THE FOUNDRY – FAMILY TENSION
South Fayoth
A breakthrough!
Himawari has been trying for a long time now to increase her strength so that she may make a difference in the battles to come. It has not been easy for her to reach this point; fighting has never been her ambition despite her latent talent for it. She always wanted a different life, to become something other than a shinobi, but the empire has forced her to take up arms. She is forced to fight this war, taking the side championed by both her mother and her father.
This breakthrough is historic though, not just for her but for all of Homeworld. In her inner world there is a tablet engraved with the word 'lightning', aligning itself next to two other similar tablets. They are marked with words of their own, one 'fire' and the other 'wind'. This is the truest representation of Himawari's talent, talent she never wanted to use. With this breakthrough she becomes the first warrior in recorded history to master three elements simultaneously.
Himawari opens her eyes to see her mother smiling at her, the pride as obvious in the princess eyes as it was in the Hyuuga clanswomen who shares her body. Himawari, despite being born in another world, is a princess in this one, the grandchild of the former emperor. It is fitting that this family, once the most powerful in Homeworld, is the one that achieved this seemingly impossible task first. Three elements for one person.
"Which element?" Hinata asks with a smile.
Himawari holds her hand out and creates an arc of electricity between her index finger and thumb. A tremendous power in spite of its small size. Himawari's power has been boosted several times over by this latest breakthrough, power that she has yet to acclimatise to.
"Three elements at once, I've never heard about that happening before," Hinata says proudly, "It's a great accomplishment Himawari, worthy of someone in your position. Since your elements are 'fire', 'wind' and 'lightning', from this day forward you will be known as the Blaze Princess of Homeworld."
Himawari nods and smiles but inside she is still uncertain how she feels about this title that has been given to her. Not just the Blaze Princess of Homeworld, but the fact that she is of imperial descent at all. Before she felt a great pressure as the daughter of Uzumaki Naruto now that pressure has been more than doubled. She knows that one day she will walk into military camps and people will bow to her, affording her respect that she feels she has yet to earn. It is a price she is willing to pay for her mother, but it is a position for which she will have to pay heavily in the future.
"Shall we see what you can do?" Hinata asks.
Himawari agrees. The two stand a good distance apart and Hinata urges her daughter to attack her with her full strength. While a triple-element wielder has never been seen before, it is highly unlikely that Himawari's powers would have increased so greatly as to have eclipsed Hinata's.
Himawari stands and takes a deep breath. One by one she brings her trio of elements into her hand. She gathers flames, gusts, and bolts in miniature form, circling them around one another and allowing them to share divine energy with each other. Each of them grow larger and more powerful seemingly without effort, making Himawari understand for the first time how wielding multiple elements makes one so much stronger.
Waiting for a nod from her mother, the Blaze Princess of Homeworld unleashes the three elements in a solid beam. The three energies, red, silver, and blue swirl around one another in a beautiful triple helix. The energy between the three elements is shared boosting each of their power as they grow in size the closer, they get to Hinata.
When the divine energy beam reaches Hinata, she awaits with the Sacred Sword in hand. She swings it down in a perfect vertical motion, the tip of her sword colliding with the centre of the triple helix. Her accuracy the beneficiary of her shinobi-powered vision it is greater than ever before, and she is able to split the beam into it's three constituent energies. The split beam travels past her to the left, to the right, and over her head. She avoids any harm with the single downward strike from the Sacred Sword.
Still, Hinata smiles, Himawari is much stronger than last time she tested her abilities. She judges that Himawari is now a class 6 warrior. She watches as her daughter tests out how fast she can move and is surprised to see that she has adopted a new movement style. This must be the benefits from training with her paternal grandfather, the man known as the 4th Hokage.
Since they have come to Fayoth, Himawari has spent most of her time training with Minato. Together they worked out a new style for her movements, one inspired from the greatest speed experts they have known. From Princess Emilie of the Beast Clan, from the 4th Raikage, and of course from the 4th Hokage himself. Himawari seems to have mastered these movements, pushing her level as a shinobi beyond what was considered possible before and towards the peak of their powers.
"Very impressive," Hinata says when Himawari eventually stops.
"Inspired by the 4th Raikage I believe?"
Himawari looks around to see that her father has arrived back from his latest expedition. She grins, pleased that he was able to see her showing off. He is right indeed, that was the partially inspired by A. Boruto used to believe that their father didn't concern himself enough with them, but she knows that he was wrong. Naruto concerns himself with everyone, especially his children, more than anybody else she has ever known.
"Indeed it was, I'm glad you noticed."
The newly named Blaze Princess notices that her mother's smile has gone. It went away the moment Naruto arrived and has been replaced by awkwardness. She is sure this is different to the awkwardness Hinata used to feel around Naruto, this is more of a tension. She is not the woman he knew, at least not completely, she is only a part of that person, an incompleter template from which Hyuuga Hinata was made. She feels a pressure to be a symbol for her followers, a need to maintain a regal aura, but he has gotten closer to her than she has ever allowed anyone to get before.
"I think I should leave the two of you alone to talk," Himawari says before moving towards her grandparents, excited to share the achievement with them.
Naruto and Hinata look at one another, initially without anything to say. The silence fills the air between them spreading an awkwardness into both their hearts. Naruto still can't get used to this Hinata who is in many ways so different to the woman he married. This Hinata is so much more confident, thinking her way through and controlling every situation. Hinata can't get used to Naruto either. She spent her entire life preparing for the time when others would look to her for guidance, when they would look at her as an empress. She finds herself with Naruto, who looks no differently at an empress or a peasant, the only person those around her revere more than herself.
"My scouting mission was successful," Naruto tells her, ending the silence, "I encountered some veterans from the last war. They have been wanting to fight in this battle for a long time."
"I see."
"No doubt it was the return of their princess that made them confident enough to do it."
"I'm sure," Hinata says.
She is far from certain though. Naruto was the one who started this rebellion, not her. He was the man who convinced the War Council to take action, something she doubts that she could have done. After all her time imagining the future and what great destiny she might have, she never imagined that she would be eclipsed by someone else. It bothers her that Naruto's light shines so brightly, and it bothers her even more because he is her husband from another life.
"I also made contact with some veterans. They didn't believe that I was the rightful empress at first. Who can blame them? I've been gone such a long time and very few people knew what I looked like to begin with. Convincing people to believe in me, to follow me into battle and into war, it is a lot harder than I thought it would be at the end."
"But they do follow you, don't they?"
"Yes they do."
Naruto sighs. "What is bothering you?"
Hinata paces back and forward for a moment. Naruto is either the best person to confide in about this or the worst person.
"It's you, you bother me. My family liberated Homeworld from the threat of the Dark Dimension. My father, my mother, my uncle, they were three of the greatest heroes from that war. I always imagined that I could inspire people like they did, and some are willing to follow me, but it's not like you. Everything you do draws people towards you, the way you behave, it's magnetic. What you achieve with ease was always expected of me, but I just can't keep up with you, no matter what I try. That frustrates me."
"You expect too much from yourself. An emperor can be born to normal parents. A farmer can be born to great warriors. You are not your parents, and yet people follow you anyway. Stop measuring your abilities against theirs, look at yourself and see what the rest of us see. Something amazing."
"The very fact that I needed to hear those words from you is another failure on my part. Do you have any idea how that feels?"
"Of course I do. Do you think because I'm a pocket-worlder the weight on my shoulders is any less? I'm the 7th Hokage, many have claimed that I was the greatest Hokage of all. Everyone from my world is depending on me. Then when I came to this world people started dying on my behalf, Carmen, Juan, more people than I want to think about. I am the one they chose to fight Furst, the one chosen by your uncle and by Yuuki Terukatsu. Don't tell me I know nothing about pressure."
"I'm sorry, I never thought about it like that."
"Then let me say more. There is a difference between the way people think about us. I came into this world and ever since everyone who has met me has told me what they think. They've each said they're depending on me to defeat Furst, that it is this world's only chance for freedom. However, you are the only one who expects anything of yourself. Most people don't even know you have returned. Everything you do is a bonus to the people of this world, it's impossible for you to fail."
"If you say it like that anyone who appears unexpectedly should be free from expectations."
"I've been told what was expected of my since I appeared, you were told what was expected of you before. Either way, all we can do is give it our all, do our best against every challenge that comes our way. If I can't handle it, I know you will be there to help me, and I hope that you can come to me if you need the same help."
"I am sure that we are both capable of defeating Furst. With two of us running around he doesn't stand a chance."
Hinata, having said her last word on the subject, leaves.
Naruto doesn't believe she is right though. He accomplished some impressive feats while he believed Hinata was dead, but he wasn't the same man. There was a large part of his soul that was missing, the most important person in his life. With her here he is more confident in himself than ever before. He doesn't know if Hinata's confidence is justified, if she will one day be able to defeat the emperor, but he knows he couldn't do it without her. He vows to himself that he will not lose her again. He will do whatever he needs to do to keep her alive so that one day her empire will be free once again.
Nearby Hinata bumps into one of former self's closest friends.
"He is difficult, isn't he?" Sakura says.
"I hate the things he says," Hinata admits.
"Is that so? Hyuuga Hinata of the Hidden Leaf used to love the things Naruto said. Nobody bought into his way of thinking more than her. She adopted his ninja way as her own and she followed him into the most hopeless situations believing everything would be fine. She truly believed that Uzumaki Naruto was right."
"That's why I hate it. He's so right. It reminds me of everything that I should be, but I fail to be."
"You don't need to worry about being imperfect yourself, about your words not being so good as his, because he will come through in the end. His words will find their way into your heart, and you will trust him so wholeheartedly that the worlds will become your own. If those words make you feel inadequate then listen to them as closely as you can, learn from them, make them your own. Eventually you will inspire people just as much as he can."
Hinata looks at Sakura and smiles. This is one of the most comforting things anyone has said to her since she returned to Homeworld.
"You knew the other Hinata?" she asks.
"Yes, in our world, the pocket-world you call it; back there you and I were close friends. You were a shy girl but behind that mask of quietness you hid a strong heart. Maybe both Hinatas share that. Hinata did not let fear stop her, she was a shinobi who never gave up."
"Did the other me have to endure pressure like this?"
"A lot of expectations were put on Hyuuga Hinata, but nothing like what you must be feeling. I'm sure if the two of you are alike that you must be silently struggling."
"Does he struggle silently?"
"Naruto, yes and no. He talks about his problems; he makes a lot of noise and tells people when he thinks they're wrong. He never seems to have any self-doubt, but I have a theory about that. I think that he struggles silently, just like you, but there is one difference. I think he is better at hiding it. I think that you are the only person he ever truly confides in."
Hinata thinks back to Naruto's words. It seems like Sakura is right.
"He spoke the truth to me before, as you say. Ironically, he was right, more is expected of him than anyone, more even than is expected of me. I imagined that someone like him might come from the pocket-worlds. I didn't expect a warrior of his calibre or even one of yours frankly. I expected a leader of the pocket-worlds would emerge, someone charismatic who could unite many people, many people who together may even stop the military. That's a big part of why I don't believe you should be involved in the war."
"What do you mean?"
"That pressure that he feels, it was meant for me and those around me. It was a burden designed for the people who failed to protect Homeworld, those of us who did something wrong before. People like him were never meant to feel like he does, they were never meant to carry such weight. That weight may end up being too much for him, as it has been for so many in the past. He deserves better than that, you all do. The pocket-worlds did nothing wrong. That's why you shouldn't be part of this war."
Sakura understands but disagrees with Hinata. As far as she is concerned this is their war because the pocket-worlds were the ones who declared it. This was a war for the freedom of the Hidden Leaf before it was one for the freedom of Homeworld. The latter was just an escalation of the former, and the former was always Naruto's duty, the duty of all shinobi.
"I know that you're not the same Hinata anymore, but I hope that you and I can remain what we were. I hope that you will still consider me a friend. I hope that when the pressure gets too much for you and you don't want to look weak to the people from your world, I hope that when that happens you come to me. I will always listen to your problems."
"A friend from the pocket-worlds, I never thought I would have one of those."
"Well now you do."
Hinata smiles. "Yes, it sounds right now that you say it. I don't have many friends left in Homeworld. Countless people were massacred by Furst after my father's death. I'm glad that I still have Mana and Michel. I'm grateful to have finally made a friend from the pocket-worlds."
"I'm here for you Hinata, just like you're here for all pocket-worlders. I will be here until the end."
"Thank you, Sakura."
In Response to Guest's Questions
About various subjects
1) The average Homeworlder never gets as strong as Naruto is now. The vast majority of them never become class 1 warriors. By the standards of a class 7 warrior Naruto reached that level many times quicker than the majority.
2) I wouldn't like to say how long it took Jonas to become class 7 because I risk creating a plothole. It was quicker than most, but probably not as quickly as Naruto.
3) I couldn't say whether Akashi or Sora will appear without giving away spoilers.
4) I don't see why seals wouldn't work, but it would be very difficult
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Guest's Questions
About Sasuke's and Hashirama's potentials
Sasuke and Hashirama have a similar potential. Probably greater than Sora's but less than Naruto's.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to S's Questions
About names of divine abilities and oddities
Both divine abilities and divine oddities have names.
There are so many divine abilities that are unique it's hardly worth me stating the exact names.
Most are boring anyway.
If you have any you are particularly wondering about the name of I can tell you.
Thanks for reading.