Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the associated characters, locations, jutsu, etc. The only thing I own is the plot of the story. If there is any plagiarism of any form it was completely unintentional.
"I guess... From the beginning, maybe?" Naruto said sheepishly. Hinata smiled and blushed a little before speaking.
"O-okay. First off you do know why I was fighting, right?" He slowly nodded at her question.
"Word spread fast enough." He said, trying to hide the fact that he had been clueless up until a couple hours ago.
"B-but there is something that the rumors don't tell." She said while looking straight into is eyes.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Even though Hanabi is clearly my father's favorite, I-I was supposed to win." After hearing this his mind suddenly went into overdrive. He didn't know what to say or think. "I-I don't know why, my father only told me that I had to win. No explanation, just told me to win. But, I couldn't. I just couldn't hit Hanabi." She started to sob as tear after tear fell from her soft eyes. This seemed to snap Naruto back into reality. He gently laid a supporting hand in her shoulder.
"It's not a bad thing, that you wouldn't hit your sister. That goes to show that yours is a golden heart." She looked up at him with slightly puffy eyes. He was smiling at her, the kind of smiles that could make anyone in the world feel a million times better. She smiled at him while whipping some tears off her face. "Come on, let's go get ice cream." He didn't wait for a response before he took her hand and ran to the park towing her with him. He spent the rest of the day with her, talking about any other subject other than the fight or his parents. Which felt weird to her, since he never stopped talking about them. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realize when he started calling her.
"Hinata... Hinata!" She was snapped back into reality, when she looked at Naruto he had a serious expression on his face.
"Everything all right, N-Naruto-kun?" He shook his head a little before smiling at her as if nothing had happened.
"Yeah, anyways let's get you back home." He took her hand into his own and the couple slowly made their way back towards the Hyuuga compound. It was a silent journey, but it was more of a comfortable silence. When they reached the door she said a quiet goodbye before reaching for the handle. But he spoke up before she could enter.
"Wait! Hinata." She turned to face him with a curious expression. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tomorrow? I mean, we could go for some ramen or something. O-or if you prefer we could go for dango or perhaps the BBQ house. If you don't want food maybe we can go to the Hokage monument or go train together. I mean, only if you want to, if you don't then it's cool. Then we can postpone the date. I MEAN- It's not a date date, just a friendly reunion. NOT that I wouldn't date you, I mean you are beautiful and all but. I-I mean I-" Hinata put a single finger on his lips to quiet him down.
"I would love to go out with you tomorrow, N-Naruto-kun." She removed her hand and leaned forward to place an innocent kiss on his cheek. "Good night." She hurriedly walked inside the compound before the door closed with a quiet thud. Naruto stood there, too shocked to move. Eventually he started grinning like an idiot and he jumped high in the air before running back home still smiling. The next few weeks were spent like that, they went together everywhere, at least three times a week. And when they met by chance they talked for hours on end, needless to say Hinata was happy. Up until winter...
"Naruto-kun, November only has 30 days." Naruto shook his head from side to side saying no.
"Not on leap years. I know most people say February gets that day but, my dad loved winter so much that he decided to add one day to November. People would always get confused but, you know... I liked it." He stood up and offered her his hand. "Come on, lets go grab a bite to eat!"
When night fell he took her back to the Hyuuga compound. He stood there in front of her and gave her a hug like he always did, but this time he held on for a longer time.
"N-Naruto-kun, everything all right?" Hinata said with a blush adorning her delicate face.
"Yeah, it's just... Nevermind." He let go of her and stood there without moving. "I'll see you again sometime. It was fun!" He then turned around and slowly walked away.
Did he say 'I'll see you again sometime! What did he mean by that. She shook her head and walked into the compound, but not before running through the events once more. Could he maybe?
Naruto was slowly making his way back home, but when instead of going to his apartment he stopped in a dark alley, where a tall dark figure emerged and spoke to him.
"I told you, you had to leave weeks ago, if you don't soon enough you'll end up DEAD!" He spoke brashly but Naruto was non-responsive. After a short moment of silence he responded.
"I know, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave her..." He said softly. The other man let out a long sigh before speaking again.
"I warned you didn't I? Now that you have to leave it will be all the much harder for you. And if she finds out you know she will let you go just like that. She will either try to stop you, or worse, she will try to come with you." Naruto cringed at his words, he lifted his gaze up at the sky and sighed.
"I know... I'll take care of it, don't worry."
"You better." Having said that the man retreated back into the alley without a sound. Naruto stood there for a couple of seconds before he too was on his way. When he arrived home he walked up to the balcony and stood there gazing up at the stars for hours, thinking of what he was going to do next.
"Gomen, Hinata, Sakura, Kakashi." He walked over to his apartment door and stepped out, not before giving a good long look at his apartment. He slowly made his way through the village in the early morning. The sun was barely beginning to rise, so the sky was painted a deep orange color. Not a single person was present in the streets, not even the merchants. Better this way. He thought as he was approaching the main gate, but not in a million years would he have foreseen what happened next. Standing there in the gate was a lone figure, with the plain white robes of the famous Konoha clan, and with two plain white eyes staring right at him.
"Hiashi-sama!" (Not Hinata, HA!) He was shocked to say the least. The man who had always showed a clear dislike towards him was now the only person seeing him off.
"Why?" That question really threw his mind off balance. Not a hint of anger or despise in the older man's voice. Only concern, oddly enough, nevertheless his question was understood.
"You'll see soon enough." He tried to walk around him but he had stretched his arm to grasp his shoulder.
"She'll be heartbroken." The remark brought painful realizations to his head, scrambling his thoughts to the point in which staying was a viable option, but he knew better.
"She'll recover, she is stronger than you give her credit for." If he didn't know better he would have thought the great Hyuuga Hiashi flinched at his words.
"There is so much you still don't know. Maybe some day you'll understand." He reached with his free hand deep into his pocket, from which he pulled out a small satchel. "Take it as a show of gratitude from my family, and apology of my own." He tossed the leather bag towards Naruto who swiftly caught it in mid-air. He didn't need to open it to know that it was filled with gold coins.
"Arigato... You better take good care of her." Having said that Naruto walked around the older man and exited the village, disappearing on the horizon after a while. The Hyuuga elder walked through town for a while, trying to process he events that had taken place a couple of hours ago. The town was now fully active, with the market filled with hopeful merchants and curious buyers. Suddenly the Konohagakure council stepped into the central podium, the Hokage addressed the crowds first, with a tinge of doubt in his expression.
"We have important news to share with all of you. It may seem unbelievable, and we are not so sure ourselves of the reliability of our sources. I myself would like to believe it is not true but due to recent evidence, we have come to the conclusion that-" He cut himself off and swallowed hard, as if trying to delay what was coming next as much as possible. But Danzo stepped forward first and finished his sentence.
"From this moment on, the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Uzumaki-Namekaze Naruto, has been found guilty of his parent's murder and is now an S-rank criminal!"
Author's Note: I find fun the idea of extremely powerful protagonists, so I will be including Sasuke, Naruto, and Gaara with much more powerful techniques than they should have. Including but not restricted to Kotoamatsukami, the Hiraishin, and metallic sand respectively. I am pretty sure that they don't have access to these techniques in the manga or the anime, I may be wrong, but I may be right as well.