You stand at the end of an old looking stone hallway, odd designs dotting the walls, ceiling and floor. You take a step forward and feel your foot sink slightly. You're pulled back a second before an arrow flies through where your head once was.
"Easy, now," your intrepid author says, "Didn't you ever see Indiana Jones? You have to be careful with old stuff like this. It's all about speed and…" He runs down the hall, dodging arrows that pierce his clothes, some drawing blood from scratches, before he finally reaches the end, picking up a piece of paper at the end, "…Timing," he presses a brick in the wall and you feel the floor give out below you.
You come to in the armory in time to see a binder held in front of you.
"This may not be the best, but this is the beginning to my answer to Hakkyou no Yami' "Harem's Betrayal" Challenge. I don't have a real good title yet, so let's just call it…"
Heart of the Betrayed
Category: Naruto
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Adventure
Rating: T (For violence, adult language and situations, may change in the future)
Chapter 1
Life is shit.
At least that was Naruto's current opinion as he sat in a dark corner of a dingy bar in one of Konoha's less reputable neighborhoods. It seemed no matter how close he got to happiness, some asshole came along to field-goal kick it another mile away from him.
First, after Danzo had been killed and Tsunade finally woke up, he had finally started to get some happiness, the villagers looked up to him as a hero now and were even more grateful once he proved how helpful a few hundred clones can be when you need construction work done, and things got even better when someone let loose the information on Naruto's parentage. Life was looking up, children looked up to him, only a few hardcore, holdout idiots would glare at him, he even had several girls swooning after him, HIM. He, Naruto Uzumaki, of all people, had a fan club. He had even tried to ask Hinata out, and they even had a couple of good dates, the both of them getting closer and closer to each other, Hinata psyched to finally be with her love, and Naruto himself beginning to really fall hard for the heiress, but the both of them where soon crushed. They found that the reason Hiashi had been away during Pein's attack was because he was negotiating a marriage contract for Hinata with some older guy she had never even heard of, let alone met. She had cried on his shoulders for hours after she was first told, part of him wanted to run away with her, but he knew with his power they would attract hunter-nin like flies to a corpse. She had told him that no matter what, her heart belonged to him, and she attempted to prove it once she began stripping, but he stopped her, not wanting her to force something she wasn't ready for yet. She broke down in tears again and for the rest of the night they held each other. Since then she had been exhausting everything she could to be free of it, but she had no luck yet, she had only managed to put it off.
Not long after receiving the news, Hinata convinced Naruto he should begin seeing other women, it did bother her, but she couldn't stand the idea of him being left alone if she couldn't get out of her father's deal. To Hinata's unvoiced chagrin, he managed to get a date with Sakura.
Naruto had gone steady with his old teammate for almost two months, and he thought they were happy, they kissed and made-out, but Sakura said outright, with Naruto agreeing completely, that she would need a lot of time before she was ready for sex, apparently she didn't need too much time at all. After about two months of dating, Naruto was on his way to Sakura's apartment he was stopped when he saw a large crowd in the middle of the street, some whoops and whistles coming from the people as mothers quickly lead their children away. He made his way through the crowd and found at the center something that tore his heart out. Sasuke was back in the village somehow, and was plowing Sakura from behind. For a moment Naruto thought the worst, that Sakura was in trouble, until Sakura began loudly begging for more of what she called the 'three inch god stick'. If either of them noticed him, they didn't show it. Naruto ran off and spent most of that night drinking heavily, and was eventually joined by a new friend, Anko Mitarashi. The two became quick friends in their drunken stupor, and after a week were almost like siblings. Despite her lack of experience with friends, Anko was able to help Hinata comfort him over the whole Sakura situation.
After a while he had decided to try and hit the dating scene again and somehow ended up with someone he hadn't seen in years, Ami from his academy days. He had some fun on their few dates, but something always seemed off, she was more than a bit shallow and strangely strict about a schedule. Hoping to put a bit of spontaneity in their relationship, one day almost a month after they had started dating, Naruto dropped by her place for a surprise. He knocked at her door finding it open, and entered cautiously, hearing some muffled moaning, he peeked into her bedroom and found the purple haired bitch skewered between Choji and Choza Akimichi. Unlike with Sakura, Naruto was way more pissed than he was hurt, and voiced his opinion of where the trio could go and various things they could do with rusty razor blades, an ice cream scoop, a sea urchin and a dirty shovel before storming out. Anko and Hinata found him an hour later finishing off his third bottle of hard liquor. That night, buzzed Anko left a blacked out Hinata at her Clan homes gates before dumping a shit-faced Naruto on her couch.
Once Hinata had gotten over her hangover, she had a little meeting with Naruto's new big sister. As much as she loved him, Naruto didn't seem to be having any luck in finding a good woman, and between his problems with Sakura and Ami, he seemed to be getting colder and reluctant to try dating anyone again, and took up drinking as a hobby, various liquors slowly replacing ramen in his diet. Afraid that he might for the first time ever, give up, the two put their heads together to try and help the blond, Shizune was brought up and immediately shot down, aside from the fact that the woman never really showed romantic interest in anybody, she was enough like a sister to Naruto that it probably wouldn't work, which also shot down the idea of the ramen waitress Ayame. Hinata said that Ino might end up going the same way as Sakura, which got a laugh from Anko. Apparently, from the way the girl acted in the local hot spring, Anko figured the blond woman would only date Naruto if he used his Oiroke no Jutsu at all times. At one point, Anko suggested Hinata and Naruto try and elope, but Hinata said the contract that was pissing her off more than she thought she could be, her words, voids any marriage license dated after it was signed. Finally, they had an idea, a good friend of the both of them, Kurenai.
Kurenai had pretty much become a spinster since her daughter, Akane, had been born. With some help from the girls, Naruto got a date with the genjutsu mistress, while Hinata looked after little Akane, Naruto took Kurenai out to a nice dinner and movie, he even took her on a peaceful walk in the park, despite the slight awkwardness due to their age difference, it was a good night, good enough that they kept dating. Anko was happy to see her friends getting along so well, and although she wished it was her, Hinata was happy as well, Naruto was coming back out of his shell and his drinking was dropping off, Akane loved him and Kurenai seemed happy, and everything seemed to be going great, until June eleventh.
Naruto had snuck into Kurenai's apartment using her spare key, hoping to serve her breakfast in bed. Silently preparing her favorites, he sneaked to her room and opened the door, and immediately was greeted with a smell he recognized from Sakura in the middle of the street and Ami in her apartment. There in bed with Kurenai, clothes scattered around the room, was Shikamaru Nara. Naruto dropped the tray, the sound of shattering plates and spilling food waking the two in bed and they stared at the third person in the room as he glared at them, one eye seemed filled with unstoppable rage, the other with inconsolable sorrow. Kurenai looked regretful while Shikamaru just looked annoyed, but that shifted to fearful once he realized he was caught. After seconds, which seemed like hours, Naruto turned and stormed out without saying a word, and made a beeline to the bar where he now sat, where Anko found him hours later.
Anko walked back to his table from her trip to the john. She was somewhat disappointed in her now former friend Kurenai, and it was somewhat because mostly she was pissed. Kurenai had a great boyfriend, evidenced by the fact he had wheeled, dealed, begged and bribed both her and Hinata to find specifics on Kurenai's favorite foods for breakfast, a babysitter for Akane and V.I.P. tickets for a local spa for her birthday, only for him to find Kurenai in bed with another man. Anko had popped by Kurenai's to pick up the baby for the day, only to spy Naruto in the distance, she entered and found Kurenai and the lazy chunin bastard just getting their clothes on Anko her now former friend the most hateful look she could give anyone not named Orochimaru and told her their friendship was over before spitting in the Nara's face and leaving. She sent a clone to find Hinata before she, herself, went to find Naruto. Given his past reactions, she searched every open establishment that served alcohol in the general direction, after a couple of hours looking, she found him in a shady dive looking at the bottom of his seventh bottle. She sat next to him and ordered a drink of her own, he looked at her for a moment before returning his gaze to the table. Anko knew it wouldn't help to try and force anything out of him, so they sat and rank in silence. About ten minutes after she arrived, she felt her clone pop; Hinata had an urgent meeting with her father and would be there as fast as she could.
Anko looked her depressed friend over; she had to admit he had gotten a lot better at holding his liquor. A year ago he'd have been long passed out by the time she got here, now he didn't even seem fazed as a tenth empty joined its friends. She couldn't believe Kurenai had cheated on Naruto, hell, she wouldn't have expected ol' mature, moral Kurenai to cheat on anybody, Anko thought if she had been unhappy she would have just broken it off.
'But then, I don't see why those other two cunts would cheat on him either,' she thought to herself. Although she didn't think it would work out if she tried hooking up with him, she had to admit Naruto could be considered one hell of a catch. If she had known him longer she might think about it, but at the moment she could only see him as her brother in pain. He was good looking enough, he was strong, so what if he wasn't always the sharpest knife in the drawer, he always worked hard to make his girl happy, he was better than those bitches deserved and they threw him aside.
At least she had some comfort in the fact each of them got what they deserved. She found out that while the two of them were getting shitfaced after he saw his traitorous teammates, Sasuke attacked the village elders. He killed Homura and was so distracted facing off against Koharu that he didn't notice Tsunade come up behind him. With a single downward punch his head was literally and firmly planted in his own ass.
Once she had found out what her younger apprentice had done, Tsunade quickly and viciously beat Sakura into a hospital bed. Once the pinkette had fully regained consciousness a week later in her casts, Tsunade officially denounced her as an apprentice, stating the she 'couldn't trust Sakura to stay loyal to her teachings if she can't even stay loyal to a boyfriend and teammate.' Sakura was expected to finish physical therapy very soon.
Even though the incident with Ami wasn't near as public, enough people had heard it through the walls that by the time the Akimichi men had gotten home, they were greeted by a very pissed Hiroko Akimichi who took a note from her friend Yoshino's book and knocked both of them out with a good, solid, cast-iron frying pan. Once they had come to, Hiroko was packed and gone with all her stuff and within a month her divorce was final, sped up with the help of a pissed female hokage and a female village elder. She had ended up with almost three quarters of Choza's money and property. Hiroko herself had sent a few condolence gifts to Naruto in apology for her all but disowned son, along with a standing invitation if he ever needed to talk, or if he needed a warm meal. She always worried that he was too skinny.
And even though it had been just a few hours, she could tell the situation with Kurenai and the Nara was going to be an even more entertaining show of torture. In her search for the blond, Anko had come across both Temari of Suna and Shiho from the cryptology department. She asked for their help, but once she had given a quick explanation of the problem, the two of them were too pissed to be of any help. It seems the lazy Casanova wannabe had already been juggling both of them when he decided to pick Kurenai up as a third, probably thinking that he would be safe since the three of them would probably never see each other, since they work in such different fields. The two blonds stormed off and Anko absently wondered what Yoshino would do once she found out.
Anko finished her drink and looked over to her drinking buddy, in the time she had taken to down her drink while lost in thought, he had buffed off another five bottles, and she was beginning to worry, even with his own internal healer, she wasn't sure if he would be alright after so much booze. She knew what his problem was, he was holding it in. Over the past several months she had found, with Hinata's help, that it was one of Naruto's big flaws, he never shared his troubles, he never let it show. Each time those girls betrayed him he would shove his pain down and try to drown it in alcohol, and every time he would need more booze to do so. She was worried if he didn't cut loose soon he would implode, the same worry voiced to her by Hinata and Tsunade, as well as Shizune and Hiroko. He needed to do something, anything, get laid, blow something up, get in a fight, hit someone, something to let the pressure off, and she needed a way to get him to do it.
"Hey, Naruto," she watched as he slowly looked up at her, "Pay for your drinks, I need to show you something." She got up and tried to pull him along, but all she got was a non-committal grunt, "C'mon, Kid," she looked pleadingly into his eyes, "Trust me, please."
Naruto looked at her for a moment before he sighed, putting a few bills on the table and grabbed his last bottle and stumbled behind her. She quickly scribbled a note and handed it to the bartender, whispering something to him. They got outside to find it was already late dusk as she led him through the streets to the edge of town and towards the training grounds. When they got there Naruto had finished off his last bottle and he looked around confused. He didn't see Anko make a pair of hand signs or hear her mutter 'sorry'. He saw as the threes shifted and melted, forming into different people, his drunken mind not making the connection to genjutsu. The girls who betrayed him, the guys who were supposed to be his friends, taunting him, ridiculing him, laughing at him…
Anko watched as the Narakumi no Jutsu easily took hold of Naruto in his drunken state. She watched as tears began to fall from his face. She watched as his face began to redden with anger as a Rasengan formed in his hand and was slammed into a tree, opening the floodgates. Tree after tree was felled as he blasted through them, roaring, crying, screaming about traitors, whores and a number of insults she had never heard him use, even a few new ones she mentally filed away for future use. She released the genjutsu but he kept going. She let him work out his feelings on the forest, keeping an eye on him to make sure he didn't hurt himself.
Hinata Hyuga was a whirlwind of emotion as she headed to the training ground that Anko's note had indicated. She had slept in a bit, but started the day in relatively high spirits, she had some work to do before she could meet up with Anko and Akane, but that was alright. She inwardly swooned over the romantic side Naruto had shown in planning Kurenai's birthday, and for what may well have been the billionth time in these many months she wished she was in her old teacher's place. That wish soon changed. Shortly after a branch member informed her that her father desired a meeting, a clone of Anko showed up, relaying the tale of Kurenai's actions.
Hinata entered h the meeting with her father more pissed than she could ever remember being. How could Kurenai do that to Naruto? How could Shikamaru do that to someone who was supposed to be his friend? How was Naruto taking it?
Soon she got some good news though. Hiashi had called her to meet him to say that her fiancé, the old son of an even older merchant who had a good political career as well, had died. Mentally Hinata sent thanks to every god, goddess, and demon she could think of, one of them had to be behind it, seriously, what kind of idiot chokes to death on a pretzel? And the only friend he had who was close enough to help laughed so hard he died of a heart attack.
However, Hiashi went on to say that he was already searching for prospective fiancés for her again, ones that would bring honor or power to the clan. Between the news earlier and this crap Hinata finally snapped and, surprising any who knew her, told her father, very politely, that any marriage contract he worked out would be promptly shoved far enough up his ass that he could chew on the paper, and if he tried roping her into another forced marriage, she would challenge him, kill him and take her place as head just to cancel the contract. She soon left the compound confident that her father wouldn't be signing any more marriage contracts for a while, at least.
After all, signing anything is hard to do with two broken arms.
She checked a few bars she knew Naruto frequented before she found the one they had been at and the note Anko had left and headed off to the training grounds, stopping for a couple minute when she spied a rather strange sight, Yoshino Nara holding a large frying pan, Temari brandishing her battle fan and Shiho holding a rather large hardcover book, all of them seemed to be out for blood. A devious grin on her face, she stopped them as they passed and suggested seeking the help of Tsume Inuzuka or her daughter. Yoshino thanked her and the trio set out to find the dog-women.
When Hinata finally got to the training ground it was a mess of splinters, stumps and branches as Naruto continued to destroy the forest, tree by tree. She walked up beside Anko, who seemed to just be observing.
"How long has he been doing this?" Hinata inquired, having never seen something like this before. She had seen Naruto mad before, but now he just seemed outright pissed, but to be honest, she found it to be a bit of a turn on to see him so passionately aggressive.
Anko glanced up at the rising moon, "About an hour, I think, my watch is busted so I'm not sure, but he seems to be winding down," she added once she realized he wasn't yelling as much anymore.
After about twenty more minutes, Naruto stopped and observed the large amount of toothpicks and splinters he'd just created. He turned to see Hinata was now standing next to Anko. He did what came naturally to someone with his current amount of alcohol content, physical and emotional fatigue, he took three steps towards the girls, belched and fell down, passing out before he was even caught by Anko, who rushed to stop him from falling face first into a shredded pile of wood. She hefted him up, one arm over her shoulder, as Hinata did the same on the other side and they hauled the unconscious ninja home. Once they made it to his place, Anko knocked on his door, hoping his roommate was home. After a few minutes, the door opened and they were greeted by a familiar bespectacled redhead.
After she had been nearly killed by her formerly beloved 'Sasuke-kun', Karin was taken in at the leaf village, strangely at Naruto's request. She proved to be more of a help than anybody expected, both on the self sufficient operations that were once Orochimaru's, some of which were still running when leaf ninja went to raid them, and with some decent information she had on the Akatsuki, unknown to her former teammates she had an excellent sense of direction, even without her chakra sensory abilities, and she was able to point out on a map every storage depot, base and hideaway Sasuke had visited while she was with him. Her information alone, after being verified by Ino's dad, had helped lead to the seizing of a few Akatsuki bases, Uchiha storehouses, the death of Zetsu and finally, Naruto's defeat of Madara Uchiha, the centurion madman being somewhat easily defeated when he tried to suppress the Kyuubi as Sasuke once had. It was simple enough, while Madara was distracted, Naruto snuck up behind his mental image and shoved him between the bars of the seal, where he was promptly eaten, leaving his body a soulless husk that was soon finished off. Kyuubi may have hated Naruto for the new seal, but was happy enough with its new chew toy.
After a somewhat rough integration into the village, she began formal training as a medic nin under Shizune, and while she wasn't as fast a learner as Sakura had been, she was fairly gifted and, in an emergency, could use her healing bite ability to stabilize patients until a better nin could help. She was also able to help in the interrogation department, using her Kagura Shingan to detect deception.
When she had first come to the village, one big problem for Karin was that she couldn't find a place to stay because of her status as a former Oto-nin, but Naruto offered to split the rent on his new place since he had a spare bedroom anyway. Although they had a few awkward moments, they eventually got comfortable together, which annoyed Naruto's ex's, Sakura and Ami, and that fact always got Karin in a good mood. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she never really liked the two of them, and when her suspicions were proven right, she wasn't shy about spending her off duty hours taunting and insulting the bed-ridden Sakura, pulling pranks learned from Naruto himself on the whore Ami, and even dancing on the grave of the departed Uchiha, whose marker, thanks to her, now read 'Sas-UKE, gone to join his lost lovers Juugo and Orochimaru'.
June eleventh had been a normal enough day for Karin, the only thing of note that had happened was that she had seen Yoshino Nara stalking around the streets out for blood, having learned early on not to draw the Nara woman's ire, Karin just avoided her. She handled her shift at the hospital and headed home, renting a couple of movies on the way and buying some ice cream. Since she didn't expect her roommate to be home that night, Karin just lounged about, finishing her ice cream early on and watched her movies. She regretted her choice in movies, though. A string of romance comedies can really depress you if there's no romance in your own life. Most guys didn't want anything to do with her because of her origins, and the few who did were either put off or got the wrong idea from her bite scars, which lead to them either running off or being kicked in the universal male weak spot.
Near the end of another movie Karin heard a knock at the door. Groaning as she hit pause, she threw of the blanket she was using, stood and went to the door. Her hand rushed to cover her nose as it was assailed by a powerful scent of cheap alcohol. Her roommate was passed out drunk and held up between two of his closest friends, something that hadn't happened in months.
Karin lowered her head sadly, "I'll guess something bad happened," she stated in a nasally voice, her nose pinched off to stave off the smell. The look the Hinata and Anko's eyes were all the answer she needed. She Moved aside and let the other two women haul in their friend. Karin went to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea as Anko and Hinata took Naruto to his room and dumped him on his bed, Anko taking off his jacket and pants while Hinata opened a window to air out the room. After tucking the blacked out man in, the pair joined Karin in the kitchen where they both found a cup waiting for them, they sat and explained the happenings of the day. While Hinata's news was happy, it was far overshadowed by her old teacher's deeds. Silently, all three prayed the progress Naruto had made in recent months wasn't completely lost.
Naruto woke with the sun right in his eyes, and groaned, while the fox did keep him from feeling his hangover, it didn't stop him from getting hammered and doing stupid/weird/painful/embarrassing stuff and remembering it the next day, he had found that out the hard way the first time Jiraiya took him out drinking.
The old toad had discreetly switched Naruto's drinks in their hotel room with booze, hoping Naruto would pass out so Jiraiya could go out for his 'research'. Naruto had nodded off and woke shortly after and, pissed and drunk, wandered out looking for his pervert teacher. Along the way, he had hurt his hands punching trees he would have sworn were the old pervert. When he finally reached the bathhouse, he followed the giggles and a loud call of 'Ero-sennin' startled Jiraiya out of his tree. The old man was so startled that he didn't notice the call had also brought out three of the towel wrapped bathing women until it was too late. After Jiraiya was a bloody pulp, the women turned on Naruto, thinking the same of him. Five minutes later, the bloody Jiraiya was all that remained there. The next morning, Naruto had awoken in bed with the three women, who were wearing less than they were when they beat up Jiraiya. Somehow, he wasn't completely sure how, the bombed blond had talked them into his bed, something Jiraiya was happy to tease him about, the old man claiming Naruto was now his true apprentice, for a few months until Naruto brought up that Jiraiya was jealous that he could never pull it off. Naruto had to drag a bloody, beaten and hung-over man out of the next few towns when his teacher attempted to prove him wrong.
Naruto shook himself from his old memories and moved to more recent ones, like whatever the hell he did the previous day. A cold anger formed in his heart at what Kurenai had done to him, and while he was a bit angry at himself for falling for it, he was glad Anko had hit him with that genjutsu. Destroying the traitors, or at least likenesses of them, had been very therapeutic. And while he was still highly pissed, he wasn't quite as sorrowful has he had been, hell, part of him wished the real Sasuke was still alive just so Naruto could help Tsunade kill him again.
Rousing himself from his bed he took a quick shower, washing off the smell of the cheap dive he was drinking at, and went to the living room. He found Hinata and Karin asleep on the couch with Anko on the recliner, he pulled up the blanked on Hinata and Karin to better cover them and covered Anko with her trench coat before moving on to the kitchen. He got to work at the stove, cooking breakfast for himself and the girls, a neutral expression never leaving his face. Sure enough, soon the smell of food roused one of the girls, the other two beginning to awake as she entered the kitchen.
"You okay, Naruto?" a voice brought his attention from the frying pan. He could tell who it was and that she was concerned about what he'd think.
"No, Anko-nee-chan, no I'm not," He looked up from the cooking and to her, "but I'm probably better off than if you hadn't done what you did. But now I have this urge to go out, find Shikamaru and shove a Rasengan up his ass."
Anko snorted, "In your situation, I'd say that's both perfectly normal and a hell of a lot healthier than drinking until your liver screams for mercy," She waited in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, "What about Kurenai?"
At the name's mention, Naruto stiffened before his shoulders sagged, "I'm not going to seek her out for revenge, if that's what you mean, I wouldn't do that to Akane. I just…I don't want Kurenai in my life anymore, I just want her to leave me alone, and I'll do the same, and Baa-chan will probably be willing to keep us off missions with each other unless it's an absolute emergency." He sighed before continuing, "You've been her friend longer than you've even known me, Anko-nee, so I'll understand if you want to choose her." He was silent before he yelled as he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his ass. He reached back and pulled out a senbon.
"That," Anko growled, "is for thinking I'd just up and leave you because of this shit." She walked up and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Yes, Kurenai has been a good friend for years, but you're my brother, brat, even if it ain't by blood, and even if it hasn't been as long. This mess is Kurenai's fault, her and that lazy ass Nara, so she'll have to deal with the consequences." Her expression softened, "Too many dumb fucks have turned their backs on you, and no matter what I do when I'm drunk, I'm no dumb fuck." She gave him a hug from behind as he emptied the pan.
"I am with you as well, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, standing in the door with Karin, "Kurenai has been my friend and teacher, but I love you, and that means more than anything else."
"It's too bad," Karin added with a shrug, "I kinda liked her. I thought she'd be different than the bubblegum bitch and the whore. But, I didn't know her well, anyways."
Naruto put plates on the table and began to eat in silence, the girls followed his lead. Hinata was quietly excited, and the other two noticed this. Once they finished eating, Karin excused herself to wash up and Anko said she had to leave to get to work and went out the door after a quick hug. Hinata walked up behind her beloved and wrapped her arms around him.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata cooed, feeling him relax slightly, "I have good news."
"Hinata-chan, I-" he was cut off when she spun him around and put a finger to his lips.
"I'm free." She said simply, "The man that father tried to betroth me to, is dead. I know you might need time, but know that I am here for you, no matter what, Naruto-kun." Naruto wrapped her in a strong hug.
"Hinata-chan, that means a lot, but your dad will probably be getting another contract ready, we couldn't wait."
"Not fucking likely," Hinata muttered, thinking Naruto didn't hear, but when she saw his surprised and quizzical expression, she turned a little red, a bit of the old her slipping through, "W-well, he may have m-mentioned he would look for another, a-and I told him I would kill him to become head and cancel it," she looked to the side, embarrassed, "I m-might of also gotten mad and broken a few bones."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "A few?"
Hinata smiled sheepishly, "The humerus in both arm, an ulna in one and a radius in the other…maybe a few fingers too."
Naruto broke out laughing, "That's my girl, show that bastard who's boss. It's about time you stood up for yourself."
Hinata smiled warmly at his approval, "I know you need some time after them" she spat with surprising venom, "But I am still here for you, so is Anko, and Karin, and Tsunade-sama too, we all want to help you if you just let us."
Naruto nodded, "I have to see Baa-chan today, I need some time off or something. If I stay here I might do something that'll cause trouble."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm not completely sure," Naruto confessed, shaking his head, "I thought about, maybe, spending some time on the toad mountain, but I might just travel for a while like I did with Ero-sennin."
Hinata nodded, "A vacation might do you some good, Naruto-kun. I can see about joining you, if you'd like."
"I'll think about it," Naruto sighed, "I need a walk before I see Baa-chan, anyways, to think of where to go. And I have to get her to approve the idea in the first place."
Anko took a deep breath of morning air with a good look on the day. Naruto was alright, not happy, sure, but he was a hell of a lot better than he could have been. He wasn't mad at her for her little trick, Hinata was on her way to being back with him, she had a good breakfast, and she had a day of torture, interrogation and sadism ahead. Yes sir, today was looking up.
"Anko!"
And now it was crashing and burning. Anko heard the voices yell, but wanted nothing to do with its owner, so she sped up her walk.
"Anko!"
The voice was closer, but Anko didn't break stride, she just continued towards work until a hand on her shoulder spun her around.
"Anko, hang on."
The jonin's expression froze over, "Can I help you, Yūhi-san?" she asked in a monotone voice.
Kurenai's face fell, a couple new tears following the stains, "Anko, please don't talk to me like that, we're friends-"
"Were friends," Anko cut in, it hurt to do this, but Kurenai brought it on herself, "Yūhi-san, but your actions ended that."
"Anko, please, we've been friends for years-"
"And if Naruto had done something like that instead of you, I'd be having this conversation with him instead. But he wouldn't do that, would he?" Anko's voice was becoming more of a growl, "You did, which makes you no different than the two bitches that broke his heart before you. And I thought you were a better person then that."
"Please, Anko, I didn't mean to," Kurenai wept.
Anko's eye twitched, "You didn't mean to fuck the lazy bastard?" she asked, her voiced strained, "What, he slipped and fell on top of you and his dick just happened to pop out of his pants on the way down?" The snake summoner had fire in her eyes, "If you had some problem with Naruto, I'd have thought you, of all people, would have had the damn courtesy to try and talk to him about it."
"N-no, Anko, it's not like that," The red eyed woman was almost sobbing at this point, "Shikamaru just came over to see Akane, after she went to sleep, we talked a-and we ended up on the subject of A-Asuma, a-and was smoking Asuma's brand, and the smell, a-a-and I just lost control, and-"
"And you cheated on Naruto because of a dead man's cigs!" Anko said incredulously, "You cheated on one of the best guys in the village because some Casanova-wannabe smoked the same shit as your baby's dead daddy?" She saw Kurenai flinch badly at this, "I never took you for an idiot, Kurenai, but it seems I was dead wrong. There are only two reasons I haven't decided to try and make your life hell, because of the friendship we once had, and because of Akane. Naruto wouldn't forgive me if I caused something to happen to that kid." Kurenai had tears streaming down now, "The only way I would forgive you, really forgive you Kurenai, is if Naruto does. And the way things seem, that will probably never happen, and…and really that's just too bad," Kurenai looked up and saw a somber look on the kunoichi's face, a tear in her eye, "Me and Hinata tried setting you two up because it's what you two needed. Naruto would have probably loved to one day be Akane's dad, and you seemed happy with that possibility every time they played together. And it's hard for a single mom to find a boyfriend who doesn't mind a kid, isn't it?" Anko asked, looking down, "But you know what? You threw it away…for a lazy smokestack who was actually already dating two chicks behind each of their backs, too." She turned and walked away, "Goodbye, Yūhi-san."
Kurenai watched one of her oldest walk away as she fell to her knees, weeping.
#####
Naruto walked calmly through the streets. He was taking his time on getting to the tower both so he could try and think out his plans and because he knew Tsunade was a lot of things, but an early riser wasn't one of them. Naruto was deep in thought enough that he didn't notice someone nearby until they backed into him. Naruto looked down to see a disheveled and shaking Shikamaru, the bags under his eyes showed he hadn't slept the night before, and it didn't help him to look up and see the expression of cold fury in Naruto's eyes. Shikamaru shot to his feet, he wasn't a genius for nothing, and the look in his former friends eyes was all to similar to Gaara's years before, meaning the Nara was getting ready to bolt at a second's notice.
"Uh, h-hey Naruto," Shikamaru said in a shaky tone, "Look, man, I'm sorry about the thing with Kurenai yesterday, it was completely a heat of the moment thing, I swear," Shikamaru quickly tried to explain, Naruto's expression never budging a millimeter, "I just went to visit, we had a few drinks and started talking about Asuma, next thing I know she's all over me. I swear, I would never want to do that to you, you're my friend."
Naruto stared at the Nara for a few moments as Shikamaru started to sweat.
"Friend?" Naruto said coldly, his words seeming to cut the air, "What, you think you can just apologize, through out that word and think you're forgiven? Sasuke was a friend. Choji was a friend. You were a friend. You all decided to be bastards, and thought nice guy Naruto would be all smiles for his friends. Well you can kiss my ass, I'm through forgiving." Shikamaru tensed at Naruto's sharpening tone, before the blond broke out in a wide smile, "But don't worry, I'm not mad," he said, putting a hand on the Nara's shoulder, the smile getting a little creepy, "You see, I'm through forgiving, and now I don't get mad…I get even."
After quickly saying that, Naruto caught Shikamaru in a headlock. Shikamaru struggled against the hold, thinking the blond was going to kill him, when he heard the words that made his blood run cold.
"Hey Yoshino-san! Looking for someone?" Naruto yelled, the Nara mother coming towards, and surprising to Naruto, she was followed, and soon passed, by a pair of blondes, each holding something blunt and heavy, which they both put to good use on Shikamaru.
Yoshino, pan in hand, stopped and looked at Naruto, "Uzumaki-san, I'm-"
"Save it," Naruto said coldly, "I'll tell you what I told Hiroko-oba-chan, unless you told him to do it or something, it isn't your place to apologize. Shikamaru chose to be an ass it's as simple as that. You did nothing and owe me nothing, and I'm not forgiving him anyways." And without anything further, he walked away.
Yoshino watched the blond leave quietly with a sad expression, until she felt something grab her ankle. She looked down to see the bloodied and bruised form of her son.
"Mom, you gotta help me." Shikamaru was relieved for a moment when he saw his mother's soft smile…until he caught the frying pan with the side of his head.
"DON'T 'MOM' ME, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Yoshino roared, "WHERE, OH WHERE, DID I GO WRONG? I THOUGHT I TAUGHT YOU TO BE A BETTER MAN THAN THIS!"
#####
Ino Yamanaka yawned lazily as she turned a page in her magazine. It was always like this in the middle of a weekday at the family flower shop, everyone was too busy with work, missions or something else, so the shop's business wouldn't really pick up until early afternoon, and with a morning cashier having recently quit, that left her to be bored out of her mind for a few hours. So he expression picked up a bit when the bell on the door rang, signaling a customer.
"Welcome to the Yamanaka Flow-" She stopped and dropped back to her bored face when she saw the person, "Oh, it's only you, forehead."
"Piggy, is that how you greet a friend who just got out of a long hospital stay?" The pinkette said as she leaned on a forearm crutch on her left arm.
Ino sighed, "It is when that friend got what they deserved."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura said, sounding and looking hurt at the statement.
"C'mon, forehead, you were the apprentice of the hokage and a loyal ninja of the village, but when one of the most infamous traitors to the village gets here, what do you do? Do you try and subdue him? Do you alert the ANBU? No, the first thing you do is fuck him in the streets."
"It wasn't like that," Sakura cut in, "Sasuke-"
"And by doing that," Ino continued undeterred, "You cheated on and threw away a guy who would have treated you like a queen for the rest of your life and been an almost perfect father to your kids in the future." Her eyes sharpened, "Seriously, how could you do that to Naruto? After everything he's done for you, for this village? And don't try anything that starts with anything like 'Because it's Sasuke'." Sakura's eyes went to the side. That seemed like it was gonna be her answer, "You had someone who cared for and loved you unconditionally, and you just tossed him away."
"Well," Sakura snapped, "If you think he's so great, why didn't you ever date Naruto?"
Ino just looked incredulously at Sakura for a moment, "You really don't know? You've been my friend for years, you were my teacher as a medic, and you really never noticed?" She asked slowly.
"Pig, what are you talking about?"
Ino chuckled, before she sighed, propping her head in her hand on the counter, and smiled, "Well, I didn't date Naruto because we both have way too much in common, we're both loud, blond and blue eyed, I'll admit we're both kinda ditzy, we can both be annoying, we both like checking out hot babes…" She trailed off, waiting to see Sakura realize what she said.
She didn't wait long, "WHAT!"
Ino smiled widely, "I like girls, Sakura. I'm a lesbian. I was kinda on the edge to begin with, but all that bull shit with Sasuke when we were gennin, it just pushed me off guys. I mean, I'll flirt for fun sometimes, but it's just to mess with the guys. What I'd really is to find a nice girl, but there are so few open lesbians" She saw an apprehensive look on Sakura's face, "Don't worry, I said nice girl, and you're so not my type. And if I dated you, it might cause friction with my hopeful future baby's daddy."
"B-but, you're- you said-"
"I still want kids, and last time I checked, you still need a man for that." The blond shrugged, "Naruto's a great guy, and because you couldn't see it didn't mean others couldn't. Naruto would be a great dad, he wouldn't use the kid against me if we got in a fight or something, and if something happened to me, he'd raise the kid right." She looked at her old friend for a moment, eyes lingering a little on the crutch, "Sakura, if you came here looking for sympathy, you won't get any from me. It's harsh, but you got what was comin' to you. And I seriously doubt you'll get any from Naruto, either, and you'd be an idiot to try. I heard Hinata is on a warpath about something, and she actually crippled her own dad, and Anko didn't look too happy last I saw her. Either one would kick your ass if you get near Naruto, but together, and with that cute redhead, uh," the blond thought for a second, "Karin, with all three there, you might just 'disappear' altogether."
#####
"Thanks for letting me do this, Tsunade." Naruto said, standing in front of the woman's desk.
"You'd just better stay out of trouble. There are probably more than a few idiots out there who would try to take your head for no other reason than to gain notoriety."
Naruto smirked, "Baa-chan, you were gone for years with just Shizune and Tonton, I'll just be gone for a while, I'll have others with me, and, no offence, but right now I could probably kick your ass."
"Don't push it, brat," Tsunade grumbled, "I'm only doing this because you need time away from this crap and I don't want you running off like I did. Dan may have died, but he died loving me and I still ran off, if I found he'd betrayed me, I probably would have never come back, no matter what you did. I don't want you doing the same."
"Don't worry, I'll be back. I still need to take that hat from you." Naruto said as he turned to the door, only to feel a pair of arms wrap him from behind.
"Take care of yourself, Naruto. I know I never say this, but I do love you. If Dan and I ever had a kid, I would hope he'd be like you," Tsunade was silent for a second before adding, "Maybe a little quieter as a kid, but otherwise like you."
Naruto took her hand, "I know, and I do love you too, Tsunade, you're the closest thing I've had to a mom in my life," He was silent for a moment as well before adding, "And from what I understand, mom was just as violent as you are," Naruto ducked away just in time to dodge a whack to the head before flicking the seal on her forehead, "And, from what I saw, she was just as much of a babe as you."
Tsunade turned red as he ran to the window, "B-Brat!"
Naruto turned back and grinned, "I'll see you at the gates in a few hours." Then, he leapt out the window.
#####
A few hours later, Naruto, Anko, Hinata and Karin stood, waiting, at the gates for Tsunade to arrive and give them an official sendoff. Tenten, Neji, Hiroko, Kiba, Shino and Ino where already saying goodbye. Kakashi was away on a mission and Lee was off training with Gai.
Soon, Tsunade arrived, oddly with Temari.
"Sorry, Naruto, I have to give you one quick mission before you start. Due to certain…difficulties, Temari cannot currently continue her duties as ambassador here in Konoha, and will need an escort to her village. I thought you might not mind."
"Yeah, sure, it's fine," Naruto waved it off before looking to the Suna Kunoichi, "Did you get your hits in?" Temari nodded silently before he leaned in, and quietly added, "If you want to talk, I'm here. Trust me, it'll help."
Temari nodded slightly, and quietly said, "Thank you."
Naruto motioned her as she joined his team. As she did, he noticed a in the corner of his eyes, someone else's following her, or rather, following a part of her. He smirked before hugging Tsunade and saying goodbye. As he and his team walked away, a clone popped up behind Ino and whispered something in her ear and disappeared just as the others noticed. Once Naruto was over the horizon, the others were about to ask what he said, but before they could, Ino grabbed Tenten by her buns and pulled her into a searing kiss, effectively stopping all conversation in the group, and blanking Tenten's mind.
Once she pulled back, Ino gave the brunette a cursory look over before asking, "You wanna go out sometime?"
Tenten, still way out of it, just breathed a faint, "Yes," Before Ino hugged her close.
Nearby, another clone popped away.
#####
Naruto looked back and smiled.
Hinata looked back, "Is something wrong, Naruto-kun?"
Naruto nodded, "It's great, Hinata-chan, I think things will be getting better."
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A Harem's Betrayal (Challenge copied from Hakkyou no Yami' page)
Well you've all read all sort of how the girl that is paired with Naruto cheat in him with another guy, like the most common Sakura with Sasuke, the god forsaken Hinata with Kiba (no offence to the Authors of the stories) and all other type of that and then comes another girl to comfort or that my most hated the girl try to redeem herself until the blond somehow forgives her and also in couple of stories where Naruto break up from one girl and get together with another only to break up with her again and so on and on to another as each one of them betrays or cheat on him and then little by little one by one he forgives them and eventually all the girls would get together and form a Harem. Now what we haven't seen or maybe that's just me I didn't saw...is when all the girls on the Harem cheat on him in the same time...for example I repeat this is just an example...Naruto is paired with Sakura, Ino and Hinata...Naruto discover the first 2 fuck with Sasuke like rabbits in heat...broken he went to Hinata only to find her doing the exact same thing with Kiba...leaving Naruto completely shattered.
Conditions:
1. first and foremost and the most important thing...the girls who betrayed Naruto ARE NOT TO BE FORGIVEN FOR THE ENTIRE STORY EVER, so choose wisely on who are in the first Harem as they won't be with Naruto ever again...do not use forced betrayals...like in Hinata's case sometimes that she is arranged married by the Hyuuga council or they forced apart or something like that...it must be willing on the girls part and they knew the full consequence.
2. Smart, serious and cold near merciless Naruto is a must in this story and also he is to be super powered.
3. This is optional but I would like to request that you do not focus the entire story on this plot but rather make this as a big part of the main plot.
is no more than six girls at max in both the one who betrayed him and the one who won't.
Naruto bashing in any form as the betrayal itself is the most humiliating and hurtful thing that he could ever receive, meaning no girl that try and dominate the blond or hits him in the head even it's for comedy relief, or someone try and force Naruto see's that a certain girl loves him as Naruto would probably kill the person who try to force him alongside with the girl (note: because of the Betrayal Naruto changes considerably and a lot as he would never be the same ever) and also it mean any Bossy girl is so not going to be Naruto's type unless Naruto was the expectation from that bossiness.
6. This is a MUST, the story must start in the Shippuuden Era and beyond.
7. those who try to add Sakura, or Ino as part of the second Harem...as I said before Sakura is not to bash Naruto in the head, boss him around or anything of that sort, if anything she must FAR gentler than she ever had been...more like a second Hinata to him and for god sake MAKE HER HAVE MORE FIGURE AND SOME GOOD CURVES, same goes for Ino...no bossing around Naruto and as you know Kurenai and Anko are not to be paired with Naruto...though you could add them as part of the girls who betrays Naruto.
8. as much as I hate this even crossover girls are not excluded from this rule as you know crossover are of course allowed in this challenge though if any crossover girl betray Naruto...she is not to be forgiven...ever.
it is very preferred for Naruto to leave the village after that happens and swears he wants nothing to do with it...if you have some girls from Konoha to be with Naruto they MUST follow him...though I wouldn't recommend to immediately confess their love him until they give Naruto sometime to recover from this ordeal.
you have Female Kyuubi in this Story...it is a BIG must that she is to be paired with Naruto and belong to the second Harem..the ones who swears on their very life that they won't betray Naruto in any form, also if you had a Female Jinchuuriki paired with Naruto and she has a Female Bijuu inside of her the Bijuu MUST enter the pairing.
before I forgot...naturally Naruto would be very careful and cautious in relationships with girls, there must be something that would guarantee that they won't do betray him ever...something along the line of blood swear and honor swearing and promise.
I know these are a lot of conditions…but still…we want a Badass Naruto in here...
#####
"Now I know Naruto may not have come out as 'Badass' as he could have, but hey, I'm trying. Now off I go, expect my next piece soon." He opened the chest of a set of European knight's armor and leapt in, disappearing into the darkness.
