"What do you mean 'is it too late?'" Hinata asked, slightly miffed. "We've known each other for years and you ask if it's too late to say you're a Jinchuuriki?!"
"It didn't seem like it was that big a deal." Naruto blurted out.
"Not that big a deal?! You have a Biju locked in you somewhere and that's not that big a deal?!"
"It's not as bad as it sounds," Naruto said, "it turns out the Biju are the Keyblade masters of this world."
"So? Just because you have a Keyblade doesn't make you instantly a good guy!"
"A bad past doesn't make you a bad guy either." Naruto retorted.
"That doesn't change the fact that you have demon stuck inside you somewhere!"
"They actually prefer the term 'Spiritual Keyblade Guardian'."
"Oh, so you know what they like to be called, let me guess do you know their favorite pastimes too?"
"Well if they are locked into your consciousness you tend to get a lot of bored, one-sided conversations."
"Oh, that must have been horrible for you." Hinata said, sarcasm flowing off the words.
"Will you stop it! Kyuubi has been an excellent teacher, you don't need to insult him."
"Kyuubi!?" Hinata yelled. "It's the Fox!? The very Fox that practically destroyed Konoha?"
"Ok, one, he was forced to do that , two, so what if he is, huh? Is there a problem with me? Have I changed at all?"
"No, you haven't changed." Hinata said, "Which only shows that you don't trust and that you've never trusted me."
"I trust you! It's everyone else I don't trust! This is a Shinobi world, people eavesdrop for a living! A wonderful example is Haku and Sasuke sitting right outside the door!" A muffled shuffling sound was suddenly heard from behind the door.
Naruto yelled, bringing his hands to his hair, before quietly saying, "You know, I knew, I knew that there would be people who wouldn't get this, but I at least expected you of all people to try, just to try to understand. But apparently the fact that I have a giant fox in my stomach, who has absolutely no effect on my personality what-so-ever, is too big of a problem." Naruto pulled his hood over his head, "I'm going for a walk, be ready to move out by morning."
And with that he disappeared, leaving only Hinata in an empty room thinking, "Aw, crap, what did I just do?"
Naruto walked down the streets of Suna, angry and hurt. "I mean sure, I knew that some people would be jerks, but her? Her of all people? My Kairi…" a tear fell from his eye.
"If you want my opinion, you should have told her." Kyuubi said.
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR OPINION, SO SHUT UP!" Naruto yelled in his head.
"Calm down boy! Darkness thrives in anger."
"Darkness, Darkness, Darkness, well if the light won't except me, then I have no choice."
"Don't talk like that." Kyuubi said, "What would Sora think"
"Honestly, I don't care anymore. This was his fight to begin with, he brought me into this."
"Stop talking like that Naruto, you're scaring me." Kyuubi said.
"Everything he promised me was good, but it turned out to be nothing but ashes."
"Naruto, please, it wasn't Sora's fault."
"You're right, if it's anyone's fault it's that stupid Uchiha, Madara. That was his name right?"
"Yes."
"hm." Naruto thought to himself, "Congrats, Madara, you just made it to the top of my list."
Hinata sat on top of the giant Kazekage dome, wondering whether or not she should apologize to Naruto.
She went over the facts. 1. A Fox Biju is trapped in Naruto, didn't tell her. 3. According to Naruto, he didn't tell her because he could be easily eavesdropped. 4. Also according to Naruto, the Fox has no effect on his personality. 5. Again, according to Naruto the Fox has been his teacher in the ways of the Keyblade. 6. Also according to Naruto, the Fox was forced to attack Konoha. 7. Naruto has never lied to her yet. Keyword yet.
She sighed. Maybe she was a little hard on him.
"If you're thinking you've been hard on him, your right." A voice said behind her, she turned to see Sasuke, "But don't beat yourself up too bad, Naruto was a jerk."
Hinata turned back to the night sky, "What are you doing here?"
"Filling in some gaps Naruto left out." Sasuke said sitting beside her.
"Oh, so he told you but didn't tell me?" Hinata asked.
"No, I didn't know until today either, but I think I understand him."
"How so?"
"Well, when Orochimaru was using my body, he covered my face with a mask of his own. He was trying to fool everyone into thinking it was all him, so people would respect him with the power of the Sanin."
"And what does this have to do with Naruto and the Kyuubi?"
"Well, put yourself in Naruto's shoes. If he told everyone that he was a Jinchuuriki, then people wouldn't see him as Naruto, they see him as the Kyuubi. So he covers the Fox with himself to gain respect for himself. Kinda like what the snake did, he pushed the image of himself in order to gain his former respect. Now I know that I should never compare Orochimaru to Naruto, but the point is, Naruto didn't tell anyone about the fox so that he could show everyone who he is. He did it so that he could befriend people without having them cower in fear, he did it so that he could gain respect for who he is, he did it to live his own life."
Hinata looked up at him.
"And could you really blame him for wanting that?" Sasuke asked her.
"Naruto!" a voice called behind the sulking blond.
Naruto turned to see who it had broken his thoughts. It was Haku, running toward him.
"Wait up!"
"Why? So you can forsake me like everyone else?" Naruto said, bitter venom in his voice.
"No, just hear me out man." Haku said as he caught up with the robed teen.
"You have ten seconds to convince me to listen to the rest of your speech."
"Hinata hasn't rejected you."
"Really?" Naruto said sarcasm dripping from the word, "I guess I've should have seen that in the way she exploded all over the room."
"Just bear with me here." Haku pleaded, "She has loved you all these years only to find that you have kept a secret from her, and this isn't some small secret either. This is earth-shattering news, Naruto. She would trust you with every detail of her life, Naruto, finding out you've kept something from her is almost betrayal."
"I trust her!" Naruto yelled, "I'd trust her with everything! I trust her with my heart! I can't trust anyone else in this world, but I trust her!"
"Does she know that?" Haku asked, "Does she know that you would trust her with anything and everything that ever belonged to you?"
"Yes!"
"Really?"
"Yeah…or at least I think so." Naruto said, adding the last part quietly.
Haku nodded "Be sure she knows. It will save you both a lot of pain."
The Haku turned and left, leaving the blond alone in the sand to his thoughts.
Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, and Haku stood at the gates of Suna. Gaara and his siblings were giving their thanks and good-byes. "Thank you again for you help." Gaara told them, "You were a big help against the intruders that night."
"Oh, it was no problem." Haku said, "If fact, it was a privilege to return honor to Zabuza's sword."
Gaara smiled, "Speaking of which, I think you should have this." He said, snapping his fingers. A Suna ANBU appeared, holding a large bundle. The ANBU handed the bundle to Haku and disappeared. "I'm sure he would have wanted you to have it." Gaara said.
Haku recognized the bundle's shape, and smiled. "Thank you." He said.
Gaara nodded. "Also, the boy, Juugo has requested to go with you. Will you accept his company?"
Naruto opened his mouth to say 'no,' when Sasuke blurted "Yes. We'll take him."
"We will?" Naruto asked.
"We will, this boy needs serious medical and therapeutic attention, Tsunade can give him the best of both."
Naruto looked at Sasuke, "Fine, We'll take the boy with us."
Gaara nodded and snapped his fingers again. Another ANBU appeared, a young, orange-haired boy hugging the ANBU's legs as the smoke cleared. When the boy let go and turned, he immediately jumped on Sasuke "Nii-san!"
"Brother?" Haku asked, "That was fast."
Sasuke picked up himself and the boy, who would barely let go of Sasuke's legs. "We'll take care of him." He said.
"I know you will." Gaara said, before turning to Temari. "Go with them to Konoha, make sure to get them home safe."
"Why are you sending me?" Temari asked.
Gaara raised an eyebrow and smiled at her. "I thought you would have jumped at a chance to see Shikamaru again."
Temari blushed. "Well what do you know?" she mumbled.
Gaara's smiled bigger. "Well have a nice trip, hopefully we'll see you soon."
"Hopefully under better circumstances." Naruto said, holding out his hand to Gaara.
"Of course." Gaara said, grabbing Naruto's hand and giving it a good shake.
Gaara watched team seven and Temari as they left Suna. "Please Naruto, apologize to her."
The desert sun had apparently chosen Suna as its favorite vacation spot, it would not go away.
"How do you guys even live out here?" Haku whined to Temari.
"Just shut up and walk." She said.
"So, Nii-san," Juugo said, riding on his self-proclaimed Nii-san's shoulders "What's it like in Konoha?"
"Well, it's no Utopia but I like it." Sasuke said, "After all, all my friends are there."
Juugo frowned a bit. "But I don't have any friends."
Sasuke smiled, "Don't worry, I'll change that."
The only ones who hadn't said anything were Naruto and Hinata, who only stood like to black wraiths against the sand.
At the most they would look at each other before tearing their gaze away and staring at their feet as they made their trek in the desert.
As they day, and the heat, went through its daily cycle, the slower the company began to move.
The silence between the two wraiths was deafening.
As night began to fall the company began looking for a good place to make camp. Finally they chose to camp in the shadow of a large sand dune. After starting a fire to cook their food, they all found their own places to sleep before sitting around the fire. Neither Hinata nor Naruto spoke in that time.
Finally, after a long, awkward silence, Haku got up. "Well I'm going to bed, so if you want an ice-pack pillow tonight, now is a good time to say something."
"I'll take one." Sasuke said.
"Should I have one, Nii-san?" Juugo asked.
"I definitely advise it, and please, call me Sasuke."
"Sure, Sasuke-nii-san. I'll take one, Haku-san."
Temari eyed Haku, "I guess I can take one."
After Haku made all four of them a block of ice for pillow uses, everyone went to bed, except Hinata and Naruto, who still sat around the fire, staring into its depths.
An hour passed by, and the moon began to rise. The two only sat there and watched the fire slowly die.
It wasn't long before the two of them were sitting in the dark under a star-filled sky.
"Hinata…" Naruto finally said.
"Y-yes,…Naruto?"
"I…I'm sorry." He said, looking down at his feet. "I probably should have told you about Kyuubi-sensei. It's just, my whole life, people have insulted me as I walked by, some adding injury to the insult, leaving my heart a scarred mess. Eventually, my heart became so scarred that it was immune to the petty insults of the villagers. Then I met you, the only person who didn't hate me no matter what their parents said, that day I gave you a special place in my heart, beneath the scarred skin.
"As time went by, you got closer and closer to the center of my heart, and I loved you more and more. I began to realize that the closer you came to my heart's center, the more damage you could do to me, and I realized with a horrible, chilling feeling that if I ever gave you any reason to hate me, it would kill me."
Naruto looked up at Hinata who was looking at him under her cowl. "I just couldn't bring myself to tell you." Naruto told her. "I couldn't tell you in the same way that I couldn't bring a kunai point to my own throat. It would have killed me in the slowest, and most painful way possible, and I just couldn't subject myself to that fate."
Naruto turned his whole body towards her, "All my life, I have been looking for angles, anyone who could help me, and I have found the most angelic of them all. Hinata, you are my light, if you were to reject me, then no place in all the worlds could accept me. You are my only chance, Hinata. You are the only hope I have."
Hinata looked at him, a few tears forming in her eyes. "Oh, Naruto." She said before embracing him in a tight hug. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Haku sat up and stretched. He opened his eyes, and blinked a few times. The sunlight of the cooler desert mornings had just reached the top of the dune. With a quick look around, he found his companions, Juugo, Sasuke, and Temari. His mind, still booting did a head count. "Where's Naruto and Hinata?"
Then he saw two figures. Both of them were sitting up, against the sand. One had her head on the other's shoulder, which had his arms wrapped around her slim body.
Haku smiled, "Now that's cute."
As the company began to move across the desert again, the mood greatly improved with Naruto and Hinata talking to each other again.
That is, until the heat came back.
"Oh man." Haku said. "I wish there was a way that we could get to Konoha faster."
Suddenly Naruto straightened. Before slapping his own face. "Why didn't I think of this sooner?" He said to himself before pulling off his gloves and biting on his thumbs. He quickly drew two summoning circles in the sand, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
With two giant puffs of smoke and two high-pitched cries, two eagles appeared.
"Furai (Fly), Hishou (Soaring), we need you to take us to Konoha."
"Right away, Naruto-sama." Furai said, bowing.
Naruto jumped on the Eagles head, "Guess what guys." Naruto said, "We have a new travel agency, welcome to Naruto Air."
After an hour of some extremely fast flying by two expert flyers, the six ninja touched down in Konoha. In about three minutes, Naruto and the gang were up in the Hokage tower making their report to Tsunade. "And so, they day we were leaving, the Kazekage was assaulted by three Akatsuki ninjas. These ninjas were defeated and disposed except one, Juugo, who has experienced mental trauma under Orochimaru." Naruto said, "Haku was also able to retirve Zabuza's sword, which one of the Akatsuki were using. Upon our leaving, The Kazekage sent Temari, his sister to finalize the mining deal."
Tsunade nodded. "Alright, send Juugo to the hospital, I'll lokk him over after I finalize the deal with Temari, you can have the rest of the week off."
"But it's the weekend." Naruto said.
"Exactly."
"You're heartless, you know that?"
"Be careful with that word." Tsunade said, "One day you'll have someone freak out because you used that word."
"Whatever." Naruto said, as he turned and left, Hinata at his side and wrapped close to him by his arm.
In his throne room he sat.
A man with orange hair and black piercings entered. "The new team failed to retrieve the Ichibi."
The Dark man nodded. "I'm not surprised, their strongest member was a psychopath, their second strongest was put into the worst environment, and the third one had no real abilities to speak of."
"Then why did you send them?" The man with orange hair asked.
The dark man smiled, "I love to surprise myself." The man stood and walked to a window, the only source of light in the room. "Is there anything else I should know, Pain?"
"The Keyblade Masters were there."
The Dark man seemed to tense. "The Keyblade masters?" He turned to Pain, "The Keyblade Masters? The Light, the Twilight, and the Pure?"
"Yes sir." Pain said.
The Dark man turned back to the window. "Already?" He said in a voice that was just above a whisper.
There was silence in the room.
The Dark man turned to Pain. "We're going to have begin the summoning. Call back every member, tell them they have three days or they'll contribute to the Darkness."
"Kill them?"
"No, Pain, I want you to promote them," The dark man said with biting sarcasm, "Of course I want you to kill them. Just make sure they're hearts are intact."
Naruto stood in his basement, looking over all the data Sora had left him. All the information Mickey had gathered, everything there was to know about Hearts, Heartless, Nobodies, and Keyblades.
Naruto poured over all the books Mickey had given him during the training mission. In front of him sat 15 strange gems, three bottles that seemed empty, three bottles that seemed to be filled with black liquid, five bottles of a strange liquid, and three bottle labeled "Mystery force" and in a corner, was a bundled package, it was long and thin, and a small hint of gold shone from the top, where the cloth did not cover the item.
"Joey!" Naruto called to the moogle, who flew down to the basement with his small bat wings.
"Is it ready, Kupo?" Joey asked.
"I think it is." Naruto said.
"Alright, hand me the sword."
Naruto nodded and picked up the bundle in the corner, unwrapping to reveal the Dream Sword.
Joey took the sword and flew over to the desk, carefully placing the sword on the wooden workbench.
The moogle began using the craft only know to their people to carefully merge the gems, and the contents of the bottles with the sword, slowly molding into a weapon that will always be feared by the forces of Darkness.
Naruto stood in the background, watching the moogle at work, all the while nervously biting his fingernails.
After an hour, and six fingers later, the moogle sighed before presenting the finished product to Naruto. "It is finished. Kupo."
Naruto carefully took it by its white-bandaged-wrapped handle.
Naruto's face reflected in the silver blade. "It's beautiful, Joey."
The moogle nodded, "So what will you name it?"
Naruto looked over it, before nodding. "Leaf's Key."
End Chapter! Next time, The Assault and the reveal of Leaf's Key!