Chapter 9: New Beginnings

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted in time as he found Toneri and Hinata. She had been dressed differently, prepared for a wedding that was against her volition. Her eyes were dull as she faced him, looking past him, he could already see something was off.

"Bastard! Give Hinata back!" Naruto shouted.

Toneri smirked as he raised a hand.

"Sure", and with a simple motion Hinata had lunged for Naruto, attacking with all she had.

"Hinata! Hey, stop, it's me!" Naruto said as he blocked her attacks.

"What did you do to Hinata?!" Naruto called out as she continued to charge at him.

He grabbed hold of her and his arm began to radiate, he reached into her chest as he held her in place, pulling out the bubble that had been embedded in her and destroying it, leaving Hinata unconscious. Naruto felt his anger begin to boil as he glared at the person responsible.

"Toneri, how dare you treat her like one of your dolls?" Naruto growled.

Toneri had made another motion, and with a pull, Hinata was sent back to him, Naruto chasing after her. He watched as Toneri had held her close, about to push another bubble into her, but he had seemed to grow weak, the bubble disappearing.

Hinata had blinked and once she saw who had been holding her, she instinctively pushed herself away, fleeing unsteadily. She looked around frantically, her eyes immediately finding Naruto's.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called as she ran to him.

Naruto ran to her as well, scanning her for injuries and quickly turning back to Toneri, but he had already escaped.

"Naruto-kun, we have to hurry and destroy Hamura's Tenseigan!"

Shikamaru watched as the puppets fell around him, the control that had once been over them removed. He sighed in relief, knowing very well this had been Naruto's doing.

Just then, his comrades entered the chapel, one after the other with Sai carrying Hanabi in his arms.

"Hanabi!" Hinata said the moment she saw her and rushed to her side. Sakura had confirmed that aside from her eyes being stolen, there was no other harm done to her.

"Thank you everyone." Hinata said gratefully as she held her sister's hand. When Sakura finally deemed it time, she held something up to Hinata.

"This is yours, right? You made this for Naruto?" Sakura asked as she handed it to a disappointed Hinata.

Sakura watched on as Naruto asked for the scarf anyway, a soft smile on his face with honest gratitude. She couldn't help but smile as well.

The moon had begun to move and the clock had begun to tick once again. Toneri was making a last stand to destroy the earth and destroying the team before him.

"Kurama!" Naruto called out, Kurama appeared and fought against the statue that was attacking Naruto and his team.

Naruto glowed as he turned Kurama mode and began to aim for Toneri.

Toneri used all of his strength, fighting for the purpose of destroying everything the earth had to offer. But Naruto had proved to be too much for him, defeating him with a final blow that sent him to a wall. Hinata walked over to him and took Hanabi's eyes, the cold expression on her face the final thing he saw before his world turned black once again.

"It's over Toneri," Naruto said.

"… Not yet," Toneri said, the thousands of scattered Byakugan that had littered the moon, sticking to him, transforming him into something grotesque.

"Toneri! Stop!" Hinata said and just then, the giant statue that Kurama had been fighting had landed near Toneri, sending him upwards and exposing him to the Sun's rays. He began to let off smoke as he traveled higher.

"He can't stay up there!" Hinata shouted, just then, Naruto had leapt up to try and reach him.

"Naruto-kun!" She shouted as she watched him grab Toneri and pull him into the shadows, away from the sun.

Toneri stood before the underground crypt that he had been taken to, a guilt washing over him as he realized the mistake he had made.

"It's not too late to change things now, Toneri. You can fulfill your father's wishes and come to earth with us," he heard Hinata's soft voice behind him.

"No. I will remain on the moon… and atone for my sins here. The moon will not fall ever again…"

Naruto watched as the bubbles that held their memories passed by, holding Hinata as they shot through the space to get home. He had finally figured out that she had been hurt over a scarf that she had not known had been made by his late mother. He finally had the opportunity to make things right with her.

"Hinata, I'm sorry I've put you through so much, you shouldn't have had to do all of this…" Naruto said as they continued to pass by all of the memories.

"You have nothing to apologize for Naruto-kun. I chose to love you, and I've watched you for so long. I wanted to be able to reach you, and now that we're here, I couldn't be more thankful." She said, instinctively holding onto him tighter.

"Keep hanging on," Naruto said and with a Rasengan, he was able to launch them through the bubbles that were showing them their memories together. Right before they had reached the ceiling, he struck it with a larger Rasengan. They shot up through the ceiling, their team watching as they finally paused before descending.

Suddenly, Hinata's eyes had never looked more hopeful as they stared into Naruto's blue ones. With a slight pain in his chest, he realized those eyes had always been pearlescent, those eyes that had always looked for him and waited for him. They'd never be the seafoam green he had wanted.

He cupped her face in an almost apologetic manner, and brought his lips to hers, sealing his fate and wishing the heartache to leave quickly. This would be yet another beginning, only this time, he'd begin with someone who had loved him for him with no expectation of love in return.

"Well would you look at that, never pegged Naruto to be such a romantic." Shikamaru said as he watched the scene unfold before him.

"I can't say I'm surprised." Sai said while he held a grinning Hanabi.

Sakura smiled softly at the image before her and watched on as Naruto and Hinata began to descend. Once they finally landed, they had made their way back to the team, walking much closer than they had before. Hinata was finally at ease after having saved her sister and finally receiving what she had always wanted, a place in Naruto's heart. Her happiness was not a grin but a soft smile, but she glowed with a new energy that had not been present prior to the mission.

"Well look who finally managed to catch on." Shikamaru said with a slight smirk.

Naruto chuckled at the tease, a fox-like grin on his features as Hinata turned red. His smile softened as his eyes made their way to Sakura, but she wasn't looking at him anymore, she was talking to Sai. Naruto cleared his throat and looked away as he watched as Hinata made her way to her sister.

When they had entered the gates of Konoha, the village cheered for them, mostly for Naruto, as they knew he would come out victorious. He gave an awkward smile, the praises seemed to be ongoing for him and at times, it felt a bit overwhelming. He felt a smaller hand reach for his and grip slightly, and the crowd cheered louder. He turned his head and his eyes met Hinata's pearlescent ones just as a faint blush reached her cheeks that was not like any she had in the past, but a faint, elegant one. Her smile was only for him as she looked at him with her new confidence. Naruto smiled as well as they made their way past the crowd and waved in gratitude.

Shikamaru, Sai, and Sakura watched as the crowd practically followed them as they walked down the road to the Hokage Tower.

"Yeah, I think I'll take a different route." Shikamaru said as Sai, Hanabi and Sakura silently agreed.

As they walked on to the Hokage Tower, Sakura couldn't help but feel the pressure of the silence, and she knew what this had been about. She didn't think Shikamaru would be the one to have any questions for her, instead, she felt it coming from the opposite side of her, and it wasn't Hanabi. She could almost feel Sai wanting to look over to her and begin asking questions, but his years of studying the social cues of others led him to believe, and quite accurately, that she did not want to talk about it. He had been one of the very few that knew that Naruto's fondness of Sakura lied deeper than any childhood crush, so it confused him to no end that the mission had ended the way that it had.

Only when the mission report had been completed and they had been dispersed later that night, when Naruto decided to carry Hanabi and walk Hinata home in the opposite direction of everyone else, when Shikamaru stated he was heading to a buffet to meet up with Choji and both had denied his invitation, did Sai finally speak up.

"Sakura-"

"Sai", Sakura interrupted quickly as she eyed him warily.

Please don't.

The words went unspoken, but she was pleading with those green eyes of hers.

Sai studied her for a few more moments and nodded, and with that, they dispersed and went their own way.

Sakura sighed as she finally unlocked the door to her apartment. It had remained the same as it always had when she would return from her missions. Any perishable foods had been discarded before the mission, her apartment had minimal dust as she had made to clean everything. She looked around and just realized she would probably be seeing less and less of Naruto from then on.

That's fine, Sakura thought as she made her way to her bathroom and began to undress for a quick shower.

Everything had turned out the way it should have in the end. There was no way for this to have ended any other way.

Sakura quickly washed the dirt and grime from the mission away and dressed into something comfortable for bed. She couldn't help but recall the genjutsu from the cave, and what it had unlocked. The fear that she had felt before, when she had almost lost Naruto, had been a fear that she did not want to reminisce about, yet there it was, glaring at her in a way that made her feel ashamed as she felt that maybe it was a fear deeper than that of losing a friend. She knew she had cared deeply for him prior to this mission, enough to not be able to picture a world without him. She also realized just then how much his foreseeable absence in her life would hurt her in the end as well.

Sakura shook her head at these thoughts as she dried off her shoulder length hair and turned off all of her lights. She settled in and stared up at her ceiling that glowed with the moonlight. She recalled Naruto's hands, how they cupped Hinata's face so gently, and how their shadows met in the gentle kiss they had shared. Sakura curled into a ball and threw the covers over her head, the moon didn't seem as calming anymore.

Then the guilt washed over her. She truly was a selfish person to feel lost without Naruto, knowing very well she couldn't (she strongly believed) reciprocate his feelings. She took a deep breath as she thought of the promise of tomorrow. She didn't have time to think of these things, she had much more she wanted to do, she'd have time to think of her feelings another day and for the very long time that came after. For now, she still had more tasks at hand that she had to focus on.

TBC

A/N: HAPPY 2024! Honestly the conclusion to The Last is what kept me up at night as I didn't know quite how well it would turn out. But the story isn't going to focus a whole lot on The Last anyway, apart from memories so from here on it's going to be written as I would like to write the story out. There are still going to be NaruHina moments as we progress but believe me when I say it'll be for the sake of the story and how it progresses. There still won't be any bashing so please don't expect it! Thanks so much for following the story and I hope you guys enjoy the rest! :')