Convergence

Chapter 2

Naruto's dreams where chaotic and spontaneous. Most were flashes from his childhood, but the rest… he had no idea where they came from. Most of them were mere phrases, something along the lines of this…

"Stupid Demon"

"Pathetic"

"BAKA"

"You're so weak"

"Dobe"

"You're a disappointment to the clan"

"Shut up! There's no way you could beat Sasuke-kun!"

"Fate has decreed that I would win, #!47-sama"

"I'll kill you!"

"Pathetic Human, I'll KILL YOU!"

With a jolt, Naruto woke. His head was spinning, despite being lying down, from his scrambled dreams. He was sure that half of the things that happened to him in his dream just… hadn't happened.

Naruto sat up and groaned, holding his head in pain.

'Damn. Why is it that every time I wake up in a hospital, I have a huge headache…?'

Naruto started fingering the bandages wrapped around his head. He followed them all the way around, stopping with is hands right over his eyes.

'What the hell… I can see the room, but I have bandages over my eyes? And why does everything seem… transparent?'

He looked around the room, still confused as to how he could see it at all. There wasn't much to take in. White walls, curtains, a bed, a bedside table with a single flower on it, and a window that was slightly open to let in a small breeze.

Deciding to let his mind wander, he started replaying the fight in his head.

(Flashback)

They had found the cave where the two Akatsuki members had gone. The fight started out pretty evenly, but it soon started changing. Their plan to separate the two failed early on, and they had to struggle to recover. Even after taking several hits from exploding birds and a couple of stab wounds from the puppet, he still fought on.

When one of their opponents did a Doton jutsu, Naruto got hit. Mud crawled up his legs to his knees and hardened, entrapping him. He couldn't dodge the eagle sized clay bird flying at him. The next thing he knew, Hinata had jumped in front of him and took the blast. Breaking free from his bonds, he charged the puppet master. Failing to dodge his attack, he felt a stinging pain across his eyes, and then the explosion of his Rasengan. Before he could recover, he felt a kunai pierce his back. Whipping around despite the pain, he formed another Rasengan and thrust it at the direction the pain came from. By sheer luck alone, he hit the former stone Nin right in the face with it, blowing a huge hole out of the back of his head.

He didn't know how long he laid there, his blood pooling in the dust, but after a while, he felt someone holding his head and talking, but he couldn't make out the words. Then, there was a stinging pain, and he could see Sakura sitting over him… and then he fell into unconsciousness.

(End Flashback)

Tsunade sighed, wishing she could have a nice bottle of sake in her hand right about now. As she walked down the halls of the hospital, she pondered her current situation. Sure, the mission to rescue the Kazekage was a success, but not without losses. Hinata… died. She got the story from Sakura, including the eye transplant. She was amazed that the transplant had worked at all. If it wasn't for the Kyuubi, Naruto probably would have died. The thing about transplanting eyes with doujutsu was that they doujutsu would always be active, like with Kakashi's Sharingan. Naruto was no exception. The largest problem was that he had to deal with sensory overload. The Byakugan's sight was so different from normal sight that it was like night and day. She imagined that it would be quite disorientating to be able to see all the way around her head after an entire lifetime of seeing normally.

However, Naruto could deal with the sensory overload, given enough time. The problem was that, because the Byakugan could see through almost anything, there was no way to block its sight. Again, like Kakashi's Sharingan, it drained chakra to use, and when it saw something, it was being used. But, Kakashi's Sharingan couldn't see through a bandage, while the Byakugan could. The problem with this was that Naruto's implanted Byakugan would be constantly draining chakra, because it could see through the bandages over his eyes. Even with they boy's amazing chakra levels, it wouldn't last for long. It seemed that his new eyes drained chakra even when he slept. He was only alive because of several chakra transplants from her, Jiraiya, and Shizune. No one else would bother to help him.

His chakra levels, thanks to Kyuubi, were rapidly increasing, as was his chakra recovery rate. It seemed the fox wasn't ready to die yet, allowing his Youkai to alter the boy's chakra system just enough to allow him to live. It wasn't much, due to the restrictions of the seal, but it was enough that the balance between the chakra drain of his eyes and the recovery rate had finally balanced out at about 3 AM. His body was now producing more chakra than the Byakugan could drain, but… the increase of the recovery rate had leveled off… it was no longer increasing. Although Naruto now had roughly the same amount of chakra as her or Jiraiya, he recovered at about one fourth of the rate. If she ran out of chakra, she wouldn't be back to normal for about a week. If Naruto ran out of chakra, he wouldn't be back to normal for a month.

She sighed. If he wanted to continue his life as a ninja, he'd better drastically improve his chakra control.

She stopped in front of Naruto's room and opened the door. He didn't even turn his head to look at her when he said "Hey, baa-chan."

The first thing Tsunade did was dig her pinky in her ear. She must have a buildup of wax, because there was no way that Naruto of all people would talk in little more than a whisper, let alone say his nickname to her that he usually yelled out at the top of his lungs.

"Naruto? How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Just a little sleepy."

For a minute nothing was said. Deciding to break the silence, Naruto spoke up.

"Baa-chan… why do I have bandages around my eyes? They feel fine. I can see perfectly… and why can I see through the bandages? And… why can I see the back of my head?"

"Naruto… what do you remember about your fight?"

"I…I remember… Hinata!"

At the end of that phrase, he jumped up, looking around frantically.

"Where is she!" Usually, Naruto would be yelling, but now… he was barely speaking in a normal conversational tone.

"Naruto… she….she's dead."

"W…What!"

"There was no way for her to survive… and… her last request… was that you…. Was that you would have her eyes. Sakura did the field transplant. It seems that… you're adapting to them quite well… but, the Hyuuga clan still doesn't know."

"You…you mean that… I have the Byakugan?"

"Yes."

"Then… those dreams… they… they're Hinata's memories."

Tsunade started and looked at him. She recalled what Kakashi had told her when he found out.

"Yes, Kakashi said as much. He told me that, because you have her eyes, you would have some of her memories. As Kakashi is the only known user of a transplanted Doujutsu, he's the leading expert on the subject."

"I…I see."

"Naruto…" Before she could continue, Naruto cut her off.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"… 3 weeks."

"Is there any reason I have to be held at the hospital?"

"No, but…"

"Can I go?"

The simple statement made Tsunade deflate.

"Yes… I expect you to be in my office tomorrow morning at 9. Don't be late."

"I won't, Baa-chan."

Tsunade walked out on the verge of tears. Somewhere, even though she though Naruto was an annoying little brat, she still considered him her brother. She had hoped that maybe he would allow her to comfort him, but… well, there was always tomorrow.

'Damn, I really need a drink now…"

After Tsunade left, Naruto slowly got out of bed, stretching his slightly atrophied muscles. Flashes of exercises he'd never done before came to mind and he repeated them as best as he could. While performing them, he let his mind wander.

'It's strange… having another person's memories… especially from a girl. I'm glad I'm a boy. I never want to go through with 'that' again… God, I had no idea how bad girls have it… Now I know why they're cranky once a month…'

After finishing his stretches, he pulled open the drawers of the bedside table, pulling out his orange jumpsuit. He frowned at it. Usually he loved orange, despite the fact that a ninja should never wear that color, but now… it seemed wrong. For some reason, he had the strangest urge to get a crème colored jacket instead…

He sighed and slipped his jumpsuit on. He fell over a couple of times, his perception and balance off because of his near 360 degree vision, and from the fact that a wall would randomly disappear and he would see things from a long ways away, as if watching through binoculars. Even during this 'zooming' vision, he retained his 360 degree vision, leaving his head hurting like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was like his mind was rewiring itself to accommodate his new perception, and it hurt. He was disoriented, and nearly constantly off balance. Finally, he managed to get fully dressed. He perched on the ledge of the now open window and gripped the side to balance himself. It just wouldn't do to get discharged from the hospital only to be put back in from falling several stories.

Taking a gigantic leap, he flew towards a neighboring rooftop.

He found that, somehow, his movements were more graceful and seemingly more coordinated. He guessed it was from better hand-eye coordination now that he could see each and every part of his body at the same time. As he ran, his headache started subsiding, and his balance kept returning. It seemed that, after several falls, that he started growing accustomed to his new vision. After a while, he found himself in front of the Hyuuga compound. For some reason, this place screamed 'home' at him, yet he knew it wasn't his apartment. Before the guards could see, he jumped away, moving towards his home.

Tsunade finally got to her office. Just as she was reaching underneath her desk to get her bottle of sake, she heard a noise.

Something slammed against the office doors before sliding down. Instead of grabbing her sake bottle, she grabbed a kunai from the kunai pouch duct taped to the underside of her desk. The door burst open, and just before she threw the kunai, she recognized who it was.

"Hyuuga Neji… it'd be nice if you knocked instead of knocking out my guards."

"Hokage-sama… where is Naruto."

"Why do you ask?"

"Because… he failed."

"What did he fail at?"

"He failed to protect his teammates… he failed to save Hinata…"

Neji, despite his cold exterior, cared about his cousin a lot. Not in a romantical sense, but more like a sibling. Besides, she did call him her brother all the time. Over the three years that Naruto was gone, Hinata had grown on him. They became quite close. She'd even asked him to help her train when they weren't training with their respective teams or with Hiashi.

Tsunade sighed and put away the kunai.

"If I tell you where he is, do you promise not to try anything against him?"

"… yes."

She sighed. "He should be at his apartment by now. He may be sleeping… after all, getting used to the Byakugan would really take it out of someone…"

Neji froze. He slowly brought his gaze to meet Tsunade's.

"He what?"

"Shit… didn't mean to say that…"

"What was that about the Byakugan?"

"…Sit down, Neji. This might take a while…"

Naruto carefully put his kunai against the crack in the floor boards. Slowly and meticulously, he pulled up the loose section in such a manner that he didn't leave a scratch to tell someone where the secret compartment was. Finally pulling the section up, he reached in side and took out a fairly large leather bag. He opened it up and carefully pulled out a large amount of bills. After stuffing the bag back into the compartment and carefully replacing the lid, Naruto put the wad of bills, not in his frog purse like one would think, but underneath the collar of his orange jacket. Too many times he had been either pick pocketed or mugged, and he didn't want to loose any of his life savings.

As he was walking to his door, the wall in front of him randomly became transparent. Naruto pulled out a kunai as he saw someone jump down on his front porch. Stealthily making his way to the front door, he carefully put his hand on the door handle. The figure stood up, and Naruto visibly relaxed. It was Neji-niisan. He paused… where had the nii-san come from?

Just as Neji was about to knock, Naruto opened the door.

"Hey there, Neji."

"Naruto… why are you still wearing your bandages?"

Naruto paused and put his hands to his head. He faintly blushed and his fingers started pushing against each other.

As he saw himself, he couldn't help but think 'Why the hell am I doing this? Why do I feel so… unstable?'

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he carefully unwrapped his bandages. He grimaced from the light as they finally came off. Even though he could see through solid object, the Byakugan was very susceptible to bright lights.

Neji watched in a sort of half amusement and half sadness as he watched Naruto play with his fingers much like his late cousin had. It hurt him… but for some reason, he knew that she lived on, if only in small mannerisms, because of Naruto.

When the bandages finally came off, Neji's eyes widened, and then narrowed.

'So it's true… Naruto does have the Byakugan. And that scar… it explains why Hinata would give her eyes to him.'

"Neji… what are you doing here?"

"I came to see… if it was true."

"See if what what was true?"

"That you have the Byakugan… or more importantly, Hinata's Byakugan."

At that simple phrase, Naruto seemed to go from his insatiable curiosity that he was so known for to a shy, introverted person. His head lowered and his shoulders slumped. For a minute, an uncomfortable silence came between them.

"Neji… could I ask you a favor?"

"…That depends."

"Could… could you help me buy something that isn't orange?"

"… Naruto… if you wanted to go shopping, ask one of the girls. I'm not interested."

Neji turned to leave, but Naruto's voice stopped him.

"Neji… I don't know exactly what Hinata liked to wear… but for some reason… I feel like I need to wear something… for her."

He paused.

"I feel like… I'm no longer just living for myself, but for her as well. Please, you know more about her than I do… will you help me?"

A mental battle raged in Neji's head as he pondered the pros and cons. His analytical side and his emotional side waged a brutal war with each other. After a moment, he looked back at the now white-eyed blonde.

"…Come on."

Halo here. I've decided that I'll continue this story as long as at least SOME people want to read it. I've decided that, instead of just thinking about a story and writing it later, during class when I have spare time I'm going to be jotting things down. Although this may lead to lower grades, it'll mean that my stories will get updated faster and with longer chapters.

Now, to answer some questions before you ask. If you're up to date with the manga, you'll notice that Kakashi wasn't late before he got his Sharingan eye. However, his personality became much different after the transplant. If you havn't already guessed, Naruto will be WAY OOC. He sure as hell won't be the loud obnoxious wierdo he is in canon, but he also won't be completely introverted and shy like Hinata, nor will he stutter. He will start to have some confidence problems, but no more than an average person.

Also, rest assured that this won't be a typical 'Adopted into the Hyuuga Clan' fic. This may spoil most of next chapter, but Naruto won't be accepted into the Hyuuga clan. The only Jyuken he'll ever learn will be from Hinata's memories and stuff he can sort of make up as he goes along. He won't have the Kaiten nor the Rokujuuyonshou or Hachi nijuuyonshou (or whatever they are, i didn't bother looking them up, don't criticise me for not spelling them right.) And most of all, Naruto won't be instantly more powerful. He'll actually be hindered in battle for quite a while before he gets better. If you had your entire perception of sight completely reformed, you'd be off for a while too. He'll need alot of intensive training, mostly on his own with Kage Bunshin, to be able to use his Byakugan to it's fullest.

If you have any other questions you'd like to ask, please feel free to PM or review and ask them. I'll be happy to answer.

Oh, and before I forget, I'm going to be discontinuing both Pools of Green and By My Love's Tail because I've completely lost the feel for both stories and I have no idea where to take them. I'll be taking them down in one week's time, but if anyone would like to adopt them, please PM me or something. Thanks! Laters!