A crumbling statue of stone stood in a massive room. Its face was cratered much like the moon, but the horns on the head and mysterious mark on the forehead were still visible.
What was this place? A temple? Was the statue a god?
A stone tablet stood in an inner room beyond the statue, dimly lit in orange light.
"What does it say?" Naruto asked.
"It's very old writing," Shikamaru murmured. "Ancient oath...crossing humanity's path just as all else...the fist of the reborn moon...the Tenseigan will destroy mankind..."
"What does that even mean?" asked Sakura.
"The Tenseigan is causing the moon to move…?" Shikamaru guessed.
"So Kakashi-sensei was right about Hanabi's kidnapping and the moon being connected."
"His hunches are always right, and unfortunately so this time," said Shikamaru dryly.
"Byakugan Princess."
The ground rumbled.
"What's going on?" Shikamaru yelled.
A hidden staircase opened underneath the floor.
"A crypt…?" Shikamaru said. "What is that?"
A deformed white figure rotted at his side.
"Someone's here!" said Hinata.
A bearded, ghostly-looking old man was approaching.
"It's the Byakugan...I can sense it...yes, I'm sure of it...it's the Byakugan Princess..."
He walked towards Hinata. Naruto jumped in front of her.
"Stay away from Hinata!"
The man opened his eyes. His sockets were as black as the night sky.
He collapsed, but not before expelling a ball of purple light from his mouth.
A stream of disorientating images flooded Hinata's mind.
A battleground appeared before her eyes. Two armies faced off, waving different banners – one emblazoned with a stylized sun and the other with a stylized moon.
As the sun banner wielding army charged, the enemy commander yelled, "Tenseigan, charge!"
A glowing orb emitted a beam of light, wreathing the battlefield in explosions.
As the smoke cleared, she beheld a scene of carnage. Dead soldiers' corpses littered the ground.
The army carrying the moon flag was victorious.
The scenes of war faded, only to be replaced with scores of incorporeal soldiers.
One of the men – the same wrinkled old man who had approached her team – strode forwards. His deep, sonorous voice rang in her ears like a gong.
"We are Hamura's descedants. We were of the Main Family of the Otsutsuki clan and we were all killed by the Branch Family after they misunderstood Hamura's decree. The head of the Branch Family, Toneri, is trying to make the moon crash into Earth with the power of the Tenseigan. Byakugan Princess, only you can destroy the Tenseigan. You're Earth's last hope."
All of a sudden, the Main Family members knelt respectfully. The old man made way for another and also knelt.
A man whose face was identical to that of the ruined stone statue. Horns on his head and a mark on his forehead.
"Are...you Otsutsuki Hamura?" Hinata asked.
He slowly inclined his head. "Listen, Byakugan Princess. Don't allow the world that my elder brother created come to an end."
The vision abruptly dispersed.
She felt as though she'd been spinning in circles and then thrown out of a window.
Back in the present, the remains of the old man left her some parting words.
"The Tenseigan has been revived. It must be stopped...or Otsutsuki will..."
"Are you okay, Hinata?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah," she lied. She was sure that she was going to puke, but she swallowed back her nausea and shakily rose to her feet.
Naruto was staring at her with eyes as wide as gold coins.
"Naruto-kun, don't look at me like that," she said. "I'm fine. Really."
Everyone was staring at her skeptically. She gave them an unconvincing smile.
"We have to cover a lot of ground before the timer on your hand hits zero, Shikamaru-kun."
Their team leader jolted back into action. "Oh...yeah. Well, Hinata says she's fine, so let's get going."
Naruto matched her pace while the others went ahead.
"Hinata...when that man called you Byakugan Princess, what do you think he meant?" he whispered.
Her mind was still reeling from the bizarre vision.
"Hinata? Earth to Hinata?" Naruto placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you really okay? Do you want to rest for a bit?"
"I told you, I'm fine, Naruto-kun," she reassured. "Don't worry about me; just focus on the mission."
"But protecting you is part of my mission too," he argued. "That's why we're paired together. I said I would never let you out of my sight, remember?"
"Well, I am fine. If something's wrong, I'll tell you."
"Promise?" he said, holding out his fist like in that genjutsu dream.
She rapped her knuckles against his.
"Promise."
Sakura suggested that they just camp out in one of the abandoned buildings overnight, to which everyone gratefully agreed. All were exhausted, and it was a far better option than searching for a remote spot of forest.
Hinata settled into a corner of a room, stitching up the scarf. Almost done. She was almost done. Just a few more rows.
"Hinata? What did you want to say earlier?"
Her lips drew into a thin line. Her fingers paused. She wanted to stop thinking about that, and Naruto brought it up when she least expected it.
"About what Toneri's puppet said?"
She went back to business. "Oh...that? It's nothing."
"Huh? I don't get it. What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"I'm sorry, but...please leave me alone."
He just kept staring and staring in that incredibly odd expression of concern.
"Okay, then." He slowly left the room.
Her eyes burned as her thoughts went back to Naruto's trusting smile as she returned his fist bump. She was already breaking her promise.
The tantalizing feeling of happiness that she had taken to feeling around Naruto for the past few days had evaporated into thin air. Otsutsuki Hamura's words hung over her head like a sword. A world-saving mission that only she could carry out.
She had no idea how to describe her mission to her teammates, or what she and her teammates would do even if she could describe it to them. Did she have to do it all alone?
A sense of claustrophobia boxed her mind.
She and Naruto walked through ruined villages in tense silence. Naruto was making good on his word to never let her out of his sight.
He watched her even as she stared off into the horizon of the sunset sky.
Glowing butterflies illuminated the night sky as Hinata sat next to a deep pond. The scarf was completely mended.
The usual mental rhythm in her head as she would knit had been replaced with endless repetitions of "That depends on your answer, Byakugan Princess" and "Listen, Byakugan Princess. Don't allow the world that my elder brother created come to an end."
Tenseigan, Byakugan, Otsutsuki.
What exactly was the Tenseigan? Was it a rare doujutsu like the Rinnegan? How destructive was it? How was she supposed to stop it and rescue Hanabi?
Why did Otsutsuki Hamura think she was suitable for this task? Didn't he know that she was the former disgrace of the Hyuuga clan? She was surpassed in the Gentle Fist art by Neji nii-san and Hanabi, even at the age of five.
She couldn't save Neji nii-san and she couldn't save Hanabi.
She couldn't even keep a scarf intact. Or tell Naruto her feelings.
"...Hinata?"
Only when she thought about him did he have to appear.
She couldn't bring herself to meet Naruto's eyes. She knew what he was thinking.
"I'm a terrible big sister, aren't I? My little sister is in danger and here I am knitting."
"That's not true!" Naruto said vehemently. "You came all the way here just to rescue Hanabi!"
Guilt gnawed at her stomach. "I should have stayed home that night."
"Don't worry! I promise that I'll rescue Hanabi for sure!"
That was so like Naruto, taking it upon himself to fix the mistakes of others.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You're very kind."
Just as Sai would say, it was one of the things she loved about him…
"I'm not being kind just because I love you...I'm worried about Hanabi too," he said awkwardly while scratching his head.
What?
Seriously, what?
She shot to her feet. "What did you say?" she asked.
"Huh?"
Did she just hallucinate or something? Did her mind suffer a break from reality?
"What did you just say?"
"Um...I'm worried about Hanabi," he said.
"Before that," she whispered.
"Before that…?" he repeated.
There was a long silence.
"Hinata," Naruto said earnestly. "I love you."
A/N: Thanks for the reviews, VeAryaMuse, Iwik, Ninaaah, Lila08, Jove21, and Guest. :)
I hope this chapter was good. It took quite a while to write...
I hope to finish off the Last movie in one or two chapters, three at most. Then we'll move on to the wedding, etc.
Lila08, Naruto did have a cold in the movie! Although that was obviously not the major reason he was burning up...oh, oblivious Hinata. She's so fun to write. :)
Edit: Ninja-chan, I think there's some kind of glitch which isn't showing ch. 18. I have no idea why. Other stories on the front page of the Naruto section have the same problem. I would suggest keep refreshing or check back later. Hope you see this.
Just replace the "17" in the url with "18" and you can read it, I guess.