Welcome to the second chapter of Herald of the End. It would have been easy to simply demonize everyone who has caused Naruto problems, but that wouldn't be realistic nor would it have been following canon. While I am not going to be following canon, due to the characters will be reacting differently, until a non-canon moment happens, all characters should "feel" like their canon counterparts.
In addition, I couldn't find what Sakura's mother did as her vocation, so I decided to make her a medic/nurse. Since the show doesn't directly say, I'm marking this as an AU character departure to be safe.
Mach Farcon doesn't own Naruto.
And without further delay, here's Chapter 2: Catalyst
Iruka Umino let out a relieved sigh as the door closed behind the last of his students for the day. The last two years had been...interesting. Since the Naruto's abrupt change in class behavior two years ago, many other changes had been catalyzed. It had started out to affect only a select few, but had quickly spread out to affect all of the students of his class.
The first was Sakura Haruno. She had somehow befriended Naruto. Sakura found a drive to be the Top Kunoichi of her class. She quickly rose through the rankings until she reached the coveted position. One would think that Sakura could potentially slack off at this point, but Hinata Hyuga was always directly behind her in terms of rankings; ensuring that Sakura could not slack off, lest she lose the coveted top position.
And speaking of Hinata, she had undergone a character change of sorts. She was mostly the same gentle girl from before most of the time, but now with a drive to be the Top Kunoichi. She constantly succeeded in all of her classes, and only her timid nature stopped her from being the Top Kunoichi. However, if you badmouthed Naruto in her presence, she had this...look. A look that said that if you were eager to die, you should continue. It was made all the more unnerving by its complete contrast to her normal quiet disposition.
"At least she wasn't as bad as Sakura when it came to Naruto." Iruka rationalized. He remembered when it first became obvious that insulting or belittling Naruto within Sakura's hearing was bad for one's health...
"It's because Naruto is stupid." One of the students helpfully offered when asked why Naruto didn't understand theory as easily as the other students. Most of the students had laughed at the comment. But unlike before, Sakura wasn't one of them. She instead stood up from her desk and calmly walked over to the laughing student. Sadly, the student ignored the obvious danger that was walking his way, and continued to make jokes about Naruto's lack of mental facilities.
"Did you call Naruto stupid?" Sakura inquired, hints of anger bubbling under the surface of her calm tone, "That's what you said, wasn't it? The student had grinned and the pink haired girl's fists clenched. The student - missing the obvious danger signs - replied that he had. Sakura promptly decked him. She then loomed over his body as he whimpered, his nose bloody and broken, and threatened that she would re-break his face each time he said something bad about Naruto. Her green eyes flashed with barely suppressed anger, and the student frantically assured her that he wouldn't say anything bad about Naruto ever again.
Sakura had then made her way back to her seat.
It had only taken two more incidents before the class realized that Sakura was very serious about violently protecting Naruto's time the pink haired girl was sent to the office, and each time she was unrepentant. Her parents were unsure, but Iruka knew that infighting wasn't something he could kick a student out for, much less one of the Top Kunoichi. Konoha always needed good shinobi.
Strangely, even though Sakura was one of Naruto's only friends, she still declared herself as Sasuke's "true love". This had led to many of the girls in the class, especially the ones of Sasuke's fan club, to train themselves much harder to keep up with Sakura. And because all of the girls were training harder, the boys soon followed. Overall, the Hokage was pleased with this year's class performance.
And lastly, but perhaps the most obvious, was Naruto himself. For the longest time Iruka had believed that Naruto was untalented. That even though Naruto tried his best, he simply didn't have the talent necessary to succeed. It sounded harsh, but that was the way the world was. The untalented supported the talented. It was the way the world was. However, about the same time Naruto became friends with Sakura, he seemed to have some mental switch thrown. He began to listen in class. He was quieter and didn't scream about being 'the best ninja ever'. And when it was Practical Training days, well, Naruto dominated them.
But sometimes Iruka caught glimpses of something...darker lurking behind Naruto's bright, innocent eyes. The teacher remembered when he had gotten a glimpse of it during a sparring match.
It had been a normal day in class. Sakura was answering all of the questions correctly that she was asked on the first try. However, some students didn't appreciate a non-clan student answering so many questions, much less answering them correctly. One student in particular had whispered quite loudly to his friend about the size of Sakura's forehead compared to her brain. Sakura flinched and ducked her head, having been bullied in the past on her slightly oversized forehead.
A moment after Sakura ducked her head, it seemed that the air itself grew colder. Students shifted uneasily in their seats, all of them quiet for once. And then Naruto spoke to the formerly jeering student. "You made Sakura sad. I'll remember that." Naruto's voice was quiet, but it had a certain...deadly calm about it. The oppressive atmosphere lifted a moment later and the lesson resumed. After a few days, it seemed that all of the students in the class had forgotten all about the incident.
It was little over two weeks later before Iruka saw anything like that from Naruto again. It was Practical Training day. The students were randomly matched up to spar against one another, as per normal. And as luck would have it, Naruto was matched up with Sakura's tormentor. What happened next would be forever ingrained in Iruka's memory.
After the match started, Naruto just stood there. Watching his...opponent. Then he spoke.
"Remember what I told you? How I wouldn't forget?" Naruto's voice was deadly calm once again, but there was frozen fire beneath the calm.
And then Naruto moved. It wasn't a spar. It wasn't even really a fight. It was probably the most one-sided beat down Iruka had ever seen. Naruto's movements and blows seemed to flow from one to another. Each hit was far beyond what any academy student should know. Iruka didn't even spot a hint of the Academy Style in any of Naruto's movements. And the worst part was that Naruto could have ended the fight within the first few seconds. But he continued to...fight his opponent for a minute and a half. At that point, a powerful uppercut from Naruto had knocked the student through the air, and letting the student crash onto the ground several feet away.
The Uzumaki stalked forward towards the student. When he got close to the student, Naruto had reached down with one hand, and with an impressive show of strength, hoisted the frightened bigger boy off the ground by his collar.
Naruto leaned close to the student, "Now if you say anything bad about Sakura or my friends again, I'll really hurt you." His voice was chillingly calm. As he finished, the same oppressive air as before had settled over the ring. "Do you understand?" Anger simmered just below the surface of Naruto's calm tone.
The student nodded frantically, too scared to speak. Naruto let the atmosphere linger for a moment longer. Then, once again with one hand, had simply tossed the student outside of the ring.
Stunned silence followed. Iruka saw Naruto blink, and then the happy-go-lucky Naruto was back.
Iruka sighed again. He loved being a teacher, but some days were more difficult than others. Ah, well, at least it was a holiday weekend. "If I'm lucky, I might be able to finish grading the quizzes and still make it to the Teacher's dinner party."
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed heavily as he finished the paperwork for the day. The last two years had been...trying to say the least. It seemed that he kept getting more and more paperwork; keeping him at the office for longer and longer periods of time each day. Hell, he hadn't even been able to visit Naruto in over a year. Given who Naruto's parents were, it was only fitting that the Hokage attempted to maintain close ties with him.
It may be just as well, Hiruzen admitted to himself. He had enjoyed a close friendship with Naruto, the village's Jinchūriki, until about 4 years ago. Then, the Hokage couldn't quite pinpoint when, Naruto had slowly stepped away from their relationship. To this day, Hiruzen had no idea why. And since he couldn't spy on Naruto using the spy crystal ball - the Jinchūriki had far too much chakra for that method -, he had left it up to Naruto to take care of himself. After all, Naruto was the Jinchūriki of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. And Konoha's last Jinchūriki grew up just fine on her own. Besides, Hiruzen justified it to himself, the most the village would do is a little name calling against Naruto.
"I'll visit Naruto the day after the Kyubi Festival. I'm sure he wants to participate in the festival with his friends." Hiruzen decided with a nod. He then withheld another heavy sigh as he looked over at the pile of paperwork still awaiting his attention.
Sakura frowned as she watched Naruto hurry away. He had said something about seeing Teuchi and Ayame, the owners of Ichiraku Ramen, before he had to stay away for a few days. Unaware that her face twisted up into a thoughtful look as she pondered the mystery that was Naruto, Sakura considered all of the facts she knew. Naruto, while perhaps not the smartest person around, was a great friend; perhaps even her best friend. But she wasn't blind. Many villagers seemed to greatly dislike Naruto for some strange, unknown, illogical reason.
And one of the few things the pink haired girl hated was illogical puzzles that didn't need to be puzzles. And she, Sakura privately admitted to herself, wanted to help Naruto. She steeled herself for what she was about to do: Ask Hinata for help.
Hinata watched as Naruto ran off after saying something to Sakura. "Did she say something to make him leave?" Hinata wondered, slowly getting angry as her thoughts took a darker turn, "If she did, I-I'll do something back. No one hurts Naruto-Kun." Her thoughts drifted to the past when she had first become Naruto's friend.
"You are weak." The words of Hiashi, Hinata's father, echoed in Hinata's mind. "You are far too timid and weak." The nine year old lowered her head at his harsh and unforgiving tone. After the Hyuga Clan Head swept out of the room, only then did the young child let the tears fall. Slowly pushing herself up, Hinata found herself wondering out of the Hyuga Clan compound, her feet automatically moving towards a small training ground.
Arriving at the edge of the treeline, Hinata peered out from behind the thick oak to watch someone train. Someone special. Naruto Uzumaki. When life had gotten tough; when her father was disappointed in her yet again; when she failed clan training once again, she would escape and watch the blond Uzumaki.
He was strong; he was talented; he was swift and sure; he was confident and eternally defiant. In short, he was everything she was not. Hinata still wasn't sure what had happened between him and Sakura, but ever since that fateful day when Mizuki had sent him home to his parents, Naruto spent most of his time training with the pink haired girl. Rare were days like this one when Naruto was training alone.
"You are weak." Her father's words echoed in her mind again. Turning away from the training ground in front of her, Hinata leaned back against the thick tree.
"I'm weak." The words she had heard all her life ghosted out of her lips, "I wish I could be strong like Naruto." If she was strong and determined like he was, Hinata was certain her father would like her and maybe...just maybe, he would be proud of her. Her eyes drifted shut, damming the tears that threatened to fall. "I'll always be weak."
"Are you alright?"
Hinata jolted forward at the sudden question. Snapping her head to direction the voice had come from, she felt her heart stutter as she saw Naruto standing a few feet from her. Concern reflected in his sky blue eyes, and for a brief moment, Hinata couldn't remember why she was crying.
Heat bloomed on her cheeks as she abruptly remembering she had been spying on him just a few minutes prior. The ground tilted as her blush rapidly deepened. "No." Hinata desperately resisted the urge to faint, "I can't faint. Not here, not now."
"Are you alright?" Naruto took a step forward.
"Y-Yes." Hinata seemed to shrink inside herself, "I-I'm a-alright."
"Ok." Naruto settled back on his heels, relieved that the strange girl wasn't going to pass out, "What are you doing here?" When she did not respond, the Uzumaki tried a different tactic. "I was training. Do you train?" The blond was fairly certain that the girl was in his class.
"I-I'm n-not g-good a-at t-training." Hinata wished the ground would swallow her up, "O-Or a-anything r-really." She fought back the tears that threatened to emerge. "I'm weak."
"Want to train with me?" Naruto extended his hand, "I was weak too until I met Sakura-Chan."
Hinata stared at the hand. "B-But I'm n-not g-good a-at tr-training." Hinata stammered, "I-I'm t-to ti-timid."
"Want to know a secret about how to get really good at training?" Naruto grinned, "I know it works."
Hinata forgot her tears and nodded. Perhaps Father could be proud of her.
"Train all the time." Hinata blinked at Naruto's words. The blond, seeing that she wasn't understanding, elaborated. "There's no quick way to get strong. You have to find something worth protecting; someone who you will die for. Then, train to protect them."
"Someone to protect?" Hinata whispered, wondering at the strange logic. All her life she had heard that the Clan was the only thing that mattered, and each day she had been told how she brought shame to the Hyuga name. "B-But I-I'm w-weak."
"So what?" Naruto shrugged, "I was weak too. But," His voice grew fond, "After I met Sakura-Chan, I decided that it didn't matter if I was weak or not. I would grow strong to protect her no matter what."
Hinata glanced at the still extended hand. "Y-You t-think I-I c-can be str-strong o-one d-day?" Her pale eyes searched his own, looking for lies. There was only honesty.
"That's up to you." Naruto smiled, and it was like the sun had begun to shine. "But if you want help, I'll help you."
Hinata took a deep breath...and reached out for his hand.
She had trained with him that day, and the first time she had missed blocking a blow, Hinata had stopped, lowering her eyes. Her shoulders slumped. "This was it," She believed, "Now Naruto will know that I am weak."
"Hey." She flinched as his hand settled on her shoulder, "Are you alright?"
Her gaze snapped upwards to look at him. There was no trace of anger or disappointment in his eyes. Only...concern?
"Why?" Hinata whispered, "Why do you believe in me?" Her short hair fluttered in the wind as she shook her head, "Why aren't you calling me weak? Telling me that I've shamed you?" Her hands clenched fruitlessly at her side. "Why?"
"Because someone believed in me when I was weak." Naruto replied simply. A moment later the Uzumaki stepped back and grinned. "Let's continue."
Hinata didn't move. How could he believe in her?
"Ok." Naruto clapped his hands, "I'll make you a deal: Work your absolute best every day and train as hard as you can. In exchange, I'll be there when you graduate." He tilted his head to the side and offered a hand, "Deal?"
"You'll be there for me?" Something warm bubbled up in her soul, something she hadn't felt since her mother died. "You believe that I could do it?"
"If you believe it," Naruto smiled, "Then I do too." And in that moment, Hinata couldn't help but believe; couldn't deny Naruto's words. And then, she decided to believe.
His smile was like a radiant sun. Hinata took a step forward. "I'll accept your deal." She found herself smiling. It was a small and shy smile, but it was the first time she had smiled in such a long time.
As they resumed training, Hinata couldn't help but whisper, "Thank-you, Naruto-Kun."
Hinata was startled out of her thoughts by Sakura's voice as she ran up to her. "Hinata. Do you have a minute?" Sakura asked.
Drawing upon all of her Hyuga formal training, Hinata turned and, with the famed emotionless mask of the Hyuga intact, inquired, "What do you want Haruno?"
Taken aback by Hinata's tone, Sakura fought the illogical urge to raise her hands in surrender. "W-well, Naruto has gone off to visit Ichiraku's, but he's acting odd." Sakura, seeing Hinata start to calm down, hurried on with her explanation. "But it's different than normal. He's acting like he won't see them for a few days!"
Hinata's entire demeanor changed upon hearing Sakura's explanation. "W-what do you th-think is going on?" She stuttered in worry, half expecting Naruto to pop-up and congratulate her on only stuttering twice. When Naruto didn't appear, her worry intensified, "M-maybe we sh-should go visit him at his h-house!" Hinata finished, very concerned about her...friend.
Sakura snapped her fingers and pointed in a random direction, "Yeah. Good idea." The pink haired girl nodded firmly, "We'll go to Naruto's house and see what's wrong." After a moment, Sakura's jubilation faded as she realized a critical flaw in their plan. "Wait. I have no idea where Naruto lives." Her head snapped to face Hinata, prompting a small squeak of surprise from the pale-eyed girl. "Hinata. Where does Naruto live?" Sakura leaned towards Hinata, almost bumping into her.
"I-I d-don't k-know!" Hinata stuttered, badly rattled by Sakura's intensity. Sakura's shoulders slumped. How were they supposed to find Naruto now?
"Damn it!" Sakura burst out after a moment, "How are we supposed to find Naruto now? It's not like he lives next door. It's not like we can just go up to the nearest adult and ask 'Where did Naruto go?'" Her tone rose as she grew more and more aggravated. Taking a few steps back from the Sakura's now open ranting, Hinata found herself torn between staying with Sakura and fleeing the potential danger zone, "And what's with all of the looks people give Naruto? Huh? What did he ever do to them? I bet they are just jealous of his progress..." Sakura took a several deep breaths as she recovered.
"W-what w-would Naruto-Kun d-do in this s-situation?" Hinata questioned, half to herself. It was a question she often asked herself, "W-What would h-he say?"
Sakura snorted. "Please. The baka would ask me," She attempted to mimic Naruto's voice as she imagined what he would say, "Sakura-Chan, did you read about this type of thing in one of those books you read?" Sakura reverted back in her normal tone, "No Naruto. I haven't read a book on where people live. That would be at the Shinobi Library." Sakura froze as soon as she finished the sentence. Hinata's and her eyes met.
"Ah..." Naruto hummed happily to himself as he left Ichiraku's, "That was good ramen." He silently mourned the loss of ramen for a few days, but it wasn't safe to be out so close to the Kyubi Festival. Mobs of both Ninja and civilian alike tended to look for him on those days. Naruto shuddered slightly in remembrance. Last time they had caught him, it had taken him almost 4 days to completely heal. It had hurt a lot. "But at least they didn't go for the eyes last time." He grunted in appreciation, "Actually, come to think of it, they didn't use the hooks either."
As he happily strolled towards his apartment, he failed to notice several shadows following him, waiting to catch the young blonde alone. A sudden blow to Naruto's side sent him flying into a conveniently abandoned alleyway. Grunting softly to himself as he pushed himself off the ground, the blond tried to piece together what had happened. "What had hit me? It's not time for the festival, so..."
The three crowding shadows instantly told him what had happened, and cut off any more thoughts. Naruto took a deep breath, stifling the icy panic that raced through his veins. He dropped into his combat stance. They weren't getting him without a fight. "Not this time."
"Look at this, boys! The demon thinks that it can defeat us!" One of the two of the shinobis crowed as he walked into the alley with his friend.
As they walked closer and closer, Naruto felt his heart begin to pound. His vision became sharper. Sounds became louder. The smell of the ally increased. Naruto tensed, each muscle waiting in unison to be unleashed. Then...
Naruto charged.
The Uzumaki's left hand slammed into the first ninja's stomach, knocking him back several feet! The second ninja noticed his friend flying away and, with a snarl of rage, swung his fist at Naruto. Naruto twisted out of the way of the fist, grabbed the extended arm, and pulled himself towards the shocked shinobi's head.
Naruto's knee smashed into the ninja's face with a loud crunch. Hammering his fists into the side of the shinobi's temples to stun him, the Uzumaki leapt over the falling ninja. Reaching back and grabbing the shinobi's face as he fell, Naruto slammed the back of the ninja's head into the hard dirt as he landed, the attacking shinobi's head making a dull thud as it hit the ground. Naruto dashed off, heading towards the open street and relative safety.
He was only three steps from the road when his body froze, "Kagemane no Jutsu," spat a third ninja that Naruto hadn't noticed. The Uzumaki found himself, unwillingly, walking back into the alley. After walking back past the unconscious ninja he had beaten, Naruto was released from the binding shadows. Before could react, he felt piercing pain in both of his hands as he was slammed into the wall several feet off the ground.
The sharp pain was familiar, some distant part of his mind noted even as he let out gasp of pain and instinctively looked over at his left hand. A kunai was buried deep in his hands, pinning Naruto to the wall. The ninja's enraged voice brought his attention back to the two ninja in front of him.
"You Monster. You hurt Gorou. I'll kill you for that. Slowly." The edge of enraged hysteria in the man's tone was something Naruto had heard countless times. He braced himself for the pain.
The ninja threw two more kunai at Naruto, both weapons crossing the small space to smash into the Uzumaki's lungs with a wet thump. Naruto choked as he felt his lungs slowly start to fill with blood, the unwanted but familiar iron taste hitting his tongue. He refused to cry out in pain. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
The shinobi sneered, "No cries? Don't worry demon, I'll make you scream before you die." The ninja slowly withdrew another kunai. Naruto's eyes widened. He began to struggle.
"I..." His muscles tensed, "Refuse to be helpless..." A faint metallic noise of metal on brick echoed in the ally, "I...promised Sakura-Chan I would be there in class." Naruto began to push. "I...refuse to die!"
Both of the ninjas' eyes widened in fear as Naruto began to slowly pull the kunai out of the wall, the metal on brick scraping sound echoing again, "Quick! Do something." The shinobi with the kunai shouted to his partner.
"Right." The ninja slammed his hands into a single seal, "Kage Nui no Jutsu."
Naruto slammed back into the wall with enough force to drive the air out of his lungs. He choked and his throat burned as he fought for air though the blood that was pooling in his mouth. A searing pain in his abdomen snapped him back to the ninja. The shinobi with the kunai twisted the weapon he had just buried deep within Naruto's abdomen, an almost feral growl of hate escaping the man's lips.
"What are you going to do now little demon? Going to cry?" The ninja mocked. Naruto glared defiantly back at the ninja and spat a massive glob of blood in his face. The ninja jerked back, hissing in disgust as he wiped his face. Naruto locked eyes with the shinobi and drew in a breath to spit again. The ninja flinched.
The shinobi paused. He made eye contact with Naruto. Naruto glared back. The ninja looked away. Then...a cruel smile appeared on the ninja's face and he stepped forward with a snarl and grabbed the kunai still buried within Naruto's abdomen. His smile grew as he began to slowly cut his way upwards, slowly slicing his way though muscle and organs.
The pain was almost indescribable. But Naruto knew that he had to fight through the pain and escape. Otherwise, he was going to die. But he couldn't die. Not here. Not now."I...promised Sakura-Chan that I would be in class." So Naruto began to push. "I promised Hinata-Chan that I would be there when she graduated the Academy." He pushed against the shadow, both inside his mind and the one outside holding him prisoner. "I...will...not...DIE!"
The dark smile froze on the shinobi's face as dark blue chakra began to waft from Naruto's bloody body. The Jinchūriki began straining against the bonds holding him. The Nara commanding the shadow that was binding Naruto began to feel the strain of holding the demon at bay. "I..." A low roar began building up in Naruto's throat as the chakra intensified. "...REFUSE TO DIE."
Both of the shinobi were blasted back as Naruto roared, shattering the shadow's hold on him.
The petrified ninjas quickly grabbed their friend and left, not wanting to be around the demon nor did they want to be there when the ANBU arrived to investigate Naruto's chakra spike.
Naruto never noticed them leave. Grey spots danced in his vision as blood gushed from his wounds. A snarl rumbled out of the Uzumaki as he heaved his body forward, again and again, pulling the kunai out of the wall a little more each time. After what seemed to be a pain-filled lifetime, the kunai gave way. Naruto fell, hitting the unforgiving ground with a muted thump.
Swallowing the scream of pain that tried to tare its way out of that his throat as the kunai were driven deeper into him when he hit the ground, Naruto slapped his hand against the ground and tried to push himself up. After several failed attempts, the blond finally heaved himself to his knees.
Slowly raising a shaking hand slowly in front of him, he stared at the kunai rammed through his palm. With all the blood he had lost, it took him several seconds to figure out the best way to remove the kunai from the hand, given that there was a kunai stuck in his other hand as well. Naruto took a deep, rattling wet breath and steeled himself, distancing himself from the pain. He raised his hand towards his mouth. His teeth clicked against kunai's metal ring. Naruto pulled.
Naruto clutched his bleeding, kunai-free hand to his chest, barely withholding a whimper of pain. After the pain subsided slightly, the Uzumaki reached over and pulled the kunai out of his other hand with a pained grunt that brought a tear to his eyes.
Blinking, Naruto belatedly realized that he was feeling a little numb, almost as if he was viewing his actions outside of his body. Carefully wrapping, his blood soaked hands around the two kunai imbedded in his chest, the Uzumaki gently pulled them out. As blood began to rapidly fill his punctured lungs, Naruto quickly reached down and jerked the kunai from his abdomen. His heart began to thud.
The kunai clattered to the ground as nausea bubbled up, and Naruto choked before hunching over; vomiting and coughing as his body desperately tried to rid itself of the blood pooling within. His eyes burned with unshed tears as his body expelled blood, bile, and ramen. Black spots swam across his vision as he was able to halt the violent heaves. The ground seemed to shift and sway as the Uzumaki staggered to his feet. He made it several steps before the roaring in his ears became too much and Naruto pitched forward into blackness.
Sakura breathed out a sigh of annoyance. "Who knew that looking for someone's address could be so difficult?" Tracking down Naruto proving quite time consuming and the library lady wasn't helping them in the slightest. Sakura was certain that the librarian had been giving them discreet disapproving looks for looking for Naruto. Sakura snorted quietly. As if she cared what some old lady thought about them.
Hinata carefully looked around. "Where would the information we need be?" She wondered thoughtfully as she scanned the book titles in front of her. A moment later a spark of inspiration hit her. What if they tracked down Naruto's parents instead? They would have to be in the Book of Citizens, given that Naruto was - and by proxy his parents - a citizen of Konoha.
Sakura huffed again. "Stupid Naruto. He's causing trouble even when he isn't here. Why couldn't he have just told me what's wrong so I can help fix it?" Annoyance warred with slight hurt. "Doesn't Naruto trust me?" Hinata's voice broke Sakura of her spiraling thoughts.
"S-Sakura-san! I-I think I h-have an idea to find N-Naruto-Kun!" Hinata couldn't help the excitement that bubbled up in her as she realized how she could help Naruto. Sakura spun around to face Hinata, the look in Sakura's eyes prompting Hinata to continue with her idea. "I-If we go look for N-Naruto-Kun's parents, we s-should find him!" She ducked her head, half expecting Sakura to decry her idea; especially if Sakura's narrowing eyes were any indication.
"That's a good idea Hinata. Let's go do that right now." Sakura ordered before moving towards the records section of the library, quickly followed by Hinata. The genealogy volumes weren't hard to locate, and they gathered the four volumes that kept the names of everyone with the last name starting with "U". The girls quickly decided to split the books up between the two of them.
After about an hour of reading, the girls had gone through one of the volumes each. As Sakura neared the end of her fourth volume, she found Naruto Uzumaki and his address. However, there was a problem with the records. Namely the fact that Naruto's status was "orphan."
"Hinata!" Sakura spoke, startling the blue-haired girl out of her reading, "I found it!" Hinata quickly moved over to Sakura to look at the information.
"N-Naruto-Kun is an o-orphan!" Hinata exclaimed in surprise, feeling something tickling at the back of her brain. Something wasn't...right about Naruto's status. Suddenly Hinata remembered that day just over two years ago...
"...Why don't you go to your parents and have them get you checked out by a medic-nin. I'm sure they would care enough about you to help you out!"
Hinata gasped. "Mizuki-Sensei had meant to hurt Naruto-Kun!"
She was distracted from her building anger as Sakura asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Hinata turned away from Sakura as she asked, "D-Do you r-remember the d-day Naruto was k-kicked out of c-class t-two years ago? The d-day that y-you met N-Naruto-Kun after t-the academy?"
Sakura blinked. She remembered that day well. Slight guilt edged at her mind at the memory of laughing at Naruto. "Yes." The pink haired girl crossed her arms, "I remember. What of it?"
"What did Mizuki say to Naruto-Kun?"
Sakura paused. Her forehead crinkled as she tried to remember his exact words. Hinata waited. After a few moments, Sakura's face darkened. Hinata knew an explosion was inevitable.
"Who the hell did he think he was? Making Naruto sad like that." The volume of Sakura tone quickly rose and her fists clenched in anger. "When I see him next, I'll punch his lights out." Sakura continued ranting for the next few moments, her voice echoing in the quiet library.
"Shhh!" Hinata hushed Sakura, not wanting to get kicked out of the library, "F-Finding N-Naruto-Kun is more i-important right n-now! W-We'll get Mizuki b-back l-later."
"Arrrg!" Sakura threw up her hands and stormed out of the library. Hinata hurried after her.
As the two headed deeper into Konoha, Sakura skidded to a halt as she realized she had forgotten something important. "Oh damn. I have to go tell my parents where I am going." Spinning on her heel, Sakura sprinted off towards her house. "Come on." She tossed over her shoulder to Hinata, "The faster we go talk to them, the faster we can find Naruto."
"W-wait f-for m-me!" Hinata quietly murmured as she chased after Sakura, "Don't leave me behind."
After an exhausting twenty minute run, Sakura arrived at her house. The picturesque, two story home felt...different to Hinata. It was odd, she considered, this simple home had more life and care then practically all of the Hyuga clan-homes combined. Sakura simply barged in the front door and shouted for her mother.
"Mom! Are you here?" She called, as she entered the hallway, "Where are you Mom?"
"I'm upstairs Sakura-chan." Sakura's mother, Mebuki, called back down, "I just got called into the hospital. You can come upstairs to talk."
Sakura motioned to Hinata to follow her as she headed up the steps. The pink haired girl walked into her mother's room, spying Mebuki gathering up her personal nursing tools. "Mom, Hinata and I are going to be spending a few hours with a friend. Is that alright?"
Mebuki turned to face Sakura, her face smoothing into a happy smile. "Of course dear. What's your friend's name?"
"Naruto Uzumaki."
Mebuki froze, the blood draining from her face. "Oh no."
Sakura, feeling her stomach drop, tried to deny what her mind had just realized. "Mom? Naruto is fine, right?"
Mebuki gave Sakura a sad shake of her head. "He's the reason I am going in." Seeing Sakura and Hinata about to cry, hurried on to say, "Why don't you two come with me? I'm sure Naruto will want his friends there when he wakes up."
Sakura and Hinata nodded. Naruto's condition couldn't be that bad. Right?
Chapter edited and remastered on 4/6/17.