Aftermath 4: Broken


Kakashi was hopeful when his Sharingan picked up the seven chakra signatures moving through the trees; hopeful in spite of them all being obviously the wrong size and shape. But that hope was dashed when they exited the tree line, walking along the main road into Konoha. He was reminded of the first time team seven had left the village; three fucked up little kids and their fucked up sensei off on an adventure with this one drunk guy. Good times.

Not anymore.

He saw Sasuke and Naruto, arms around each others' shoulders, both battered, bruised and exhausted but still walking with each other's help. Ino-Shika-Cho all walked together, a little closer to each other than they'd previously felt the need to be. Lee, the best off of the group, walked upright but with his eyes downcast and usual fire not present, two strangers hogtied and held over his shoulders...

Kakashi raised an eyebrow when they could easily see him.

Naruto didn't meet his eyes.

Sighing, Kakashi walked forwards to console the remnants of his team.


~Six Years Before Graduation

"Come on..." Neji growled to himself, under his breath. "Do something, girl."

"Now I know it's hella illegal." Itachi continued talking, across from him, "But I do think that if we comb through some of hidden Lightning's archives, we might find out what-" He blinked, and squinted at his friend. "Konoha to Neji? You listening?"

"Hm?" The Hyuuga looked up. "Oh, sorry. Hinata's in a mess halfway across the village. Nothing dangerous, just-"

"You wanna take a break and go bail her?" Itachi chuckled good naturedly.

"Yeah. Sorry, I'll-" Neji paused, tilting his head and focusing. "Oh. Actually, we might be good."

"Why? What's happening?"


Elsewhere

"What's wrong, weirdo? Nothing to say?"

Hinata winced and closed her eyes. That was what seemed to be the problem, maybe if she kept them closed they would-

"Hey, you not gonna look at me while I'm talking? What, you blind as well as ugly?"

The older boy shoved her, and she stumbled backwards. The trio of others backing him up laughed along with him.

"Hah! Look at you! Total pussy!"

"Dude, you can't say that-"

"Nah my parents aren't around it's fine."

"Stop." Hinata whimpered.

"Huh? What was that little bug-eyes?"

"Please stop." She forced her eyes shut tighter, taking a step backwards.

"Oh you want me to stop? Why don't you stop me, huh?" The boy spread his arms. "Use your ninja powers to stop me! Go on, do it!"

Hinata just took another step backwards.

"Hah! Pathetic. You clans think you're so cool, but look at you!" He shoved her again, and this time she fell flat on her backside in the snow.

They found that hilarious.

"Stop it!" She shouted, then, "Help! Someone, please-"

The lead bully drowned her out with laughter. "Oh, come on. Who's gonna try and save you?"

"I AM!"

Hinata's eyes snapped open.

Standing with his hands on his hips in a dramatic pose was a boy with blond hair, orange clothes, bright blue eyes and a million-ryo grin on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" One of the bullies asked, angrily.

The newcomer, if possible, grinned harder. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" He shouted. "I'm here because I heard there was someone in need, and I'm never going to turn my back on s-"

One of the bullies punched him in the face and he went spinning, landing on the floor.

"-someone in need. ow." He mumbled, through the snow.

"Who the hell is this kid?" One of the bullies asked.

"Yo! This is that Uzumaki kid!" Another shouted. "He's some kind of demon, all the parents hate him! We could do whatever and nobody'll shout at us!"

"Dude, that's awesome!"

Naruto stood up again, and fell into what Hinata recognised was a terrible fighting stance. "Hah! Bold of you to assume even all three of you could-"

One of them punched him again.

He stumbled backwards, wiping some blood off his face. "Okay." He declared. "I wasn't ready that time. Now, if you try and-"

They tackled him to the floor.

Hinata wisely scrambled back behind a tree.

The beating only lasted a few minutes before the bullies got bored, and having completely forgot about Hinata, wandered off.

She was almost certain Naruto had been killed, but he sat up with no complaints but a small groan, pawing at his face. "Hey, strange girl? You still there?"

Hinata peaked out of hiding. When she saw the coast was clear, she ran out to kneel next to him. "I'm here! Are you okay?"

"Heh. It'll take more than that to bring me down!" He grinned at her, flashing a thumbs up. Then he grimaced, and spat out a tooth.

"...Are you sure?" She asked, skeptically.

"Yeah, I heal fast." He said, fingering around his mouth for the gap. "I've lost that tooth like, five times at this point."

"I'm...fairly sure that's not normal."

"Then it's just a sign of me being awesome." He nodded, with an air of finality. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Hyuuga." She replied, watching how he reacted.

"No, like, your actual name." He prompted, acting like he'd never heard of her clan before.

"Oh, uh...Hinata?"

"Cool name! I'm-"

"Uzumaki Naruto." She replied, giggling. "You said already."

"Right, yeah." He looked down, wiggling his toes. "Hey, Hinata...you don't hate me."

"N-No. Am I supposed to?"

"Probably. Most people do."

"Oh." Well that made her cross. "They shouldn't. You're a good person."

He looked at her with wide eyes. "I am?"

She nodded, pouting. "Mmhmm. You're a hero!"

His jaw fell open, and he stared at her for a few minutes. Then he coughed. "Right, well, of course-" His voice went lower and he stood up. "It is of course a hero's duty to help those in need! And it is, uh, it is also-" He coughed again. "A hero's duty to be good friends with everyone who he saves! So, uh...be mine? Please?"

"You want to be my friend?" She blinked up at him, before smiling. "Yes!" She stood, and grabbed his hands. "Let's be friends!"

"YES! WOO!" He spun around and jumped in the air, making fist pumping motions, before freezing. "Uh, I mean, you know this is great. Just as great as all the other friends I definitely have."

"Of course." She giggled again.

"Right! Well then, Hinata, I must go and do hero stuff with all my other friends as well! Later!" He waved, and began running off.

She watched him go with a smile.


Present Day

Sasuke walked into the living room of the Uchiha compound without even considering the fact that he might be unwelcome. He sat down at one of the sofas and waited. Sure enough, after a moment, Itachi came through one of the doors and sat down next to him.

"Glad to see you're up." Sasuke began, not sure what else to say.

"I'm not in fighting shape, but I'm walking." Itachi agreed. "Tsunade's one hell of a medic." He eyed his younger brother. "You should probably pay her a visit."

"I'm fine."

"You've been stabbed in multiple places and bruised all over."

"It's minor." Sasuke reiterated, before looking across and seeing the genuine concern in his brother's eyes. "I'll check in tomorrow morning." He relented, with a sigh.

There was a silence.

"Is Naruto okay?" Itachi queried.

"He told me he wanted some time to think; I left him a few roads back." Sasuke explained. "When he says that he either needs immediate intervention or needs to be left alone. In this case I'm pretty sure it was the latter."

"Are you okay?" Itachi asked.

"No." Sasuke replied, simply.

"...Do you want a hug?"

"I don't..." Sasuke paused, then leaned in. Itachi wrapped his arms around his brother without another word.

"It's all fallen apart." Sasuke muttered, clinging tightly. "This whole time I was trying to get stronger, but all I did was put myself in the way of more pain. We made chunin, but now Hinata's gone, the team's disbanded..."

"Naruto's still here." Itachi reminded him. "I'm still here, so's Kakashi, Jiraiya, Haku...you're not alone, little brother."

"I know." Sasuke told him. And it was true. "I just...needed to get that out."

He leaned back out of the hug and wiped his arm across his face- not that there was anything to wipe off, of course.

"You know the bone dude you fought, Kimimaro? Beat him."

"Nice. Well done."

"Killed him."

"...I see." Itachi looked searchingly at him. "How does that make you feel?"

"Still processing it, actually." Sasuke admitted. "Might throw up later. Hope I don't get nightmares, that would be plain irritating." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. "That's his sword, or one of them. Tempted to engrave something on it, but frankly the 'boner' jokes write themselves."

"I'll have it cleaned, sharpened, you can think of a name later." Itachi promised, taking the scroll from him.

Sasuke shifted his feet, looking down at his hands. There was one more thing he had to say. "Kimimaro was going to kill me. I'd used up all my chakra, the chidori, nothing had put him down. He had me dead to rights."

"So what did you do?" Itachi asked.

"Oh, nothing much." Sasuke shrugged, closing his eyes. "I looked at him. He set on fire."

Itachi went very still.

Sasuke looked up, and met his eyes.

Itachi's Sharingan changed into the form Sasuke had only seen once, it's strange triangular pattern.

Sasuke's faced him. His usual three tomoe were gone, replaced by a black-red flower petal design.

"Ah." Said Uchiha Itachi.

"Yeah. I think," Said the boy with a mangekyo Sharingan, "you have some explaining to do."


Kakashi sat down at the bar, ordered a drink in silence.

A few minutes later, Jiraiya sat down next to him, and did the same.

A few minutes after that, Tsunade sat down, and did the same.

They all looked at each other.

"It's happening again." They chorused.


Naruto had no idea where he was. He'd started walking about an hour ago, and hadn't stopped since, wandering aimlessly past most of the village's major landmarks. He'd walked up the Hokage monument to watch the sun set, and then he'd walked back down it again. He'd passed the Uchiha compound over three times now, each time slowing down, looking at it for a long moment, then moving on.

Now it was dark, and there was nobody else on the streets. He knew, vaguely, that he was on the opposite side of town to his flat, and was briefly considering sending off some shadow clones to scout, when he recognised he was on a familiar road. He looked up, and his face fell. It was the Hyuuga compound. Grimacing, he turned away and started walking.

"Hey Naruto."

He froze.

"I guess that means I win the chunin exams, huh? Yay..."

He span around, and she was right there-

"Hinata!?"

She held up her hands placatingly as he darted towards her. "Don't. I'm not really here."

"You-"

"This is a shadow clone Hinata formed before leaving." Not-Hinata explained. "But I'm updated with memories as of five minutes ago. Yes, sorry. Your teammate is still running away to live with the hicky-snake-man."

"You..." Naruto stopped, looked at her. "I don't exactly know how to say this but...that's not something somebody actually betraying us to a terrorist would say."

"You might have caught on sometime during the fight so I wouldn't have had to try and defeat a jinchurikki." Not-Hinata chuckled. "Yes, I'm not just betraying the village for my own ambitions."

"Then..." Ten different questions all tried to take precedence at once, but after a moment they all fell away. Naruto took a step back and shook his head. His legs ached, and he had to suppress the urge to yawn. "Why are you even here?"

Hinata's face fell. "You're upset."

"I'm just...tired."

"I think I understand." She looked down and exhaled. "Naruto...do you remember when we first met?"

"Kinda?" Naruto shrugged. "We were like, five or something."

"I was being attacked by some bullies. It was because of my eyes or something, and back then I was too pathetic to defend myself." Hinata explained. "And you came in, made a brave pose and started scrapping with them. They were bigger than you, so you got completely beaten up, but afterwards you got back up, brushed yourself off, and smiled like it was no big deal. It was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen." She smiled at the memory. "I...started to follow you. Occasionally, only once or twice a week, I would go and follow you from a distance, just watch you. I was always far to scared to actually go and talk to you."

"We've already had this talk, haven't we?" Naruto checked, remembering their conversation after the Wave mission.

"We have." She agreed. "But back then I made it out as so inspiring, so noble. In reality...I was fucked up, Naruto." She closed her eyes. "My family died. I had to walk through my compound and see their corpses, I still see them every time I'm there. Kami, I don't know how to explain it, but the silence, the faces...It was so exhausting, just to be there, with their ghosts all pulling me down. I had absolutely nothing left except Neji, the man that killed them...and you. So I latched onto you."

She looked back up to him. "I started following you almost every day. I got up early, trained, then came over to your flat to watch you wake up. I knew your habits, where you ate, who you spoke to, every prank you ever pulled I saw you pull it. I watched as Sasuke got closer to you and befriended you, and I started resenting him. I told myself it was because of some silly clan rivalry, when really I was just jealous he'd had the courage to come and talk to you. I watched you as people were picking on you for seemingly no reason, and even while I got stronger, I didn't come in to help you. Thing is, while you were hurting? I knew you were feeling the same as me, and in some twisted way it made me feel better. Even as I started to hate everyone that did it to you, which was...everyone."

Naruto just looked at her. For once in his life, he genuinely had no idea what to say. What to feel.

"And then they put me on your team." She continued, with a smile. "So I had to interact with you. And it was everything I'd ever wanted. You were so nice, but you did so much, well, stupid stuff that I had to get rid of the idealised version of you I'd built up in my head. But I liked you anyway. I got over my hatred of Sasuke, I started actually being nice to people...these last few months have been the best time of my life. I could never betray that. Which is why I'm here."

She reached around her neck, and pulled her leaf forehead protector from around her neck.

"You didn't have that while we were fighting." Naruto noticed.

She shook her head. "I didn't. This here is the real one. I...couldn't bring myself to cut it."

"You left a shadow clone behind to give me a present?" Naruto looked at her, dubiously.

"I left a shadow clone behind to make a promise, and ask a favour." Hinata countered. She held it out to him. "Please, take this. Keep it for me. That's the favour. Because the promise is that after I'm done with Orochimaru, done with Neji, I'll come back. And I'll wear it again."

"You think Tsuande'll let you back after this?" Naruto snorted.

"With my eyes? There'll probably be a welcome party." Hinata chuckled.

Naruto looked in her eyes. "You're coming back?"

"I am."

"You swear?"

"On everything I've ever cared about."

And what else was there?

Naruto reached forwards and grasped the forehead protector. "You know coming back means you have to survive, right?"

"I'll do my best."

"Good. Can I crash in your compound?"

"The key's under the potted plant."

"Got it."

She tilted her head. "You...you're actually okay with this?"

"Not okay, but...You're my teammate."

Hinata's shoulders shook. "You...I do not deserve you."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "Aww, come on. Hinata, I...I think I...well. Good luck."

"Thanks. You too." She released the headband. Then, before he could react, darted forwards and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Whu-"

She swayed back with a grin. "Hinata Prime is going to be so angry I stole that from her. Catch you later, future Hokage." She put her fingers together, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

And Naruto was alone in the street again.

Off in the distance, he heard the hooting of owls.

"Left a shadow clone, huh?"

He felt a little like he should be crying, falling into the dark hole of despair he'd teetered on many times during his childhood. But as he looked down at Hinata's headband, strangely, all he could feel was a laugh bubbling up, and a few seconds later he was guffawing in the street without a care for who might be listening.

"You-hah, beat me, with half your chakra! Ahahaha!"

He shook his head, grinning, and tied Hinata's headband around his arm. Then he summoned a few shadow clones. "Alright maggots! Hinata's about to get a buttload more powerful and I'm not about to get left behind! Are any of you pansies tired?"

"NO SIR!"

"Then let's get training, people! We're burning moonlight!"


Orochimaru sat in his chair and waited. Absentmindedly, he flexed his fingers, getting used to their size and weight. He hadn't had the time to restructure the new body to his liking. Not that it would ever really meet his expectations; the main object of his attention was the girl about to walk through the door. And due to her eyes, there wasn't much point in putting up a genjutsu to disguise his new form. Grimacing a little, he prepared to receive her. Wondering what kind heartless girl would try to kill her own teammate in the chunin exams, stalemate professionals with decades of experience in court, abandon her own village just for a chance to-

"Hi!" Hyuuga Hinata skipped (skipped) into his room, with a flabbergasted Kabuto trailing after her.

"I found her-, well, she found me some distance past the valley of the End." The blue haired teen explained.

Hinata looked at Orochimaru and frowned. "You...look different to how I remember."

"I was having some trouble in the arm department, so I got new ones." He explained. "You, however, look much the same."

"Why thank you!" She giggled, (giggled) "I had to lose my coat on the way out though; it's kinda cold in here, do you have a wardrobe I could..?"

"I'm sure I can accommodate your fashion sense." Orochimaru demurred, reevaluating very rapidly. "May I ask what happened to the escort I sent with you?"

"Oh those?" Hinata shrugged. "They're all dead or captured."

Orochimaru blinked in surprise. "All?"

"All." She confirmed. "They got in the way of my teammates. The twins and the archer didn't make it out of the village, I don't even know what happened to the other two."

"Kimimaro-"

"Fought Sasuke. I'm reasonably confident of his destruction." She replied, easily. "I was forced to stop Naruto in his Kyuubi form myself, you really ought to hire better subordinates."

Kabuto shuffled behind them, feeling his rasengan wound.

"You have an awfully high opinion of your old teammates." Orochimaru probed, raising an eyebrow.

"Bright rays of competence and power, much different from the cesspool of a village surrounding them." She described, and there was the venom he'd expected. "I will not have them insulted."

"But of course, I understand." He smiled, standing. "I would be quite put out by insults against my own ex-teammates, foolish as they are. So, Hyuuga Hinata. Why are you here?"

"My cousin, Hyuuga Neji, has cast off the caged bird seal and slaughtered the rest of my clan." She vocalised. "I desire the power to kill him. I would like you to help me achieve that power, and I am willing to offer my services for the duration of my training." She not so subtlety eyed the direction she came from. "From the looks of things, you could certainly use some more competent fighters..."

Orochimaru clapped his hands. "A silver tongue, just like your cousin! I hope you and I get along better than he and I did."

"What happened?"

"We tried to kill each other."

"Ah, I see."

Orochimaru put a hand to his chest. "So let's hope the same doesn't happen here, it would be a massive waste of potential. Miss Hinata, I accept your proposal."

"Thank you!" The smile was back. "You won't regret this! I hope we can all be friends."

"I hope so too." I'm so getting that body. "Now, as a bit of an introductory tidbit, I have something you might want to know about your cousin. I'm sure it will be some relief that when Neji killed your clan, he did not manage to do so with nothing but an abundance of skill and genius."

"Oh?"

"Oh yes."

He sat back down, looked at her, and smiled. "Let me tell you a story about a little something that roughly translates from old sage scripts as the perfect white eye. The Gokei Byakugan."


The fifth hokage, Senju Tsunade, sat at her desk in the Hokage tower. The endless stack of paperwork in front of her was temporarily forgotten, as she leaned back in her chair with a glass of sake in her hand. Her guard had been dismissed; as far as anyone could tell she was alone in the room. "You've got a lot of nerve." She said, softly.

"Sorry." Said the voice.

"Are you?"

"...No."

"Yeah, figures." Tsunade took a sip. "There were a few of these missions during the war. They're the stupid kind that go horribly wrong and get people killed. You should have at the very least come to me first."

"Would you have cleared it?"

"...No."

"Yeah, figures."

"Oh sure, feel free to sass me now you're miles away." The Hokage sighed. "Hinata, why did I get a feeling this would happen."

After a moment, the Hyuuga girl (or her clone, to be more precise) dropped out of the shadows and walked in front of the desk.

"Well, I understand I don't exactly give off vibes of stability."

"Or sanity."

"Hn." She met Tsunade's eyes. "I'm doing this whether you like it or not. All you can decide is what the hidden Leaf gains from it."

"Brat." The Hokage shook her head. "This isn't the sort of decision I can justify to the council, because it's completely insane. Fortunately, I don't have to; black ops like this happen all the time. How do you plan to communicate?"

Hinata pointed to herself. "I can receive memories from the original, and send them, through strategic popping. This clone string will last a few weeks, probably, and I'll try and send off more in the future. And since you have me for a while, you can instruct me about the usual dead drops et al the other infiltrators use."

"You are aware that if you're caught, you'll have no backup, no extraction."

"I am."

"Have you told your teammates about this?"

Hinata opened her mouth. Closed it.

"I see."

"Naruto knows I plan to come back, and he'll tell Sasuke. But not about this. What do you think they'd do?"

"Fair point." Tsunade allowed. "But a word of more personal advice: Secrets can ruin teams. Along with war, murder, experimenting on children, and cursed mementos. Did you try to give your teammates a family necklace by any chance?"

"I gave Naruto my headband."

"Oh Kami..." Tsunade shook her head and chuckled. "Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but Orochimaru, you'd better be nice to this girl."

"...are you reminiscing?"

"No." Tsunade straightened. "Alright then, let's make this as official as illegal ops can be.

Chu-Oh screw it, field promotion. Jonin Hinata; you are hereby undertaking the S rank mission to infiltrate Orochimaru's cadre, and discover and report information on both his operations, and those of the Akatsuki."

Hinata kneeled.

"Of course, Lady Hokage."

She turned to leave.

"Rochi likes animals, and he feels bad when he kills them." Tsunade called over her shoulder. "Learn the names of his snakes and laugh at his bad jokes."

"Yes ma'am." Hinata chuckled, before vanishing.


Two Days Before

"That is your plan?" Forsooth looked at Hinata, aghast. "That's your genius plan tooo become more powerful without betraying your team? Defect tooo a terrorist and then come back afterwards?"

Hinata picked idly at the grass of the planetoid beneath her. "Well obviously I'm going to kill Orochimaru afterwards. This is all assuming that he does want to recruit me, which is what I suspect from the cursemark's presence. If all goes well I get more powerful, murder two dangerous missing-nin, including my cousin, and get back to Konoha within a few years."

"Or die trying!" Forsooth snapped at her. "My Lady, I cannot possibly object in stronger terms tooo this idea. Leaving yourself so completely-"

"Enough, Forsooth." Athena, stood on a lower planetoid, interrupted her subordinate. "Hinata raises some valid points."

"Raises-" Forsooth froze, turning his head between them. "You're considering this. Lady Athena, surely yooou realise this is madness!"

"Remember your place." The older owl chastised him. "We cannot command those who we make contracts with. Merely offer advice, and if necessary, withhold support."

"Then our advice should be-"

"Hinata is right about many points." Athena ignored him, turning to the human present. "You may not be able to overcome Neji from Konoha. May I remind you that you do not need to? I truly believe you could learn to be happy without hunting him."

"Perhaps." Hinata admitted. "But I want my justice. And you want your answers."

"Hm. I do." Athena turned her head. Icarus' form was visible in the far distance. "Very well. You have the owls' support in this endeavour."

"My Lady-"

"Enough, Forsooth. My word is final."

Hinata bowed, and turned to go.

"Your teammates." Athena said, stopping her. "They may not forgive you for this."

Hinata smiled. "They would be right not to. But somehow...I think they might."


Present Day

"You're leaving."

"Yeah."

"Right now."

"Yeeeeah..."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, focusing on the duffel bag over his shoulder and the archway behind him. "Well at least you're not off to go live with a sannin of questionable sanity. Oh, wait."

"Hey, have I ever given you any reason to doubt me?" Jiraiya walked up behind Naruto, putting his hand on his chest as though offended. "The audacity!"

"You got back yesterday!" Sasuke ignored the old man. "If it were anyone else I'd be questioning whether they could still walk after that beating."

"Yeah, but, it's me?" Naruto spread his arms. When Sasuke looked unimpressed, he sighed and dropped them. "Look, I know, okay? But Jiraiya says he has stuff to teach me. And I can't let Hinata pull ahead of me while she's off with Orochimaru."

"No, I get you." Sasuke sighed. "Itachi says he plans to take me on more missions with him, out as a duo for months at a time, plus there's some...Uchiha stuff we need to talk about together. It's crazy; ninja stuff with Itachi has been my dream for years, and now all I care about is how strong it's going to make me for when we all get back together."

They both heard Jiraiya chuckling from beside them, and turned to give him questioning looks. "Nothing." The sannin waved. "Nostalgia, is all. How's the trap?"

"Pretty sure that's a slur now." Naruto frowned.

"Really? Why? Is he an actual-"

"No he still identifies as a guy, it's just-" Naruto shook his head, "Whatever. I think Haku's moved in with Tsunade? Getting some Hokage tutoring, go him."

"So I'm the only one who doesn't get a sannin? Great." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You saying your brother isn't better?"

"Don't put words in my mouth."

"Alright lovebirds, have your moment, then let's get on the way." Jiraiya called, shaking his head in amusement before turning to adjust his own pack.

Naruto and Sasuke paused to look at each other, before walking forwards to wrap each other in a hug.

"Don't die." Sasuke reminded him.

"You too." Naruto replied.

"It's 'you neither.' Grammar is important."

"Sasuke, take one look at me and ask me if I went to actual school."

"Fair enough." Sasuke didn't let go.

Naruto wriggled, then snorted. "What, afraid I'll leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?"

"I'd rather kiss a bijuu."

"I can arrange that!"

Sasuke shoved him off and laughed. "Go, asshole. You better be stronger by the time you get back."

Naruto started backing up and waving. "You too, Sass-Gay!"

"That's childish! And homophobic!"

"You have not gone through any character development, don't pull that!"

"I've gone through hella character development! You're the one who-!"

It was another few minutes of insults before Jiraiya was able to pull Naruto by the scruff of his neck through Konoha's main entrance, at which point the two laughing best friends finally parted ways.

One back into the familiar, one into the unknown.

Both with light hearts, a goal in mind, and most importantly of all:

A whole lot of ass to kick.


In a dark cave, there stood ten figures with forms that flashed with starlight.

"So, to recap, Orochimaru continues to do whatever the hell he wants." Pain confirmed.

"It seems so." Neji reported. "Konoha is in absolute chaos right now, and all because he, well, sort of felt like it. Guess he just wanted to test his power?"

"That's a terrible reason for a massacre." Konan frowned. "Who would believe anyone would kill so many people for such a silly reason?"

"I know; right!" Neji said, very loudly. Everyone stopped and looked at him. He coughed. "Sorry, just, had a point proven. But yeah Tsunade's the Hokage now, the nine-tails has vanished with Jiraiya and my cousin has left to join the snake guy."

"What's with him and orphan children..." Kisame shook his head.

"So, what's the plan?" Deidara asked, impatiently. "We not gonna go after the jinchurikki?"

"I counsel patience." Neji advised. "Suna and Konoha are kicked hornets' nests at the moment, the Ichibi's well protected, the Kyuubi's gone, Killer B is still Killer B and we haven't got a clue about two through seven. We should wait and watch."

"Agreed." Agreed Sasori. "If we go off half cocked we could wind up stuck, and exposed. We need to gather reconnaissance."

Kakuzu looked at him suspiciously. "Are you saying we need a four year timeskip-"

"We need a four year timeskip."

There was a chorus of groans.

Hidan shrugged. "Aaight. Doesn't matter to me, I'm immortal."

Tobi continued to nod his head, in what could be considered agreement, but what was actually just him listening to music.

"Very well." Pain decided, after looking at all the members. "It's decided. We will wait. We will watch. And when the time comes...

The world shall know Pain."

...

"Your catchphrase is stupid."

"Fuck off Tobi your mask is stupid."

"You take that back-"


Well Holy Shit.

It has been almost a year since I started this thing, and we're at the end of part one. I'm both staggered by how long it's taken and amazed at the sheer amount of words I've been able to shit out.

Like, no really. I've never written this fast in my life.

I've received a lot of comments about how Hinata's journey is basically just Sasuke's journey with a reskin. And to be honest...yeah kinda. The whole point of this story is 'what if Hinata was put in the same situation as Sasuke was in canon' and what I think would have transpired because of it. I've tried to add lots of butterfly effect style divergences in places, lord knows I don't want this to get boring, but there's bound to be mirroring. In this case, it's Hinata joining Orochimaru instead, but with a very different mindset.

Trust me, I have a lot of new stuff planned for Shippuden (and oh yeah, we're doing shippuden) that I think will surprise you.

Before that, though, you've got three chapters worth of interim to sit through.

Yeah, sorry. It's a bit of a training montage-slash-setting up the rest of the fic-slash-character building thing I needed to get said.

And I've got exams starting monday that'll last over a month, so I can't exactly get much new content out. We're still working through my gradually dwindling backlog, but chill, you've got like 14 more weeks of chapters guaranteed. Plus after exams is summer, so I'll have plenty of time to get the words down. Odds are I'll be done writing by christmas, though it might take longer than that to release it. I've got a schedule going, not gonna break that now.

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed so far. And if you're up for more action, headcannon, edge, alterations, memes and other wacky silliness?

Then stay tuned, dear readers. Stay tuned.