II. At the Hospital.
"You don't say." Naruto said to the ANBU shinobi, frowning. "Look, sorry... But half the people who usually say I "need" to go with them... Hell, ALL the people who say that are normally trying to kill me. Or worse. So, uh, no. You'll just have to step aside, man."
There was a short moment of tense silence. Hinata's grip over Naruto's hand became tighter.
"I get it if you don't really trust the ANBU because of Danzou..." The hooded man said. "... But him, the Root and us are not in the same boat. We helped the Hokage through the history of this village, the invasion of Pain was no exception. Tsunade-sama is alive partially because of us... So, please..."
"If that's the case, then how about you get that mask off your face, huh?" Naruto smirked defiantly. "I asked who you are. And I want an answer."
"Naruto-kun... There's a reason behind that mask." Hinata said, looking serious. "It's not just to conceal one's identity. It's also because they want to be free from the things they themselves do..."
"Huh?" Naruto gazed at Hinata, who in return gazed at him. She wasn't bluffing and she wasn't speaking for the sake of it either. She really looked like she knew what she was talking about, which made Naruto feel a powerful feeling of regret and guilt. His first realization about that girl was how much of a "weirdo" she was for him. And though during the Chuunin exams his opinion changed considerably, he still couldn't bring himself to count on her for things in which he needed help. But ever since Pain's attack... She...
"What Hinata-sama says is entirely true." The ANBU said. Both Uzumaki and Hyuuga turned back to him, their cheeks coloured a bit red. "Naruto... Looking at our own faces after realizing what we have to do as ANBU members... Not many are able to do such thing. We develop certain... Habits, to keep our minds and our hearts distracted from those actions we are responsible for. Wearing a mask for about anything we do, is one of those habits... Of course, this is applied to those ANBU with the highest rank. Rookies and bodyguards, however strong, they have no such burdens to bear. Yet."
"But the war is over." Naruto replied stubbornly. "There's no longer any threat coming from any village, an alliance has been formed. A true one. There's no need for more interrogation, torture or unnecesary, violent things like those. And if you really want to be free of those things you do... Or did... You have no choice but to face them. Take that mask off and face yourself... Prove yourself that you are better than those things. You need to forgive yourself."
The ANBU chuckled in a way very much like that of the person Naruto had fought the most ruthlessly in the war. Uchiha Obito. The only reason why it seemed a chuckle, was because apparently it amused the ANBU. But on different circumstances, if they had been fighting, Naruto would have not seen the difference between that laugh and a plain snort... Such was the coldness coming from him. Although, unlike Obito, this person's coldness wasn't towards Naruto or Hinata... It was towards himself.
"His soul, and his mind..." Naruto frowned thoughtfully while speaking to himself inwardly. "... This guy is also at war. Thre's a war inside him... And he is just as lost about his as I am about mine."
"I appreciate your concern, Naruto. Sadly, there is no time for this right now... There is a reason why I need you to come with me, and not just any random reason."
"Tch!" Naruto shook his head. "What's up with people with high ranks and masks? It's almost as if the more power you get, the less you want people to know who you are... Haku... That Obito guy... This ANBU... Even Kakashi-sensei, in a way..." He thought bitterly. Afterwards, he sighed and rubbed his neck annoyedly. He was NOT looking forward for that...
"Whatever. Say the reason then..."
"A little while ago, and ANBU squad came back from a mission that took place in Amegakure."
"Hidden Rain? But... Isn't that...?" Hinata frowned. Naruto started to feel like he really needed to spend more time with her. The fact that her face could produce such expressions was catching him off guard. She looked at him, and he only found out seconds later, as he was lost in her eyes, trying to figure them out.
"Oh! Uh, yeah. That's supposed to be where the Akatsuki came from. Anyway... What about it?" He felt his face a bit warm... For who-knows-what time ever since Hinata got there.
"Well, such ANBU squad happens to be MY squad. We found a particularly familiar woman there... She was injured fatally, and the only thing she managed to say was a man's name." The ANBU turned on his feet and with a hand sign, requested them to follow him. "Your name to be specific."
"Naruto-kun's name? But you don't know anybody from Amegakure, do you?" She looked at him yet again, and he started to think that he was enjoying it way too much.
"Not that I remember of..." And then, just then, as the ANBU's footsteps got further away from him, and as the night wind caressed his face softly, the memory of the whole reason why his perception of Hinata had begun to change. The memory of an attack on his village, and of the attackers. A man and a woman from Amegakure...
"Where in the HELL is Shizune...? I need sedatives right NOW!" A blond, hot-headed woman yelled frustrated as she used her hands and greenish chakra to stop another woman's bleeding. They were on a relatively large Hospital room, though due to the lateness of the event, pretty much everything but that room was shrouded in darkness. It was about to be midnight. Despite the fact that Hospitals are commonly known (or popular) for their "whiteness", especially on their beds and walls, the room in which the blond woman was healing the other was getting more and more dyed in red, as consequence of the blood coming out endlessly from the patient.
"She's seconds away from here, Godaime." A voice said from no where in particular. Used as the Godaime Hokage was with flashy, stealthy and "out-of-nowherely" appereances (especially with shinobi), her focus on the patient was not lost. She did give a fast gaze to the room's door's threshold, as in the middle of it an adult figure appeared in a cloak and wearing a mask.
"Sekai?" She asked, as she pushed into the wound harder. "Wait, if you're here, then that means..."
But before she could even end the phrase, yet another hot-headed blond (male this time) made his way inside the room, rising his voice as loudly as the Godaime had done before him.
"What in the HELL is going on around here...? Oi!" He glared at the ANBU, while the Hokage found herself near losing focus as soon as she realized just who it was the one holding the blonde youngster's hand. "...You said it was a fatal injure, but this is nothing like it! She's frikin' dying, man!"
"Naruto, shut your damn trap!" Hokage said irritated slightly. "Get your ass here and start being helpful... I'm going to run out of chakra soon, and there's no way I'm going to ask Saku-... Er..." She caught Naruto's small but definitely noticeable vein itching in his forehead and felt a sudden danger. "... By the way, Hinata, is that you?"
"H-Hai!" The woman holding Naruto's hand said, red on her cheeks (which made her look incredibly cute) "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama, I see that I am interrupting you..."
"Baka. Don't you dare let go of my hand, you hear me?" Naruto said frowning a bit, apparently with no reason (apparently). He stood behind Tsunade's back, and put his other hand in her shoulder, while Hinata looked down for a bit and chuckled childishly at Naruto's last comment. As she felt the warmth and the energy of the Uzumaki's chakra feeding her own, Tsunade's expression in her face went slightly nostalgic and motherly.
"So he has begun to move on, huh? Sakura is not going to like it one bit." She thought happily. As Naruto finished his job, Tsunade went back to her aggressive, medic self and pushed her Medical Ninjutsu with more strenght in the wound. A woman's voice was heard throughout the outside corridor.
"Tsunade-sama...!"
"Well, it was about DAMN time." Tsunade sighed in relief as the black-haired, slender and attractive apprentice of hers made her way inside the room to join the fray. She held several small, black vials with a few drops of some liquid inside them inside her hands.
"Shizune, where in the love of these large breasts of mine were you? If this brat doesn't get here, this woman dies...!" Tsunade said as she struggled still, ignoring Naruto's "hey, whaddaya mean "brat" old hag?" comment (fortunately for him, that is). Shizune hurried up and opened a tiny one of those vals, after which she gently and slowly opened the patient's mouth and readied to spill the vial's content.
"I wasn't able to find any sedatives strong enough... Apparently, they got all crushed in the invasion, and with the war happening right after, we really didn't have the time to re-stock... I was forced to make one sedative by myself, and split it in small rations. It should be enough to put an elephant or two to sleep, though. Only a tiny one."
"I see. Brilliant job. Sorry for yelling at you." Tsunade said, and that earned Shizune's quick smile. The crowd's whole attention was shifted to the patient, though, as she coughed up some blood and struggled to talk.
"What the...?" Tsunade and Shizune snapped. The latter frowned.
"Don't move and stay down! What do you think you're playing at, moving around in such condition...? 'Taku!" The black-haired woman also pushed the blood in with her medical chakra, though the patient didn't seem to listen to her. She was too determined to talk.
"Wait... W-wait... There's no need... To waste more time in me... I just need to..."
"...To shut up and lay down. That's what you need. You must have a death wish to come and tell a medical ninja what she's supposed to do or don't. Now, if you'll excuse me...?" Tsunade forced her to lay down with only her finger. The patient was still struggling though.
"Stubborn girl, huh?"
"I need to speak to Naruto...!" She exclaimed in a painful voice. There was a moment of silence that lasted for several seconds. The medical nins looked at each other, while Hinata and Naruto did the same and the ANBU merely laid against the wall. Naruto frowned.
"Konan, right? Is that your name?"
The woman, whose blue hair was slightly red due to blood, and whose usually pretty face was showing pain and agony, nodded with an incredibly slow motion. Her orange eyes were almost fading out every second that she remained conscious. Naruto shook his head.
"Whatever it is you need to tell me, keep it to yourself until you're healed."
"No...! There is no time... Madara... He...!" But she started coughing blood again before she could end th sentence.
"You don't understand. Probably because you were injured and unconscious the whole time..." Sekai, the ANBU said. Everybody looked at him. "... The war is over, as Naruto would be very happy to tell you."
"What...?!" Konan's eyes widened, she looked at Tsunade and then at Naruto. It seemed as though she was fearing the purpose of staying alive had just been rendered useless, but then her fire was sort of rekindled, and she shook her head.
"That's great... But this is not just about the war... Please...!"
"Konan." Naruto said firmly and with stern voice (Tsunade felt a tiny drop of sweat falling over her back, as she had only a few times listening to Naruto in that mood). "I don't know if it is that you ignore the characteristics of the war, but anyway... I have had enough of dead people talking to me. If you need to say something and if you think it's so important that you can't wait to say it, then use that strength to stay alive. I'm not gonna hear anything from you in this state. So shut your trap."
Konan looked at him for several seconds, and then she smiled in the same way as a child who had just been forgiven for his mistakes would. She closed her eyes and whispered a low "okay", after which Shizune poured the few sedative drops inside her mouth. Konan's body somehow seemed a bit more relaxed later on. Silence fell amongst the crowd in the room, as the night wind blew through the open window. Tsunade and Shizune began closing the wound with their medical skills, until the bleeding was stopped completely and the wound was no more: Konan's stomach had returned to normal. Her skin colour slowly came back, and the only thing that could be heard after hours of medical care, was Konan's peaceful breathing.
"I'm sorry, Hinata. I was about to take you on a date or something, and ended up bringing you to a Hospital to do these things..."
Shizune, Tsunade and Hinata all looked at Naruto (the first two, whose faces were directed to Konan, turned their heads at the blond jiinchuuriki with such speed that their necks got hurt in the process). The Hyuuga heiress, flustered but evidently happy and flattered, shook her head (she had never let go of Naruto's hand, which to Tsunade was a sign of something much more surprising that the fact that Hinata was there to begin with).
"Um... It's okay, Naruto-kun. To me, even if it was a strange one, this was a date... The first one, actually." She said, caressing Naruto's hand with her own hand's fingers in a childish way. Naruto chuckled and then smiled at her with that foxy, bratty smile of his, which made Tsunade want to smile too.
"Is that so? It was my first "date" too! And it was with you, of all people. Talk about weird..." He said. Tsunade contained (with great effort) her desire to punch him in the head after he said that. "What do you mean "weird", you dimwit? Now she's going to feel awful! You ruined it!" she thought, as Hinata's expression showed a slight hint of disappointment.
"...But..." Naruto played with the Hyuuga's hand in an also bratty, yet cute way. "... I really liked it. I wouldn't have wanted it in any other way. I'm glad you're here, Hinata." He pulled the white-eyed woman towards him gently, and kissed her on her cheek shortly. What happened afterwards was so fast that Tsunade felt a bit dizzy. First, Shizune and her looked at each other exchanging surprised reactions to Naruto's understanding of a woman's feelings (or perhaps his luck at nailing the right spot this time). And then, while both women expected Hinata to blush violently and faint, they were yet again surprised by the fact that she chuckled and tried to kiss Naruto in his cheek as well... Only she failed to aim at his cheek. Her clothes (she was still dressed for a wedding, unlike Tsunade or Shizune) were definitely not made for being in a hurry or making fast movements, and though she probably wanted to surprise Naruto with a kiss as much as he had done with her, she wasn't fast enough to do it. Her kiss ended up in Naruto's lips.
Tsunade, right after seeing this (and this is when everything got fast as lightning) was torn between her mysterious jelousy (perhaps motherly jelousy, or elder sisterly) and her joy of actually seeing Naruto acting romantically with another girl. Before she could decide anything, though, Hinata and Naruto broke up. Well, more like Hinata backed off as she could, evidently embarrassed for her actions.
"N-Naruto-kun!... Uhhh...! I'm... I'm sorry!" She was NOW blushing violently, and Tsunade was about to either kill her or hug her. She couldn't make her mind up.
"What are you doing...?" Naruto touched his lips for a second, and then smiled. "It's not like I hated it. If you think you can kiss me, then how about you stop adding "-kun" to my name? At least that way, when I kiss you, I will feel less like a stranger."
"Oi! You two!" Tsunade said loudly, her forehead's vein itching dangerously (though she was trying her best not to smile). " 'The hell you think you're doing on an injured person's room? Not the time! Go home and come back tomorrow. She'll be able to talk by then. Is that understood?!"
"H-hai!" Hinata said right away, and Naruto merely whispered a lazy "whatever".
"What was that, brat?"
"I said whatever, old hag. You deaf or something? Guess it comes with age, huh?"
Both blonds stared at each other, smirking defiantly with more veins itching. Shizune sighed in resignation and put herself between the two.
"Tsunade-sama, please set an example for your own words. There is an injured woman here. Naruto-kun, please go home."
Both blonds then turned on their feet, letting out a loud "hmph" annoyedly, and walked opposite ways. Shizune chuckled lowly, though, as she was able to identify Tsunade's hidden smile, as well as Naruto's. The black-haired apprentice faced the ANBU.
"Sekai-senpai. Could you please...?"
"Forget it. I'm walking Hinata home. At least give us some privacy, will you?" Naruto said calmly as he walked with Hinata towards the door. Sekai nodded and stepped aside to give them room. Without further ado (although Hinata did wave Shizune good-bye in a noble-like fashion), the two Konoha rookies were gone. Tsunade waited for some minutes until their footsteps were gone, and bursted into laughter.
"For Kami's sake, can you believe it? He was actually all cool and sweet with the girl...!" She shook her head, and began picking up the bloody bandages, and cleaning the room with Shizune's help. The latter laughed as well.
"I admit this is a huge surprise, almost more than the wedding was. I hope no one sees them, though! It's too soon for them to begin living the experience of a Shinobi couple. Sakura and Sasuke are still being chased by news-papers and whatnot..."
"I agree... Plus, the brat hasn't got over Sakura yet. Hinata needs to break that huge barrier before actually making it... Before being his girlfriend."
"I'm sorry... Did I hear right? Haruno married the Uchiha?" Sekai asked from the threshold. Both women looked at him.
"Oh, that's right. Sekai you were on mission, so you wouldn't know... Yes, she married Sasuke. Today. And quite the wedding it was..." Tsunade sighed, proud of her pink-haired, also hot-headed apprentice.
"But... Why? Wasn't Naruto the one who...?"
"I know, right? But what isthere to do? You of all people should already know the likes of a woman's heart's whims, shouldn't you, Sekai?"
The ANBU folded his arms and snorted (albeit painfully).
"Sorry. Don't know what you're talking about."
Tsunade chuckled. "Right, of course you don't."
After half an hour of the three ninjas cleaning and tidying the room, while Konan slept peacefully in her bed, Tsunade sat on the bed opposite to Konan's, accompanied by Shizune. Sekai returned to his laying against the wall fashion.
"So..." Tsunade tucked her hair behind her ear and became serious. "... Tell me more about the mission. You said she mentioned the existance of another Rinnegan...?
To be continued...