Chapter 11: The Complicated Truth

I'm dying. The man knew his time was limited in this world. The bodies of his comrades lay scattered across the mountain and its floor. By the looks of it, no one survived.

We underestimated them…

His eyes began to feel heavy as the blood from his dismembered leg trickled into the soil beneath. His back lay against a large boulder where he was launched into by a fierce explosion. The same explosion that had taken his leg.

He thought of his wife and children that lay wait for him at home. The nagging and worried voice of his wife playing in his ear, "Please, return home safely!" He blinked slowly, Well, dear…he thought …I wont be returning home this time.

As his breathing staggered and decreased, a figure came into his point of view. It was a silhouette of a man drawing nearer. Although broken, he reached out with his hand, praying that his comrade would see him.

Help…

As the figure approached him, he realized that it wasn't a fellow cloud ninja. The man had a black cloak and hood that hid his face. This was the captain.

"Please Help…" He managed to say the words whilst blood filled his windpipes.

The hooded man stopped in front of him. Suddenly, a blood-curdling laugh filled the blood stained valley, echoing within the mountain walls.

"Help you?" The hooded man finally says after laughing.

He stepped forward, closer now so that his menacing grin could be seen through his hood. An arm extended out of his cloak revealing a kunai in his hand.

"…What..are you..doing?" He was coughing now, blood spewing on his chin.

"I have no use for a dying man. In any case, you have already fulfilled your purpose. I do not need you anymore." The hooded man said while twirling the kunai in his hand.

"B-Bastard, why?!" The man was drifting now. His pain was numb and his body cold. He wanted to lunge at the man, punch him, kick him, bite him, curse him. But he remained still. His broken body revoked his mind.

The hooded man's grin becomes wider, revealing his sharp teeth. "You were merely a pawn. Nothing more."

"Y-Y-You u-used us?" A chilling sensation took over his body. Had he and his allies been sent on a suicide mission?

"Ah, yes, but don't be too hard on yourself. I've gathered extremely helpful data from your battle. Your death will not be in vain."

As the hooded man leaned in with his kunai, the cloud shinobi held a hand up in one last protest. "W-Who…a-are…you?" He knew the answer wouldn't save him or serve as anything helpful, but if anything, it was a name he would die cursing.

The hooded man paused. "…My name is—"

He says his name, but the man is already dead. "Tch." He continues to twirl the kunai as he walks over dead bodies. The stench was foul, but it was a smell he was all too familiar with: death.

As he stopped to gaze at the seemingly never-ending litter of bodies that covered the ground, he couldn't help but smirk. Persuading that ignorant fool of a Raikage to send out a massive army of ninja's was almost effortless. Just a few well-told lies and he was eating out of the palm of his hand. He had also made up the story of fifty bandits roaming the south, terrorizing villages. It was just a matter of time before the fabrication stumbled unto the ears of the Three Yaban.

He chuckled to himself. The Three Yaban had put on quite a little show for him. By arriving with nine times more shinobi than expected, they were forced to use their powers in full. It was a spectacular sight to say the least. But then something unexpected happened.

"Hinata." Her name escaped from his lips.

This was unexpected, indeed. He never imagined her to be there. His original intention was just to observe, however, during that time, a terrible but brilliant idea had come to him. He just needed to wait for an opening and finally there was one.

The hooded man embraced a hidden jutsu in which no one had ever seen before. But it comprised of many drawbacks that made the jutsu worthless in combat. It was a technique that required their opponent to be mentally and physically exhausted for it to take effect. And it required patience. The technique was called The Inner Demons.

He had watched Hinata go down the mountain in the arms of one of the Three Yaban, and in the course of that time, he unleashed his hidden jutsu on her. She was perfect and met all the requirements for his technique. Now all he had to do was wait.

Hinata, you will destroy them.

Her eyes were still closed, but she wasn't asleep. The sounds of whispers were slowly stirring her awake.

"We were ambushed." A voice announced sharply.

"No shit. But it doesn't make sense, no one knew we were coming except for Kakashi." Another voice replied.

"The story of the bandits was obviously fake, something to get our attention. We fell right into his trap. Kakashi can't be trusted."

"Sasuke, you asshole! You can't be suggesting Kakashi had anything to do with this? He would never set us up."

"Then who did?"

"Will you guys shut the hell up for a minute? I'm trying to concentrate!"

The talking ceased while Hinata felt her energy return little by little. How did I get like this? She thought. She couldn't remember anything. A fog had plagued her mind and where there was once clear images were now a blur.

"She will be okay, right Sakura?" A familiar voice says.

Naruto…

A woman answered in a gentle voice. "It's hard to say. She pushed her body past its physical limits and nearly expelled all her chakra. It will take some time."

The voices were soon drowned out as the darkness drug Hinata back into a deep sleep.

She was on the peak of a high mountain, overlooking the battlefield. There were over a thousand faceless shinobi below her, but there were three ninja's that stood out from the rest. They had faces, familiar faces. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Yes, that was their names. She felt like she had a deep connection with them.

They were fighting for their lives as more and more faceless shinobi surrounded them. She wanted to help them, but her feet wouldn't move. She was stuck watching in horror as they struggled to survive.

Sakura fell to her knees as exhaustion overtook her. She was unaware of the thousands of kunai and shuriken that had been launched at her from behind. A various mixture of splatter sounds could be heard as the weapons sharp edges pierced through skin. Sakura turned around to see Sasuke behind her with his hands outstretched, shielding her. His body had been impaled more than a hundred times, the blood from his wounds leaking onto Sakura's terror-stricken face.

Hinata wanted to look away, but a force so sinister was making her watch. As Sasuke's slain body fell to the ground, a shinobi stood in front of the grieving Sakura with a large sword. Naruto was running toward her, but it was too late. Her emerald eyes were still crying as her head flew a couple feet from her body.

Hinata felt the urge to throw up. Why was this happening?

A thousand shinobi circled around Naruto. He stood there calm and desolate as they advanced. His face held a sincere smile as his head turned in her direction. Their eyes locked for a brief moment before spheres penetrated every orifice of his body.

"NARUTO!" She screamed.

The faceless shinobi all turned to look at her, but she didn't care. The ground shook as the stampede of ninja's drew closer. She closed her eyes and dropped to her knees. Tears were flowing down her red cheeks. This is the end. She would embrace…death.

She looked up to see the shinobi merely feet away from her. The one closest to her had a katana in his hand, ready to cut her down. He swung his sword, its blade centimeters from her bare neck. But as she felt the brisk of the cold metal on her skin, the man evaporated into smoke along with the thousands of men behind him.

"Hinata." The voice contained sultriness to it as her name rolled off his tongue.

Her eyes adjusted to the cloaked figure before her. She could not see his face, only the gleams of his dark grey eyes. "Who are you?" she asked.

The man doesn't answer, but instead leans down to her level. His hand cups her chin and pulls her head slightly forward so that her eyes are staring directly in his.

"You're beautiful."

She awoke abruptly. Her body lunged forward; tossing the orange and black jacket that had been on top of her aside. Sweat was leaking down her forehead and she was dizzy. A multitude of voices could be heard, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She started to crawl on her hands and knees, blind. Her vision had not yet returned and she was too weak to walk. The nightmare she had experienced was forgotten, but the events that took place in the mountains pass were fresh in her mind.

A strong hand gripped her waist, holding her in place. Her stomach twisted violently and her head was spinning and before she knew it, she had vomited all over the ground.

"Hinata!"

She felt a bit better now. The smell of pine was eminent and stars occupied the dark sky. They were in a forest, the scenery that surrounded them was coming into view at last.

Her eyes adjusted to a distraught face looking at her. His whisker markings were prominent and his eyes were a mixture of blues and reds. "Naruto…?" she managed to whisper. He was on his knees holding her while Sakura places a hand on her forehead.

"She has a fever." She tilts Hinata's head up and places a spoon to her lips, its liquid contents streaming down her throat. "It should be gone by morning." Sakura's hand starts to glow as it comes closer to Hinata. She recalled her doing something like this before, back when they first met.

"Wait." She says before Sakura's hand touches her. "I k-knew about the ambush."

Sakura and Naruto both look at her in confusion while Sasuke steps out of the shadows with a stern look. "What do you know?"

Hinata takes a deep breath, recalling her time in the small town. "Not much, just that they had passed through a town before waiting for you."

"I see," he says.

"There's more." Hinata remembers what the man in the tavern had told her. "I was told they had a leader. It seems that this man wears a hood that hides his face."

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a frown. "I don't remember any of the cloud ninja's wearing a hood."

Sasuke nods and says, "Neither do I."

"So, what does this mean?" Sakura says as she looks back and forth between Naruto and Sasuke.

A silence fell between them; the same thought coursing through everyone's minds. It could only mean one thing. It meant that this guy was still out there. And assuming what Hinata said was true, then he could be the one who set them up.

They looked back at Hinata with suspicious expressions, but her eyes were closed now.

Her head was pounding when she finally awakes. She sits up slowly this time, so to avoid the lightheadedness she experienced the night before. She placed her palm to her forehead as the headache continued to torment her.

"You're beautiful." Those words kept repeating and repeating in her head and she didn't know why. The words held no purpose, so why was she suspended on them?

She steadily lifts herself up. Her limbs were sore, but that seemed to be the extent of her damage. She made a fist with her hands and felt her strength return as she moved them up and down. She felt relief knowing that she wasn't going to be a burden anymore. She was also incredibly mortified that Naruto had to carry her dead weight for such a long distance.

"Why did you come?"

She suspected a question like this was imminent. But the answer? Well, it wasn't simple.

Hinata turned to face Naruto. He was standing a couple feet away with his arms folded across his solid chest. He wore a fishnet undershirt that revealed a distinguished physique while the jacket that he usually wore lay at Hinata's feet. She realized now that he had taken it off to shield her from the cold. She leaned over and picked the jacket up from the ground, patting the dust off as she walked over to him.

She stopped a few inches from where he stood and looked up to see a look of anguish on his face. "I'm sorry, Naruto." she says, although she really isn't sorry. The truth can set you free; a saying that works for most people. But the truth in this case, was complicated.

"You were reckless, Hinata!" His words stung her. "I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you-"

"And what about me!" Hinata yelled unintentionally, but she didn't care. He was being a hypocrite. "I waited for you! I always have. And sometimes I wouldn't see you for five years at a time. There were times when I didn't know if you were still alive so I stayed up at night hoping, praying, begging that you had just simply forgotten about me." She stopped to see his face turn into a solemn frown. "But I continued to wait for you, Naruto. Because, I..." The words she most desperately wanted to say wouldn't come out. They clung to the back of her throat.

Naruto's eyes were wide now. He took a step closer to Hinata, closing most of the gap between them while his hand lifted and cupped her cheek. As his thumb grazed the smoothness of her skin, he leaned forward enough so that his breath laced her lips. She boldly places her own hand on his and looks at him, hoping her feelings will reach through.

"I'm sorry," he says in whispers. "I never wanted you to see the darkest part of me."

She smiles and says "I would never turn away from you." And she means every word.

His eyes remained on hers, intently. The hand on her cheek shifted and slipped past her cheek until it rested just behind her ear, pulling her closer. His eyes were now focused on her lips causing a slight tremble in her body. She could feel the heartbeat in her chest quicken with every centimeter she was pulled forward, their lips drawing nearer and nearer. He was so close now, close enough to feel the heat that radiated off his skin.

Without warning, Naruto's free hand gently grabs her hip, closing the distance between them.