Ah another chapter written. Coming to me easily, I had to do a little bit of research in order to make sure I get a few things right but I think I did a good job so please enjoy. Although you may guess where i got my inspiration from.

I've also started my second story 'The Woodsman' which is going in a majorly different direction and I thought it was a good idea. So check it out (shameless self advertising) It's a story where all the men are gone and leaving just women. Apart from Naruto, he's just keeping himself to himself so how will Hinata help him? Well I have to write it first but you get the idea.

SpicyWifey: Ah thank you. I liked her too, I did not feel right having Fukushi's soul partner die without any messed up consequences. So she technically lives on, as the only other person Fukushi knows from his childhood.

But I am not going to abandon this story, far from it. But I might do one chapter here then another chapter for the other story. Starting to develop the third act too. Thank you for all your support and please continue to do so.

Second edition: Corrected the spelling mistake, cheers NarHina for pointing it out, it was the A and I sounds mixed up again.

Naruto was confused, her saw himself peering around every corner to see the back of a blond-haired boy. He couldn't quite see who he was looking at but he seemed to share his taste in colour. He was not sure why but every time he turned he grew flushed and dived into the nearest cover, breathing deeply, feeling nervous and shy. As if he had to run several miles just before meeting the woman of his dreams. His heart thumped and he could feel the veins in his head throb. Each time he looked around the corner, Naruto found himself in different locations. Spotting the same boy and then subsequently diving into nearby cover. Naruto saw the forest, training grounds, down various streets and even in the hot springs. Over time, Naruto began to feel conflicted, was he watching over him to protect that boy or was there something else? The more he thought about it the more interested in the boy's life he was. Catching glimpses of the real emotions that he hid so well.

Each time Naruto switched to a new encounter, he had begun to noticed an improvement in his sight and could stay from a safe distance, even getting comfortable and watch the young shinobi grow into a fine warrior. Sure, there were moments where he fell, found himself in hospital or just staring into empty space. Rarely was he accompanied by friends and it hurt Naruto. Observing quickly became no longer satisfactory and he wanted to fill the hole that was clearly in his heart. To stand by him and tell him to never give up because honestly, he saw greatness in the young shinobi.

At Home, nothing was better, since the death of his mother. His father would start to push him harder and harder. Spar matches were now daily against his cousin, and even his younger sister. Over and over he tried to out compete but would always end up in second place. He would always hesitate hurting his family during spars and he would quickly lose the advantage. Naruto was simply far too kind natured, showing compassion instead of ambition and his father knew this. For many years he was doubting his effectiveness to run the Hyuuga clan as the successor.

Standing now in the middle of a dark dojo hallways looking at his sister. She crouched into a low stance, standard for the gentle fist technique. Naruto instinctively copied her. They both ran at each other and struck out, swatting and parrying in quick sucession. It was not long until Hanabi had the advantage over Naruto and Naruto was starting to fight on the defensive. He struck out hard with his right palm but Hanabi grabbed it and used her larger size and momentum to flip Naruto onto the floor. He swipped at her feet but immediately had to dodge as Hanabi jumped over her leg and chopped down with a kick of her own. Naruto brought up his guard and in good time as Hanabi was already in front and palmed his arms hard. He could feel the chakra coil shut down and it stung his left hand like a bee-sting. No time to consider the reprocussions, Naruto struck out but missed. He had to cancel his attack to narrowly avoid a kick to the head. Quick thinking, he turned unexpectedly and round house kicked his sister and launched her across the room. She flipped back to her feet before she even landed and with her chakra pumped to her legs she dashed forward. Naruto struck out with his right palm, Hanabi struck out with her left palm. While Naruto missed, she knocked him to the floor. A blow to the bottom of his ribs. Taking all wind out of him he struggled to get up, his arms wobbled and gave in and he fell back to the wodden floor.

"Enough! Hinata, I expected more from you, you were meant to be five years her senior." Naruto's father called. Naruto wanted to say something so badly, an explanation, a reason, an excuse. But he just watched and he turned away and left the room. Wait, Hinata?

All Hinata could feel was pain. She was pinned down and pireced by metallic-like spikes and watched in horror as Naruto stood above her and faced pein by himself. She trusted him to be strong but pein was a whole new level that had just decimated Konoha and its inhabitance.

"Naruto! What are you doing? Get out of here! You're no match!" She cried out, fearing for his life.

"I Know." Naruto spoke calmly. "I'm just being selfish but…"

"What are you talking about?" She snapped.

"I'm here because I want to be… This time, I'm going to save you. I've always been a crybaby, giving up before I even started. Ever since I met you all those years ago I've wanted to catch up to you, be by your side always. I've looked up to you, because… because you've changed me."

Hinata was shocked, she wanted to question him. How could she be worth so much?

"That is why I am not afraid to die protecting you because… because… I love you."

Naruto crouched down and immeditatly summoned two clones to charge at Pein. He stood their and simply dodged once and cut down both clones in quick sucession. However, Naruto's target was not Pein but istead the metallic poles that imprisoned Hinata. He cut out one pole but before he could take out a second pole, Pein used his black-hole jutsu on the orange clad shinobi. He knocked him across the crator. Hinata started begging him to stop as he ran in towards Hinata. He could not even reach her before he was thrown into the air a second time. This time Pein placed himself between Naruto and the raven-haired girl. Naruto was clearly already injured from the fall but he still charged Pein. In his right hand, he held a small spinning ball, the rasengan. Pein made dodging effortless as Naruto kicked and jumped at his opponent. Dodging a cruel metallic blade while spinning underneath the weapon he was able to get the rasengan to connect and in a deafening bang, Pein was thrown away from Hinata. Naruto immeditatly turned and leaped onto one of the poles. He yanked one out of Hinata's shoulder. Yanked a second one that pinned her right flank to the floor. He grabbed a third pole but Pein threw him away again. Hard. Hinata was begging him to turn away and save himself but Naruto refused. He slowly got up and limped towards the impaled girl. Bleeding from his head and dirty from the mud that Pein threw him in. The killer watched in silence as Naruto slowly made his way to Hinata. He fell just in front of her but he forced himself to hold onto the pole that was imbedded into her hands.

"Why would you go through this pain? When you know you are going to die?" Spoke Pein in a dark voice, he knew he had won at this point.

"Because I'll never go back on my word." He smiled one last time at Hinata. He looked deep into her eyes as he slowly pulled the pole out of Hinata's hands.

Pein did not allow him to finish and instead pulled him towards his outstretched hand. In a split-second Naruto was grappled by Pein and impaled through the stomach by the merciless blade. Pein made no attempt to feel remorse as he threw the corpse over his shoulder.

"You know, it was just like this when my parents were killed right before me. I had that same look, that same conviction in your eyes. Out of love, comes sacrifice, then comes hatred and finally you are able to know pain."

The moment Naruto was impaled she felt something. Rage. She could feel her heart beating like a war drum, drowning out what pain was saying as energy began to circulate through her body. Where she was once feeling heavy now she felt strong. The metal momentarally groaned under her strength before they buckled and snapped. Red chakra poured out of her wounds and quickly surrounded her body. Hinata looked at her outstretched left arm and saw the shakra moulded itself to long claws. She turned her glare at Pein, she screamed in rage but to her surprise it sounded more like a battle cry, the roar of a beast who was finally cornered and had no choice but to charge. She fell to all fours and generated so much chakra, the floor cracked from under her.

"Stop!" A voice so loud that Hinata recoiled and blinked. She found herself crouched infront of Kurama who had the look of distast on his fox-face. Hinata was breathing hard as the adrenaline was still racing around her body. She scurried back as she realised that she was inside a pool of red chakra.

"W-what? Why? W-where?" She stuttered and clearly afraid after what she had witnessed. Her heart was racing and she could feel surges of emotion still rocketing around her body.

"There were two moments where I felt utter despair like that. Both times involved you when Naruto almost lost you. He nearly gave in on that day, no he did give in but the seal that caged me contained a failsafe that prevented him from totally loosing everything. I will admit I was wondering how you would react given the same situation. But I had to stop, you were actually starting to react to my chakra and you're not a resistant to it as Naruto is."

"B-but that anger... did h-he really f-feel that?"

"Yes, back then I only wanted to escape but looking back I realise how vile that rage was. It was not simple hate, it was not a lust power but desperation and fear. No, I could not let you go through so I have tried to reign in Fukushi's seal somewhat but I can't do this forever.

"It was so real." Hinata held her head and touched her body to make sure she was not actually impaled. "Was that a lie?"

"A memory, yes it was real."

"Oh…" Hinata shuddered at how Naruto managed by himself. She honestly thought she had lost him. She felt weak but reassured by the fox demon. "Does that mean he is fine?"

"Yes, he is just processing your memories."

"Oh… Eep!" Hinata immediately widened her eyes and blushed a deep red as she knew something that she certainly did not want Naruto to know about. "H-How do I find him?" She spoke quickly?

"Hmm… let me think."

"Please Kurama, don't mess around!"

"What I do is just concentrate hard on him, but be careful that you're thinking of his consciousness and not just his body… Mindscapes are a tricky thing to navigate." Hinata nodded and immediately shut her eyes and concentrated on Naruto and where he is. As she slowly faded to another part of the mindscape. Kurama chuckled as he had already keyed in on what Hinata was trying to avoid. He had a wide toothy grin on his face as he thought how Jiraiya would have loved the material these two would inevitably produce.

Naruto was looking around his room. He had a scowel on his face because something seemed off. Didn't his room look like Hinata's? Or did Hinata's room look like his. It did not feel right but never the less he still knew the room well. If it was Hinata's room he knew it well despite only visiting beirefly a couple times when visiting the Hyuuga compound. He sat on his/her bed and sighed, he was able to be alone for what seems like forever. He thought about Hinata and grew slightly horny from thinking about her, being so close to the girl all the time on recent missions. She had grown to be very close and they spent so much time together. Even in the same tent… Naruto bit his lip and reached for under his pillow. He pulled the copy of icha-icha from behind the pillow, it was hidden down the crack between the bed and the wall as he remembered a maid had almost accidently stumble on it under her pillow while organising Hinata's room. It took a while to convince her that nothng was wrong but she eventually gave a knowing smirk and left Hinata alone. Wait? Nevermind. He opened the small book to the bookmarked page, strange he didn't remember reading this far in though. Naruto only got as far as reading one line. 'As his hands slowly massaged lower and lower on Hannah's back, he would teach her by reach ever so slightly lower before returning his petting up her spine. He continued the subitly until at last he had cupped her ass-cheek in his hands, spreading...' The book was snatched from his hands in one quick sweep. Naruto jumped to see a very pink-faced Hinata just as startled to see him.

"H-How did you know where it was?!"

"Huh? But I always knew… wait?" Naruto clasped his hands over his mouth. Realised he was just caught thirty seconds away from having his pants down… in Hinata's room… reading her copy of icha-icha. It does not get any worse for a guy than that. "I-I can explain." He had his hands in a placid position in front of him, expecting Hinata to enact ritious revenge on Naruto, to the likes that only Jiraiya had witnessed when Tsunade caught him.

"Relax this is only a memory." Hinata almost dropped the book aswell as she clasped over her mouth. "No no no I mean." A lightbulb lit in her head as one of Naruto's memories had answered a certain unanswered question for you. "You read it too?" She sqeaked.

"But why would you read… oh!" Naruto blushed heavily as he finally keyed in what was going on.

"C-can we th-think about something else?" Almost as if by command they were back into a wide empty room with Kurama howling with laughter. He was laughing so hard that any time he tried to speak it would just come out as a random jumble of words. The pair dead-panned at the mocking demon and decieded to go somewhere else in the mindscape. No words were needed, they did not want Kurama to have a satisfaction. In the blink of an eye Kuramas laugh was no longer audiable and the pair found themselves somewhere familiar.

"Naruto, this was the park just down from the academy."

"I know… look…" Naruto spoke slowly, he knew where they were. It was evening and the sun had just set. Dusk was fast approaching and the park was abandoned save for one character. Naruto's younger self was sitting on the swing. Sighing heavily and staring at the floor. He knew no one would come to pick him up. The two walked up and sat on a nearby bench. They were mere ghosts to the memory and the orange boy never reacted to their company.

"If… I-if I had known you were this lonely i-I should have done something." Hinata admitted. She sat by Naruto but neither looked at each other.

"I understand, from what I saw you felt like you were never good enough. You were always the shy one. Too nervous to act because you were too uncertain how I would act. You could not face the idea i might have rejected you."

"I-I know…"

"What's done is done, hey I am not alone now am I?" Naruto smiled.

"It's weird I know you're smiling but I can feel it's just a façade. You know you can… can confide in… me if you like." Hinata blushed.

"I'd like that." Naruto sighed and his left hand slowly found Hinata's and his fingers tangled with hers. "If I am seeing your memories and we are here now, I know you can see mine… I guess you understand more about me than anyone else."

Hinata smiles and leaned her head on his shoulders. "It's more than just remembering and seeing, It's about building a future right? Knowing where to go and how to get there."

"That sounds about right. Well I guess your dream is fulfilled."

"M-my dream?"

"Ya know, the one about standing by my side." Naruto turned and grinned. "It's funny though, you've had made it happen for a long time now."

"Hm what about my father? I guarantee he will have something to say about us."

"He loves you, yes he was hard but he pushed you to your limits time and time again, much like Jiraiya. And he was a father to me."

"I know, I know... I was just too young to fully understand I guess." Hinata said.

"It's the same as me. I hardly noticed you watching over me because I guess I was too young to understand as well." Hinata blushed deeply but made no move to deny it.

"Erm Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how I feel right?"

"Right."

"Can we…" Hinata never finished her sentence as Naruto kissed her. He was soft on her lips but the kiss was full of emotion and affection. Hinata could feel exactly how much it had meant to him. Instead of shying away at such a request she was reassured that Naruto felt the same way to her. She could almost see his emotions, usually thrashing this way and that as he struggled to keep his thoughts in check but for now the kiss seemed to have calmed everything and time stood still. To her it was the most beautiful and innocent moment of her life, summed up by the boy she loved. They looked out on the swingset and saw the boy was now ocompanied by a girl, giggling together that she had managed to escape the watchful guard of the Hyuuga servants.

Kurama had finally calmed down. It seemed that both had found each other and had finally managed to get their thoughts in check. The biju knew that this was far from over but now he could rest. He struggled to keep everyone's chakra flowing in the right way, restricting the flow took immense energy but he could slow down the memories and the emotions they triggered as he did so. His primary concern was if his demonic chakra circulated Hinata. Not that he would admit it. He knew and trusted that Naruto would not give in to the corrupting effects of the anger his chakra possessed but Hinata had many pent-up emotions and being a Hyuuga did not help. He could also see in Naruto's memories just as he always could but now he could see into Hinata's mind too. Fortunatly she was not new to seeing him. He could only guess how damaging it would be for her psychi if that were the case.

"Naruto." Kurama called out. Sure enough, Naruto and Hinata were standing before the great fox.

"You called?" Naruto asked.

"You are very low on chakra, take it easy, but Hinata has started making her own chakra now."

"Oh, is that why I couldn't get out of the mind world?"

"Yes, that jutsu was something I have never experienced in all my centuries of living, and to be done by half a dosen tired humans. Impressive, no awesome. to witness. But you're weakened for now and it will take longer to recover, twice as long in fact."

"Right, what should I do?"

"You know that answer kid, forgive the man. He was confused and lost, forget your anger. It doesn't suit you."

"You know, you are very soft for the nine-tailed demon."

"Don't tell anyone or I'll eat you, Hinata too." He would have been threatening if he hadn't started grinning and kicked Naruto out of his mindscape.

Naruto and Hinata woke up simotainiously. Naruto staired up to the ceiling at the light. He blinked several times before he could sense other people in the room. He angled his neck to see who was there. Sakura was the first to notice and she almost dropped her clipboard in her excitement. Her worried face melted into pure joy as the pinkette leaped over to her old teammates side. She almost knocked over the several arrangements of flowers and cards that were placed in between Naruto and Hinata.

"Naruto you're awake!" She squeaked in excitement.

"Takes more than that to kill me." He smiled back as she lightly punched him in the shoulder. He looked past her to see a very tired Yamato dosing off on a chair. He had erected several pillars of wood in the hospital room which Naruto recognised to help dissipate Kurama's chakra. Sakura caught on to his questioning look.

"Oh, erm Hinata…"

"Hinata was showing signs of turning into a biju state, much like how you used to before you and Kurama made the pact." Kakashi answered for her. He had just entered after hearing signs that Naruto was moving. Sasuke was also following in his usual aluf manor. He nodded at Naruto but did not say anything. Naruto spied a fifth person. He had his left eye covered in the bandana with the leaf insignia much like how Kakashi used to wear his insignia before he managed to regain his left eye during the war. Fukushi was looking down and was massaging his temples and looking at a small sheet of paper. Naruto could easily tell something had happened to him as he was in turmoil with his emotions. The blond shinobi took a deep breath, he somehow was able to know that Hinata was smiling at him and all anger melted away when he saw the one-eyed ninja.

"How long was I out?"

"Longer than usual, a week." Sakura replied.

"What the hell was that jutsu, Kurama was complaining constantly about it."

"We'll let Fukushi explain."

"Mn? Hm… Soul binding at an older-than-usual age." He spoke plainly, something had happened during that week. He was more distracted than usual and even Naruto picked up on that. "I'll be training you and Hinata how to properly use this Jutsu, as you're still high risk."

"How long till we start?"

"Whenever you're ready, I'll be somewhere quiet, just ask Lord Kakashi where I am." He stood up and walked passed the Hokage and Sasuke to leave the room. He slipped the paper to Sasuke as he passed. Naruto spied he was now wearing a white silk cloak with a black sun imprinted on the back of it, the cape was white but as it lowered to the tail side it faded into a yellow colour. Sasuke glanced at it before carefully folding it and laying the paper on the bedside table between Hinata and Naruto. He then pulled back the hospital's parting curtains to reveal Hinata who had sat up and politely rested her hands on her lap. She smiled when she saw Naruto, who smiled back in return. He noticed her arm was now tattooed just as Fukushi's arm was. It looked like she was wearing a patterned sleave, it matched her hair and honestly Naruto thought it suited her.

"Heh, it doesn't suit you as much, you're too bright for it." Hinata answered as she knew what Naruto was thinking. Naruto also knew what she was referring to so he sat up and looked at his left arm. The fuuinjutsu snaked up his arm like viens, writing in a language Naruto did not know was also swirling around in choice positions.

"How the the two of you feeling?" Kakashi asked. Breaking Naruto concentration.

"We're good." They spoke in unison, looked at each other and giggled for a little bit. Kakashi deadpanned, he immediately knew he would get tired of this very quickly. "It's weird it feels like I know what Naruto/Hinata think and feel all the time." They had caught on that Kakashi would get very tired of this very quickly.

"Troublesome." Kakashi muttered, finally giving in to Shikamaru's tick.

"Naruto, could you pass me the letter?" Hinata asked as she could not quite reach, Naruto slowly stretched his right arm and passed the letter so she could reach it.

"What does it say?" Naruto asked. Hinata quickly scanned it. Sasuke and Kakashi walked over to where Yamato was sitting and sat next to the sleeping jonin, waking him up. He looked around and muttered 'sorry' before dosing off again. Sakura was listening while standing next to Naruto but she had becan to run her glowing hands over Narutos body for more checks.

"He wants to know about our affinities, current abilities, and more about Kurama. He also told us to expect shared dreams, randomly switching or sharing senses, and getting memories muddled up. Symptoms can be relatively extreme giving the circumstances but other than the 'minor' appearance changes there was nothing wrong with the jutsu." She spoke calmly and leaving with a smile.

"You're ok with this?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, it's nothing we havn't already experienced."

"Even with Naruto's past?" Kakashi added, he knew both had difficult pasts but Naruto had his fair share of an unfair life.

"She still accepts me though." Naruto interrupted. He looked at everyone before continuing. "I'm sure we can get through this." He closed his eyes suddenly as he grew dizzy. "Woah…"

"You should rest Naruto, you're still helping Hinata to recover." Sakura softly said, pushing him down onto his pillow. "You're not used to being so tired, are you?"

"I feel bad for putting him through this…" Hinata muttered. She looked at Kakashi. "But I now understand why he did it and it fills me up with joy, ya know?"

Kakashi sighed and stood up. "I'll leave you to it, and Naruto, welcome back to the land of the living. Many people have been asking for you." He and Sasuke left, presumably to discuss something in private. But Sasuke stopped to say something.

"I'll be seeing you around dope, and Sakura, my place, at nine." He turned to leave the blushing pinkette alone with Naruto and Hinata.