They stared at each other in silence.
"Hinata?"
The water of the pond rippled and the glowing butterflies fled. A round hovercraft descended to the ground.
It was him.
"Toneri!" Naruto yelled. "Or are you just another puppet?"
Toneri said nothing.
"Where's Hanabi?" Naruto yelled again.
Toneri opened his eyes. They were crystal clear and shining with a strange light.
"Be quiet. I've come for Hinata's answer."
In a split second, Hinata knew what she had to do. To save Hanabi and destroy the Tenseigan, she had to...
"Answer? Hinata has nothing to do with you! Tell us where Hanabi is!"
Hinata stepped in front of Naruto and pushed the scarf into his arms.
"Hinata?"
She walked to Toneri.
"Hinata? What's going on?"
"Naruto-kun, farewell," she said.
A pang of guilt and sadness stabbed at her stomach as she remembered her promise to Naruto.
Why did he have to tell her now?
This wasn't her ninja way. She was going back on her word for the first time in her life. And she was rejecting the love of her life.
Toneri wrapped an arm around her. His embrace felt like ice and she felt her body shudder.
They were flying away. She couldn't bear to look at Naruto.
"Hinata!"
He was chasing after them. Why? She had to do this alone.
Sai's ink birds and a barrage of exploding notes flew into the night sky.
"Give Hinata back!" Naruto shouted.
"Give her back?" said Toneri. "But Hinata came here of her own will. It's been destined since ancient times. She and I shall be married."
Naruto's hand glowed with a Rasengan.
"You'll be married? Hinata, he's lying, isn't he?"
She tried to kill her feelings and strengthen her resolve like a good ninja. It was just temporary. She was just infiltrating Toneri's layer to stop him. When she succeeded and saved Hanabi, she would come back to him.
Toneri fired a green projectile at Naruto, colliding with his Rasengan.
He became engulfed in an orb of light and fell as a fiery explosion lit the sky.
Only a gaping chasm stood where Naruto was.
"What are you doing?" she snapped at Toneri.
"I don't want you to get hurt in a silly fight like this," he said.
The glowing orb in his hand vanished along with her consciousness.
The last thing she saw before sleep overtook her was the scarf burning to a crisp...and Naruto plummeting to the ground.
"Naruto-kun, all this time, I've only been staring at your back. But from now on, I...I want to be by your side. And that's why...I've put my whole heart into knitting this." She held out her wrapped present and bowed deeply. "Please accept my feelings!"
This was so much harder than when she'd told him that she loved him on that day two years ago. She wasn't exactly looking to start any relationship with him at that time. Back then, she fully expected to die. She went in to protect Naruto from Pain and she only meant to explain why to the person who changed her whole world.
Except...she didn't die. And now here she was.
Hanabi's words had kept ringing in her ears for the past so many months, always infiltrating her mind when she least expected it.
"Don't you want to be special to him, nee-sama?"
Just like that time with Pain, she had to do this, if only for her self-satisfaction.
She could squeeze in a few more rehearsals, right?
"Okay, once more," she said determinedly. "Naruto-kun..."
"Hinata?"
He...was back already? Did he hear her? She turned around slowly.
"Good...evening," she squeaked.
Naruto chuckled. "We just saw each other at Ichiraku, didn't we?"
"Oh, that's right."
The green scarf around his neck only made Hinata more determined.
"Naruto-kun, the truth is...I have something to give you."
"Yeah?"
She pushed the gift into his accepting hands and...
She woke up in a massive bedroom.
"Where am I?"
Hinata looked through the massive stained glass window. Her infiltration into Toneri's castle was successful.
Time to find Hanabi. It wasn't a difficult task once she turned on her Byakugan. She found that Hanabi was asleep in an identical room. White bandages were wrapped around her forehead.
Her eyes were removed.
Uncharacteristic rage coursed through her veins. How dare this vile monster?
Then the atmosphere distorted and the passageway to the underground world materialized around her. She knew from years of training with Kurenai-sensei that this was a genjutsu.
It seemed as though Toneri preferred communicating with people through illusions and puppets rather than face-to-face.
"Let's get married, Hinata," Toneri said.
"What? Married? Let go of Hanabi right now!"
The vision shifted back into the room inside the castle. But it looked hazy and distant.
"Your little sister is in my castle."
A second, incorporeal Toneri arrived at the scene.
"And as for her Byakugan," he said. "They're mine now."
"Monster," said Hinata coldly.
"Please forgive me," Toneri said. "I'm doing it for Hamura's celestial decree."
"Hamura?"
The familiar image of a pale, white-haired man with two horns appeared, as though Toneri was showing her a movie.
"Otsutsuki Hamura," explained Toneri. "The founder of the moon shinobi, also known as the younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths, who was the founder of the Earth shinobi.
"The Hyuuga are the descendants of Hamura. It's a thousand year old story."
She saw another man who looked remarkably like an older, bearded version of Hamura.
"The Sage of Six Paths had many misgivings. He feared that the Ten Tails, possessed of immeasurable chakra and power, would wreak havoc upon Earth. So he extracted and divided the chakra of Ten Tails and gave it to the nine bijuu, so that the Ten Tails would be weakened. The Ten Tails' empty shell – the Gedo Statue – was sealed and hidden in the moon to prevent Ten Tails from being reborn."
Yes, she knew all of this already. The Allied Shinobi fought the Ten Tails, after all.
"Hamura lived on the moon to protect the Gedo Statue. The Sage of Six Paths became the founder of Earth shinobi, but Hamura had doubts about that world."
An aged Hamura lay on his deathbed, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
"If the world of his elder brother went off the path of the shinobi way, Hamura asked his descendants to destroy it."
Visions of war and bloodshed filled Hinata's mind.
"Shinobi fighting has only increased in the millennia gone by," Toneri said. "Ninja keep using chakra as a weapon. The Gedo Statue was stolen and Ten Tails was revived.
"Our clan has ascertained that Earth shinobi will destroy any chance of world peace. The world of the Sage of Six Paths' creation has failed."
They were back in the castle.
"And now, by Hamura's celestial decree, I will destroy the world," Toneri finished.
Hanabi's eyes – its pupils glowing with eerie blue light – stared back at her from this lunatic's head.
"When this pure Byakugan aligns with my own chakra, it will become a Tenseigan. With the power of my eyes, I will lift Earth from ashes and bring about its rebirth!"
"I don't believe you!" Hinata yelled. "I will save Hanabi."
"How can you?" asked Toneri. "You don't know where this castle is."
She was back in the passageway again. The deja vu feeling was too much.
"...I'll need your answer."
She retraced her fighting stance, only for Naruto to arrive again with a shout of "Hinata!"
Hinata stood at Hanabi's side.
"Good morning," Toneri greeted.
She tried not to think about Naruto saying that to her just one or two days ago.
"I'm so happy," he said with a smile, "that you understand my feelings, Hinata."
Now that Toneri seemed to believe that Hinata was on his side, he gave her a tour of his castle.
The plain tatami mat flooring and modest garden of the Hyuuga compound was nothing compared to the lavish walls, staircases, and rooms in this castle. It seemed bigger than the whole Leaf Village. But at least her house wasn't void of human life or staffed by puppets robotically wishing her a good day. The sheer size of the echoing castle was overwhelming and filled her with a sense of loneliness and foreboding.
She almost felt sorry for Toneri when he told her that he had been living alone ever since his father died, but she had more pressing worries.
He led her to a huge room with ornate green walls, decorated with triangle-shaped mountings, and with hourglasses flanking what appeared to be an inner chamber.
"The wedding ceremony will take place here," Toneri said. "And then we'll enter the rebirth room and go into a deep sleep until Earth stabilizes after destruction."
"Impossible! Won't the moon also be destroyed?"
"Don't worry. The castle is protected by a very powerful chakra," he said in what he evidently presumed to be a reassuring voice.
Her ears perked up. "Powerful chakra?"
"Yes. Strong enough to move the moon."
That had to be the Tenseigan!
"What do you mean?" asked Hinata.
"The Otsutsuki treasure's power, honed by my clan's suffering," he said, leading her outside.
"Where...is this treasure?" She tried to keep her voice even.
He stopped. "Well…I can't tell you."
This was bad. She had to find and destroy the treasure. In the meantime, she had to bide her time and play nice.
"Can I return to my room, please?" she asked, feigning innocence and cordiality. "It's very cold."
"It's cold because it's always dusk here. And before I forget...will you knit me a scarf?"
"Huh?"
"Please make a scarf just for me." He stared at her with an inscrutable expression. "You won't?"
"If you wish," she finally said.
"Really?" He brightened up immediately. "Thank you. I'm very happy, Hinata."
Then Toneri gasped and clutched his face in apparent pain.
"What's wrong?"
He straightened and removed his hand from Hanabi's eyes.
"It's nothing. Don't worry. It only means that the Byakugan is transforming into the Tenseigan," he explained, before his hand flew back up to massage the eyes. "It will be fine if I rest."
Was his Tenseigan different from the Tenseigan that had wiped out the Otsutsuki Main Family? In that image, it appeared to be a glowing orb of light. She had to get to the bottom of this.
As he walked away, Hinata clandestinely turned on her Byakugan.
It doesn't seem like the treasure is here.
Over the next few days, Hinata searched throughout the castle as discreetly as possible, looking for any sign of the mysterious Tenseigan weapon.
Discreetness that Toneri seemed to be deliberately trying to spoil, judging by how he kept asking her to have tea with him, engaging her in small talk about Earth's weather, or asking her when she would have finished knitting the scarf for him.
She finally made it back to Hanabi's room to check in on her condition.
Her little sister, though unconscious, clutched Hinata's hand like it was a lifeline.
"Hanabi, you poor thing."
Hinata's eyes welled with tears.
I will find and destroy the Tenseigan, she vowed.
One of the puppet servants entered the room.
"Hinata-sama, it's time for dinner," she said in a mechanical voice, bowing deeply.
"Meals are so much nicer when you have company," said Toneri pleasantly.
The dining table was incredibly long and covered with a fine silk tablecloth. Two massive candelabras stood at the center of the table and the puppet servants had prepared sumptuous dishes that she couldn't name, but were obviously high class. There was never anything like this in Konoha.
Hinata thought longingly of sharing overcooked ramen with Naruto.
"Please tell me all about yourself."
She almost snorted. She had no idea how or why Toneri had taken a liking to her when he didn't even know her. Did he want to know her favorite color or hobbies?
She finally brought the topic onto the more pressing issue at hand: "It's not too late to negotiate with the Earth shinobi."
He gave her a blank look. "What?"
"You're right. For a long time, Earth shinobi used chakra to settle fights. But now it's different. Shinobi have united and work together to protect our peace!"
He smiled in a benevolently condescending way. "They will just start another war. The world created by the Sage of Six Paths must be destroyed," he said.
"Please – "
He slammed his glass onto the table and scowled.
"Never talk to me about this again! Just be quiet and eat."
What a nasty person. Hinata reminded herself that this was just temporary as she stared out of the window. A large chunk of rock was passing by the castle.
"An island?" she asked.
"That's Hamura's temple," Toneri said. "Once a year, during the Rebirth Festival, it comes close to the castle."
Every instinct honed during her seven years as a ninja was on red alert.
She gulped down the minimal amount of food required to be polite and quickly excused herself, saying that she needed to work on the scarf.
Her Byakugan's power had drastically increased during and after the war. She could clearly see a source of massive energy – the Tenseigan – inside the temple of Hamura.
She quickly deactivated her Byakugan when she felt Toneri's chakra from a distance away, long before he could actually sense what she was doing.
She pasted a cordial smile on her face as he came to meet her.
"Good evening, Hinata," he said.
"Good evening, Toneri."
Evidently his arrogant refusal to reconsider destroying the world was water under the bridge.
"Toneri..." she began.
"What is it?"
"May I pay my respects to our ancestor Hamura? It's been on my mind for a while," she requested.
"Of course," he said warmly.
"I'm sure Hamura is very pleased that you want to pay your respects to him," Toneri said.
Gloomy stone walls were illuminated only by the lamps carried by the puppets escorting them to the temple.
Hinata fought in vain to control her heartbeat.
I'm certain that the Tenseigan is here.
The narrow pathway led to a huge open space. An orb encased by a sun insignia shell was suspended in the air.
"Is...that...?"
"Yes, it's the Tenseigan."
"The Otsutsuki treasure that moves the moon?" she asked.
Toneri said nothing. Surprisingly, it was a puppet servant who spoke up.
"Hinata-sama," she clarified, "only high-ranking Otsutsuki members can see the real Tenseigan. This temple is where lower-rank clan members worship."
"I see." She managed to hide her disappointment in stoicism.
"I'll show you the real Tenseigan after we're married."
They were on the way back to the castle, flying on Toneri's strange hovercraft device. They passed by a stone shaped like a crescent moon, with an orb in the middle of its empty groove.
She activated her Byakugan, finding that her vision was once again distorted whenever she focused on the orb.
Of course, that was it!
Toneri sat across from her as she knitted the scarf. He had a content smile on his face as he sipped some tea.
Once again, he spasmed and he clutched at his face.
She paused her knitting as he rose and walked away.
"I'm going to rest in my room. I'm looking forward to seeing the scarf when it's finished."
The scarf…
She'd put her heart and soul into the first scarf. Only for it to get burnt to cinders.
She'd devastated Naruto by rejecting him too.
This scarf...if Naruto accepted even a torn scrap of this scarf...Hinata would die satisfied.
She left the room, vowing to give it to Naruto.
No puppets obstructed her path as she raced towards the Tenseigan.
The half-circled shaped pathway was lit with spheres of red light and opened into a vast void.
Hinata jumped onto a supporting beam as she beheld the weapon of the Otsutsuki.
"This is it. The Tenseigan."
It was as bright as the sun, glowing like a supermassive Rasengan with a geometric, snowflake-shaped design in the center.
She took on her jyuuken fighting stance, ready to strike. A wave of determination not unlike what she felt during the war surged through her.
I will stop the moon!
Then a group of Toneri's puppets descended on her.
She fought them off with the lithe, graceful movements that she'd practiced with Neji nii-san. Just as she was about to land a finishing blow on one of them, her hand was stopped by an invisible force.
She was dragged back into Toneri's crushing grip.
"What is going on?" he asked coldly.
She struggled to free herself. "You're absolutely wrong about this."
"What?"
"The soul of Hamura has entrusted me with the real celestial decree. You've completely misinterpreted his teachings. Hamura never wished for the destruction of the world of the Sage of Six Paths!"
"You have betrayed me."
One of the puppets seized her and sealed the movement of her hands with those green spheres.
"Listen to me! Hamura..." she yelled as she was marched away.
"Silence!" snapped Toneri. "I won't believe such lies. Hamura only made one celestial decree and it was to end the Sage's world!"
They had reached the room where Hinata had kept the finished scarf. Toneri snatched it up in a rage.
"Damn it, you knitted this for him and not for me, right?"
It was torn to shreds in his palm.
Another green orb materialized in his hand.
"I'll make sure you can never betray me again!"
A/N: This chapter was a bit longer than the others. But the upcoming chapter will be the last one to follow the movie storyline and I need to clear a lot of ground, hence the length.
Thanks for the reviews, Jove21, Iwik, Kathryn, starfiction123, and Lila08. :)
Kathryn - Naruto sneezing after saying that he could handle the cold weather gave me the impression that the cold weather was making him unwell or something.
Since this story will be ending soon, I have a question. Do any of you want me to write a specific idea or fic? I believe Kathryn said she hardly sees any blank period era stories, so do you guys want me to write something like that? Anything you think I could write (within T rating, I guess)? Just message or review me and I'll see if I can do it! :)