Chapter 55


"They say love lasts forever, but is it really true?"


"And then Haku said, 'I'm actually a boy,' and I swear even the teme was shocked!" Naruto finished with a loud laugh. "Man, you should've seen everyone's faces!" Hinata smiled as she listened, nodding contentedly.

"That sounds very f-fun," she agreed lightly. Naruto had spent the past hour recounting his team's adventures in Wave, though his retelling had been a bit... messy. A good chunk of the mission had been deemed classified, so he'd been forced to stop himself short numerous times before revealing critical information. It had been a bit confusing at times and she hadn't been able to follow all of it, but he seemed to be enjoying himself, and that was all that mattered to her.

"Anyways, after that he agreed to help teach Sakura-chan about poisons," the blond continued. "And now I guess they still exchange letters sometimes? I dunno, but he gave her a book on it. Man, those made the second phase easy. Too bad Temari turned them against her, she totally would've made chuunin! Well, she said she spent the month working in the hospital instead though, so I guess it worked out?" He shrugged, and then perked up. "Oh, hey, I can see the top! Alright!"

With that Naruto broke into a sprint, dashing up the last set of stone steps. He paused near the top and twisted his torso to face her, waving eagerly with a giant grin. "C'mon, Hinata-chan, we're almost there!"

"I—I'm coming, j-just a second!" Hinata called, pausing to press her hands against her knees as she caught her breath. The fact she had run out of breath so easily made her cheeks flush with embarrassment, acutely aware of how she'd faltered in her training regiment since Kurenai-sensei got busy after the invasion—

No, she told herself, hands clenching into fists as she straightened. I'm not thinking about that now. She stood tall as she resumed mounting the seemingly endless steps, ignoring the throbbing soreness in her legs. Ahead of her Naruto grinned and darted ahead now that he'd been assured she was following him, and she had to smile even as her legs protested climbing.

Naruto grinned as she finally reached his side, beaming that beautiful sunshine smile while she breathed a large breath of relief. "We're finally here!" Pausing, he then turned and asked, "So, uh, why are we here?" They stood underneath a large stone torii facing a traditional Shinto shrine, a smaller one set in the back of a stone plaza made of unpainted wood and a blue tiled roof. Thickly wooded forests bordered the space on every side, thick ropes with paper tags tied around the trunks.

Hinata smiled as she took in the scene, walking to a purification fountain near the entrance and picking up the ladle lying next to it. "This shrine was built by the family of a man who died saving Kurenai-sensei's father," she explained, her tone soft and reverent as she dipped it into the water to pour it over her hands. "The rest of his family moved away, s-so she started coming to clean it instead, and had us help, too. I-I come up here, s-sometimes, when I want to be alone."

"Oh," Naruto said quietly, sounding a bit more subdued, and she smiled faintly as she dipped the ladle back into the water and held it to him. He looked a bit startled, but after a second he hesitantly took it and poured it over his own hands, his face screwing up in intense concentration. The sight made her giggle, too soft for him to hear, and she turned to regard the shrine fondly.

She had spent countless hours here alone since graduating, just enjoying the peace and solitude the shrine provided. Part of her suspected Kurenai had introduced the shrine to them for that very reason, remembering the way the red-eyed woman had looked at her in particular while telling them they could visit whenever they wished. She felt grateful to her teacher for that, unable to express how much it meant to have a place safe from her clan's all-seeing eyes.

While Naruto washed his hands she turned to walk deeper into the shrine, lingering in front of a statue of a stone dog. Komainu statues had an almost monstrous look to them, this one sporting a face with a flat snout and a stern-looking frown. She heard the clatter of the ladle being dropped and Naruto's footsteps walking up behind her. "Yeesh, why do shrines always have these scary-looking statues?" he muttered as he looked up at the dog.

"I-I think it's to protect it?" Hinata suggested, but she didn't know for sure. As a small child she'd never really asked her parents about it, in part because she'd been awestruck by them. Surprisingly, she found them more fascinating than scary, and could remember shyly asking her mom if they could get a stuffed animal version to cuddle at night.

She also remembered a two-year-old Hanabi trying to climb onto one's back, much to her father's horror and embarrassment.

She smiled as she pushed the fond memory away for another time, turning back to the shrine itself. A wooden box sat in front of the sealed doors, the front decorated with a butterfly emblem she assumed belonged to the family of the man Kurenai-sensei mentioned. Wide-spaced wooden slats had been carved into the lid, allowing space for visitors to drop in donations. Fumbling in her pockets, she pulled out a few coins and dropped them inside, clasping her hands in prayer with her head bowed.

Please give me the courage I need, she pleaded quietly to any listening spirits.

When she opened her eyes and turned around she found Naruto standing awkwardly a few feet behind her, looking a bit uncomfortable and unsure of himself as he glanced around the shrine. "Um, this place is really, really nice," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck. "I-I mean, it's not really my thing, but... It seems really peaceful?"

"It is," Hinata agreed quietly, averting her gaze. "I-I'm sorry for bringing you here, I know you p-probably don't like this kind of p-place—"

"N-no, no, not that!" Naruto cut in, shaking his head emphatically. "I-I mean, uh, yeah, normally I wouldn't go to places like this—actually, I uh, don't think I've ever been to a shrine before, like, ever—but that doesn't mean it's boring or anything—ack!" he yelped, face morphing into panic as he realized how that could be taken. "Sorry, it's seriously not boring! It's really nice and pretty and not bad and—"

"Naruto-kun, it's okay," Hinata interrupted, smiling despite herself. Her eyes twinkled with amusement, a small giggle bubbling inside herself at the way her crush awkwardly fumbled with his words. "I-I understand that not everyone likes these kinds of p-places. T-thank you for coming with me anyway."

He relaxed a bit at that, scratching his neck with a sheepish smile. "'S'no problem, really," he deflected with a soft laugh. "You paid for my lunch, so it's the least I could do." Her cheeks flared up a little at the reminder of eating lunch at Ichiraku. She'd nearly passed out when he started peppering her with questions about if she was okay and what happened during the exams, his blue eyes shining with genuine concern for her.

She had managed to squeak out she was fine and then deflected his attention by asking about his own training in preparation for the exam, leading to him spending nearly an hour excitedly telling her all about his training under Jiraiya and everything he'd been doing since the invasion. She'd spent that hour listening in content silence while eating her ramen at a sedate pace, her stomach fluttering too much to eat as fast as her crush as she tried to ignore the fact that she was eating lunch with Naruto, this was almost a date.

And now... Now they'd spent nearly three hours just walking around the edges of Konoha letting him tell story after story, and then she'd dragged him to the shrine, her special place. Her face reddened even more at the thought, because this really did feel like a date. And... maybe it was? She did ask to spend the day with him, and—

"Naruto-kun," she forced out before her vision could start to spin. "W-where do you want to go n-next?"

"Next?" Naruto looked at her blankly. "Whaddaya mean, where do we go next?" Hinata swallowed, poking her fingers together nervously as she smiled shyly.

"I-I asked to, to spend the d-day with you," she told him, unable to look at him as she spoke. "A-and, w-we still have some t-time..." She trailed off, too embarrassed to finish the thought.

"Wait, you actually meant that?" Naruto blurted, and Hinata instantly winced, her shoulders rising as she stepped back with an almost ashen look on her face.

"Oh, I-I'm s-sorry! I d-didn't mean to i-impose—y-you d-don't have to, i-if you don't w-want to—"

"No, it's not that!" Naruto interrupted quickly, waving his hands. "It's just—just... people don't usually like to spend time around me." His face fell as he spoke, his eyes growing distant as his mouth pulled into a bitter-looking frown.

Her heart clenched a bit at the sad expression he wore, her anxiety fading as she mimicked it with a small frown of her own. "N-Naruto-kun..."

He jolted at her voice as if startled out of a reverie, and quickly brightened and flashed her a weak grin. "Sorry, I guess I'm not used to people actually wanting to hang out with me," he said with a shrug. "But, if you really mean it, then... Okay, sure! So I can choose the next place, right?"

"Yes," Hinata agreed with a nod and smile. "Anywhere you want."

"Alright then," Naruto agreed, nodding seriously. He crossed his arms and pursed his lips, face screwing in concentration once more as he hummed in heavy thought. "Well, we already had lunch at Ichiraku, so I guess that's out. And there's not much point in going to training grounds, unless you want to?" He looked at her inquisitively, and she frowned as she shook her head.

"S-sorry, but maybe not today?" she replied feebly. "I... I don't want to think about training." Naruto paused at that, his brow furrowing in worry.

"Hinata-chan, is everything really okay?" he pressed. "You've been acting kinda weird today... Did something happen?"

Hinata's blood chilled at the question, Elder Fumito's stern glare shooting to the forefront of her mind. She had to keep her face carefully composed as she swallowed, a sense of numbness spreading over as she pushed the image away. "Nothing happened today," she said quietly. "You don't need to do anything. B-but, thank you for worrying about me."

She smiled at him, as reassuring as she could. And Naruto, for all his beautiful sunshine and light, couldn't see the shadows shrouding her heart beneath it.

His expression softened, breaking into that bright, bright grin she so loved and craved. "Okay, if you say so! So anyways, so we can go anywhere I want, right?"

"Right," she agreed, nodding once.

"Well, in that case, this place seems really special to you, so the fact you went out of your way to show me means a lot," he thought aloud, and then nodded to himself. "Alright, then I'll show you my favorite place!"

He flashed her a radiant smile, a ray of sunshine directed purely at her, and at that point Hinata felt the world turn black as she fell.

"Ack! Hinata-chan? Hinata!"


If ever asked for his opinion on Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto would honestly say he thought she was kind of weird.

Don't get him wrong, Hinata seemed nice enough. She didn't squeal over Sasuke-teme like all the other girls at school (even Ino used to squeal over him before setting her sights on Masaru a few years in), and she also didn't yell at him or get annoyed with him. Actually, she didn't really talk to him, period. She always got kinda red and tended to pass out a lot.

Like just now.

"You're sure you don't need to go to the doctor?" Naruto asked worriedly as they climbed up a new set of stairs. "You passed out really suddenly back there!"

"I-I'm fine," Hinata assured him, her face bright red. He squinted at her suspiciously, not sure if he believed her. They'd spent half an hour at the shrine after she woke up, just to make sure she wouldn't pass out again, and had taken their time walking through town. He had some serious reservations about that. Like, when he offered to carry her down all those stairs and straight to a doctor she'd turned even redder and squeaked out no.

In fact, just now she did it again, her face lighting up as her body suddenly convulsed with another muffled squeak. "Are you really sure?" he muttered, and she quickly bobbed her head, ducking it downward so it got partially buried in her jacket's hood.

"I-it's n-nothing!" she said quickly, not looking at him. "J-just, um, a b-bit excited, I g-guess?" Excited? When Naruto got excited he'd usually be shouting and jumping around, not squeaking and passing out. But then again, no one else on Team Seven acted like him when they got excited. Sakura usually did those fan-girl screams, Sasuke just got really smug and uppity, and Kakashi-sensei did that sort of creepy perverted giggle. So maybe it was just different for everyone?

Besides, no one else seemed to think too much about Hinata passing out. Sometimes back in the academy he'd get worried she might be really sick and that shinobi life would be too hard for her, but whenever he talked to someone about it they always said she was fine with this weird smile on their faces.

So, alright, maybe she was fine then. Mostly. Probably.

...Okay, so he still had some (many) doubts, but he didn't really have anything else to go on. "Alright, I guess," he muttered, and tried to look on the brighter side as he glanced up to the darkening sky. They had a near-unobstructed view of it from their vantage point on the stairs, allowing him to see the tinge of pink starting to appear in the distance. "Actually, I guess this works out even better."

"It d-does?" Hinata looked at him in surprise and he grinned at her, folding his arms behind his head.

"Yeah! Now we'll be able to get there just in time for sunset! Wait until you see it, you'll love it!" Hinata came to an abrupt halt behind him, her hand gripping the guard rail tightly.

"S-s-sunset?" she whispered, her eyes wide and unseeing. Blinking, she shook her head and looked at him, taking a deep breath. "I, u-um... S-sorry, it's just, t-the day's flown by, a-and..." She trailed off and Naruto frowned.

"Do you have to get home before dark or something?" he asked. He knew the Hyuuga clan was really stiff and stuffy so a sunset curfew didn't seem too unlikely, but Hinata just shook her head.

"It's... it's fine," she said slowly, and smiled at him. "A-and, we're almost there, anyway, r-right?"

"Yeah, we are," he confirmed with a nod, and grinned as he turned forward to point. "See? Less than a minute of walking and then we'll be at the top! I promise, you'll love it!"

"I—r-right, I'm sure I will." He could hear the smile in her voice, soft and gentle and full of confidence, and it filled him with a burst of energy that prompted him to speed up. He skipped up the last stretch of stairs two steps at a time, and then leaped onto the landing and spun to wave at her. Hinata smiled up at him, trailing at a more sedate pace, and once she reached the top he grabbed her wrist.

"Come on, let's go!" he laughed, dragging her along. He felt her startle but she didn't try to jerk away, instead rushing to keep up with him, and he felt his grin grow as they ran down the path towards a fence. He let go of her wrist to hop over it, landing on solid rock, and turned to her while gesturing to join him. "Here, just climb on over! You know how to walk on trees, right? If you get scared you might slip, you can just do that!"

"Right!" Hinata nodded, pulling herself over the fence with a look of determination. He turned and led the way down the lumpy stone face, carefully climbing over various outcroppings while occasionally glancing back to make sure his companion didn't fall behind. Hinata seemed a bit more careful and cautious than him, chakra lighting up around her feet as she walked down one particularly rough stone outcropping, but he decided to let her do it at her own pace.

Soon enough he climbed to the end of a large spike jutting outwards and sat down so his legs dangled off the edge, patting a spot next to him. "Here, there's plenty of room! Best seat in the house, believe it!"

She nodded as she joined him, but as she got closer she froze in place, her eyes widening as she took in the scene before them. Spread before them was the entirety of Konoha, the buildings and people looking strangely tiny.

"Come on," he said, softer than before as he gazed over his home. "Sit down. The best part's about to begin." Hinata stood still for a moment, but then she slowly walked forward, lowering herself on the edge of the spike and swinging her legs over the edge.

Slowly, as the sun set in the distance, the air began to gradually shift color, taking on first a pink and then a golden tint that blanketed the village in a warm glow. Lights began flickering on in the various houses and buildings, a scattering of glowing spots flaring to life all across the village at random. People still continued to move about the streets, reconstruction an ever-ongoing process that didn't stop with nightfall. Naruto could hear Hinata's intake of breath at the change, but he didn't bother looking to see her face, too riveted by the view to look away.

Here, from the top of the Fourth Hokage's head, the village looked truly alive.

Just as Hinata had spent countless hours in her shrine, Naruto had spent countless evenings watching the village from the top of the Hokage Rock. He didn't remember when he first started coming here, but he'd fallen in love with the view the second he saw it. He loved watching the way Konoha changed throughout the day, safe from the cold gazes and harsh whispers that had always followed him. As the night wore on more lights would flicker on in the nocturnal red light district and the walls surrounding the village would begin to light up with patrols, but that wouldn't be for some time yet.

"It's beautiful," Hinata breathed next to him, and he hummed, just smiling as he nodded.

"Yeah. It is."

Sitting here looking over the only village he'd ever known, Konoha felt like home more than any other time.


They stayed there for an hour, just enjoying the sunset in silence. Twilight didn't claim Konoha all at once, it took its time. The shadows began to stretch long and narrow as the sun vanished, the village glowing brighter and brighter as more buildings succumbed to the darkness and turned on the lights. They didn't bother talking in that time, didn't really do anything, just sat there and watched.

Eventually, though, the sight lost its allure. Even the most beautiful views became boring after a while, and eventually Hinata pulled her legs up and stood up, prompting Naruto to clamber to his feet to follow her. "Thank you," she said softly, and he smiled at her, bobbing his head as they started heading back up the Fourth Hokage's hair.

"No problem! You showed me your special place, so it's only fair I showed you mine!" She smiled back at him, nodding once.

"R-right. Then... C-could you follow me, one last time?"

"Sure," he agreed easily. "I don't really have anywhere else to be." Hinata smiled, and with that they climbed over the fence and went back down the steps.

Descending stairs took much less energy and strain than climbing them, a relief after climbing two long sets of stairs already that day. Hinata took lead once again, weaving through largely deserted streets on the fringes of Konoha while Naruto contently followed behind. "Y'know, this was really fun today," he commented as they walked along. "I don't really get to hang out with any of our other classmates outside training and stuff."

"Me neither," Hinata agreed quietly.

"We should do this again sometime, with others, too!" Hinata paused at that, a small smile touching her lips as she ducked her head.

"Y-yes, we... we should." She resumed walking with Naruto close behind, the blond unsure of their destination but not really caring. He felt perfectly content right now, he couldn't bring himself to mind whatever Hinata had in store next. As they walked she spoke up again. "I'm glad you agreed to spend t-today with me... I—I've wanted to d-do that for a while."

"You have?" He looked at her in genuine surprise and she nodded, head ducking further as she kept walking.

"I... When we were kids, I thought you were amazing. I remember, y-you'd always fail and get in t-trouble, but..." She trailed off, her cheeks dusting pink as she smiled faintly. "You never gave up. No matter what people said to you, no matter how mean they got or how many times they called you a failure, you'd always get right back up. And I thought—I thought you were so... so amazing."

"You... you did?" Naruto just stared at her in shock, his eyes widening as she spoke—so gentle, so kind, so full of respect and admiration. People never spoke to him like that, never spoke about him like that—they always looked at him with scorn or disappointment, especially back in those early days. But Hinata just nodded again, her cheeks glowing as her fingers drifted to the braided bracelet around her wrist.

"I—I admired you," she confessed. "You always seemed so strong. I wanted to go up to you, ask how you did it. S-sometimes, when I felt really tired or really scared, I'd think to myself, 'What would Naruto do?' Y-you—" She stopped short, taking in a deep breath. "You were my goal, Naruto. I wanted to be like you."

"Hinata," he whispered, feeling a growing warmth in his chest—

—only for it to freeze with her next words.

"I know you lost your apartment."

He started at the admission, the breath knocked out of him in one full swoop as his face contorted in shock. "What?" he whispered, and only then did he notice where they were. The familiar street he'd grown up calling "home," standing before the empty gap between two buildings where his apartment building once stood.

"After the invasion, I saw your apartment building," Hinata said quietly. Her shoulders shook as she spoke, her head held low and her back still to him. "I c-couldn't breathe when I saw it. All I c-could think was, 'Where will he g-go? What will he d-d-do?'" Her voice cracked, her shoulders sharply rising for a brief moment before trembling once more, while Naruto just stared at her in silent disbelief, his stomach twisting.

He hadn't told anyone about going home only to find a pile of rubble, not even Sakura or Sasuke or Masaru—especially not Sakura or Sasuke or Masaru. Not when he could remember that haunted look in Sakura's eyes as she stood outside her father's hospital room after the nurses dragged him back into his bed to sleep off the painkillers. Not when he could still see that horrified and confusion in Sasuke's face as they lay in the grass after facing down Gaara and asking if he might have been right. Not when he could still hear Masaru screaming as a white dragon erupted from his mouth and a seal glowed bright on the back of his neck.

All of them were suffering so much after the invasion. They'd all lost something that day, and compared to those three, Naruto felt like his losses didn't even matter. He couldn't burden anyone with it, not when they had so much to deal with on their own.

"I was s-so scared," Hinata continued, her voice shaking just as hard as her shoulders. "B-but then, the next day, I—I s-saw you. W-walking with the Hokage's g-grandson to his house, w-with all those b-bags... A-and, and you l-l-looked so s-s-scared, so w-worried and unc-certain, b-b-but—you were smiling. You were smiling, Naruto, s-so b-b-bright and happy and s-strong, a-and I—I—"

She stopped short with a loud hiccup, raising her sleeve to wipe at her face. Naruto just stood in silent disbelief, remembering exactly what she was talking about. The impromptu shopping trip with Konohamaru's mom two days after the invasion, to stock on new clothes and toiletries and other necessities after losing all his stuff to the pile of rubble. She'd known even then?

"H-Hinata," he breathed, forgetting the honorific in his shock. "You..." He trailed off, not knowing what to even say to this, but she just shook her head.

"You were so strong," she whispered, her tremors stilling. "S-so very strong. And I'm... I'm j-just weak."

At long last she turned to face him, her solid white eyes glistening like pearls with unshed tears and her face almost ashen despite the redness rimming her nose.

"I-I'm not st-strong like you!" she sobbed, her hands balling into fists as the tears began flowing freely. "I-I-I'm t-t-terrified of my own f-f-family a-and I c-can't even th-think of g-going b-back, I-I haven't been b-back since the i-invasion! Th-they're all s-so m-mad and s-s-scary a-and angry a-at me! B-but now I c-c-can't stay away a-anymore, a-and I know th-they'll b-b-b-brand me f-for being a failure!"

Her voice rose into a shrill shriek, a loud gasp rattling her frame before she wrapped her arms around herself, sobbing loudly and openly. "I'm scared, Naruto! I c-can't do it! I c-c-can't—I n-never asked to b-be b-born into the M-M-Main House, I d-didn't ask to b-be born f-first, I—I c-can't take it anymore!"

As she sobbed and hiccupped Naruto just stared at her in horror, his chest twisting painfully with an unexpected agony. He didn't understand half of what she was talking about, but in the end it didn't matter. Right now, Naruto saw a friend crying her heart out and terrified for her life, and that was all he needed to know.

His fists clenched at his sides and his face hardened, crossing the gap between them and placing his hands on her shoulders. Hinata snapped her head up with a gasp, her eyes large and shiny as she stared at him, and he made himself meet her teary gaze with a firm and determined look.

"I don't know what's going on, but that doesn't matter," he declared firmly. "I don't care what I have to do, I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you." His fingers tightened unconsciously, his eyes gleaming with hard determination. "You're not alone, you'll never be alone! I'll always be by your side!"

Her eyes widened, her breath fleeing from her chest. Blinking slowly, after a long moment she ducked her head so her bangs fell into her eyes, her lips quirking into a tiny smile even as a new glistening trail of water streamed down her cheeks. "Th-thank you, Naruto-kun," she said softly. "Y-you really are s-sunshine..." She trailed off, her smile fading.

"B-but, it's too late."

Pain.

Sharp, numbing pain, rippling across his chest. Naruto's eyes widened as his grip went slack, his head slowly tilting downwards to see Hinata's palm jabbing in his chest. "Wh...what...?" he whispered, struggling to process the sight, but even as he spoke he could feel darkness creep into the edges of his vision. Hinata's palm pulled back and he lifted his gaze to her face, finding her staring at him tearily even as veins bulged around her eyes and her expression remained tight with concentration.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," she whispered, and her lips quirked into a tiny, heartbroken smile. "I love you. Goodbye."

Then her hand surged forward again, and everything went black.


So people have been asking about the "Sasuke Retrieval Arc"...

If canon wasn't 100% screwed over already, it is now.

Thanks as always to my reviewers: Beyogi, Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf (yep), Elise142, goofboy96 (yes, eventually, yes, maybe), xXSpades231Xx, KaeBear, Guest (I have to say, that is the most ironic comment I've seen in a while since last chapter had constant foreshadowing), Guest, reebajee, XWingedWolfX (secret, secret, mayhaps, and Ryoko would murder Danzou before letting him get his hands on Akari so no), and Anon12345.

Next time:

"She—she left! Sh-she was crying and knocked me out—"

"She ran away?"

" I didn't want to get involved because I figured it was clan stuff. If I knew it would turn out like this... "