Depth
A Naruhina Fanfic
Chapter 8: Blur beats Black
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I think this is my worst title name so far… oh well, wait til you see the next one.
Disclaimer: cbf
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"So, you wish to rejoin your team and retake missions" Tsunade stated to the young girl before her, staring into space at the floor. "When you cannot even see straight" she continued, bluntly pointing out the huge issue with the problem. "Plus, you were recently sworn to our strongest enemy, the Raikage."
Hinata instantly retaliated to that. "That was because of the seals!" she said in a shrill voice, then bowed her head. "And I am forever in your debt for removing them Lady Tsunade, so if you wish for me to remain a civilian carrying a bijuu, then please don't hesitate, I understand completely."
Tsunade grimaced at this. Hinata had unintentionally pointed out the flaw to Tsunade's argument. She could not have a civilian being a jinchuuriki, but the only way to remove the bijuu from Hinata was to kill her, and that was not how Konoha acted.
"C'mon Granny Tsunade, she can be a ninja, she's strong as, and she can see with her demon eyes!" Naruto shouted. He had come along to help Hinata's case, so the girl had told him all about her strategies to 'see'.
"Still" Tsunade mused. "Shino and Kiba already have a new partner. I placed Sakura on their team and broken up team 7 since your appointment Naruto. Sasuke is currently in the same position as Hinata, on probation for charges against the village, even though his was because of the curse seal and hers because of their own seals." Sasuke had had the curse seal removed the day he got back in much the same way they did Hinata's. "And Hinata's vision will be nowhere near 20/20 in battle, she said it herself that it was difficult to fight and maintain the intimate connection to the demon to let her see."
Naruto grimaced, while Hinata looked downcast. Tsunade suddenly smirked. "Hinata, with some help, I think I have a solution. You will work with me to remove the seal on your eyes, and we'll see what permanent damage there is."
Hinata entire body seemed to uplift. "You really think it's possible to unseal them?" she exclaimed, her voice filled with undisguised hope. Tsunade confirmed with a confident "Yes" and Hinata almost squealed in joy. Instead she settled for a huge intake of breath and an equally huge smile. "C-can we get started right away?" she asked hesitantly.
Tsunade grinned. "Of course, Naruto, being the new second in command Hokage, I want you to sort out the issue with the teams and Sasuke and Hinata's charges, so if this works out they can become ninja of the Hidden Leaf again."
Naruto nodded with a grin. "Right Granny!" he shouted and was gone out the window, leaping across the village rooftops.
Tsunade sighed in exasperation and turned to Hinata. "He's finally back to normal now that you've returned. Your supposed death really affected him, so please try not to do that to us again" she said.
Hinata didn't know how to reply to this, so just settled for a smile and "Don't worry, I'll try not to." After all, she was hoping she wouldn't die anywhere in the near future, which suddenly looked so bright to her.
Tsunade led her to a private room in the Hokage tower where there was a hospital-like surgical table sitting in the middle of the room. Hinata guessed that was where she was going and went there to lay down. Once she was in position, Tsunade stood by her head and cupped her hands either side of Hinata's face, palms parallel to her eyes.
"Now, perform all the hand signs you used for the seal the opposite way round, and reverse your chakra like you normally would to remove a seal. While you're doing this I'll work on keeping the subject area, your eyes, stable and healthy so if you yank the seal out too roughly it won't make you permanently blind, but I can't guarantee you full vision. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
Hinata nodded determinedly. "If there's even the slightest chance, I'm willing to take it" she said, then still lying down, she began a slow set of hand seals in reverse to that fateful day so long ago.
Tsunade was surprised as her hands just kept on going. Just how complicated was this seal! She suddenly felt it uplifting, and concentrating her own chakra, she gently nudged it up, helping Hinata, and at the same time healing her eyes as the seals roots were extracted. The kanji, now visible to the normal eye, lifted and faded letter by letter, and without either kunoichi realizing it, hours passed, their concentration not letting them notice the flow of time.
Finally, 3 hours after the beginning, Hinata gasped and the murky swirls faded from her eyes, again leaving them a pure lavender color. Tsunade smiled tiredly as the seal also faded completely, Hinata's eyes looking as good as new.
"I-I can see" Hinata breathed in shock and amazement, looking around the room. Though it was still pretty blurry, she could just make out the colorful shape of Tsunade standing above her and the bleak whiteness of the room she was in.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said over and over in excitement. She was finally seeing with her own eyes now, not just through the eyes of a demon!
"How is it?" Tsunade questioned in a happy tune, she could see the girl's exuberance was infectious. Plus, now they would have another jinchuuriki to defend the village!
"It's really blurry, but I can actually see!" Hinata shouted in excitement, looking confidently at where Tsunade stood to prove her new eyesight.
"Well, I'm happy for you Hinata, maybe tomorrow we can see about getting it 20/20, but the real question is, can you use the Byakugan now?" she asked.
Hinata faltered. "I-I don't know, b-but I'll try" she said nervously. Focusing her chakra to her eyes in the now foreign feeling, having not used her kekkei genkai in a year, she said "Byakugan!", and opened her eyes.
The world went sharp and turned black and white around her. She saw Tsunade standing behind her, and through the wall Shizune writing at a desk and other various ninja walking the halls.
"It works!" she shouted. "I can't believ-" her second sentence was cut off as she doubled over in pain, blood leaking from her eyes, similar to the damage dealt by the Sharingan. She deactivated her Byakugan and sat back up as if nothing had happened, though tears of blood still slowly seeped from her eyes. She had dealt with a lot of pain the last year, so she was not about to let that get in the way now.
"It worked!" she said again with a bright smile. "It has some side effects, so it was obviously damaged by the seal, but I can at least work on that! I'm just happy it is actually working after all this time."
Tsunade grinned. Yes, she definitely had a powerful new asset, and a boost to the morale of the ninja village, to have their favorite long lost Hyuuga back in business. And packing a punch. "Good, well then Hinata, if you're feeling alright then, we will go see what Naruto has come up with to get you and Sasuke back into action."
Hinata nodded excitedly and practically leapt off the bed, bee lining it straight to the door, causing Tsunade to lengthen her step to keep up with the over excited girl.
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"So Naruto, did you sort everything out?" Tsunade asked as the duo entered her office, seeing the newest Hokage standing by the window, gazing out over the village.
He turned around with a concerned look. "Did it work?" he asked, completely ignoring her question.
"Yes!" Hinata squealed in joy when she saw the blonde head coming towards them. Her blurry eyesight only reached about five meters ahead, and could only see vague shapes that far out, but it was better than nothing. And, now she could use the Byakugan.
"That great!" Naruto exclaimed and swept the girl up in a bone crushing hug, but Hinata hugged him back just as fierce. After they were done bouncing around and hugging, Hinata pulled back blushing, remembering who she was celebrating with.
"S-so, were you able to get me and S-Sasuke-san back into commission?" she asked carefully.
He grinned. "Damn right!" he shouted, but continued to elaborate. "Since Sakura's already with Team 8, I've cleared up you and Sasuke's charges, and you two are going to be on the same team. But guess who's going to be the third member?" The two girls shrugged. "Me!" he crowed. "I'll be there to keep you two in line, and since I'm not officially the acting Hokage, just kind of like a spare for now until Tsunade retires, I'm allowed to do this!"
Hinata's smile almost split her face. She would be on a team with Naruto! "That's awesome Naruto-kun!" she said in amazement, and again hugged him, her excitement again overcoming her shyness.
Tsunade smiled as well. 'That will be quite a team' she thought. 'A previously S-rank missing nin, an S-rank jinchuuriki, and a Hokage that's also a jinchuuriki. It's lucky they're so powerful, because they'll be targeted so much.' "I approve" she said out loud. "But you must all learn to work together; your group will be targeted a lot due to its importance, so you must be powerful enough to defend yourselves."
Naruto grinned. "Don't worry about us Granny; we'll kick any one and every one's butts!"
Hinata giggled at Naruto's bold statement, while Tsunade just sighed in exasperation. "Yes, well I'm sure you've figured it all out Naruto, why don't you guys go catch up or something, now that everything's finally back to normal." 'After a whole year' she continued in her head. Naruto was finally back to the super over happy go lucky ninja he had been before Hinata 'died.'
"Great idea Granny!" Naruto said, and before she could even react to the reacquired nickname, the two jinchuuriki were gone. "Onto ramen!" Naruto shouted when they were in the hallway outside the Hokage office. (kudos to charu-san on dA for this little scene, it's inspired by her drawing 'Onto Ramen') He swept Hinata up bridal style and took off through the building and into the streets below, her face growing steadily redder as he sprinted around with her. He finally set her down outside a very familiar looking shop.
'Ichiraku Ramen' Hinata thought with a slight giggle. 'Where else would Naruto go?'
Naruto pushed aside the flaps and led the girl in by her hand. Looking up, old man Teuchi saw his guest and smiled sadly. Naruto still came here often, but he always lacked the exuberance he used to.
"Hey there Naruto" he said, then noticed the hand of a person he was dragging in. "Oh, and who do you have there?"
Naruto finished pulling a girl in that looked around with wide Hyuuga eyes. Ayame popped up from nowhere. "Oooo, your girlfriend huh Naruto, and a Hyuuga too? Fancy" she said with a smirk.
Naruto glared at her, she never stopped her teasing even when he had been depressed, but it had kind of helped. He let up his fake glare, turning it into a grin they had not seen for a year, and introduced Hinata.
"This is Hinata Hyuuga, don't you guys recognize her?" he asked.
Said two rameneers stared at the girl, realization slowly dawning on them. Teuchi raised a shaking finger to point dumbly. "Hyuuga, H-Hi-Hinata?" he said shakily. Hinata and Naruto nodded in sync. "B-But, h-how?" was all he managed.
Ayame just stood there with her mouth agape, her only thoughts on their in-sync nodding being 'Kawaii!'
Naruto then explained Hinata's miss-adventures, minus the demon of course, and how she came back to the village to get the seals removed from her. They were pretty impressed, and decided to shout the two of them as many ramen bowls as they could eat. Big mistake by the old man there. Both ninja easily consumed twenty each, Hinata ravenous after days without food, she hadn't had anything except one food pill since her training with Killerbee ended 4 days ago, and Naruto just being his ramen destroying self.
Teuchi and Ayame sweat dropped as they watched them gobble down bowl after bowl, but then smiled at the two. They could see, Hinata had returned Naruto to normal.
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Ok, next ones what you've all been waiting for! Is it revenge? Sex? Or awesome fluffiness? You'll find out as soon as you read the title lol.