."

Mercifully, he did not elaborate.

…There was no need to. Hinata could hear every unspoken single accusation that was supposed to follow his words, loud and clear, and they made her curl up on herself.

"I… I…"

She tried to speak, but nothing was coming out.

Nothing but tears.

"Shit," she heard Naruto curse when her vision began to blur. "Hinata, I—"

"I know."

He went quiet.

"I know, I know! I-I shouldn't feel this way, but I do! I can't control how I feel!"

Naruto recoiled at having his words turned against him.

"But please, Naruto-kun," she said between sobs, "don't hate him for what he did… it's not really his fault."

The boy made a strangled noise, as if swallowing down whatever burning objections he had to that.

Instead, he said: "You're talking about that seal. The Caged Bird Seal, right?"

"N-Not… exactly. It's not just that. Not in Neji's case…"

She wiped her tears. Perhaps… perhaps if Naruto knew more, then maybe he could promise her what she had asked.

With that plan in mind, she raised her head. Naruto peered at her with a mix of confusion and worry.

"There was an incident, years ago… people outside my clan call it the Hyuuga affair…"

---

…Naruto was never the best at understanding people emotionally. His brain usually worked too fast for him to pick up and process certain cues, while others he did catch but lacked the emotional experience to understand them properly.

Yet as Hinata's story drew to a close—the story of her failed kidnapping, which resulted in the death of her uncle Hizashi, Neji's father—Naruto felt like he understood. Because there are certain things, certain feelings, that very few people in the world could claim to have a better understanding than his.

"That's… that's it, Naruto-kun. Did… that help?"

Her tears had dried, but her voice was still weak, and it pained him to hear it.

He nodded. "I think I get it now."

Hinata seemed surprised. "You do?"

"Yeah."

Naruto looked at his own open palm, then closed it into a fist.

"You care for him because he's family, because you feel sorry about him being from the branch, and because you feel guilty about causing his father's death—which is really stupid by the way! Stop blaming yourself!"

She flinched, but Naruto didn't relent. He usually was more gentle with Hinata but that wasn't the time for it.

"But back to Neji… there's another reason you care, one I don't think you realize. It's why you care so much, even though he just tramples all over you."

Hinata hung to his every word.

"You care because he hates you."

"…What?!"

Naruto laughed a bit at her surprised expression. "Man, you're just like me. He hates you, and he says all those awful things about you… and you want to prove him wrong. To show him that you're worth something. To make him look at you and acknowledge you for who you are. To accept you. That's… it, isn't it?"

The words hurt him, too. Facing hatred was horrible, and not falling prey to it was incredibly difficult. It was something Naruto had to contend with every single day, before he even knew what the word meant, how it felt already was deeply ingrained in his soul.

That drive to turn everyone's hatred upside-down pushed him forward, even when he just wanted to let it all drown him until it stopped hurting.

He saw it in Hinata. The difference being that Neji truly mattered to the girl sitting beside him.

She let out a small, sad laugh. "I think you're right…"

"Even if I am, it doesn't make what he does to you any less wrong."

"..."

It still baffled Naruto that Hinata perceived herself as weak despite all the strength she's shown. While he had lashed out at the villagers that hated him, Hinata had chosen to embrace that hatred even if it almost broke her. But she was still there, fractured, yet whole.

Problem was, the logic behind her choice was faulty.

"Letting him hate you is not going to make him heal. You… know that, don't you?"

"…"

Still no answer. He jerked his head away.

'Neji… the guy is so caught up on his own hatred that he let that twist his entire life.'

In the end, Neji was more similar to Naruto than he cared to admit. But where Naruto chose defiance, Neji couldn't settle between fighting against his fate or accepting it.

And Hinata had seen that.

"In the end… you're just like me!"

And so did Neji, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Naruto was sure of it.

"…I think I just wanted to save him, Naruto-kun."

Naruto very slowly turned back to Hinata. She was curled up in a ball, and it was a miracle he heard her words.

It was the last piece of the puzzle: the reason she had fought back so fiercely during the exams.

Hinata wanted to change how Neji viewed the world, and himself. She couldn't do anything regarding the branch's seal. Not yet, anyway. But changing her cousin mindset… that was something possible.

However, the only way to accomplish that was through her own success, against none other than Neji himself.

She had shaken him, but it wasn't enough…

Naruto placed his feet on the ground and rose. Slowly, he stepped toward Hinata.

"I promise."

After a few seconds, the girl peeked out of her shell, only to find Naruto's outstretched hand and amused smile.

She numbly accepted his hand and he pulled her up. Her semblance was tired and curious.

"You… do?"

He nodded emphatically.

"I get you two much better now. So, yeah… you have my word," he gave her a thumbs-up. "I'm going to train with the Kyuubi's power and I'm going to use it against him, but I won't go overboard or anything. Alright?"

Hinata gave him a look that mixed relief and happiness, and it was so warm that Naruto couldn't bear to meet her eyes after a few seconds.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun."

He laughed a bit. "W-Well… gotta learn how to work with the furball first though!"

"I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

His cheeks felt strangely hot. Sometimes, Hinata's belief in him still caught him off guard.

"Shall we go look for Jiraiya-sama, then?" she offered, smiling innocently as if she had done nothing special.

He threw that thought away, smiling at her.

"Yeah, let's go!"

---

"Alright kid… you ready this time?" Jiraiya asked mid-sigh, making no effort to hide how much he would rather be spending his time stalking the hot springs like he had been doing until the two genin found him and dragged him back to their usual training ground.

Naruto scowled at the pervert as he sat down to enter a meditative stance. He could also see Hinata shooting a winter-cold glare at the so-called legendary ninja, who had long since learned to avoid her gaze whenever he said that kind of stuff.

It made him smirk a bit as he said. "I'm ready!"

Truthfully, he didn't feel as ready as he should be. He could still vividly remember the Kyuubi's fiery accusations after he had asked for the Fox's cooperation so that he could work toward his promotion and his dream of being a Hokage.

"You insolent brat… how dare you!? Your words say one thing but your feelings point at another direction entirely!"

The Fox had then crouched and brought its face as close to the metal bars as it could, letting Naruto appreciate the rage burning within its blood-red gaze.

"Your cause may sound just, but you cannot hide anything from me. The reason you seek my power is tainted, boy! While I admit, I appreciate the effort you put into asking me first… your lies disgust me! I refuse to lend my aid to such a dishonest human! Your request is denied!"he had said, slamming one paw against the jail with such force that everything rumbled.

The deafening shockwave that strike caused had knocked Naruto flat on his butt.

"Hiding your feelings from me is utterly pointless. Don't you dare to come to me again unless you can be true to yourself!"

The Kyuubi then had roared, banishing the boy from their shared mindspace.

'Well… time for round 2, I guess.'

Naruto closed his eyes, doing his best to replicate what he had done to access that mindspace the first time…

"Oh? You again…"

The Kyuubi's booming voice made Naruto open his eyes. He was in front of the seal-jail again, and beyond its metal bars there was only darkness.

Except for a giant, menacing pair of red glowing eyes.

"Yup, me again. I'm back," Naruto got up. "And I'm here to finish our talk."

The Fox met his words with silence, yet not a contemptuous one.

Naruto felt he still had a shot, so he began to walk toward the cell's bars.

"Last time… you said I was lying to you. You kicked me out before I could even say anything, and I got pissed. Because I didn't think I was lying to you, not at the time."

The Kyuubi let out a contemplative noise. "And you have realized you were, correct, boy? I sense a change in you."

Naruto lowered his head a bit. "Yeah… I had a few important conversations today and I think I get it now."

The room shook as the Kyuubi took a few steps forward. He stopped, still shrouded in darkness but close enough that Naruto could see its silhouette bathed in shadows.

"Your initial argument was that you wanted my power to help you succeed in a fight which is part of some sort of exam. Succeeding would put you one step closer to your goal of becoming the Hokage. What was the falsehood there?" the Fox asked, almost like a teacher would.

It made Naruto briefly snort. "It's not the whole reason I wanted your power. That's part of it, and it should've been the biggest part but… I just wanted to beat the crap out of the guy who's gonna be my first opponent in the exams."

Naruto made no effort to hide the anger in his tone. The Kyuubi would see through it.

So sincerity it was, then.

"This guy… Neji. When he looks at me or speaks to me, it feels just like those people in the village that always tried to put me down. To insult me, to make me feel awful and give up. He doesn't hate or fear me like they do, but… those people, they don't want to deal with me. They say their insult and just leave. Neji doesn't do that—he wants me to think like he does. Not me actually, everyone."

Naruto looked up, right into the Kyuubi's gaze, and made no effort to hide his anger and frustration.

"It pisses me off! But… but I could deal with it if that was all. What's another jerk in my life, right? Except… he doesn't hate me, but there's someone he does hate. His cousin, Hinata. She's my friend, and she's also the nicest, sweetest person I know."

"Oh…?"

The Kyuubi seemed amused, but Naruto let it slide with nothing but a brief frown.

"She cares for him a lot, even though he's always ignoring her or putting her down. We're pretty different but in this, we're actually the same, you know? She knows he hates her, but she wants him to look at her differently… and that's why she tried so hard to stand up to him when they ended up fighting each other because of the exams."

He felt his fist closing tightly as that memory assaulted his mind.

"He tried to break her down with words. He went on and on and on about all her flaws, all her weaknesses, because he wanted her to give up and accept he's right. That no matter what we do, we can't change our lot in life. That she was a failure and she was never going to be anything more than a failure… and the same went for me, too. He wasn't talking to me, but those words hurt me too. Not just because I felt that pain before, but because I could see how badly it hurt my friend…"

Naruto shook his head. That memory was like a wound that had yet to heal.

"Things got worse. My friend found her courage and fought him, as best as she could. He didn't take her seriously and just toyed with her! She… couldn't win. She gave it her all, but it was just too much… and just before it was over, when she couldn't barely stand, she said something to him."

"In the end… you're just like me!"

"And it's true. He's fighting back against his destiny," he said, almost spitting at that word. "I didn't know what that was until today, but I can see it now. And I think he did too, but he couldn't accept it. Her words made him so angry he tried to kill her, twice! And that's why… that's why what I said to you last time was wrong."

The Kyuubi finally emerged from the darkness, its nine tails swirling behind it almost ethereally. He stood only a small distance from the metal bars that separated them.

Naruto couldn't look at the Fox in the eyes anymore.

"You began to hate him, not just due to what he represented for you, but for what he wanted to do with your friend."

The accusation stung. Hate was a strong word. However…

"...Yeah. She never did anything wrong. I always knew that she didn't, she's too kind to do anything that could make someone despise her like that. But today I learned more about their family and now I know he's hating her for no good reason! He tried to kill her for nothing! But… but still…"

"But still?" the Fox goaded him.

"…He's just another victim of something that's out of his control. He thinks change is impossible, he lost hope. But he's wrong! She tried to show it to him… heck, I think she did show it to him, but he didn't accept it. Not yet."

The boy mustered the courage to raise his head and face the Fox again.

"I hate him. But I can understand him now. And if people can change… that goes for him too, right? Everyone deserves a chance, he just needs the right push, you know?"

"And by push, I presume you mean defeating him in battle?"

Naruto nodded earnestly, confident even in the face of a living calamity. "I think that's the only way of getting through him. He doesn't see someone like me as his equal… and we aren't. But if I can win, he'll have no choice but to listen."

The Fox snorted, smirking derisively… or almost. Something about it fell off to Naruto.

"Except you know your weakness. Despite the other brat's rants, his words do ring true… and that's the reason you're here. To beg for power, because you alone are insufficient to win."

The Kyuubi's crafted his words just to bait him. Naruto knew it, and felt that familiar pang of anger bubbling up.

However, he had been ready for that.

"No."

The Fox's gaze now held a hint of curiosity. "No?"

He shook his head. "I don't care that I might need a boost from you. I'm stuck with you until I die so that doesn't matter! And… I don't want the power to win."

With that, Naruto paused and breathed, quick and deeply. The next moment would be critical… but he did not need to stop and think about what he'd say.

He just had to let his heart do the talk, let his words carry his intentions.

"I want to save him."

"To… save?"

The tailed beast seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. I want to be Hokage! If I can't help one person that is suffering… I can never hope to help an entire village! Right?"

"That's not all there is to it."

He began to laugh, uncaring of the behemoth accusing him.

"Yeah… it's not," Naruto agreed.

He began to feel an unpleasant tightness in his chest. A feeling he usually hid from, but that he knew he couldn't outrun at that moment.

"I… I've always wanted a family. For better or for worse, Neji is her family. And even if he doesn't deserve any of it, she cares for him. If I can help him, maybe they can become close again, like family's supposed to be."

Naruto closed his right hand and put his arm forward. For a brief moment, he was back at the preliminaries arena, his fist was red with his friend's blood, and across him was not a monster, but another wounded child just like him.

Then it vanished, and the only thing his eyes could focus on was the Kyuubi's crimson ones.

He didn't falter.

"I want to win, I want to beat the crap out of him, and I want to help him… but I'm also doing this for my friend's sake. Not to avenge her loss but, to help them become a real family again. That's… that's why I'm here."

Naruto had nothing left to say. All he could do was wait for the Kyuubi's judgment, staring him down for several seconds.

The beast's lips curled up into a smirk, and Naruto felt a pang of apprehension as a low sound came from the other side of the seal.

The sound grew to become full-blown laughter, echoing loudly throughout the sewer.

"Arrrgh!" the boy stomped the ground in frustration, splashing water with the motion. "Stop laughing at me, you stupid furball!"

"Ha! Do you listen to yourself?"

The Kyuubi lowered himself so that its face was closer to Naruto's level.

"Thinking that a simple fight would be enough to change a person's mindset is foolish optimism. You will need more than that to trigger a real change. However… your idea isn't wholly without merit, given the circumstances."

"Huh?"

"You have surprised me, child. Pleasantly so. I asked for honesty, and you made a genuine effort in giving it to me when you could've simply taken my power by force at this point. And, thus, I shall reward you."

The Fox's tails stopped moving, falling limply behind it. All tails but one.

"When channeling the power of a bijuu, a jinchuuriki's power can be measured by their tails. After gathering enough chakra, a cloak will naturally form around you, and it can have as many tails as the beast that jinchuuriki has sealed in themselves. The more tails your cloak has, the more chakra you are drawing from me."

He then chuckled bitterly.

"Yet the human psyche is far too weak to handle that much spiritual energy normally. Power such as mine can easily corrupt the user, turning them into nothing more than a wild animal. At that point, it's easy for the beast to manipulate the person, feed their feelings so they draw more and more power and put enough stress into the seal to damage it, and possibly break it."

Naruto could do nothing but stare at the Fox wide-eyed. That was… critical information, to put it lightly. If Naruto remained unaware of those details, it might have led to the Kyuubi killing him to break the seal sooner or later.

Why was the Fox sharing that with him for…?

"Currently, your seal is minimally loose. Enough that you could draw from my chakra to strengthen yourself without forming a proper cloak, which has happened twice before but due to your emotions running rampant. Should that happen again now, you have the potential to achieve a one-tailed cloak even with no interference from my part, though you are unlikely to be able to control it without training yourself."

"So that means…!?"

The Fox grinned. "Indeed. I shall honor your wish. You may draw from the small portion of my power the seal allows you to. And should you go far enough to trigger a one-tailed cloak, then I swear that I shall not manipulate you to stress the seal." He then scoffed. "Not that it would do me much good at this point. The seal is still too strong."

Naruto's jaw fell.

"You're okay with it? J-Just like that?"

"Yes."

The boy took a step back without realizing it. "…How do I know this isn't a trick?"

The Kyuubi growled, offended. "I admonished you for lying, boy! It is one of my biggest grievances with your kind. Tricking you is nothing more than hypocrisy; it'd make me no different than those I despise."

Naruto considered the Fox's words for a moment. There was no guarantee the Fox would keep its word. Yet at least for the moment, Naruto felt he could be trusted.

"Alright! We have a deal!"

"Good. Now get out of my sight, looking at that shade of orange for this long is making me feel ill."

"What!? What's wrong with my clothes?"

The Fox just shook his head before getting up and turning back toward the darkness on the deeper end of the cell.

Naruto humphed indignantly. "Fine then! I'm leaving! …And… thanks," he muttered before closing his eyes and…

Nothing.

"Uh, how do I leave here? You kinda threw me out the past few times…"

The Kyuubi just let out a loud groan of frustration.

---

Time healed all wounds.

Jiraiya had never been very fond of that saying, but it spoke to him that staring at his former student's likeness on the Hokage Monument hurt less than when he had just returned to the village, three weeks prior.

Then again, that night he wasn't looking at the Fourth's stone head while sitting on a random rooftop just to reminiscence.

In his hand, Jiraiya had a small journal where he kept track of how his newest student was progressing, among other spymaster-related businesses. The journal was wide-open, and though it was a bit difficult to read as the sun had long since faded away, the final entry in that journal noted Naruto's latest accomplishment… a goal Jiraiya had set aside as he didn't think the kid would progress far enough in the one month they had.

But if there was one thing that Naruto Uzumaki was good at, was shattering expectations.

"You'd be proud of him, Minato," he spoke into the night, smirking. "It took him a few days but he's finally a genuine, battle-ready Toad summoner."

Jiraiya had to admit, he still had his doubts—many doubts—about the Kyuubi's attitude toward Naruto. But the Fox had kept his word, and with that Naruto didn't struggle as much with the Summoning Jutsu thanks to it.

Well, not as long as he got help from the Fox. By his own power alone, all the kid could summon were useless tadpoles that never ceased to make Jiraiya burst laughing. Even the usually supportive Hinata sometimes slipped and giggled depending on how dramatic Naruto chose to be when grieving and whining about it all.

But as they were on a tight schedule, Jiraiya preferred to focus on making the most of what they had. The result? Naruto had learned every single jutsu Jiraiya had planned to teach him. All they had to do in the upcoming week before the exams was to polish his fighting style to incorporate those techniques as best as he could.

The kid wasn't disappointing in that aspect either… no, Jiraiya had to be fair, it was both kids. The little Hyuuga girl had been wiping the floor with Naruto from the first day they trained together, and while the boy improved leaps and bounds, it was clear to Jiraiya she had been putting extra effort into her own training to make sure she could pose as much of a challenge to Naruto as possible throughout the month.

It made Jiraiya smile, even as he let out a sad sigh. "I bet Kushina would love to meet the girl…"

Shaking his head, he shoved his hand inside his robes and brought out a pocket watch. "It's time. Let's see what sensei has figured out"

Jiraiya packed his things and left.

In his head, there were no more thoughts about Minato or Naruto. No… there was only one name occupying his mind.

Orochimaru.

As usual, Jiraiya just waltzed in through the Hokage's open window.

"Yo, sense…i…?"

His wide smile faded into a tight frown as he took in the scene inside the office.

Hiruzen in his seat, sighing at his student's willful ignorance of the front door as he always did… and across his paperwork-infested desk, one Shimura Danzo, silently judging him for the exact same thing.

"What is going on here, sensei?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Danzo's

"I could ask the same thing, Hiruzen."

The Hokage first took the time to light his pipe before answering.

"This is a meeting to discuss Orochimaru's movements within the village. Danzo has information to share on this matter," Hiruzen said, glancing at Jiraiya and then at Danzo. "And I will not keep my student and spymaster out of the loop regarding this subject. Whatever you have to say about Orochimaru, you can and shall say it in his presence."

"Understood," Danzo said with a respectful nod to Hiruzen. Then, he drew out a scroll from his lap.

There was no resistance. The councilman went straight to business.

"First of all, I presume your men found no clues about him yet, correct?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Our investigations turned out nothing."

"I see."

Jiraiya scoffed. "And what, do you know where the snake's hiding?"

"I do not. And there is little need to waste more time seeking him before he makes his move. He will show himself before long… as he mentioned to me, personally."

Danzo offered the scroll to Hiruzen, who took it and left it unopened in front of his desk.

"Explain." The Hokage's gaze was hard, but his tone held no judgment. Jiraiya would have never been able to do that in his place.

"On the evening of the day he infiltrated the exams to attack Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, Orochimaru brazenly approached me on my own residence to offer an alliance. He sought my cooperation to bring about a plan that would lead to our village's downfall, and more specifically, your death."

Jiraiya felt his blood heat up. "On the day he—that was three weeks ago! Why are we only hearing about this now!?"

"Because I wanted to extract as much information out of him as possible before contacting Hiruzen," Danzo explained evenly. "I accepted his offer, and we've met two more times to discuss the details of his plan. I've compiled all of my findings in that scroll," he said, gesturing to the item on Hiruzen's desk, "however, I'd prefer to brief you on its contents first."

A migraine bloomed inside Jiraiya's skull. His former teammate was as arrogant as they came, but Danzo wasn't know for exaggerating facts. Had the snake truly come up with a way to destroy the Leaf?

Hiruzen let out a puff of smoke. "Proceed."

"Orochimaru is orchestrating an invasion. In the years since he fled the village he has built up his own village in the Land of Rice, the Hidden Sound. That alone wouldn't be cause for great concern, he himself admitted that however strong his men are, mathematics alone ensure he cannot contest us upfront. Thus, he sought the aid of another village."

Jiraiya sighed. "The Rock, right? There's no way the Raikage wouldn't kill him on the spot," he grumbled. Onoki was a very difficult man, but nowhere as much as A could be.

Danzo shook his head. "The Sand."

The temperature dropped. The Sand was the only village among the great five that had allied with the Leaf; putting aside ongoing negotiations with the Hidden Mist.

Hiruzen, perhaps too old to be surprised by these things anymore, just seemed tired from hearing those words.

"It seems that the Kazekage's resentment over the missions the Wind Daimyo has been outsourcing to us is greater than we believed."

"Indeed," Danzo nodded. "Orochimaru has used that to twist the Kazekage's mindset. Even if they were successful, chances are their forces would take a sizeable hit and become even less capable of dealing with the Daimyo's demands."

Jiraiya scratched his chin. "And he'd just send his commissions to other minor villages then, I suppose. From what my informants gathered he just plainly doesn't want to deal with the Sand anymore and would rather kill it from inside."

A village's relationship with their Daimyo was one of the Kage's greatest responsibilities. One of the reasons was that without fail, a village's biggest client was their country's own Daimyo.

The Wind Country, however, had a much bigger demand than the Sand could handle. A country with few grand cities spread between large expanses of deserts, mountains and valleys… it was a notoriously difficult region to traverse between natural hazards and the many bandits and missing-nin that used the hostile environment to build their hideouts.

And Rasa's failure to develop his own village to suit their country's demand plus the man's turbulent dynamic with the Daimyo led to, of all things, an invasion.

"Why the invasion will happen doesn't matter anymore," Hiruzen announced. "How it will happen is the important part."

"Agreed," Danzo nodded to the Hokage. "The invasion has three major points of conflict. I believe by now you've been made aware that the Kazekage's arrival has been delayed to the day of the exams, correct?"

"Yes, we've got a vague message about him having to settle a dispute between two of their major clans," Hiruzen mentioned.

"This is no coincidence. He will arrive with an army at his back, one that should be receiving news of the upcoming invasion within a couple days and that will be backed up by a few snake summoners from the Sound. That is point number one."

'Ah, so that's why my men haven't brought this up yet…' Jiraiya frowned.

Hiruzen leaned forward in his chair. "What about Orochimaru's threat regarding the exams? I believed he wanted them to continue."

"He does. He plans to pose as the Kazekage, to sit by your side as the exams start. This is where Orochimaru began to play coy and was less forthcoming with information," Danzo crossed his arms, a rare hint of annoyance carried in his tone. "He has two surprises planned. The first, is something that will occur during the exams and will act as the trigger for the Sand and Sound forces that are already here. He has given away nothing that could hint at what that might be."

"Dammit," Jiraiya muttered. "Could the kids be in danger?"

"Most certainly. Some thought must be spared to ensure nothing will occur with our genin, especially the jinchuuriki, the Uchiha and the other clan heirs," Danzo said almost off-handedly.

"What about the second surprise?" Hiruzen asked.

"…Once the first surprise occurs, Orochimaru plans to seal away your surroundings to trap you. He wants to duel you," Danzo explained. "Normally I'd dismiss the thought of him coming victorious, however, whatever his second surprise may be it's something that gives him confidence that he will kill you. To the point he lamented it will probably be too easy of a fight."

"Tough words for a guy that got so thoroughly beaten before he fled," Jiraiya scoffed.

"Yes. Hiruzen is the most versatile of all current Kages, and we all know old age is something that can be worked around. For him to be this confident in his chances…"

Danzo trailed off, but the dreadful implication was there. Orochimaru had something truly decisive inside his sleeve.

"These were points two and three," Danzo continued. "In the scroll you will find a far more detailed version of everything I spoke, complete with a transcription of my conversations with him and his lieutenant, a list key topics future discussions, possible countermeasures for the invasion and a few of the decisions I took ahead of time in preparation for what's to come. There is also a small segment about evacuation plans, but it's not extensive since not much will change from the standard procedures I believe."

Hiruzen took the scroll, but still made no move to open it. "Was that all?"

"No. There is one last thing I have to mention, an idea I proposed to Orochimaru that, with your permission, could turn the tides in our favor."

"Oh?"

"I want to be the shinobi chosen to act as your bodyguard during the exams."

Jiraiya blinked dumbly at the man. "What? But… you're not even in the roster anymore, plus you're… oh."

"I see you've realized it."

The shinobi world was very convoluted, but it still had a few practices that could be considered as etiquette. One such thing was the choice of bodyguards when multiple kage or village leaders were present.

Having a fellow kage-level shinobi as a bodyguard was considered a sign of great disrespect, as it implied that the other kage was untrustworthy and major threat, it was a sure-fire way of ruining diplomatic relations only losing to a kage that brought no bodyguards, or worse, brought genin as bodyguards.

Hence the accepted practice was having jonin fulfill that duty

However… there was already nothing diplomatic about what the exams would bring. The Kazekage wouldn't be there, it would be Orochimaru. And with Danzo being his ally…

"My plan was that, if you allowed me to accompany you, I would be able to fight alongside Orochimaru. He argued that he wouldn't need any more manpower to handle you, which speaks to the potency of this second surprise… but also, he quickly agreed to let me at least watch if I managed to convince you."

Each second that went by made Jiraiya feel more and more uneasy about their whole conversation.

"Then it looks like I have no choice," Hiruzen declared. "From the way he dismisses my own abilities, a jonin bodyguard might not be enough, even if it was Kakashi or Guy. And unfortunately," he eyed his student, "I could not justify having you up there with me."

"We will need someone to command the men at the frontlines as well," Danzo spoke. "Jiraiya seems perfect for this role. I can think of no one better suited to confront Rasa if necessary."

"My thoughts exactly," Hiruzen agreed.

"Wait wait wait, just a second—"

"No Jiraiya, he is right. Rasa's greatest strength is his defensive capabilities. We need someone that can break through his gold dust techniques."

Jiraiya began to scratch his head. "Sure, I think Sage Mode is enough for me to get the upper hand there, but still…"

He broke into a sigh. No other argument came to mind.

"This was all I had to share at this point. I will have one final meeting with his lieutenant in a couple days, but I don't believe it shall change anything. I will be waiting for the upcoming meetings with the rest of the council," Danzo rose from his chair, bowed his head, and spun around to leave.

"You are not excused just yet."

Danzo halted at Hiruzen's words.

"You have had three weeks. I should've been informed of these happenings on the first contact Orochimaru made with you. It would have changed nothing about what your investigation yielded and would have given us far more time to prepare."

Slowly, Danzo turned his head.

"Do you truly wish me to say why I chose to wait?"

"Yes."

Then, Danzo faced the Hokage once more.

"If it was any other enemy, you'd have been informed immediately. But with Orochimaru specifically… Hiruzen, I do not trust your judgment. You are soft. Your sentimentality allowed the most dangerous traitor this village has ever seen since Madara Uchiha to escape with his life. My goal here was to maneuver Orochimaru into a position where I could either kill him or ensure his death, and if you had any prior input this opportunity might have not appeared."

The two men stared at each other impassively for several seconds.

"…May I be excused, Hokage-sama?"

"…Yes."

Danzo inclined his head one last time before he silently made his way out of the room.

"The nerve of that guy," Jiraiya snarled.

"…He may have challenged my authority, but this time, I fear he might be correct in doing so," Hiruzen admitted with a sigh. "At the very least I don't think I can fault him."

"The only thing that guy is correct is that you are soft, but with him," the toad sannin shook his head. "I'm going to tell you something you already know: I don't trust him one bit."

"Then start thinking of what councilman you'd want in his place when you take over for me and become the fifth," Hiruzen shot back as he opened Danzo's scroll.

It made Jiraiya throw his hands up in the air and walk away from his old teacher. "Not this again, sensei!"

The old man had the nerve to chuckle. "Perhaps this so-called invasion might force your hand in that matter, Jiraiya."

"Blegh. I'd rather take my chances convincing Tsunade to come back instead."

"Good luck with that."

The two men spent the next few minutes in silence, with Hiruzen reading and Jiraiya trying to make sense of all Danzo had shared with them.

"Sensei. Have you considered that Danzo might be acting as a triple agent in this situation?"

Once more, Hiruzen laughed.

"I'm serious!" Jiraiya yelled. "You know how badly he wants the hat!"

Hiruzen eyes him with amusement. "And I know you are making the exact same mistake Orochimaru did when he chose to contact Danzo. You both think his ambition outweighs his desire to protect the village." His gaze fell back to the scroll. "Perhaps if we were on the brink of assured destruction, he might have chosen to hide or favor the enemy in order to become Hokage and help rebuild. But a foe capable of such a thing does not exist, not in the current political scenario."

"Then you really believe he wants to fight Orochimaru alongside you?"

"Yes. Danzo has always operated in the shadows, but right here, he was quite transparent."

With those words, Hiruzen offered the scroll to Jiraiya, who took it sullenly.

"For your sake, sensei, I hope you're correct."

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A/N:

That's the game!

Hope you guys enjoyed this antagonist-centric chapter! The Gaara and Danzo/Orochimaru sides of the story had been neglected for a while, especially Gaara… plus there HAD to be a better way of handling Naruto and Neji's beef than having them talk it all out mid-battle. Ugh!

There was also a much needed NaruHina moment to go along with it. Not just dealing with Neji, but setting their friendship straight.

If only that sort of thing was this easy in real life.

…Anyway, WE ARE ALMOST AT 1000 REVIEWS EVERYONE! Can we get there with this chapter!? Who's gonna be the reviewer that will make history!? (that would be the one that drops review nº 1002 actually due to 2 accidental reviews from my part and from the fic's first beta, SimplePotato)

Even after hitting the 1000s, I'd still like to hear from y'all, so don't be shy...!

And that's all we have for today, unless you're a guest reviewer.

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Guest Review Answers:

Guest who reviewed Chapter 2: Not that you'll get this far from the look of things but I didn't like the idea of having a chapter taking place that early in the story, especially with Chapter 1 being in the present. How the events shaped Hinata into the person she is was more important than the nitty-gritty of those interactions, I feel. Thanks for sharing your thoughts regardless.

Piero: That's a cool analogy! As for Hinata seeing herself, yeah I see no reason why a Byakugan-user would be unable to do that. But pep-talking herself? Let's just say that's not Inner Hinata's style… Thanks for the review!

Guest who reviewed Chapter 28 (9-24): Haha, listening to Hinata is a bit of an understatement. There are times where she just refuses my ideas and does her own thing, I just record her actions. It's kinda magical when that happens, I love it, haha. Thanks for the kind words!

Guest who reviewed Chapter 10 (9-28): It's been so long that I have no idea what that was all about either. I'd have to reread one of my oldest chapters and I'd rather die than do that, so I'll have to let you down on this one… sorry… but thanks for the review!

Guest who left several reviews throughout October (I'm assuming the reviews on Chapters 2471215192022262730 are all from the same person). First of all thank you so much for the multitude of reviews! I'm glad the characterization is holding up.

On Sasuke, chapter 7, his behavior came from having had a chance to release some of his hatred during the genjutsu, and from the moment he gave up thinking Itachi was going to kill him. That left him in a different state of mind than usual, and Sasuke's not so bad when the "curse of hatred" lets him breathe a little.

On Hinata's interactions with Naruto (during wave), yeah, without being exposed to Hinata through the Neji fight, I assumed he wouldn't react in the same way as canon or in how most people write early NH stories. Glad that worked out! As for her interactions with Hanabi, again, as a boy and only child, I'm ultra glad it felt realistic! (Also I do have something planned for the jacket thing, worry not)

Hinata did not forgive Hiashi because she was hurt far too deeply. He gave some good justifications for his actions but they don't erase the emotional and psychological damage he dealt to her. She wants to, but she can't. I wanted her to do it, but when it came down to writing the scene she outright refused the idea. Hinata just needs more time to let the wounds heal properly.

The fight scenes took me a lot of time and effort, it's always nice to hear that the hard work is paying off, haha. And yes, it's unfortunate but some small moments from canon get cut as we change things. Sasuke's bout of cowardice is one such thing.

As for Hinata's behavior when she met Naruto again, haha… Shikamaru explains this well in Chapter 32, but, Hinata just works better in dangerous situations where she can quickly get her head into the game compared to social situations where she has plenty of time to overthink and worry. And yes, Sasuke does care in his own way, how could he not?

Finally, about the chapter 30 battles, wow. Were you really that excited about the Hyuuga duel? I'm glad that this could challenge the canon battle in your eyes! You seem to hold the original series in very high regard so this is quite the praise.

As for Tenten, she got her naginata (not a staff, this has a bladed end) knocked away by Naruto. He used a mix of Transformation and Shadow Clones to slip a clone past her guard and knock the weapon away. Once he fled to the upper floor, she had to switch to projectiles, and once her ankle got damaged that's what she had to fall back on. Naruto kept his girl disguise because he doesn't truly get what is so upsetting about it, and on the author's side, for Rule of Funny (as well as for Fanservice when someone makes an anime adaptation of my fic, lol).

Thanks once again for all the reviews!

Guest who reviewed Chapter 30 (10-07): It's so surreal when people say they were binging my fic… damn, haha. Thanks for the praise on the fight scenes, it absolutely is difficult to write them but the feedback always makes it all worth it! And yes, it's not really saying much that I write female characters than Kishi. Almost everyone can get to that point, the bar is just that low. As for Sasuke, that's for me to know and for y'all to find out! (one day, anyway). But I'm glad his characterization feels compelling. I always dread having to write him if I'm honest. Thanks for the kind words!