I do not Own Naruto. Disclaimers Suck.
Small Author's Note, bigger one at end.
For those of you who wanted fluff, there's some in this chapter. and i'm gonna start talking like those announcer dudes at the end of a episode. I'll catch you at the end!
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Chapter XIII: Naruto's Pain
Shikamaru was camping outside Naruto's front gate. He was literally camping, complete with tent, sleeping bag, campfire, and three days worth of food. Apparently, Naruto had enough food stored away that he didn't need to come out. Either that or he was dead and couldn't come out.
The only reason that we found this spot was that Naruto was careless… Geez, I'd hate to get on his bad side… Shikamaru thought as he toasted yet another marshmallow over the fire. He took a bite and swore when it blew up, the gooey insides burning his mouth.
And it was all true. While it was true that he had just lost his sense of taste for the next three days, it was also true that they had found the spot of Naruto's front gate by complete accident. Or rather, they didn't find the gate, instead, finding the platoon of unconscious Hyuga Fangirls piled in a heap that was stuck in front of it.
After Hanabi and the others had regained consciousness, she recalled how Naruto had suddenly appeared in the courtyard. Upon arriving, he had immediately collapsed onto the pile of cards that the clones were now using to play Strip Poker. Apparently, they had stopped playing Go Fish six hours in and decided to torment the girls with the new game.
It had worked too.
Hanabi could barely keep herself from drooling as she recalled the memories. The clones had played strip poker for two days straight, from when she fell asleep to when she woke up in the mornings. No game was ever completed, as the price was that the losing clone had to go feed the girls in his boxers.
But when the real Naruto had appeared in the courtyard, the clones immediately stopped playing to rush forward and catch him, which they failed to do. The real Naruto, after coughing up a large amount of blood, ordered the clones to get rid of the girls and to prepare the Dojo for Ninjutsu training. After that, she could remember nothing, as the clones had knocked them all out. The next thing she did recall was waking up to Tsunade's enraged face.
From what they could figure out, Naruto was going to hide away from the world until he was ready to face them, which could be never. Tsunade was currently working on a way to break into the place and force Naruto to accept the truth about his friends. Shikamaru didn't really expect anything on that front. While Naruto didn't have the sealing abilities of the Fourth Hokage or Jiriaya, he could make up in the sheer number of seals that he could put on an item.
Ino and Sakura had told the rest of them that part of the gate's defense system was blood-based and part of it required a password. There was really no knowing how many new defenses that he had put on in the time since he had told the others about Kyuubi. Tsunade and Sakura, along with Lee, Neji, and some of the strongest Hyuga had pounded on the gates with no avail. They managed to dispel the Genjutsu that kept it hidden, but each of their attempts to gain entry was met with failure.
She had tried Ninjutsu next, having Kakashi blast the gate with all the combinations of techniques that he knew. The gate, however, would not budge. Each and every single one of their attacks was either repelled or absorbed. Even Lee and Gai using a combination Morning Peacock had barely dented the thick metal.
So now they were doing three-day shifts of camping outside Naruto's door. Not that any of them had any luck in starving him out. Tsunade had even gone so far as to shut off the water and the sewage to the place, hoping to dry him out, but even that failed to get the front doors to budge an inch.
Shikamaru knew that they couldn't force him out of there. Naruto had too much chakra to be forced out by a little thing like losing power or water. He could simply disconnect the water pipes and have a couple of clones pump in water whenever he needed it and have some more clones do the same thing with electricity. But despite the fact that he could, the lights never came on, there was no rushing of water, and even Kiba's keen sense of smell had failed to detect a single bowl of ramen.
But his shift would be over tomorrow morning and he would go home to sleep for a couple of days. Tsunade was sure not to give them missions that would make them miss their next camping time. She wanted to make sure that they were punished, and this was how she had done it.
It had been three weeks. Sakura was exempt only for the reason that she was still weak from her encounter with Orochimaru and Shino was allowed freedom for keeping such an impassive face. Shikamaru hadn't really given a face of disgust, but Tsunade was punishing him anyway for coming up with the stupid idea of starving him out.
Everyone except for Hinata had already gone, since Lee had to go and train, as per the agreement. He had left with a smile and his teeth flashing, following Gai in the general direction of Suna, hoping to raise his 'Flames of Youth' to match Naruto when he emerged.
Hinata, for some strange reason, had offered to cover for Lee and take a week-long shift. So in six short hours, she would emerge from the Hyuga estate and start a week-long waiting game, the prize being Naruto, but the price of failure was losing him.
Shikamaru had just dozed off again, despite all of the Hokage's warnings not to, when the ground started shaking. It wasn't really all that violent, nothing that a civilian could detect unless they were lying completely still and silent, but it was there, nevertheless. He quickly reviewed the topography of this general area and frowned when he recalled that the Hyuga Estate and the areas surrounding it were built on solid rock. That meant only one thing could make that much rock tremble.
Naruto had begun training again.
The rumbling grew and faded as Naruto cycled though his arsenal of techniques, no doubt using them on shadow clones. However, Shikamaru grew steadily more worried as the rumbling did not stop, instead growing ever more violent as time went by. It grew so bad that sticks started rolling out of the fire and onto his sleeping bag, igniting it. Now Shikamaru was in a flaming tent, with a flaming sleeping bag, with literally flaming hair, and flames in his eyes.
Shikamaru slit a hole in the side of his tent, hopping through just in time before the support beams gave way and the whole thing fell in and incinerated the remainder of his Marshmallows. It was just as unlucky that his Elemental Affinity was lightning. It probably the most useless against fire, after wind, of course.
However, the rumbling didn't go unnoticed by anyone, and that included the civilian population. People ran outside, screaming about earthquakes and tornadoes and Barney and whatnot. Little kids, in the absence of shopowners, raided the stores for anything sweet. Fangirls ran amok, swarming to the gates in front of Naruto's house and started pounding on it, running over Shikamaru in the process.
All in all, there was more chaos in the village during this small shaking then during the Kyuubi's attack. By the time it was over, three hours later, a couple of buildings were smoldering, six businesses were out of business, and there were several hundred unconscious fangirls sprawled across the wall opposite the gate, having been thrown there by the seals that had been put on the said gate by Naruto.
Shikamaru was not so lucky. Despite the fact that he was a Jonin, there was no such thing as stopping a stampede of fangirls. At least, not without some special techniques, like Kakashi's face. He got up, groaning, his entire body black from all of the footprints that the rabid females had left behind.
Great. He thought as he rubbed his ass, feeling as if Naruto had just hit him with a 'Thousand Years of Death' this is just not my day. How troublesome…
He then spent the next three hours staring up at the clouds flying swiftly by overhead. With his tent and campfire gone, he couldn't toast marshmallows anymore, and with the shift about to switch, he decided he might as well engage in his favorite pastime.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Hinata packed one more set of clothes, dropping it in her second bag. Despite the fact that she was camping out just across the street, they were forbidden from leaving. Tsunade was so strict on this that she insisted at a one-way see-through porta-potty be installed next to the tent. It made everyone nervous, since they could see out, making them look like they were sitting on a glass toilet with the world staring in at them.
Either way, if it kept Naruto from leaving, she would gladly use the toilet in the bushes outside her house. In the event that they couldn't convince him to stay, Hinata wanted to spend as much time as she could near him, even if she couldn't see him.
After making sure that her tent was tied to the top, she hefted the pack and left her room, being careful to lock it behind her. She did not need her father coming into the room and reading her journal. Her sister and Neji were bad enough, but if word of this got to her father, then she could very well be kicked out of the Hyuga Clan altogether.
Hinata stepped outside to see Shikamaru staring up at the sky with glazed eyes and a dazed expression. Next to him were the smoldering remains of his tent, and the smell of toasted marshmallows was heavy in the air. His entire body was black, either from being burnt in the tent or being trampled by fangirls that were now piled across her family's estate wall.
"About time you got here. My tent burned down six hours ago… damn Naruto. He's so troublesome sometimes. I mean, he didn't even give us a chance to explain ourselves, and now look at what happened. I'm sitting here with my hair on fire and watching a couple hundred of unconscious fangirls. Next time, I'm gonna bind him with my shadow possession first. That way, he won't be able to run away again!"
Shikamaru sighed again and made a seal. "Anyway, have fun watching the gate for the next week, Hinata. It's gonna be a long wait, I can tell you that much. See you later."
With that, he disappeared in a poof of smoke, muttering something about being troublesome.
Hinata smiled and focused her energy on one of her Water jutsus to clear out the pile of ashes. She then redirected the blast of water toward the pile of comatose fangirls, soaking them out of their revere and floating them down the street, away from her and Naruto.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Tsunade paced her office while Shizune sat there, doing her paperwork. Normally, you would have a better chance of Hell freezing over then seeing this, but the look in the Fifth Hokage's eyes told her oldest apprentice that she was not in the mood to be ridiculed, and someone had to do the paperwork, so Shizune got stuck with it. She now knew why Tsunade never liked this part of the job.
Shizune paused to re-ink the stamp when Tsunade put her foot down. The only problem is, when she put it down, it went through the floor. The sound of splintering wood, shrieking visitors, and the sigh of the carpenters as they were alerted to the fact that the Hokage's office would need yet another patch could be heard all throughout the building.
"Damn him… he needs to grow up! We need him! He can't go back into hiding now that Akatsuki knows that he's alive. And yet, he's not giving any of us a chance to apologize! Is there no other way into that house?"
Shizune coughed. "Tsunade-sama, there may be one way in, but it's incredibly dangerous, especially if these rumblings are from Naruto's training."
Tsunade wheeled on her, eyes glinting. "Spill it."
Shizune gulped. "Well, we can't enter through the gates, since that's completely sealed up. Trying to enter aerially is also out, since the fourth sealed that up when he lived there. We know that there's an underground dojo of some sort, but that's also protected, judging from the chakra emissions that have leaked out, so that leaves…"
"Leaves what, Shizune? We need to get Naruto to come to his senses, not a list of how his house is indestructible without taking out half the village with it! I know you have a plan, so out with it!"
Shizune coughed again. "Well, according to Sakura and Ino, there's a staircase that leads from the dojo up to the house. There's a chance that the fourth may not have sealed that up. If we could use an Earth Jutsu, we might be able to enter from there."
"And how is it dangerous?"
"Well, Tsunade-sama, if those rumblings are what we feel on the outside, then the inside, the dojo itself must be under enormous stress. If we create some sort of tunnel to the staircase, we could cause the whole place to collapse."
"No problem, we just coat the walls of the tunnel with chakra. Of course, doing that would require so many shinobi, I'm not sure that we have enough. Damn, looks like that won't work. Unless…"
Tsunade faded into silence. Shizune looked at her nervously and returned to stamping papers. Five minutes passed, the room filled with nothing but the sound of stamping. Until…
"We have someone tunnel in there, grab Naruto, and tunnel back out before the place can collapse."
Shizune was so surprised that she missed the paper and stamped her hand instead. "But, Tsunade-sama, do we have anyone like that?"
She nodded. "Yes, we do in fact. He is a Jonin, by the name of Kiba Inuzuka!"
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Everyone was gathered next to Hinata's tent. No, her birthday hadn't come early. They were all here to see Kiba try to tunnel into Naruto's house via the staircase underground. Nobody expected the staircase to be protected, so everyone was expecting a success.
Kiba, bowing to the sound of much applause and cheering, had Akamaru transform into himself and fed him a solder pill. They had only ever once drilled through the dirt, and it had been through the side of a mountain. There was no need to take risks about being trapped underground. For this, they had to move hard and fast.
After he had made sure that Akamaru had fully indigested the pill, they began their trademark move, Fang over Fang. The two whirlwind blurs slammed into the dirt border of the sidewalk and wall. With a brief crunching, the two punctured the dry upper dirt and made their way into the softer dirt underneath.
Several times, they were almost stopped by the presence of several dozen metal pipes, which were presumably there for the traps to drop fangirls into. Each time, however, they managed to punch a hole in both sides of the metal pipe and make their way through.
From the map of the building that Tsunade had shown them, the staircase was a winding one, and would likely collapse after one hit. That was all they had. One hit to get Naruto back. They would not waste it. After all, hitting a still target of that size should be easy, right?
Well, to put it lightly, things didn't go according to plan.
The first problem was finding the damn thing. While it didn't have any detectable active protection, it was completely stealthed. Even Kiba's nose could barely detect the hint of cold stone. When they finally did find it, they pulled back twenty feet and then dove right for the passageway, hoping to punch a way in.
Since when to things go according to plan?
What Tsunade and Shizune had forgotten to take into account was that Minato Namikaze was no fool. He would have thought everything through before he actually did anything. He had anticipated someone trying to tunnel into his home, and he had prepared appropriate defenses to do so. It was only thanks to his sense of humor that there were any females left in Konoha.
The moment that Kiba hit the outer stone of the staircase and tried to break through, the whole shaft started vibrating with the same deep voice that had come from the gates.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" the voice said in a tone that could easily be heard outside. "An invader, eh? I'll squash you like a bug!"
On the surface, Shino twitched.
Kiba ignored the voice, firmly convinced that it was all in his head. A very bad idea, as it turned out.
The wall, not appreciating the fact that Kiba was trying to drill a hole in it, flexed slightly and threw the unfortunate duo back down their tunnel. At the end, they couldn't stop, so they went flying up, higher then when Naruto had hit him with the 'Thousand Years of Death'.
The wall chucked, a deep booming laugh that could be heard all throughout the village, and the tunnel collapsed back in on itself. Kiba landed in the spot where Kakashi had so many years ago, except there was now a pot underneath him. Ichiraku's Ramen would have a special that night: Miso Dog Ramen.
Meanwhile, Neji and Hinata were using their Byakugan in an attempt to find out where Kiba had gone.
They didn't have to look far.
The moment that Kiba had landed in the pot, he had tried to get out. Unfortunately, Akamaru had landed right on top of him. It was only now that Kiba realized just how much bigger his friend had gotten, as he was unable to get out of the pot. That meant this his ass was taking a roasting. In the most literal and might I add, painful sense of the word possible.
It was only after the steam had built up to such a degree that the pot would have exploded did they get free. If you could imagine an old-fashioned soda made of unbreakable glass, heated to the boiling point and then thrown on the ground, something had to go, and that was the stopper. In this case, the bottle was the pot, and the stopper was Kiba's well-done ass.
With an explosion and another yell of pain, Kiba went skyrocketing, outstripping both Kakashi and Jiriaya in terms of sheer height. From his lofty position, he could see the entirety of Konoha. Being the genius that he was, he decided to redirect his flight back toward Naruto's place.
What he forgot about was the seals keeping it safe from airborne invasions.
Kiba smacked into the barrier at over two hundred miles an hour. If it wasn't for the fact that he used his body as an attack to hit often things much faster, he would have been killed instantly. As is, his body was splayed on the invisible barrier, comically proportioned as he slowly slid down the invisible wall, landing on his ass right in front of Tsunade and the others.
He didn't stay that way for long, of course. Despite the fact that he was nearly comatose from that impact, the pain of his roasted ass got him up in a hurry. In an effort to get his burns healed more quickly, he turned around and dropped his pants, exposing his posterior to them all.
A bad idea, as it turned out.
Tsunade, who had years of experience of Jiriaya's perverted ways, kicked into autopilot. Her foot extended and kicked the nearest part of Kiba, which, unfortunately for him, was on his flash-boiled ass. He went flying with a scream, smacked like a pinball into the barrier around Naruto's house, and streaked toward the river, hands on his throbbing ass.
Unfortunately for the female population of Konoha, when he screamed, everyone looked up. Kiba had not put his pants back on. So he was now giving everyone a brilliant view of his less-than-brilliant, well, ehem.
The screaming of girls could be heard for several days afterwards.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Shikamaru sighed and ran his hands through his hair, taking it down from his pineapple knot for a few seconds before redoing it. "Man, this is really getting troublesome. What the hell was Kiba thinking?"
Shino stepped forward and examined the collapsed hole and the remains of Kiba's skin on the sidewalk. "Kiba thinks?"
For once, everyone agreed with both of them.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Hinata crawled inside her tent after setting up several jutsus to alert her if anything moved at the gates. She made a shadow clone too, just in case Naruto came out and bypassed her alert system.
She made sure that everything was in place, then quickly changed and slipped into the sleeping bag. Her eyes closed and she drifted off, dreaming her nightly dreams about her and Naruto getting together.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
For the next three days, in the absence of anything interesting to do, Hinata trained. There were only two viable targets. The tree which her shadow clone sat on every night, and the gate of Naruto's house were both open to her attacks. Luckily, her gentle fist training didn't require her to physically touch an object, which made the gate a perfect training tool. Also, her water jutsus would be drained by the gate, so no messy clean-up afterwards.
During those three days, she trained with her every spare moment. If they couldn't find a way into the house, then she would literally tear the place apart. She couldn't lose her Naruto-kun again, especially not after he was still there, despite the fangirls. If she didn't get him this round, he might disappear and never be seen again. At the very least, she had to tell him about her feelings!
The rumbling had started again and was now appearing every three hours, day and night. She wondered just how much chakra Naruto could use before passing out, as the rumblings only seemed to get increasingly violent as the days went by.
On the evening of that third day, she was busy doing her gentle fist training when she cut herself by accident. She didn't notice, of course, but she had nicked herself on the slightly dented part that Lee and Gai had managed to make in the door with their combination attack.
Nothing really happened until she tried her heavenly spin. The cut was still bleeding when she began her rotation, and by some means of fate, a small drop of her blood landed on the gates.
When she stopped spinning, her eyes widened.
The front gate to Naruto's house, the gauntlet that might have stopped her confessing, the only thing between her and Naruto was creaking open of its own accord.
Naruto was wide open to Hinata.
Her Byakugan still active, she side-stepped all of the hidden traps and made her way to the front door, smearing another drop of her blood on the oak surface. These did not open as willingly as the front gate, and Hinata had to force it open. When she got inside, her mouth fell open.
This was a bachelor pad? The place was richly decorated, as to be expected from Minato Namikaze. The guy may have been a ninja, and a practical one at that, if his gate design was anything to go by, but if he wanted to, he sure could splurge! Everything was either custom-made or top-of-the line, and in many cases, both. The only strange thing was the layer of dust on them. It looked as if neither Naruto nor his father ever used the furniture much.
She peeked around, searching for the staircase into the basement. After about five minutes of picking apart the wall, she walked over next to a bathroom and touched her hand to the wall, saying "Release!" The Genjutsu fell and she walked inside.
Each of the steps downward seemed to bring more apprehension to Hinata. What if he doesn't like me? What if he goes away because I tell him? How could I go on?
Inner Hinata, who had been curled up on a couch with a facsimile of Naruto, perked up. Just listen to yourself grovel and whine! Don't worry, just tell him how you feel, how the others feel, and everything will be fine.
Her dented confidence somewhat restored, Inner Hinata returned to her pastime, which was glomping the Naruto doll. She hoped that the doll would soon be replaced with memories of her outer self really glomping the real Naruto. Her inner persona sighed. A girl can dream, right?
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Naruto breathed raggedly as he felt yet another spike in Kyuubi's chakra. When he had used his second tier, he had weakened the seal considerably. He had taken the precaution of tightening up the seal some more, but chakra was still leaking out. Naruto had to burn off that chakra before it could harm him.
The easiest way to do so was by making shadow clones, but since his own chakra was still incredibly weak, there was no way to make a filter to 'purify' it of sorts. Any shadow clones he made would resemble the clones he used to make back at the academy. Not only that, but it wouldn't siphon off enough chakra. So, it was back to the old standby.
Naruto had been pumping jutsu after jutsu into the wall, hoping to drain his body of the demonic chakra. He was grateful to the Kyuubi for giving him power. The person he was angry at was not Kyuubi or even his friends, or even Akatsuki.
The person he was angry at was himself.
He launched another Rasenshuriken laced with Demonic chakra, making the walls shake before abandoning the technique. Any demonic chakra left in his system would soon burn off naturally. Safe, for the moment, in any case.
Naruto wiped his bloodstained hands on a small button, summoning a training post. He attacked it with full fury, as if it was himself standing there. Soon, the post wore down and snapped. When that happened, Naruto simply summoned another one. In fact, the area around him was littered with the remains of wooden posts, along with dented, broken, or bent weapons of all sorts.
He was just working on a combination of punches and kicks, which involved him circling the target in midair, alternating between the two, when the door to the dojo creaked open. Naruto ignored it, assuming it was a clone coming back from guard duty. Little did he know, that was the last thing it could be.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Hinata pushed open the wooden door, peering inside the dimly lit dojo. The first thing she noticed was the damage done to the far side of the wall. To put it into perspective, it was as if someone had taken a blunt axe to a piece of hardwood. The cement was cracked and flaking from numerous attacks and looked about to cave in.
The next thing that hit her was the smell. The heavy odor of Naruto's sweat was easy for her to detect, but aside from that, she could faintly detect the smell of blood. It was both fresh and old, some of it days old, some of it still oozing out from the wounds.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she could make out dozens of broken training posts scattered, some utterly destroyed. Things that looked like human body parts actually turned out to be mutilated weapons, some bent beyond identification.
The sound of flesh hitting wood reached her ears. When she activated her Byakugan, she saw a bloodstained figure hitting a practice target so fast that he was orbiting the rapidly disintegrating wood. With a final splintering crash, the top part of the wood, all three hundred pounds of it, went flying fifteen feet and knocked over the remains of what looked like a weapons rack.
The figure paused and bent over. Hinata thought that he had collapsed, but three seconds later, a new training post appeared, and the person repeated the same process. After half an hour of this, the sound of splintering wood was finally accompanied by grunts of pain, and the smell of fresh blood quickly reached her nose.
Hinata could take no more. She burst out from behind the door and shouted with the best of her ability, "Stop it, Naruto-kun! Can't you see you're tearing yourself apart?"
The figure stopped its rapid orbit of the splintering log and turned to face Hinata, who turned red. "How did you get in here, Hinata?" it said in an emotionless voice.
She squeaked. Her inner persona had been wrong. Naruto was angry at her. "I, um, I-I-I entered through the f-f-front gates…" her stuttering had returned. At the worst time possible.
"Impossible. I personally locked the gate up with an additional blood seal. Even my father's blood won't work now, in case baa-chan had some of that on hand. Now tell me, how did you get in?"
"T-T-Through the front gates… please, Naruto-kun, please come out. Everyone's sorry about-"
"About treating me like a monster?" Naruto spat. "Don't lie to me, Hinata. I'm not as big an idiot that you guys make me out to be. I could see the disgust and the fear on your faces as I told you the truth. I'm used to it from the villagers, but to see that from my friends…" he paused and delivered a full force blow to the log, splitting it cleanly down the middle before continuing. "It hurt really badly, and that's saying something. Just leave me alone. When I've got the rest of my father's techniques from the vault, I'm leaving this goddamned place. Kyuubi had doubts about coming back here, and I'm starting to think that he was right."
Hinata had teared up as Naruto ranted. He wasn't the small, rather slow boy that she had fallen in love with all those years ago. He was a true ninja now, one of deadly skill and who could read emotions like a book. His pain throughout his childhood had finally been eased when he had made friends, but to see those friends treat him like the villagers must have broken him. Naruto was now like Tsunade when he and Jiriaya had gone out to find her all those years ago. He had lost his faith in what he fought for, but Hinata was determined to give it back to him.
"Naruto-kun, p-p-please… just listen to me…"
He ignored her, coughing up a wad of blood onto the summoning spot and resuming his Taijutsu training. She pushed on, trying to get through to him.
"Nobody sees you as a m-m-monster… we were all just s-s-surprised… Shikamaru-san talked some sense into Ino-san, and everyone accepts you n-n-now… please, just come back to us…"
Naruto didn't respond for a few minutes, instead, he just continued to hit the log over and over again until it splintered. As the last pieces of wood fell to the ground, he sighed but didn't look up.
"Why should I go back? People will always treat me like a monster, an outcast. I couldn't take it anymore; that's why I left with the pervy sage. To get away from it all. The villagers don't know shit, and I don't feel like telling them. Besides, there's really no reason for me to go back to you guys. If I leave, then Akatsuki won't come knocking. There's only Sasuke-teme, and you guys should be able to defeat him with teamwork. There's nothing left for me here. Once I reach the time limit, I'm outta here."
Hinata bit her lip. Persuading Naruto might mean that she would have to confess, but if it kept him from leaving, she would do it gladly. "Naruto-kun, p-p-please don't leave. We need you, the village needs you, and I need-"
"Don't give me that bullshit. The village doesn't need me. My type are never needed in a village. We're outcasts from the moment that we're born. I tried to live a normal life, to make friends, but now…" he sighed, wiping another drop of blood on the ground. "I see what Gaara meant. Being all alone, with nobody to rely on… I can't really blame him anymore. Just leave me alone and get out of my house."
Naruto returned to punching the training block with fury, as if the lump of wood was himself in disguise. Hinata could only watch helplessly as the smell of fresh blood rose again, this time dripping to the ground in thick dollops. Before long, the area around Naruto was completely bloodsoaked and he was still doing his orbits around the block of wood.
Hinata could think of nothing else she could do, so she rushed forward the moment that Naruto had stopped. Before he could summon up another training dummy, she wrapped her arms around his waist.
"P-P-Please, Naruto-kun… just stop this, Please! It hurts me to see you hurt yourself so badly… just stop this, please!"
Naruto flinched at the physical contact and then sighed.
"Hinata, it's not like I don't want to come back. It's just the fact that nobody wants me back and that I don't have a reason to go back. I don't like this any more then you do, trust me. But there are things that I have to do. It's better this way."
When he tried to shake her off, she started crying and only tightened her grip. When he couldn't shake her off, he sighed again.
"Hinata, I've never known you to be so… incessant. I really want to stay, I really do."
"Then w-w-why don't you?" she sobbed.
Naruto sighed and relaxed his stance slightly. "There are a couple of reasons. First of all, it's too dangerous for me to stay here. Orochimaru was weaker than any member of Akatsuki, and they're bound to come calling. If I stay here, then everyone is at risk. I've already hurt my friends by being myself. I don't want anyone else hurt because they want what's inside me. Second, during my training, I discovered something. If I don't find the last part of that scroll, then we could all be doomed. I think my life in exchange for all of yours is a fair one. Just so long as none of you get hurt…"
Her crying didn't stop. But when he tried to shake her off again, she managed to whisper in a voice that was barely audible, "I thought I had already lost you once… if you leave now, then I'll just follow you… I'll never let you get away from me again…" she finished and cried even harder, drowning out anything that he might have heard.
Naruto sighed again and gently pried her hands from around her waist. When she struggled, he squatted down, his face hidden in the darkness. "Tell me, Hinata. Would it really hurt you that much if I left Konoha?"
She looked up from where she had been crying, convinced that Naruto was gone from her again, that there was nothing that she could do. "Y-Y-Yes… I-I-I d-d-don't k-k-know if I-I-I could g-g-go o-o-on if s-s-something had happened to y-y-you…"
He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Alright, if it really means that much to you, then I won't leave."
Hinata's sigh of relief was lost as she threw herself at Naruto for the second time in her life. This time, he returned the embrace as any friend would. She only hoped, while she cried into his shoulder, that it would become more then just a friendship.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Tsunade and several shadow clones were scanning papers at top speed in her office. Each had a large folder and was thoroughly combing it for a piece of information that the Hokage really needed. Four of the folders were thick, bound with seals to keep the information locked up unless needed. Next door, several more shadow clones were going through filing cabinets.
The reason that she was desperately tearing her office apart was because of the news that Choji had dropped by earlier. Apparently, when he had walked by Hinata's camp, she was nowhere to be seen. Assuming that she was in the portapotty, he had walked on by until a flash of green had caught his eye. The stall was unoccupied.
When he got back to the front gates and had a closer look at the building, he could see that the front door was slightly ajar. Someone had recently entered or exited the building. Not only that, but after some snooping around, he had found traces of blood on the gates, confirming the fact that she had broken the blood seal and was now inside Naruto's house.
What Tsunade wanted to know was how Hinata managed to use her blood to open a blood seal that was meant to open for the Namikaze Clan only. In fact, there were only two ways to do so, if you were not born into the family. One was to be adopted at an early age, where your blood composition could be altered somewhat, and the other… well, that was what she was looking at right now.
All of the files weren't jutsus, mission reports, or even medical files. They were family history records. The four smaller files were on Hinata's and Naruto's parents. Everything that they did outside missions was displayed out in front of them. If her suspicions were correct, then the fangirls of the village would go on a rampage to get rid of Hinata.
It wasn't one of her Shadow Clones that came to report the news. Instead, Shizune nervously approached her sensei with a piece of paper clutched in her hand. Wordlessly, Tsunade accepted the document and quickly scanned over it.
"So, it's true after all… the Hyuga did win… it's just as I thought…"
Shizune gulped, something she was doing more and more often. "You mean… the Namikaze Tradition… was continued in Naruto?"
The Hokage nodded tiredly. "Yes. If the council hears about this, then they'll try to reinstate the 'Lost Clan Act'. They want his bloodlines, and they'll stop at nothing to get it."
"But… but wouldn't that make Hinata-san miserable? I mean, we all see how far she's willing to go for him… well, everyone except Naruto, of course."
Tsunade nodded again, handing the piece of paper back to Shizune to be refilled. "Yes, and that's not the only problem. If the council reactivates the 'Lost Clan Act', then we're going to have a massacre on our hands. The Kunoichi of this village would stop at nothing for Naruto, and some of the Jonin and Chunin might get a little… violent toward the female civilian population."
"So what can we do?"
The Hokage bit her lip, thinking. "Inform the major clan and family heads. If we can unify them, then we can stop Danzo and his allies. But in the meantime, just keep it to the heads until we can gain enough support."
Shizune nodded and retreated out of the room, shutting the door behind her. For the fifth time that day, she felt sorry for Naruto.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Naruto, meanwhile, was still supporting a crying Hinata, unsure of what to do. He knew what to do for an injured friend. He knew what to do for a broken friend. Hell, he even knew what to do with a dead friend. But he sure as hell didn't know what to do with a crying friend.
Hinata's tears were not purely of sorrow or joy, or any other emotion, for that matter. She was glad beyond belief that Naruto had managed to stay, proud at herself for as the one who had done it, sad because of the pain that he had gone through, just to keep everyone else safe, and shock that he would willingly die for them all.
He coughed gently and winced. "Hinata, it's alright. I'm staying. Through I may not be around for long if you don't let me do one thing."
Her crying stopped abruptly, through she still sniffled and her words were somewhat slurred. "W-W-What, Naruto-kun?"
Naruto managed to wheeze out, "Breathe, Hinata. I need… air!"
She immediately relinquished her grip on his chest and quickly backed away, blushing redder then a lobster as Naruto gulped down lungfuls of air, desperate to replenish what he had not been able to get with her arms around him.
Hinata was turning redder and redder from a combination of watching him desperately get down air and from her inner self's words, which were suggesting what to do with Naruto while he was down. She resisted both things and managed to force her blush down to an acceptable level before her heart burst.
Naruto was nowhere near as lucky.
His body was already weakened from three days of non-stop training and chakra-burning exercises required all the air it could get. When Hinata had cut off his supply of oxygen, his cells, which had already been pushed to the breaking point, simply began to break down. Also, thanks to the demonic chakra still permeating large sections of his body, Kyuubi couldn't heal him.
The result was Naruto down on all fours, coughing and wheezing his heart out, trying to get down a breath of air that would sooth the burning sensation that was spreading all throughout his body.
After a few minutes, his physical resistance broke down and he finally caved into the consequences of abusing his body to the point that he had gone to.
Hinata was the first one to notice the fact that Naruto had stopped wheezing and coughing. In fact, his entire body lay still, apart from a tremor and spasm that would rock him every few seconds.
Her concern returning in an instant, she rushed over to where Naruto had collapsed, rolled him onto his back, and performed a diagnostic jutsu before helping him up by lifting one of his shoulders. She was scared of having to carry him and his weights all the way upstairs, but Naruto coughed again and pressed a button on his side, releasing the weights.
Having lost the dead weight, she quickly helped him up the stairs, pausing every few seconds to let him take in a deep breath of air. After Sakura and Ino's descriptions, she knew exactly where Naruto's bedroom was, and she quickly put him on the bed before rushing into the bathroom to soak a towel with cool water.
When Hinata got back and placed the towel on his forehead to run down the fever, she took a long look at Naruto's physical condition and was appalled at what she saw.
Naruto's hands were missing huge chunks of skin from where they had been ripped off during his training. The diagnostic jutsu she had performed earlier had shown her major damage to all of his internal organs, some damaged to almost beyond recognizing. Not only that, but blood loss had seemed to take its toll on the already broken down body. Infections had begun to spread on the various injuries, and he was malnourished and dehydrated.
There was no permanent damage- yet. That could easily change with the next six hours. Somehow, she had to get Tsunade in here or risk using what little she had on hand to restore him to a traveling condition so that they could get to the hospital. Hinata would have carried him, but the slightest jarring would disrupt his already destroyed organ systems, and she didn't want to risk that.
Instead, she bit her lip, unsure of what to do until another groan from Naruto solidified her resolve and she pulled a small medical kit out of her pouch.
Using a Genjutsu to relieve the pain, she used a chakra scalpel to open Naruto up. His internal organs looked even worse from here, and she wanted to cry for him, but she did her best to patch them up to the point where they could support themselves. She then closed him up and sealed the wound before turning to his hands and the various infections that he had.
Hinata applied her homemade injury cream to the bloodied areas, thus accelerating the healing process. The infections, however, were another problem. She didn't have any antibiotic on hand, and the infections were non-life threatening, so she changed the towel on his forehead, resoaking the cloth with cool water before touching him on the shoulder and jumping out the window, heading to the pharmacy for some basic medical supplies.
Behind her, Naruto started wheezing and rolling on his bed…
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Author's Note:
HEYO!
Alright people, whats up?
anyway, like i said, theres some fluff here, and i saved some for the next chapter.
Spring break is almost here, and i hope to have 3-4 chapters out during the 9-day span. so get ready for some major writing.
Anyway, it's time for me to sound like the announcer dude.
Ahem.
... What is this mysterious doccument? Why are Tsuande and Shizune so concerned about it? What lies in store for Hinata? Find out next time, on chapter XIV of Timeless, Naruto's Acceptance!...
Well, that's my spheal over with. i'm gonna incorpate that into every chapter from now on.
Until next time, please, Please, Please, Please Please, PLEASE, review Review Review, Review, Review, REVIEW!
With the Best of Regards and a Happy Spring, (or fall, if you are in the southern hemisphere)
Xingster
PS: This piece is now over 80K words! W00T! Let's shoot for the 100k Club before the end of spring break!
Later!