Tale of the Setting Sun

Chapter 36: "Empty Heart"

On the first day of the second test of the chūnin exams...

It was the first time in a while that a messenger bird with an urgent summons to the Hokage's council had tapped on the shoulder of every veteran jōnin in the village. Heeding the call, the chamber was soon filled with clouds of smoke from multiple jōnin body flickering in.

One of the chūnin exam proctors had reported to the Hokage her shocking findings of a team of faceless corpses. The photo evidence was now presented to the jōnin. While disturbed, most of them seemed blissfully ignorant of its implications. However, a select few immediately turned pale.

"The Vanishing Facial Copy technique…"

"But that can't be…"

Predictably, it was Anko who would baldly spit out the name of the culprit. "Orochimaru. That snake is back."

"Yes," said the Hokage heavily. "I, too, believe he has returned. It cannot be coincidence that this has happened in the midst of the chūnin exams, when our village is filled with foreign ninja."

"Should we cancel the exams then?"

"No...Orochimaru knows that this technique would give him away in an instant. And yet, he left those bodies out in plain view. He is challenging us, and losing our composure is not the right choice to make here."

"But Hokage-sama… That means our suspicions are true and that Akatsuki is involved."

The Hokage's face turned grim. "If only that was the least of it. We have reason to suspect that Orochimaru is connected to not just Akatsuki but other hidden villages...perhaps even our allies."

"You think our allies would partner with Akatsuki and betray Konoha?!"

"Well, the treaties of alliance are really no more than verbal agreements…" Kakashi interjected. "It's just like the world wars of the past."

"In any case, right now we still have too little information. We must not make too many assumptions."

The Konoha councilwoman added, "We have already dispatched ANBU black ops to each nation to gather intelligence... It is imperative that we not make a single careless move. Our enemies will pounce on any such opportunity."

The Hokage looked around at his agents. "I have the utmost confidence in all of you. If it comes to it, we shall consolidate all of the Hidden Leaf's strength and fight!"

It was cold.

Snow drifted down from the sky, covering the bridge in white and melting away where it touched his bare skin.

A cold wind brushed against him. He shivered.

But he had nowhere to go. The blood on his face had long since dried up and crusted over. He was all alone.

The snow continued to drift by. Slowly. Serenely.

He wondered, if he closed his eyes, would the rest of the world disappear?

Suddenly, a dark shadow fell on him, and he looked up.

There was a tall man there—a ninja. Bandages covered most of his face, leaving just a pair of dark eyes.

The man spoke in a low, brusque voice. "Do you want to be needed by someone? Can you give everything to me?"

In a trance, he stood up. His eyes fixed on the face of the ninja before him, he felt his heart throb. He took a step and another—and then the man rested his hand on the top of his head.

His eyes filled with tears. It had been too long since he last saw the man. He felt the man pull him to his side.

But when the man spoke again, it was a hiss: "Come find me when your own strength can take you no further."

His heart dropping in his chest, he looked up—and instead of a bandaged face, he saw now the head of a snake, its maw opened with wicked fangs bearing down on him—

"Haku!" shouted a familiar voice.

Ajisai…?

Everything was blurry. His head was spinning. One moment, a snake was about to tear into him; the next, his teammate was standing over him.

But it was too painful to think—to be awake.

Haku felt everything fade away into black.

Unlike the chūnin promotion, which hinged on the evaluation of the host village conducting the chūnin exam, the jōnin promotion was by appointment of one's own Kage only. It was also a much more subdued ceremony; Naruto distinctly remembered the excessively elaborate sand structures from his own chūnin certification event.

"Do you swear your loyalty to the village of Konohagakure and to the incumbent Hokage?"

"Yes."

"Do you swear to protect the village and its people, and to take its secrets to your grave?"

"Yes."

"Then I appoint you, Uzumaki Naruto, to the rank of jōnin, under allegiance to the village of Konohagakure. Henceforth, you will respond solely to me, for as long as I hold the title of Hokage."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Eyes beaming out from below his hat, the Hokage regarded Naruto proudly. "You've done well. Minato and Kushina would have been proud of you…as would have your old teammates."

"Thank you."

"It is customary that a jōnin go on his first mission solo. That being said…" The Hokage's smile faded. "I have a pertinent update for you, Naruto. I have received information that all but confirms that the Akatsuki have started to make a move against the Hidden Leaf."

Akatsuki—the mercenary group that was hunting down jinchūriki. He'd encountered two of their members in Wave country; even with the power of the Nine-tails, he'd barely managed to kill one of them. And now, it seemed they were bearing down on Fire country.

Perhaps sensing Naruto's unspoken questions, the Hokage continued. "I have decided not to cancel the chūnin exams. However, in order to gather more information, I have sent out many operatives—and this concerns my urgent mission for you: You will escort a medic-nin to aid a wounded undercover agent in Earth country who may be in possession of vital information, and bring both of them back to our village before the start of the third exam. This is a mission of A-rank difficulty. Discretion is the rule—the Iwa-nin must never find out that we have been spying on them."

"You think the Akatsuki won't attack before the third exam?"

"It is unlikely. They will be waiting for when the foreign delegations have all arrived—that is, when we are at our most vulnerable."

Naruto paused. While his next question was impertinent for his position, he figured they had been sidestepping the issue for long enough. "Did your council have you request this mission of me?"

For a long moment, the Hokage mulled over the question on his pipe. And then he sighed. "No… they did not. Given your jinchūriki status, they would prefer to keep you close by. And I feel the same way, Naruto. You must consider me a puppet, dancing to the tune of my advisors, and by extension, the village… Perhaps over the years, that has become the case." The Hokage spread out his hands. "However, putting all that aside, Naruto, you are not just a jinchūriki. You are a jōnin now—with qualifications that make you suitable for this mission. That being the case... Will you accept it?"

The Hokage's face had been lined with wrinkles for as long as Naruto could remember.

When he was a child, the Hokage had always seemed ancient, a legendary piece of history—in a phrase, the God of Shinobi, as some called him. As Naruto had grown older, the Hokage had become a leader behind a mask: Someone with ulterior motives, someone whose true face he couldn't see.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," replied Naruto.

An unreadable emotion flickered in the Hokage's eyes. "Thank you… Naruto."

As always, the small, cynical voice in Naruto told him that this show of vulnerability was yet another tool at the Hokage's disposal to bend him to his will. But in that instant, he thought he'd caught a glimpse of the face behind the mask.

With the sudden change in plans, it was decided that Naruto would leave for the mission at sunset. Time was sensitive, and although getting to Earth country on his own wouldn't have been an issue, he would have to deal with not just the medic-nin, but possibly an injured operative—all the while avoiding detection from Iwa-nin.

Certainly, a challenging mission for a jōnin barely five minutes into his initiation. Still, what with Kakashi busy these days training his chūnin team, and Jiraiya having disappeared on his own business, Naruto thought it would make a nice change in pace from skulking around the village.

There wasn't anything Naruto needed to pack for the mission; over his years of travel with Jiraiya, he had learned to become self-sufficient and knew how to obtain food and shelter no matter where he went.

Still, just in case…

When Naruto left his apartment, his clone stared back at him just before he closed the door.

As he headed to the gates, where he'd been told the medic-nin would be waiting for him, he looked up at the stone faces of the Hokage monument that bore down on the village.

Several people had told Naruto that he greatly resembled his father, the fourth Hokage. It was part of the reason why he kept his hair cropped short. He had never known his father, and if he wanted to endure the world around him, he had to live his life in the present, not the past.

And yet, he couldn't help but think—Now what?

He had once wanted to become strong enough to protect those he cared about. But after Rai and Mayu had died, there was something he had realized, though he hadn't been able to put it into words at the time:

No matter how strong you were, when it mattered the most, all of that power couldn't save anyone. Because in the end, everyone was alone.

Naruto wasn't the only one who had lost his team. Kakashi had as well. The same could be said for Jiraiya, the Hokage—the most powerful people he knew hadn't been able to save the ones they'd wanted to protect. With all his years of experience, Kakashi had said that all they could do was to endure. That was what being a ninja meant.

However, Naruto had thought there was more to it than that. That there had to be more than that. So he had traveled the world in search of all the things that he couldn't understand.

But rather than finding answers, he had only found more questions.

Until now, each step of his way had been obvious to him. It had been easy to move forward when he could clearly see where it would take him. But now, the way ahead was dark. Though he kept stepping forward, he no longer knew where it was that he was heading.

"Hyūga Hinata?"

At the sound of the unfamiliar voice, Hinata immediately answered, "Ah...yes." She turned around—and felt her lips part in surprise.

Him, of all people…?

While Hinata had known that a jōnin would be escorting her on her mission, she certainly hadn't expected the village's pariah to be the one to approach her.

"I'm Naruto," said the young man—as though there was anyone in the village who didn't know of him. Not to mention, they'd once been in the same Academy class when they were younger. "Are you ready to leave?"

Swallowing, Hinata nodded. "Yes!"

Unceremoniously, they lined up at the exit gate, and soon, Hinata found herself trailing the jōnin along a well-trodden path. He didn't seem the talkative type; nor did she really want to hold a conversation with him. She didn't remember much of him from the short time they'd been in the same Academy class, but she'd heard the stories about him from the other chūnin. While they acknowledged his skill, they all knew he wasn't someone you got involved with.

There was also, of course, the one blemish on his otherwise spotless track record: The disaster of the Wave incident from three years past. Both of Naruto's teammates had been killed in action, and though the specific details of the mission had never been released, after Naruto disappeared from the village, the majority opinion held that it had been his fault.

And now he was mysteriously back—and Hinata was alone with him…

Naruto had been examining the map, but suddenly, he turned towards her.

"You're a chūnin, right?"

"Y-yes!" said Hinata. Starting to feel somewhat self-conscious of her repetitive replies, she added, "Only medical ninja who have received a chūnin certification are allowed to go on missions above C-rank."

"I see." With that, Naruto put away his map and began to pick up his speed.

It was apparent that he knew nothing about her. However, despite the fact that this was technically an escort mission, he obviously expected Hinata to carry her own weight.

Somehow, that brought a small smile to her lips. It made a welcome change to be thought of in that way.

In the crowds of Leaf-nin and foreign ninja alike streaming in and out of the village, nobody noticed the two Suna-nin speaking quietly to one another.

"Everything is in place," said Baki. "I will return to Wind country now to report to the Lord Fourth. Make sure to keep Gaara under control, Temari."

Temari hid her frown; her given task was far easier said than done, but it was her duty, and she would see it through. It was the least she could do while her countrymen prepared for the inevitable war that rapidly approached. "Yes, Baki. Safe travels."

While she may have been the daughter of the Kazekage, she was currently no more than a glorified babysitter for Gaara. Nonetheless, they would play a critical role in their scheme against the Hidden Leaf, and if all went well, she would become a part of her father's inner circle.

Of course, that was a big if. Even Temari, who only had a shadow of an idea of what was going to happen in the third exam, knew that the scale of their mission was nothing like they'd ever attempted before: The annihilation of a powerful hidden village, one of the major powers of their era… Once the dust had settled, what would the resulting world look like?

By the time Temari returned to their quarters, the sun had set and the moon was a crescent in the sky.

There was a dark figure standing outside the building; Temari froze, as she realized Gaara was waiting outside for her. However, a hurried glance at his face told her that—perhaps with the decreasing influence of the waning moon—he seemed to be in more control of himself. Slowly, she let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Where were you?" was his cold greeting.

"I was seeing Baki off. Did you eat dinner?"

Gaara didn't respond, instead looking sullenly away—meaning Temari would have to figure out dinner for the two of them.

For the 'two' of them… Not for the first time that week, a haze settled over her. For all her flippancies, Matsuri, their teammate, had been a good cook. Temari would miss her miso soup, in particular.

With a heavy heart, she wondered how Baki would explain Matsuri's death to her family. Would it be 'killed in action' like last time? Of course, everyone would instantaneously guess at what had truly come to pass.

These days, with so many families having lost someone to Gaara, Temari found even herself—purely by association—being subjected to the villagers' hate-filled gazes. It hurt, when she had worked so hard and sacrificed so much for the sake of their people, but she couldn't blame them.

A cloud must have covered the moon, as for a moment, everything was dark. Then the moment passed, and the glow of moonlight shone down on them.

"I think I saw a ramen spot around here," said Temari, forcing herself to smile. "How does that sound to you?"

As expected of a Hyūga, the medic-nin with pale eyes seemed to have no trouble keeping up with Naruto's steady pace through the wilderness of Fire country. What was more surprising to Naruto was that a member of the main house of the Hyūga clan would have deigned to join the medical field at all—while an extremely difficult and accomplished field, the main impression that he'd gotten from his limited interactions with their branch members was that they were far too proud to play a mere supporting role.

They had reached the border of Grass country before the day was done, and in that time, they must have exchanged only a handful of sentences between them. He could feel the waves of curiosity coming off of her, though whether out of politeness or apprehension, she didn't voice any questions.

On his end, Naruto refrained from commenting on Hinata's lineage. He'd butted heads with her clansman Neji enough as it was, ever since they'd first had the misfortune to meet in their chūnin exams.

It wasn't until they were well into Earth territory that they finally ran into some trouble. Though Naruto had spent a non-insignificant amount of time in the country while traveling with Jiraiya, they had usually journeyed undercover as civilians, and went out of their way to avoid clashing with the foreign power.

"If you ever get into a fight with someone from Earth country," Jiraiya would say, "You'd better plan on either losing the fight or killing them outright. Stubbornest people I've ever met, and I knew your mother."

"Hah? You trying to pick a fight?" said the short, weasel-looking man blocking their way across the bridge. "It's simple: You want to cross, you pay the toll."

"But it doesn't say anywhere that we have to pay a toll here," protested Hinata.

The man gave her the stink-eye. "You two don't look like you're from around here. What would you know about how we run things? Pay the passage of 300 ryō, or I'll call the police on you, and you definitely don't want that."

Naruto knew for a fact that this was a bluff; the official police force of Iwagakure didn't bother patrolling this far from the hidden village. Even if there was a local police body around this area, it was most likely a hodgepodge group of volunteers, who were at best Academy-level.

Still, as tempting as it was, he couldn't simply overpower him. While it was unlikely any passing Iwa-nin would pay attention to his blabbering, there was a much easier way to settle this matter.

Naruto quickly assessed the situation: One of his clones that he'd sent out to check their surroundings was in the vicinity, and another passing traveler was approaching the bridge—making the setup complete.

He pointed. "Aren't you going to charge that person too?"

The weasel-like man turned around, and saw to his surprise a bald man about to step across the bridge. "Wait, stop right there! But—first, you two—"

One hand forming the ram seal behind his back, Naruto's other hand opened to reveal three gold coins that he wordlessly handed over.

In a flash, the coins disappeared, and the man's menacing glare turned into a wide, beaming smile. "Have a good day!" With a quick welcoming sweep towards the bridge, he scurried away towards his next bewildered victim.

The golden coins rattled ominously in the man's breast pocket.

He's gone.

Opening her eyes, Karin dropped to the ground. Somehow, in the short period of time while she'd been training her taijutsu, Naruto had managed to leave the village and her range. A mission? But for how long would he be gone?

Suddenly, a spinning blob shot out at her. Gritting her teeth, Karin blocked the brunt of the blow with her arms, but the force still sent her reeling backwards. The blob came to a quick stop, revealing a large man with a shaved head—her teammate. Panting, Karin felt blood drip from her nose.

"Burami!" she heard Kazami admonish. "I told you to hold back a little!"

"That's what she gets for zoning out," Burami sneered. "You've been acting uppity ever since you made the finals, Karin. But don't forget that in the end, you're only good for your chakra."

Karin bristled, but as usual, her throat constricted, and she didn't say anything back. She knew she'd only regret it when they returned to Grass country.

Clink, clink.

More and more these days, it felt like her whole body was being restrained by chains. Chains that tied her to the Hidden Grass, to Zōsui…and to herself. She hadn't felt this way, back when her mother had been alive, and sometimes, she wondered whether her mother had felt so trapped in her final moments.

Karin dared not hope—and yet she couldn't help but wonder whether this chakra power of hers, the only thing that she was good for: Would Naruto find it useful as well?

Hinata looked down at her map, and then up at the narrow cave opening. She wouldn't have even noticed it, if Naruto had not pointed it out to her.

"This cave isn't on the map," she said hesitantly. "It says that if we go around the base of the mountain, we'll eventually find a hidden stairwell…"

Naruto shook his head. "That'll add another half day to the journey. I've been here before—this is the fastest way through."

"Okay...but just to confirm." Concentrating her chakra to her eyes, Hinata activated her kekkei genkai: Byakugan!

The secrets of her surroundings were unveiled to her, and she realized that he was right. The cave quickly widened out to a large man-made tunnel that traversed the mountain and emerged near their destination.

As they made their way through the dark tunnel, Hinata deactivated her eyes and instantly lost all visibility. However, the way was straightforward enough, and there were no other nearby chakra signatures. Even if there had been, she doubted she would have noticed, what with Naruto's strange chakra following her.

Her Byakugan allowed her to trace the chakra circulatory system of any individual within her range. Everyone, even civilians, had such a system. The main difference came from whether they were able to control their chakra flow, and their innate chakra reserves.

But it looked as though Naruto had two sources of chakra. In a flash, it struck Hinata—did it have something to do with the reason why everyone thought he was a monster?

Suddenly, she realized she could see the vague outline of the walls around them; the tunnel was growing lighter. They were still only halfway through, so it couldn't be sunlight...

They soon emerged into a small cavern filled with a glowing pale light. Hinata walked over to the walls and to her amazement, realized they were covered in some kind of spongy moss that emitted the light.

Hinata turned back to report her findings to Naruto, but saw that he was already looking up at the luminous ceiling with a strange expression on his face. If she had to put it in a word, it was wistful, and it was the most emotion she'd seen from him since they'd left the village.

What was he thinking about?

"I'm sorry I doubted you," she said at last.

Without looking at her, Naruto replied, "You should always confirm things with your own eyes. Even more so for someone like you."

"But sometimes, even my Byakugan doesn't tell me the entire truth," Hinata said softly.

Naruto lowered his gaze, and she saw that his face was blank again.

"Let's keep moving."

The roar of a summoned beast echoed through the forest, followed shortly by the deep rumbling of the ground splitting apart. Soon afterwards, the sound of a thousand chirping birds swelled out from the trees, accompanied by sparks of lightning.

From Kakashi's vantage point, he could get a general gist of the ongoing battle, and given the battering he'd undergone at the hands of his former student, he was rather glad he was all the way up here in the tree, instead of down on the forest floor.

Furthermore, what with training his team, he didn't feel like he was simply twiddling his thumbs, waiting for the inevitable attack on their village.

The group of missing-nin calling themselves Akatsuki, the jinchūriki, the presence of their allied villages in the chūnin exams… Even though they knew there was something tying all of these together, it seemed they could do nothing until their mysterious enemy first made a move.

The tense shroud that enveloped the Hidden Leaf these days was not unlike what had covered the village fifteen years ago, when the Nine-tails had attacked. While Kakashi had been too young to be allowed in the village's main line of defense, this time around, he was more than prepared to put his life down on the line.

He'd be damned if he lost anyone else without a fight.

They hadn't been fast enough. Or perhaps, it had been a hopeless mission from the start.

They'd found the Leaf agent they had been sent out to rescue lying on the floor of the designated safehouse in a puddle of congealed blood. His eyes were wide open, staring blankly up at the ceiling. A leg and an arm had been amputated—both in a single, powerful blow, by the looks of the cleanly sliced flesh.

The nearest window had a missing curtain, allowing a stray ray of sunlight into the otherwise darkened room; it seemed the dying ninja had used it in an attempt at a tourniquet.

Naruto watched as Hinata knelt by the body and checked for a pulse. However, it was a futile endeavor, and after a moment, she looked up at Naruto and shook her head.

"He's been dead at least half a day. It looks like he lost too much blood and went into shock."

There was something missing here. The Hokage would not have spared a medic-nin and a jōnin on a futile mission.

"The perpetrator wasn't able to finish him off. If he had time to try and patch himself up, he should've had time to leave a message..." Naruto searched the corpse—however, nothing turned up. The only thing that seemed to be there was a cold, stiffening body.

To his surprise, Hinata spoke up. "Allow me, if you will." The muscles around her pale eyes grew pronounced as she activated her Byakugan. She scanned the corpse, before coming to a sudden stop at his stomach. "There's something there...a message. He must've swallowed it. His stomach acids have already started to digest it, but let me see..." She paused. "'Akatsuki is making a...weapon...to control...the world. The Leaf's...jinchūriki...is their last target.'" Her ominous words rang in the resultant silence.

A weapon?

Naruto looked down at the corpse's still face—the ninja who had died for this one message. There was an old scar running down the side of his face; Naruto couldn't remember seeing anyone with his features at the village. But then again, he'd never paid too much attention to others outside his immediate circle of acquaintances.

Reaching over, Naruto closed the man's eyes shut.

"We have to inform the Lord Third as soon as possible," said Hinata.

Getting up, Naruto nodded—that much was obvious. The question was, would they make it back in time?

At a hard pace's traveling, they had reached their location after three days. But now, the sun was already setting on the day, and the third exam would be starting early in the morning.

Should he send a clone back? No—while shadow clones were hardier than your average clone, they were still vulnerable to too many attacks for them to serve use offensively against any opponent worth their salt.

...Then, should he leave behind the medic-nin and speed back to the Hidden Leaf on his own? Not only would he be abandoning his duty of escorting her, it would drain him to cover that much distance using his lightning chakra. But if he summoned Amakurō...

Suddenly, Naruto's head spun as a deluge of memories rushed into his mind—one of his shadow clones had been taken out.

More specifically, the one he'd transformed into a coin and left with the weasel-faced crook. He'd planned on letting it linger there as a safety measure and as a potential spying mechanism. But now, it seemed, the man he'd left it with was dead.

"Give you money?" said an unknown male voice.

It was dark in the pocket, but the clone could still hear everything happening around him. The male voice spoke politely, and yet something about it told him its owner was not someone to be trifled with.

Unfortunately, the weasel blocking the bridge must have had a rather successful day taking advantage of passing travelers, and let it get to his head. "That's right! And if you don't pay up, I'll have the police go after you!"

"Today's not your lucky day," said the voice. "If I wasn't alone, you might have lived."

"What're you talking about, you shark-faced bastard — "

Abruptly, the memory stopped there. Presumably, a single blow had taken out his clone as well. Naruto blinked again. No matter how many times it happened, it always managed to disorient him.

"Naruto," said Hinata. "Right now, I'm just dead weight. But I can take care of myself. Please—go back ahead of me, and inform the Hokage of our discovery."

Naruto stopped.

Her too, he thought.

What gave her the strength to be left behind? What had given the undercover agent the loyalty to die for this one message?

What inspired Jiraiya to write books? What pushed Kakashi to train his students?

They must have all had their own reasons—an answer to something that they valued above their own lives, an answer that drove them.

The question was, what did Naruto have driving him?

Was it the desire to be respected by the villagers? He had forsaken that dream ages ago.

To gain the strength to protect those he cared about? He had already failed.

To avenge the deaths of his teammates? There was nothing left to gain from their vengeance.

To cling to life—to survive?

...No, he realized.

He had nothing. There was nothing at all.

During the past several days they had spent together, Hinata had not shared with Naruto her life story. He couldn't possibly know that her father had disinherited her years ago for failing to hurt her younger sister, or that she had ranked rock bottom at the chūnin exams and become a laughingstock in her clan.

Naruto didn't know that for someone like her, who had been drowning in a world of senseless violence, medical ninjutsu had become her lifeline. He couldn't have known. He was a prodigy, after all. A natural in ninjutsu, and the art of assassination.

But she knew that he must have had more than his fair share of troubles. And what she had sensed in their short time together was that he was not quite the monster others had made him out to be.

"No…" said Naruto. He held out a hand towards her, and suddenly, to her shock, lightning chakra began flickering around his form. "I won't leave you behind."

A/N: I lied, the third exam actually starts next chapter.

I always liked Hinata's character, and thought it'd be interesting to see where she's ended up in the absence of canon Naruto. No, this is still not a Naruto x Hinata ship fic. Let me know what you think of these developments!

And as always, a big thanks to my beta blueandgold.

(PS: KH3 is out so don't expect another chapter for a while...)