Hinata found herself standing in a crater, her body much shorter, her eyes less keen. Plumes of gray smoke rose into the sky. Kneeling next to her was a wounded Ko.

She zoomed in on a faraway scene with her Byakugan.

Her thoughts from two years ago were somehow flooding her mind again.

Naruto-kun was fighting all by himself!

Pain's Rinnegan eyes bored into a pinned Naruto. To her horror, blood was seeping from his impaled hands again.

How did she find herself reliving this awful nightmare? It was long over!

…

Just like before, her body moved on its own.

Her fist went smashing into the ground, just as Pain was about to take Naruto away.

Pain stared at her impassively.

"Reinforcements?" he said in a monotone voice.

"I won't let you lay a single hand on Naruto-kun!" she yelled.

Naruto stared at her in horror. "Why did you come here?! Run! There's no way you – "

"I know," she broke in. Naruto fell silent. "I'm just doing this...for my own satisfaction."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto cried. "Why are you putting yourself in danger like this?"

"I'm here...because of my own will."

Naruto just continued to stare at her, aghast and a little perplexed.

He really didn't understand. She would have to explain it properly.

"I used to just cry and give up at the very beginning...I took the wrong path so many times," she said calmly. "But Naruto-kun, you always guided me to the right path. I always chased after you. I wanted to catch up with you and walk with you forever. I always wanted to be at your side. Naruto-kun, you changed me. Your smile saved me! And that's why if it's for the sake of protecting you, I'm not afraid of dying!"

She took a deep breath.

"Because, Naruto-kun...I love you. That's why."

As she charged towards Pain, blue lion shrouds cloaking her fists, she felt herself being wrenched forwards by an immense gravity.

…

Now she was even shorter and at the age when she couldn't see ten miles away.

She was back in the Chuunin Exams hall. A thirteen-year-old Neji nii-san was sneering at her again.

"It's impossible for you to change yourself..."

"YES, YOU CAN!" Naruto yelled.

…

The world pitched forwards again and Hinata found herself being hurled into a strange, bright room.

She was her proper age again, seated next to a sixteen-year-old Naruto and a bearded, bespectacled man whom she recognized as the Hachibi jinchuuriki, Killer B. Captain Yamato watched nervously as Naruto and Killer B began to bump fists.

Then, to her bewilderment, Killer B and Captain Yamato vanished and Naruto's fist somehow connected with her own.

A beautiful woman with long red hair stood before Naruto and herself. Hinata did a double take. She drank in the incredibly familiar features. The medium-length, round-tipped nose, the shape of her eyes, the turn of her lips, the smile…

The resemblance was uncanny. One could almost say they were –

"...You're the Kyuubi's true form!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger towards the woman.

She started laughing hysterically.

"What a scary laugh! You think you can trick me by taking that form, Kyuubi?" said Naruto.

She hit Naruto on the head. "You're wrong, ya know?"

"Oww," Naruto moaned, clutching his head. "...Ya know?"

The woman scratched the back of her head. The familiar action sent shock waves through Hinata. Someone with the exact same mannerisms as Naruto?

"Ha ha ha, I guess I confused you," she said heartily. "I'm a very impatient person by nature. I talk so fast that people can't keep up and I get excited and say whatever comes to mind!"

Her eyes crinkled as she smiled at Naruto. "I hope you didn't end up getting any weird ways of speaking like me."

Naruto's lip wobbled.

His mother rambled on, obliviously. "Didn't Minato tell you anything? That's a shame! I'm your – "

Naruto tackled his mother in a hug for the first time.

"I've always...wanted to meet you, ya know, kaa-chan?"

"Ya know, you really are my child."

…

The vision started blurring and flickering around the edges. She could only catch snatches of the conversation between Naruto and his mother.

"...You have your dad's hair, but you have my face. Sorry, Naruto."

"Why? It means that I'm good-looking like you, right? I wish I had your beautiful, straight red hair too!"

…

"How did you fall in love with tou-chan?"

…

"I thought he was a sissy and unreliable..."

"Until a certain incident..."

"Red string of fate..."

…

The landscape of her dream shifted until she found herself under the open sky on a beautiful summer day. Her recurring dream again?

She was sitting on a park bench. Naruto was by her side, holding her hand. She was sure that this had never happened in real life.

Naruto smiled softly at her and his hand reached up to brush a stray leaf out of her hair. She shivered at the contact.

His earlier words flooded into her mind.

"And you look amazing with long hair too! You looked cute before, but now you're really beautiful and your hair looks so silky, ya know?"

"I wish I had your beautiful, straight red hair too."

Hinata wondered what Naruto's mother would think of her if they could have met. She hoped that she would have approved.

His hand didn't leave her hair for several long, blissful seconds.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled.

Then Hanabi burst onto the scene. "Nee-sama, wake up!"

Wake up? She was already awake.

"Wake up!"

Why was she speaking in Sakura's voice?

"Hinata, wake up! It's a genjutsu! Wake up!"

Her eyes shot open.

A/N: Here are the genjutsu memories! I think we've all wondered what Hinata might have seen in Naruto's memories. There's a reason I've picked the specific memory of Naruto meeting Kushina. There's also the fact that MinaKushi parallels NaruHina in a lot of ways, if we go by Kushina being analogous to Naruto and Minato being analogous to Hinata.

Also, I know that a lot of translations have Hinata say that she's being selfish, but the exact word she uses when she defends Naruto from Pain is "hitoriyogari", I believe, which can mean "complacent, conceited, self-important, self-satisfied" according to WordHippo. I'm guessing that the last definition is what she really meant.

Thanks for the review, Iwik. Like I said in the PM: Yes, I understand exactly what you're saying. I honestly don't want to just rewrite the movie scenes...that would be boring and not too creative of me (plus, you could just watch the movie itself instead of a retelling). But at the same time, I need some flow in the story...I don't want things to sound disjointed. That's why that chapter exists: just to get them started on the mission.

I'll mostly be doing a quick recap of movie events but writing my own scenes between the two. And of course, getting to the point where Naruto and Hinata get together and the aftermath of the movie. :)

So don't worry! Chapters like those will be few in number.