CHAPTER RATING: T

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Episode 20: Bloodlines, Part I: Love Lost

The last time I went shopping for Naruto-kun, we didn't have a change to eat together…Should I go get something…

Hinata thought to herself while wandering the crowded streets of Konoha. She aimlessly wandered down Konoha's main street, her head turning, looking from one side to the other.

"I'll do it." She said aloud to herself. Her gaze shifted to the same store she had bought ingredients from weeks ago. She walked up to the street stall and greeted the old woman with a smile.

"Why, if it isn't the young and beautiful Hyuuga Hinata! What can I do for you today?" She enthusiastically asked.

"Hello, Obaa-san!" Hinata replied with an even bigger smile. Hinata pointed at a multitude of ingredients as she pulled out a small purse from her hoodie.

"My, my, that certainly is a lot, is there a special occasion for tonight?"

"Isn't that what you asked me a few weeks ago?" Hinata said while laughing.

"Is it?" the elderly woman replied. "I must be getting too old for this." She added with a smile.

Hinata smiled back.

"It is a special night, for a very special person"

…

The sound of hundreds of disappearing shadow clones echoed through a small village that sat on the outskirts of Konoha's main village. Pillars of smoke appeared and dissipated throughout the small village.

"Thank you! You saved us!" An elderly man said to Naruto. He extended his hand, which Naruto took and shook with enthusiasm.

"Y-Yeah, it wasn't a problem." Naruto said with sweat dripping down his brow. He took deep breaths and bowed to the elderly man with respect. He smiled and turned around to return to Konoha.

He had walked a few hundred yards before he heard a small voice call out to him.

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan!" A little girl dressed in what looked like torn rags ran up to him and tugged on his wrist. Naruto turned and smiled at the child.

"What is it?" he asked kindly.

"I need your help, I lost something my mom wanted me to bring home." The little girl pleaded.

"Oh, okay!" Naruto responded. "Where did you lose it?" The little girl pointed into the forest. Naruto smiled "Let's go find it together." He whispered back to her.

He followed her into a somewhat dark and dreary clearing in the forest. He was still exhausted from the labor that he had been contracted to provide.

"Do you see it?" he asked blankly. "I don't see it at all." He added. The little girl stepped in front of him in the middle of the clearing.

"Onii-chan." She lowered her head. "I-I'm sorry." She whispered. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What? What are you tal-" A loud crack sounded from behind him, and an immense pain shot through the back of his skull. He fell with a loud thud on the padded forest floor. His vision beheld the image of the little girls feet, he listened and watched, noticing another pair of feet step into his field of view.

He then heard a clink, and saw a small bag come into view. The little girl bent onver and picked up the small leather sachel.

"Onii-chan…I'm really sorry." She whispered one last time before he heard her footfalls echo away, and his vision faded to black.

…

The evening was growing late, with an orange hue on the horizon, Hinata held in her hand a plastic grocery bag in her hands. She walked forward until her teammates, Kiba and Shino came into view.

"Kiba-kun! Shino-kun! Have either of you seen Naruto-kun? I tried his house, but no one answered." She shouted to them. The approached her and shook their heads.

"When did you last see him?" Kiba asked.

"He was sent on a mission to help a small village rebuild several buildings, they used him because of his ability to produced shadow clones." Shino looked towards the horizon again. "But he should have been back by now."

"Th-thank you, Shino-kun, I'll be sure to check to see where he is." Hinata nodded to him.

Kiba and Shino waved to her as they moved further into the distance.

Where are you, Naruto-kun?

…

Naruto's eyes blinked, the black vision that held his eyes captive began to lift. He blinked and cleared his vision. He tried his best to bring his hand to rub his eyes, but they didn't move. He felt extremely weak. He looked up, and saw that his hands were restrained by chains that hung from a concrete ceiling. Gaining his wits, he looked around, he was in a large room, dull and grey, the only light he saw was a light that held a spotlight on him; other than that, it seemed like the room was pitch black.

He swung above the ground, his feet barely touching the ground, he felt pain echoing from the back of his head, obviously from the head wound he had suffered earlier. His shirts had been removed, and he felt a great stinging across his back. But what was even worse, he felt his arms losing sensation. It almost felt as if his arms were being pulled out of their shoulder sockets.

He heard footsteps, loud echoes that came from the shadows.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Hero of Konoha himself." Even more footfalls were heard. Before he had realized it, there were five figures standing in front of him.

He managed to temporarily ignore the pain that ripped through his muscles and looked up.

That's when he noticed the most distinctive traits of the figures that stood in front of him.

Opaque, Milky White eyes.

"What the hell is going on here?" he breathed out. "Did you do all of this? Did you put that poor girl up to tricking me?"

"We did, but I assure you, we did not 'put' her up to anything, despite what you may discern from your current situation, lesser people from the slums and peasant classes will gladly…in face, WILLINGLY help with request from ANY of the great shinobi families. Especially the prestigious Hyuuga."

"What the hell do you want with me?" he questioned again. A gauntleted hand placed itself on his shoulder, an immediate and alarming shock ran through his body.

He felt weaker. Extremely weaker.

"What have you done?" He asked desperately. The woman, presumably, the leader of this band of shinobi stepped forward to offer an answer.

"This is a device that the royal guard of the Daimyo use, it is a device specifically designed to deal with shinobi."

He felt a shock again, and once again, he felt weaker.

"This device allows someone to absorb, and even transfer chakra from one person to another. You cannot escape."

She moved forward and firmly grasped his chin.

"Now, to answer your question…" She added while forcefully pushing his face away. "We know about you, we know who you are, and what you can do. We also know that you are currently in a relationship with one of our own, Hyuuga Hinata." She stepped back and opened her arms, indicating to those who stood behind her.

"We are here to stop you from destroying the incredible power of our bloodline." She walked up closer to him, and slapped him with the back of her hand. Naruto's face held a look of grim determination. He closed his eyes and tried to remain calm.

"No response?" she asked sarcastically. Naruto felt the chakra of the world around him as he closed his eyes.

"He's trying to use Nature Chakra!" One of the other figures called out.

"I don't think so." The female leader snapped. She reared her leg back and delivered a swift, and harsh kick right between Naruto's legs.

His concentration broke immediately; pain, immense pain rang throughout his body.

"Listen to me, Uzumaki Naruto!" the leader called out again. "You WILL NOT taint our bloodline! You WILL end this relationship you have with Hyuuga Hinata!" He swung above the ground, his back stinging, his head aching, his arms breaking, and his will broken.

What could he do in this situation?

"Just kill me and be over with it then." He solemnly finalized.

"We can't do that. The disappearance of the Hero of Konoha himself? That is not possible. But there is one thing we can do." She reached behind her and pulled out a picture of Hinata, and a lighter.

"You see, to preserve our bloodline, our gift that blesses our great family, we are not above killing our own." She flicked her finger against the starter of the lighter, with the flame dancing before Naruto's eyes, she held the picture of Hinata over it, and let it catch fire.

He watched the image of the woman he loved burn before his very eyes.

His arms were nearly separated from their sockets, pain echoed through every muscle, every fiber of his being.

"Fine." He said deeply.

"Good." He felt another shock, when he next opened his eyes, he felt the cold floor next to his face, and watched as the figures took steps away from him, leaving him lying lifeless in a cold, dark room.

…

The moon had risen in the night sky when Hinata finally saw Naruto limping in her field of vision.

"Naruto-kun!" she shouted as he stepped forward. His eyes opened in shock as he heard her voice. She walked up to him and grabbed hold of his hands, she grasped them tightly and squeezed them lovingly.

"Where have you been all day?" Hinata asked.

"I-I've been busy." He flinched.

"I want to tell you something, I wanted t-"

"Hinata, listen…" He interrupted her. "There's something that I need to tell you, right now."

"W-What is it?" she asked with worry.

"W-We…We can't do this anymore."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Hinata…The truth is…I've lied to you all this time…I-I…don't love you."

…

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