Hi everyone. First off, sorry it took me so long to update this one… I had some trouble with my PC and finished this one only few minutes ago. Hope you'll find this chapter worth waiting for.
Thanks for all the reviews from last time. Nothing really I can respond to, but before I start the next chapter, there's one thing that needs to be said: I goofed up. In the translation I had at the time of uploading the previous chapter, the names of the two, new Akatsuki members were mixed. To put it simply, at the end of the previous chapter there was a dialog between them and the one I named Hidan back then was actually the other one (not sure how to say this… anyway, everything should be in place in this chapter, so…).
With all that said, I believe there's only one thing left for me to do and that is to get one with the show:
Chapter #12: Dark Side of Human Nature
The Kumo kunoichi led them towards the mountains. They followed the trail that allow them to reach the bottom of the tops. From there they took a narrow route made in the mountain that led up.
As they continued their journey, sometimes forcing their backs against the cold, mountain walls, they finally reached the end of the trail, which was a gorge with a pile of rocks at it's end. The cloud-nin however kept moving forward and the moment she came close enough to the pile, she bite her finger and draw a symbol with her blood on the largest rock, that was the most out front of all.
To the Konoha shinobi surprise, the huge stone began to lift itself up, until a wide entrance appeared before everyone's eyes. The blonde kunoichi just walked inside without saying a word and the leaf-nins soon followed.
The moment Shino, who was the last one walking, went inside, the boulder got back to its place, leaving them in total darkness. The Kumo guide only performed a quick set of hand seals and in an instant electricity shoot from her hand, lighting up a torch as it escape the kunoichi's arm and hit it.
As they kept on walking, they went deeper into the cave. Hinata shivered slightly as a cold breeze hit them softly. She looked around and in a dim light of the torch she was able to see a lot of stalactites and stalagmites. Near the walls there were a lot of puddles of water, which dripped from the sling. She giggles softly as she saw Akamaru get hit by the water drop and shook his body to get rid of it from his fur.
The walls were grey and damp, while the passages leading to the other parts of the tunnel were usually small and narrow, sometimes located quite high and the only way to reach them was to use the natural "stairs" leading to the top of the tunnel.
"Yugito-san…" Hinata began shyly as she walked over to the kunoichi leading them. "I wanted to ask you about this tunnel… I mean, the route we had to pass to get here was pretty long and not an easy one… is this the only way to your village? Because if it is, I was wondering how do you receive missions from customers…"
"They send it by birds or contact one of our shinobi that always appear in the nearby towns at least once a week…" replied the cloud-nin coldly, without even turning towards the Hyuuga heiress and keeping her sight on the trail.
Finally they reached the end of the tunnel, which turned out to be a large, wooden gate with the kanji symbol for 'thunder' painted in the middle. Two guards gave the group a suspicious glare, but noticing Yugito they immediately began opening the gates, shivering slightly. Naruto noticed the look in their eyes: it was the same look he kept receiving all those years.
The Kumo kunoichi led them through the gate and the Leaf shinobi finally saw the Hidden Cloud Village. The town was separated into few districts, each placed on the different mountain. The only way to get from one district to another (A/N: expect the Body Flicker technique) were long, wooden bridges that connected the mountains, however in most cases one district was connected with only three or four other. The bridges weren't really stable and a stronger blow of wind would certainly make them swing from left to right.
Being located high in the mountains made the air in the village chilly. Hinata shivered again as another breeze blew. Once the wind calmed down, she looked up only to see the tops of the highest towers disappear behind the white cloud that covered the tops of the mountains.
Most of the buildings had at least few floors and their roofs were usually sharp. When Kurenai asked Yugito about this, she replied that in such a place where wind blows hard, its easier to keep your balance on such roofs as you can always grab the spiky part. The buildings themselves were usually grey, some with red and green, flat roofs, but the Hyuuga heiress also spotted some symbols here and there, written on the walls with golden paint.
Plants didn't grew here and as Yugito announced, all the farms were located bellow. Water on the other hand was not a problem: every district had its own water source, usually in the form of a lake, but in some places a waterfall was just coming out of the mountain, as Shino assumed, being the beginning of some river, as the water went down the streets with the special tunnels and fall bellow, disappearing in the white mist covering the view of the valleys under the village.
The Cloud kunoichi led them through the city towards the Raikage's palace. It turned out to be a three-level estate built, like pretty much every building in the village, from grey stone. Once they passed the gates, they entered a rocky "garden" where stones were placed all around, taking different shapes. Hinata also noticed statutes standing here and there.
After a short walk they reached massive, wooden doors, decorated with the eagle drawn in golden paint in the middle of them. At this point one of the guards took the role of the guide, though Yugito still assisted them.
They walked through the narrow passages, which all looked the same (A/N: at least in Naruto's opinion), maybe except paintings here and there, most representing the face of famous, Kumo shinobi. Hinata, being a member of a noble and powerful clan, actually managed to recognize some of the face, earning from time to time a nod from Yugito.
When they finally reached the Raikage's office, the guard knocked twice on the door and after hearing 'enter' the six shinobi walked inside. Kiba looked around amazed, noticing tens of hunting trophies hanging on the walls, along with a weapon gallery on the left wall from the entrance. All sort of blades hung there: from katana, through halberds, bows, Fuuma Shuriken and daggers, ending on unique weapons, such as bo (a fighting stick), dao (a type of sword) and even suis (you might say that's a sword too), most decorated with golden paint.
"I've been expecting you…" they all heard a voice and as they turned in the direction it came from, they saw a man about forty years old, though his posture aged him much more: spiky, grey hair and light blue, also blank, eyes. His face was full of small scars, some going across his mouth and left eye. He was wearing a classical, Kage robe and only the headgear with the kanji symbol for 'lighting' was laying on his desk. "I trust Yugito took good care of you…" and with that he threw the kunoichi a quick glare.
Instantly Kurenai bowed, spotting them man, with her subordinates following and after she raised her head, she held out the scroll she was carrying. The Kumo leader nodded slightly and took it from her.
The Raikage unwrapped the scroll and carefully read it. After a longer while he placed in on his desk and without looking at the leaf-nins, he said, staring at the window: "Tsunade sure surprised me with all of this…" he admitted. "I'd never thought that she'll actually decide to make a move like that… a great treat must lay over the Leaf if she chooses to do what she did…" and with that his eyes stopped at Hinata: "Tell, my child, are you aware of what happened thirteen years ago?"
The Hyuuga heiress only nodded, but Kiba couldn't hold his anger down this time and exploded, placing himself between the Cloud leader and his teammate: "Of course she does! She's the one your ninja tried to kidnap!"
The Raikage's eyes widen slightly, yet he regain his posture almost instantly: "So you're Hyuuga Hinata…" he looked at the white-eyed girl with sad eyes. The kunoichi only nodded, turning her gaze towards the floor. The Kumo leader let out a sigh and continued: "I guess it's not worth much, but I am sorry for what have occurred that time… shinobi world is always full of traitory and low tricks…" as he said so, Naruto's head made a quick motion, but no-one except Yugito managed to spot that. "Yet to do something like that to a three-year-old is still unacceptable… I won't ask you for forgiveness… maybe just for your understanding…" and with that his looked at Kurenai once more: "I'll prepare the information for Tsunade today, but it's rather late… if you wish to do so, I'll arrange you a place to spend the night…"
"Thank you, Raikage-dono…" the female jounin bowed again and headed towards the door with her subordinates following her. As they exited the palace, Naruto immediately turned towards the Cloud kunoichi and with a wide smile, he asked:
"So, are there any ramen shops around here?" and the moment he said so, puppy eyes replaced his normal ones. Yugito took a single step back with a drop of sweat falling from her face, while she looked around for help.
'Don't worry…" Shino calmed her down. "You realize this quickly while around Naruto…"
"Well, there is one…" replied the blonde kunoichi with a little chilly voice, regaining her posture. "It's in the neighborly district…" and so she pointed west. "But first you should take care of the place to sleep…"
"You gotta learn, Yugito-chan, that there are some priorities…" joked the blonde as he began walking in the direction the cloud-nin pointed. The Kumo kunoichi fought her anger for a moment, before releasing it loose and hitting the whisker-marks on the back of his head.
"Never call me 'chan'!" she yelled, making the Kyuubi vessel shiver in horror. Her eyes stopped at the blonde boy after that. She kept staring at him, thought Naruto couldn't tell if it was more curiosity, pity or understanding. He was only sure he knew that look from somewhere.
"I guess I can show you…" Yugito finally announced, letting out a sigh and heading in the direction she pointed earlier. The whisker-marks smiled widely and followed the blonde kunoichi, leaving the rest of the Leaf shinobi a little confused.
Hinata gave Kurenai a questioning glare and noticing that, the female jounin only replied with a nod to the unasked question. Immediately the Hyuuga heiress ran after the two blondes, who were already halfway through the bridge leading to another district.
"Is it wise to separate like that?" asked Kiba with a tiny drop of jealousy in his voice. "Especially Hinata, after all Kumo was always after the Hyuuga bloodline limit… what insurance do we have that they won't attack her now, when we are on their territory?"
"They won't…" assured Kurenai. "You can trust me on that…" and with that she began walking through another bridge, with Shino following her closely. The dog ninja gave one, last look in the direction the two kunoichi went with the loud mouth and then joined his sensei and companion in their trip.
After a little while, Naruto, Hinata and Yugito finally found the ramen stand. As they sat at the table, the waiter came, asking for their order. The whisker-marks check the menu and after a short hesitation ordered several bowls of different favors.
The Cloud kunoichi's eyes widen, but as she glared at Hinata, the white-eyed girl and giggled slightly and ordered a single bowl of miso ramen. Yugito just shrugged and made her order as well, giving the menu back to the waiter, who gave the girl a quick glare.
They waited for their order in silence: Hinata was a bit uncomfortable with Yugito's presence, the Cloud kunoichi didn't seemed in the mood to talk at all and Naruto was to excited to even notice the fact that no-one said a word.
Finally the Kumo shinobi was the first one to speak: "How did you obtained it?" she asked, gaining the other blonde's attention. "Don't look at me like that, you know very well what I'm talking about… I guess it takes one to know the other… or maybe it's just that look in our eyes that makes it easy to notice someone of your own kind… but no matter what it is, from the moment I saw you in that town, I somehow knew you were like me…"
"I'm not sure if I understand what you mean…" announced Naruto, looking at the kunoichi suspiciously. Just then the waiter came back with the girls order and the first bowl of the loud mouth's, but that was the first time Hinata saw her crush not paying attention to the ramen that was placed before him.
"I'm talking about your… roommate…" replied Yugito calmly, also not even bothering to look at her bowl. In stead, she looked deeper into the other blonde's eyes and smiled slightly: "Now that I took a closer look, I guess it were the eyes after all…"
"What are you getting at?" demanded the whisker-marks.
"Yes, I can see it in your eyes…" continued the cloud-nin, ignoring the loud mouth's last question. "You know it… you know what it's like… and I wonder what effect it had on you… what really lies beneath that mask of yours…" and with that a tiny smirk appeared on her face: "You know it… you know what it's like to get in touch with dark side of human nature… it's the fate of all of us… those who are different…"
"Those who are different…" Naruto repeated and then his eyes widen: "You mean…?"
"You couldn't tell?" Yugito responded before the leaf-nin could finish his question. "The world that we live in is always different from that of others… and we are always marked by it… but you should know that just as well as I do…"
"It's not the same…" agreed the leaf-nin. "But that just means we have to work harder to make it better… after all, neither me nor you can change it into a normal one, no matter how much we try…"
"So you still haven't reached the darkest corners of it…" announced the kunoichi with a smile. "Maybe it was different from you, but you just don't see it… cold glares, loneliness and silent hatred form just the tip of all that… it seems I was wrong… what you faced so far is just the shade… our world lies within the darkest corners of human hearts…"
The Kyuubi vessel looked at her a little confused, but at this point Hinata decided to cut in: "You mean the lack of acknowledgement… missing the prove that you exist…"
Yugito turned towards the white-eyed girl like she just noticed her. Her eyes were a little widen as he looked into the peril pupils of the Leaf kunoichi. As the Kumo ninja's eyes began to narrow, the Hyuuga heiress lowered her sight at the table.
The blonde kunoichi smirked slightly and suspecting she might laugh at Hinata's comment, Naruto instantly turned her attention back to him: "What's so funny?"
"Funny?" repeated Yugito. "No, I'm more surprise for her to realize this better then you do, that's all…" and with that she spoke to the white-eyed girl: "Indeed, for a Hyuuga to understand something like this is truly unexpected…"
"Probably coz your eyes lack acknowledgement as well…" stated the other blonde, getting angry. "Yes, our world is different from normal people, but do you really think that the likes of us are the only ones who can be alienated? You think that only we have to prove that we are… that we exist?"
"When you fade away in other people's eyes, the best thing you can do, is repay them with the same thing…" announced the cloud-nin with her face as grim as every.
"No!" Naruto disagreed, rising his voice. "What good will giving up do? You think that you'll find acknowledgement when you're not giving any yourself? The way you're acting you just make everything think that they were right about!"
"So you suggest I'd try doing something good for them?" replied Yugito with a serious face. "Sorry, but I don't intend to be a good girl just so that everyone will turn away from me with my first mistake… been there, done that… and after everything, you're left alone anyway…"
"You're wrong, Yugito-san…" announced Hinata quietly, making both Jinchuuriki look at her again and, for some reason, both seemed to calm down a bit. "Naruto-kun was always looked down upon… but he never gave up and he gain people's acknowledgement… and I know that he'll be able to hold on to it… because no matter what, I'll always see him…"
"Is that so?" asked the blonde kunoichi with a tiny smirk as she looked at the boy, who blushed slightly. "But you know what… that's exactly the same thing my teammate said just a day before he called me a monster…"
Both leaf-nins stared at her for a moment. Silence felt on the table yet again before Yugito decided to speak up again, breaking it: "I was once full of hope… just your average, good girl… but the thing that people are not something you can place your faith into…" and with that she stood up and began walking away.
Neither Naruto nor Hinata said a thing. They just stared at the back of walking Yugito, who soon disappeared behind the corner. Making sure that the two, Konoha shinobi couldn't see her, the Kumo kunoichi propped her back on a wall and looked at the starless, night sky.
"Believing that humans can change…" she said to herself with sorrow in her eyes. "Now that's the best joke I heard in a long while…" and turning her sight away from the sky, she continued walking.
"Yugito-san is acting a little strange…" noticed Hinata quietly, yet Naruto only shook his head in disagreement before replying: "No… she just had too many experiences with people who look, but can't see…" and with that he let out a sigh. "It seems that humans simply prefer to stay blind…"
As he said so, his head lowered. Noticing that, the white-eyed girl slowly held out her hand and grabbed the boy's arm. The blonde gave her a surprised look at first, but almost immediately it changed into a smile, which made the Hyuuga heiress face that was already red, redden even more.
"You know, Hinata-chan…" began the blonde, also getting red on the face. "We really should eat that ramen or it will get cold… the night is chilly today…" the girl only nodded after a short pause and they both started eating at their typical speed.
Meanwhile, unaware to anyone, two figures wearing black robes with red clouds on them stood at the beginning of the trail Yugito used to lead Kurenai's cell into the Hidden Cloud Village.
A man with medium-length, white hair gelled back and hazel eyes smirked as he looked at the mountains before him and his companion. He was carrying a large, red scythe with three blades on his back and his hitae-ate was tied around his neck. And on it was the slashed symbol of Hidden Rain Village. "This seems like the place…" he stated, giving his comrade a quick glare.
"What are you so happy about?" asked another man with his hair hidden behind a grey, shinobi mask. His eyes were violet (A/N: well, that's what I assume) and on his forehead was a headband with the slashed, Bakufu symbol. "Is it because that stupid 'man and the mountain' thing of yours?"
"You shouldn't laugh at my religion, Kakuzu…" responded the one with the scythe. "Just like I try not to criticize your love for money…" and with that he got back to looking at the trail. "So, shall we go forward or will we just wait here?"
"Going in right now is pointless…" replied the one called Kakuzu. "And it won't even bring us a single, golden coin… sooner or later Kyuubi will leave the village and that is when we'll get him… and so will the six-tails (A/N: yeah, I know Yugito had two-tailed sealed inside her in the manga, but this is one thing that I can't change)… we just have to wait…"
And so night falls above the Hidden Cloud village. Without a single star on the sky, darkness wraps itself around the Kumo Gakure almost as a presage of what awaited the young shinobi the next day.
And thus another chapter ends. Hope you've enjoyed it. I'll try to finish the next one sooner, though with having still very little information about the two, new Akatsuki members, I'm not sure. Anyways, next time there will be much more romance, but a big fight is coming up.
No jutsus used this time, so I guess I should wrap this up.
Best wishes and until next time, hopefully.