I don't own Naruto, but it means a lot to me.
Uzumaki Hinata's checkups are short, but always pleasant. The fifty-year-old woman is every bit as beautiful as she was when they were children, and Sakura has to swallow a pang of envy for the girl's genetics. The Hyuuga clan's insistence on the purity and strength of its doujutsu were absolute, but aggressive monitoring of genetics in a family did have side benefits.
Age seems to hold no dominion over the Uzumaki matriarch. The former Hyuuga heiress' hair is long, again, the short hair of their thirties seemingly growing back into flowing, dark rivers over her shoulders. The grey streaking through her locks does nothing to diminish its beauty. If anything, the grey makes her appear more regal than she already does.
It's only when Hinata steps through the clinic doors, seamlessly sliding past the clerk and patients reacting to her celebrity presence with a grace and warmth fitting the "Queen of the Leaf" that Sakura remembers Hinata's beauty has never been her appearance, though it would deservedly be fitting.
Uzumaki Hinata's beauty comes in the warm smile she gives the four-year girl old who rushes forward, breaking free of her mother's arm and tugging at her haori. Without a word, Hinata brings a slender, beautiful hand down, running it effortlessly through the child's hair. She doesn't say anything, but she doesn't need to. The little girl has never seen a real-life princess before, and now she had. Squealing in delight, the child rushes back to her mother, who struggles to form an apology at the intrusion. Hinata dismisses the notion with another warm smile, and Sakura has to suppress a groan.
Screw envy for the woman's looks. Sakura would fight an army (again) just to be able to calm down patients with the wave of her hand.
An hour later, the duo is in Sakura's office, waiting the results from the lab technicians.
"How is Sarada?" Hinata asks, because she's kind and sweet and perfect and genuinely concerned with all her precious people, even their children. Sakura smiles.
"A jounin, this year." She replies, making no effort to hide the pride that wells inside her voice. Her daughter is an exceptional shinobi, well on her way to becoming the next Hokage. It was no secret who Konohamaru wanted to be his successor, though the notion of an Uchiha Hokage remained just out of grasp for the council. Just a few more years of service, however, and even the most stubborn of minds could change.
"And how are Boruto? And Hirawami?"
Hinata gives a laugh, and it's soft and so warm Sakura can feel it on her skin.
"Trouble, as always." she replies, "But what else is new?"
Sakura smiles in reply and is sad that her own smile can't replicate the warmth of her company.
"And Naruto? Is he keeping sane with his newfound free time?"
Hinata's fingers trace the backside of her hand as her smile shifts into a knowing smirk.
"He is handling retirement exactly how we all knew Naruto-kun would." She says, and Sakura snorts in reply.
"I feel like that is a gross understatement." Her answer earns a giggle from the Ex-Hokage's wife.
They go back and forth like this for the perfect amount of time – not to long as to drag on, not to short as to be rude. They still have an objective with this meeting, and Hinata is perfectly patient as Sakura begins her rounds. They cover lists and charts, surveys, and examinations. It's almost an hour later, and the Hyuuga heiress now sits patiently in her chair as Sakura pours over the printouts.
With a scowl, Sakura throws the papers into the garbage, summoning her assistant and demanding another round of tests. And then again. And again.
Every time, Sakura runs the standard tests, and every time she receives the same results.
Hinata sees the frustration and anger darting across the med-nins face, and merely gives a warm smile.
"Sakura-san." She replies as she calmly re-adjusts her robes. "It's okay."
Because that's what she always says. That it's okay. It's fine. But Haruno Sakura has been the greatest medical ninja in history since even before the passing of her master. Sakura knows better.
Everything is not fine. Everything is so far from fine; it fills Sakura with an anxiety she hasn't felt since she last saw combat.
Everything is wrong. There just isn't a damn thing they could do about it.
The physical isn't the problem. Cartilage is worn to its limits and bones look like they're held together by pure chakra alone, but Uzumaki Hinata is, among many things, a shinobi. She's been a defender of the leaf village for over thirty years. The human body isn't made for war, and that reality leaves its mark. It's a testament to her grace as a fighter that the results aren't worse.
The blood test isn't the issue, either. One too many blood pills a lifetime ago, sure, back when the sky was dark and burning and it was take "this infusion or bleed out somewhere in the fields of Kusa". In the days when blood ran like sweat, sowing the fields of strife with the promise that if you could just survive one more punch, one more stab, everything would be alright. But that time was gone and had been for decades. The telltale signs of overstimulation serve as little more than whispers of the nightmares of the past.
The reason Hinata's file is so thick isn't because of any of those. Her bones are fine, her mind, too. It's not her checkup notes or patient history forms that make the manila folder in Sakura's hand heavy with a weight that feels so much denser than paper.
"It's your chakra system, Hinata." Sakura says, because that's what she always says. And Hinata walks towards Sakura's window, gazing out on the sunny day below and relishing in the warmth coming through the glass. Sakura imagines the city feels that goes both ways.
"And, like we say every time, you've done everything you can." The glassy eyed woman turns, facing her doctor with a smaller smile than before, but one so much warmer.
"As I said, it's okay."
But it's not okay, and Sakura can feel the physician in her roar in protest. She must steel herself, stymie the urge and keep the hippocratic fire in her in check. The problem stalks Sakura like a thunderstorm. She can see it, sense it, like the hairs on her arm standing on end. It's right there, so close to her grasp and they both can see it coming. But the thunderstorm only rumbles, lurching forward because there is no jutsu, no cure, that can stop the rain from falling.
Hinata's chakra is poisoned. Poisoned and dying, and it's going to take her with it.
Chakra systems are only designed to hold chakra inside a body's coils, a dynamic the Hyuuga clan is immensely familiar with. When that chakra starts leaking, the pure energy degrades the body like a cancer. For normal people, this isn't a problem. Chakra so rarely can escape the chakra system, even major ruptures are highly localized at best. It helps that even the most seasoned shinobi don't really have the chakra capacity to cause serious health problems. A normal person would just suffer from some chakra exhaustion for a while, and then chip right back to normal.
Hinata is normal. But she married Uzumaki Naruto. That makes Hinata not normal.
That's where the problems start.
Uzumaki Naruto's chakra system is like a bomb. It's large and roaring and lashing out like a flare into the world. It was bad before the war, but, and this is a shocker, absorbing the chakra of all nine of the tailed beasts had resulted in... unforeseen consequences. Naruto's chakra had gone from a bomb to a supernova, from a vessel of man's hatred to a full-blown heavenly phenomenon.
The change, however, had left scars. For one, it had left Naruto with a hole in his chakra system. Savior of the shinobi world or not, even Naruto's body could only hold so much chakra. For a while, this hadn't been an issue. The release of the Sage of Six Path's energies had finally eased the strain on the blond's agonizing system, and everything looked like it was returning to normal. Like a pool that had been suddenly emptied by a tornado, the strain on the blond's system was blissfully minimal and it seemed like everything was going to be fine.
As if anything with Naruto Uzumaki had ever been so easy.
No one could have ever expected - and Sakura will never forgive herself for missing it - but believing that there wouldn't be side effects to Naruto's temporary apotheosis was a mistake. It would have been better for Naruto's system to have just shattered under the strain. It might have ended his shinobi career, but he'd just saved the world, so it was even, yeah? But the yellow haired ninja's internal organs were stubborn, exactly like their owner. Naruto's system had simply stretched to accommodate the new influx of demonic energy rather than burst at the seams. Stretched like a ballon sucking in a waterfall. When the flood of power receded, there was no problem. His reserves were like dried up lakebed tasked with holding a puddle's worth of chakra.
That was, of course, until Naruto's body started making more chakra. And then more. And then some more. Suddenly, the lake of chakra that had run dry was back up to where it had been before, but now it was all Naruto. While his body was unharmed by the fact, a mixture of his own freakish genetics and his sage training, the overflow of chakra began to surge out of the hole like a constantly leaking faucet. More like a fire hose. To make matters worse, years of being the container of the most powerful of the bijuu had turned Naruto's natural chakra systems into a poison to normal shinobi. The human body could only handle so much demonic energy, and the blond oozed the stuff like radiation.
The savior of the shinobi world had become a walking, breathing chakra reactor. Poisonous to the mere mortals who would consort with him. Standing next to Naruto was like holding a paper windmill out in a hurricane. His essence poured out, and anyone in the radiation would be warped by it. Prolonged chakra exposure was exceedingly rare. There had been fewer than a dozen documented cases, and but it was fatal. Always.
And through it all, Hinata had stood by him. From the war to his appointment, and now through his retirement. She had stood by Naruto like the unwavering, beautiful rock that she was. But standing that close to the whirlpool took its toll, and now the price must be paid.
"It's growing, Hinata." Sakura says, hating the defeat in her own voice. Hinata's face remains unchanged, her peace undisturbed.
"How much time?" She asks, and Sakura hates with all her heart that such a beautiful creature even has such a notion.
"No." Sakura blurts. "God, no. Not time to live. You're still healthy, it hasn't spread outside your chakra system, meaningfully."
She doesn't say 'yet'. She doesn't have the strength.
Hinata exhales, and Sakura can see the relief flush across the woman's body. Slowly, the medic pushes one particular chart forward on her desk, turning the paper for Hinata to read.
"But the damage to your system is..." Sakura swallows, "extensive. Too extensive to repair..."
"You're going to need to stop using your chakra."
Hinata inhales. Sakura feels it like a wind of knives cutting through her. With an exhale, the former Hyuuga gave a nod.
"We knew it was coming."
Sakura wants to say something, but she doesn't have a damn thing to say. Just a heavy sigh and burning wish that the whole day had never even started.
"Sakura."
The medic looks up, pearl eyes meeting verdant green, and her gut wrenches as she finds a smile stretching across Hinata's face.
"Thank you."
Sakura feels a rush of emotions, but the express themselves in a mirthless bark.
"I swear," she curses, a melancholy smile matching Hinata's own. "What even are you? I tell you no chakra, you say 'thank you'."
Hinata's smile widens, and the woman offers a light shrug.
"This isn't something that I can fight. I've had a long time to prepare myself for this, and that is thanks to your guidance."
"Were that idiot here," Sakura mutters, shaking her head, "I'd be talking him down from declaring war on the concept of illnesses."
Hinata smiles, but Sakura notices the corners of her mouth drop.
"Naruto-kun," she answers, her voice wrapping around his name like velvet.
"He cannot know."
This, Sakura wasn't expecting. Rising in her chair, the medic leans forward, tilting her head.
"I'm sorry?"
"I must ask you," the Uzumaki matriarch reiterates, "To not tell Naruto-kun about my condition."
"Hinata," Sakura's stomach churns, "Our disclosures are protected privilege, you know that. But are you really sure that you want to try and keep this escalation from him? What about Boruto and Himiwami and -"
"I have no intention of lying to my family." Hinata interjects, her voice is steel. Resolute. Sakura is reminded of the same look she'd seen in Naruto's eyes.
"However," The shake in her voice cracks the facade. "If Naruto-kun were to ever think that my condition could have been prevented, that it was somehow his fault...I don't...I couldn't..."
Hinata trails off, but she doesn't need to finish. Sakura doesn't know what expression to adopt to convey how much the implication twists inside her gut. She could feel every ounce of turmoil coursing through the Uzumaki matriarch, and it made her want to vomit. But she needs to stay strong.
"I've been keeping secrets from that idiot since we were ten." Sakura answers, steeling her own voice with the same determination. "I won't do anything you don't want me to."
Sakura can't tell which is worse - the fact that this situation had to happen at all, or the relief that rushes through Hinata's features at her response. Without a word, the former Hyuuga rises, her dress flowing in her movement. She gives a small, dutiful bow, before turning, noiselessly gliding to the office door.
There are no more words, but the final smile she gives as she silently slips out the office door is both the smallest and most perfect one Sakura has seen all visit. Without a word, the Uzumaki matriarch turns, and disappears into the lobby. After the door closes, Sakura's head falls into her hands. She doesn't scream, but her fingers bore into her scalp with a shaking fury.
It lasts only a second, and she reaches for Hinata's test results with frenzied purpose.
This chapter was actually the catalyst for this whole project. I just wrote it all down in one sitting and then sat on it for months trying to figure out a story that could go around this moment. I hope you like it - it's my favorite.
- Free Drinks
