Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters the original story or even any of the merchandise… Oh woe is me… Well here is the next chapter… Enjoy… And an update for the readers: Naruto is 7, and Hinata is 6 as of right now in the story. And for those that say there have been too many tears. Try being a seven year old with this type of abuse, Naruto in cannon is twelve and has spent years building up his tolerance for it. Well enough talk, back to the story…
Chapter 8… Konoha's answer…
Naruto and Hinata slept at Kido and Hana's house that evening. Hana left the option for them to take either separate rooms or the same one. They chose to sleep in the same room, more because they were in a new house and need comfort and reassurance from each other. As they were betrothed and thus they were entitled to sleep in the same room. That night they had different nightmares. Hinata got to experience Naruto's seven years of life in one night while Naruto got to experience Hinata's nearly seven years. They both woke up screaming as the dreams ended with them being attacked again.
Hana and Kido came in when they heard the screaming worried that something had happened. When the children explained the dreams the adults, they said that the fox seemed to be trying to have them experience each other's lives. They both found that they enjoyed the couple days that they were together after Naruto's fourth birthday. As the children hugged each other for comfort as they both had felt the other's life including all the happiness and all the heartaches, Hinata was worse for the wear as Naruto had had a harder life than Hinata until as of late.
The elders had a discussion but were not sure why but they agreed that the fox was bringing them together for some reason. They sent a messenger to the leader letting him know about this but did not worry about it too much. They figured it was to ease Naruto's heart and make sure that he would have fewer problems in life. If the fox could make his life better than the fox would live longer or at least that was the elders' thinking.
Naruto not used to a formal breakfast came to the table and started eating as soon as he sat down. This caused Hinata to smile and giggle.
Naruto confused asked "What?" Not knowing that he was supposed to wait for the others to be ready to eat before starting.
"Naruto-kun, we wait for others to seat themselves before we start eating. For today we will forgo this formality, but tomorrow we will start this. Is that okay with you Naruto-kun?" Hana asked smiling at the apparently starved child.
Naruto nodded as he set his chopsticks down and waited for the others to seat themselves. Naruto looked sadly at Hinata who took his hand and rubbed it. "Naruto-kun it is okay, you did not know. That is why obaasan was not scolding you. She was just letting you know what was to be expected." Hinata said as she giggled.
Naruto finished his breakfast. Hana then came over and wiped something on his face. "Hey obaasan what was that for?" Naruto complained as Hinata giggled.
"Naruto-kun, that is to hide your whisker marks. We can gradually bring them to the surface over time but for now we hide them. It is for your safety." Hana said with a caring smile on her face.
"Now put this kimono on Naruto-kun, you can wear it until we buy you new clothes." Kido said holding dark blue kimono with a Hyuuga flame on the right breast. "Hinata-chan, Hana-chan will show you yours. She also will have makeup for you too."
Hinata nodded as she walked back towards the bedrooms with Hana. Naruto walked towards the bathroom but then looked back at Kido and looked down. "Can you help me with this?" Naruto asked as he held the kimono up.
Kido smiled and walked in the bathroom with Naruto. "Sure, I would love too."
Naruto got his first look at the bathroom. It contained a large mirror, a shower, a large tub, a nice sink and a toilet. It was nearly as large as his apartment in Konoha. Kido helped Naruto out of his night robe and into his new kimono. Kido smiled at the awe the child had for the guest bathroom. "I am guessing that yours was smaller."
Naruto kept his jaw open and just nodded. "This is almost as large as the apartment I had. And I mean the whole thing."
"You and Hina-chan also have tooth brushes there at the sink ready for you. We picked orange for you and a lavender one for her. Does that sound right?" Kido said as he helped Naruto into the kimono. Naruto then went to the sink and brushed his teeth.
There was a knock at the door. "May we come in? Are you decent?" Hana asked politely.
"We are fine Hime. Hinata-chan can also brush her teeth while Naruto-kun does." Kido said as Hinata and Hana entered the bathroom. Hinata was wearing a lavender kimono with blue birds and the Hyuuga flame on it. Naruto noticed Hinata and thought 'Boy Hinata-chan looks really nice.'
Hinata blushed as she brushed her teeth. 'Thank you Naruto-kun. You look very handsome.' Hinata thought in response which caused Naruto to blush.
After brushing the four left the house and traveled the streets. They at first traveled to the academy to meet with the teachers they would have for classes. All were more than happy to meet the new students. They would help fill out the class that only had fifteen students. They also found out that one of the Uchiwa was going to attend also, thus filling the class out to eighteen total students.
They then went out shopping, they were accompanied by Ichiro, Kikiyo, Kido, Hana and two Hyuuga guards. At first Naruto was weary to enter shops for fear of being attacked by the store clerks. He soon found that none would attack him, most were happy to see him enter. Hinata and Naruto stayed close to each other holding hands as they went shopping for both regular and academy clothes.
Around noon the group was standing near a shop looking at the ninja tools in the window as visitors entered the main gates of the village. Kakashi Hatake, lead a group of three other ninja to deliver the alliance scroll to the Whirlpool Village. Hayate Gekkou, Kurenai Yuuhi, and Kodai Hyuuga finished out the group. Kurenai and Kodai both had side mission to do in Uzi. Kurenai was to check up on Naruto and Hinata for the Hokage. Kodai was to meet with the local Hyuuga elders.
After they checked in and got directions they walked towards the leader's tower. Kodai suddenly without warning threw several pairs of kunai in the direction of the market. The first wave of kunai hit two children and the next waves were blocked by a red head and a dark haired woman. Kakashi immediately grabbed and disabled Kodai.
"What the hell do you think you are doing? We are delivering alliance documents and you attack civilians?" Kakashi showed his anger in his one revealed eye. "Answer now me Kodai!"
"I am sorry Kakashi-sama, I thought that I was attacking the demon and a traitor." Kodai said as he lowered his head.
"Naru-kun! Hina-chan!" Hana screamed as she leaned down to pull the kunai out of the children. Ichiro ran towards the Konoha shinobi, as Kikiyo administered some healing jutsu trying to help. Naruto's hand would not release Hinata's hand as their wounds glowed with red chakra as their wounds healed quickly.
Ichiro and several ninja from both Village and Iwa surrounded the Konoha nin. "Who attacks my son and his fiancé? Answer me now!"
Kakashi still holding Kodai said, "His name is Kodai Hyuuga. Are the children alright? We are here to deliver documents to the leader of the Whirlpool village. We surrender to you." Kakashi stood with his hands above his head as he left Kodai on the ground with his hands bound.
"You have attacked the grandchild of the leader of the Village hidden in the Whirlpool. I am the son of the leader and the child you attacked were my son and his fiancé. You will come with us now!" Ichiro said as he emitted huge amounts of killing intent. "Kikiyo, get the children to the hospital, I will take them to father so that he can figure out the punishment."
Kodai was lifted by two Iwa nin and dragged towards the leader's tower. Kakashi, Hayate, and Kurenai all walked with their hands above their heads. They reached Takashi's office and Ichiro knocked. "Enter!" A booming voice came from behind the door.
Ichiro lead the Konoha nin into the office as Kodai was thrown to the ground as the Iwa nin left. Two other Uzi nin stayed keeping an eye on Kodai.
"Okay, I give up. Why do I have four Konoha shinobi in my office, three with their hands above their heads and one tied up?" Takashi asked with a confused look on his face.
"I will let the Konoha shinobi speak for themselves." Ichiro said with as much venom in his voice as he could muster.
Kakashi smiled and lowered his hands slowly and carefully pulled a scroll out of his pouch. "Well… You see, we were going to deliver the answer of alliance scroll to you." Kakashi then turned toward Kodai, raising his killing intent and putting his hands on his hips. "Some particular shinobi who may not survive the day decided to attack civilians. Specifically the grandson of the leader and his fiancé! I personally tied him up. If you do not kill him I will make sure he spends a long time with Ibiki if he is allowed to return to Konoha."
Kakashi then kneeled down and bowed deeply. "You have my deepest apologies for this. You may do as you with Kodai as he may cause this mission to fail. I do not condone attacking civilians. Especially ones of a village that we are going to ally with." Kakashi emphasized the last sentence.
Takashi near rage, "I wish to hear from the one who attacked my grandchildren! If your answer does not please me you will suffer from the death of a thousand cuts! Also I am sure the Hyuuga will want to also deal out some punishment for attacking their child also!"
Kodai moved to kneeling position. "My humblest apologies, the children in question looked like two who have a kill on site order from the Konoha Hyuuga clan council. I did not think, I am sorry!"
"You did not think?!" Takashi said with such rage that Kodai nearly wet himself. "You attack two children without verification of who they are?! How can I take your village seriously? I will be sending a formal complaint to your village and one to Hiashi himself!" Takashi moved right up to Kodai's ear, "If either dies so do you. The heirs to both families have been injured I am sure Hiashi and Sarutobi will be happy to hear this." The sarcasm of the final sentence was not lost on Kodai as sweat beaded on his brow.
Kakashi handed the scroll over to Takashi. "Here is the scroll. I am Kakashi Hatake. Other than my disgraced member Kodai Hyuuga, I would like to present Hayate Gekkou, and Kurenai Yuuhi. Again I am very sorry for Kodai's conduct. He was on the track to becoming jonin but with this I am not sure if he will continue to even be a shinobi."
Takashi looked into Kakashi's eye. "Kakashi of the Sharingan, I trust your word, but this man will not be released until we find the status of my grandchildren."
"If I may, what are the names of the children?" Kakashi asked as the group left the tower minus Kodai who was taken down stairs for questioning.
"Naru Uzumaki, and Hina Hyuuga. Why?" Takashi replied.
"Those names sound similar to children that turned up missing from Konoha for nearly a week. Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga." Kakashi replied.
"You mean there are more Uzumaki? In Konoha? I would like to meet this Naruto, he maybe a lost relative." Takashi said with worry on his face.
The group headed to the hospital and found the room where Naruto and Hinata were sleeping soundly. Hana was crying with Kido as they kept watch over the children. Both had blood and IV drips hooked up to them. The beds were close together as Naruto had not released Hinata's hand yet.
"How are they?" Takashi asked worriedly.
"They are out of danger now. But they did lose a lot of blood. The kunai nearly hit their hearts. Who would attack children?" Kido said angrily as he saw the Konoha ninja.
"I accept responsibility for the actions of my man, Kodai Hyuuga. If you need any help for them to make it we offer all that we have." Kakashi said as he bowed deeply to Kido and Hana.
"They were going to announce the betrothal today!" Hana yelled as she cried into Kido's shoulder. "We nearly lost my precious granddaughter, and grandson." Hana looked directly at Kakashi as anger blazed in her eyes. "You say a Hyuuga did this! I want to meet this piece of slime!"
"Calm down Hana-chan. I am sure that they have an explanation for this unwarranted attack." Kido said but the anger was still evident in his voice.
Kakashi still in his bow said. "Apparently the Hyuuga clan council has a kill on sight order for two children that look like your grandchildren. My guess is that they are Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga that have the death sentence. I am not sure why, as they are just considered missing children as far as Konoha is concerned. Both bear striking resemblances to these children. Naruto would have whisker marks on his face and I am not sure how Hinata looks. Kurenai would be more of an expert on that than I."
Kurenai moved forward and recognized both of the children immediately. "Neither are the ones that are missing." Kurenai looked at both Hana and Kido, who say that she was lying in her eyes. Kurenai then looked at Takashi. "I also need to talk to you Leader-sama about shared curriculum if that is okay with you."
"Kurenai we will get a room for as long as we need to clear up this incident. I will inform one of your chunin where we are staying when we get a room. Is that acceptable Leader-sama?" Kakashi asked still in a bow.
"Yes that is fine. Kurenai-san, I will meet with you in a few minutes after I have finished here with the children. Meet me in my office in about thirty minutes." Takashi said as he moved further into the room.
Kakashi, Kurenai, and Hayate left the room leaving the grandparents to talk about the children.
"They are lucky the Kyuubi healed them both." Hana said bluntly.
"Healed them both?" Takashi asked surprised.
"Yes, both. Naruto refused to let go of Hinata's hand, and still does. I watched as the Kyuubi's chakra went through both of them and healed the holes in each of their hearts. The kunai struck true. They did lose a lot of blood but both will be fine. Hinata will have another scar but Naruto will only have some discolored skin. Now Hinata has more of the Kyuubi's chakra flowing through out her system. I would almost say that the demon is spitting the seal across the two of them. I am not a seal expert, but they will be out for the rest of the day. I am not pleased with the Konoha council at all. They nearly caused a war here. And if the branch family knew that they have Hinata marked they would have a civil war for the clan on their hands." Hana said nearly shouting and in tears.
"As far as the records are concerned the parents of the children are dead other than Ichiro. So if the Hyuuga council wants to investigate they will find no leads. As you know Ichiro's wife died about eight years ago. So to keep up with the premise Naruto will become Ichiro's son. He has already claimed him as such. Hinata will remain as your granddaughter. I know that both of your youngest and her husband died around the same time. So we can claim Hinata as their child. We will inform them when they wake. Should we also let them know that the Kyuubi seems to be splitting the seal across them?" Takashi asked in a worried voice.
"We should call a seal expert but we should also talk to Sarutobi about this too so that he will not be surprised when he learns this. Also we should include what we have found out so far from the children." Kido said holding Hana. "We ask Sarutobi if we should involve Jiraiya. He should be able to figure this out if anybody can."
Naruto sat up and opened his eyes. They were red with slits. "Humans please worry not for the kits. I am going to protect them as best I can."