Rippling Future
Chapter Twelve: Wilting Flowers
An open field of endless green pastures and gentle breeze as it touched the tall green grass and the leaves of tall trees and rustled them lightly.
He could see the grass waving as the wind flowed throughout the air and up above, he could see a near cloudless sky vibrant and blue as his eyes. He looked on in wonder as he saw all around him, the beautiful and calm grasslands as far as the eye can see. It felt so calm, so peaceful and so inviting. As he sat on the ground and looked on in the grasslands that had claimed such beauty even beyond the walls of his village, he had noticed a man sitting beside him, unfamiliar to him staring at the same open fields of endless green pastures. The man gave a slight smile as Naruto looked on in wonder.
The man pointed to the furthest tree that he could see standing on top of a small hill and slightly pushed Naruto, as if instructing him to run.
His mouth moved but no words escaped his lips. But Naruto could read slightly that he should go and run. Not even questioning his instructions, Naruto simply nodded and stood up as he ran at a pace that he was not familiar of. He felt like time was slowing down and his body complied along with it as his mind remained the same.
From the endless sea of grass and trees, he ran closer and closer to the tree that the man was pointing at. He could vaguely see a woman there, standing under its shade, her face looking on over the horizon before everything went white.
Naruto woke up. He felt his whole body stiff as he stood up. Looking around, he saw his bed on the far side of the room while he was sitting on his wooden chair and on his table. He looked down, and saw the countless scattered pieces of papers that lain atop of his furniture as his mind slowly came back to full force.
Oh, right. He had pulled an all-nighter just so he could write the twice damned mission report that Tsunade had wanted him to write about.
Groaning in annoyance, the boy stood up from his chair and stretched his entire body before going to his bathroom to take a shower. He had recalled last night that Shikamaru wanted to meet up with him this morning to see his progress in the mission report. He remembered he had the unfortunate timing of falling asleep in doing his work, but he was sure that he did it right this time.
As the bathroom door closed, Kurama stirred.
He had sensed a disturbance in the boy's chakra and tried to point out what it was.
As the fox's gaze settled on the wet floor of his prison outside his cage and what he saw utterly surprised him.
"What are you doing inside of this boy?"
And it was no more as the figure dispersed from the boy's mindscape once more, never letting the fox finish its sentence.
"This means another upheaval is to happen and this era is about to end…"
Kurama then turned his sights away from the cage. This boy, truly, he was favoured by the gods themselves.
Unknown location:
Pride was a sin.
This was one of the teachings of ancient writings from ages long past, a philosopher's thoughts on the gravest of heinous acts of human nature. Sasuke's mother had taught him that. She had instilled in Sasuke that pride was one of the greatest downfalls of any person. To her, pride was equated to one of its greatest pitfalls: hubris. It was a lesson that taught him that discretion can be a better part of valor. Of course, it was hard to instil something so abstract on a young child's mind. But sometimes, her words did not clearly ring true until Sasuke witnesses it himself. Mostly because many of her lessons in life were a stark contrast to what his father had taught him and what he would wholeheartedly agree.
Sons were meant to make their fathers proud and surpass them, after all.
To Uchiha Sasuke, pride was something he held with a lion's ferocity. A teaching his father had taught him. No matter the circumstances, he should hold his dignity up high, to never be swayed by pretentious thoughts, to always walk forward holding your convictions strong and true, like a warrior would hold a spear.
Pride was regal and it was in itself, a prize of achieving and no matter what anyone should say or do to destroy your pride, you should always stand tall with fortitude.
Sasuke shakily stood back up as his legs began trembling with exhaustion and fatigue sets in his bones.
Pride was set in his very blood, the Uchiha were considered one of the strongest and most powerful clans of Konoha and he was proud of being a part of such an honoured clan and join in its laurels of prominence throughout the shinobi world.
Indeed, even he wouldn't be letting go of his pride anytime soon.
But after commencing his training by the ANBU, after being shoved to the dirt and eating mud numerous times, Sasuke knew now that pride meant absolutely nothing to them and their work all served a purpose that had nothing to do with clan traditions and more about tangible choices that mattered to them the most.
It was the safety of their home and who represented them made it their sole purpose to fight.
Sasuke could not understand why such undying loyalty could even exist.
Sasuke climbed, limping as he thus began to make his way to a cliff with his chakra with no help from his legs.
Beside him, a man with an ANBU mask, Falcon, watched him and threw countless insults and expletives with not much else.
"Just because a former ANBU officer and my superior recommended you for this institution does not mean you're hot shit, you little ankle biter! You are nothing! Your clan is nothing now but mere fertilizer which insects use as a source of food! You do not have what it takes to be part of ANBU, quit now while you're still alive you little cretin!"
Among the many insults and put downs that the man had thrown at him, Sasuke had learned the hard way not to lash out against him. If he were to give the man a simple angry glare, then Falcon would utterly beat his face in to an almost unrecognizable degree. That was how hard he was on his trainees. Because of it, Sasuke slowly began to learn how to take punishment to the worst degree possible. Falcon was not only physically dominant and sadistic; he also knew how to heal a person and Falcon would smack him again to repeat the process all over until he was satisfied.
And the man would do it in ways that utterly destroyed one's dignity for every one of the ANBU members to see. This was not only physical torture; it was also mentally destructive to recruits as well.
Over the course of a whole week, five of the fifteen hopeful candidates dropped out of the program entirely and they never looked back. Sasuke noted that they were seasoned chuunin who thought being part of ANBU would further their careers.
But they came and went; they couldn't handle Falcon's training methods. Mentally punishing his recruits almost seemed like a game to the sadistic man.
Perhaps Ibiki was his closest friend.
"You are trash if you think a genin like you could enter ANBU, why don't you just quit while you're on ahead? Shinobi exist for their village, and your motives, while understandable, must never come first before serving your village. DO NOT JEOPARDIZE THE SAFETY OF YOUR HOME! YOU ARE A SHINOBI OF KONOHA BEFORE YOU ARE UCHIHA SASUKE!"
Sasuke slid down from the cliff wall as his body was scratched by the jagged rocks and injuring him enough that he flinched from the pain. Falcon continued to deride him with remarks that would make his blood boil, but he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't strong enough to even touch the man's face.
He was starting to think that Kakashi had been far too lenient on him.
Yakiniku Q:
"Naruto, for the last time, making a mission report and writing on your diary are two different things!" Shikamaru chastised the blonde in front of him with the boy's face on top of their table all the while papers were littered all across the table.
The blonde had tears streaming down his face comically as he mumbled, "And I spent all night on writing about that damned mission report…"
For days now, Naruto and Shikamaru had been deployed in several missions all across the village in helping with the finishing touches of rebuilding their home. The trip to Nami no Kuni had been a boon for the village and the Hokage expected a report coming from the duo about the sudden surge of good trade coming from Wave.
Unfortunately, Naruto wrote it so informally that giving the mission report would just scratch the heads of state from both their village and the Daimyo who seemed all too pleased with recovering many of their monetary losses so fast.
Shikamaru foresaw this and had offered to help Naruto in writing the damn paperwork, but he didn't foresee that Naruto was completely helpless in writing up a professional report to the Hokage. He was sure if the Godaime read Naruto's report then she would either bop Naruto's head in for sheer stupidity or laugh her ass off at the display of such crude writing. He knew the blonde wasn't exactly the brightest bulb in the house but this was ridiculous!
Shikamaru of course, thought the whole thing was a troublesome ordeal to begin with. If it wasn't even required, he wouldn't even bother with it and just leave it as it is. Tsunade had given them a week and today was the deadline. Thinking of the whole thing brought a headache on him and he wished that this wouldn't be the case for many more years to come.
"You have a session with Jiraiya-sama and Iruka-sensei later this noon, right? I suggest you pick up the slack and get to writing."
Naruto growled in frustration.
"How the hell should I go through this, Shikamaru? Why the fuck do we have to write this down?"
His fellow chuunin could only give a sigh, "Look, let's go through the motions here one more time. This time, I'm going to look at your writing letter by letter."
Against his lazy nature, Shikamaru decided to watch Naruto's mission log. It would be another hour before Naruto could finish with Shikamaru finally approving of what he just did.
Thanking whatever gods out there, Naruto stretched his arms upwards when he stood up and asked Shikamaru, "By the way, how long will baa-chan open up the talk for that peer-recommendations? It's not like it's going to be open forever and do we already have a candidate?"
Shikamaru's lips merely gave hum and thought deeply about it for a few seconds before finally answering the blonde.
"I have a candidate in mind, but I'd like to go over to Asuma-sensei and ask for his thoughts on him. Apparently, his sensei has been pushing for us to promote him. At first, I thought it was the teacher's bias and he doesn't really fit the bill but the mission to Wave clearly made it a sound choice for me. What about you? We can't really give a recommendation unless both of us agree unanimously."
Naruto shrugged, "I think I know who you're talking about. I was going to recommend Sasuke but I don't think he's ready. He's changed a little, that's for sure, but I still can't get over the fact about what he did during the invasion."
"You mean when he ran off on his own without asking for back up? Yeah, don't remind me. I don't think I can live with that much excitement for very long. He certainly has the skills to become a chuunin, but he lacks foresight in many ways. He has Shino's realism, Neji's aptitude and Lee's skill. Don't get me wrong, he's good at what he does, but chuunin material? Probably not in the slightest, the only one to fit the bill here is Shino, he's just unlucky he couldn't get to show his skills during the exam, but his performance during the invasion is a big plus."
Naruto nodded at that, "Yeah, I heard about that. He gave Ino his pack to give her a fighting chance against Kankuro too, right?"
Shikamaru nodded as well, "It's a good strategy. What Shino didn't expect was Ino diving and risking her life to get a hit in. Shino gave a sound decision but Ino gave a confounding result."
"I'll run by this with Kakashi-sensei when he's alone. I don't think Sasuke would take it kindly when he wasn't what we had in mind." Naruto answered as he gave his goodbyes to Shikamaru.
The Nara heir looked down on the papers and went to grab his glass to drink only to notice a small crack in it.
The boy scowled.
'Superstitions aren't my thing. But whatever this is, I just hope it's merely a coincidence.'
Shikamaru decided to ignore such ominous thoughts and decided to compile all the written reports that he and Naruto had done since the past week and went for the mission office.
It was midday when Naruto had finally met up with Jiraiya who was waiting in the training grounds with arms crossed and under the shade of a tree.
When the man saw Naruto, Jiraiya nodded and once more began his lesson to the blonde about applying his elemental nature to his weapons. It took two hours for Naruto to practice with his newfound arsenal as well as another full two hours with practicing the Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion). By the time the training session ended, Naruto had finally gotten the jutsu down and was now successfully resting on the grassy floor as Jiraiya had told him to take a rest before heading out. By this time, Jiraiya began lecturing him once more on wind chakra natures in order to drill it in Naruto's head.
A question had popped up in Naruto's head and asked the toad sage while raising his hand.
"Hey, Ero-sennin. My teammates are learning a taijutsu and kenjutsu style that isn't like the one in the academy. Do you think I should learn one too?"
The man looked at his apprentice with a raised eyebrow and replied to the boy with an amused smirk.
"A specific style of fighting doesn't suit you, brat. You're a learner by doing just like the Yondaime. In order to learn a specific taijutsu style, that would imply you actually have discipline to begin with and I don't mean just the diligence to continue learning it, but also your body having to acclimate to a taijutsu that's not what it's made for because of multiple reasons." To this, Naruto frowned and gave a sigh. The old pervert simply didn't care and continued on.
"Take Lee for example, he has the physique to learn the Goken from Gai and he equally works as hard to have that physique. His body was made for explosive short bursts of power and complimentary to that, his speed. You, on the other hand, are more reliant on what your senses can perceive and react accordingly not only that, but putting you in a particular style would be too orthodox and your body would not adapt well in certain situations where it's more applicable to be thinking ahead because you are not made for that just like the Fourth Hokage was. I admit, skill and speed are important factors in a fight, but tell me, did Lee ever have a chance against Gaara in his fight in the preliminaries? You're delusional if you think he had a chance." And perhaps Jiraiya spoke the truth. Battles were unpredictable yet at the same time, have certain probabilities in certain situations. Naruto knows that his sensei wasn't trying to knock off Lee for his failure, but sometimes realism has to happen at some point. Recalling the battle, he couldn't help but feel that Jiraiya was somewhat right.
"If two ninjas who had the same amount of speed, skill and power were to meet in battle, then the victor goes to the ninja who could out think his opponent. So broadening your bases, it all depends on you to maintain a certain level of physique but due to your status as a container, you are naturally inclined to have an even better physical position that most people like Lee could ever dream of. Taijutsu is just that, engaging your opponent in close combat, at its very core, it only teaches you how to take down opponents in a more sophisticated manner. It's thinking on your feet more and less kata practice and execution because who'd be stupid enough to let their opponent get into a particular stance if they have a chance to force them out of it? That's the problem with main Taijutsu users, once they are forced to a fight that's not within their realm then they are pretty much crippled that's why I'm not particular to any style unless it can complement your preferred skillset. The only exception to this rule so far as I have seen, is Lee's sensei, Gai, and maybe Tsunade and the current Raikage."
To this, Jiraiya grabbed a scroll and began writing down on it once he sat down in front of the blonde.
"Having good taijutsu is a fundamentally sound idea especially for your Kage Bunshin, though. But don't you think you have already created a style based on that technique, anyway?"
Naruto began to think, "Well, if I had a better style, maybe it'll be better overall and overwhelm my opponents much easier? Something like Lee's would be good."
Jiraiya shook his head, "Specific taijutsu styles cater to specific people. The Goken, despite its impressive display of power and speed, is mostly used on a single opponent. It creates openings by powering through defences and angulating attacks to slip through their guards. And while that's all well and good, you don't exactly strike me as someone who would stick to this style when the going gets tough."
"So what do you think would make me a better fighter?" Naruto asked now scratching his head as he looked up and began thinking. He knew he was nearing his limitations in options in close range combat. He needed something to offset that.
"Experience, brat, and lots of it; fighters become better when they obtain experience. A highly trained soldier, if he is relatively new, still stands no chance against an unskilled war veteran who knows the tricks of the trade. Besides, I already have something in mind for you to learn once you're ready. For now, the only thing that you can do is to increase your physique mainly your speed, and your skill. You'll eventually learn that those three basic foundations are all that you need in a close range battle. You already have that creativity of yours and you have your experience when fighting me, granted you're still a beansprout compared to me, but it would take a while until you can match my greatness!" Jiraiya mentioned that last sentence and puffed his chest with pride, Naruto meanwhile, looked on at Jiraiya with a flat affect.
"Yeah? Well, you're still Ero-sennin."
Jiraiya had a tick mark appearing at the back of his head as his right upper lift twitched at the insult, "One of these days brat, one of these days and you won't be saying that when you hit puberty. In fact you'll thank me later."
Somehow, Jiraiya couldn't help but feel he had just cursed himself against Kushina's grave.
"You're still single." Naruto had cut in.
Jiraiya's teeth grinded at the thought of Naruto still reminding him of that fact even though the brat was still single too. He was a fifty year old unmarried man, for goodness sake!
Naruto still had the last laugh.
Turning down, Jiraiya just gave a huff and focused on the seal he had been working on in the scroll. He had just gotten to about half of the writing in creating another storage scroll to deliver a message to one of his many contacts around the continent about his plans for the next two months. The man scratched the back of his head as he looked down, ultimately forgetting some parts of his writing on the scroll as he scratched the back of his head in order to think about what he was supposed to add again.
Naruto looked over his shoulder when he saw Jiraiya was scratching his head and saw the old man writing down runic words on to the scroll. He had recognized this as a seal of sorts and his eyebrows were raised in curiosity.
The toad sage glanced over his right shoulder and saw Naruto looking at his work and smirked.
"You have a curiosity for Fuinjutsu, brat?"
The blonde gave a single nod for his answer. In truth, he had been interested in fuinjutsu before because he had heard his hero, the Yondaime Hokage, had been great with seals and he wanted to emulate his idol so badly. Unfortunately, the books were strictly off limits for him at the time and he decided to put it on the backburner until he became a ninja. Unfortunately, he had mostly forgotten about it until his teacher decided to write a seal formula on the spot and in front of him. His interest renewed, he decided to sneak a glance at his teacher at work who was writing in a brisk pace at the art of sealing.
The old man smirked once more and handed the scroll to him, a bottle of ink and a pen to the boy. One of the requirements for the sealing arts was a pretty deep skill in brush strokes and calligraphy. Perhaps this would be a good time for Naruto to start as early on in his plans for training.
He had forgotten the formula already so the scroll was a dud at this point and it would be a waste to throw it away just like that. When Naruto was given the items from his teacher's hands, the boy immediately began thinking deep as he gave a low hum before he wrote something on the paper. Jiraiya watched in slight amusement as the boy wrote with the grace of a rampaging ox on the sheet of paper. He couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's forceful writing as he continued to jot down on the scroll. Little did Jiraiya know that Naruto was actually writing the sequence of seals that he saw in his exploding notes thinking that it would mostly be okay when he heard Jiraiya mumble about it being useless now.
When Naruto noticed the man's snicker, the boy scowled and decided to throw the scroll away because of Jiraiya's attitude.
It was then that they felt a little bit of chakra left from Naruto's hands and was absorbed by the paper before it was thrown.
The sealing matrix grew unstable, and Jiraiya's eyes widened. He quickly ran for Naruto, grabbed him by the waist and jumped as far as he could when he saw the scroll glow bright and suddenly exploding in a matter of seconds and taking with it, a sizable chunk of earth in the training field as well as a few uprooted trees here and there.
BOOM!
A pale faced Jiraiya could make out the small mushroom cloud making its way upwards to the skies as his jaw dropped in utter shock. A bit of color returned to him when he turned his gaze to the blonde who looked on in wonder.
"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A DUD!"
Jiraiya should have known to always keep his wits about him when he was around Naruto's vicinity.
Tsunade would probably have his hide for this.
A few hours later at the Hokage Tower:
"The good news is the intelligence division's paranoia is dwindling down. Sage knows how those basement dwellers are getting by with their tinfoil hats on most of the time." Tsunade commented as she put down her papers and looked angrily at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya had a distinct feeling that he didn't want to ask what was coming next, but curiosity won first and decided to ask Tsunade, hesitant of course, of his actions, "What's the bad news?"
Tsunade's angry look turned into a sadistic sneer, "Oh, there is no bad news…"
Jiraiya knew that something was coming up.
"…Yet."
The man was sweating bullets.
"Do you mind telling me why you and your stupid apprentice decided to send one of MY training grounds into the atmosphere?"
Jiraiya twitched, "Would you believe me that Naruto accidentally set off a dud seal and turned it into a raging inferno that almost swallowed us whole?"
Tsunade raised her eyebrows at this, "I want details."
Needless to say, Jiraiya wasn't getting off the hook anytime soon.
While Jiraiya was being grilled and trying his damnedest to avoid getting sent to the same place where one of the village's training grounds was now, Naruto had met up with Iruka just a few minutes after class was dismissed. He had bumped into Konohamaru along the way that was making a mad dash away and screaming about training followed by his friends and lackeys, Moegi and Udon. He had also bumped into a Hyuuga who was merely walking towards what was supposedly the Hyuuga compound.
The girl looked a lot like Hinata, minus the blue hair and replaced with straight long black hair that reached to her back. As Naruto went past her, he heard the girl whisper to herself.
"Uzumaki Naruto…"
And while Naruto at least knew he was quite infamous around the village, this did leave a puzzled look at the boy as he turned back only to see the girl heading home straight away and not looking back at him. Deciding it was of no consequence, the boy shrugged and turned back towards the academy as Iruka finally got out of the building.
"Got something on your mind, Naruto?" Iruka asked with a smile and Naruto returned the smile with one of his own and gave a nod.
"Just a few."
It took Iruka by surprise earlier in the morning when Naruto had come to ask for his help on something. Iruka didn't know what it was, there were a few things he could do now for Naruto than there ever was all those years ago. This Naruto now was independent, a rambunctious and problematic boy budding and turning into a reliable man. He was growing and even if the specks of maturity are slow, it was there and it was advancing. Iruka knew that clothes didn't make a man, but Naruto was fitting in with his role slowly now. If Iruka was Naruto's real father, he'd be so proud of the boy right now, but even if he wasn't, he would be and he still is to this day.
Raising Naruto had been difficult. He took a lot of attention and needed to be supervised for him not to cause trouble all those years ago. He might not have the boy, a certain mistake on his part, Iruka regretted, but as a consolation for thought, things have at least turned out for the best.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei, what do you think about Hinata?" Naruto asked to him, looking genuinely curious and somewhat confused as Iruka looked at him oddly.
"Why are you asking me all of a sudden?" Iruka asked, and he noticed the boy looking away for the briefest of seconds before turning his gaze back at his father figure and friend and then looking down with a sullen expression.
"I-I don't know exactly." Naruto gave an honest reply. He was truly confused, he had never asked for Iruka's opinion regarding other people. This was new to him, and it felt like he was walking in a completely different land all of a sudden.
Inwardly, Iruka gave a smile and thought that this too, was part of growing up.
"Well, Hinata was a very shy girl when she first entered school." Iruka started and Naruto leaned closer to listen to his teacher. Iruka noted this that Naruto's posture indicated that he was VERY interested.
"She was very meek, nervous and almost always quiet whenever I saw her. But she was polite and considerate of other people from what I can tell. She does well in her academics but when we were applying theory, she just falls short." Iruka stated. Naruto looked bewildered at this and asked his former teacher.
"But why? Hinata's really strong, she should be able to face almost anyone and her taijutsu is pretty wicked."
Iruka merely shook his head, "Well, that's because she has a lot of confidence issues. She's nervous, shy and if we asked for her to do something on her practical tests, she would doubt herself and stumble."
They then turned to a corner and headed out to Ichiraku.
"I tried to get her out of her shell, to remove the doubt on her own abilities, I really did, but I couldn't do it well. Not when it was her own home that truly pushed her down to the brink of self-loathing. The damage done to her self-confidence was… Very deep." Iruka tried to put it lightly but Naruto's expression still showed a face of disgust to the ones responsible for her problems.
"That is, until she saw a certain person doing his best." Iruka said and he grinned at Naruto. The blonde then quizzically pointed to himself as if he was asking if he was the one Iruka was talking about.
Iruka gave a tiny chuckle and replied, "Yes, Naruto. When Hinata first saw you, she began practicing a lot longer, stayed longer in school and read a lot too. Like you, she also began working hard and her marks improved. Unfortunately, her confidence was still low. Nothing I do could remove the doubt she had within herself. I knew she needed something, but I couldn't help her. I wasn't the one that she needed to keep herself up."
To this, Iruka frowned, "What she needed too was the same thing that you wanted…"
"She wanted someone to acknowledge her, to make her feel wanted, to make her feel that she was somebody. In that sense, she was a lot like you. She still probably is even to this day."
Iruka nodded, "And try as I might, I could never truly help her. The one who she craved that attention was her own father and one other person."
Naruto flinched, "It was me, right?"
Iruka grinned, "That you are, Naruto. I couldn't exactly fault you, though. You were pinning for Sakura after all these years. Just what happened when you said you were over her?"
Naruto gave a sigh as he looked away, "Iruka-sensei, when people call me dumb. Sometimes, I can't deny their words. I really am. But even someone like me can tell that I can't win against Sasuke with Sakura-chan. I've known it for so long but then, one day it just disappeared. I became chuunin, I finally beat Sasuke at something and suddenly, winning over Sakura wasn't worth it anymore. I've accomplished something, but I know I can never win over Sakura and beat Sasuke there. I hate losing, but then again, I won something that even that bastard hasn't even touched yet and will never beat my record because of it. I know, really stupid and probably petty too, but damn it if I didn't say I wouldn't like to gloat about it."
Iruka chuckled.
"Alright then, what started this thing with Hinata?"
Another sigh escaped the boy's lips, "That's just it, Iruka-sensei, I-I don't know what! One day, she found out my deepest, darkest secret about you-know-what and she confronted me about it and said she was okay with it and saying that she still wants to be my friend and…"
Iruka had to raise his hands up at the boy to slow him down.
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down, Naruto. What's this about Hinata knowing about…" Iruka leaned in closer and whispered on the blonde's ears.
"The Kyuubi?"
Naruto looked sideways and smiled, seeing the sun set and blanket the land of fire in a comforting hue of orange and yellow.
"She found out during the invasion when we went off to fight Gaara. I can't remember the exact details as to how, but her words struck me hard in a good way, though."
Iruka sighed, "Okay, I get it. Then, what did she say?"
"That even though she knew about it, she was okay with it, she still wanted to be friends and that fact alone couldn't be enough to make her think any less."
Iruka smiled when Naruto said those words with a smile of his own, Iruka could tell Naruto was truly happy with those words.
For someone to say those words to Naruto, it must have felt so strong to have reached him.
The teacher gave a knowing nod. Taking solace in the fact that Hinata was not shallow enough for such things and that she was still willing to be friends with Naruto.
"So why did you want to talk about her?" He finally asked. Naruto, for the first time in their conversation, blushed.
Naruto didn't notice it for a few seconds but they had finally made it to Ichiraku ramen and the father-daughter duo noticed Naruto blushing and looking away as Iruka was asking him with a smile.
The blonde mumbled about something.
"What's that, my boy? What'd you say?" Teuchi asked.
So caught up with his own embarrassment and thoughts, he shouted it out loud inside the shop, "I SAID WOULD SHE LIKE IT IF I ASKED HER OUT FOR A DATE!?"
Teuchi looked at Ayame and Ayame looked back at her father before leaning in closer to the boy.
"Oh, really? And who would Uzumaki Naruto ask out on a date, then, hmm?" Teuchi asked leaning in closer to the blonde as Iruka laughed out loud and Ayame squealed and moved as fast as lightning when she leaned on the counter even the Yondaime would be embarrassed.
"Who are you going to ask out, Naruto?"
Naruto finally snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Teuchi and Ayame leaning towards him with the intent to extract every bit of gossip from him as soon as possible.
'Ah, shit…' Naruto wanted to hit his head on the counter for his own stupidity about this particular mess.
"Why are you asking me then, Naruto? Wouldn't it be appropriate to ask Hinata about that question?" Iruka asked as he was trying to guide Naruto to sort his feelings out. Now he understood why Naruto came to him. Naruto looked up to him as an adult parental figure that knew more about life and consequentially, women, more than anybody the boy knew. Naruto would not simply ask his other two senseis because he probably thought that his former teacher in the academy had to be the most sensible of the three.
Jiraiya would probably lecture him about the more raunchy side of relationships while Kakashi would simply give the boy a copy of his favourite books which, unbelievably enough, came from Jiraiya and would likely result in Jiraiya once more guiding the boy to manhood by proxy of his own book.
Iruka thanked the heavens above that it was him that Naruto consulted first. He didn't know what would happen if Jiraiya or Kakashi were the ones to give him advice.
"I came to ask you because I'm confused about this whole thing…"
"It's hard trying to understand about your feelings on your first love." Ayame had cut in and Teuchi gave a sagely nod as he prepared the meals of the two when they ordered.
Iruka looked at his former student in a form of understanding. Naruto never grew up surrounded by love. It was a tragic thing for a boy to look on in longing seeing other children having such a wonderful time with their parents while he tries to live on his own. Naruto understood familial love and even platonic affections. But the boy had never even once quite understood romantic love. Being so caught up with other things, Iruka could tell that Naruto starved for something that made him complete. It was probably why the boy was restless. And now an opportunity had shown itself in the most surprising way possible, Naruto didn't know what to do with it. To the boy, things were moving too fast for him.
"You're not sure yet, are you, Naruto?" Ayame asked and Naruto gave a wordless nod.
She grinned and put her hands on her sides, "Then why not do it?"
Naruto looked at Ayame dumbfounded, "Do what?"
Ayame, Teuchi and Iruka all rolled their eyes and said at the same time, "Ask her out, of course!"
"You see, Naruto, like any job, you have to experience to know a lot things. It's like how I make my Ramen. You won't get anything done if you don't do something about it!"
Naruto gave a sigh as he put his head on the counter, "I know that but…"
Ayame sighed, "Okay mister, how about this, why don't we talk about Hinata first THEN we can make sure if you really want to ask her out or not. Better yet, if she would even accept you or not."
Naruto flinched when he heard the word 'reject'. Somehow, the prospect of being rejected slightly hurt.
"Let's start with how you interact with her and how long."
Naruto groaned, he then turned to the old Ramen Chef, "Old Man Teuchi, is our order up yet?"
The old man grinned, "Not until we finish this, boy. You get to eat until we can sort you out, it's for your own good."
Forced to comply with his interrogators, Naruto did as what he was told and told them every interaction he has had with Hinata so far. As he told the tales that came from his memories, he never noticed that he was smiling along. He felt somewhat happy that he was sharing these stories with the father-daughter duo and Iruka. It felt relieving to say the least.
"She sounds kind and considerate. I think you should really go for it, Naruto." Ayame replied as she put into consideration, that the girl liked Naruto as well, perhaps more than what Naruto could currently give.
"That I agree on, at least. If she's like that then she's a good catch, Naruto. Who knows, your first love might be the one, as rare as it is." Teuchi remarked.
"This is the Hyuuga Clan, though. Not something Naruto could just casually stroll in and ask for the hand of the Hyuuga heiress to court." Iruka warned, Teuchi and Ayame simply scoffed at it with Teuchi being more vocal.
"Bah, strip them off of their power and you have just another clan with weird traditions. Maybe we commoners will never understand them, but we know we understand love better than those fools." Teuchi commented earning a laugh from Iruka.
"Right you are, Teuchi-san. But we should approach this in a discreet manner. We can't have Hiashi-sama scour the entire village shouting at Naruto with sword in hand."
Naruto paled at the thought.
"So what do you propose then, Iruka-san?" Ayame asked genuinely curious.
"Let's try to discuss this some other time, shall we? Now that Naruto is finally willing to ask Hinata out, we should let the boy rest his nerves. At least he's comfortable about it, no?" Iruka suggested. Trying to ease his favourite student as the boy finally let out a sigh of relief as he dug in to his favourite food.
A few more minutes of chatting and laughing later, Naruto and Iruka left the small shop. They both noticed it was night time already and both decided to go to their homes, but not before Naruto had asked Iruka.
"Iruka-sensei, do you think she'll like it? Asking her out, I mean." Naruto asked one last time as she looked up into the star laden sky.
"Naruto, I'm sure whatever happens, it will be for the best. We won't know, only Hinata can tell you her answer."
Naruto gave a nod and left. Iruka, however, bit his lower lip for telling a white lie. He knew for a fact that Hinata has had a long time crush on Naruto since their days in the academy. He was observant like that and could tell that Hinata had her heart meant for Naruto. But he couldn't say anything about Hinata's feelings, part of growing up was to say what you mean and be confident in it. Hinata needed to say her feelings just as much as Naruto needs to understand them. It wasn't his place to keep intervening for Naruto and Hinata. If he did, then they would never truly grow up.
When Naruto made it to his apartment, with a most comfortable feeling ever, he prompted to get an early sleep in. As he entered the room, however, he was met with a pair of Sharingan eyes.
"You have run out of places to hide, Naruto-kun."
And with those words, Naruto's world went black.
Morning came and the sun's rays touched the surface of the land as it reached out over into the mountainous areas of Konohagakure no Sato. In particular, the Hokage Tower was early in the working hours as Tsunade began piling the paperwork that she would be doing today. She had opted to check the medical charts first and nodded with pride as Lee's operation went successful with the boy on his way to make a full recovery. The medics that had helped her were great assets to her and they had entertained her, a government based institution solely for the development and training for medic nin in advanced studies. The idea was too good to pass up and she had been contemplating on it ever since.
After she was done, she had opted to take a break off of reading medical charts and began to flip open the newspaper. Her eyes turned to pinpricks as her heart suddenly began beating faster and adrenalin began pumping in her veins.
"SHIZUNE, GET ME JIRAIYA AT ONCE!"
She had left the stack of newspapers sprawled on the floor as the front page displayed a winning number combination at the lottery and a ticket with the same combination along with it.
Sakura went up the stairs of Naruto's apartment complex at once as she had been tasked by Kakashi to wake the boy up. It was already eight in the morning and like the many habits that Kakashi had been trying to curb, Naruto had been late to his promised time of training with them. Worried that something might be up, Kakashi had asked Sakura to retrieve Naruto in his apartment while he goes to ANBU headquarters to check on Sasuke. This was supposed to be training day for the entirety of Team Seven as well as a mission.
Even though Naruto was promoted to chuunin, he was still part of Team Seven. It had irked Sakura that she was forced to wake Naruto up in his apartment and reasoned out this was more time wasted in training.
She knocked on the door of her teammate three times but no response came. Once more, she knocked three times and no response came. Annoyed that the blonde might still be sleeping in, Sakura opted to shout.
"NARUTO! GET THE HELL UP! WE HAVE TRAINING AND A MISSION!"
Still no response came.
Sakura growled in frustration as she reached for the doorknob and found it unlocked. Sakura had raised her eyebrows right then and there as her senses became increasingly alarmed. She slid the door open and drew her twin double edged swords and slowly walked in finding nothing but a clean apartment with ramen cups on the table and an open window.
She turned around, alert of what might have happened when Kakashi had suddenly appeared from the room's window.
The man looked grim as he went inside and began rummaging through Naruto's things.
"No signs of a struggle, but his things are still here, what are you telling me?" Kakashi asked to himself as Sakura looked on worriedly.
"Sensei, what is…"
Deciding that he had no time to answer Sakura's questions, Kakashi cut his thumb with a kunai and slammed his hand on the wooden floor.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"
Smoke littered the small apartment and dispersed in the air. From the summoning circle, out came a familiar looking dog.
"Pakkun, can you tell me who was in here last night?"
The dog nodded and sniffed the area for a few seconds and replied, "Naruto was here last night, but there was another scent here, it's the same as Sasuke's but at the same time, different."
Kakashi's eyes widened.
"Sensei…"
"Sakura, I want you to grab your gear back at your home and prepare for a mission outside the village. Naruto has been kidnapped."
Sakura stood there shocked as Kakashi left. Her mind couldn't even register a question as to why but she felt her knees buckle slightly in weakness as she leaned by the wall opposite the door.
It was then that Sasuke had appeared by the door as he ran up to Sakura, "What happened, Kakashi asked that I should be relieved for the day because of a possible mission."
"S-Sasuke-kun, Naruto has…"
Sasuke's features darkened, "The idiot has what, Sakura?"
"Naruto has been kidnapped!"
The sound of multiple footsteps soon reached their ears as tens of ninjas began running out of the village as they were deployed.
"The village is on high alert! All civilians return to your homes now and stay indoors!"
By this time, Sakura snapped out of her shock and jumped out of the window as she made a mad dash at her home. Sasuke turned back, looked around Naruto's room and noticed a crack on the photo frame of team seven, with Naruto's face being the center of it.
Sasuke scowled and went out of the room.
The sound of dripping was all he could hear, all that he could feel. Naruto was in a dreamless sleep but his mind was conscious yet his body has yet to react. The surrounding darkness made it hard for him to see. He could still feel his breath but he could neither see nor hear anything that wasn't dripping.
"Wake up, brat!"
A sudden flux of chakra brought him out of his catatonia and he shook his head as he looked around.
"Kurama? What happened?"
"No time, just use mold your chakra and I'll push you out of here with mine, do it now! Once you go outside, perform the Kage Bunshin and the Kawarimi. Run as fast as you can."
Naruto frowned at this, "Why?"
"Just do it, brat! Or do you want to die!?" The fox growled after he said this, Naruto, alarmed by this change in behaviour within the fox, quickly complied.
"I don't know what's going but…" When Naruto flared his chakra, he suddenly felt the push of Kurama's chakra towards him as he sailed past into the dark halls of his consciousness.
His eyes snapped open and he could now clearly see. He was being carried over by a tall, hulking large blue skinned man with a giant sword strapped on his back. Naruto suddenly performed the Kage Bunshin without warning earning a surprise from the two missing ninja.
"Itachi-san, I thought you said he would be knocked out for at least two days." The tall man remarked as Naruto was quick to perform a Kawarimi and switched with one of his clones before Kisame could react.
"It seems as if the Kyuubi's chakra is more potent and serious than we thought. That or something else in his chakra weakened my genjutsu." Itachi remarked.
As twenty clones jumped, Kisame was about to swing Samehada when the clones suddenly began exploding all around.
The smoke cleared as the debris and soot subsided, a wall of water encircling Kisame and Itachi was in the middle of the explosions. Kisame sported a vicious smile and gave an amused chuckle.
"He knows your technique, Itachi-san."
The wall of water dropped and out in the distance, Itachi could tell the remaining traces of chakra that littered the atmosphere.
"He wouldn't be able to get far." Itachi mentioned and quickly began performing several handseals and leaned back taking an enormous amount of air and exhaling fire from his mouth.
'Katon: Goukakyo no Jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)'
A giant ball of flame surged through the air at an incredible rate. It whizzed by in the air quick and burned off anything in its wake. Naruto looked back and saw the giant ball of fire heading to him quick. The blonde gritted his teeth and tried to perform the shunshin no jutsu once more, but found himself to late as he was engulfed in a massive surge of flames.
"A little something to help cool things off…" Kisame then began performing his own set of handseals and smirked once he stretched out his right hand.
"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Shark Bullet technique)!" A surge of water in the shape of a giant shark surged forward and slammed on to the area where the fireball exploded and violently splashed in it.
From the water, Naruto jumped through the shark projectile and the explosion of water helped cool off some of the temperature around him. He flinched as he looked at his left arm, it was burned badly. Naruto had to cut off his sleeve there due to it burning from Itachi's technique. He performed the shunshin no jutsu once more and was utterly horrified when Itachi and Kisame were keeping up with him without a problem.
"Surprised by our technique, boy? The Shunshin no Jutsu isn't exactly a godsend of a technique nor is it the best getaway one." Kisame replied with a chuckle, Samehada drawn from his back and rested on the man's shoulders.
Itachi drew a kunai from his sleeve and quickly shoots it at the blonde, Naruto was quick to deflect and letting his experience guide him but Itachi was quick to retaliate and shot two more kunai this time in quick succession, deflecting the first kunai to gain stability above and pointing down and then the last kunai hitting the bottom of the first knife and headed straight down to the blonde.
"GAH!" Naruto shouted as the kunai fell on his back, embedding itself and making Naruto wince in pain as he dropped into the forest floor and slid on the ground as he got up.
Kisame gave a sinister and amused laugh.
"Resistance is futile." Itachi merely said, as he threw a set of shuriken at Naruto in blinding and quick accuracy. The boy had no choice but to quickly pull out the kunai protruding at his lower back and run as fast as he could. The shuriken embedded hard on the ground while two nicked him at the side of his face but Naruto didn't have a chance to look back as Kisame appeared before him.
"You know, I could never agree with Itachi-san in taking you cleanly. Our methods are… Different concerning our mission, you see. Whereas Itachi-san would do things subtly, I tend to play with my targets for a little while longer." The man said with a sneer as Naruto was suddenly kicked in the stomach. Naruto had the air kicked out of him as he rolled back from Kisame feeling the man's thunderous foot slam up to his abdomen.
He could feel Kurama's chakra working on overdrive to dry and heal some of the damage left behind by these two fearsome shinobi as Kisame went through several handseals while Naruto began pumping chakra to his hands.
"We'll have none of that." Itachi had suddenly cut in as Naruto felt the back of his neck being pulled by the collar as he was slammed on the ground by Sasuke's older brother. Naruto gasped in as the air escaped his lungs once more and blood was now seeping from his mouth.
Itachi was about to make eye contact when Naruto, had performed a timely Kawarimi (Substitution) with a nearby log. Itachi escaped quickly enough as the log was laden with explosive notes. The piece of lumber gave an angry hiss as Itachi had quickly performed a timely jump from the explosion that took place as the blonde was then quickly dispatched by another Itachi hiding from the trees.
Naruto fell down from the treetops again, as the Itachi that had slammed him down on the ground disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
'Kage Bunshin… Goddamn it.' Naruto inwardly cursed as he tried to come up with an escape route. His thoughts stopped when he heard a sinister chuckle escape the air. He turned around with the blue skinned giant of a man sneering at him.
"Do try to survive this if you can jinchuuriki-san." Kisame then held out his right hand once more but shouted the name of a different technique this time. Naruto
"Suiton: Suishoha (Water Release: Water Colliding Wave)!" Then, a gush of water escaped from his hands and Naruto was sent hurtling away from them. The water raged violently against the sea of trees and Naruto was swept by it. He could gain footing, could not escape and by the looks of things, these two didn't even look like they were having a hard time with him. Then he felt an unimaginable amount of pain surge its way through his legs. He looked down and he found out that his leg was broken as it collided with a tree very hard.
'Kurama, I need your chakra!'
The boy asked, the fox didn't have to be asked twice and flooded Naruto's system with his own chakra. Red began seeping through with the blue as Naruto began to draw out more and more of the Kyuubi's energy. His eyes turned from deep blue to blood red, his pupils turning to slits and his birthmarks began to spread throughout his cheeks as his hair turned much more pronounced. His broken leg mended itself instantly as bone reconnected to bone and cartilage began forming once again.
"I CAN'T die here!" He mumbled to himself as the red chakra flooded into his system and burned into his veins like liquid fire. The rush of Kurama's chakra made him lose himself as he growled and shook the earth beneath his feet.
"Finally decided to use it, huh? But no matter, Samehada is getting hungry anyway." Kisame grinned and he could feel his sword grumbling in hunger when he felt such a powerful and dense chakra escape near its vicinity.
Red chakra began to coalesce, taking shape around the boy, a long red tail made of chakra escaped just behind him and two long ears made of the same energy formed on his head. Chakra sizzled and bubbled all around Naruto as he leaned down and went on all fours.
The inner beast within the boy reared its head and glared at Kisame with a growl. The boy charged at the man as Kisame prepared his sword. Kisame's grin widened when the boy began forming a round shell of chakra in his right hand, Kisame could see the wisps of chakra encircling inside going faster and faster as the boy charged at him.
Naruto roared and slammed the Rasengan on to the sword. He was quick to notice that the sword absorbed his chakra and the Rasengan in his hand disappeared without a trace. Naruto then jumped back when a fireball had made its way towards him. To his side, he saw Itachi throw him several weapons that the blonde effectively blocked with his chakra shroud. Kisame wasted no time with Itachi's timely distraction and charged at the blonde whose senses picked up quite clearly that Kisame was going to attack him.
The enraged Naruto leaned down and charged on all fours as Kisame brought down his sword with a mighty swing with the ground beneath it shattering on impact. It was at this time that Naruto had appeared behind him and swung his claws on the blue skinned man's back. Unfortunately, Kisame had dodged in time and countered with Samehada by slamming the hilt of the sword on to the chakra shroud, it may have not hurt him, but the force was enough to send the blonde away from Kisame as he skidded on the ground and forming a wide trench before him.
"Oh this boy may be young but he is good for his age." Kisame remarked.
"Kisame, finish this now before Konoha catches wind that he is missing." Itachi remarked as he vanished once more into the trees.
Kisame clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Very well, I guess my need for some entertainment is satiated." With that, Kisame gathered water around Samehada and charged at Naruto at his best speed. He swung his blade forward letting a crescent of highly pressurized water sail through the air as Naruto tried to block it. The blonde held his ground, but the force was much too strong in the attack that he was skidding further and further back until the jutsu cancelled itself out. The blonde gave a roar of defiance and a shockwave shook the entire forest but Kisame was undeterred. The former swordsman of the mist swung his blade horizontally, letting it pass just above the boy who dodged the blade by ducking.
The rush of power left him and Naruto looked on in surprise as his sapphire orbs returned from its crimson color before he felt something painful shoved him in his chest as Kisame slammed his sword on his stomach.
"Thank you for the meal." Kisame mentioned with a smile as he flew slightly upwards and Kisame turned in opposite direction this time as he positioned the blonde in mid-air and once more slammed the Samehada on the boy's stomach from above this time and taking Naruto with it as the blades of the sword embedded itself in Naruto's flesh and his world exploded into pain when he was slammed on the ground.
The earth cratered from Kisame's monstrous strength as dust and debris scattered all around. Naruto coughed out blood from his mouth as he was held down on the ground, his clothes in complete tatters and his blood spilling on the forest floor beneath him.
"H-How?" Naruto asked. Kisame entertained the boy's question one final time. The jinchuuriki was supposed to die anyway.
"Samehada has the power to absorb chakra into its own. Any form of chakra satisfies it and its favorite happens to be chakra of a tailed beast."
"T-The village…" Naruto muttered as Kisame decided to lengthen the blades of Samehada longer and dig deeper into Naruto's body with some in his chest. Naruto gave a silent scream.
"Itachi-san has been part of Konoha's elite ANBU unit. Walking into Konoha is like walking into his own backyard. It was indeed an easy thing to do and even if the village knew about us, it doesn't mean Itachi-san would be forever left in the dust of Konoha's landscape." The shinobi swordsman answered his question and Naruto was losing consciousness fast.
"N-Need to… Get away…" Naruto mumbled incoherently, the loss of blood was distorting his vision and his thoughts. He could feel and hear his heart beating fast.
Kisame and Itachi looked at him as the swordsman smirked, "Pulling yourself out of Samehada would do more harm than good, and you'll die faster."
"Not… Gonna… Die…" Naruto mumbled his breathing was becoming labored as he tried to push himself off the blades trying as hard as he could but Samehada's blades just ended up cutting him up further and further.
"PUT HIM DOWN, NOW!"
They heard an angry scream as Itachi saw a large fireball screaming at his way as the two dodged. It was then that Naruto managed to pull himself out of the blades as he fell on the ground.
"The Akatsuki are here! Chase after them and send help here quickly! We've got an injured ninja!"
Another voice shouted.
"Kisame, let us retreat. It would seem the full force of Konoha is on to us." Itachi advised and Kisame sighed, this was another failure. Well, at least it would be easier to locate the tailed beast once it happened.
"What about the boy?" Kisame asked with a frown. Failing a mission twice didn't seem to go well with him.
"Leave him. He will undoubtedly die, anyway. You have severely punctured his organs and several major arteries in the process and lacerated himself in getting away from us furthering the damage. We will have a better chance once the Kyuubi reforms itself." Itachi mentioned as he and Kisame soon ran away.
"COME BACK HERE, ITACHI!" Sasuke shouted in all the fury he could ever muster he was held back by Kakashi who held him on his shoulder
'Sasuke…'
"You are no match for him. Stay back."
'Kakashi-sensei…'
"I DON'T CARE! LOOK AT WHAT HE DID TO NARUTO!" Sasuke shouted in rage as he pointed to the blonde who was bleeding profusely.
"Oh my god…" Sakura had arrived, tears were welling from her eyes as she looked at the blonde when she got close, he was breathing slowly and blood was splattered everywhere around him.
'Sakura…'
"Even still, I will not let a subordinate risk his life so carelessly. One person about to lose his life is enough."
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THOSE WORDS!" Sasuke shouted as he was forced down by the ANBU member with a pair of clones.
Another voice shouted from the distance as Naruto heard that familiar voice. It soothed him to say the least, in this cold and unforgiving environment.
"NARUTO-KUN!"
'Hinata… She's here.'
"Don't worry Naruto, we'll get you back in the village as soon as possible!" Sakura assured her teammate whose voice was shaking as she tried to stop the bleeding. The blades had managed to hit several major arteries. She noticed, although she wasn't a medic, she could still tell if a person was losing a lot of blood. For now, she needed to stop the bleeding to help her teammate.
"No, Sakura… It's okay…" Naruto stopped her. Sakura stopped for a second and then protested.
"Idiot! Don't say those words!" Tears were now falling from her eyes. Her hands were shaking in fear.
By now, Sasuke, Kakashi and Hinata were beside him, he could tell, he could still see them.
Kakashi remained silent as his eyes were closed.
"No… Really…" Naruto assured her. He voice felt tired and shaking. He wanted to sleep.
"Sasuke, was that guy… with the sharingan your brother?" Naruto asked. Sasuke was shaking in fury and in pure mental agony in seeing Naruto so messed up. He had thought his tears were all shed back then, but now, they came back in full vengeance. He was biting his lower lip, he couldn't answer with words and he could only nod.
"He… was after me…" Naruto said to his teammate and friend.
"Why?" Sasuke could only ask.
"He was after the bijuu sealed within me…" Naruto answered as he looked up.
"Naruto, what are you talking about?"
It was Kakashi who had finally answered them, "Twelve years ago, the day of the attack of the Kyuubi, the Yondaime Hokage had defeated the beast. But in truth, he could not kill the Kyuubi, so instead, he sealed it in an infant. Naruto was the one chosen."
Recalling that night, Kakashi remembered the faces of his fallen friends, today would be another shame he would add on the list of his many failures.
"I never asked… For any of this…" Naruto answered. Tears were now falling from his face.
"I just wanted… To be needed." He let out. It was when Hinata cried and went for Naruto's hand.
"Please, Naruto-kun… Don't do this. I have always needed you. You have always been important to me, more than just friends. Please, keep fighting… I can't lose you too…"
Hearing those words, Naruto couldn't help but grab on to Hinata's hand, although weakened. He decided to pull her closer with all of his remaining strength. Hinata was now on his chest as he embraced her with right hand.
"Thank you… Hinata… Whenever I was with you, I feel that I could just let go and be myself… Thank you, for saying those words…"
"No, Naruto, please, no. Don't leave me, please. Keep fighting, don't say those words. If you go, I don't know what I would do without you. I would do anything to keep you here with me, anything!" Hinata replied now her pretty face was marred with Naruto's blood staining it along with her own tears.
"I'm sorry… I'm just so tired…" Naruto said as he looked back at Sasuke.
"Sasuke…"
Naruto smiled a little, "Crying doesn't suit you, teme."
Sasuke replied with his eyes closed tears were still falling, "Shut up, you fucking idiot."
"Give them hell…"
Sasuke couldn't take it anymore, his rage and sorrow were at their tipping point, he turned his back on Naruto and performed the shunshin no jutsu.
"Sasuke, come back here!" Kakashi was surprised when Sasuke's shunshin had improved greatly over the bout of a few weeks. This was totally unexpected for him. Kakashi had to catch up, or else he would lose another student.
"Ah… so tired…"
"Don't fall asleep, you idiot. We're right here, don't close your eyes, you hear me? Please don't joke around about this!" Sakura replied. But Naruto didn't listen, his eyelids were heavy, he wanted to sleep.
"I'm… So… Sorry." He replied, his eyes were closing, he was going to sleep and he wanted to sleep for a very long period.
It was then that a three pairs of masked ninja came down from the treetops and pulled Naruto out of Hinata's grasp.
"We'll take it from here, we're sorry for your loss."
They placed the boy into a black body bag and the two ANBU members performed a handsign. The body bag had a seal lit up before they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Sakura went for Hinata as she was still there, sitting down on the forest floor, as the rain began to fall. Tears continued to fall down from her face as the blood of her only beloved started to fall on to the ground. But her sadness was never present, only an expression of total blankness. Sakura tried to get her up, but found that Hinata was too rigid to move.
"I… couldn't save him…" Hinata mumbled, Sakura could only give her friend a hug.
Inside Naruto, something stirred, the giant fox inside of him could only watch as the darkness slowly began encroaching. The beast stared down at the chakra figure, stirring outside the cage before dispersing outwards.
The creeping shadow stood in suspension, the chakra that lived inside Naruto would not let it.
Kurama could only watch as he sent more chakra outwards to try and heal the boy now that this person was preventing the death of his container.
'If that is to be done, then no words need to be spoken from me.'
To be continued…
I want to apologize in advance because hell month is coming up next week and I was sure it was supposed to be the week after the next one so I had to double my efforts in writing this chapter. I have to finish my thesis and gear up for my final defense, my paper works, and then some for the coming two months. Not only that, I have a comprehensive exam, as well as finals and then an Oral Exam coming up. I won't be able to write as much as I want to or I won't even be able to write at all. But do know that I will keep you guys posted and do as much as I can until I finish this. I'll be wrapping up part one anyway. Expect three more chapters until I write a conclusion here, and then write part two for team stories featuring Naruto's peers. I already have a draft ready for part two about five months ago and the structure will be mostly made up of short stories per character wrapped up in a chapter dedicated to their own teams.
The sequence will be as it goes:
Team Gai
Team Ten
Team Eight
Team Seven
I have planned for Team Seven to clean up part two because they will be a huge part of the things to come in part three. Expect them to be longer, probably by about fifteen to twenty thousand words per chapter but Part Three will return to the standard format that I write, a minimum of nine thousand to a little more than ten thousand words.
Don't worry. I don't plan on cluttering my list of stories anytime soon so I won't write them as a separate piece. It will all be here for quick accessibility.
Unfortunately, no chapter preview for now. I'm writing this author's note as my group mates and I discuss our thesis once more and strategize on the final phases of our defense in the coming days. I thank you for supporting this story even though I've made several mistakes and I plan to correct them all. I can't exactly fault Vandebz because he's being an awesome beta because I'm the one who usually has to edit the work that he corrected for me (awesome beta that he is) and most of the time, I can't be bothered to clean it up because of real life and I'm a bit impatient because of my work in the hospital (My hobbies have even less time now especially since I'm now in the Obstetric ward).
Just a few days ago, I had to deliver twenty babies and one of them I had to recheck because an asshat of an intern accidentally lacerated the butthole of a mother after performing an episiotomy (Google it, please, I'm tired and I don't want to explain further) and I had to clean up his shit (figuratively, of course) for being careless (Not that I could ENTIRELY blame him, he's been helping the surgeon perform C-Section after C-Section for seventy-two hours) but still. I should be livid because I've had no sleep for the past few days but then again, ALL of us were even the nurses. Dear merciful God in heaven, I hope the Radiology department would be forgiving after this rotation. You can only be amazed about the miracle of life for so many times until you suffer sleep deprivation and caffeine withdrawal.
