Chapter 14: The Boy Named Menma, Hinata's Resolve.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
Author's Note: This is my favorite chapter so far.
Rustle… Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!
Fooooo—
". . ."
Five minutes went by since Orochimaru got caught in the Four Repeating Nightmare Seal, but he was still unmoving. I know that curiosity killed the cat, but I couldn't help but observe Orochimaru to see if he would break free from the seal.
After all, I could use this weakness in the future.
Despite staying near Orochimaru to observe him, I didn't grow a second soul. I can't play with my life, so I rigged the whole area with more than a dozen Explosive Scrolls. If he makes one move, he'll die. If he breathes too fast, he'll die. If he glares at me, he'll die.
Needless to say, Orochimaru was in trouble.
Poof!
But I didn't expect that Orochimaru would vanish without a trace. None of the triggers went off, so it meant that Orochimaru did nothing, yet he still vanished in a puff of smoke.
"What was that?"
At Orochimaru's disappearance, my whole body tensed as I got ready to activate all the defensive seals I drew around me. 'Substitution Technique? But there are no logs nearby…'
To be specific, the nearest forest was a kilometer away. He and Orochimaru were currently on a rocky field. This place had so many boulders, but not a single twig.
'Hold on, is it possible to use the Substitution Technique with other objects aside from logs? I have to study this technique when I settle down.'
Helpless, I could only draw more defensive scrolls around me and wait. Who knew if Orochimaru was waiting nearby? I won't make the same mistake twice, where I mocked Orochimaru for turning his back toward me, only for me to close my eyes in front of Orochimaru.
That still makes me blush in embarrassment, maybe I won't forget it for the rest of my life.
"Is that him, the suspicious person you talked about?" A ninja wearing a blank, white mask asked. He was wearing the standard outfit for assassins, everything was lightweight and dark in color.
"Yes. He'd been sitting there for an hour already," a ninja beside him replied. He was wearing the same outfit as the first ninja.
They were sitting on top of a thick, tree branch. More than half a kilometer away, a boy with brown hair was crouched behind a pointy rock. About a couple hundred meters away in front of the boy were more than a dozen of scrolls.
"What's he doing?" The first masked ninja asked, "I don't know," the second ninja replied.
They waited for another thirty more minutes when they saw the boy standing up and picking the scrolls on the ground a couple of hundred meters away. Then, the scrolls disappeared when they touched the boy's waist.
"What was that?" The first ninja asked, "That should be a storage scroll. Is he a fuuinjutsu expert?"
"He should be," the other ninja replied. Only regular storage scrolls were sold in the market. You had to open them before you can store something inside. Only fuuinjutsu experts can modify a storage scroll, so their guess was justified.
Then, they looked at each other and nodded before turning into streaks of shadow. They were heading toward the boy who was now walking toward the east.
"Halt. State your identity!"
Naruto was startled when two ninjas wearing blank masks suddenly appeared in front of him.
'ROOT? They found me already?' Naruto thought but didn't panic. He had dozens of defensive and offensive seals surrounding him, he wasn't afraid of two ROOT ninjas. He was only worried because ROOT may hunt him down 'till his death.
He had no idea how much chaos his disappearance caused back in Konoha, so he wasn't aware that the ROOT was looking for him frantically all over the Land of Fire. It was to the point that they were willing to offend the Daimyo.
"My name is Hiroku, sir ninjas. What can I do for you?"
"Don't play the fool in front of us. We know you're a fuuinjutsu expert. Come with us to Konoha and we won't harm you," one of the ROOT ninjas threatened, but this only made Naruto smile.
'No, they don't know that I'm Naruto just yet, I can use this to my advantage,' Naruto thought and smiled. "Okay, I will follow you, there's no need to fight," Naruto said.
"Good," the two ROOT ninjas grabbed Naruto and used Body Flicker Technique to flicker toward Konoha.
It didn't take long for the trio to reach Konoha and as Naruto expected, he was brought into ROOT's base instead of the Hokage Tower.
"Lord Danzo, he is Hiroku and he is a fuuinjutsu expert," one of the ROOT knelt and explained what happened to an old man who was sitting leisurely on a black throne. Naturally, this is Shimura Danzo.
"A fuuinjutsu expert? Could it be a seal master?" Danzo paused before nodding in satisfaction. "Alright, good work, both of you. Seal masters are not easy to come by. Furthermore, it is impossible for someone to learn fuuinjutsu without the guidance of another seal master," he said.
'Bullshit. I'm right here, a self-thought seal master,' Naruto rolled his eyes, 'anyway, I was right to guess that Danzo is the leader of ROOT. Furthermore, he works with Orochimaru. I hope I can take advantage of ROOT before Orochimaru finds out that I'm in ROOT,' Naruto thought when he heard Danzo speaking again.
"If I recall correctly, there are only two level 5 seal masters alive. That is, Orochimaru and Jiraiya, and both have legendary status. A shame that the Uzumaki clan was destroyed. If it wasn't for their petty civil war, they wouldn't have been destroyed by the other villages," Danzo sneered, "Maybe if they didn't trust Konoha so much, they would've found that the roots of the great tree had penetrated the whirlpool and helped the sea to regain its calm."
Hearing this, Naruto gave it his all to suppress his shock and thought, 'The Uzumaki had a civil war? And this bastard had something to do with it? Fox, do you know anything about this?'
'No, this is the first time I'm hearing this,' the Kyuubi replied and went back to sleep.
After thinking about it, Naruto relaxed and inwardly shook his head. The Uzumaki clan had nothing to do with him, even though he was an Uzumaki. First of all, he didn't grow up with other Uzumaki members and second, he only wants to become the greatest seal master to ever exist and surpass the human limits one day.
That was his ambition.
"Hiroku is it. Do you want to join ROOT?" Danzo asked and narrowed his eyes.
'Oh, I didn't think about this. He can totally kill me right now,' Naruto facepalmed in his mind.
After arguing with Danzo for a solid hour, he finally convinced the other party that he can join ROOT, but he will have the freedom to choose his missions and Danzo can't tie a leash to his neck. Danzo relented on the condition that he enhances a cursed seal that Danzo uses.
After getting his hands on the cursed seal's formula, Naruto was escorted to a private room.
The room was more like a prison cell, but Naruto didn't mind it. Danzo didn't trust him, and would most likely kill him after he enhances the cursed seal. Likewise, he didn't trust Danzo either. He just wanted to buy time
'This cursed seal fries the victim's brain when the trigger is activated. Too bad I don't know what the trigger is, or I could've rigged this thing,' Naruto thought, 'after improving this cursed seal, I will gain a lot of experience. This cursed seal is advanced, after all. Perhaps a level 4 seal master created it?'
Naruto mused and took out an empty scroll.
'Before I give him the improved seal, I'll make preparations to create chaos inside his base. Then, I'll see if I can loot this stronghold and escape immediately if not,' Naruto planned. Improving the cursed seal wouldn't take too long. A couple of weeks at best, so Naruto couldn't waste too much time. If he takes too long, Danzo will suspect him and he wouldn't even know how he died.
"Naruto-kun…"
In Konoha, a young girl with pale, lavender eyes sat quietly on a bench, overlooking the enormous gates of Konoha. She had dark-blue hair, and she was wearing a simple white t-shirt, black pants, and black shinobi sandals. She was Hinata, and she had been waiting by the gates for three weeks already.
Ever since she found out that Naruto was missing, thought to have been kidnapped, she was worried sick. On the first day, she became depressed. Only after overcoming her sadness did Hinata steel her resolve to get stronger to follow and protect Naruto one day.
After all, Naruto was her sun. Naruto was the bright star that illuminated her world of darkness. When she was being bullied by others, Naruto helped her chase the bullies away. When she was having trouble at school, Naruto patiently guided her. When she was feeling down, Naruto would cheer her up.
Even though she could feel that Naruto was only helping her because he had nothing else to do, it didn't matter to her. She only wanted to help Naruto, to repay his kindness.
Inside the Hyuuga clan, she was an outcast.
Every day, she would be scolded for not meeting the main family's expectations. Even the branch family were disappointed by her, although they hid it very well under the guise of pity. Even her cousin, Neji, hated her. The only person who cared for her and the only person she cared for inside the clan was her little sister, Hanabi.
Aside from Hanabi, Naruto was the only other person she cared about.
"Big sister!"
Hearing a high-pitched voice behind her, Hinata turned and saw a little girl running toward her. She was wearing a grey, sleeveless shirt, and the same black pants and sandals as her. It was Hanabi, who just finished her training.
"Hanabi, what are you doing here?" Hinata asked with a smile on her face. Suddenly, the heavy feeling in her heart lightened for a bit after seeing her little sister.
"I just finished my training!" Hanabi said and glanced at the village gates. "Let's eat ice cream," Hanabi said and grabbed Hinata's hands, dragging her to the nearest ice cream shop.
"It's delicious, perfect for this hot day," Hanabi said while nodding her head like an old sage, earning a chuckle from Hinata. Hearing her big sister laugh beside her made Hanabi blush, but she was happy as well. She finally heard her big sister laugh after a long time, it made her relieved.
"Say, big sister, why don't we go shopping?" Hanabi said and looked at Hinata with her best puppy eyes. Seeing this, Hinata couldn't help but smile and agreed.
While they were walking toward a boutique, she bumped into someone.
"Ah, s-sorry…" Hinata apologized when she realized that they had similar heights. Well, the other person was taller than her, but not by much.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying atten... hmm?" The other party was apologizing to her when he paused. They looked at each and for a while, they were silently looking into each other's eyes without talking.
"Umm, hello?" Hanabi was confused. They were just apologizing to each other, why did they suddenly have a staring contest?
Hearing her little sister snapped Hinata out of her thoughts and blushed, bowing to the black-haired boy in front of her. "Sorry!" She said.
The black-haired boy chuckled and waved his hand, "It's nothing. May I join you in your shopping adventure?" He said.
Hinata was dumbfounded when the black-haired boy expressed his intentions, but she was too embarrassed to refuse him. "My name is Hinata."
"Oh, my name is… Menma."
[Flashback, one hour ago.]
"Tsk, stupid old man," Naruto cursed, but no one said anything. He was surrounded by a dozen ROOT ninjas.
Needless to say, he was in trouble.
'I can't believe that after giving him the improved cursed seal, he would leave me alone with these twelve ROOT ninjas. How thoughtful of you, Danzo, to give me toys… except I don't want them! Damn, was I too naïve?'
Naruto thought that Danzo would attack him after he returned to his room, but he never expected that Danzo would attack him on the spot.
'I guess the saving grace is that Danzo left. What to do… the traps I prepared were back in my room… shit, I'm so stupid!'
Naruto cursed himself and spoke, trying to buy time.
"Hey, why don't we talk for a bit? Maybe I like you all, let's go over there," Naruto pointed at the exit. None of the ROOT ninjas responded to his offer. In fact, they began rousing their chakra.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't be impulsive… damn it! Fuuinjutsu: Earth Guardian!"
When Naruto saw the ROOT ninjas weaving hand seals, he immediately activated the defensive seal on his body. Although he was naïve enough to leave his weapons back at his room, he wasn't so stupid as to meet his enemy while naked.
After activating the Earth Guardian, the ground Naruto was stepping on crawled to his body and coated him in a layer of dirt, which quickly hardened into rocks. Right now, he looked like a stone golem.
Crack… crumble…
Strangely enough, although he was coated in a thick layer of hard rock, he could still move. The rocks would crumble and fall apart whenever he moves, but the fallen rocks would be replaced by soil, which would turn into rocks in the next second.
The rock armor looked fragile, but since it was powered by chakra, it was stronger than steel and has great resistance against chakra-based attacks.
"Water-style: Water Pillar Technique!"
"Lightning-style: Lightning Pillar Technique!"
Six ROOT ninjas launched water-style jutsu toward him, while the rest launched lightning-style, enhancing the attack and speed of the water-style.
Shiiiii—!
The water began evaporating as lightning crackled around it, but it charged toward Naruto without any problem.
BANG!
When the water pillar struck his earth armor, Naruto shook and coughed up blood. The rock covering his body absorbed his blood, making it a little stronger. He planned this long ago, as leaving his blood behind was the same as letting the ROOT know his true identity.
He wasn't worried about defense. The Earth Guardian was powered by chakra, so unless the enemy has more chakra than him, his rock armor will not break even in the face of lightning-style attacks. This was the advantage of fuuinjutsu over ninjutsu, the larger the seal master's chakra volume, the stronger his seals.
Of course, it doesn't mean that he would be unscathed, the force behind the water pillar gave him internal injuries.
'This is bad. Even with the Uzumaki's healing abilities, my regeneration won't last forever. I need to attack,' Naruto thought and took out a brush from his waist (the storage scroll wrapped around his waist).
From the outside, it looked like the rock golem was randomly waving its hand in the air. Most of the ROOT ninjas were confused and ignored it, but one of them recognized what Naruto was trying to do.
"He's drawing a seal, be on guard!"
Hearing their companion's warning, they all gathered chakra near their hands and feet to quickly react to whatever Naruto was going to launch.
Naruto saw this through his sensing abilities (he can't see as he is covered in rocks) but he didn't care. His attack affected a large area, and he didn't intend to kill any of the ROOT ninjas with his attack. If they died, that would be good, but if they didn't, Naruto would only sigh in pity.
"Fuuinjutsu: Curse of the Demonic Fox!"
After finishing the seal, countless foxes emerged from the ground and attacked the ROOT ninjas. They all reacted by taking out their swords and began to massacre the hundreds of foxes that suddenly appeared.
Blood soaked the ground, and for a while, the ROOT ninjas were killing foxes while keeping an eye on the rock golem that was unmoving not far away from them. It took a minute before they began suspecting that something was amiss.
"There's no end to these foxes, is it a genjutsu?"
One of them said and immediately, all of them roused their chakra system. Sure enough, the blood on the ground and the countless foxes vanished without a trace. The golem was still standing in the middle, but none of them sensed anyone inside the golem.
"Shit, how did we not notice the genjutsu?"
Genjutsu using fuuinjutsu is different from other genjutsu, like how the genjutsu of the sharingan is different from normal genjutsu. Genjutsu using fuuinjutsu is generally weaker than other types of genjutsu, but they are undetectable unless the target realizes he is in a genjutsu.
After casting "Curse of the Demonic Fox," the last seal formula inside his Phoenix Scroll, Naruto ran straight to his room. He made sure that the ROOT ninjas can track him, leading them straight to his room.
Naturally, it was a trap.
"I have to be quick. Ninjutsu: Transformation Technique!"
Poof!
Inside his room, "Hiroku" was engulfed in white smoke and when the smoke disappeared, it revealed a black-haired boy with black eyes. His facial and body structure was a copy of Naruto's original body, but his eyes and hair were black.
"Fuuinjutsu: Body Transformation Seal!"
Naruto already prepared the Body Transformation Seal, so he only has to activate it.
"Siii—!"
Naruto took a deep breath, enduring the sharp pain all over his body by gritting his teeth. He felt like someone was tearing his body apart, while at the same time he felt as if he was on fire. This was because he modified the Body Transformation Seal to hasten the transformation process.
Hence not even a minute later, the transformation was complete. Naruto let out a sigh of relief.
"Those ROOT ninjas aren't here yet, I guess the genjutsu worked better than expected. Now, I have to leave this place without leaving a trace."
Because "Hiroku" is gone, and he was using a "different body," Naruto can't leave a trace or ROOT might realize that he can change his appearance. That would make it impossible to leave the village, as ROOT will definitely put the entire village under lockdown.
Not long after Naruto left his room, the ROOT ninjas arrived outside of his room.
"Open the door."
One of them said and another ROOT ninja opened the door.
BOOM!
Instantly, they were greeted with countless Explosive Scroll Seals.
Rumble…
The ground shook, making Naruto trip on his feet. Another person beside him was startled and helped him stand up, "Is it an earthquake?" The man asked and rubbed his bald head. Naruto shook his head, indicating that he didn't know, and kept walking.
When he was near the village gates, he bumped into a girl that was a little shorter than him. He apologized to the girl, but when he looked at the girl's face, his words got stuck in his throat.
'Jackpot,' he thought.
[End of Flashback.]
"Why do you look so sad? Did something happen?" Menma asked.
"Yeah… someone important to me went missing about a month ago, and they haven't found him yet," Hinata replied, her voice downcast as she gazed at the ground. She wondered when he would return. She swore to herself that by that time, she would confess her feelings for him.
"Oh? You're from the Hyuuga clan, right? Did someone go missing from the clan?" Menma asked, rubbing Hinata's back to comfort her. Hanabi saw this but didn't stop Menma. She was observing what this "Menma" guy wanted with her sister.
"No. The person who went missing is my classmate," Hinata replied and kept her mouth shut afterward. Obviously, she didn't want to talk about it.
'Her classmate?' Menma thought. According to what he knew, only one person was missing from Hinata's class. It was him.
"Why are you so sad, then? It's just a class—"
"Hey! Watch your mouth, stupid!"
Before Menma could finish, Hanabi jabbed him from the side. Looking at Hanabi's angry face, and looking at Hinata's face which had turned rigid, Menma was confused. Then, he saw Hinata taking a deep breath and turning to look at him.
"Please don't say that. Naruto-kun is very important to me, so please refrain from saying hurtful words about people you don't know about. Hanabi, let's go." Hinata turned and left, not waiting for Menma to respond.
"O-okay, big sister. Don't worry about him, I'm sure that big brother Naruto is safe," Hanabi was startled as well. It was her first time seeing her sister display the usual "Hyuuga" attitude.
Meanwhile, Naruto was staring at their backs as they got further and further away. Then, he secretly picked up his jaw that was on the floor. He was rendered speechless by the "shy" girl in his class.
'Damn, so fierce. Was she always like that?'
Naruto thought, only to hear a peal of booming laughter inside his mind.
'She reminds me of your mother when someone talked bad about your father,' he said before shutting up. Naruto entered his mindscape for a split second to glare at him, making him quiet. Secretly, he thought, 'and you remind me of your father when someone talked shit about your mother.'
After a long time of bonding, Naruto and the nine-tails agreed to not read each other's thoughts anymore. Of course, they could still hear what the other is thinking if they wanted to, like how the fox heard what Naruto was thinking about.
'I'll go follow them. I'm curious, how important is "Naruto" to Hinata?'
"Big sister, I'm going home now, what about you?"
Hinata and Hanabi were carrying shopping bags. Hanabi bought a couple of casual clothes to wear outside and at home, while Hinata bought a couple of shinobi clothes and training clothes.
"No, I want to walk around the village for a while," Hinata smiled. That was a lie.
"Okay, I'll bring your bag with me," unfortunately, Hanabi was clueless.
After Hanabi left, Hinata turned to look at a wall. Then, she scoffed and furrowed her brows. "Come out," she said.
. . . Clap! Clap! Clap!
After a couple of seconds, she heard someone clapping behind the wall.
"Wow, even without the byakugan active, you still saw me. Amazing!"
From behind the wall, Menma walked out with a smile on his face.
"What do you want?" Hinata asked, watching as Menma's smile widened.
"I'm just curious, why is Naruto so important to you? Did he do something for you? Something you can't forget? Or are you indebted to him, somehow?" Menma asked, his amusement clear in his tone.
Wooooosh—
Creak… creak…
A gust of wind blew past them, and the abandoned swing on the playground not far away from them creaked. They were alone in a remote part of Konoha. Usually, this place would be plagued with kids playing around, but the night was fast approaching and all the children were already back at their homes.
"Why do you care?" Hinata asked. She was confident with herself. She was a Hyuuga, first of all, and second, there were secret guards following her nearby, so her safety was guaranteed. No one could hear their conversation, but her guards know that she was talking to Menma.
"Do I need a reason to care?" Menma asked playfully. Then, he said in a low tone, "I know where he is."
Hearing what Menma said, Hinata's eyes widened, and asked, "Where is he?"
"I'll tell you if you answer my—"
"He's important to me because I care about him. In this life, he is the only one I will give my heart to," Hinata said without letting Menma finish talking. Secretly, she signaled for her guards to go away.
She wasn't stupid. She was smart, the second smartest girl in her class. She knew that Menma was not a normal person, maybe he was dangerous. But she was willing to risk her safety if it meant knowing where Naruto was.
At the same time, Menma was stupefied. It took him a good minute before he spoke again.
"Why do you love him? He doesn't even care about you…" Menma said absentmindedly. He didn't mean to say the last part, but his tongue slipped due to his previous shock.
As expected, Hinata was shaken. She clenched her fists and steadied her shaking eyes.
"It doesn't matter if he loves someone else. I only want to know that he is safe. I'll be satisfied by knowing that, so answer me. Is Naruto-kun… is Naruto safe?" Hinata asked, biting her lower lip and causing blood to flow out.
Menma's mind went blank.
Step. Step. Step. Thud. Thud…
Seeing Menma briskly walking toward her, Hinata couldn't help but take a step back. However, her body was still shaking from suppressing her sadness, and almost fell, but Menma held her jaw tightly with his right hand and brought her closer to his face. Because of Menma's rough actions, Hinata could barely stop herself from crying out in pain. Hinata glared back at Menma.
"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice leaking with anger.
"Why do you love Naruto so much?" Menma asked, his dull black eyes staring directly at her pale, lavender eyes.
Hinata was enraged. She couldn't stand someone doubting her beliefs, and Menma was doing exactly that. "Why do you care?" She asked, even though it was uncomfortable for her to speak as Menma was holding her jaw too tightly.
Hearing that, Menma let go of Hinata, causing her to stumble but she didn't fall. After stabilizing herself, Hinata glared at Menma when she smelled something similar to burnt meat. Then, under her wide eyes, Menma's cheek began to tear apart, blood flowing down from the exposed flesh and even he began to cry rivers of blood.
A moment later, smoke leaked out of Menma's torn face and began rapidly healing. When Menma's face was fully healed, Hinata's mind went blank and she didn't know what to say.
In front of her was her life-long crush, her first and last love. His vibrant lavender eyes stared at her pale, lavender eyes and tears began to pool in the corner of her eyes. "Naruto-kun…" she whispered.
"I care because I am Naruto," "Menma," said, his originally black eyes turning into lavender, and on his cheek were long whiskers that made him look like a cat.
*A/N: I'll keep calling Naruto "Menma" because aside from his eyes and the whiskers, Naruto still appeared as "Menma."
. . .
No one spoke, creating a tense, silent atmosphere between the two. They only looked at each other's lavender eyes.
"Why?" Hinata choked out. Her voice was shaking, similar to her entire body. Tears trickled from her eyes, but she didn't bother wiping them away.
"Why? It's simple. I wanted to leave this village and never return. Now, tell me why you love me so much. You could've loved any other person out there, but why me?" Menma asked when he saw Hinata lower her head.
"Why? Why can't I love you, then? Answer that," she asked. Her voice was so low that Menma could only hear her thanks to his enhanced hearing. However, it was because he heard her that he was stunned in place.
After not hearing Menma reply, Hinata lifted her head and stared at "Menma" while biting her lip.
"You don't love me? That's fine," Hinata said without stuttering, but her voice was shaking more than ever, "I don't want to force anyone, especially you, to love or accept me. But why do you keep pushing me away? It's fine even if you don't like me, but please… please say it to me directly!" Hinata said, her voice becoming louder with each sentence.
Menma looked at Hinata silently. Hinata was shaking, she was clearly afraid, nervous, and sad, but she forced herself to stand. Menma was amazed by her current behavior because as far as he could remember, Hinata was a frail, meek girl who had no courage.
"Do you remember the times when I helped you?" Menma started. He didn't like what he was going to say, but he wanted to test Hinata. He wanted to see if Hinata could still accept and love him despite what he was about to say.
Hearing Menma, Hinata tilted her head slightly and waited for the other party to finish.
"I did that to make you lower your guard. I never cared about you, I only cared about the thing in your eye sockets," Menma paused, observing Hinata as her eyes shook, "those 'selfless' actions that I showed you were far from innocent. I wanted to kidnap you. I wanted to experiment on you. I wanted to kill you for your eyes. How about it? Can you still say that you love me?" Menma asked and waited for Hinata to respond. No matter what Hinata's response was, he would no longer target her.
It was the first time someone showed him love, so he definitely didn't want to harm that person, but he didn't want to accept that person either. 'I'll just go and kidnap some random Hyuuga for their byakugan. Maybe I can reverse engineer the Cage Bird Seal,' he thought.
The reason he wanted Hinata in the first place was that she was weak and that she didn't have the Cage Bird Seal. Now, that was impossible. He has a rule for himself.
His rule was to be honest and bold, to do anything and everything when he wanted something, and to not care about others. He had this rule to protect himself.
His goal was to be a supreme being, a god. Although his ambitions might be too high, he didn't mind it. He didn't even know if he could come close to being a god, but he wanted to try. He wanted to give it his all to achieve his lifelong dream, and he already had a friend who will accompany him.
The nine-tailed fox.
That was why he closed his heart to others. He didn't want to risk hurting himself because of love. To him, love is a hindrance. He already had a friend, his lifelong partner, so why should he risk having another one? Especially a weak and fragile one?
The nine-tailed fox was a mighty being, an immortal. He didn't worry about losing him.
But he had to worry about losing Hinata if he accepted her love.
"I…" hearing Hinata's faltering tone, Menma was brought out of his thoughts.
"What, you can't answer? That's fine. I understand. Don't worry, I won't bother you anymore, this is goodbye. It was an honor knowing you, Hyuuga Hinata," Naruto bowed and left, turning into a streak of shadow that disappeared into the dark night, leaving behind nothing but a couple of strands of black hair that turned red when they touched the ground.
"Naruto!"
Seeing Menma disappear, Hinata reached out her hand and called for his true name but Menma was already gone. She hadn't realized that it was already dark.
"Naruto-kun…"
Thud.
Hinata fell to her knees. She did it, she confessed her love to Naruto, but not in the way she expected or wanted to. Could she still love him?
Honestly, the answer was yes. She still has feelings for Naruto. In her opinion, Naruto did nothing bad to her. Sure, he schemed behind her back and wanted to harm her, but didn't he confess in the end?
He even said that he wouldn't harm her anymore. It's just that…
"Why say goodbye? Why not wait for my answer… why did you leave so quickly?"
Hinata muttered, bringing her head to her knees as she let her tears flow like a broken dam. She stayed like that for an hour before she stood up, her eyes regaining their vigor. Then, she walked to where the red hair fell and picked it up, holding it close to her as if it were a precious treasure.
"No matter what, one day, I'll find you," Hinata said, looking where Menma disappeared, "and then after I'll show you that I still love you. I'll show you that I will always stand by your side, no matter what!" Hinata declared and walked back to the Hyuuga compound, not knowing that a pair of lavender eyes were looking at her from the distance.
"If that's the case, then I'm looking forward to when we meet again. But I won't wait for you, Hinata, so don't take too long," Menma said, gripping the branch he was sitting on tightly. Then, he disappeared into the distance without looking back.
**Author's Note: How was it, did you like this chapter too? The next chapter is full of action, a stark contrast to this chapter full of people cutting onions (T - T).