Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters or anything. This is just a hobby.

Part 3 – Our critical moments

The life in Konoha continued nearly the same as before. As Sasuke had defected and Naruto left to a three-year training trip with Jiraiya, Hinata had started to train her Mangekyō Sharingan with Kakashi, who also trained his.

She had made Kakashi an honorary member of the Uchiha clan to get him access to Uchiha archives concerning the Sharingan. She had also found a very effective style for kenjutsu from the archives.

She had taken over the duties of clan head after her promotion to chūnin in the next chūnin exams. Her good connections to most clans and Hyūga branch members made her very popular in the field. She had started to renovate the Uchiha compound and rent the apartments to Kyūbi orphans reaching adulthood with very reasonable prices, which had led her becoming extremely popular in the civilian council as well.

So now, after three years she was one of the known persons in the village beside the Hokage. She had her own bingo book entry in all of the Elemental Nations nicknaming her as Uchiha 'Sharingan Princess' Hinata.

Her attire still consisted of clothes resembling Itachi's and her now long hair was in a loose ponytail. The difference was a katana hanging on her waist. The girls of Konoha 12 were disappointed that she had chosen such a boyish style but they couldn't deny it fitted her status as a powerful Uchiha clan head.

She was walking through marketplace after a shopping trip with Neji. He had become so good friend with Hinata, that he had moved to the Uchiha compound so Hinata didn't need to be alone so much. He himself claimed he did it because of his personal promise to stay as her protector even after her marriage, but Hinata knew there was more. She was very grateful that she had such a cousin.

They had walked past Ichiraku ramen when they noticed Sakura who was beating up someone.

"Do you guys do anything else than your perverted techniques!?"

"Ne, Sakura-chan..."

It was Naruto. Hinata's eyes widened. She pushed Sakura away so she could hug Naruto.

"Naruto! I have missed you so much!"

"Hinata! You have grown up and your hair is long! I have so many stories I wish to tell you before we go and get the Teme back! Dattebayo! Ne, ne, let's go see Tsunade right away! Yo, Neji!"

he shouted enthusiastically, grabbed Hinata's arm and started to drag her to the Hokage building. Neji and Sakura followed.

"WHO DARES TO DISTURB ME!"

Well, it seemed that Hokage had one of her not-so-good days. Hinata sighed and stepped forward. She, however, didn't get to talk when Naruto rushed past her.

"BAA-CHAN!"

"BRAT! How was your training trip? I hope the pervert didn't ruin you too much."

"It was great! I am super-strong now! You can promote me straight to the jōnin!"

Tsunade exploded laughing.

"Sorry brat but, you just have to take the chūnin exam like everyone else."

"NANI? Everyone else is chūnin already?"

Neji decided to be helpful: "Actually, no, I and Hinata-sama are jōnin, others are chūnin. Hinata-sama should serve in ANBU right now if there weren't obligations as a clan head."

"Wow, Hinata! Congratulations!"

Kakashi decided to appear at the window at that moment.

"Yo, Naruto! Long time no see."

"Sensei! Oh, now I remember that I have something for you..."

It turned out to be newest Icha Icha. Sakura immediately wanted to burn it but Hinata stopped her as she wanted her honorary clansmen happy. Even if they were perverts.

The whole ordeal was interrupted when news of the kidnapping of the Kazekage arrived. The ones present were sent to a rescue mission with Neji and Team Guy.

All of the members of the Akatsuki they just HAD to send Itachi and Kisame to slow them down.

"Hey, isn't it Itachi's little girlfriend! Yo, Hinata!" Kisame greeted with false cheeriness.

"Kisame-san. What a pleasure to meet again. And I am not his girlfriend."

"Yes. It is brutally clear by looking at your new name at the bingo books, Princess. You start to resemble Itachi way too much, it's like looking twins..."

Their chat was interrupted as Team Gai attacked Kisame leaving Itachi against team Kakashi and Chiyo.

"Well, Hinata, do you wish to greet your husband first, or?" Kakashi asked playfully.

Everyone deadpanned. It was clear both of them were much better prepared to this meeting than last time. Hinata fiddled the handle of her katana.

"Yes. Itachi. Can you imagine my surprise when I hear after our last meeting that you are an international criminal? It was almost harder than see you die. After Sasuke left I had nothing."

He watched her impassively not saying anything.

Hinata activated her dojutsus to prevent him using genjutsu.

"I loved you Itachi. I still love you, but in my world love is not everything anymore. My loyalty to my village and my obligations to my clansmen are. She glanced at Neji and Kakashi. I will do my duty as a clan head and a shinobi of Konoha. You will die today."

She attacked drawing her katana, which Itachi blocked with a kunai. She attacked relentlessly forcing him to block and evade, slowly cornering him with her moves.

"You have become very strong, Hinata", he complimented.

She noticed an opening and drove her sword his stomach without hesitation. The wound bled viciously. Team Kakashi stared at Hinata's skills and bravery.

"This shouldn't have been this easy. Yes. That wasn't really Itachi, only 40% of his power" Hinata analyzed as she dropped the body of some random sand shinobi to the ground.

"Are you okay, Hinata? You practically killed your husband just now. Whoever he was, it is always a hard task."

"I am okay, relieved, in fact. Now, let's go save Gaara."

They had managed to save Gaara, and Sakura got a chance to shine by killing Akasuna no Sasori. Chiyo had given her life to revive the Kazekage who had been surprised to see everyone around him when he woke up.

After arriving Konoha they had right away used the tip Sasori had given to Sakura and left to meet his spy. As Kakashi was in the hospital because of using his Kamui too much, a wood-using ninja, Yamato was added to their team in addition to a socially retarded ninja Sai.

They had managed to reach the Orochimaru's hideout with Naruto destroying half the forest because of using Kyūbi's power too much. And now they stood on a massive crater and watching Sasuke standing on the edge.

He had grown to be a very handsome man. It was a pity his beautiful face was expressing such a scowl. Hinata voiced his opinion out loud. Anyone else didn't have time to react when Sasuke already was in front of her with his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!"

Hinata hit a powerful uppercut which sent Sasuke flying. Sasuke glared angrily at her but their friendly violence was interrupted by Orochimaru.

"Well, well, isn't it Hinata-hime. I always knew you had a lot of potential. It's such a shame he found you first."

"If by him you mean my dear husband, then yes, his mistakes had protected me from much harm. It is such a pity I already killed him."

Sasuke's scowl transformed into a terror: "You didn't."

"Oh yes. But worry not, he didn't die... yet. Sasuke. We miss you in Konoha. It's not too late to come home."

He scowled as Orochimaru and Kabuto shunshined them away.

As they got back to Konoha, Naruto had started a new training right away and by looking at him Hinata could say that he was aiming to be stronger than anyone ever. Hinata had tried to reason with him and say that she could handle Sasuke instead of him, but Naruto had explained that this was something he personally needed to do for a friend.

As much as Hinata had done to Sasuke, she had always seen him more as her duty and a teammate than someone she herself had strong feelings for. So she decided to honor Naruto's decision and let him handle Sasuke. Sakura had clearly taken a liking to Naruto as she brought him her home-made food pills.

What she didn't know at all was her situation with Itachi. Her killing his clone had left their situation open and she honestly didn't know what would she do if they met again. One thing she was sure; she couldn't make herself kill him again.

Her worries turned out well-grounded when Tsunade assigned them to a mission to capture Itachi in the hope of reaching Sasuke. As sick as it was to assign Hinata to this mission, she was the only one of them who could use Sharingan without over exhausting herself so there were not many alternatives.

So they were blindly searching for him in the middle of nowhere. They had been at it already for twelve hours when Hinata heard voices. Naruto. She advanced through forest fast only to witness a big crow going inside Naruto's mouth. Naruto fainted. Itachi... what are you doing?

Hinata activated her Byakugan immediately only to realize that Itachi stood right behind her back. She turned slowly to face him.

"What was that, Itachi?"

"Mm? No killing moves this time?"

Hinata was furious. How dare he talk her like that after everything. She narrowed her eyes.

"I was doing my duty. What did you do to Naruto? There is something off about this criminal scheme of yours..."

He caressed her cheek moving to her chin and raising it to make her look at him.

"It's like looking in the mirror... We are so similar it hurts, Hinata."

Hinata understood that look all too well. There were loneliness and self-created suffering. She melted.

They ended up kissing again. This time, however, there were no one interrupting. Some innocent kissing lead to some less innocent kissing. Which lead to him taking her against a tree.

It felt so good. She didn't honestly know if it was because of the seal or was it because she had always known the Itachi was the only one for her, but intimacy and gentleness from him were things she had unknowingly craved for a long time.

"Hinata... I believe this was not a wise decision for anyone..." he said to her as they sat side by side under that tree.

"I don't care. We needed to do this."

Itachi grunted in agreement.

"Itachi... You should go."

He looked at her questionably.

"I know I shouldn't let you go but you have some stuff to do, right? Go do them. But please, once you are ready, find me, I cannot take it alone anymore."

Itachi didn't exactly answer but he didn't deny anything either. He left after giving Hinata a surprisingly tender kiss.

When Hinata find herself back to the camp, Naruto had already found his way back. There was another surprise too; Team Asuma had bumped in Sasuke and his team on their way to intercept Itachi and managed to catch him. Sasuke sat in the house Yamato had built wearing chakra suppressors and looking extremely grumpy.

Naruto, on the other hand, looked extremely happy. Hinata was in her own world and thinking about Itachi. How would things turn out when Sasuke was back in Konoha?

Sasuke's trial was kept as soon as they arrived. Sasuke had been surprised to notice Hinata announcing that Uchiha clan disqualifies itself from this case. She had however kept a motivational speech of how she personally was ready to give him a second chance and how he was more than welcome to serve the clan again if he proves his absolute loyalty to the village.

Sasuke seemed to be surprised how much value the council gave to her words. The idea of staying didn't suddenly seem so repulsive. The Uchiha had become a liked word during her leadership for the first time in history.

So he had swore his allegiances to Konoha and additionally to Hinata, but kept himself right to deal with Itachi if he ever crosses his path. So he ended up in a year-long propabation and confinement to the village.

He had moved to the Uchiha compound only to find it full of life; there were families, civilians and ninjas walking on the streets and enjoying their lives. He knew of course they were not Uchiha, but seeing the compound alive again rose a smile on his lips.

It took a month in which Naruto had finished his Rasenshuriken. Konoha had received information about Jiraiya's death and Naruto was moved to the Mount Myōboku to train sage arts. Hinata and Sasuke had spent their time in the Uchiha archives and training.

They had been training like they normally do when Hinata suddenly had fainted. Sasuke had taken her to the hospital only to hear after careful examination that she was pregnant.

"Hinata. This is a question which usually is not this much importance, but knowing your situation... Who is the father?" Tsunade interrogated her after examination. Sasuke, who had been as a support looked at her with interest.

Hinata bit her lip.

"It is Itachi. I believe the seal makes it impossible to be anyone else. I... I bumped into him and things kind of just happened."

Tsunade sighed: "It will be hard to raise a child alone and you are only sixteen, Hinata. Are you sure you wish to do this?"

Hinata nodded. Of course, she was young and this wasn't wise but this was a right decision. She touched her stomach.

"What do you think about this Sasuke?"

"I am not... happy... about that this child is... his. But I am happy you are giving me a family again. I wish to help to protect it any way I can."

"Thank you, Sasuke."

Telling her father and Neji had been extremely awkward matter. Newly found protectiveness combined to the Hyuga pride didn't go well with her current situation. Luckily Sasuke had been there and guided her away so that things could calm down. It took three days when her father had appeared to the Uchiha compound and apologized.

As the pregnancy progressed and became showing, most of the civilians thought that the child's father was Sasuke due to his constant presence near her. Sasuke couldn't care less. Hinata thought that they would give Sasuke hard time about that, but turned out their attitude towards him was friendly, and they thought that it was a very gentlemanly thing to do to help her with her pregnancy.

On their free time, they had taken a project to clean up the archives. Since she already was five months pregnant, they had already cleared a big part of archives. They were undergoing the fresher part of hidden documents of the clan meetings when Sasuke suddenly raised his head.

"Hinata... This one tells something I have not been aware of. It's something about a coup d'état."

Hinata seemed interested. They studied some more.

"This one says to not to trust Itachi and that he was Konoha's spy. But wasn't he like 13 then? It looks like my cousin Shisui was believed to be a spy as well" wondered Sasuke when he had gone through a pile of documents.

"He was an ANBU still. He once carried me home wearing his uniform and the Hyuga never found out it was him. It seems he had kind of fucked up life."

Sasuke nodded: "We need to go see ANBU archives about this. There is something wrong with this situation. I clearly remember Itachi was the one to murder Shisui before the massacre. Why would he do that if they were on the same side?"

So they went. And of course, all the information concerning Uchiha Itachi was hidden. They needed to take this to the Hokage.

So they took it. Tsunade seemed very interested in this information and ordered Shizune bring them all the files concerning Uchiha Itachi.

"Oh my God. This is unbelievable!" she shouted after reading one specific file.

"What is it? Tell us, it can't be worse what we already have experienced", pleaded Hinata.

"So one would think. Now, listen to this. This says that the Uchiha massacre was ordered by the elders as a countermeasure to the coup. But that is not all. This document says that he still is on a completely legal S-rank infiltration mission to the Akatsuki, waiting for a signal to retreat. How can this kind of information be forgotten?"

Hinata and Sasuke stared: "Oh. My. God."

"These things shouldn't happen. There is something funny going on at the elder council. But I will take care of that. I will send him an order to come home right away."

Hinata and Sasuke walked to the compound like zombies.