CHAPTER RATING: T
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Episode 19: Siren of the Sand, Part IV: Hope
Naruto stood in the ray of light with a seemingly deathly stillness. He made no movements to acknowledge the presence of his team, his breathing was barely auidible or visible.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted with relief as she saw him. Hinata swiftly took off towards the one person she loved.
"Hinata, wait!" Shino shouted as Hinata ran out of his grasp. Just as she was within reach of him, a wall of sand rose from the ground, and pushed her back. The force that struck her sent her careening back towards Kiba and Shino, crashing with a cloud of dust on the forest floor.
Kiba and shino rushed to her side, and turned to see more sand rising, this time, it rose around Naruto himself. The grains of sand formed into a woman, a woman with long, flowing blond hair, and glowing gold eyes. Her dress ran down the entire length of her body, stained in a blood red hue. She seemed to float above the ground, almost in flight.
She moved behind him, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her chin in the fold of his neck. Shino, Kiba and Hinata stared at the woman who had just formed in front of their eyes.
"This must be her." Shino whispered. The three of them stood up and slowly began to advance towards the light. "You must be…"
"I am." The woman interrupted him with a deceptilvely soft and inviting voice. "Why are you here? What is it that you want from me?"
"We just want Naruto ba-" Kiba interjected
"Save me from your lies. You came here to do more than that." Hinata stepped forward.
"We came here to ask you to stop what you have been doing." She corrected. "We have been sent here on a mission to investigate the disappearances of many family members in a northern village. That is all we want."
The mythological figure merely smirked. "You expect me to just bow down to your whims? Why is it that I should listen to you?"
No one could offer up an answer.
"Do you realized why those men came to me?" she raised her hand, and the team heard what seemed ling dozens of footsteps falling on the forest floor. "They came to me, because they wanted to." She turned over to Naruto and lightly kissed his cheek.
Kiba cringed at her words. Impulsively, he bend down to his knees and took off.
"Gatsūga!" Both Kiba and Akamaru jumped forward, spinning at an intense speed, appearing as cyclones soaring through the air. They headed directly for the mythic goddess.
And crashed.
Directly into a giant wall of sand.
A giant wall of sand that began to immediately consume them.
"Kiba-kun! Akamaru!" Hinata shouted; neither of them had any time to answer, as the sands swallowed them whole, and dragged them into the ground. Shino and Hinata watched powerlessly, as their teammate's shouts for help became muffled through the sand.
"Don't you understand?" the Goddess asked. "There is nothing that can stop me." The footsteps that they had initially heard earlier grew louder. They looked around, and saw dozens of men emerging from the trees.
Before they had time to react, Shino and Hinata were both surrounded by men wearing headbands that indicated them as Sand Shinobi.
"The world is filled with so much misplaced faith, so many lies, so much…infidelity. Why else do you think that this young man came to me?" She tightened her embrace around Naruto's stone-still body. "He came to me because of a doubt in his mind. A doubt in his heart, a doubt to his love for you."
Her words chipped away at Hinata's confidence. "I can see it in his memories. He has had many troubles in the past with his faithfulness, he has been tempted by one of the most powerful women in this world, and harder still, he had to turn down the love of one that he has yearned for since he was a boy."
The zombie-like shinobi stepped closer to Hinata and Shino. "His heart has wavered, he wanted to come to me. And now, he belongs to me."
Hinata's eyes focued on his, and found that they were empty.
Lifeless.
"If you really believe that he truly loves you, take him from me."
She raised her hand, and the shinobi descended upon them.
Naruto charged forward, arms being dragged by the winds behind him. Hinata abruptly hesitated, before she realized what she would have to do. Shino raised his hands and clasp them together in front of him. Instantaneously, his specialized scarab beetles formed around the three of them, creating a large cylinder. The tough exoskeletons of the beetles held together like flexible steel, keeping out all the other shinobi.
"Hinata, I know you can do this!" Shino shouted. "Bring him back to us!" Hinata nodded as Naruto closed him on her. He raised his fist and brought it down. Hinata blocked it with her left hand, and let his force carry him through, where he stumbled, taking a few steps to catch himself.
Hinata swept her legs towards his, and took him off his feet. Naruto fell onto his back, and rolled away. A lifeless expression still held it's grasp on his features.
He charged at her again, bringing his knee forward, Hinata blocked the blow with her hand, but felt the sharp force of his elbow fall onto her spine. He raised his hand again, and struck her cheek with an immense force the sent her forcefully to a crash on the ground.
She rolled away from him and regained her composure.
"Hinata, you can't just act defensively! If we're going to save him, we'll need to knock some sense into him!"
She took a deep breath, and eased her stance, taking on the stance of the Hyuuga clan's gentle fist. Naruto stood still, looking at her with his own eyes that seemed to lack life, and then took off in a charge again.
"Byakugan!" Veins began to extrude from her eyes as she examined his chakra trails that lined throughout his entire body. She moved her right leg back in a smooth gliding motion.
If I can prevent the chakra flow to his lower body, I can stop him without hurting him.
"Juken! Hakke Sanjūni Shō!" She struck his shoulders, immobilizing his arms, her quick, unseen movements struck his legs and knees, pushing him back with every strike. She saw that his legs had lost their ability to support him as he fell back.
"Hakke Kūshō!" she extended her palm with a single step forward, the air collided with Shin's beetles, and a shockwave flew back towards them. Naruto fell forward, and into Hinata's waiting embrace.
She held onto him tightly, and gently laid him down onto the soft green grass. He coughed, and when he opened his eyes, life had returned to them, they went from a dark, deathly blue to the lively sapphire. He looked up at her, and smiled.
The banging on Shino's bugs dissipated. The bugs scattered and gathered to Shino once again. The shinobi that had descended upon them had all fallen, and no longer posed a threat.
The Mythical Sand Goddess reformed in front of them.
"I am impressed. For someone to be able to break a man's heart away from my grasp is a rare feat." Hinata and Shino readied themselves for the unexpected.
"You have truly won his heart. You have given me hope. If there are more people like you in this world, then those who reside here may still deserve a chance at redemption." Her figure began to dissipate with the winds, her red dress, blowing away as sand with the wind.
"Tell the Kazekage, that I will always be watching, and if this world falls into further turmoil…I will return."
She disappeared before their eyes. The forest, like a mirage, faded from their vision, and before them, Kiba and Akamaru appeared.
"What the hell happened?!" Kiba shouted.
"You disappeared into the sand, but now, you're fine." Shino answered. The shinobi all woke up, all of them aware of what had just happened. Naruto's eyes shifted again.
"That was crazy." He added.
"I'm so glad you're back, Naruto-kun." Hinata said with joy.
"I'm happy that you were here to save me. Thank you, Hinata." He said with a smile.
"So…Now what? Are we done?" Kiba asked.
"It seems so." Shino answered. The sand shinobi gathered and thanked the team for saving them. They turned around, and found that a road, seemingly moved by a divine wind, had been formed directly at their feet. They turned around and headed back to the Kazekage's headquarters.
"I need some help." Naruto begged. "I can't walk." He smiled at Hinata. Kiba and Shino helped him up, and sat him on top of Akamaru. He rode the companion all the way back.
When they arrived, they saw the familiar sight of Gaara and his siblings.
"Did you confirm our suspicions?" Temari asked.
"We did." Shino answered. "It was indeed what appeared to be what you call 'The Siren of the Sand.' Before she disappeared, she asked for us to send you a message, Kazekage-sama."
"What is it?" Gaara nodded.
"She says that the world is filled with infidelity. She will always be watching. And if turmoil was to ever be present again, she will return."
Gaara nodded. He knew what this meant. Outside, on the main road of the village, he raised his hands.
The sands of the village itself rose at his command. Together, the grains formed into a statue, that took the form of a woman. The entire village gathered to see the spectacle.
Several hundred feet tall, the statue was being held up by the only shinobi who could manipulate sand as if he were a God himself, the Kazekage. Gaara clasped his hands together, the sand compressed with his command.
The figure bore the form of a woman, her right arm outstretched, in both welcome and warning, against the strong winds of the nation, the sand stood still, unmoving and strong. Gaara moved forward and faced the people that he led.
"People of the Sand!" his voice boomed across the entire village. "You have chosen me as the Kazekage, you have chosen me to lead you, but there are forces much greater than us!" He motioned towards statue. "One of the greatest myths of our people is that of the Siren of the Sand. Today, we have discovered that this is no myth! She is as real as the sand that you stand on! Today, I implore you, as my people, as the people that I hold close to my heart! Keep your faithfulness to those you love! Keep your heart pure! Some of you would feel fear in your hearts at the sight of this monument! But her presence in our blessed village should be a beacon of faith and love!"
The crowd cheered.
"Let this monument stand as a promise to the Gods themselves that we will always remain faithful to those we love! Our hearts shall never falter, no matter what the circumstances!" He waved his hand across the crowd, who cheered even louder.
Team 7 smiled at the cheering crowd as they walked off into the distance back home.