Twisted Devotion Chapter 41: 40, a naruto fanfic

Hinata stirred, her body heavy, her mind clouded as though she were submerged in water. The air was cold, yet it felt strangely soft against her skin. Her eyes fluttered open, but instead of her home—her bed, Naruto's warmth beside her—she was met with towering pillars of pale white stone.

She sat up abruptly.

Acastle.

Its architecture was otherworldly, bathed in an ethereal blue glow, as though the very walls absorbed the moonlight. Ornate golden embellishments spiraled along the pillars, and massive tapestries, embroidered with celestial patterns, hung from the towering ceiling. A soft luminescence pulsed from the floor beneath her, casting long shadows along the marble walls.

Hinata's breath caught.

She swung her legs off the grand, silk-covered bed she had been placed in. The fabric beneath her hands was impossibly smooth, and as she stood, a strange silence wrapped around her.No wind. No footsteps. No signs of life.

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears.

"The last thing I remember…" she murmured, gripping her temples as flashes of the entity filled her mind.The light… The figure… The way it wrapped around me…

She took a shaky step forward, her bare feet making no sound against the polished floor. She moved cautiously, pushing open an ornate set of golden doors, revealing a long, endless corridor lined with glowing blue lanterns. The hallway twisted like a labyrinth, and no matter which direction she looked, it seemed to stretch infinitely.

Where am I?

Hinata forced herself to breathe steadily, her senses sharp despite the eerie stillness. And then—

Footsteps.

She turned sharply.

At the end of the corridor, a figure emerged from the shadows.

A man.

His long, white-blonde hair cascaded down his back like flowing silk, his robes pristine white, embroidered with silver and blue. His eyes—icy turquoise—held an unnatural glow, piercing yet unreadable. His face was sculpted with an ethereal beauty, but his expression was unreadable, as if carved from stone.

He gazed at her, silent for a moment.

Then, his lips curved ever so slightly.

"…You're even more beautiful than I remembered."

His voice was smooth, deep, yet laced with something that sent a chill down her spine.

Hinata's body stiffened, her fingers twitching toward her side—only to realize she had no weapons.No kunai. No way to defend herself.

Swallowing, she took a step back, her voice steady despite her unease.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

The man didn't answer. He simply took a step closer, his gaze never leaving hers.

Hinata's hands clenched into fists.

Her breath hitched.

Something about his presence—hisvoice, hiseyes—felt wrong.

Familiar.

And terrifying.

…

A week had passed.

A week of endless nights.

A week of waking up in cold sweat, only to find that the nightmare was still real.

Hinata had not stirred once.

Naruto sat in a chair beside her, carefully placing a fresh bouquet of flowers in a porcelain vase on the nightstand. Lilies, irises, lavender—her favorites. Their soft fragrance filled the dimly lit room, but the woman they were meant for remained unmoving, her chest rising and falling in an eerily steady rhythm.

Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat, his eyes red-rimmed from exhaustion. He hadn't gone home since the attack. He couldn't. Hewouldn't.

Instead, he had turned the spare room next to his Hokage office into a private care unit for her. Tsunade had supplied the best medical equipment from the hospital, and Sakura had taken shifts with other top-tier medics to monitor Hinata's condition.None of it helped.

He ran a tired hand through his unruly blond hair, his fingers trembling.

Sasuke and Itachi had both tried to use their Sharingan to get into her mindscape, to find something—anything—that would explain why she wouldn't wake up.But even they failed.

A pit of despair grew inside him, gnawing at his insides.

I'm the Hokage. I'm supposed to protect the people I love. So why… why can't I bring her back?

A cold, suffocating guilt wrapped around his heart. He exhaled shakily, staring at her peaceful face, framed by strands of dark hair.

She looked like she was merely sleeping.

But no matter how much he called out to her—she never answered.

"Hinata…" he whispered, his voice hoarse.

He hesitated, then slowly leaned forward, resting his forehead gently against her unmoving hand. His fingers curled around hers, pressing them against his lips.

"I can't do this without you…"

His words trembled in the air.

His chest ached as a flood of memories crashed over him.

The first time she confessed her love during the Pain invasion.

The way she always smiled at him,believed in him, even when the whole world didn't.

The way her presence made him feel athome.

A tear slid down his cheek.

Was this his punishment?

For the threats he made to Kakashi? For the way he manipulated the Hyuga clan into accepting Neji as head? For the countless choices he made in the shadows, doing whatever it took to secure his power? The lives he had taken?

Did fate finally decide that he didn't deserve happiness?

"I never wanted to be Hokage if it meant losing you…" his voice cracked as he squeezed her hand tighter.

"I-I'll give it all up, okay? I swear. I'll walk away from it all. I'll burn this damn office to the ground if it means you'll come back to me."

But she didn't move.

Didn't squeeze his hand back.

Didn't whisper his name in that soft, loving voice.

Naruto let out a strangled sob, pressing his forehead against her fingers.

"Please, Hinata… don't leave me alone in this world."

He didn't care that he was crying. Didn't care that he sounded desperate.

He had foughtgods. Had walked throughhell. Had carried the entireworldon his shoulders.

And yet… he had never felt so powerless.

He clutched onto her hand as if by sheer will alone, he could keep her tethered to this world.

"I love you," he whispered brokenly.

Outside the room, Sasuke stood by the doorway, silent. His expression unreadable, but his hands clenched into fists. He had never seen Naruto like this. Not even when Jiraiya died.

Itachi stood beside him, observing quietly before murmuring,

"…She has not left this world yet."

Sasuke turned to him, eyes dark with frustration. "Then why won't she wake up?"

Itachi didn't answer immediately. His gaze lingered on Naruto, who had buried his face in the crook of Hinata's neck, whispering her name like a prayer.

A slow, unsettling thought formed in Itachi's mind.

"This isn't just sleep," he murmured. "Something is keeping her there."

Sasuke's brows furrowed. "Then we find a way to bring her back."

Inside the room, Naruto remained oblivious to their conversation.

He held Hinata closer, desperate, aching, and whispered one final plea.

"Come back to me."

But she remained still.

…

Hinata's footsteps echoed against the cold marble floor as she followed the man ahead of her. His white robes billowed ever so slightly as he walked, his movements eerily graceful. The castle around them was an endless stretch of silver and blue, its grand architecture bathed in an otherworldly glow.

The walls pulsed with an ethereal light, like veins running with celestial energy, illuminating intricate carvings of the moon. Massive pillars stretched towards an unseen ceiling, disappearing into a void of darkness. The air was thick—heavy—as if the castle itself was alive, breathing in tandem with the stranger leading her through its corridors.

Hinata clenched her fists.

She had been patient. Too patient.

Her heart pounded with growing frustration as she watched his back, her bare feet cold against the floor.

"Enough," she said, her voice sharp as steel.

The man did not stop.

"I said enough!" she barked, her voice reverberating off the towering walls. "Who are you? Why am I here?"

Finally, he came to a halt.

Slowly, he turned to face her, his pale blue eyes glowing in the dim light,empty as the abyss itself.His skin was nearly translucent, and his long, silver hair cascaded past his shoulders like silk spun from starlight.

He studied her—piercing, calculating.

And then, with a serene smile, he spoke.

"You are on the moon."

Hinata's breath hitched. A cold chill ran down her spine.

She stepped back instinctively, her Byakugan flaring to life. Yet, once again, the world around her distorted, warping beyond her perception. Her vision, usually so precise, failed her.

She couldn't sense him. Couldn't trace the energy of this castle. It was as if she were drifting in a dream with no beginning and no end.

"What do you mean?" she demanded, swallowing the fear creeping up her throat. "That's impossible. The moon—"

"—is where I was born," he interrupted smoothly. "And where you now belong."

Hinata's hands trembled as she reached for a kunai at her thigh—only to find that she had none.

"Who are you?" she whispered, dread seeping into her voice.

For the first time, the man's gaze darkened, and the air around them seemed to tighten, as if space itself had shrunk.

"…I am Toneri Otsutsuki."

The name sent a shiver down her spine.

Otsutsuki.

A clan that existed beyond mortal comprehension, wielders of celestial power—the ancestors of the Hyuga.

She took another step back, her heartbeat thunderous in her ears.

"I don't belong here," she stated, her voice firm despite the unease curling in her stomach. "I have a home. A husband. A life in Konoha."

Toneri tilted his head slightly, his glowing eyes devoid of warmth.

"And yet," he said, stepping closer, "you were so easily taken."

Hinata froze.

Toneri lifted a hand, almost reverently, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. She flinched, but he didn't seem to notice.

"You were meant for greater things, Hinata," he murmured. "For centuries, our fates have been entwined. You and I were destined to be wed."

Her breath hitched in her throat.

His lips curled into something hauntingly soft.

"But you… strayed."

Hinata's pulse roared in her ears as the temperature in the castle plummeted. A sensation unlike anything she had ever felt—as if the moon itself was caging her in.

Toneri's voice was gentle, but there was an unspoken command beneath his words.

"You have been blinded. But I will open your eyes. I will show you the errors of your ways."

The walls of the castle pulsed—breathing, watching. The air turned thick, pressing against her chest like unseen hands, suffocating.

Hinata's fingers twitched. She wanted to run. But her legs wouldn't move.

Toneri leaned in, his whispered words chilling against her skin.

"You will forget the sun, Hinata.

And in time…