Generation Lost

by paty-san5

After 3 years training abroad, Naruto now has what it takes to face whatever destiny has in store for him. With Akatsuki and Kyuubi coming after him, and Sasuke becoming an active criminal, Naruto'll have to deal the dangerous lifestyle fit for a ninja. Can his maturity level cope with the stress, while he also tries to unravel the mysteries of the opposite sex?

14. 14 My Life Inside Your Heart

NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO

"Kyuubi talking"

'Kyuubi thinking'

"Normal speech"

'Characters thinking'

Author's note:

Enjoy. That's it.

And if you do, review!

---

Generation Lost

Chapter 14: My Life Inside Your Heart

"Wonder how we got this far and never realized
the common thread that binds our lives.
And I know you hurt, but I can help you if you can.
Take my hand and we'll live inside the dreams we left behind.
Take my hand as we move from this place to a better life."

"It's not that I don't believe you, Hinata…" Kiba said warily, knowing that the girl he knew for years was showing just how terrifying she could be when matters really got bad. "But how do you know it is our guy?"

Shino turned his head to watch her as she responded. The Aburame had no doubt she was sure who her prey was, but he was still interested on her methods.

"I scanned the village for any other bug user who wasn't in Shino-kun's neighborhood." The girl answered with ease. They were talking casually, even though they were running at a high speed. "I found a presence that resembled Shino-kun's. He has a thousand bugs running through his body, and is hiding deep in the forest."

"Remind me again, how far can you see?" The Inuzuka asked, bewildered. They were at least 5 kilometers away from the edge of the forest.

"15 kilometers, maybe?" Hinata answered. Kiba let out a low whistle.

She had her Byakugan active all the way towards the forest. The figure was hiding in the entrance of a cave at the base of a mountain. She wasn't going to let the murderer escape her sight. Capturing him was the only chance to protect Naruto from whatever plan Danzo had schemed against him. But that wasn't the only thing driving her to get to the unknown criminal. She was going to make him pay for hurting her lover.

"We should split up." The girl said, halting her steps. The other two man and a dog also stopped running. "He might escape if he notices us too soon. There can't be any chance of that."

"Let's split four ways. We should attack him all at once." Kiba said confidently. "He won't stand a chance."

"No. You three go ahead. I'll cover my scent and hang back just in case." Shino interceded. "If you keep him busy enough, I can deal a surprise attack."

"Agreed." The Hyuuga beauty nodded.

"Remember, we want him alive." Shino rushed to say before Kiba went his way. He sometimes got vicious when things got too hot.

"But not unscathed." The girl said, a firm frown on her vein-popped eyes.

---

"You've got a reckless daughter, Hiashi." Danzo said, trying to keep his feelings in check. "You should reconsider her as an heiress to your clan."

Hiashi was too mad with Hinata and Danzo to reply. On his forehead was a throbbing vein that looked like it might explode in any second.

"If you ask me, she's doing something no one had thought of doing until this point." Shikamaru said, trying to defend his friend. But his words were true. His plan had consisted of protecting and saving Tsunade's, Shizune's and Naruto's life. He had left the real perpetrator for later thought.

"Let's hope they can complete their mission." Shikaku commented quietly. His mind was racing in a way only a Nara's mind could. Not only Naruto's future was at stake, but now that Danzo was here, Shikaku was extremely sure that he had been the mastermind of the attack. Only that the only way to prove it was if Hinata's team made it back with enough proof.

"If you excuse me…" Shikamaru said lazily. "I'll go check on the Hokage."

Shikaku and Kakashi were the only ones who nodded at him. Hiashi was still livid, and Danzo couldn't care less.

"Good job." Kakashi said with one last look at him. He had the urge to go with Kurenai's team and help them bring back whoever was behind this. But he couldn't leave Danzo, in case something else might arise.

All they could do now was wait.

---

"I didn't think anyone would come looking for me." Torune said in a monotone as he landed on top of a high branch right after Akamaru and Kiba tried a surprise attack. "I was convinced you'd prefer to be with the Uzumaki in his final moments."

Torune had a feeling that the way to instigate the Hyuuga to attack, was through the Uzumaki. It didn't only work for her, but for the Inuzuka too. What a bunch of softies.

The girl launched two vicious air strikes from her spot. Although powerful, they weren't fast enough to reach the perpetrator before he jumped away.

"You just messed up your last chance to see the guy." Torune's skin started to fill up with what appeared to be a dark, moving shade. Hinata could see with her special ability, that it was a cloud of micro beetles sticking to his skin. "He's going to die, you know?"

With a shriek, Hinata lunged forward, palms at the ready. Kiba wasn't fast enough to follow her on her attack. Torune smiled inwardly, ready to take the Hyuuga into his deadly hug.

Before she could get to him, a giant swarm of familiar bugs appeared in between Torune and Hinata. The girl's shock was enough to halt her on her tracks.

"Shino-kun." The girl panted. They could see him now, standing no too far away from them.

"You were supposed to wait, dude." Kiba called from behind her.

Shino turned to look at his new enemy. "If you touch him while he's covered in his bugs, you'll die in seconds."

"What?" Kiba turned to look at the offending man. "Do you know him?"

"He's my cousin." Shino answered calmly, recalling his bugs back to him. Torune looked at him coolly. "I thought he was dead."

The older man took out a small blade he had with him. Now that a serious shinobi had joined the fight, he knew this was going to get serious.

"I'd hate to kill you, Shino." Torune said, brandishing his blade. "But I have no choice."

The younger Aburame knitted his eyebrows. It had been an Aburame job after all. He was mad beyond words.

"Remember. Don't let him or his bugs touch you."

Hinata called her Byakugan back to her. But now she felt less confident about the outcome of the fight.

'How are we gonna beat him if we can't get near him?' Thought Kiba, turning to look at Akamaru.

"I think we'll have to step down, boy."

It was Shino and Hinata's turn.

---

Shikamaru knocked on the heavily guarded door. He looked cautiously at the Hyuugas faces, all very much alike. They were stone cold and obedient. Just what he expected from the most influential clan in the whole village.

'I made the right decision to bring them here.' The ponytailed-man thought inwardly, as he breathed in satisfaction. 'The Nara's aren't as numerous as the Hyuugas. And our clan house couldn't be considered a fortress, but this…'

There was a guard in every corner of the house, as well as in the human perimeter around the giant manor. Konoha was very lucky to house such a tremendous shinobi power.

'And to think Hinata will be in charge of all of this.'

The door in question opened slightly. Neji greeted him with a nod, just like every Hyuuga does when they have nothing to say. Hiashi's protégé already knew it was him knocking, of course. Lee was standing in front of the window that led to the external ground of the house. Kakashi had told him not to move a muscle while on duty. He chastised himself every time he blinked.

"How are they doing?" He asked, as he turned to the heavy medic equipment supporting Tsunade's life. She looked dreadful, like she had ever since Pain's invasion. Dreadful but alive.

"She's awake, Shika." Ino announced, moving to the left so the chuunin could look into the stressed eyes of Shizune.

"Shizune-san! How are you feeling?" The Nara said, opening his arms and greeting her with a big smile.

"Shikamaru, how's Naruto?" Her tone was alarmed, and her eyes were frantic.

Shikamaru turned to her teammate.

"I told her he's alive but she wouldn't believe me." Ino answered the unasked question.

"He must've suffered so much damage…" Shizune whispered, still in mild shock.

Her forehead was wrapped in heavy bandages, and her arms were covered to the elbow. She wasn't wearing a shirt, since her dressings were still fresh on her back and neck. Shizune was 50% mummy.

"What did you see, Shizune-san?" Shikamaru prodded.

"Bugs." She said, remembering it vividly. "They were flying towards Tsunade-sama, coming out of the back of Naruto's clothes."

"Bugs?" Ino turned to Shikamaru. She exchanged a confused look with Neji, who kept silent until everything relevant was said.

"Team 8 were right." The Nara whispered. "This must place Naruto out of suspicion."

"What?!" Both, Shizune and Ino exclaimed at the same time. Tsunade's oldest apprentice even managed to sit up straight at the revelation. Ino hurried to hold her down. "This is Danzo's doing!"

"How can you be sure?" Shikamaru eyed her carefully.

"Only a soulless person like him could accuse Naruto-kun of such a thing." Shizune's cheeks were flushed with anger. "You should've seen him. He was devastated at seeing Tsunade-sama in her present state. But when we noticed what was going on, he sprung to action, like the good ninja he is. Jiraiya-sama would have been proud of him."

Ino gave her an endearing smile. "Sakura is doing all that she can to keep him alive, Shizune-san."

"She won't be enough." Shikamaru said gravely. "Ino, collect your things. You and I are going to Sakura."

"What? She's waaay better than me at this kind of stuff, I could only watch." The blond-haired beauty reasoned.

"Come. I'll explain on the way."

---

Hinata dropped to her knees after the fifteenth time she did her revolving heaven to repel any miniature bugs coming her and Kiba's way. Even with her Byakugan, it was proving almost impossible to see the little devils.

According to Shino, they were impossibly poisonous, and if it even got to touch their skin, there wouldn't be anything to do unless you had an antidote.

Shino was behind a personalized bug armor, that had to be renewed every time one of his bugs was touched by one of Torune's.

The fight had started as a waiting game to see who would drop their guard first, but apparently Aburames didn't have to worry about that, as their beetles proved to be ready to receive any damage coming their master's way.

Hinata was dangerously close to waste all her chakra on defensive jutsus, and it looked like Torune had the upper hand against Shino. His bugs killed faster than his, and Shino had only so many bugs on him.

She was losing time. They weren't getting closer to defeating that guy and she would hate to think that not only she failed her self-imposed mission, but also helping declare Naruto innocent with the proof standing a few feet from her.

Her chakra was limited, but she stood up and scurried to her right, where a curtain of Shino's beetles was flying in place to stop incoming enemy beetles from getting to Shino.

"Dango sticks." She said loud enough for Shino to hear. Kiba's ears perked up, but Shino knew he couldn't move his head, or else Torune might notice.

Sending another wave for Torune to deflect with his own, Shino stepped to the side to make way for Hinata's move.

Torune suddenly felt a stinging pain on his leg. When he looked down, he found himself falling to the ground. His faithful leg was a few centimeters in front of him. 'Impossible!'

"Nicely done, Hinata!" Kiba whoohoo-ed behind her. The girl had fallen to her knees after her extended chakra attack. To make it that sharp, a lot of chakra and chakra control must be poured into it.

"Shino-kun, bind him quickly!" She yelled to her partner, who was still gazing at the bleeding leg.

Before the tall man could send his beetles, Torune brightened up like a Christmas tree as he exploded into a thousand pieces.

---

"Naruto." A female voice echoed through the dark halls of what appeared to be a labyrinth. Ino knew that every mind was sort of a labyrinth in its own way, but each one was shaped differently. She hadn't had time to ask her father what it was like to be in Naruto's mind, but she knew she had to be careful, as he wasn't alone in there.

"Naruto?" She asked again, floating like a ghost. Somehow, she started to get colder as she walked into a hall whose walls got closer as she advanced.

Ino stopped short in her way, as she craned her neck to see just how tall the entrance to that specific room was. The light inside glowed a dark orange. You would expect that a room emanating that color would provide a warm temperature. Ino was freezing just standing in front of it.

"Oh man…" The gorgeous, yet terrified woman said to herself with fear clearly creeping up her back. She did not want to go in there, but there was something pulling her inside, and she knew she must obey that impulse. It was a signature feeling that came with her jutsu, and it always led her to the host.

'But which host?' The girl asked herself nervously.

Her magnetic jutsu forced her to move forward.

"Fuck." The girl croaked under her breath.

Now this was not a labyrinth. It was a big ass prison, with lots of cells, but the one at the end was surely the biggest of all.

"Ah!" The Yamanaka squeaked in fear. A cold, wet drop of liquid had fallen on her naked shoulder. The room was leaking everywhere.

"Naruto…?" She ventured again. Her voice was barely leaving her mouth. As she approached the cell which obviously belonged to the Kyuubi, her eyes fixed on something lying just in front of the giant bars.

"Naruto!" She called, her voice triumphant. She hurried towards the fallen figure. The blond was naked to the bone. Thankfully he was lying face down, and Ino only got a chance to see his ass.

'Wouldn't Hinata love to see this?' She told herself, forgetting her fear for a moment. But then she remembered the kind of predicament they were all in, so she quickly imagined some pants on Naruto's bottom and they immediately appeared.

"Naruto, are you alive?" She asked as she flipped him over.

He was unscathed, unlike the Naruto out there in the real world. The Naruto out there was broken, burned, and bald. Except for some patches of hair that didn't quite burn to a crisp.

Ino applied some chakra into her hands and touched the young man.

It worked somewhat like a taser. The blond tensed his muscles and was forced awake.

"Gah!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. His eyes were wide as he looked around to see where he was. He then found Yamanaka Ino floating on top of him with a worried look on her face. "The fuck?"

"Thank God I found you." Ino said with a smile. "Man are you in trouble."

"What the hell are you doing in my mind?" Naruto asked, trying to stand up. He ended up staggering and, after a few seconds, fell right back to the floor. "I feel weird."

"You are dying, Naruto." Ino said, her eyes serious.

"Huh?" The blond was obviously confused. He hadn't been conscious the last five hours. Who could blame him?

"See for yourself." Inside his mind, Ino was kind of a god. She knew the tricks to work a mind to her will, and she could transfer knowledge in a second. When she was done, Naruto started to sweat like a pig.

"Oh my god." The blond said, touching his face with both his hands. "I look terrible!"

Ino could only nod in response.

"I'm… Am I going to die?" The blond tried to get to his feet again, but this time he fell harder than before. "And I won't even notice?"

"We're trying to save you, but we are going to need your help." Ino tried to sound calm, but she knew time was of essence. Right now, Naruto's lungs were filled with blood.

The blond took a second to respond. Another thought came to mind. Ino could sense it before he opened his mouth.

"She's a wreck, Naruto." Ino answered truthfully. "But we didn't let her see you. And Neji forbade her to use her Byakugan to do it."

"Shit! Shit!" The blond was almost crying. "Just when I thought everything was going to turn out okay, how can I-"

"Stop. You can make it. But you need to focus." Ino grabbed a hold of his shoulders. She showed him what he was supposed to do. "And it's gonna hurt."

---

Ino's whole body shivered noticeably and everybody saw it. She opened her eyes slowly, and found herself standing beside Naruto and looking directly at Sakura's dilated eyes. She was high on fabricated chakra.

"Here he comes." Ino warned all of them. Sakura nodded vehemently and stuck two needles long enough to reach the Uzumaki's lungs on his lower chest. The tubes that were attached to the needles started to pump back blood with the help of a small machine next to the expert medic. The bags filled quickly.

Just as his lungs started to clear up, the blond stirred his eyelids in an attempt to open his eyes. He could only lift them a millimeter, since they were severely burned.

Naruto's chest started to lower and rise rapidly. Sakura could see he was entering shock due to the sickening pain he must be feeling. His one and only scar, the one on top of his heart, was moving hastily as the blond shook.

"Calm him down, Ino." Sakura ordered. If he started to hyperventilate, the blood would fill his lungs again.

Ino held a mental conversation with Naruto, and ensured he wouldn't react harshly. Unfortunately she couldn't numb out the pain, as they needed him to feel everything.

"Naruto, I want you to listen." Sakura started to speak. Tenten was sitting near Naruto, pumping air manually through a plastic mask stuck to Naruto's mouth. "Bring out the fox's chakra to your chest, specifically your lungs."

As soon as the pink-haired Haruno felt Naruto calling on the red chakra, she started to pull out each of the five ribs that had broken into the blond's lungs.

The chakra was working as she intended, and faster than she imagined. The ruptures quickly healed, and Naruto could breathe again.

"You can stop now, Tenten." The head medic said to the other girl. Tenten was sweating, not because of the movement she had been required to do for an hour or so, but because she had never seen anyone die for two minutes and come back to life after reanimation.

Tenten removed the mask from Naruto's face, and now that he could breathe without danger, the blond let out an incredible howl of pain.

Breathing still hurt, since he had been intubated for about two hours, but the tube had to be removed for manual delivery. His throat was on fire. His chest was burned, as well as the rest of his body. His spine had several vertebrae fractured, and his neck was broken.

It hurt so much that he started shaking his arms and legs forcefully, screaming his newly patched lungs out. The ribs were still broken, but out of his delicate breathing organs. Oh, did it hurt to live.

"Naruto! Stop moving or you'll hurt yourself even more!" The Haruno had to raise her voice so Naruto could hear her.

Immediately after, the blond's muscles fell numb and his screams subsided at once.

Sakura looked at her longtime friend. "Well done, Ino."

The blue-eyed woman looked back at Sakura with exhausted eyes and shook her head. "I didn't do anything. He passed out from the pain."

Sakura stayed quiet at her answer. It had been very difficult and very dangerous. But now Naruto's chance of survival had escalated exponentially.

"Poor guy." Tenten whispered, as she looked at Naruto's unconscious face. "Thank God Hinata wasn't anywhere near."

"Holy shit." Shikamaru whispered from his lonely place in the corner of the room. He had been standing back the whole time, and had been ready to restrain Naruto if necessary. But the intense events left him drained. "I'm out of here."

"Tenten, you can keep guard outside again." He said as he exited the room. "Good job, you guys."

Naruto was once again breathing normally.

Sakura sat back on her bottom, took five long gulps of water and dried her forehead.

"I'm going to fix his ribs real quick." She said. "Then I'll take a break while you heal his burned skin, Pig."

"Ok." The other girl replied. She didn't know how to feel right now. It was beyond weird, seeing Naruto without a scratch in his face, while the one sitting in front of her was almost unrecognizable.

"We'll have to wake him up again after I rearrange his spine."

---

Team 8 walked purposefully towards Hiashi's office. They were out of breath but alive and well.

If it weren't for Shino being there, they wouldn't have known how dangerous the enemy was. Even so, Shino had been silent ever since they began their way back. Hinata was sure the revelation must have left him in a daze.

Before Hinata could knock, the wooden door opened quickly. Kakashi and Shikaku were still there, and Hiashi peered his face from behind the office doors, as he was the one who opened them.

"In." He ordered curtly, motioning to his daughter's team.

Kiba looked from left to right but still he couldn't see nor sense the presence of the dreaded Danzo.

"Where's he?" He asked out loud. Hinata and Shino also perked their heads up.

"He has been gone for more than half an hour now." Kakashi answered with crossed arms. His lone eye scanned their tattered clothes and the Aburame's slightly burned sleeves. "Said something about having other matters to tend to."

"Did you at least find the guy?" the Hyuuga's maximum authority asked grumpily, sitting at the head of the table, as he was used to.

Kiba and Shino turned their heads to Hinata. She had earned the title of the team's spokeswoman for today, as this whole ordeal had happened thanks to her.

"We found him and identified him. Aburame Torune from the Aburame clan, sadly. He confessed while we faced him, but after losing a leg he decided to end his life with a set of explosive bugs detonating within him." The beautiful, tired woman replied without fear of her father's terrible glare.

"I managed to gather a few of his characteristic, poisonous bugs as proof of his identity." The tallest man of team 8 stepped forward to show the three bugs that were lingering in a crystal jar.

"An Aburame, you say?" Shikaku asked, perplexed. "Who is this Torune?"

"He's older than me, but was thought dead for 8 years. He faked his death and served somebody else's instructions."

"I wonder whose." Shikaku said softly, lingering his eyes on Kakashi. It was well known that Danzo preferred lost or parentless kids to raise as his warriors. No wonder he had to leave so suddenly.

"That the perpetrator is a member of one of the village's clans is regrettable." The Hatake said, shifting on his chair. "But now that we have your testimony as well as Shizune-san's, makes it impossible for any accusation against Naruto to hold its ground."

"Is she awake?" The Inuzuka asked with genuine interest. He had been assigned to watch her while she was still unconscious.

"Yes." Kakashi nodded. "She told Shikamaru how a bunch of bugs exploded from inside Naruto's clothes as they were trying to reach Tsunade-sama."

"He's going to die, you know?"

Torune's smug voice reverberated through Hinata's mind yet again. She just saw first-hand how powerful those bugs were, and now they knew for sure what the cause for the blond's life threatening injuries were.

Now that there weren't any more distractions on her mind, the young woman's thoughts were driven again towards the man she loved.

"If there's nothing else you need to know…" The woman said as she turned on her heel and walked towards the edge of the room.

"Hinata." Hiashi's voice resonated on her head too. She now remembered just how screwed she was.

"Yes, father?" The girl asked as if there was nothing going on between them.

She also remembered that she didn't care about what her father might say. There was Naruto to worry about.

Every person in the room turned to look at Hiashi, expecting him to speak and scold his daughter in front of all of them. But he didn't like to talk about personal clan stuff with commoners present. So he just said, "Good job."

The girl could feel her father's venom in those words.

He wasn't over with her yet.

---

Tenten's eyelids were beginning to drop. She was standing guard with her back against Naruto's room, and she was glad it was all quiet for now.

Ino and Sakura must have progressed well. Everything felt lighter now that they knew it wasn't Naruto's time yet.

As she tried to focus on the slowly rising sun so she had something to think about instead of sleep, Tenten heard rapid steps coming towards her. Her mind was too groggy to guess who it was.

A fierce, dirty Hinata, very much different from the one she had seen a couple hours ago, approached her.

"What happened to you sweetie?" Tenten exclaimed, sleep dissipating from her system. "Are you all right?"

"I am." The girl assured one of her closest friends. They had begun to see each other more and more since Tenten started dating Neji. "I need to know how he's doing."

Hinata's heart skipped a bit when she saw Tenten beam at her.

"He's gonna make it, Hinata." She said, and conveyed her happiness by hugging her tightly. "I don't know how, but he escaped death."

"R-Really?" The girl felt how the weight of the world fell off her shoulders. Her eyes swelled up in pure joy. "How is he doing?"

Tenten grabbed the hem of her shirt with one hand as she explained. "Well, he's still in a pretty bad shape. And I think he's gonna stay like that for a good while. But at least he can breathe normally now, and Sakura fixed him with Ino's and Naruto's help."

At the last part Hinata scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "How could Naruto…"

"You don't need to hear the details, you just need to know that you will be able to see him and talk to him again." Tenten assured, holding Hinata's hands on her own tightly.

"When can I see him?" The girl's tone was that of a plead. A tired, endearing plead. In that moment, it dawned on Tenten that had Naruto died, they would've lost Hinata too. She was in too deep now, and Naruto might be the only person in this world that could make Hinata really happy. Taking him away from her would've been disastrous.

"Tell you what." The white clad woman said with a conspiratorial smile. "If you rest for at least 5 hours, I'll ask Sakura to let you see him."

Five hours sure seemed a lot for Hinata, but now that the urgency to save Naruto's life was over, she felt she needed to recover from all those stressful moments she had to live when Naruto had just been brought in.

"I'll try and rest." She promised, with a tired smile and a pale face.

---

"Naruto, can you hear us?"

The blond struggled to open his eyes, but it sure seemed like a hell of a task. "Where am I?" His voice croaked and created a sore all over Naruto's throat.

"You're out here, with us." Ino wanted to make him understand they weren't in his head anymore.

"Sakura…" He said slowly, watching his talented friend look down at him with a smile and heavy bags under her eyes. "How am I doing?"

A tiny little tear crawled down Sakura's right cheek. Like everyone, she had thought of Naruto as kind of immortal. Hinata wasn't the only one that was terrified at the idea of Naruto dead.

"We are going to need your help one last time." She said. "We already fixed your spine and your chest. Ino also healed your severe burns, in case you didn't notice how it doesn't hurt as bad anymore. I need Kyuubi's chakra coating your neck."

Naruto raised his arm and placed it in front of his eyes slowly. Indeed, there were no noticeable blisters on his skin. He took a deep breath and noticed it didn't hurt anymore, except for his throat. He felt his arms and face. The pain was gone.

"Wow." He said, marveling at his naked scalp. "You fixed me fast."

"You've been here for more than eight hours, Naruto." Ino said. She was also worst for wear. "We want to leave you at 70% at least."

"Okay." Sakura said, placing her chakra-coated hands on either side of Naruto's neck. "Let's try to bring back your legs' mobility."

---

"So what now?" Kakashi asked, sitting heavily back on his designated chair.

A Hyuuga just entered to bring everyone a healthy breakfast. It only served to make them remember just how tired they were. The meeting had started not long after midnight.

"Even with Shino's information on his cousin's past, I think it could hardly be traced back to Danzo." Shikaku said tiredly, placing both hands on the side of his head.

"He's very thorough." Hiashi remarked. Although tired, his eyes were as severe as ever. "He must've burned down all of his records by now."

"Even so, we can't just let it be." The gray-haired jounin claimed, a little exasperated at the realization that their current leader was their biggest threat. "He ordered an assassination attempt on three of our best shinobi, including the Hokage!"

"I've never seen you so worked up, Kakashi." Shikaku commented.

"My student was almost killed in a cowardly attack, what did you expect?" Kakashi spat back.

"We are obviously very stressed about this events." Hiashi intervened. "But we can do very little without the whole Council weighting in on this."

"Danzo is part of the Council." The Nara reminded them sourly. "Although I doubt he'll come. I'm sure he has proofs to wipe out."

"He doesn't need to appear if he is formally deemed a suspect by a Council member." The Hyuuga said. Not only was he mad with his daughter, but also with the acting Hokage. If it weren't for his absurd wish to become a permanent leader, his house wouldn't have become a make-shift hospital/headquarters. He was also responsible for his daughter's erratic behavior.

"You would need some evidence to do that." The Nara reminded.

Kakashi's eyes suddenly lit up. Hiashi noticed. "What is it?"

"I have a ROOT member working on my team." Copy-cat Kakashi's eye shifted from Shikaku to Hiashi. "Sai."

"And you think you can get him to talk?" Shikaku snorted. He knew he might be mocking Kakashi, but everyone knew how ROOT members were loyal to Danzo to the end.

"Maybe." The ninja said, standing up. "Even so, there still needs to be a Council meeting ASAP. I'll try and have some evidence before then."

Hiashi measured the former ANBU captain with a stern look. He knew Kakashi seemed like a slacker most of the times, but looks could deceive. And the jounin had proven himself many times.

"All right. I'll call an emergency meeting at noon. That should give you four hours." He stood up. The other two men followed suit. "We better have something on Danzo by then. If not, we might be next."

---

Hinata woke up with a jolt. She even fell from the side of her bed into the hard ground. She felt disoriented as well as tired. In fact, she didn't think her scarce two hours of sleep helped her rest at all. There were bad dreams rounding her mind. They were about (you guessed it) Naruto exploding to bits behind that damned door before she had a chance to say goodbye.

Now that she was awake, she could discern exactly what woke her up. In fact, it was still going on.

She picked herself up and started running barefoot towards the sound of Naruto's screams.

Hinata found a few servants on her way but she navigated past them easily. Just then she noticed there were tears on her cheeks but she didn't remembered crying recently. The only explanation was that she was crying in her sleep.

She reached a corner and immediately saw Tenten peering into the room, her body missing her head, as it was all the way in. Naruto's screams began again.

"Naruto." The girl gasped, starting again towards the door. Tenten reacted before Hinata could beat her to it.

"What are you doing here?!" Tenten asked, perplexed both at her appearance and Naruto's torture-like treatment.

"Is he-" The girl said, once again trying to push past her and get to the godforsaken room.

"He's in the last stage of recuperation, Hinata. It's too soon for you to be here, I told you five hours."

"FUUUCK!"

The blond's voice boomed all over the garden that faced the solitary room. Tenten looked at Hinata and back at the door.

"You shouldn't be here." She stated seriously. When she last saw her three hours ago, she was expecting that the next time they would meet she were rested and refreshed. But the Hyuuga heiress was still wearing the same tattered and filthy clothes from last time. There was still some dry blood on a slash near her face.

"What are they doing to him?" The girl asked with a pained expression at his painful hollows.

"They are…" Tenten hesitated. Then decided to shut her mouth. It only made Hinata frown deeply.

"They're what?!" She exclaimed, clearly irked at the whole secrecy.

The older woman lifted her eyes in surprise. She never guessed today was the day to be facing Hinata's wrath. And now she proved she had one.

"They're…" She sighed in defeat. "They're all working on fixing his broken neck."

Hinata paled.

She knew that Naruto must've been in danger, but she never went beyond guessing what actually happened to his body. Her once annoyed expression turned to one of anguish, and Tenten was already kicking herself mentally for letting it out of her mouth.

Hinata's mouth opened, but Sakura's voice sounded first. "Good lord, it's done!"

Tenten and Hinata looked at each other, speechless.

"Did he faint again?" Ino's feminine voice asked.

"I'm here." A winded Naruto answered with a heavy voice.

"Try and move your feet." Sakura prodded.

After a few seconds of waiting, Tenten and Hinata heard everyone inside laugh heartily.

"Oh my God." Naruto's voice sounded thinner by the second. "How can I thank you?"

"Well, you can buy me a drink so I can forget the image of your naked ass." Ino answered grumpily. At this not only Tenten, but everyone in the room broke into a chortle.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata said loud enough that everyone inside and outside the room heard.

The room fell dead silent. Inside, Naruto witnessed the nervous looks Ino and Sakura shared with each other, and that made him feel uneasy. He wanted to ask them what happened, but he couldn't ignore Hinata now that she made herself present.

"Hey, Hin." He croaked, and tried to lift himself up with his hands but Sakura pushed him back down. "I'm fine."

"Sakura, please." Her voice was breaking in all the wrong places, and it stung everyone's heart. "Let me see him now."

The fact that she was crying and pleading to his childhood friend to let her see him permitted him to understand a bit of what had happened while he was in the limbo. On one hand, he imagined the kind of hell Hinata must've been through. He couldn't imagine how he would react if their positions were reversed. On the other, he was thankful she still didn't know just how bad it all really was.

He knew he looked like shit and smelled like so. His hair was gone, except for a few patches that no longer were blond but black as coal. At least his body wasn't burned all over. He had Ino to thank for that.

"I can't let her see me like this." He whispered to his new confidents. "I can't, Hinata. Not right now."

The girl had to take some minutes to process that it was Naruto himself speaking to her. Her voice came back full force. "Then, when?! Everyone has gone in there except me!"

Ino could see how Naruto's color drained from his face. It would've been hilarious if it wasn't such a big deal for Hinata. "Give me an hour and I'll promise-" They all heard Hinata huff angrily at his response. "T-Thirty minutes, then! Give me half an hour. We can even have breakfast, okay?"

They all waited for Hinata's response but it didn't came. It was then that the door swung open and the trio held their breaths, expecting to see a fuming Hinata. Instead, Tenten peered inside with a worried face. "She's gone."

Naruto and Sakura let out a heavy breath.

"Holy shit. I never thought I'd get to see Hinata so angry." The pink-haired girl confessed, sitting back in a chair tiredly.

"And you didn't." Tenten corrected, placing a hand on her chest. "I did. And it was scary as hell."

"You don't now half of it." The blond confessed. His tiredness was replaced by a feeling of urgency that served to wake him up. "I need some help. I need to get cleaned up and a haircu-"

"Honestly, Naruto, you can do it yourself. I'm fucking tired." Ino said as she stood up to leave. "We've been here for ten hours and I really need to sleep."

"But-"

"Naruto. Glad to see you awake." It was Kakashi's voice, followed by said person coming into the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Sensei." The blond greeted, too worried about his new deadline to smile at him. "Well, I'm alive."

"I can see that." Kakashi answered with a smile behind his mask. "You all did a very fine job. Especially you, Sakura."

The girl smiled weakly. "I couldn't have done it without Ino and Naruto himself."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you can still work as a team. And speaking of teams…" He stepped to the side and motioned with one hand for someone outside to come in. "Sai would like to see you're doing well too."

"Hello." Sai said politely, giving everyone his impassive smile. "Kakashi-sensei told me you had been attacked. I came by to say hi."

Naruto was kind of taken back by the sudden visit of the last person he expected to visit him. Still, Sai did made him a solid for keeping quiet about the whole Kyuubi incident on their first mission. It all seemed so very long ago.

"Hi." He replied, with a slight nod of his head. A sting of pain crawled from his neck to his brain, and it reminded him that it was still too early to move freely.

"It sure would be nice to find out who was behind Naruto's attack, wouldn't it?" The Hatake said with a fake smile. Sakura looked at him strangely, while Naruto's eyes hardened.

"It wasn't intended for me, but for Tsunade." The once blond-haired man said. "When I'm recovered I'll find the son of a bitch who did this to us."

The atmosphere started to get dark, but Kakashi dissipated it with a cheerful tone. "I bet you will. Sakura, would you remind us what were Naruto's injuries after the attack?"

The girl looked at him strangely. She wanted to ask what the hell was going on, and it seemed that Sai wanted to know the exact same thing. She recognized the spark on Kakashi's eye and knew that he was cooking something. "Sure…" And then she went off listing the long and painful injuries Naruto had sustained up until a few minutes ago.

Naruto was at a loss. He even turned to Ino to share his confusion, but the girl was too busy staring at Sai's naked abs.

Sai's peaceful smile disappeared when he heard how Naruto had to be reanimated twice. "Wow, Naruto. It's a miracle you're alive." He said with an honest expression.

"Yeah." The blond still had other things to worry about. "Thanks for the visit, really, but I need to clean myself up really quick if you don't mind."

"Not a problem, Naruto." Kakashi said cheerfully, guiding Sai out with a hand on his shoulder. "Take care."

"Recover soon." Sai added.

And with that he closed the door behind him.

There was a silent moment between the four ninjas in the room. "What the fuck was that?" Tenten asked out loud.

"I'm as confused as you are." Sakura agreed. "And I'll make sure to find out after two whole days of sleep. So if you would excuse me…"

"Wait for me, forehead, I'm also knackered." Ino said, cleaning up her station and getting to her feet.

"You can't go! I need your help." The whiskered chuunin exclaimed to her retreating backs.

"We helped you already, Naruto." Sakura said tiredly.

"Believe me, I'd love to see you get owned by Hinata, but I'm about to fall over." The blond woman said with a wave of her hand.

"Shit." The blond said to himself. He then remembered the other girl in the room. "Tenten, you gotta help me."

"Why me? I don't know any medical jutsus." The girl said rapidly, raising her hands in defense.

"Can you cut hair?" Naruto hurried to ask. He guessed they had fifteen minutes tops.

The brunette was surprised at his question. "I can cut anything, but that doesn't mean I know how to do it right."

"It doesn't matter, I just need you to cut it short. Do you have a kunai?" He asked, as he started waving signs.

At this question, Tenten smirked. "Do I have a kunai? Do you know who I am?" She raised her voice.

The blond chuckled lightly. "Of course you have a kunai."

"You shouldn't be doing that." The older shinobi warned, as she felt chakra coming from Naruto.

"I got it." He said confidently.

Just a second after Naruto finished working his signs, Tenten's vision was engulfed by a sea of gold.

---

"Even though I'd like to think that you brought me there to fraternize with Naruto-kun, I don't buy it." Sai said casually, as they strolled through the passages of the Hyuuga corridors.

"Sharp as always, Sai. And although this was a façade, I'd really like to know what you felt when you saw him." Kakashi said, stopping in his tracks and facing him fully.

The pale ninja raised his eyebrows. "Felt?"

"That's right."

"I am a ROOT shinobi. You should know we are trained to let go of any kind of feelings." Sai answered politely.

"You haven't been a ROOT member for a while, have you Sai?" The older shinobi answered seriously. "In most cases when a friend gets his or her life threatened, a normal reaction would be anger or sadness. Do you honestly think I didn't see your expression when Sakura said he almost died twice?"

The black-haired man sighed slowly. "It took me by surprise, of course. I never would've thought that Naruto, with his jinchuriki abilities, would go down so easily." His eyes lowered at his next words. "Besides, I don't think we are friends yet."

Kakashi noticed his posture as one of vulnerability and doubt. Good.

"You're not strangers, that for sure." The Hatake said, folding his arms. "I'm sure Naruto is glad that every friend of his visited him so soon. Now I have a serious question to ask you."

Sai's posture changed. He straightened his back and turned on his poker face. He had a feeling this might be important.

"Do you consider you have the best interest for this village?" The man said, looking at the younger man's eyes.

"I am a Konoha shinobi, if that's what you're asking." The boy responded. But Kakashi shook his head.

"I don't care that you are a jounin, a ROOT member or something else entirely." The man continued. "More precisely, I'm asking you if you would do what's right for Konoha, even if I meant forsaking Shimura Danzo."

The air grew cold and dark all of a sudden. Now that his master's name had been mentioned, he could see a link between the events.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Sai said slowly. Kakashi was watching him like a hawk. "Are you implying that Danzo-sama had something to do in this?"

The former ANBU captain planned his words carefully.

"We didn't considered him a threat until he showed up and blamed Naruto for the attack on Tsunade." The masked-man answered. This earned a response from Sai.

"That's ludicrous." Team 7's newest member exclaimed. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask.

"Wanting to protect Naruto, Hinata offered to find and capture the real culprit." The man looked at one Hyuuga passing by not too far from them. "Unfortunately, the man killed himself before he could be brought in. Apparently, he had been considered dead by his own clan but Hinata's teammate identified him as Torune."

"I don't know the name, as they are changed once we enter the ROOT." Sai answered calmly.

"That's a shame." Kakashi commented, still not giving up. "Would it help if I said he used poisonous and explosive bugs as his characteristic attacks?"

This time, Sai remained quiet and still. His shoulders stiffened as he looked at Kakashi right in the eye.

"I can't tell you anything." He answered truthfully. Kakashi took a deep, steadying breathe as he looked at the youngster.

"Look, Sai." The man started with a heavy aura. "We are suspecting Danzo, that's true, but we still have no evidence to place him as the attack's mastermind. We don't want to incriminate an innocent man, but from the unspoken response you gave me, neither me nor you think he's innocent."

Sai remained silent. His eyes hardened as he looked up to Kakashi.

"You had the opportunity to live both as an underground agent and as a Konoha ninja." The grey-haired jounin said, getting more serious by the second. "I doubt you believe that your organization has the right to turn Konoha upside down solely for a thirst of power."

"You're asking me if I'm willing to prevent a civil war." The younger man said rapidly, glaring at his superior. "I don't want unnecessary deaths but I can't say anything against my master or ROOT, for that matter."

At this point Kakashi lost it. He placed his hands on both Sai's shoulders and cornered him against the wall three steps away. "The village had a devastating attack just a few days ago. With Danzo free, this could turn very ugly but all you care about-"

"I literally can't say anything regarding Danzo or ROOT." Sai repeated. "I have a seal preventing me to speak ill about them."

Team 7's leader was left speechless for a moment. He let go of Sai.

"Would you like to get rid of that seal?"

---

"I could only get this." Tenten announced as she re-entered the room with some clothes in her hands.

Naruto was busy cleaning his chest and face from the dried blood and smoke traces left. It proved to be totally painful, as his bones were still adjusting to the tender ligaments. "Gimme."

Tenten navigated through the heart monitor and the intubation station until she reached Naruto. He looked almost as good as new. Almost. His hair was shorter, since Tenten had never cut anyone's hair, especially spiky one.

"Put it on while I clean the floor."

There were incredible amounts of blond hair scattered everywhere. Naruto somehow managed to learn a jutsu that let one's hair grow longer than the person itself. So yes, there was a lot of hair to collect.

"What is this?" The blond looked at the thing in disgust.

"It's a robe. I could only take what was at hand, I've never gone to Neji's room before." The bun-haired woman replied in an annoyed tone, as she swept the hair into a plastic bag.

"It has so many folds." Naruto kept marveling at the offending object. "And no pants?!"

"I honestly thought those were pants." Tenten never really knew how annoying and easily triggered Naruto could be.

"And I suppose these are briefs?" The blond asked, holding up the tiny, white underwear for Tenten to see.

"I guess?" The girl said, securing the contents of the bag with a twist. "I don't know him that well."

The blond shook his head as he let out a tired breath. "You can take the robe back."

"If you want, I can go for Lee's spare sentai suit he always carries with him."

"Hard pass." The blond replied, thinking if Hinata's visit was worth the trouble of some underwear.

He had woken up naked, but at least they covered him up with a blanket that had been white in the beginning but now was bloody all over.

"I'm heading out too." Tenten called over her shoulder, exiting the room with a bag full of Naruto's hair. "I'll tell someone to bring you a change of clothes."

"Thanks a lot." Naruto called back. "Seriously."

The woman stopped and graced him with a smile. "Good luck with Hinata. Try not to make her cry."

Naruto, for the first time that day, was all alone.

It felt kind of refreshing, not being treated by two pair of hands. He could still feel the soreness of Sakura's hands pushing against his neck and ribs. He was really close this time. And the goddamn fox didn't do anything to help him. If it wasn't for his rapid thinking of coating himself with his chakra, he would've been dead, and the Village would relive the Kyuubi attack from seventeen years ago.

He wished he had a mirror. He was never a vain person, and Hinata had seen him in bad shape before. But from what Tenten told him, the girl had been a wreck ever since he was interned at the Hyuugas.

"It was bad. She wasn't herself. For a moment we thought we had lost her."

Shit. He really needed to be more careful. Apparently, now his wellbeing was attached to Hinata's. And he couldn't blame her. If it were the other way around, he might've gone berserk. He also made a mental list of people he needed to thank for being alive right now. Apparently most of them had gone home after the news of his stabilization traveled around the house. Only Lee and Kiba remained watching Shizune and her teacher.

'Thank god they're both fine.'

The situation almost turned into a tragedy. He needed to hug Shikamaru the next time he saw him.

"I'm here."

The blond raised his head and indeed there she was. Gorgeous even with her red, baggy eyes. She was standing just outside the room that she finally could cross. Naruto stared at her form for a good while, thinking that if he were found a minute later, he would never be able to see her again.

"I'm naked." His mouth moved faster than his brain and he was just speaking despite himself. 'Oh god.' Even if Hinata came with a serious expression, her cheeks did fill out with that special trait of hers. And it was just for him. "B-But I'm covered, if you still want to come in."

"I have to." The girl said, stepping to the now reachable space. "I'm your new bodyguard."

Naruto smiled at that. He watched her approached, and he could see how her eyes were scanning him from head to toe. His hands reached to the filthy bed sheet nervously and pulled upwards. They didn't need any more accidents. He still couldn't believe he was so careless to be naked in his own mind. "You don't look that bad, Naruto-kun."

The blond smirked. "I tried very hard not to." Naruto ran a hand to the strangely cut hair. "A moment ago I was as bald as a newborn baby."

Hinata claimed the empty seat besides his makeshift bed. Then she caressed his new haircut too.

"You look funny." She said with zero humor in her voice. The scar on his chest was staring back at her.

"I don't care." He said, taking her hand in his and pulling her to him. A muscle on his back screamed in agony, but he only cared about kissing the person who wanted to see him most. This is what kissing an angel must feel like.

He kissed her once, twice, endless times. They were short and sweet, but for Hinata they were reassuring her that he was fine and he was with her at last. She found herself crying silently and Naruto noticed when he tasted her tears.

"Hey, don't." He told her in a hushed tone. "I'm fine now. I can move, I can breathe. I can even mold chakra."

Hinata knew she'd cried enough for him today, but the tears were still coming. "I know." He held her hands in his to reassure her. But Hinata was struggling to say something and she finally let it out.

"We killed your attacker." The girl confessed.

His hands froze, as well as all of his body. The clogs in his mind then started to tick again. "You what?"

"I was so angry, Naruto-kun. I went after him, I didn't want…" She might've dropped that bomb, but she thought better of telling him about Danzo and his threat to him.

"Alone?!" The blond's voice raised without warning. He then started to cough loudly and, for him, painfully. Hinata got scared and ran to the hall and asked for a glass of water from anyone who was listening. She came back to him as he was gripping the bedsheets tightly.

"Calm down, Naruto-kun. I'm sorry I told you so soon. You don't need to hear it now." She caressed his back as he continued coughing. Fortunately, there was no blood coming out of his mouth anymore.

"Who was it?" He asked, face flushed and a hand pressing on his throat. The bed sheet almost fell over but thankfully Hinata could prevent that by pressing it against his muscled stomach. The girl could see how painful it was for him to move.

"An Aburame. He was supposedly dead. I was with my team, and Shino-kun ID'd him."

"That explains the fucking bugs." The blond could remember it vividly. How each bug, one by one, made his internal organs rattle and his bones break into little pieces. "At least Baachan and Shizune are out of danger."

"You saved their lives." Hinata claimed, placing a gentle hand on his filthy back.

"If it weren't for me they would've never been in danger." The whiskered man started, and Hinata knew better to stop him before he got himself worked up about that.

"Torune could've picked anyone, Naruto-kun. The target was Tsunade-sama. If it hadn't been you, then we would be attending two funerals right now." She gripped his shoulder to show how serious she was.

The blond pursed his lips. "At least that bastard's dead. Although I would have liked to kill him myself."

Sensing his mood had turned darker than she anticipated, the girl decided to change the subject.

"What's that?" Hinata asked, as she pointed to the white briefs on top of the heart monitor.

"That's Neji's." The blond hurried to answer before Hinata got any ideas. He had his own tint of red on his ears. "Tenten brought them so I could wear them but it's not worth it. No wonder Neji's so uptight all the time."

"Naruto-kun." His gorgeous, not-yet girlfriend said with a guilty smile.

"Hin, I'm really glad to see you, but I'm so fucking tired, and hungry and dirty…" The blond started, and Hinata understood perfectly.

"It shouldn't be long before they bring lunch to you." The Hyuuga heiress retorted. "I can call for a robe, which is easier to wear in your state. And you can sleep on the same room as yesterday."

Hinata's words were like music for Naruto's ears. He smiled and lied back down. "Yesterday seems like so long ago."

Hinata didn't say anything else until food came. But Naruto was already fast asleep.

---

Someone knocked on the door.

Hinata shook her head curtly, trying to drive the sleep away from her eyes. God was she tired.

"Hinata." Shikamaru said, crossing the door with a cigarette butt still hanging from his fingers. "How are you two doing?"

The girl stood up and smiled at him. Now that she had what she wanted, she couldn't stay mad at Shikamaru for manipulating her into doing something useful. "He's fine."

The Nara then turned down to look at the blond. His eyebrows jumped to his hairline. The blond. "How… But… His hair." The man started to splutter stupidly. Needless to say, he was as tired as Hinata. Well, maybe not. She had gone into a seek-and-destroy mission while he stayed in the mansion looking after stuff.

"I don't know, nor care." The girl confessed with a tired breath. "I'm just glad he's fine." She placed a hand on the side of Naruto's sleeping face. "Thank you, Shikamaru-kun. Without you… I don't know what might've happened."

The long-haired chuunin shrugged his shoulders and waved a hand, but Hinata engulfed him in a surprise hug.

"What are you thanking him for? He probably just slept through it all."

Both Shikamaru and Hinata turned to look at the Uzumaki as he slowly prodded himself up with his arms. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to wake you."

The blond smiled and waved it off, while he pressed the back of his hand against his sleepy eyes.

"I wish I had." The Nara replied with an ample smile. He walked towards Naruto. "You sure were a fucking pain."

If he had been more awake, the blond would have retorted with a smarty-assed comment. But he was messed up in more ways than one.

"Well, sorry 'bout that." He watched as Shikamaru extended his hand and shook it firmly. The simple motion made him wince.

"Glad to see you looking better." The man said, feeling that the handshake wasn't enough but holding himself back from corny thoughts. "Seriously, man. You looked horrible when we got to you."

"I know." Naruto said with a hand on the back of his head. Even if he was glad to see his Nara friend, he wished the long-haired chuunin stopped talking about his appearance in front of Hinata. "Thanks from keeping her from seeing me like that."

Shikamaru's eyes traveled to Hinata. Her kind eyes turned stern and her mouth was a in a very thin line. "You see, Hinata? He agrees with me. You can stop thinking of ways of murdering me in my sleep."

This earned a bark of laugh from Naruto, which he quickly regretted. "C'mon. Hinata would never."

Even if Naruto was still laughing to himself, the Nara wasn't so sure. He had to reevaluate everything he knew about the Hyuuga heiress.

"I see everything's dandy now."

"Neji-nii-san." Hinata greeted and her face completely transformed as she looked at him. Shikamaru was thankful for his appearance.

"Naruto. You're looking better." The older amongst them said, also shaking the blond's hand firmly. Even under his serious demeanor, Neji couldn't hide the astonishment from his face as he noticed how Naruto had progressed. This served to distract him from the fact that he was clearly naked under the thin sheet, right beside Hinata.

Neji wanted to say more about his appearance, but his little cousin was present, and it would only serve to worsen the atmosphere.

"I really don't know how to thank all of you." The blond said, as his blue irises traveled to each person besides him.

"How about you try to get killed less often?" Shikamaru proposed with a grin. "Seriously, Naruto, you got a death wish."

"I was thinking more like a party in my house." The naked blond said with a smirk.

"If it is today, I doubt anyone will go. Believe me, we are all very tired. And you should take it easy."

"Doesn't have to be today." Konoha's hero replied with a sheepish smile.

"What is that?" Neji asked tensely out loud. Shikamaru, Naruto and Hinata all turned to the small piece of underwear laying on top of the heart monitor. At first Neji didn't know what to think of it, but he slowly started to connect Naruto's lack of clothing to the whole situation.

Before Neji's face could get any redder, Naruto interceded. "Those are yours, dude."

Neji's train of thought was cut short by Naruto's claim. "Excuse me?!"

"No, seriously!" The whiskered man hurried to lift his arms in front of his chest, seeing as Neji was glowering dangerously. "I asked for Tenten for some clothes and she brought your briefs."

"Those aren't mine!" The long-haired Hyuuga rapidly explained. To which Naruto answered with a confuse look. "I mean, they are… But I don't use them anymore."

"Riight." Shikamaru sneered at him, and Naruto just couldn't resist the grin that was crawling to his face.

"They were from when I was a kid, all right?" The tallest, most powerful man on the Hyuuga Clan insisted, seeing that even Hinata was laughing at him. "Whatever! Tenten shouldn't have gone into my room anyways."

"Don't take it out on her, I asked her to." The blond said rapidly, before Tenten could get into trouble.

"I have other things to do." Neji said hastily, snatching his briefs on his hand and turning away from them.

Everyone left was just grinning and looking at each other, trying not to explode into laughter while still on Neji's earshot.

"He blushes like you." Naruto commented slyly to Hinata, who was still holding in her giggles. "All kidding aside, I'm fucking starving."

"I already have your meal waiting in a different room." The remaining Hyuuga stood up and brought a beige, clean robe that was waiting in the bathroom. "They need to clean this one."

Naruto ran his eyes over the bloody floor. Even from the entrance of the room there were a few drops of his blood, but as one approached his bed, it turned into a large, dried puddle. "Nice." Naruto said, taking the piece of clothing carefully in his hands.

"I need to go, so good luck with that." Shikamaru nodded to Hinata. "You let me know about that party, okay?"

The blond grinned at him.

---

"Could you repeat that?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked loudly, from his side of the table.

"I said." Sai enunciated carefully. He still felt a funny tingle on the top of his tongue. "Danzo-sama always kept two members as his personal guard. One of them was known for using bugs, much like the Aburames do."

Aburame Shibi was sitting crossed armed on his designated spot among the many other Council members. To a stranger, he seemed like he might be bored in the midst of the meeting. But Shikaku knew that he was very troubled given the deep frown that could be seen above his glasses.

"His description matches the one given by Team 8's." The Nara leader spoke, glancing at every member on the room.

"I can't believe it." The enormous Choza, recently revived by Pain's merciful jutsu, whispered.

"It's a harsh reality that we now have to decide upon." Lord Hiashi, Council moderator, exclaimed loudly so everyone could hear. "Konoha can't really be safe if Danzo is free and commanding his hidden army."

His eyes traveled to the only two Council members who might still be thinking of Danzo as a good Hokage.

"Homura-san, Koharu-san." Hiashi called. Every member turned to look to Sarutobi's decrepit teammates. "Would you like to propose a route of action?"

The oldest of the two, Mitokado Homura, took off his glasses tiredly and started wiping them with a clean cloth.

"We should initiate a fair trial against Danzo, and hear his motives." His teammate nodded besides him, but she decided to remain silent.

"I agree." Hiashi said politely. "Not only Danzo's position as acting Hokage, but also as leader and director of the ROOT program, shall be taken away from him, and all means and resources taken out of his reach."

A few supporting grunts could be heard from the small crowd gathered in the room.

"Raise your hand if you agree."

Hiashi nodded once everyone in the meeting had their hands up high.

---

Ten painful minutes later, Naruto fell backwards into his new, real bed. It was hard to believe that just yesterday he had woken up in this same bed. Oh but was it comfy compared to the one he had been the last twelve hours.

He couldn't speak until after he wolfed down his meal. The blond drank greedily from the cold jar of lemonade and thought he had died and gone to heaven.

"Thanks." He finally said, now with regained strength. He looked at Hinata retrieve all his plates. She placed them on the tray on top of the night stand. "Thanks for everything, Hin."

Hinata graced him with one of her awesome smiles. "You should go back to sleep."

"What are you going to do?" He asked, concerned about her obvious tiredness. "You should sleep with me."

Her cheeks ignited, and Naruto quickly realized his mistake.

"I mean, you should also sleep. You know? Get some rest." He was as red as Hinata herself. But he knew if they weren't in the Hyuuga house, he would definitively ask her to lie besides him.

"I can't, Naruto-kun. I'm on watch." The girl placed a strand of hair behind her ear and bowed her head. Naruto knew he clearly embarrassed her.

Even with his incredible urge to shower, exhaustion got to him faster than he could imagine. "I'm gonna call onto the fox's chakra for a while, okay?"

Hinata agreed. She also felt he didn't have to suffer any longer than necessary. Naruto rested his eyes with his chakra coils emanating warm, demonic chakra. A few house members came wondering what that strange chakra in their house was.

The indigo-haired Hyuuga had to explain several times that it wasn't dangerous.

An hour later, Naruto found himself roaming the mansion in search for the familiar room he knew to be Hiashi's office.

Hinata had fallen asleep right on her post, and he felt better by the minute. Thanks to Kyuubi's chakra, his soreness was mostly gone and all that remained was an uncomfortable stiffness all over his body.

Limping slightly, the blond found a fancy vase adorning one corner of the house, and he knew he was almost there.

'Hopefully he's there.' The blond crossed his fingers, as he pushed open the door and, fortunately for him, found the most powerful man on the house standing in front of his desk as he revised a big pile of documents in front of him.

"Uzumaki." Hiashi said, half-mad half-surprised at the intruder in his sacred space. "I see you're feeling better."

"Yeah." The blond replied tiredly. It still took a lot from him to walk all the way towards his destination.

"Sadly, your manners are still as sloppy as usual."

"I need to talk to you." The blond said, leaning against the door for support.

"Couldn't it wait?" Hiashi was already feeling a headache forming in his temples.

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but it's the second time in less than 2 days that I almost die." Naruto was also recovering his smart ass attitude. "I'm afraid if I wait any longer I'll just get attacked again."

"The attacker and mastermind have already been identified. Soon they'll be behind bars. Sit."

"I'd rather stand. Sitting takes too much energy from me."

"Suit yourself. Tell me quickly, I have a lot of things to do." Unlike him, Hiashi sat heavily on his comfy chair.

The blond stood silent for a moment. Summoning his courage proved difficult with Hinata's father glaring at him. But fuck it, he needed to speak his mind.

"You know, I'm still waiting for your answer about dating Hinata." Somehow, the intense feeling of being so close to death made it infinitely easier to demand something from Hiashi. Although he might take advantage of his flimsy state and try to kill him once and for all.

Hiashi wanted to smirk, but he didn't, as he could see the blond was serious. "I told you I'd give you an answer once I had decided on it. It's barely been a day."

"In a day I almost got killed." Naruto retorted fiercely. "And, I don't know if you remember, but yesterday I was facing Pain to death." He was staring right back at the cold, pupiless eyes of Hiashi. "I might even go through another attempt on my life today, or maybe tomorrow, seeing as luck is not on my side lately."

"I would say it is, given that you're still breathing."

"Ha Ha." The blond laughed boldly on Hiashi's face. Ironically, his action started a series of coughs that only made Hiashi raise a cynical eyebrow at him. Once he regained his composure, he continued his rant.

"It took me years to realize just how I felt for your daughter." The blond, took a step forward, which only served to make Hiashi stare coldly at him. "And it was my own fault for being such an idiot, even I can admit that. But now that I know exactly how I feel, I don't want to die before I can start a formal relationship with her." He paused for a moment to regain his breath. "It might have been foolish to risk it asking for your permission, but I can't back out now. And I'm not leaving your office without an answer."

Hiashi, quiet and intimidating as ever, rose from his chair without a word and walked slowly towards Naruto.

The Uzumaki slowly raised his head with every step he took. It only reminded him how tall he really was. And how weak he appeared to be right now.

"Tell me, Uzumaki." Hiashi stared, glaring down at him. "What would you do if I were to say no?"

Naruto felt very honest right now, so his answer came immediately. "Something stupid, I guess."

Hiashi's stare lasted for a few seconds, before his face became one of suffering. "I don't doubt it."

The whiskered young man felt his mouth go dry as Hiashi paced from side to side on his office, his eyes facing the floor.

"I have absolutely no doubt on my mind that you are both the best and worst thing that's happened to my daughter." The clan leader sighed long and loud. "If I ever hear any gossip that you and Hinata are doing any public demonstration of affections again…"

Despite Hiashi's deadly threats, Naruto's face was glowing with his first real grin today.

"I am very serious, Uzumaki." The Hyuuga scolded him, one finger pointed at his chest.

"I know, don't worry. We won't."

"My nephew will be my eyes and ears. You better not mess up the only opportunity I'm giving you."

"We won't." The blond repeated. His heart was beating dangerously quickly, thanks to the feeling of elation that was filling his heart. "I promise."

Hiashi turned away, disgusted, at the silly face the Uzumaki was making. "Get the hell out of my sight."

---

If he could, the blond would be skipping with joy back to his room, but alas, the accumulated nervousness of the impromptu meeting filled him with tiredness all over again.

"Naruto!"

Naruto jumped at his named being called so urgently, then he winced, as his muscles were still stiff to make any sudden movements.

"Ow." The blond frowned as he turned around slowly, only to get engulfed in a hug. He quickly recognized the cologne and looked up to his former teacher. "Sensei, what are you doing here?"

"I just heard!" Iruka exclaimed, his face was flushed and sweaty with what must have been the effort it took to run from wherever he was when he was notified to the Hyuuga Manor. "Oh god, Naruto, you look terrible!"

The blond laughed out loud, then coughed twice.

"What?" Iruka inquired, his eyes wide and anxious.

"Nevermind, Iruka-sensei. I'm outta danger. And so are Shizune and Tsunade." His mood changed. "Well… maybe not Tsunade."

"I'm just glad you're okay. Ino told me you almost died." The older man placed both palms on Naruto's shoulders and conveyed all his fatherly feelings to him. "How did it happen?"

The whiskered young man sighed heavily. "No offense, sensei, but I really need to keep resting. And I don't feel like telling you now. Sorry."

"No, no it's all right. I understand." The man smiled tenderly. "I'm just happy I could talk to you. Do you maybe know if Shizune-san's taking in visitors?"

"Uh… maybe? She's not that bad, from what I was told. But I have no idea where she is."

Ignoring the underlying reasons why Iruka was so keen on seeing her, the blond hurried to ask something of his father-like-figure.

"Would you mind doing something for me?" The blond asked, sheepishly.

"I'll take you to eat ramen as soon as you're healed completely." The ponytailed man answered immediately.

Naruto chuckled. "It's not that. I was wondering if you could bring me some clothes from my house."

"Didn't your apartment burned to the ground in the invasion?"

"Yeah, but I got a new house now so…"

---

Hinata woke up with the incredible urge to go to the bathroom.

Wasting no time, and still unaware she had fallen asleep while on duty, she navigated towards the closed bathroom door and opened it without thinking it twice.

The first thing she noticed was the warmth of a fresh, heated room and the distinctive smell of hot water and soap.

The next thing she noticed, was a clearly naked Naruto just turning to look at her through the slightly fogged glass of the shower.

Then everything went to hell.

"HINATA!" The blond yelled, completely caught off guard. His hands immediately went to cover his privates and he almost slip and fell.

In that exact moment of realization, the woman launched a screeching scream, the one only women are capable of, and exited the room backwards as she placed both her palms on her eyes. The shock and incredible surprise made her loose sense of how to walk, so she just fell back on her bum.

With the door still open, the blond was freaking out inside the shower. "Oh my god, why?"

"IM SO SORRY! IM SO SORRY!" The girl repeated countless times, her head was spinning in place, each time faster and faster, but unfortunately for her, the once familiar feeling of fainting wasn't coming. There was no escape from this situation. "IhadtousethebathroomandIwasn'tthinking!"

She was the worst bodyguard ever. Not only falling asleep on the job but also not noticing that the person she loved and the one she should be guarding was not where he was supposed to be.

"Could you close the door?" Naruto asked anxiously. He had already turned the knob to stop the water flow, and he could hear clearly Hinata's rapid breathing.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun." She claimed again. Still not getting up from the floor.

"I-It's okay." The blond lied. He didn't know how much she'd managed to watch, but judging from Hinata's level of embarrassment, it must have been everything. "Please, just close the door."

It took her a full minute to stand up and timidly extend her hand into the bathroom, feel for the knob (because apparently her eyes were still closed), and finally close it.

'Oh god.' Hinata thought intensely, looking down at her shaking hands and feeling her cheeks and forehead with one of them. She was hot to the touch, confirming her suspicion. Her face must be brighter than the sun.

'Shit. This is going to make everything so awkward.' The blond was still clutching at his balls uneasily.

Hinata sat in the bed, clutching at her stomach nervously, her head spinning still and the images flashing back nonstop. Every time she looked back at the moment, she covered her eyes yet again, feeling mortified at Naruto's look of pure embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun." She said for the thousandth time. The blond didn't answer. Hinata then noticed that the shower had started running again and the blond was resuming his well-deserved bath.

"I suck at this." The girl told herself. No one was around to hear her lament. And more importantly, no one appeared to have heard their screams. "I messed up." She took her head in between her arms and clutched hard. "He's never going to want me as a girlfriend."

All the insecurities she had managed to leave behind from childhood emerged with full force. But she was still too shocked to cry. The sound of the door opening brought her back to her senses, and her stomach twisted painfully with the renewed feeling of shame.

"Why don't we forget this ever happened?"

Naruto looked as good as new, well, except for the red ears and flushed cheeks. He wore a clean white t-shirt and dark jeans. He stood right were Hinata caught him most vulnerable, but he needed to see how she was feeling to proceed.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun, I can't believe I just…" The woman sat in his bed, stirring in mortification and holding her face in between her hands yet again.

"I guess not…" Naruto sighed. Despite his own embarrassment, he just couldn't let Hinata suffer for an honest mistake. And both of them had suffered enough for today.

He sat next to her and hugged her shrinking image. "It's okay, Hin. It was nothing." He brought her up to his chest, but Hinata quickly shook her head against him, making him roll his eyes. "I forgive you then, how about that?"

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata was not getting over anything just yet.

"Was it really that bad?" Naruto tried to insert some humor into the whole thing, but it only served to make it worse.

"I-I've never seen a naked man before." Hinata confessed, still not meeting Naruto's eyes. The blond did a double take on her words.

"Honestly?" The blond asked out loud. But as he thought about it, it made sense. Hyuuga Hinata was the purest woman out there. "How… How much did you manage to see?"

Hinata let out a shaking breath. "Everything. B-but it was kind of blurry from the steam… but still... I'm really sorry Naruto-kun!"

"C'mon, Hin. This kind of things just happen." Boy was she having a breakdown. His penis had never caused so much trouble before. "It's my fault too, I should've closed the door, but I'm not used to. Please, just try to forget."

The woman emitted a low groan. "I'm sorry, I just feel terrible."

Naruto continued to pat her back to try and comfort her, but she seemed immune to his actions. "Hin, I really need you to calm down because I have to tell you something."

Hinata didn't answer, so the blond took it as his cue to continue. "Well… I actually need to ask you something."

Naruto might be talking right next to her, but the Hyuuga was still very busy drowning on her worst nightmare. How could they ever continue to stay casual, knowing that she had walked in on him naked. She wondered, on her delusion, if it would've been this bad if it had been the other way around.

"Hinata." She finally heard his voice coming into focus. Naruto was shaking her a little, and pushing her away from him so she could finally see his face. It was flushed. "Did you hear what I just said?"

From the clueless expression her face was clearly showing, the blond sighed heavily. He propped his palms on top of her small shoulders and lowered his head so she didn't have any choice but to look at him directly in the eye.

"Hinata, listen please." His blue eyes were placing all their heavy attention on her. Hinata slowly forgot how remorseful she was feeling when caught in his stare. "Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

The room, that just moments before was spinning too fast for Hinata to keep track, now stood still. The blond seemed to blink in slow-motion, as the words slowly registered on her mind. Regaining a bit of herself, Hinata squeaked: "Pardon me?"

The blond tightened his jaw, she noticed. But not from anger, but because saying those words took a lot from him, no matter how many times he repeated them. Naruto's cheeks were uncharacteristically warm. Even Hinata could feel them from a distance. The young man licked his lips, swallowed (she could see his Adam's apple moving up and down), and then locked his eyes with hers. "For the third time. Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Her world, once so still, now crashed full force on her unrested mind.

"Ah…" Her mouth dropped, as a single sound came from her throat. It didn't mean anything. She was just so very shocked.

Hinata's eyes, as big as saucers, were looking back at his with everything but understanding. Had she gone mad? Apparently, nothing that was happening right now made sense. Why would he asked her to be his girlfriend right after just catching him naked? Nothing made sense anymore.

The blond could feel her hesitation, and his stomach flopped right down to the ground. His eager eyes fell into a depressed stare. "You don't have to if you don't want to, I just thought I'd wing it but maybe it's too soon. No big deal."

Hinata couldn't figure out why his expression had changed so radically. It almost broke her heart, seeing him trying not to show how hurt he was.

Only when he stopped touching her, and when he retreated his form so they were at a reasonable distance, did it dawned on her that she hadn't say anything in five minutes.

"Naruto-kun…" Finally, Hinata spoke. Her eyes slowly unclouded from the monumental confusion that had been going on in her mind. "A-Are you sure?"

The blond immediately put on a fake smile. "Yeah, of course! I kinda felt that it was a stupid idea to ask, but it's nothing really. We can keep as friends if you like." He couldn't believe he had confronted Hiashi without first confirming that she really wanted to keep being with him. 'You're such a fucking idiot, Uzumaki.' He told himself as he scratched the back of his neck while putting on his show.

Hinata knitted her eyebrows at his response. Then she shook her head promptly. "That's not what I meant." She leaned forward, scrutinizing his expression. "I meant: are you sure you want me to be your girlfriend?"

Now Naruto was the one confused. His palms were so close to start sweating, but he didn't feel like putting himself out there again, although Hinata was insisting. "Well…" His tone became the shyest of them all. "Do you want to?"

It was her fault, of course. The seriousness of the situation called out all her attention. Recalling just a few minutes before, he had asked her not once but three times. And she hadn't been able to give him the ghost of a reply. "Naruto-kun… The only thing I want in this world is to be with you. If you really want me to be your girlfriend, if you're sure about it, then I'd gladly say yes."

Naruto had learned to distinguish amongst the different shades of color Hinata's cheeks could produce. Her usual pale cheeks were adorned with a slight pink, very different from the dangerous shade of red that was invading her whole face after their very awkward episode. Her blush right now made him feel hopeful again.

"Of course I'm sure. I mean, I want you." His eyes were shinning with happiness at Hinata's words and the unexpected turn of events. He then noticed he had let himself get carried away by the situation. "… with me. I definitively won't mess up if you give me a chance."

The girl, thankfully, had taken her mind off Naruto's naked body and was just marveling at the elating feeling rushing through her veins.

"Do you mind if I do it again? It didn't go anything like I had planned it." The whiskered man was grinning so wide that his eyes could barely be seen. Hinata thought that with his shorter hair, he definitively looked older now.

"Go ahead." She answered in a short giggle. She watched, entranced, as the blond took her hand in both of his.

Leaning closer to her, just as they had been before the confusion started, Naruto asked in a whisper. "Will you be my girlfriend, Hin?" His heart was, of course, beating a thousand times per second.

"Yes, I will." Hinata felt her heart sing each second she saw him look at her with such tenderness in his eyes.

"Nice." The blond commented, before going in for the kiss that he felt was long overdue. It first started as a tender encounter of lips, but after a few seconds they became closer to each other. Their kiss turned into a passionate one, and it only stopped for a microsecond as Naruto lifted the girl in a swift motion and placed her sideways on his lap.

He knew what could happen if he got himself too involved with her kisses. And they didn't need another reminder of Naruto's penis in that moment. Not for now. So he kept his tongue for himself, and he kinda knew that Hinata wouldn't initiate her french-kissing abilities if he didn't do it first. So he just enjoyed the moment as it slowly turned more delicate, until they ended up looking into each other's eyes with an ample grin adorning both their faces.

"My father can't know about this." The girl reminded him, as she caressed the side of his face.

The blond grinned. "Oh, he knows." He answered, while still clutching Hinata's middle towards him.

The girl did a double take, obviously. Naruto had anticipated it. "I needed his permission first, so you didn't get in trouble."

"No way." The girl exclaimed, watching for signs of a lying in Naruto's face. She found none. "And he said yes? When did you do it?"

"A few days ago. I only got his answer one hour ago, though. Believe me, it was not only hard, but also scary as fuck." The blond had smug smile on his face. And Hinata couldn't help to think how much she loved this man. In fact, she felt she needed to let him know.

"I love you, Naruto-kun." She went in for another kiss, which Naruto responded eagerly.

"I know." The blond managed to say after regaining his breath.

---

Author's section

(My life inside your heart – Rise Against )

Thanks for reading!

Leave a review if you liked it.

- Paty