Fates Web
Chapter Three: The Journey
Author Notes: It's good to get another chapter out so soon. I hope you all enjoy my story so far.
Some chapters will have the POV of both Naruto and Hinata, some will have several chapters of one character. I'm progressing both their stories and eventually they will intersect. Their won't be any immediate romance. They were the closest of childhood friends and that does not automatically translate to romance. There might even be competing pairings.
III = Interlude/ character perspective switch.
Bold text = Inner voice/ something important speaking.
There will be no crossovers, or characters from other shows.
Hinata stopped at the first human settlement she came across. The villagers gave her a wide berth. A tattered brown cloak covered her body down to the dirt, but you could make out glowing lilac and red eyes underneath the shaded hood.
She looked over the stone and clay buildings. Some of them seemed so primitive compared to the luxury she had known in her human life. Small squalid hovels with wooden ceilings and cragged stone walls laid spread out. Dirty faces with wary eyes watched her as she made her way through the dirt road that ran through the small village.
'They look so poor' She thought.
A wheezing elderly man with slouched shoulders and sunken eyes hobbled past her. The look in his eyes haunted her. There was no joy or happiness in those eyes, only empty resignation.
'Hollow blue eyes stared at her in horror'
The elder frowned as a blackened hand fell on his shoulder.
"Excuse me."
He looked behind him and took a step back, "W-wh-what?"
"What has befallen this village? Why is everyone so sad?" Hinata asked, trying to sound as non threatening as possible.
The elder adopted a wary glare, "Who's asking?"
A good question. It's best to keep information about herself scarce.
"Just a concerned traveler."
He avoided her stare, "Aye lass, there's been a nasty group of bandits that's been taking the village's harvest. We don't have enough food to feed everyone and no one passes through these lawless lands no more."
Her eyes narrowed and pale purple lips set into a thin line, "Why hasn't the local Shinobi village done anything about it? Shouldn't a group of lawless creeps warrant a response."
The man laughed, "Oh girly, Iwagakure doesn't care about little boondock villages like us." He spit off to the side of the road, "We ain't got the money to pay off those snooty rock thumpers."
A commotion from further head made the Hyuuga turn her head. In the town square at the center of the small village a crowd gathered around wooden gallows. Hinata carefully kept pace behind the village elder and tried to make herself small and unseen in the crowd.
On the gallows two thin and malnourished children stood with nooses around their neck. Five men with leather vests, brown cowhide pants and short swords stood on the stage in front of the tied up children.
One of the men wore a red bandana and seemed the most unstable of the lot. 'I spot three dozen bandits, and two sentries with longbows to the south.' Hinata growled as she weighed the pros and cons of helping the villagers. Should she break her cover and help the humans, or should she move on and forget what she saw?
The man with the red bandana banged his sword against a tin can, "Attention, attention ye scum." The crowds fell silent and the man adopted a choppy smile that made Hinata's stomach clench. This wasn't good.
"Now that I have your attention I have a little announcement to make." The bandit leader pointed to the restrained children, "These little mites stole some of me precious spice." The bandit's eyes briefly rolled into his head, "Need me spice."
The bandit started shuddering and his chest began dry heaving.
An unhinged cry erupted from the man's throat and he began sobbing, "They took it!"
Hinata remembered a lesson from her mother.
'Remember Daughter. If you ever come across a man who can never parch his throat with water, but fills it with foul herbs or chemicals - then avoid them and never accept their poisoned gifts. '
The villagers moved around uneasy. The sobbing bandit turned hateful eyes on them, "IT'S ALL YER FAULT!"
The bandit raised a sword to cut the ropes and the townsfolk screamed. The sword never connected as Hinata appeared in a burst of speed and ripped out the man's arm from its socket.
The bandit fell down screaming and his fellows drew their swords at the mysterious cloaked person.
Hinata held out the arm and grinned with razor-sharp teeth, before she sunk her teeth into the arm and pulled back.
Villagers turned green and the bandits hurled their stomach contents as the cloaked woman made a show of chewing the meat and swallowing it with an exaggerated 'gulp'.
Hinata licked her lips of the 'sweet nectar'
The bandits trembled and some even pissed themselves.
"Wh-who are you?" Asked one of them.
Hinata finished eating the arm and flashed a mouth of white fangs, "Tastes like chicken"
"Monster!"
The renegades abandoned their dying leader and ran away.
"Hey get back here. Don't leave me!" The bandit leader yelled.
A shadow fell on the man and he turned around with a whimper. The robed menace stood over him. Sinister red and lilac eyes shone from the hood with dark hunger.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
III
Hinata burped and rubbed her belly. The village elder knelt on his knees profusely thanking the strange robed girl.
"Thank you girly. We are forever in your debt." Said the tear stricken man. Smiling villagers echoed the elders statement.
Hinata laughed, "It's nothing really." She held up her hands in a pleading manner.
The elder wasn't having any of that, "Please allow us to host you for tonight. We can give you supplies and a room for the night."
Hinata bit her lip, "Well..."
Hours later the pale girl floated in a small hot spring alone. She lifted a toned leg and relaxed into the warm moonlit waters. 'Those villagers are so nice. They were scared of me until the elder calmed them down and convinced them I was one of those *Shinobi Types*'
Closing her eyes she let the warm water soothe her tense body. Muscles uncoiled and small popping noises elicited a satisfied moan. 'It's so satisfying having a humanoid body again.' Slowly, she reached deep inside her. Her awareness seeped into her body and the world fell away.
Arms changed into long slender limbs and her torso contracted and expanded to allow her abdomen to expand behind her. Red sclera receded as her lavender pupils and iris expanded to cover her whole eyes, and two split into four. Her head-guard transformed into four spiked limbs covering her face and mandibles grew from her mouth.
"Mhm, now this is relaxing." Hinata shivered in relief. She loved being in her human form, but sometimes she felt the urge to revert to the form she was born with.
It's purely luck on her part that she convinced the villagers to lend her their only hotspring for a night. They hadn't seen anything other than her strange red and lilac eyes, and clawed fingers. The two anomalies could be explained as part of a bloodline or some sort of Kinjutsu. These villagers only knowledge of Shinobi was that they possessed terrifying and supernatural powers. Something like strange eye color or clawed hands were nothing compared to throwing around elemental ninjutsu or making clones.
"RING!"
Her eyes opened in alarm.
"RING!"
"RING!"
"The bandits are back!" Someone yelled.
The sounds of metal cutting flesh and screams split the night. From above the thin wooden walls surrounding her, Hinata could make out a red glow.
'Fires' She realized.
"Stranger-Sama!" Someone yelled rushing into the hotspring.
The man skid to a halt, eyes wide. No one was here.
III
"Kill them all men. Avenge our leader!" Yelled a thick muscled man with a club. Hundreds of ragged bandits roared in return. The men wore iron cuirass's with leather skirts and carried random weapons; from bows to short swords, and even spears.
'That's right. With this many men that freak can't stop us now.' The bandit thought.
A blood curdling scream rent the night, "HELP ME ARGHH-" The scream cut off.
The bandit leader whipped around to see one of his men disappear into the dark trees above. The bandits panicked and began firing arrows and swinging wildly into the dark.
"IT'S GOT ME HEL-*Squelch*" The leader of the raiders fell on his back as something wet and viscous poured over him. He screamed and tried to wipe the fluid off him. He couldn't see anything. The sounds of men dying and wet ripping sounds drove the terrified man to abandon his allies and flee.
Through blurry eyes he jumped over shrouded shrubbery and barely avoided running into a tree. "Ahhh!" He tripped on a tree root and scrambled to his feet.
"Hiss"
He looked up and froze. Four eyes stared at him from the dark trees. Hungry fangs parted and saliva dripped onto the man's face.
"Dear Rikudo" He whispered.
The spider leaped and cut off the man's scream.
III
Hinata slowly walked back to the village and wrapped her cloak around her blood stained form. She idly licked her claws clean and shivered. A memory came to mind at the taste.
'Remember my little spiderling. One day you will leave our nest. When that day comes you may be forced to kill a human. Be warned, their taste is addictive and it is easy to lose yourself. Remember, restraint is your ally.'
How was she supposed to know they would taste so good? Her mouth watered at the memory of eating those bandits. It was like the best chicken her mother had ever cooked. She had slowly grown familiar to the carnivorous lifestyle she had found herself in. For her early life she had learned to catch small animals like coyote and deer in her webs. When she held that humans arm in her hand she just couldn't hold herself back.
Soon she found herself back inside the village. There were many wounded and a few burned down buildings, but everyone was mostly ok. When a wounded villager came to greet her she almost attacked him, but she reeled back her control. What would her mother say if she started attacking innocent humans?
'Her mother looked at a blood stained Hinata and shook her head in disappointment.' Her features hardened. She would stay in control. Her urges did not rule her.
The villager breathed harshly and leaned on a shovel. He heaved and sweat dripped down his brow.
"I- the- village elder Gamori needs to see you." The man gasped.
She nodded and moved at a brisk pace to the house. The elder Gamori waited out front and the dark bags under his eyes noticeably lessened when he spotted her, "There she is. Stranger-Sama over here."
"I hope the damage wasn't too bad." She said looking a little guilty.
He shook his head, ignorant to her inner thoughts, "No, no, not at all!" He motioned to the village, "There is barely any damage at all."
He turned to her with a bow, "Whatever you did the bandits are now gone."
She adverted her gaze, "Let's just say they won't be bothering you ever again."
The elder knelt to his knees and bowed his head. The rest of the villagers followed, "Please if there is anything we can do, all you need do is ask."
She shifted uneasily. The concept of someone owing her something was foreign.
"Perhaps there is something I could require."
The elder lifted his head, "Oh?"
"I need a written commendation from yourself and at least ten of your villagers."
The villagers faces showed their disbelief. A man stepped forward, "Surely there is more we can do for our hero?"
"Nope" She crossed her arms with a chipper smile, "I just need a recommendation so I can enter the closest hidden village." She pointed a clawed finger to her face, still hidden under the hood, "Let's just say I have a kekkei Genkai and it makes me look a little odd. I need someone to vouch for me so I don't get attacked the second I enter Iwagakure."
Gamori sighed, "I think I understand. I will find as many willing villagers as I can."
"Thank you"
He chuckled, "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have a village right now. It's the least we could do."
III
Morning came fast and Hinata departed the village with a smile. The cheering villagers waved at her as she walked down the dirt road with her new rucksack slung over shoulder. It was slightly irritating because it rubbed over her two shoulder tentacles. The four spear-like limbs were hard enough to conceal around her waist, but the ones on her shoulder were starting to poke through her cloak with the added weight getting in the way.
"Of all the-" She fidgeted and mumbled all the way down to Iwa. Once she got there she was going to buy one of those seals that you could put stuff inside.
Finally arriving at Iwa she was stopped by the guards.
"Halt!"
A Chunin with wavy black hair and a thick chin bone moved in front of her, "State your business and Identification."
She mentally went over her story before responding, "My name is Hinata BlackWidow. I am from a small nameless clan that settled in the far north of the land of earth." She handed a form to the Chunin.
The man accepted the form and went over it. His eyes slowly grew wider as he kept reading. He looked up at her with mouth open, "Is this accurate."
"Yes, that contains the signatures of the entire village of Kenaio and a letter of passage from its village elder. I am aware that my kekkei Genkai gives me a very...peculiar appearance."
"Very Well. Our Tsuchikage would see you then."
Following the man Hinata peaked glances at the village. The village rested on a large rocky plane with mountains rising at the edges. The streets were gravel lanes that interconnected throughout the village and allowed the thousands of bustling crowds to mill about. The buildings were mostly constructed from the sandstone colored rock that formed the land with the exception of a few wooden shops.
They walked past crowds of curious onlookers. A dark haired girl wearing the standard red undershirt and brown flak jacket of Iwa greeted them at the Tsuchikage Tower. She had short cut hair with two bangs that fell around her face, and a cocky grin to match.
"Who's she?"
The Chunin shrugged, "She arrived at the front gates with a letter from the villager elder of Kenaio and the signatures of the entire town. The elder claims she saved them from a group of bloodthirsty bandits."
The girls eyes widened, "That's impressive for someone not affiliated with a hidden village" Black eyes narrowed, "Where did she say she was from?"
The Chunin shuffled around, "The far North, possibly beyond the dune deserts."
Hinata spoke up, "My mother taught me. I am from an unaffiliated clan that hides in the mountains up north because of our clans physical appearance."
A convenient lie. If they thought she was human with a weird Kekkai Genkai they wouldn't start questioning why a summoning animal was outside their territory and pretending to be a human.
The girl tapped a hand on her thigh, "Ok"
Hinata blinked.
The girl smirked, "Let's see what gramps has to say."
Hinata realized now the girl she had been talking to must have been related to the current Tsuchikage.
Seeing the spark in her eyes the black haired girl chuckled and held out a hand, "By the way, refer to me as Kurotsuchi"
"Hinata" She replied taking the hand and shaking.
If the Iwa nin was surprised at the clawed hands or the insane grip strength of the indigo haired girl she didn't let it show.
"Well Hinata, if you want to stay in our cozy little village I suggest you follow me and let me do most of the talking. Old man Onoki has a short temper."
She nodded and silently followed Kurotsuchi inside the tower. They climbed a long winding stairway and eventually reached a red marked door. Kurotsuchi knocked twice.
"Enter"
They walked inside and Hinata looked around at the moderately large office. The floor was a polished mahogany with an Oakwood desk and tan stone walls. Three windows laid open behind the Tsuchikages desk and piles of paperwork sat piled on the desk.
"What is it now Kurotsuchi? This better not be another one of your attempts to get me out of the office." Said a stressed elderly voice.
Hinata laid eyes on the Tsuchikage. The man himself was somewhat short and had a thick bulbous nose with a receding hairline and tired dark eyes with stress lines underneath them. Despite the man's age and appearance she could feel the potent chakra radiating off the man. He was the second strongest being she had met behind her mother, but it was very close.
Kurotsuchi stuck a finger in Onoki's face, "Hey I'm not the one who never comes home. When was the last time? Five weeks?"
The man gave a winded exhale, "You know the responsibilities that entails ruling a village." He gestured to the pile of paperwork, "I can't just let this pile up."
"Ahem" Their heads snapped to her. She gave a sheepish grin, "Hello I am looking for permission to stay in your village."
Onoki measured up the strange girl, and the kind grandpa she had seen a moment ago vanished. Dark eyes reflected a stone cold determination and a will to see it through.
'A man willing to do anything to protect his home.'
"Who are you?" He asked.
Kurotsuchi held out a letter. Onoki took the offered letter with a raised brow, "A letter of commendation from Gamori?" He looked at her with curious eyes, "I haven't seen that old bat in over a decade. If what this letter says is true than I am very grateful for your assistance."
Hinata blushed, "It's nothing."
"Kurotsuchi says that you belong to a minor clan from the far north." He steepled his fingers and settled a steely gaze on her.
Hinata nodded. She knew she could not lie to this man. He would instantly see through her and she would die. Her mother taught her the best deception was to mix truth with deception. 'As long as he does not ask too many direct questions I can get through this.'
"Hai, I belong to a minor clan from the mountainous far north. We mostly keep to ourselves and my mother thought I should travel around and acquire some worldly experience."
Onoki nodded, "That is remarkable for one so young. I cannot see your face clearly but your voice suggests you should be around perhaps fifteen years old. The reason there aren't more villages up north is because it is infested with dangerous chakra animals and the terrain is very harsh."
"Yes, my kekkei Genkai gifts me with great stamina, strength, and regeneration but effects my appearance drastically" She made a motion of pulling her cloak tighter and adverting her face, "When I show myself it usually causes a commotion and I am chased out of town."
Onoki's face softened, "Alright girl, there's no getting around it. Show me what's so scary about you."
She let the cloak fall to the floor. Kurotsuchi's hand instinctually reached for a kunai and Onoki almost fell back from his chair.
"By the Rikudo girl." Onoki looked up and down her slender form, not even lingering on her slender pale stomach, sides, or the cleavage showing from her collarbone.
Kurotsuchi stared at the dark chitin covering her limbs and vitals with a mix of wonder and dread, and those eyes...red sclera surrounded a single large lavender dot, covering both iris and pupil.
Four spiderlike limbs extended from Hinata's back and she moaned in relief. Seeing their faces her cheeks reddened, "Sorry It just felt so good letting them out. You have no idea how long I've had them folded up."
Onoki was the first one to break out of his stupor, "I've heard of a few clans like this." Seeing he had both their attention he continued, "I faced against a clan in the second Shinobi war that had a strange ailment. They would unconsciously absorb nature chakra and it would transform their bodies into monstrous creatures."
He spared her a wary grimace, "I do not know if your clan is related to them but that is probably why you look so...unusual."
She nodded, "My mother thought it would be good if I traveled around and interacted with normal people. Can I stay here for a while?"
Onoki paused and traded a look with his granddaughter. Slowly he turned back to her, "How would you like to become a Iwa shinobi?"
"Huh?"
III
Hinata walked out of the Tsuchikage tower with a brand new forehead protector.
"Well... that happened."