Departure
It's been a while since the last update. I had this chapter written out for some time now but I only got around to proof-reading it yesterday. In any case, here it is...
"How does one go about restoring a person's memory with a kiss?" Naruto asked with a mischievous smirk and a sense of wonder. "You never fail to amaze me Hinata."
"The memory restoration was done by my supercomputer, if you remember it from years ago. The kiss wasn't the…essential part." She answered back in her shy demeanour. "But it helped I think, to make you close your eyes and remain steady."
"Oh it helped alright, in more ways than one." Naruto looked down for a moment to bring Hinata's gaze down to his pajamas.
Hinata's face turned a bright red in colour. "Y-Y-You don't mean you want to…now?"
"I'm a guy you know. If you kiss me out of the blue like that, there'll obviously be consequences." Naruto gave Hinata a pretty serious look. "And who was it that sneaked into my bed last night despite me telling them not to? You know how difficult it was for me?"
"I-I-I didn't s-sneak in for that." Hinata stuttered from being caught off guard, but she quickly resolved her will. "I-If that is w-what you want then as y-your wife I'll take care of it."
Naruto burst out laughing, his previously serious expression changing completely. "It seems like you haven't changed at all Hinata. I was only teasing you. As much as I may want to have my way with the princess, I don't think now is hardly the time."
"T-That's not fair." Hinata whispered to herself while twiddling her index fingers.
Having heard her, Naruto decided to bring her close and whisper back into her ear, "Did I get you in the mood perhaps?"
His voice alone almost made Hinata lose control over her mind. She unleashed a barrage of light poundings to his chest in protest. "Stop teasing me like that."
"Haha, oh snap, it seems I've angered the princess. That can't be good. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Naruto apologised gleefully, enjoying every moment. "I really missed this cute and caring wife of mine. Even though I didn't have my memories for all this time, I felt this emptiness inside as though I was missing a part of me. That was you Hinata."
Hinata's expression changed into a melancholic one. "You have no idea what I went through while being separated from you Naruto-kun. Even thinking about it is painful and scary. I…I'm just glad that I can finally be with you again. This is the happiness that I sought after so desperately."
"What happened Hinata?" Naruto asked her while gently caressing her cheek. "Why did it take so long?"
"You remember the Galactic Federation right? It is basically a group that consists of the most advanced races in the universe. My race is one of the key members of this alliance. In fact, almost all advanced races are part of the Galactic Federation, bar a few exceptions. This union is an extremely important one as well since the members all aid each other in our necessities. But being part of an alliance also means to conform to a set of rules agreed upon by everyone. One such rule of the Galactic Federation involving space travel forbids any member of an advanced race from making contact and in particular revealing their identity to the people of a developing race that is not part of the Galactic Federation. The reason for this rule is actually to protect the people of the developing race. This is because there have been many instances in history where the people of a highly advanced race made contact with a primitive race, offering them partnership and technology far beyond what they were capable of creating themselves. Although at first the partnership seemed highly beneficial for the primitive race, soon it would turn into a one sided tyrannical regime where the stronger race would start to exploit the weaker one for their resources and manpower. To prevent such horrible incidents from happening again, the Galactic Federation came to the decision that all primitive and developing races must be allowed to advance on their own without any outside influence until they themselves are able to establish connection with the Galactic Federation, at which point they can become part of the group if they so choose." Hinata explained. "As you know, I clearly went against the aforementioned rule when I not only revealed my identity to you, but we also ended up getting married. That is why I had to lock away your memories of me back then. But still, there were a lot of complications."
"Yes I remember you told me about this before you left Earth back then." Naruto thought hard about Hinata's predicament. "So, how did you manage to get back?"
"We appealed for a special case consideration because of how we Hyuyans choose our partners. Since you turned out to be my chosen one, there was no other way around it for me. These circumstances were taken into consideration in allowing me to return back to Earth. But there were several issues. The first one as I mentioned earlier being that there was in fact another person who had been taken away from Earth in the past and that person ended up dying due to certain complications at the host planet. They did not want such an incident to occur again given that I want to take you to Hyuya. The second problem was that Earth in particular is predicted to become the next member of the Galactic federation."
"Wait WHAT!?" Naruto's face showed his utter surprise.
"Lately a lot of analysis has been done on Earth and the advancement of its people. In fact that is one of the reasons why I even came to study Earth in the first place, because of its great potential. Earth's civilization and technology has grown tremendously in an extremely short period of time, far beyond any other developing race that is out there right now. Taking this growth into consideration, it is predicted that Earth will become advanced enough to make contact with other intelligent life in the cosmos soon, at least at a universal timescale. This is why the Galactic Federation is especially sensitive to the idea of any particular race messing with Earth right now. Nonetheless, my father's persuasion worked and we were given a pass. I have been allowed to return back to Earth only so that I may be able to take you back to my planet. I can't let anyone else on Earth find out about my identity during this process. And that is why I'm here Naruto-kun, to take you with me…because there are many important things for you to learn about once you arrive at Hyuya, but only when you get there. My time here on Earth is very limited"
"Now I'm getting curious to learn even more." Naruto felt a sense of childlike excitement within him. "To be able to travel to a distant planet on a different galaxy than my own and learn about an intelligent race besides the one on Earth…I'm having a hard time believing it all. It just feels like yesterday that I started research in this area and now all this."
"Ah that reminds me, congratulations on your successful research." Hinata congratulated Naruto happily. "I found your work to be incredibly detailed and thorough."
"You mean you actually know about the research I did in the past four years?" Naruto was flabbergasted.
"Of course. I work in the same field of planetary science after all, and Earth's database is not particularly difficult for me to access. I've read your papers and I was truly amazed to see your detailed analysis on my planet."
"Wait…so the planet I've been researching all this time was Hyuya?" Naruto's eyes widened even further. It was one surprise after another.
"I suppose you didn't realise it especially since you didn't have any memories about me at the time. It was very fitting though that you were studying my home planet, Hyuya while I was studying your home planet, Earth. I thought your work was very accurate Naruto-kun given that I am from Hyuya." Hinata complimented him sincerely.
"Wow…thanks Hinata. It means a lot coming from you." Naruto felt a little shy being praised by her, but he suddenly remembered something important. "Oh snap I almost forgot. My work…it should be airing on TV."
He quickly grabbed the remote to turn on the TV and started to flick through the channels.
"What's the matter Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked curiously.
Having finally reached the destination channel, Naruto set the remote aside and pointed to the screen. "Watch and you'll find out."
The show had just started. It was an interview style documentary and quite popular at that. A young woman in her twenties was conducting the interview with her guest.
"Glad to have you all back for this month's episode. As always I am your host Moegi and today we will be talking to another esteemed member of academia, getting to know first-hand about their research that is pushing the boundaries of science." The host, Moegi greeted the audience. "Today's focus is on the field of planetary science, and the topic at hand has been making the headlines around the world lately. Our guest as such is also very special indeed. Unlike most renowned academics that we invite on the show who have been working on their respective fields for decades, the guest we have today is very young, only having completed his PhD just recently. Despite this his research has had a very profound impact on the field of planetary science. So without further ado, let me introduce you all to our guest of honour – Dr. Naruto Namikaze." The camera zoomed out and focused on Naruto sitting on a chair opposite to Moegi, a glass table between them. He was suited up and looking smart for the occasion. "It truly is an honour having you on the show Dr. Namikaze."
"The pleasure is all mine." Naruto replied courteously. Although he put on a brave front, he had the butterflies inside his stomach being on a show that was watched by a lot of people.
"Going straight to it – you've found the first Earth-like extragalactic planet in the Andromeda galaxy. Could you elaborate on it a little for us all?" Moegi asked inquisitively.
"So we've all known about the existence of planets around stars outside our solar system for a long time now. But in the past we were only able to find such planets around stars that are relatively close to the sun. However, now for the very first time we've been able to detect and confirm a planet in a different galaxy than our own. Even more interestingly, this planet is almost identical to Earth in the majority of its features. Never before have we found a planet that so closely resembles Earth in fact. Certainly the similarities are striking."
"Since you were the one to first discover it, you also got to give it a little nick name – "Hina", which seems to have become rather popular. Any particular reasons for the name?" This time she asked in more of a relaxed tone.
"Ah no, that came to me rather spontaneously. When I named it I felt there was some significance behind the name, but I couldn't exactly pin down what it was. I went with it nonetheless and I'm glad it has been well received." Naruto explained with a smile.
"Can you tell us a little bit about Hina perhaps? How is it like?"
"Of course. As I said before, it is identical to Earth in many ways. It is of the same size, the atmosphere has a similar gaseous composition; it orbits at almost the exact same distance from its star as the Earth does around the sun. Even the star it orbits is identical to the sun. The similarity between Earth and Hina was what truly caught me off guard." Naruto replied with a sense of excitement in his voice. "There was one difference however. It seems a lot of that planet's surface is covered by water with very little land present, even more so than Earth, which itself has the majority of its surface covered in water as well."
"It is certainly quite interesting that you've managed to find so many details about a planet that is so far away, in a different galaxy than our own." Moegi continued. "How has this been possible?"
"We've only been able to gather this level of detailed data through the recent launch of the NST – the Namikaze Space Telescope. It is a next generation space telescope that is leaps and bounds beyond anything that has ever been created before, being able to peer deeply at even our neighbouring galaxies. The technology within it is truly ground-breaking and almost all the major nations around the world collaborated to give the financial backing, as well as the brightest minds around the globe working together to make the project a possibility."
"It must be quite nice to have the world's most advanced and expensive scientific equipment named after you." Moegi said jokingly.
Naruto laughed lightly in response. "While it certainly would be an honour, but the telescope itself was of course not named after me. It was named after one of the most influential scientists of our time, Minato Namikaze, to commemorate his work which has revolutionised the field of Astrophysics."
"Minato Namikaze has been somewhat of an enigma because of his sudden disappearance years ago which left the scientific community in shock. I feel as though you may be a unique person to ask a little bit more about the matter due to your academic ties to him despite never having met him before."
Naruto nodded at the enquiry. "It is without a doubt that Minato Namikaze's contributions in advancing our knowledge are unmatched. In fact, my research supervisor, Professor Jiraiya, was also the supervisor of Namikaze when he did his PhD. Professor Jiraiya was just starting out in his career back then when he took his very first student, a child prodigy, which was unheard of. At the age of 15 Namikaze submitted his thesis and became a fully-fledged researcher at one of the world's best universities. Professor Jiraiya described him as nothing short of a genius unlike anyone he had ever seen before. In fact after working with Namikaze, the professor, who himself became an expert in the field did not take any other pupil under his wing ever again until just a couple of years ago when he decided to take one last student. That was me of course. So in a sense you could call Namikaze my peer, and much of my work is a continuation of where he left off. It truly is sad however that he disappeared all of a sudden without any trace whatsoever about 30 years ago. No one figured out what happened to him ever since and we can only assume the worse at this point. It was a truly sad loss. However we have tried to honour his legacy by naming the world's greatest telescope after him."
"I'm sure he would be happy right now if he knew what you've managed to find with this telescope. Interestingly, do you think there is life in the planet Hina?"
"Perhaps I'm the wrong person to ask since I am not a Biologist, but with my limited knowledge of Biology I could say at least that it is definitely a possibility given how similar it is to Earth and the presence of a substantial amount of water on the planet's surface, which is essential for life." Naruto replied with a smile. "Who knows, maybe someday we'll be able to find out."
"And who knew I would be sitting right next one of the inhabitants of "Hina" at this very moment?" Naruto asked himself light-heartedly as he moved his gaze away from the TV to Hinata.
"Did you give that name after me?" Hinata looked back at Naruto with a dazzling gleam in her eyes.
"Yes, now that I have my memories back I finally remember where that name came from. Before I felt that name was special to me somehow, but now I know for sure. I named that planet in memory of you, and funny enough it turned out to be the planet where you actually came from." Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of joy from the string of events that linked together.
"Thank you Naruto-kun. Now you even get to go to that planet and witness first-hand what it is like." Hinata added happily. "I hope you'll like it."
The two sat down and watched the rest of the show where they talked more about the details of Naruto's work and the topic in general. Eventually when it ended, Hinata started to help Naruto pack up some of his belongings for the trip ahead of them. Once they were done packing the two decided to rest for the remainder of the day before setting off.
Having refreshed themselves, by night time they were ready to finally leave and were now standing at the back entrance of the house. It was only for a day that Naruto had returned home and he felt a little sad leaving already, but there were many more encounters ahead and much more for him to learn. Above all, Hinata was with him and she wanted to take him to her planet for some very specific reasons. So he would oblige nonetheless if it made her happy.
"Actually, something has been striking me as odd." Naruto gave Hinata a questioning glance.
"What is it Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked in her usual kind tone.
"Where is Himawari?" Naruto questioned back with a perplexed look. "I haven't seen her ever since you arrived, and that little rascal shouldn't be leaving me alone right now given how she is."
Hinata giggled lightly at Naruto's account of Himawari. "She's here alright. I've just left her in charge of my spaceship to carry out some maintenance so that we can leave without any delays."
"I see. Now it makes sense. Well…I'm looking forward to meeting her." Naruto stated his honest feelings.
"I'm sure she can't wait to meet you either." Hinata replied back earnestly as they both started to walk out of the back entrance.
"Shall we go?" She asked while extending her right hand towards Naruto.
He grabbed on to it firmly in response. "Yes, let us set off…FOR THE STARS!"
Thus the two began their new journey.
Finally, now that I've managed to get a lot of the exposition out of the way, we can really start to get into the meat and bones of the story. There is a lot for Naruto to find out about his connections outside of Earth.
I liked a lot of the technical questions I received in the past few chapters, like how the Hyuyans were able to find their chosen ones in the past without the supercomputer that they have now and how the Ucians were able to survive on a planet that had no star to warm it up. It takes time to develop technology after all. And these questions will be answered later on as they are all linked together with Naruto's legacy.
Finally I suppose I can answer the question that both Bolt and Himawari will be in this story, and Naruto meets Himawari next chapter...AGAIN!
I'll leave you guys to ponder about that a little bit. I'd love to know your thoughts, and keep the questions coming. They make me think, which is always nice.
Until next time, take care :)