Note: I went through and re-edited this chapter and reposted it, I made quite a few mistakes. Sorry if anyone got a story alert and thought this was a new chapter!
The wind blew calmly through the dense forest that surrounded Team Seven's training ground, the sound of leaves being gently strewn about filling the cathedral like silence of the area. The sun was hidden behind a rather large white cloud, shadowing the area briefly, before moving on it's way to reveal a blonde youth leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. He breathed in an even pattern trying to quell his bubbling red anger that waited underneath closed eyelids. With each long and deep breath, he tried to cool himself down, but the threat the Uchiha had posed to him was too great to ignore. Too great to think straight or to be calm. This fight, and the outcome meant the world to Naruto Uzumaki.
Slowly opening his eyes, he turned his head to left, and watched as three youths all walked up the path chatting amongst each other. Naruto growled as he spotted the Uchiha wearing a grin of satisfaction seeing him. Pushing off the tree, he walked to the center of the field and squared off his shoulders with his fists balled tightly as he glared at his opponent.
"I'm glad to see you showed up. I thought you might chicken out." Sasuke said, honestly glad he was going to get a fight after all. "Seems like you want to keep lying to that girl about your team after all."
Naruto felt his anger start to boil over again, but he kept it in check, only responding with a twitch of his left eyebrow. "Do you think it's funny, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his voice shaky.
Sasuke took it as fear from the enraged teen. "Only thing I find funny is that you survived when the rest of your team died. I bet you ran like a coward." He replied with a smirk.
Reaching up, Naruto grasped his sword, causing the three other ninja to go for their own weapons. Not paying them any attention, he unclasped the leather buckle on his chest that held the sword sheath on his back with his left. Taking it off, he slammed the greatsword into the ground making it stay in an upright position.
"Think you can fight me without that? You're gonna need all you can get." Sasuke asked, his voice full of overconfidence.
"That sword is meant to kill, and I don't think the ANBU would like it if I sliced you in half, would they?" Naruto replied. He reached up and unzipped his jacket, pulled it off and draped it over the sword handle. Then, he took off the white undershirt he had on, hearing a shocked gasp from the girl across the field. Now his muscled, discolored arm and large scar was open to the world.
Sasuke raised his eyebrow, trying to figure out what he was trying to play at with stripping off his clothing. He also took a mental note of the fact that Naruto's right arm seemed much stronger than the rest of his body.
"Do you see this scar, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, pointing at his mark with his right thumb. It hadn't lessened at all, unlike his other scars. It was still blatantly obvious that his heart had almost been cleaved in an attack. "You're right, y'know? I was a coward. Because of that, my team is dead and this is proof of it."
How could he take a hit like that and not die? Kiba thought to himself, staring at the ugly scar on the other boy's chest. Unless his knowledge of human anatomy was wrong, it should of killed him.
"You got a point to make other than to agree with what I said?" Sasuke asked, feeling annoyed at the delay.
"Yeah, I do." Naruto replied, raising his arms into a fighting stance. "You better make sure I'm either dead or completely out cold. Because I won't concede, not to a bastard like you who threaten and slander people for petty and vain reasons."
Waving his arm with a scoff, it seemed to signal to his teammates to step back, as Sasuke stepped forward and moved into the Uchiha fighting stance. "I don't think you're gonna have to worry about me slacking on that, idiot. Just don't come crying to me when your friend starts hating you for being such a coward." Sasuke taunted with a smirk, but almost lost his smirk when he saw Naruto's eyes flash red for a brief instant.
Naruto pushed off his planted foot, screaming a battle cry as he charged forward with his right arm pulled across his body, ready to deliver a chop to the boy's head. Bringing his arm up to block the obvious attack, Sasuke gasped as he watched Naruto's left leg come out and slam directly into his side, bending his body for a second before his right fist hit him squarely in the jaw and sent him to the ground.
Sasuke swore he felt a tooth almost get dislodged from the sledgehammer like blow of the punch, before he quickly rolled backwards and gained his bearings. He watched as Naruto was already on top of him, executing a roundhouse thrust kick right at his head. He was a little faster on the uptake however, as Sasuke intercepted the kick and grabbed the other boy's heel and threw him over his shoulder, slamming the blonde into the ground.
Naruto wasted no time, as he quickly recovered from the shock of his head hitting the ground, and thrashed out with his left leg and kicked Sasuke's wrist, making him lose his grip long enough for Naruto the wrench his foot free. Dropping his legs, he rolled back into a crouch.
Sasuke jumped forward, to land a right into the blonde's face, but was intercepted by a hard straight punch into his solar plexus by Naruto's herculean right arm. Sasuke felt his breath leave him violently in a single gush of air before he felt Naruto grasp his shirt and waist of his paints.
Having a firm grip onto the Uchiha's clothing, Naruto pulled the teen over his head and slammed his cranium into the ground behind him. The sickening crunch he expected to hear though, was replaced by the sound of wood splintering apart. Cursing, he whipped his head around, and saw Sasuke moving his hands rapidly, ending with a familiar hand sign.
"Katon: Fireball Jutsu!" as he named the technique, a massive fireball flew from his mouth and straight towards the blonde ninja.
His body moved before he think and preformed the necessary hand seals. Slamming his palm into the ground he shouted, "Doton: Small Earth Wall Jutsu!" With not a second to spare, the earth wall sprang up from the ground and blocked the impending fire ball, causing an explosion of fire and earth to erupt into a smokescreen of dust. As it settled, Naruto was nowhere to be seen.
About fifty feet away, both Kiba and Sakura watched with open jaws at the raw display of taijutsu and ninjutsu the two youth's were displaying. Both were in disbelief that Naruto was actually holding his own against the prodigy.
Sasuke's thoughts were somewhat similar as he scanned the tree line, looking for any sign that an impending attack was coming. I might of underestimated the idiot. This is turning out to be a bit funner than I thought it would be.
Before he could mull over the new strength the dead last was showing, his keen shinobi ears picked up the sound of metal slicing through the air. Leaping into the air and to the right, he watched three kunai soar in a triangle pattern where he once was, hitting each other with a loud clang. Just as he landed, he watched three Naruto's erupt from the tree line, one in front and two behind. The one in front was about twenty feet further away than the other two, so he decided to focus on the the behind. Clones, eh? Easy enough.
The first clone jumped into the air, once he was about three feet from Sasuke, his right fist aiming for his skull. Raising his arm to block it, he watched with mild surprise as the second clone had slid under the jumping clone to try and kick at his ankle. Moving faster than the clones, he did a back flip to avoid both the attacks, but gasped as he watched the third clone's feet plant into his chest and send him back. He had miscalculated how fast the third Naruto could run, and was caught by a drop kick.
Naruto couldn't help but grin, as he felt the satisfaction of his feet hitting the Uchiha's stomach and seeing him hit the ground rolling. Watching him get back up quickly with an annoyed look, he glared at Naruto before switching his mood immediately.
"I guess I underestimated you, I apologize for that much. But now, it's over." Sasuke spoke, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "Sharingan!" He announced with a yell. His once black eyes were now blood red with two tomoes circled around the small black irises.
"Tch. . ." Naruto hissed, trying to think if he had ever heard about what the Uchiha clan's legendary dojutsu actually did. Not finding the answer, he decided to test the water with his clones before anything else.
Sasuke charged forward, pulling out two kunai, to attack both clones each readying a right punch. Thanks to his new eyesight however, he was easily able to parry both punches, the follow with two jabs to their necks, dispersing them.
The hell? How did he know those were clones? Or is he actually trying to kill me? No wait. . . it has to have something to do with his eyes. Grabbing his own kunai, Naruto moved forward, and opened with a volley of three shuriken thrown from his left hand, before slicing towards the other teen.
He easily dodged the projectiles that seemed to move in slow motion. Then, seeing Naruto foolishly move in without breaking eye contact, he smirked to himself knowing that the blonde had no idea of the Sharingan's power. Horizontal slice at my chest. He thought, and laughed as he was easily able to block the attack with his own kunai.
Now, the two seemed to be locked in a close quarters kunai fight, but in reality Sasuke was directing the flow of battle with the hypnotic gaze of the Sharingan, making Naruto attack how he saw fit. Deciding to end the pathetic display, he sent another hypnotic suggestion to the blonde, causing him to make a stabbing lunge towards him. Sidestepping it, he brought his left fist down and slammed it into his opponent's neck, sending him into the ground.
Naruto was frustrated beyond belief, earlier they seemed to be on equal footing, exchanging blows regularly. Now, he couldn't land a single blow on his cocky opponent. Lunging at the Uchiha, he swore the attack should of hit, before he felt a sharp blunt pain in his neck followed by the painful embrace of the dirt below. The impact seemed to make all the small cuts he'd been getting from Sasuke's kunai explode in white hot pain. Wasting no time, he tried to push himself up and away before his head was forcefully shoved back into the ground by Sasuke's heel.
Sasuke laughed as he grinded his heel into the boy's scalp. "Pathetic, I knew someone like you would be no match for my Sharingan." Raising his foot up, he slammed it back down harshly hearing a muffled cry of pain from the blonde.
Across the field, the other two members of team seven watched on with some trepidation at their teammates cruelty. "Geez, I think he might be going a little overboard." Kiba said, wincing when he watched Naruto's face get slammed back into the ground for a second time.
Sakura just stood by quietly, part of her grimacing at the display, while the other more vocal part of her gave the boy a thumbs up. Cha! That's my Sasuke-kun! Show him who's boss!
Naruto felt stupid and embarrassed at the position he was in. He was at the mercy of this stupid bastard, and no matter how hard he tried to get back up, he couldn't seem to overpower the Uchiha. For a third time he was pushed back into the dirt, and then started to feel light headed as a rush of blood began to pour from his nose.
"Well, looks like you can't stop me from telling Hinata about your secret after all. See ya, loser." With that, he grinned as he brought his foot up as high as he could and then slammed his heel onto Naruto's head, intending it to knock him out.
Naruto however, didn't even register the pain as the last words Sasuke spoke to him was resounding in his head. Especially when he said Hinata's name, it sounded dirty and tainted rolling off Sasuke's tongue.
Sasuke pushed his foot off Naruto's head and started to turn around when he heard a low mumble from the blonde he couldn't make out. Growling, he went over to slam his face into the earth again when he was surprised by the speed Naruto moved. For only a brief moment, he caught sight of red eyes.
Shooting up from the ground, Naruto screamed out, "Don't you ever say her name again!" Grabbing the stunned boy by his face, he stood fully erect and held the Uchiha briefly at full arms length over his head, causing the other boy to dangle in the air.
Screaming out in pain, Sasuke felt the overpowering vice like grip of his hand start to crush his cheekbones, and felt razor sharp claws dig into his forehead and cheeks. He had never felt anything like it. What is this power?
With a loud roar Naruto brought Sasuke down with all his right arms might and hammered the teen's head into the ground, burying him an inch into the earth and crushed his nose causing blood to spew into his palm.
Loud cries of the avenger's name flew across the training field in horror seeing the brutal take down.
Naruto felt the red chakra begin to billow out from his core and flood into him faster as a low voice creeped into his consciousness and steadily grow louder with each repetition of one word: kill. Kill Kill Kill KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL! He recognized the voice easily, as he imagined the Kyuubi screaming inside his mind, slamming against his cage, and his tails whipping around trying it's best to break free. Growling at the annoyance, he brought his hand back, and curled it into a fist ready to finish off the bastard. Just as he was about to bring down the final blow he was stopped by a firm grasp on his wrist. Whipping his head behind him as humanly possible, he saw a white haired jonin standing behind him with a serious look on his face.
"I think that's enough Naruto. You've won." The stranger spoke.
Growling at the older man, Naruto tried to yank his hand free, but to no avail as his captor was much more powerful. Sighing in defeat, he let his arm go limp, and felt the crimson chakra quell as his anger subsided.
Seeing that the boy wouldn't fight him anymore, he let go of his wrist and bent down to check on Sasuke.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Dual voices cried out as they ran towards the battlefield. Both wearing looks of fear and anger towards the blonde youth, who was slowly standing.
"Kakashi-san," Naruto spoke, now knowing the name of the man who stopped him, and why. "Make sure he holds his end of the bargain."
Raising his visible eyebrow, Kakashi's serious look faded away for a normal aloof one, he asked, "You knew?"
"Yes." Naruto responded turning around and walking towards his gear. The truth is the fox told me. . . but they don't need to know that.
Watching the blonde walk away, Kakashi sighed and slung Sasuke over his shoulder.
"Sensei! You can't let Naruto get away with beating Sasuke-kun that badly!" Sakura cried spitefully, hoping to get some measure of revenge for the raven haired youth.
Kiba only gave a short annoyed glance at his teammate, but ignored her and decided to not speak up.
"Oh? And what would I be letting him get away with?" Kakashi asked, feeling a slight twinge of annoyance from the fan girl attitude.
"He. . . He attacked Sasuke-kun for no reason!"
Hearing this, Naruto shot a glance over his head at the girl, growling. But before he could speak up to defend himself however, he watched Kakashi shake his head.
"Sakura, it's not good to lie like that. I was watching this fight the entire time, you happened to interrupt my mid-afternoon reading session." He replied, feigning annoyed anger at the end. "I also happened to hear, shamefully, what Sasuke used to provoke Naruto. I think he had a perfectly good reason to pummel him into the ground. Maybe it'll teach him some manners. Maybe."
Sakura just stood there, mouth agape as she found out just how stone cold busted in her lie she was. Then, she lowered her head in shame, with Kiba shuffling a few footsteps back, not wanting to be involved with her at the moment.
"I think you understand what you did wrong, now come on let's go." Kakashi replied to her physical response. Turning his head to Naruto, who was getting his sword strapped back on, he cleared his throat to gain his attention. "Don't worry about them Naruto. You're secret is safe. But you should tell her sometime, so that way she doesn't find out from someone else you've been lieing."
Instead of replying with the rising anger he felt towards his advice, he stayed calm and looked at him. "How do you tell someone that Kakashi-san? How do you tell someone you're a failure? That you failed the people closest to you?"
Kakashi sighed, and closed his visible eye, as he tried to formulate an appropriate response to that. Frowning, memories he tried his best to keep buried resurfaced within his mind. Minato-sensei. . . why is it that the god's have seen fit to plague your son with with this type of tragedy? Why must he be forced to live what I've lived, but even worse? Slowly opening his eye, revealing the hurt and pain of over a decade of regret and memories that consumed the legendary ninja's soul, he shook his head. "The only thing you can do is tell her Naruto, and believe in your friendship."
The sincere words spoken from boy to man resounded in the minds of the other two shinobi, making them both regret ever taunting the blonde.
Looking up at the cyclops, Naruto felt that he had once been in the same place he himself had. "How do you live with it?" He asked, hoping the man would know what he spoke of.
"If you ever find that answer Naruto, tell me." With that, Kakashi offered a final wave and disappeared into the forest with his students close behind.
With a long, drawn out sigh, Hiruzen Sarutobi – known as the Third Hokage – stopped the chakra flow to his scrying orb which was handed down to him by the Nidaime. The orb had the ability to focus onto a chakra signal or a place, which was provided by the user's thoughts, then played it out much like a TV show to the viewer(s). Hiruzen had used the mystical artifact to keep a close eye on the Kyuubi container both out of duty and self-satisfaction. While he trusted his successor, and by a strange twist of fate, predecessor, he could take no risk. Also, he took pride in watching how Naruto grew up. He grew brave and kind, even though he was surrounded by hatred and apathy towards him he blocked it all out and held little, if no hatred of his own towards those who made him a pariah.
Thinking of the boy and his future with a troubled expression, he reached for his pipe. Before he lit it, he snapped his fingers in no general direction. Not even a moment later, the shadows gave birth to a lone ANBU with a hawk mask.
Kneeling to the left of the Hokage, the ANBU bowed his head. "What is your will, Hokage-sama?"
Taking a drag of his lit pipe for a moment, he blew out the smoky tobacco and flicked his wrist; a scroll dropping into his outstretched left hand. "I'm assigning you an A Rank mission. Deliver this to the Sannin Jiraya. He should be within the Land of Thunder at the moment."
The ANBU nodded and pocketed the scroll within his pouch on his back. "Is there a more specific area within the Land of Thunder in which I should search Hokage-sama?" Hawk asked.
Hiruzen smiled with a proud grin as he thought of his student. "I do believe he'll be aware of your mission before you step foot across the border, so he'll be waiting at the nearest village with hot springs." He knew that Jiraya's information network was vast and extremely effective. Which was why Jiraya stayed abroad instead of in the village. To gather intelligence for Konoha, and to continue his lucrative career. He chuckled to himself, as he felt the weight of a certain orange book in his robe.
At the Hokage's instruction, the ANBU replied with a quick, "It shall be done," before the shadow's once more swallowed the ninja.
Reaching into his robe, he pulled out the adult book and flipped to the chapter he left off on and read to himself with a grin, occasional giggle, and blush.
Walking though the park, Naruto grumbled to himself with his head down, as he kicked a rock he had picked out for being a strange color and odd shape, wondering how or if he should tell Hinata the secret he'd been hiding from her. Even the victory over the bastard Uchiha wasn't able to pull him from the funk. She doesn't deserve to be lied to. But, at the same time how can I be so sure she'd just forgive me? He solemnly lamented, as he tried his best not to leave it up to a coin toss. Then, his thoughts were interrupted by a cry of pain. Snapping his head up, he recognized the cry.
"Hinata?"
Hinata cringed, as she gingerly set her foot down, raised it, and set it down again the simple motion of walking. Her entire right leg was in pain. Under her dark pants, a gigantic, ugly bruise had formed around the appendage. She'd just been released from a 'spar' from her cousin Neji. Her father had arranged the mock duel, because of talk that the strongest branch family member had been surpassing every other Hyuuga of his age, even the main branch children.
Confident that even his complete failure of a daughter would have no trouble defeating the branch member, he had them 'spar'. It was more like a brutal melee that her cousin had taken some form of sick joy of beating her within an inch of actually seriously injuring her. She had lost in less than two minutes, and was shamed in front of the council of elders and her infuriated, chagrined, father. For the heiress of the Hyuuga to not even be able to defeat a lowly branch ninja was the worst shame she'd brought upon him yet. She'd recognized the look of utter anger the Hyuuga patriarch had given her. It was one that promised pain. Scared out of her mind, she ran from home, not allowing herself to be treated by the Hyuuga family medical-nin, and now aimlessly wandered the streets of Konoha. She knew she only made it worse, but maybe by some divine miracle, her punishment would be lessened by the space of time in which her father might cool down. Why am I such a failure? I just wish I could get Father to acknowledge me. . .
Then as if fate intervened, she saw the object of her love, the reason she still clung onto her pathetic life, walk into view. He looked downtrodden and deep in thought, but she hoped maybe she could make him smile. Opening her mouth to speak, she was stopped by his rapid moving foot that launched a large, hard, sharp object straight for her. With a horrified expression, she had only a brief second of hope before the reality of pain set in when it hit her dead center in her right shin. Not being able to contain it, Hinata cried out in pain as she fell to the ground and held her leg, tears threating to fall from the intense sensation of her already damaged nerves screaming for mercy.
"Hinata?" she heard Naruto scream out before he rushed up to her with a pure look of horror.
Seeing the rock near her leg, shock set in as he realized he'd been the cause of her pain. "H-Hold on Hinata-chan! I'll take you to the hospital!" he cried out, not thinking straight.
Stopping him by grasping onto his jacket she shook her head and sat up. "No, Naruto-kun. I don't need to visit the hospital, b-but thank you all the same." she replied timidly, still embarrassed when ever her crush showed that level of affection or concern. "B-But if y-you could c-c-carry me over to that p-park bench?" she stuttered out, wondering where she got the courage to ask such a shameless question.
The blonde boy wasted no time as he quickly scooped up the girl in his arms and gingerly laid her on the bench, using his lap to cushion her head.
The princess felt a shiver run up her spine, as she looked up to the concerned blue pools that studied her face as an art admirer would examine a legendary painting. The warmth of his body along with the knowledge that she was only inches away from an intimate part of his body, caused her to blush with pure joy. It might have been a bit deceiving on her part, but after the hellish morning she'd gone through, this was heaven on earth.
While Naruto was secretly happy that they were in such a position, he was more concerned over why see seemed to be in so much pain from a simple rock hitting her shin. Sure it would of hurt regardless, but it knocked her to the ground. Then, as he considered she might of just fallen from shock, he glanced down to her partially exposed collarbone, that wasn't covered up as much as it usually was, and saw a hint of purple blemish her skin.
Noticing his intense gaze at her chest, she blushed as only a pure maiden could, and covered herself by crossing her arms, not realizing his intentions weren't like that.
"Hinata-chan, where did you get that bruise?" he asked bluntly, concern winning out over any tactful conversation.
Realizing her secret might be compromised, she shook her head. "I-I bumped into a corner while I was turning in the hall, I hadn't been watching were I was going." She replied, hoping it fooled him.
He didn't buy the weak excuse however, and reached over, touching her arm.
Despite her best efforts, she hissed out with a slight cry as he hit dead center on a larger bruise she sported on her left arm.
"Hinata," he started, dropping the suffix, "Where did you get these bruises?" he asked, now realized she was covered in them.
"I. . .I. . ." she started, feeling like she wanted to cry. How could she admit to the boy she loved that she was a failure? "I lost in a spar against my cousin." she finally spoke. It was with so much sadness, so much hope given up, that she hadn't stuttered.
The teen could only look on in shock as he never saw a spar result in such bad bruises. Looking at her with a serious look, he again carefully picked her up bridal style. "I'm taking you to the hospital, you have to get looked at."
Opening her mouth to refute, she was stopped by a firm shake of his head, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Sighing, she nodded her head in agreement before he lept off the bench to gain a good foot hold to start jumping from tree to tree. While she now had to visit a place she wasn't exactly fond of, she now thought with an innocent and embarrassed smile that she should get hurt more often if it resulted in the blonde ferrying her to the hospital like this. His hold was tight, yet gentle and very warm.
Pacing outside her room, Naruto was yet again grumbling to himself, but this time in disbelief towards the brutal beating his friend had took. It enraged him, not that he'd let her see, but he had more than half a mind to charge into the Hyuuga compound with sharpened deadly steel raised high in the air. The only thing that stopped his murderous rampage and constant pressure of the Kyuubi's chakra that agreed with the idea of the slaughter was the fact that Hinata would probably dislike him butchering her family. No matter how much they deserve it. . .
Then, his thoughts stopped as he looked up to the sound of a door nob turning and the metal strut, which kept the door in place, retracting back inside the door. The female medical-nin which was assigned to them stepped out and looked towards Naruto. "You're the young man that brought Hyuuga-sama in correct?" The boy responded with a nod, "We were able to repair her skin, and she shouldn't be in anymore pain, but we've advised she stay for the rest of the afternoon to sleep and let her body take over on the rest of the healing. She took quite a beating, some of her organs were even bruised. I'm amazed she was out walking around, something very strong must have motivated her to not just collapse."
Naruto narrowed his eyes as a bad taste entered his mouth from the thought of the princess's plight. What did cause her to leave her home after taking such a beating? "Can I see her?" he asked.
The medical-nin nodded before stepping out of the way. "Go ahead, you can stay with her until she leaves if you like."
Smiling, he nodded and walked past the medical-nin. Stepping into the darkened room that smelled just like every other hospital room, he saw Hinata resting against the headboard of her hospital bed with a content smile, which he attributed to her being free of bruised skin. "Ne, Hinata-chan, how are you feeling now?"
Smiling, seeing her crush enter the room she replied, "Better, thank you for going through the trouble of bringing me here."
Scratching the back of his head, he smiled sheepishly, "It's no problem."
Then, the both of them quieted down as silence blanketed the room cutting the two shinobi apart and deserting them to their thoughts. One, thought of love and admiration, while the other thought of his hesitation.
Blowing out a sigh, he knew he had to tell her, and now would be the best time. "Hinata-chan. . ." he started, almost in a whisper, gaining the girl's attention. "There's something that I have to tell you. . .I've been . . . lying to you." he spoke, hesitation and doubt plaguing and warping his sentence he'd practiced in his head numerous times.
"Lying to me? Naruto-kun I -"
"Hinata-chan, let me finish. . . I've lied to you about my team."
The princess felt a sudden realization hit her, as the answer to why she hadn't seen him with his team in a while was starting to become clear. She was afraid of the truth.
"The truth is. . . they're all dead." He finally spoke, not being able to speak out the last part without a dry sob. He silently cursed himself, as he promised he wouldn't get like this again, but the image of his sensei smiling at him wouldn't leave him be. Nor would the annoyed look of Kazuma, moments before his death.
She couldn't hold the gasp back, as her hand shot to her mouth, as if to try and push the sound back in. It was a fruitless endeavor though, as the echoing sound reached her ears.
"And. . . and I did nothing to stop it. All I did as they were slaughtered was sit on the ground and piss myself, captured by my fear. Kenshin, Shin, and Kazuma all died for me – to protect me." He finished, looking away from the kunoichi. He couldn't stand to even think of the look her face must now harbor. A look that would be foreign and ugly on her porcelain white features. All he could wait for was the words he expected to hear.
Then, without warning, he gasped as two small arms encircled his torso, and a small weight pressed against him. His mind registered it, but couldn't put a word to the action. Looking down, he felt wet tears soak his jacket as he heard the Hyuuga heiress cry. "H-Hinata-chan, why are you. . .?" he trailed off, not being able to finish his sentence.
"H-Horrible. . . Naruto-kun. . ."
Instantly he was stricken by confusion. He expected her to be horrified with him, but she wasn't acting the way a horrified person would.
"It's h-horrid you had to go through s-such a thing. I'm sorry!" She continued with her tears increasing.
He felt himself physically begin to respond to the girl's comforting hug before he could mentally command it. His arms wrapped around her shoulders, and pressed his face into the top of her head as he cried out the last few tears he'd allow himself to shed. But these, were not for his teammate, rather for the only girl that showed him such kindness and more importantly: acceptance.
And that ends Chapter Six! And Naruto still hasn't found a team, but he may of found something much more precious than that.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed and answered my question about the harem fic's. I would also like to stress that I will not be trying to excessively bash any character in this fic, (figuratively speaking, Sasuke will probably get his face smashed in more than once =P) but you see I have a deep rooted hatred of Kishimoto's portrayal of Sasuke. You see, I had no problem with Sasuke in the beginning of the series. Sure, he could be a dick, but what rival isn't? Now however,
(SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER FOR ANY ONE WHO HASN'T READ THE MANGA OR FOLLOWED THE ANIME SERIES)
he seems way-y to powerful for no other reason than 'he just is.' What with the new Sharingan and being able to mortally wound the Raikage and take on Danzo singlehandedly who has some crazy Sharingan eye arm thing. ALL IN THE SAME DAY.
Forgive me for the rant, but I really dislike how his character is getting dragged through the mud. I think the canon's portrayal of him should be done differently, but then again I'm not the creator.
SPOLIER OVER
So, while I will try my best to not overly bash Sasuke, I might make him a pretty big asshole which I *might* have him be redeemed later and turn him into an actual person worthy of the hero's undying loyalty, but that's still in the air.
I have a long work week this week, so I may not be able to update again 'till next week. By the way, if I'm laying on the depressing stuff too much, sorry but I tend to write to not only express myself but to vent. I try to do it tastefully but sometimes it gets the better of me, so I just ask you bear with me or flame me so bad I stop.
See ya, everybody! 'Till next time!
Shinobi no Ryu