Chapter Fifteen

The rush of air helped wake Sakura as she rode with Sai on the back of one of his hawk summons. Naruto had been adamant they head for the island that seemed to float in the air, citing his ability to see something that even Hinata couldn't. While she had no reason to doubt her friend and teammate, Sakura also couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that came with his mysterious form of Byakugan. Naruto had been reluctant to use it since the war, and now he was wholly reliant on it to guide them.

"We're being observed, below us," Naruto called out.

Sakura looked down, seeing nothing in the forest below. "How can you tell?"

"They're using that distortion effect to block Byakugan," he explained, "All you have to do is look for lack of detail where it should be clear."

"What are they waiting for?" Sai asked.

"I don't know; too bad we don't have Ino with us," Sakura called forward. As she spoke, she noted a slight tightening around Sai's eyes. Must have hit a nerve.

"Over there!" Naruto pointed to something too regularly shaped to be natural. The hawk carrying him and Hinata banked to the right, and the rest of the group adjusted flight path in pursuit.

"Is that a damn city?!" Sakura called out.

"Judging by the large number of right angles and clear construction, yes," Sai answered.

"That was a rhetorical question," she replied. While Sakura knew Sai had some issues with understanding social cues and language cues, he had come far. Ino has been working on him. Perhaps the source of that grimace earlier.

As they landed, the group dismounted. "Where are they, son?" Mom asked.

"I don't know," Naruto shook his head, eyes glowing bright blue. "There is a weird collection of that energy here. It's like its permeating this place." Naruto's eyes reverted back to their natural sapphire. "We'll have to search the area the old-fashioned way."

"Naruto," Temari spoke, "that energy, is it something that this place is creating, or is it something put here to confuse us, or what?" she asked.

Naruto again made his eyes glow, "I can't tell, but it feels way old, like it was here before all of this," he said as he gestured to the deserted city. Just how old is this place. Sakura eyed the collection of deserted buildings, all ancient in design, but showing little in terms of wear.

"Two person teams," Shikamaru ordered, "We search building by building, block to block. "Lady Kushina, you stay with Naruto and Hinata. Sai, you take Sakura, and I'll take Temari."

As they separated, Sakura wished Sasuke had joined them. While she respected his concerns, being next to Sai – roughly same height and build – left Sakura frequently catching herself ready to call out her lover's name. It doesn't help that Sai still weirds you out now and then. Sakura knew it wasn't fair; the man had been taken from an orphanage and was supposed to be an emotionless killing machine. His creators didn't quite get what they were looking for. Then there is the issue of Ino.

After the tedious process of clearing buildings for an hour or two in silence, Sai surprised her by actually talking, "Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?" he sounded most reluctant to speak.

"Of course… is something wrong?"

"I don't… I don't know," he sighed. "You and Ino, you've been friends a long time, right?"

"Heh," Sakura chuckled, "That is a bit of an understatement. She and I have been friends since before the academy." She stared at him, now intrigued, "Sai, why do you ask?"

"I need advice," he paused, "Sakura, she has feelings for me – she confessed them."

"And you're having trouble making sense of them?" Sakura asked as they cleared another room.

"I'm having trouble… knowing how to act on them, if I should act on them," he said.

"So, you are interested in her?" Ino had confessed for a few months back that she was becoming frustrated with how stalled her relationship with Sai had become. Sakura had encourage patience.

"I've been, for quite some time," he nodded. "I always tried to be professional about it, but recently… she made it an issue."

"And once it's an issue, it can't go back to not being one?" Sakura cleared yet another room of an abandoned house.

"I don't think it should, but… Sakura, you know full-well how bad I am at this sort of thing." His voice remained steady, but she sensed stress in his words.

"Sai, you've made steady progress since Ino started working with you years ago; maybe, this is simply the next step." Come on boy, don't chicken out now!

"The next step, has infinite potential for her to get hurt if I screw up," he sighed.

Much as Sakura understood his reluctance, she also knew inaction was not an option, either. "And if you don't at least try, do you think she'd be hurt even more?"

"I-I don't know!"

"Sai, be honest, how far have you two gone?" Sakura pried.

"That night you two were drugged, she flashed me, told me all the things she'd been holding back."

"Sai, I don't know if that is any basis for anything," Sakura's cheeks burned at the hazy memories she had of the night Toneri had drugged her and Ino and tried drugging Hinata and Temari.

"And afterwards," Sai stared, "she told me it wasn't just the booze or the Fatal Lust talking. I-I kissed her the first time, and then…" he trailed off.

"And then?"

"She kissed me!"

"And? Did you like it?" Sakura probed, suddenly glad to have something to distract from the tedium of building clearing.

"I did, but…"

"But what?!" she exclaimed. Dude, they finally had a first kiss!

"I find myself randomly thinking about her, about kissing again!"

Okay, he's got the love bug, no doubt! "Sai, that typically is how it goes. Kissing tends to lead to more kissing; that's a good thing!"

"It's a new experience for me; I don't know where it goes from here!" his voice raised to suggest genuine frustration.

"Boy, do me a favor; ask her out to dinner when you get back," Sakura felt her first genuine smile since this mission started.

"Dinner?"

"And," she raised her pointer toward the sky, "if she starts something, let it happen," her heart raced at the naughtiness of what she was suggesting, "You may find that it changes everything about how you see the world!"

"A-all right," he stammered.

Sakura flushed at what she was considering. She unslung her backpack and began searching through the main pouch, "If anyone asks, you didn't get this from me," she extracted a well-worn copy of Make Out Tactics and held it out.

"Sakura?" Sai visibly balked. "What are you doing with a copy of that?"

"Maybe you're not the only one who has issues navigating love and sex," Sakura stumbled over the awkward statement. After her first time with Sasuke, she had spent years fantasizing about the next time, planning, wanting it to be perfect.

"Sakura, Sai, over here!" Temari called out, breaking the moment, "We found something!"


Being chief of medicine right now was an unbearable weight for Akemi Hyūga. Her husband had yet to regain consciousness, showing signs of having lost a major fight – broken ribs, drained chakra reserves, and bruises throughout his body. Her teammate and youngest daughter's love interest, Konohamaru, was lucky if he'd walk ever again. Her daughters and most of the people she cared about were in danger as well.

"Hey," there was a knock at the door; she looked up to see Tsunade. "If your face gets any longer; I'm going to insist you take a swig from the bottle of whisky I kept hidden in the right lower drawer."

"Believe me, I considered it," Akemi replied, rubbing her tired eyes. "I'm still considering, but a good medical-nin knows to keep a clear head when on duty."

"I'm pretty sure that is why you got the job when I retired," Tsuande replied, taking a seat in a chair in front of the desk.

"If I was half as good as you were, Konohmaru would probably be able to move more than the fingers of just one hand, barely." While still early, the amount of neurologic function the boy retained was depressingly low.

"That doesn't sound like the head of the White Kitsune," Tsunade crossed her arms in a huff.

"I went from being a low-level acolyte to being the order's master – not by any level of merit."

"I wouldn't say that," Tsunade raised her index finger in correction, "You survived – no one else did."

"That hardly speaks to my credentials."

"You brought the order back from extinction, have trained several apprentices."

"And now two of them are in mortal peril," Akemi's voice began to crack, "and I'm down here hoping to catch the pieces."

"You are here trying to save a life that was perilously close to being snuffed out, and I get the feeling your skills will be in growing need as the number of meteors falling increases."

"Tsunade, my teammate is crippled! Can you imagine being fifteen and being told that you'll likely never walk again or be able to do simple things like shave, use the bathroom, or…" the terrible words came, "or be the shinobi you were supposed to be!"

"I've had to tell countless young men and women their careers were over due to injury," Tsunade reminded.

"You were at war!" Akemi wailed, "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

Tsunade got up and walked around the desk, putting her arms around Akemi, "And yet it has happened." She shook her head. "I feel odd comforting the granddaughter of my nursemaid, much as she comforted me when Kawaki died."

"Tsunade… I feel like I should be doing something, anything!" she sobbed.

"You are, and you will be needed more than ever by your daughters when they get back!"

"And what about Konohamaru?!" she continued to cry, "What can I possibly do for him?"

"For one, you're not giving up on him, and he's continuing to fight."

"I'm not a Senju! Hell, I'm not even that great of a healer!"

"Says the woman that saved Lord Fourth and helped him learn how to walk again when everyone said he wouldn't. I am a Senju, and all that damn good it did as Dan bled out in my arms!"

"Tsunade, that was different!"

"It is no different!" the older medical-nin scolded. "The only difference is that you're panicking about your daughters – don't! Naruto is up there, as is Kushina. Let them worry about that! Focus on here and now!"

"I… you're right," she nodded.

"Of course, I am," Tsunade smirked, "Now I need to talk to you about the reason I'm here."


Searching a deserted, ancient city was tedious for Kushina as it was unpleasant. Deep down, the small ember that remained where Nine-Tails had been once yearned to find Toneri and beat him into a bloody pulp. She needed to be doing something, anything, other than clearing buildings that hadn't been used in at least a hundred years

Now, escorting her son and Hinata, Kushina felt little more than a fifth wheel, a needless chaperone, bored and fretting as the countless hours ticked by with no real progress. They scaled what was now the crumbling remains of an empty aqueduct and strolled along with Kushina at point, trying not to interrupt Naruto and Hinata as they talked, and laughed – too lighthearted for the situation. Kushina noted that Hinata was wearing seasonally brief mission gear – midnight blue shorts, and mauve, sleeveless tunic, and thigh-length stockings. While not as revealing as Ino Yamanaka's choice of costume, Hinata's costume was easily skimpier than anything Kushina had worn back in the day. She chooses a hell of a time to go from utilitarian to sexy. Kushina bit her tongue, keeping the thought hidden.

Kushina leaped over a several meter gap with ease, waiting on the other two. As she waited, she looked down to the watch she kept, same as Shikamaru. The moon would reach the point of no-return in three days from now, roughly. And when that happens, the other Kages will have no choice to blow the whole works with you still up here!

Hinata screeching, "AH!" shook Kushina from her personal hell. While Hinata had cleared the gap with ease, the crumbling masonry beneath her had given way.

Before Kushina could react, Naruto snatched his fiancé by the hand, and pulled her up with ease before stumbling backwards, Hinata sprawling out atop him. "Are you all right?" her son asked as he put his arm over Hinata's shoulders and began pressing along her back. Never miss an opportunity to be a horndog, son!

"I-I'm fine," Hinata blushed.

Despite approving of the two since they were kids, a momentary pang of fire burned in Kushina's stomach, "Do I need to give you two some room?" She didn't know why, but she felt like a superficial jerk for asking. The two separated with awkward speed. They carried on along the wall in silence for what felt like hours until they reached the end of their search area.

As they jumped down Naruto eyed something with recognition, and Hinata and she chased him to what turned out to be a working water fountain. Naruto cupped his hands and took a drink of what looked like clean water. "Hinata, care for some?"

"Sure," Hinata replied. Naruto again cupped his hands, caught water, and lowered his hands so she could drink. Again, Kushina felt the mildest twitch of her cheek at the sight. There was nothing sensual about what the two were doing; she and Minato had done the same on missions before. And yet, your eyes are turning green.

"Mom, care for some water?" Naruto ask with the innocence of his youth.

"No thanks," Kushina laughed nervously, "I'm a big girl, ya know! I can get my own! You two go on ahead and I'll catch up!"

"O…kay…" Naruto raised an eyebrow and slowly walked on with Hinata.

"Dude, what the hell is wrong with you?" Kushina asked herself as she stared into the fountain, disgusted at the fact that she was jealous of Naruto and Hinata. Kushina hurriedly cupped her hands and splashed water on her face followed by taking several sips.

"M-mom?" a small female voice asked from behind as Kushina sipped the cool, refreshing water. Kushina froze, spilling water down the front of her mission gear.

Near mania overcame Kushina as the cold water ran down her front. AKANE! Mania passed as she recognized to voice of a little girl who stood at the front door with blood dripping from her little swollen hands. Kushina turned, half expecting to see Hinata as a child. She was still fully grown, but looking every bit as scared as the little girl about to learn what a jinchuriki was, "Hinata?"

"Kushina, do you need to talk?" Hinata asked. Kushina sensed no judgement.

"I… yeah, it might help… how did you know?" Kushina sighed as she leaned back against the fountain.

"You've been a second Mom to me my whole life," Hinata crossed her arms, shrinking in on herself, "a daughter can usually tell when her mom needs to talk."

"Spoken like a true mother…" Kushina muttered as she dipped her head.

"What's bothering you, aside from the obvious?" Hinata hunched down to look at Kushina eye to eye.

"Oh, you know," Kushina's voice strained with tears, "My baby girl and apprentice have been kidnapped, my stepson is likely never going to be a shinobi again, and…" tears closed her throat against further words.

"And?" Hinata put her arms around Kushina's shoulders, holding her tight in an embrace.

"And I'm jealous of you!" Kushina sobbed, "and I hate what that says about me!"

"Jealous of me?" Hinata's voice was restrained. "How?"

"You're the most important person to my son!" she sobbed. "Hell, you're more important to Akane than I am to her!"

"That's not true!" Hinata braced Kushina, keeping her from falling.

"I can't help but feel like a terrible mother," Kushina heaved, "and a terrible person for envying how much he loves you, how much she loves you!"

"Kushina, I love you, too!" Hinata's voice became sharp as she shook Kushina, bringing them eye to eye, "Dammit! I wouldn't have your son, if it weren't for you!" Hinata's purple eyes burned with conviction, "I wouldn't have Akane like a baby sister; hell, I wouldn't have her at all, if you weren't here! I wouldn't be clan leader, an ANBU, or probably even a shinobi if it weren't for YOU!" Tears leaked from Hinata's eye and her right cheek twitched, hinting that more were barely held back.

"Hinata!" Kushina clutched her future daughter-in-law, and let her tears go. Hinata, too, let loose. Since the lead up to the war, moments like these had been precious and few. Not after this crisis. We all are making time as family after this! "Hinata," some of the heat Kushina kept bottled in dissipated, "sh-shouldn't Naruto be here with you?"

"He's on the rooftop above us," Hinata wiped away her tears, slowly releasing Kushina. "I told him you and I needed to talk. He's marked the back of my tunic; so, he could be here in a flash if trouble shows."

"Hopefully, we won't have that," Kushina composed herself.

"To be fair, I kind of wish it would happen," Hinata's voice became despondent.

Now, it was Kushina's turn to play the concerned mother. "What do you mean?" cold fingers of sweat tickled down Kushina's back.

"I'm tired…" Hinata groaned, "Tired of everyone being in danger because of me, tired of having to react to his move… I…"

"Yes?" Kushina now clutched Hinata's hands.

"I want this to be OVER!" she shouted, tears again flowing. "I want him to come out and fight!" Hinata looked down at herself, "That's why I'm wearing this outfit now of all times!"

So, she was trying to get a rise, just not out of Naruto. "Hinata, provoking Toneri could be dangerous," Kushina cautioned.

"I don't care, anymore," Hinata bawled, "If it draws his eye and gets him to make a mistake, so be it!"

"Ladies," Kushina heard Naruto speak as he landed beside them, "I hate to break this up, but Shikamaru found something!"

As Hinata stood in the shadow of a towering statue of Hagomoro, the Sage of Six Paths, she regretted her decision to go with the skimpy mission gear rather than wear her ANBU coverall today. Cold permeated her every being as the sage's long shadow blocked the light and warmth of the sun. She couldn't explain it, but the overwhelming sensation of death was everywhere in the presence of the statue. Seeing something familiar in a world so alien normally might have calmed her, reminded her that this was a place where people used to live. Except, where did they go? The cold continued to assault her.

"That's beautiful genius, but what the hell does it actually say?" Temari chided her husband. Hinata wondered how her relationship with Naruto might have evolved had they bickered half as bad as the married couple.

"It says beware of the…" Shikamaru squinted as he eyed the ancient inscription.

"Tenseigan Alter," Hinata spoke, feeling cold all over as the words escaped. The words came out on their own, as if they'd been hard-wired into her, waiting for the correct stimulus to release them.

"Thanks," Shikamaru stared at the inscription around the alter and then snapped his head back at Hinata, "How in the hell did you know that?!"

"She's no dunce, Shikamaru!" Sakura exclaimed, mock slapping him in back of the head.

"No! I get that!" he groaned, "what I mean is, how did she decipher it? This script is archaic and hundreds of years old; we don't teach it at the academy. It was a pain to know what translation table to use!"

The feeling of cold continued to wash over Hinata, like a winter breeze was hitting her, "I-I just knew!" she locked eyes with Naruto, also staring with concern. "This place… I can't explain it…"

"Try, love," Naruto took her hands in his. He was warm, the only real warmth in the godforsaken place.

"This place," Hinata voice dropped, almost deathly, "feels haunted – there is the oppressive feeling of death everywhere!" Naruto's hands tightened around hers as the words came out.

"Hinata, do you mean just here or the city in general?" Sai asked, tilting his head.

"B-both, but mostly here," she responded, "Why do you ask?"

Sai stared intently at the statue, "We're standing in the middle of a deserted city," his eyes remained locked on the statue, "And back me up Shikamaru, it's been abandoned for decades?"

"Maybe centuries," Shikamaru nodded. "No residue of decay, no sign of human remains, hell, no residue of animal remains. "What's your point?"

"The point is," Sai walked up to the large inscriptions, "Someone more recently tried defacing this statue." He ran his hands over the recessed symbols, "This wasn't natural wear or erosion," Sai looked up to Hagomoro's face, "And Hagomoro's eyes were blacked out by someone in the past few years."

"How can you tell?" Kushina asked.

"The pigment hasn't faded despite near constant wind and frequent sunlight, easily only a year or two old," Sai nodded.

"Why would someone deface Hagomoro's statue?" Hinata stepped closer to the statue, letting go of Naruto's hands, despite the cold fingers of death intensifying their grip on her. A loose stone in the ground sank beneath her, almost causing Hinata to scream. As she sank, the ground in front of the statue began to sink, opening a passage beneath the statue.

"You didn't plan that, right?" Sakura asked, extracting a flashlight. Hinata shook her head. "I'll take point," the pink-haired kunoichi began stepping down the narrow stairway. Hinata followed behind, followed by Naruto and the rest of the group. Hinata's Byakugan cut through the shadows, revealing a passage to a massive room beyond, filled with row upon row of funerary urns, grave markers, and piles of bones stacked for a mass grave that was never dug.

"What the hell?" Hinata whispered.

"Some kind of catacomb?" Kushina spoke from behind, her voice faint in spite of her rapid breathing. Hinata remembered the reaction a few times when she'd accompanied Kushina to the cemetery in Konoha. Considering she's supposed to be in a grave right now.

"Someone's here!" Shikamaru shouted.

There was a scramble for weapons, and Hinata heard Temari shout, "Stay where you are!"

Nevertheless, a shadowy figure approached. "Byakugan Princess," the zombielike voice spoke in a low drawl. Nine-Tails had called her that before. It's definitely not Toneri; the voice is all wrong. "Byakugan Princess," the voice again spoke haunted and hollow. As he approached, Hinata made out his features: ashen white skin, bald head, a flowing, tattered beard, and archaic robes.

Hinata resisted all human instincts to scream or run. She needed answers, and she was going to die if she didn't have them. "W-who are you! What do you want?!"

"Byakugan Princess," the man's voice strained, something luminous was in his mouth. The light grew brighter, and Hinata could see empty sockets where eyes should be. The man's jaw stretched unnaturally wide and a fist-sized orb of light floated from his mouth. "Hamura's decree…. Stop… the Tenseigan Alter!" the man choked as he collapsed to the ground.

The bright light approached Hinata, and she froze in place. Despite being bright as the sun, her eyes did not strain nor blink against its brightness. Her mouth dropped, but she refused to scream. Hinata blinked, and when her eyes opened again, she was amid a field surrounded by two armies. From what Hinata could see of the opposing forces, they were both armed with Yari, Naginata, Kanabō and other varieties of edged and blunt weapons. Almost all the troops on both sides wore armor of some type – interlocking harnesses of wood plates and metal plates. Some wore helmets, others just bandanas.

The sounds of battle flooded over Hinata as the sound of wood, metal, and flesh clashing into one another drowned out all other sound. As chaos surrounded her, Hinata noticed a contingent of the side she was facing had held back. At the center of the line, there stood a gargantuan vessel, larger that the Box of Infinite Bliss, but every bit as terrifying. The army behind her broke the lines and charged toward the vessel. There was a bright flash, and Hinata and the armies around her were thrown about like one of Akane's toys at bath time.

Hinata screamed as the blast wave carried her, but the sound was so intense as to drown it out even to herself. When she landed and the flash abated, Hinata found herself staggering amid the familiar scene of an army taking one knee before its approaching master. Lord Hamura! "Hello, again, Byakugan Princess," the elderly sage spoke.

"What happened, where are the others!"

"They are fine, Hinata, but sadly things won't be unless you move quickly."

A flash of recognition hit Hinata, "This is what you meant last time, about being early! I was supposed to meet you here and now!"

The ghostly sage nodded. "Unfortunately," he spoke gravely, "what I can tell you from here is limited. The change in timeline has had – unexpected implications for the survival of earth and everyone on it."

"Is that what I saw?" she asked.

"No," he shook his head, "you saw a past that sadly befell my descendants here on the moon. When my brother charged me to guard the husk of Ten-Tails, half of my clan followed me here, and the other half stayed behind on earth to protect it."

"The ancestors of the Hyūga Clan," she confirmed.

Those that followed me here were charged with a decree to protect my brother's creation, but we soon found that the others like my mother were not the only ones." He paused, gauging his words, "We found the remnant of those who came before."

"Those who came before?" Hinata felt a chill traverse her spine.

"We found some of their technology, repaired it, but we had no means to replicate their source of power, despite it leaving its signature."

"Then how?!" Hinata demanded, mind going back to the massive vessel one of the armies carried.

"After I passed away, I passed on my decree to protect creation, but some began to question how best to protect it. They discovered if they harvested the Byakugan they could power that infernal device!"

"The Tenseigan Alter," she nodded, "That is how Toneri is dropping the moon!"

"Yes, it is immensely powerful," he shook his head, "but like all great power, some coveted it for selfish reasons. As my descendants here watched the earth spiral into chaos, they argued about using the Tenseigan to stop the conflicts while others argued that my brother's experiment was not worth saving." He shook his head. "A war broke out that eliminated one side and left little of anything for the survivors to rule."

"That's why Toneri wants me, he believes your decree was to wipe clean the slate and start over!"

The sage nodded, "And he has perverted that mandate of protection," Hamura added. "He thinks he can save the Earth by destroying it."

"Can he be reasoned with?" Hinata asked, knowing already the answer.

"Reason or not, he must not be allowed to destroy the Earth, Hinata. There is more at stake than just the billions of lives down there."

"More at stake?" Hinata struggled to think of anything worse than billions of lives hanging in the balance.

"Cloudy the future is, but know it depends on you. You must carry my decree and protect the Earth or the future beyond the shinobi world will end!" He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she felt the man's chakra transferring to her, "You carry the mandate, and my chakra. Make of it what you can!" He faded from existence.

Hinata's eyes opened, and she was back in the catacomb, gasping for air as the group stared down at her. "Hinata!?" Naruto shouted as he cradled her.


Naruto didn't believe in ghosts despite having seen his fair share of them over the years. In the blink of an eye, the glowing orb from the pale man's mouth flashed, and Hinata fell backwards. Naruto didn't wait to catch her and guide her down. Momentary panic ensued as his lover became still as death. Naruto almost moved to confront the husk of a man, but he'd collapsed and turned to dusk. What the fuck is going on here?!

"HINATA!" he shouted, and her eyes opened. Hinata gasped loudly. "Hinata!?"

"N-Naruto!?" she looked disoriented. She shook her head several times, "What – what happened?"

"Perhaps you could tell us?" Shikamaru said, "Byakugan Princess."

"Shikamaru," Naruto said, irked, "the poor girl had a terrible fright!"

"No," she sat up, shaking her head several times, "no, I have much to explain!" She looked around, but not here; somewhere in the open, please!"

"How about the rooftop terrace we found earlier," Temari suggested. Hinata merely nodded.

Despite assurances that she was all right, Naruto insisted on carrying her to the destination – what looked like the terrace to a mansion or what maybe had been and upscale restaurant in its time. The roof was open on all sides, and offered a commanding view. No way someone approaches without us seeing. He set Hinata down on her feet, "Just take your time, find your footing."

Now in the sunlight, Hinata was pale as a sheet and the dark circles under her eyes betrayed how little rest she was getting. Wish we could so somewhere far away and safe. "I'm fine," she said as she gained her footing, "at least, I'll be all right…"

"You don't sound convincing; what happened?" Naruto demanded.

"Hamura, Lord Hamura appeared," she said. The group froze, as did Naruto. "He, told me everything. Toneri is one of his descendants; the group that came to the moon. They found this strange energy vessel called the Tenseigan Altar!"

"Tenseigan Altar?" Naruto asked, then turned to Shikamaru. Shikamaru shook his head, as did Mom. "What is it?"

"Some energy receptacle of immense power, it's what Toneri has been using to move the Moon!"

"Where did it come from, I don't get it," Naruto shook his head, "You said Hamura's descendants found it here?!" Something in the back of Naruto's mind set his heart racing – there had been something here even before Hamura's descendants – it would predate the Kaguya legend by thousands of years.

"Hamura was evasive, he only mentioned something about… 'The ones who came before,'" Hinata turned impossibly paler as she said the words. Even Naruto had a chill traverse his spine at the words.

"Who that hell are they?" Temari broke the collective silence.

"I don't know," Hinata shook her head, "but he warned me that if we fail to destroy the Tenseigan, it will mean the end of our world, and…"

"And what?" Naruto tried to imaging anything worse than the end of the world.

"It would mean the end of the future beyond the shinobi world," she finished.

"Beyond the shinobi world?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. He knew there was much more to the world than just the Shinobi countries, but they had remained isolated as a matter of policy.

"In any case, we have to destroy it, and now!" Hinata insisted.

"But how? We don't know where it is." Sai added.

"It has to be near where Toneri bases himself," Hinata pounded a fist into her hand. "And, I have a plan," she said. I don't like where this is going! She stared at Naruto for a long, hard moment, and then turned to Shikamaru, "How long do we have?"

"Less than three days," he said with a shake of his head.

She nodded, "And Toneri said he'd be coming for me tomorrow."

"Hinata, you can't be serious!" Naruto objected, wanting to shut the argument down.

"Naruto, there is no other way!" Hinata pleaded, "We're out of time, and Sai is right; we don't know where Akane, Hanabi, or Toneri are located! If we keep playing detective down here, we run out of time, and he wins! He only has to let the clock run out and snatch me away at the last second… and then I have no choice!"

Naruto hated it, but she was talking logically. It frustrated the hell out of him that Toneri had them this boxed in, "Hinata, if anything goes wrong, we lose you, and he can drop the moon without a second thought!"

"Hinata, however noble it is to sacrifice yourself; it won't save anyone if we give up," Mom added.

"What if she doesn't give up?" Sai asked.

"I was planning on surrendering and having you all track my movement," Hinata added. "If you can follow, we finally might have the answer we need!" She became insistent.

"And if he's able to take you without being tracked?" Naruto felt himself heating at such a thought. Giving Hinata up, even with the plan to track her had serious risks – it was game over if they screwed up.

"Between your Byakugan and that odd energy signature Toneri leaves, you should have no problems." Naruto caught the crisp accent of annoyance in Hinata's voice. She's getting angry with you! Naruto struggled to process Hinata's annoyance.

"And if something goes wrong?" Sakura spoke.

"DAMMIT!" Hinata erupted, shaking a fist at the group, "If anyone has a better plan right now that doesn't involve some level of risk, I'M ALL EARS!" Hinata's pale cheeks turned red and she heaved in and out rapidly. Rarely had Naruto seen her angry, but he'd never seen her outright furious like she was. "Shikamaru!" her head snapped toward him. "You're the commander of this mission; what say you!"

"Ah shit!" Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Naruto knew the look; Shikamaru was going to cave, and soon Naruto would have nothing he could do or say about it. Shikamaru locked eyes with Naruto, then Hinata, and then back to Naruto. "As much as I don't want to admit it; I'm afraid Hinata makes a valid point. Without some major change in fortune, Toneri is not going to see sense or logic." He shook his head.

"Shikamaru, this is crazy!" Naruto protested, "She can't go!" His heart was pounding and his blood boiled

"It's not your decision to make!" Hinata shouted at him. Naruto froze, speechless. "I've been charged with stopping this! You can either help me, or you can sit here complaining about other options that won't work until the goddamn moon obliterates everything we care about!"

"Naruto, Lord Fifth," Shikamaru spoke up, "This is a difficult judgement call, but I agree with Hinata. Will you accept my orders?"

Naruto's hands balled into a fist, and he stormed off. He paused as he walked away from the group, turning back to Hinata and the others, "Fine!" He walked away, trying to hide his tears.


Shikamaru knew he sucked at being supportive with women, if his relationships with Mom and Temari were anything to go by. He didn't assume he'd be any better with men as he approached a still-sulking Naruto at his lookout point in a tree near the lake by their campsite. "Hey," Shikamaru didn't even attempt to sound chipper, "fun times?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Naruto didn't turn to face him, he continued to stare in the direction of the lake and the girl sitting on a tree stump, knitting frantically.

"Can we talk?" Shikamaru huffed as he leaned against the tree, "What a pain!" He hooked his hands behind his head. "I suck at girls; I really didn't think I'd suck this bad with guys!"

"Yeah, you suck out-loud when trying to rally people," Naruto groaned as he shifted on the tree limb he used.

"Not like you do," Shikamaru shrugged, "that's why you're the future Hokage and not me."

"At the rate we're going, Mom will be the last Hokage." Naruto's lamentations were out of character. He just had what looked like his first real argument with Hinata. If you don't whip his ass back into form, everyone is going to die because of it!

"All right," Shikamaru grunted, turning to look up to his friend, "you've moped plenty! You took a hit to the pride and suddenly you're throwing in the goddamn towel!" Shikamaru yelled. "What about all that crap about being Hokage! What about being parents, raising our kids side by side! Was that just empty promises, too?!" Shikamaru vented his own frustration.

"Shika-maru…" Naruto began tearing up, burying his face in his knees. Great, way to go, bonehead. "I-I feel so helpless!"

"How?" Shikamaru backed off his tone, concerned.

"Hinata… I know she is right, but there has to be some other way!" Naruto stared, tears and snot running.

"Naruto, for a moment, take a breath and think!" Shikamaru again became sharp. "You're emotionally compromised, so is your mom, and so is Hinata!" Shikamaru's heart began racing against his sternum, as the stars aligned in his head. "My god, Toneri is doing this, hoping to trip you up, to manipulate you three, and it's working!"

Naruto stopped crying, staring wide-eyed. "Oh god…" realization came to his wide blue eyes, as they again locked on Hinata.

"Yeah, he wants Hinata to resent you and you to resent her!" The pieces fell into place for Shikamaru, "He wants us to smother her so she'll run from us and give up."

"And we played right into his hand!" Naruto slapped his forehead with his hand.

"And that is why we have to go along with this plan; he has to think he's won!" Shikamaru shook his head, "I hate it, but if we continue to play by the rules he expects, we lose!"

Naruto turned to look toward Hinata, "I still don't like it," Shikamaru opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto cut him off, "of course, I don't have to like it!" Naruto wiped away tears from his eyes, "So, what's the plan, genius?"


Author's Notes: Miracle of miracles, this one was not only done, but ready to go early! Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter will feature the confession scene; although, expect a few surprises to go along with it.

On a bit of a side note, this story will be taking a rather unexpected turn after the events of The Last wraps up. Originally, I had planned this story to wrap almost immediately after the birth of Boruto. Certain recent events in the Naruto/Borutoverse I have found objectionable (among many prior ones) and actually have lent credence to why Himawari would risk altering the past so drastically. Like ripples on a pond, her actions are setting other confrontations in motion. Without spoiling too much, lets just say the Otsutski aren't going to take 20 years to randomly appear when Boruto is a teenager.

I hope you enjoyed thus far and continue to enjoy. Thank you always for reading. Stay health, stay safe, and I'll see you next chapter.