Welcome back for the next exiting installment of What Could've been. I hope you all enjoy.
Remember that I don't own Naruto. I fought the Kishi, and Kishi won; therefore it remains his property.
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"N-Naruto-kun I'm glad that you're okay." Said Hinata as she walked out of the hospital alongside Naruto.
"Yea, I just feel bad for Sasuke. A lot of his family died and for no reason." Naruto replied with a tone of sadness in his voice. While he didn't know what it was like to lose someone close, he knew what it was like to be lonely, having grown up with no one.
"Yes but at least Sasuke-kun still has his mom and Itachi."
"Yea, and he has us too." Said Naruto with determination.
"Of course." Replied Hinata with a smile.
By this time the pair had made it out of the hospital and onto the street, headed for Ichiraku's to grab a bite to eat. Both of them couldn't help but notice that the glares Naruto usually received now seemed worse. As they continued along, they heard some of the people murmur "Damn demon, he's obviously responsible for the massacre." and "I heard he stole the Sharingan from them after he killed them all."
It upset Hinata that people were blaming Naruto for what happened when he actually helped to stop the rogue ANBU. "Naruto-kun… I wish people weren't like that."
Naruto, for his part, was already used to the glares and hatred; he only hoped that it would stay just that-glares and rumors. He didn't want to be attacked again after that night he killed that group of villagers.
They finally arrived at Ichiraku's, much to Hinata's pleasure. In here, the people couldn't be mean to Naruto. Tseuchi and Ayame had been among the first people to accept Naruto and treat him well, and wouldn't allow anyone to bully Naruto in their presence.
"Hey old man! Miso ramen with pork for me, and keep em coming!" Naruto said as they walked in and took their seats.
"Sure thing Naruto-kun. And what would you like Hinata-chan?" Replied Tseuchi.
"I'll have a vegetable ramen please." Hinata said politely.
"I'll have them out in just a minute then." Said Tseuchi as he walked into the back to prepare their food.
As soon as Tseuchi made it through the door, Ayame burst out and sprinted around the counter to wrap Naruto in a hug. "I was so worried about you Otouto! I heard you were injured in a fight at the Uchiha compound. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Neechan, you should know that nothing can keep me down until I become the Hokage!" Naruto stated with conviction as Ayame smiled.
"I know, but I can't help but worry about my otouto."
"Thanks." Naruto said as she walked back behind the counter and grabbed their food from her dad.
"Itadakimasu!" Naruto half-shouted as he began to eat with a fury that only 2 days without food can cause.
Hinata and Ayame both sweat-dropped at his manners, but both also knew that he hadn't eaten in a couple of days, so they decided to allow it. Just this once.
Hinata and Naruto both finished eating while chatting with Tseuchi and Ayame, which lasted for a while, considering that Naruto downed nearly thirty bowls. After they were done with the meal they both stood to leave as Hinata reached into her pocket for some money to pay for her meal. Upon seeing this, Naruto stopped her and pulled out enough to pay for both of their meals.
"T-Thanks, N-Naruto-kun." Said Hinata with a light blush as they left and began to walk towards her home.
"It's no problem Hinata-chan, I asked you to come so it's only right that I pay, right?" Naruto replied as he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Y-You really didn't have to thought."
"It was no problem at all."
The 2 then continued their walk, making small talk, before they arrived near the Hyuga compound.
"See you tomorrow Hinata-chan." Naruto said as he gave her a quick hug, making her blush brightly.
"S-S-Sure N-Naruto-kun. T-Thank you for walking me home." She stuttered out before walking inside.
As soon as she made it in, one of the branch family members approached her and said "Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama requests your presence."
"Hai. Thank you." Hinata replied with a small bow.
Hinata then made her way to her father's study and knocked on the door, worrying about what he might want. Though she had gotten slightly better with her confidence issues, being with her father still rattled her. He had been very cold and distant to her ever since her mother died a couple of years ago.
"Enter." Came the flat voice of Hiashi, her father. She opened the door and walked inside before bowing to him.
"Hello Tousan, you wanted to see me?" She said, barely managing not to stutter.
"Yes, I have a few questions for you."
Hinata just nodded her acknowledgement as a sign for him to continue.
"I am told that you are associating with an Uchiha and the Uzumaki child, yes?"
"Y-Yes Tousan."
"I see. I am not pleased by this. You know our clan has bad blood with the Uchiha, and the Uzumaki is nothing but trouble."
"B-But Tousan they-"
"No 'buts' Hinata. They are trash, and you shall not see them again."
"Naruto-kun… Sasuke-kun… you are my only friends, how can I not see you anymore?" thought Hinata.
"But-"
"My word is final. You will not associate with them anymore. Is that clear?"
Hinata was saddened now, almost to the point of tears at the thought of losing her friends. It was then that something inside of her decided to snap.
"No." Hinata said with a new found conviction.
"What was that?" Hiashi replied with anger evident in his voice.
"I said no. I will not stop talking to my friends."
"You dare defy my word?! You need to learn your place girl."
"You will not control my life! Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are my friends and it will remain that way!" Hinata yelled only to be slapped in the face by the enraged Hiashi.
"Get out of my sight. I will decide a fitting punishment for your insolence by the morning." Said Hiashi as he glared daggers at Hinata.
Hinata got up and left the room without another word.
"Insolent little bitch… She is too soft to be the heir anyways, she would bring disgrace to our name. Perhaps Neji would be a suitable replacement. Even though he was born into the branch house he is quite the prodigy. That's it. I shall banish Hinata and give her the seal, and then remove Neji's and name him clan heir." Hiashi thought.
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With Hinata
"I can't believe he would try to take them away from me." Hinata thought as she walked to her room. "I would never give up Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun. I just can't believe I actually stood up to him either."
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With Naruto after he left Hinata
Naruto began his trek back towards the Hokage's office to gain entry to his house, ignoring the continued glares of the villagers. After a while, he noticed someone following him.
"Come on, not this again. I'm still too far away from the tower to receive help. Ugh." He thought as he altered his path towards the nearest training ground.
"Damn more of them keep joining in."
He soon arrived and turned to the stalkers "Come on out, I know you're there."
To his surprise, it was a group of 5 people, and 3 of them had on chunin vests.
"Just freakin great."
"Are you prepared to die, demon?" Said one of the chunin.
"I've never bothered you before! Can't you just leave me alone?!" Naruto shouted.
"Never bothered us? You killed my father 8 years ago, and now you killed half of the Uchiha clan. We're gonna make you pay!" Said the next chunin as he lunged at Naruto. Naruto quickly leapt out of his way to dodge the attack, but was met by the first chunin who punched him in the face and knocked him into a tree. Before Naruto even managed to hit the ground he was kicked in the ribs and knocked away once more. He regained his composure in mid flight and landed feet first to a tree and stuck to it. It was then that he remembered having his sharingan, so he activated it to see if it would give him an edge.
Once he activated his eyes, it was like the difference between night and day. Movements he could barely track before were now clearly visible, and he could predict what move they would make next easily. The next one to attack appeared to be a genin in his mid-teens; he leapt towards Naruto with a kunai, intending to slash his throat. Naruto saw the move before he made it, so he pulled out his own kunai and ducked under the slash before jumping back up and burying it hilt deep in the man's chest before kicking the body away just in time to doege a slash from a sword by the other genin, this one was a girl who appeared to be about 14-15 years old.
He shifted to the left just enough to dodge the sword strike before coming up with another kunai and cutting into the arm that was holding said sword. She screamed and let go of the sword before spinning to throw a kick at Naruto's head. He saw it coming and easily ducked under it before kicking her in the chest, sending her flying. He then grabbed the sword that she dropped and blocked a slash from a kunai by the 3rd chunin. The chunin then leapt away and began to do handseals. Naruto stuck his new sword in the ground and quickly began to copy him. "Katon: Endan!"(Fire Release: Flame Bullet) They simultaneously shouted as they blew out a stream of flames at each other.
The flames collided and dispersed each other in a cloud of steam. Naruto, with his Sharingan, could easily see through the steam, while the chunin couldn't. Naruto grabbed the sword out of the ground and formed a shadow clone, before the clone leapt through the smoke and engaged the chunin. It didn't take long for the chunin to land a hit on the clone and dispel it. "Shadow clone?" was his last thought as his head left his shoulders and rolled across the ground.
Naruto then stopped to look around to find the other 2 attackers. Just as he found one of the chunin running towards him with a kunai, he heard a new voice say "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."(Fire Release: Grand Fireball) Before a massive stream of fire swept across the ground in front of him and turned the attacking chunin to ash before turning and incinerating the girl that he knocked out previously.
"Sorry it took me so long to get here Naruto-kun. You can take it easy now, good job so far." Said the mysterious voice, that belonged to an ANBU in a weasel mask.
Weasel then threw out several shuriken before going through handseals so fast that Naruto couldn't even follow with his sharingan. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." he said as he blew out several balls of fire that enveloped the shuriken before they all flew at the last remaining combatant, slicing and burning him beyond recognition.
"Who are you?" Asked Naruto, awed by the man's performance.
"As of right now, my name is Weasel. You may call me Itachi though, Naruto-kun." Said Itachi as he removed his mask.
"You're Sasuke's brother right?" Naruto asked.
"That is correct Naruto-kun."
"I'm sorry about your clan Itachi-kun."
"You don't know the half of it. Wait did he call me Itachi-kun?"
"Thank you for your condolences. And –kun?"
"Well you called me Naruto-kun. Do you mind if I call you Itachi-kun?"
"No no, feel free."
"Thank you." Naruto replied with a smile.
"Well Naruto-kun, we should report in to the Hokage."
"Right." Naruto said as Itachi put a hand on his shoulder and shunshinned them to Hiruzens office.
"Itachi-kun, Naruto-kun, what brings you two here?" Said Hiruzen as he stuffed some tobacco into his pipe and lit it up.
"Naruto-kun was attacked by a few shinobi." Itachi said plainly.
Hiruzen's eyes lit up a bit in worry at that as he said "I see. What happened?"
"Well, I was walking home after I dropped Hinata-chan off at the Hyuga compound, when I noticed I was being followed. I then led them to the nearest training field in case they caused any trouble. After we got there they called me a demon and blamed me for killing the Uchiha, before attacking me. I managed to take out 2 of them and incapacitate a third before Itachi-kun arrived and swiftly dealt with the remaining 2."
"I see… fools. You did good to defend yourself until Itachi could arrive Naruto-kun. And thank you Itachi-kun for arriving swiftly to help."
"It is no problem Hokage-sama. It is the least I could do, without Naruto-kun I would have likely died by the ROOT."
"Speaking of which, what is ROOT?" Naruto asked
"They are a 'special' group of ANBU that are led by Danzo. They typically work in the shadows and stay out of the public eye." Hiruzen explained.
"Why would they attack the Uchiha?"
"We aren't sure, but we think they may have just cracked under the stress." Hiruzen lied expertly.
"Oh I see."
"Anyways Naruto-kun, are you okay?"
"Yea Jiji, I'm fine. They barely touched me because of the Sharingan."
"I didn't figure he would be able to use it so quickly… good job Naruto-kun."
"I see. Well if you are okay then you can go on home." Said Hiruzen as Naruto walked over to the wall and did some hand seals before the wall opened up and walked in and disappeared.
"So Itachi-kun, what did you think of Naruto-kun's performance?"
"He is good for his age, that is for sure, but he needs to be better. I was actually thinking about training him and my otouto for a while and having them join ANBU, if that is okay with you."
"Actually, I was going to suggest something along those lines myself. Being in ANBU would prevent this from happening, as well as make them both strong shinobi."
"Yea, I shall begin as soon as Sasuke-kun is cleared then."
"Okay then, I'll assign this to you as a long term mission, that way you won't be interrupted unless absolutely necessary."
"Thank you Hokage-sama."
"Thank you as well. You may be dismissed."
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The next day
Naruto woke up as normal, and began his normal morning routine before leaving home on his way to see Sasuke, and then go to school.
"Morning Jiji." Naruto said as he appeared in the Hokage's office.
"Good morning Naruto-kun. How do you feel?" Hiruzen asked, concerned that Naruto was once again forced to kill more people the night before.
"I'm okay Jiji. I'm just headed to see Sasuke and then to school."
"Actually," Hiruzen began as he looked over the young blonde. "How would you like to be trained by Itachi alongside Sasuke instead of attending the academy?"
"Really? I would like that… but I would miss seeing Hinata-chan."
"You don't have to worry about that Naruto-kun, you would still have free time to spend with your friends."
"Really?! If I still get to see her than of course I'll accept! Itachi is really strong so he'd make sure I'm good enough to take your spot in no time!" Naruto replied with a smile.
"He is a very talented shinobi, and the best candidate to teach you now that you have the sharingan. You can go on and visit Sasuke now, and come back here to meet Itachi when you're done."
"Okay. Thanks Jiji!" Said Naruto as he left the room with a smile on his face.
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Hyuga compound
Hinata was ready to begin her day, she had already got ready and was about to leave when there was a knock at her door.
"Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama requests your presence once more."
"Ugh what could he want now. I hoped he would let it drop after last night." She thought as she left her room to see what he wanted. It only took a few minutes for her to arrive at her father's study where she knocked on the door.
"Enter."
She opened the door and walked in to stand in front of his desk. "You wanted to see me?" She said with no emotion in her voice.
"Yes I did. Pertaining to your insolence last night, I have come to a decision. I do not see you fit to be the next leader of this clan; as such, you are hereby banished from the clan and stripped of the Hyuga name."
Those words felt like a hammer hitting Hinata in the chest. She was upset with her father's attitude about her friends, but didn't imagine him to do anything like this. She was only 8 years old and now banished from her house and family. "How will I survive I'm not old enough to live alone!" She thought.
"And furthermore, once you return from the academy today, you will be given the seal before taking your things and leaving."
She was now almost in shock at the news of receiving the seal. She was almost in tears, so she simply nodded her head before turning and leaving.
She began walking through the village towards the hospital to visit Sasuke, pondering her father's words and fighting back the tears that threatened to fall.
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A few minutes later, at the hospital.
Naruto had just arrived at the hospital to see that Sasuke was still asleep. He didn't want to disturb him, so he only sat there for a few minutes before standing to leave. When he made it to the door, however, he almost bumped into Hinata, who had a distant look on her face and wasn't paying attention to where she was going.
"Oh hey Hinata-chan, sorry about that." He said as he backed up to let her in the room.
She didn't reply to him though as she just walked in and sat down in a chair near Sasuke's bed.
"Hinata-chan?" Naruto said again, to no reply.
He then walked over closer to her and looked at her better; noticing that she was blankly staring at the wall, with tears obviously threatening to fall at any minute.
"Hinata-chan, are you okay?" He said softly, only inches from her face. It was then that she snapped back to reality and glomped onto him as the dams behind her eyes broke.
She sobbed into his shoulder for several minutes before she finally settled down and started to speak. "N-Naruto-kun sniff I'm sorry… But my father sniff disowned me and banished me from the clan this morning. Sniff Then he told me sniff that I was going to get the seal!" she managed to choke out before she started crying again.
"What's going on?" Came a new voice that startled both Naruto and Hinata.
"Oh Sasuke you're finally awake, good!" Naruto said as he held on to Hinata. "She said that her dad disowned her this morning."
"I see… Bastard." Sasuke growled as his 1 tomoe Sharingan subconsciously activated.
"I-It's okay, Sasuke-kun, don't be angry for me." Hinata managed to say.
Sasuke then calmed down, but his Sharingan remained active as he tried to sit up in bed.
"You feel better now princess?" Naruto asked Sasuke with a chuckle, which earned him a Sharingan enhanced glare.
"Well it looks like you finally woke up your Sharingan." Naruto said, now with genuine praise.
"Really?" Sasuke said as he saw his reflection on a window. "Cool, but speaking of eyes and the such, weren't your eyes blue?"
Naruto's face then turned to a saddened expression. "Yea… I got his in both of my eyes during the fight though… so Itachi gave me a set of Sharingan eyes from one of the ones who didn't make it."
"Oh… I see. Can you use the Sharingan?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto replied by activating his 3 tomoe and having them spin around slowly.
"Cool, but it won't help you any, I'm still gonna beat you." Sasuke replied with a smirk.
"I doubt it loser." Naruto said with his own smirk. "But get dressed, we need to go see Jiji."
"Okay give me a minute." Sasuke replied as Naruto lead Hinata out of the room.
A few minutes later the three left the hospital and made their way to the Hokage tower, and into Hiruzen's office.
"Hey Jiji." Naruto Said as they walked inside.
"Hello everyone. I'm glad to see you up again now Sasuke." Replied Hiruzen.
"Thank you Hokage-sama."
"And what is wrong with Hinata?" Hiruzen asked, which caused Naruto's face to turn serious.
"She said that her father banished her from the clan and told her she was getting sealed later today, though that's all I know." Naruto replied.
"Hinata, would you mind telling me what happened please?"
Hinata then proceeded to explain what happened the previous night and the morning. It angered everyone in the room that Hiashi would kick her out, as well as the personal insults to Naruto and Sasuke.
While it pissed Hiruzen off highly that someone would do that to their own daughter, he knew there was nothing he could do, as it was a clan matter.
"Well, I am not happy about it, but it's not my place to interfere in clan affairs. I'm sorry." He said as he hung his head in defeat.
Now everyone thought Naruto wasn't very smart, he was actually very intelligent; he just chose not to use that knowledge in school. That being said, Naruto picked up on something that everyone else missed.
"Hinata-chan, can you repeat that again please?" He said, earning a confused look from Hiruzen and Sasuke as Hinata began to retell the story.
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Cliffhanger! (enraged shouts and surprised gasps erupt from the room) Maybe some of you will figure out what Naruto noticed. If not, then until next time, you shall wait.
Review replies:
Erasels: As normal, thank you. I always like to take the readers' suggestions to heart so I hope this chapter seems better now.
Silvermane1: Itachi gave it to him after the fight; and only time will tell(insert evil laugh here).
Monkeyfish997: I may cover it some more in the next chapter(s), but in case I don't, he knew that Itachi killed him, and the great pain of being betrayed by his son caused it.
Hope you all enjoyed. I don't have much else to say so read, fav, follow, review, repeat.