What a curious thing distance is when measured through a desperate heart.
Naruto didn't know exactly how many meters separated him from the scene he was looking at that moment... maybe 200? Whatever the distance was, it was enough for him to detail the scene in all its painful splendor with the help of the wise mode:
Hinata took that necklace in which he had put his soul and years of hard work and let Ronin remove it from her hands. hands, at the same time that the wimp took out the hateful engagement ring he had shown the blonde before.
200 meters... that seemed to be an eternal path he was no longer sure he could how Hinata lost her gaze on that ring, probably contemplating the hope of a happy future, next to another man.
Added to the vision he had, the information provided by the sage mode made him realize how Hinata truly weighed all the possibilities, confusion dominated her for several seconds, until in a perhaps unconscious act, she turned her gaze to meet Naruto's eyes, who remained frozen in his spot..
Blue on lilac and vice versa..
How much the blond wanted at that moment to be his sharingan friend, to show Hinata all those images he was now capable of dreaming next to her. How much he prayed to God that she would understand the devotion with which his eyes were now able to detail her, and that he did not want to let her go.
Neither of them was aware of how long they observed each other. Naruto removed the sage mode almost immediately, he had delved into her emotions long enough, he was determined to face the matter like a man, explain himself to her clearly without having to pry into her heart for points in his favor.
Ronin had never used those kinds of tricks, what's more, the boy without being a shinobi, without understanding many of the details of Hinata's life, and with only a few months of knowing her had been able not only to gain her trust, but also to awaken in her those sweet feelings that once belonged only to Naruto, all without the help of the fame of being the hero of the ninja world, without the confidence of being the man most coveted by women at that time, without having the endorsement of the title of the next Hokage, without having the unconditional love of Hinata for years.
Nothing of that!
Ronin had approached the girl step by step, in a humble way, with his setbacks at the beginning, as he well knew, but immediately amending his mistakes, giving Hinata a special place in his heart almost from the beginning, without making her suffer among a sea of meaningless love affairs.
Ronin had easily discovered Hinata's unique brilliance and had set out to win her love, without hesitation.
Naruto had to admit it, he admired and envied him with all his soul. Because the last sensation he perceived from Hinata before dissolving the sage mode, and being completely possessed by her purple eyes, indicated to him that the scales of her leaned towards Ronin and his humble declaration so full of feelings.
Naruto saw her face change and she turned around to look at Ronin again, he knew she was about to give him an answer. He wanted to run, hug her, kiss her, kidnap her if that was the case! He wanted to reach her with all of his strength.
Had Hinata felt all this despair when he had started dating Sakura? Curse! If life really gave him a chance with the Hyuga, he was going to have to spend the rest of his days loving her with all his might to heal all the pain he had caused her, he was convinced that he would gladly comply with such penance.
200 meters, which became a path to hell, when right next to the romantic scene Naruto watched an explosion dying everything red. For a few seconds Naruto felt stunned, that attack had taken him off guard. He reviewed the status of each of his clones, apparently all were alert, none had lost sight of his delegate, all were far from the attack area. That gave the blonde some peace of mind.
He carefully observed the scene to find Hinata and Ronin who were fighting at the same time with 5 men, all with their faces covered, Hinata was fighting against 4 of them, Ronin, lacking experience in battle, had taken out his kunai and was doing what he could against one of the attackers.
Naruto watched in horror as ten other men raised a series of arrows and fired at them, but Hinata repelled all the arrows thanks to her full protection technique. Thank God she was extremely strong!
Now it was clear, Hinata was the target of the attackers.
Naruto charged at the arrow men, it didn't take much trouble to knock them out, but to his surprise several new groups of archers had formed on the spot, all shooting poisoned arrows at Hinata, who was doing her best to protect herself, as well as Ronin.
"He protects him with strong determination" the blond could not control his jealousy for a moment. In another time Hinata would have already run to his side to guard his back, now instead all her attention was focused on take care of the useless
"You say so yourself brat, the weakling can't take care of himself, focus on your task."
Kaguebunshin no jutsu! The blonde exclaimed and immediately a group of clones dispersed to attack the archers, while the original ran to help the Hyuga.
-Naruto-kun, I think I'm the target of the attack-
-I think the same thing Hina, we must take you to a safe place until we control the situation-
-Never! I'm not going to leave you alone facing all this!-
-I'm sure you're more than capable of protecting yourself and helping me defeat these guys, but…I'm being selfish, I know you used to cry and give up easily before, but you changed. You think someone saved you but in reality you were the savior, not only have you always chosen the right path, but you have guided me to choose it too. That's why now I need you to go ahead of me. I am not afraid of dying… If it is to protect you... but I prefer to have the opportunity to continue living to walk by your side. Please go!-
Hinata couldn't believe what she was hearing, he remembered it!
All those words, almost the same ones that she had told him in her desperate declaration, he repeated almost exactly. She had always thought that Naruto had forgotten all that because of the kyubi transformation, now she realized that somehow he had always kept them hidden in his mind.
What did it all mean? It wasn't time to think about it, she simply assented to his request, she took Ronin's hand and began to run as fast as she could.
Naruto felt his heart twist again at the sight of Hinata taking Ronin with her but he had no more time to think about it when he heard a new explosion near where they were, causing Ronin and Hinata to be thrown in different directions.
"Is it that these bastards had filled the surroundings with bombs?"
As he took out the first team of archers, Naruto looked at the girl to check her condition. He was petrified when he saw the expression of true terror on her face while she observed Ronin
The remaining archers were not aiming at her, but at Ronin. He was the target!
And both Naruto and Hinata were too far away to avoid the impact.
He was going to die! His rival was going to die and with that it would no longer be a problem. But seeing the pain painted on Hinata's face he understood that the loss of Ronin really meant a lot to her. Naruto on his account had already made her suffer too much, this time, if there was something to prevent her from further pain, he was determined to do it.
If this was the man Hinata had chosen, he was determined to protect him as well as her.
And in the blink of an eye he activated the necklace's teleportation jutso, and just before the arrows hit he appeared in front of Ronin, covering him with his own body.
He felt the sting of the poison entering different points, his chest contracted making it very difficult for him to breathe, after that everything turned dark.