Chapter 17: Retreat

Though it was nearing dawn, Naruto found himself unable to fall back asleep, the prior day's events still weighing heavily on him. Everything about the day before had been nothing but confusing. For one, he still wasn't sure exactly where he stood with the former Hyuuga heiress, or even his former sensei for that matter. Kakashi had never avoided him in the same way that he had, and Hinata was still oblivious to the fact that he had gone to the Hyuuga Estate to try to convince her to call off her engagement. Both seemed perfectly and genuinely happy with one another, and not at all angry with him. He just couldn't wrap his head around it.

He hadn't stayed to listen to Kakashi's explanation that day at the ramen shop, nor had he felt comfortable asking Hinata about her relationship with his sensei. It was just too weird. Not once had he ever seen the two so much as say "hello," and yet they stood at the altar, ready to spend the rest of their lives together. There were stories circulating about how they fell in love mourning their respective losses, and well it may have been plausible, even to Naruto, he could only imagine that in some way, Kakashi had done something pervy. The only problem was that Hinata just wasn't the type to sneak around with a man doing that

Then he had to consider what Hanabi had said about Hinata having her heart broken by someone their age. He wondered if she, too, had been in love with Sasuke. In a way, it did explain why she was always around Team 7. Did Sasuke somehow push her into Kakashi's arms?

And there was also the little bit that Sakura had shared, that Hinata had been his first supporter, so she understood why he worried so much about her. Though he never really thought of her as his supporter, he had realized that Sakura was right. Hinata had never laughed at him or bullied him at the academy, and she was the first to wish him luck in anything he did, even offering him help during the chunin exams and gifting him healing ointment after he had defeated her own teammate. But what any of that had to do with anything, he still didn't understand. None of it explained why he had been so bothered by her marrying Kakashi or why he felt like he was losing something every time he saw her smile.

Naruto groaned aloud. There was too much to think about and his head was beginning to hurt. Figuring he wouldn't get any sleep just sitting around in bed, he decided to take a walk and clear his head.

Pakkun hurried through the village, following Hinata's scent as it grew stronger and stronger. It was easy enough to track her, a seldom few others out at this time of night. Only one other scent caught his attention, and giving it some thought, he decided to pursue that one, too. Though he didn't expect Hinata to be in any trouble, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra set of hands just in case. After all, they appeared to be traveling in the same direction. Picking up the pace, he rushed toward his master's student.

"Ay! Naruto!" he called as he rapidly approached the boy clad in his pajamas.

The last thing Naruto had expected during his lone walk was to be tackled to the ground by a grumpy brown pug calling his name as it dived into his abdomen.

"Pakkun?!" he said with a grunt as he rubbed his now sore bottom. "What the hell did you do that for? And what are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be with Kakashi or something?"

'Really…does nothing make sense anymore?' the fallen boy wondered as he rose to his feet.

Pakkun never answered his questions, instead asking one of his own. "Any chance you're meeting up with Hinata?"

"Hinata?" he asked. That was the one person he was trying to get out of his head. "No, I-I was just walking. Why are you asking about her?"

"Kakashi asked me to watch over her, but the girl snuck out on me," the ninken explained with a sigh. "Not even a note. I can smell her nearby though. You were heading her way."

'Yeah…nothing makes sense.'

While he had been confused about the girl for the last few weeks, Naruto knew she wasn't the type to just up and leave.

"You lead the way."

Hinata sprinted away from the swing as the floating man descended to the ground, his outstretched hand reaching for her. It mattered not who he was or why he referred to her as his bride. She worried only about making it back toward the center of the village where someone was sure to see. Something told her that her own skill as a shinobi would not be enough.

"Hinata," he called softly. "Why do you run? This… is your destiny."

'Destiny?' She had heard a lot about destiny and minding one's place as she had grown. The one thing she knew for sure was that anyone speaking of destiny was an arrogant fool determined to stifle others. Once upon a time, that been Neji, though he had come to change. But she had seen it time and time again throughout history and the present. Anyone preaching about destiny was certain to be trouble.

She had hardly made it to the entrance of the playground when a cloaked figure grabbed her from her behind. This man, too, held no detectable chakra signature. Another disturbing and distressing fact. The last thing Hinata remembered before losing consciousness was the glowing light of a green orb and the sound of someone else calling her name.

As Pakkun and Naruto approached the playground, they knew that they had arrived not a moment too soon.

"Hinata!" Naruto called, witnessing her fall limp as a man grabbed her from behind and began to leap away. Wasting no time, he ran after her and the mysterious cloaked man.

'Something isn't right…' Pakkun realized. "Naruto! These guys have no scent."

'No scent? That's not possible…' But before he could place too much thought into what that could mean, he had come to realize that there was a growing number of enemies surrounding him. 'Why so many to capture just one person?'

This wasn't the first time that there was an attempt made to kidnap Hinata, though she was arguably much younger the last time around. If he recalled correctly from what Neji had once told him in the heat of battle, she was chosen because of her byakugan, one that was unsealed as she was a member of the main branch. Although peace was upon them, he supposed that there would always be those who wanted to gain power, and if their true goal was to take Hinata's eyes, then they would hardly need to keep her alive.

Determined to catch up with her captor before it was too late, Naruto turned to face the group surrounding him, now floating midair with flame-like attacks heading his way. Dodging the fire as leapt across buildings, he prepared to launch at the group with a rasen shuriken. He knew the effects of such an attack and how it was often fatal, yet fatality is not what he saw before him, the bodies of his would-be assailants breaking to pieces.

'Puppets?!'

He had seen puppets in battle before, recalling Kankuro's particular skill and Sakura's account of her encounter with Sasori. Yet these were different, no puppeteer in sight or smell as Pakkun had made clear. Still, he had no time to dwell on it as Hinata and her captor continued to get away.

It wasn't long before Hinata started to regain consciousness as she was carried swiftly through the village and over its buildings through the late-night sky. She was still a bit groggy but found she could move. Without hesitation, she activated her byakugan, preparing to strike her captor, but found there was no chakra system for her to strike, no tenketsu that could be sealed.

'Puppetry,' she realized. 'He must be controlling him somehow.'

Concentrating for a moment and pulling as much chakra into her fists as she could, she struck the puppet with a lion fist, its body shattering as she fell from great height. Quickly, she grabbed onto the ledge of a building before focusing her chakra at her feet to climb up to the roof. From her new vantage point, she could see Naruto rushing toward her, Pakkun hurrying behind and allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

Just before they could reach her, the man in white appeared again, as if simply manifesting as he hovered well above her against the brightening sky.

"The final days are upon us," he eerily warned. "I will return for you before then, beneath the Harvest Moon."

She had no time to ask what he meant, as Naruto landed on the roof top, calling out to her and the mysterious man.

"Hinata!" came his call. "Who is this guy? What do you want with Hinata?!"

Offering no answer, the man simply faded away, saying nothing further than, "Until then, Hinata."

From the distance of the fading moon came a bright light, a small meteor hurling over the village like the one the one they had witnessed the day before. As it crashed far beyond Hokage Rock, its heat and blast could still be felt from where they stood on the roof.

"What the hell is going on?!" Naruto demanded, but there was little Hinata could explain.

-End Chapter 17-