Manicherryblossom33
Active member
Awards
Finally! I can finally post the new chapter! Hurray for wifi, even if if is my schools! So sorry for being two days late! But my mom has been talking about getting wifi with our tax refund, so hopefully she'll go through with that soon.
Enjoy!
Naruto fanfic chapter 27
NARUTO'S POV
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE-3:00 AM
"Sure I can give you a ride!" The forty-fifth captain they'd asked said with a hearty laugh as he put an arm around Naruto.
"Awesome!" Naruto said as he coughed from inhaling the stench of tobacco, fish, and shaving cream. Suppressing his urge to recoil and ignoring his stinging, watery eyes, he turned around. "Isn't that awesome, Sasuke?"
Sasuke had, at some point, pressed a wet rag over his mouth and nose, keeping it there. Other than that, the pungent smells didn't seem to be getting to him at all.
"Tell him where we want to go first." He ordered.
Naruto made a face at that, but turned to the curious, expectant looking captain with a smile on his face.
A nervous smile, anyway.
"Ummm..." Naruto stepped back, rubbing the back of his head and chuckling nervously. "Well, you uh, know about that island a little ways off the coast...?"
The captain took a long drag of his pipe and exhaled directly into the vicinity of Naruto's face, sending him stumbling away with his elbow cupped around his mouth until he backed into Sasuke, who pushed him forward.
"That jagged cliff formation in the sea?" The captain pointed out the window at Uzushio, as it was visible from the port.
"Yeah... That's where we want to go." Naruto said with a crooked grin as he wiped tears from his eyes. Stupid smoke!
"Hmmmm... Well I suppose I can give it a try." The captain said, grinning back. "Don't know how well it'll go though."
Naruto turned to grin at Sasuke, rubbing the skeptic's face in it.
"Tell him how we're getting there." Sasuke ordered, earning another pout from Naruto, who was still crying from all the smoke getting in his eyes.
"I'm the captain of this ship, young'n!" The captain bellowed, pointing at Sasuke. "I'll decide how we'll be getting there."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head again. "No, no, not that. You see um... The only way to enter the island is to... Well, um... You gotta... Use the secret entrance."
The captain blew more smoke through his nose. "Secret entrance?"
Naruto gulped. "It's a whirlpool."
"A whirlpool?"
"Yeah you gotta... Sail into the right one... And it'll... Teleport you there."
The captain gave him the evil eye for a sec, then hummed and seemed to think it over. Naruto could sense the situation going south, and grinded his teeth together in anticipation.
"Alright, we'll do it!" The captain announced, sending both Naruto's and Sasuke's eyebrows up, behind their headbands. Narrowing his eyes, the captain pointed at Naruto threateningly. "But there better be one heck of a payment for this."
Naruto suppressed certain, ominous thoughts and gave a thumbs up.
"Don't worry! We'll make it worth your while!" He laughed, feeling Sasuke's eyes on his back as they turned to leave. "We're gonna go get our comrades now, so be prepared to set sail when we get back."
"You want to leave immediately?" The captain questioned.
"ASAP." Naruto said with a smirk as Sasuke closed the door behind him.
As soon as it was shut, the two shared a look; a silent understanding passed between them, and they nodded as they passed through the busy deck, down the ramp, to the port, and then into the silent nighttime town.
"... Now?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah. I think they're not ordinary sailors." Naruto said, starting the conversation.
"I think so too." Sasuke spoke calmly, yet harshly. "He agreed too easily, even after we told him about the secret entrance, and I think that bit about the money was too dramatic. He was laying it on thick."
"That ship pulled up about ten minutes before we asked the thirtieth captain." Naruto said, remembering how he'd jumped at the size. "We were basically going door to door. Or ship to ship I guess."
"They were expecting us." Sasuke concluded. "And they're after something. Is there anything of value in Uzushio?"
His usual instincts kicked into overdrive, as they always did when he thought about his clan, did any fuinjutsu, or remembered what he saw in Seto's memories. His muscles felt even lighter, his brain pulsed, his heartbeat quickened.
And then, it just clicked in his mind and his breath caught as he looked at Sasuke, alarmed, and very, very jumpy.
"You're afraid." Sasuke said it like statement, reading Naruto's expression. "Why?"
"Kairi." Naruto breathed out her name, as if it were already a ghost of a memory.
"What?"
Naruto grabbed Sasuke and shook him.
"Kairi!" He grit his teeth.
Sasuke put his hands up, moving them in a "relax" gesture.
"Calm down. Who's Kairi?"
"My sister!"
Sasuke moved his head to the side, then down as he narrowed his eyes. It was obvious he didn't believe Him, or was at least VERY confused.
"I mean, not really." He corrected himself. "She was... My cousin. Kind of. All the kids in the Uzumaki clan are like my little brothers and sisters. Kairi was--"
"That child that died." Sasuke said. The past tense was enough to tip him off. "The one you mentioned before. Her name was Kairi?"
Naruto hesitated, then slowly nodded.
"If she's dead, then how could they be after her?" Sasuke asked, obviously trying to calm him. "Are you talking about did-tensei?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Naruto grit his teeth; his eyes flickered to Sasuke, then back to the street.
Sasuke stared hard at him. "There's something you're not telling me."
Naruto sighed, clenching his fists.
"Lets go to the others." Sasuke decided, grabbing his shoulder.
Naruto nodded, feeling his stomach do backflips.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
NARUTO'S POV
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE-3:35AM
"So that's what happened." Sasuke said as he wrapped up telling Kiba, Hinata, and Sakura what happened on the ship and in the street.
"Geez! We let you guys wander off and this is what you bring back?" Kiba joked, with Akamaru barking in agreement.
"You've got some things to explain." Sasuke told Naruto, who nodded.
"What's going on?" Hinata asked, giving Naruto a look that asked "you okay?"
Naruto smiled back as a way to say "just fine."
"I already said I'm not good at explaining things." He grinned anxiously. "But I'll do my best. In Uzushio, there's something called the Sacred Tree. The clan lived there for a long time, and I remember now that Uri said that Uzushio was built there because it's like a spiritual center or something. That's why it's guarded by all kinds of--" he shuddered at the thought--"ghosts and things, and there's lots of weird... Well I guess you can call it genjutsu. Plus all the mountains, poisonous plants, deadly animals and the genjutsu that M--... Um, I mean Kushina and Fugaku set up, well... You'd think it would be enough to keep anybody out, but Mami said that they travelled there a few years ago, so--"
"Wait." Sasuke put a hand up, stopping him. Naruto noticed something had changed in his expression. There was a gleam in his eye, but his guard was up at the same time. "You said Fugaku? Fugaku and Kushina went to Uzushiogakure together?"
Naruto nodded, a little confused. "Yeah. K... Kushina said that there was something there they had to protect, so Fugaku cast this really powerful genjutsu over the whole village and she sealed it into place."
Sasuke nodded, processing this information. Sakura seemed concerned about him all of a sudden. But they had to hurry, so Naruto went on.
"Anyway, Mami told me that they went back to the ruins a few years ago. And when they did, they went to see the Sacred Tree. It started glowing, and this baby appeared out of nowhere! And... These two clan members picked her up, and they... They Named her Kairi."
Sasuke straightened up, Sakura stiffened, Kiba tensed, and Hinata folded her hands over her mouth.
Sasuke started shaking his head, and continued to do so even as he looked at Naruto.
"How's that possible?" He asked.
Naruto breathed deeply. "You know how some guys burn the dead?"
"You mean cremate." Sasuke corrected.
Naruto threw his arms up. "Whatever! Anyway, we didn't do that in Uzushio. Whenever one of our clan members got too old, or was too badly injured, or was just plain dying, they'd go to the sacred tree, and they'd seal their chakra into it, and their will, and then somebody else would seal their body inside. That way, they lived on. As long as the sacred tree is alive, so's everyone who was sealed into it. Kind of anyway. So... It's like...! It's kind of... Complicated, but the tree has like ten thousand different wills. And all this chakra, all this power! It's kind of like a really nice biju, and it only has one goal, that way all the wills make up one massive one. To protect the Uzumaki clan. To protect us..." Naruto slowed down, as Kairi's image flashed through his mind. "I think... I think Kairi was the Sacred Tree, but as a person. I guess... Back when the clan was betrayed by Seto's father, and everyone died or ran away, Kairi got lonely. She was probably wondering where we all went, and was really worried about us. So when we returned, she decided she didn't want to be alone anymore. She didn't want us to leave without her... So she used her power to turn her will into a person, so she could be with us. But then she died, so she's back to being a tree now..."
"Naruto-kun, is that what you're afraid of?" Hinata asked. "You think the sailors want to take control of her, like people do with biju?"
He frowned, nodding. "Kairi is supposed to be different from biju. It's not supposed to be possible to seal her into somebody and use her. But Uri liked to tell me, A LOT, that nothing's impossible. If these guys are working with Mami or somebody, and they're after Kairi, and they figured out some way to use her, then we better stop them!"
Sakura eyed him suspiciously.
"I thought you didn't like Mami. When did you guys talk?" She asked. "And why would you listen?"
"And why didn't you mention this spiritual center stuff before?" Kiba asked. "And what's your relationship with this Uri guy? You talk about him like you respect him way more than you should."
Naruto decided to answer Kiba first (that was easier than answering Sakura first).
"I remembered something." He said, making all their faces light up, then quickly fall with his next sentence. "Uri talked to me a lot. When I was asleep, and awake at the same time... When I was zombie-ish. He'd tell me stuff about our clan and Konoha and Uzushio... I don't remember all of it, but... I remember what he said about Kairi."
"But... Ghosts? Those don't exist." Sakura said matter-of-factly.
Naruto shuddered. "Yeah. I hope Uri is wrong for once."
"But WHO is he?" Kiba repeated. "To you, I mean."
Naruto opened his mouth, but nothing came out. What should he say? He knew from watching Seto's memories that Uri was his kaa-chan's twin brother. Which made him Naruto's uncle. But that felt strange and dangerous to admit, even to his new friends. So he went with what he'd originally thought.
"He's my fuinjutsu mentor." Naruto grinned, feeling extremely proud. "He took care of me and protected me when I was sleeping. And he spent every day after that beating sealing jutsu, speed, and chakra control into me! He also made me study! It was terrible! He tied me to a chair and wouldn't let me sleep until I memorized it all!"
Kiba gaped, then closed his mouth, pointing at him.
"He made YOU read? YOU read things? YOU?" Kiba asked, as if this were the most shocking thing in the world. "Like actual books?"
Naruto exhaled through his nose. What right did he have to act that way? He didn't even know him well enough to say that.
"Back to the issue at hand," Sasuke said, reminding Naruto and the others, "What are we going to do about those 'sailors?' Should we still sail with them?"
Naruto smirked, making a fist. "Absolutely. We need to keep our enemies close. That's another thing Uri says a lot. If we let these guys go, they'll just tail us, and it's hard to be stealthy when you're riding a ship and your enemy already knows where you're going. We'll sail with them, but we better keep our guards up."
"But what about--" Sakura began.
"Let's go, guys! To the ship!" Naruto declared, cutting her off.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
NARUTO'S POV
PRESENT TIME
A few miles into open sea, Naruto stood on the ship edge, looking out at Uzushio. It actually looked almost... Tiny from here. It had looked so big in Seto's memories though. Huge, and wealthy, and beautiful.
Now it was just a bunch of ruins. Beyond those mountains was probably moss and dust covered rubble. And skeletons. And ghosts!
He shuddered.
But Kairi was there. The Sacred Tree was alone again.
"Naruto-kun?"
He smiled at the sound of her voice as he turned on his heel and dropped down from the edge to the deck. Taking her hand, he squeezed her fingers and leaned his forehead on hers, grinning cheerfully.
"What is it?" He asked.
Hinata was only barely blushing, but she was also smiling and looking up his face in a slow zigzag motion as she sighed happily.
"You're okay." She stated, squeezing his hand back. "I was a little worried, with what happened earlier... You seemed so down."
Naruto nodded. "I'm worried about Kairi."
Hinata tilted her head, knitting her brow. "Is there any way you can move her?"
"Maybe..." He answered, looking back at Uzushio before looking back at her. "But she's a tree now, so it might just kill her again. And anyway, where would I move her to?"
Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but quickly bit her lip and looked down.
Naruto sensed she had something important to say.
"What is it?" He asked, brushing their noses together.
She shifted uncomfortably and squeezed his hand a little too hard.
"You could... Move her to Konoha." Hinata suggested, making Naruto stiffen.
"You... You could bring your family there too!" She continued, lacing their fingers together and standing on her toes. "All of them. They'd be safe, and happy, and protected. The children could go to the ninja academy, and become genin. The Uzumaki veterans could be friends with the other ninja and the villagers, and embrace outsiders and outer-clan marriage, and half-bloods. The Uzumaki clan won't have to live in the darkness anymore, or travel from hideout to hideout, or... Take you away from me."
Naruto straightened up, blushing but also feeling very afraid as certain ominous, far less hopeful outcomes of what Hinata was suggesting came to mind. His heart sank and filled with hot air and did back flips and shot into his throat, then back to his chest and beat like crazy.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something as his head shook slowly from side to side.
But Hinata grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him down to her eye level, so she had his full attention again.
"You could live in your parents house, and I could come over." Hinata suggested, making his eyes widen and his face turn red. "I could cook for you, and we could spar in the training rooms and... Sakura and Sasuke could come over and spar too. I could get your memories back. And you could be happy."
Naruto's eyes shifted as opposing thoughts bounced in his head. He looked at Hinata and his heart fell into his stomach, fluttering miserably.
Too many conflicting thoughts, a bipolar heart, words he didn't know how to say, and big, purple eyes staring at him lovingly, pleadingly were all the ingredients to the perfect recipe to nerves. Bad nerves. Stomach rolling, brain-cell destroying, heart-killing nerves.
He wrenched his hand free and quickly put as much distance between him and Hinata as he could. He couldn't look her in the eye! He felt like such a coward for not facing her and such an idiot for not being able to sort out his thoughts in an even, sensible order and explain to Hinata just what he thought about the Uzumaki moving into Konoha.
But she simply laughed, setting him at ease with a small, understanding smile.
"I'm sorry." She apologized, making him straighten up and look at her blankly, but confused. "I said too much. I got too excited, I guess. I've been thinking about all of that for a while now, so it just spilled out. It's okay... You don't have to think about all that right now."
She walked over, placing her hands on his chest and leaning into him. He blinked and smiled, hugging her before feeling her kiss his chin and push away.
"Good night." She told him as she walked away. "Try to get some sleep, Naruto-kun."
She disappeared to one of the rooms the captain had rented to them.
He felt a cool summer breeze blow over him, ruffling his hair and making his jacket fly out behind him.
"Good night..." He said, staring at her door calmly, "Hinata."
Enjoy!
Naruto fanfic chapter 27
NARUTO'S POV
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE-3:00 AM
"Sure I can give you a ride!" The forty-fifth captain they'd asked said with a hearty laugh as he put an arm around Naruto.
"Awesome!" Naruto said as he coughed from inhaling the stench of tobacco, fish, and shaving cream. Suppressing his urge to recoil and ignoring his stinging, watery eyes, he turned around. "Isn't that awesome, Sasuke?"
Sasuke had, at some point, pressed a wet rag over his mouth and nose, keeping it there. Other than that, the pungent smells didn't seem to be getting to him at all.
"Tell him where we want to go first." He ordered.
Naruto made a face at that, but turned to the curious, expectant looking captain with a smile on his face.
A nervous smile, anyway.
"Ummm..." Naruto stepped back, rubbing the back of his head and chuckling nervously. "Well, you uh, know about that island a little ways off the coast...?"
The captain took a long drag of his pipe and exhaled directly into the vicinity of Naruto's face, sending him stumbling away with his elbow cupped around his mouth until he backed into Sasuke, who pushed him forward.
"That jagged cliff formation in the sea?" The captain pointed out the window at Uzushio, as it was visible from the port.
"Yeah... That's where we want to go." Naruto said with a crooked grin as he wiped tears from his eyes. Stupid smoke!
"Hmmmm... Well I suppose I can give it a try." The captain said, grinning back. "Don't know how well it'll go though."
Naruto turned to grin at Sasuke, rubbing the skeptic's face in it.
"Tell him how we're getting there." Sasuke ordered, earning another pout from Naruto, who was still crying from all the smoke getting in his eyes.
"I'm the captain of this ship, young'n!" The captain bellowed, pointing at Sasuke. "I'll decide how we'll be getting there."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head again. "No, no, not that. You see um... The only way to enter the island is to... Well, um... You gotta... Use the secret entrance."
The captain blew more smoke through his nose. "Secret entrance?"
Naruto gulped. "It's a whirlpool."
"A whirlpool?"
"Yeah you gotta... Sail into the right one... And it'll... Teleport you there."
The captain gave him the evil eye for a sec, then hummed and seemed to think it over. Naruto could sense the situation going south, and grinded his teeth together in anticipation.
"Alright, we'll do it!" The captain announced, sending both Naruto's and Sasuke's eyebrows up, behind their headbands. Narrowing his eyes, the captain pointed at Naruto threateningly. "But there better be one heck of a payment for this."
Naruto suppressed certain, ominous thoughts and gave a thumbs up.
"Don't worry! We'll make it worth your while!" He laughed, feeling Sasuke's eyes on his back as they turned to leave. "We're gonna go get our comrades now, so be prepared to set sail when we get back."
"You want to leave immediately?" The captain questioned.
"ASAP." Naruto said with a smirk as Sasuke closed the door behind him.
As soon as it was shut, the two shared a look; a silent understanding passed between them, and they nodded as they passed through the busy deck, down the ramp, to the port, and then into the silent nighttime town.
"... Now?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah. I think they're not ordinary sailors." Naruto said, starting the conversation.
"I think so too." Sasuke spoke calmly, yet harshly. "He agreed too easily, even after we told him about the secret entrance, and I think that bit about the money was too dramatic. He was laying it on thick."
"That ship pulled up about ten minutes before we asked the thirtieth captain." Naruto said, remembering how he'd jumped at the size. "We were basically going door to door. Or ship to ship I guess."
"They were expecting us." Sasuke concluded. "And they're after something. Is there anything of value in Uzushio?"
His usual instincts kicked into overdrive, as they always did when he thought about his clan, did any fuinjutsu, or remembered what he saw in Seto's memories. His muscles felt even lighter, his brain pulsed, his heartbeat quickened.
And then, it just clicked in his mind and his breath caught as he looked at Sasuke, alarmed, and very, very jumpy.
"You're afraid." Sasuke said it like statement, reading Naruto's expression. "Why?"
"Kairi." Naruto breathed out her name, as if it were already a ghost of a memory.
"What?"
Naruto grabbed Sasuke and shook him.
"Kairi!" He grit his teeth.
Sasuke put his hands up, moving them in a "relax" gesture.
"Calm down. Who's Kairi?"
"My sister!"
Sasuke moved his head to the side, then down as he narrowed his eyes. It was obvious he didn't believe Him, or was at least VERY confused.
"I mean, not really." He corrected himself. "She was... My cousin. Kind of. All the kids in the Uzumaki clan are like my little brothers and sisters. Kairi was--"
"That child that died." Sasuke said. The past tense was enough to tip him off. "The one you mentioned before. Her name was Kairi?"
Naruto hesitated, then slowly nodded.
"If she's dead, then how could they be after her?" Sasuke asked, obviously trying to calm him. "Are you talking about did-tensei?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Naruto grit his teeth; his eyes flickered to Sasuke, then back to the street.
Sasuke stared hard at him. "There's something you're not telling me."
Naruto sighed, clenching his fists.
"Lets go to the others." Sasuke decided, grabbing his shoulder.
Naruto nodded, feeling his stomach do backflips.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
NARUTO'S POV
FLASHBACK STARTS HERE-3:35AM
"So that's what happened." Sasuke said as he wrapped up telling Kiba, Hinata, and Sakura what happened on the ship and in the street.
"Geez! We let you guys wander off and this is what you bring back?" Kiba joked, with Akamaru barking in agreement.
"You've got some things to explain." Sasuke told Naruto, who nodded.
"What's going on?" Hinata asked, giving Naruto a look that asked "you okay?"
Naruto smiled back as a way to say "just fine."
"I already said I'm not good at explaining things." He grinned anxiously. "But I'll do my best. In Uzushio, there's something called the Sacred Tree. The clan lived there for a long time, and I remember now that Uri said that Uzushio was built there because it's like a spiritual center or something. That's why it's guarded by all kinds of--" he shuddered at the thought--"ghosts and things, and there's lots of weird... Well I guess you can call it genjutsu. Plus all the mountains, poisonous plants, deadly animals and the genjutsu that M--... Um, I mean Kushina and Fugaku set up, well... You'd think it would be enough to keep anybody out, but Mami said that they travelled there a few years ago, so--"
"Wait." Sasuke put a hand up, stopping him. Naruto noticed something had changed in his expression. There was a gleam in his eye, but his guard was up at the same time. "You said Fugaku? Fugaku and Kushina went to Uzushiogakure together?"
Naruto nodded, a little confused. "Yeah. K... Kushina said that there was something there they had to protect, so Fugaku cast this really powerful genjutsu over the whole village and she sealed it into place."
Sasuke nodded, processing this information. Sakura seemed concerned about him all of a sudden. But they had to hurry, so Naruto went on.
"Anyway, Mami told me that they went back to the ruins a few years ago. And when they did, they went to see the Sacred Tree. It started glowing, and this baby appeared out of nowhere! And... These two clan members picked her up, and they... They Named her Kairi."
Sasuke straightened up, Sakura stiffened, Kiba tensed, and Hinata folded her hands over her mouth.
Sasuke started shaking his head, and continued to do so even as he looked at Naruto.
"How's that possible?" He asked.
Naruto breathed deeply. "You know how some guys burn the dead?"
"You mean cremate." Sasuke corrected.
Naruto threw his arms up. "Whatever! Anyway, we didn't do that in Uzushio. Whenever one of our clan members got too old, or was too badly injured, or was just plain dying, they'd go to the sacred tree, and they'd seal their chakra into it, and their will, and then somebody else would seal their body inside. That way, they lived on. As long as the sacred tree is alive, so's everyone who was sealed into it. Kind of anyway. So... It's like...! It's kind of... Complicated, but the tree has like ten thousand different wills. And all this chakra, all this power! It's kind of like a really nice biju, and it only has one goal, that way all the wills make up one massive one. To protect the Uzumaki clan. To protect us..." Naruto slowed down, as Kairi's image flashed through his mind. "I think... I think Kairi was the Sacred Tree, but as a person. I guess... Back when the clan was betrayed by Seto's father, and everyone died or ran away, Kairi got lonely. She was probably wondering where we all went, and was really worried about us. So when we returned, she decided she didn't want to be alone anymore. She didn't want us to leave without her... So she used her power to turn her will into a person, so she could be with us. But then she died, so she's back to being a tree now..."
"Naruto-kun, is that what you're afraid of?" Hinata asked. "You think the sailors want to take control of her, like people do with biju?"
He frowned, nodding. "Kairi is supposed to be different from biju. It's not supposed to be possible to seal her into somebody and use her. But Uri liked to tell me, A LOT, that nothing's impossible. If these guys are working with Mami or somebody, and they're after Kairi, and they figured out some way to use her, then we better stop them!"
Sakura eyed him suspiciously.
"I thought you didn't like Mami. When did you guys talk?" She asked. "And why would you listen?"
"And why didn't you mention this spiritual center stuff before?" Kiba asked. "And what's your relationship with this Uri guy? You talk about him like you respect him way more than you should."
Naruto decided to answer Kiba first (that was easier than answering Sakura first).
"I remembered something." He said, making all their faces light up, then quickly fall with his next sentence. "Uri talked to me a lot. When I was asleep, and awake at the same time... When I was zombie-ish. He'd tell me stuff about our clan and Konoha and Uzushio... I don't remember all of it, but... I remember what he said about Kairi."
"But... Ghosts? Those don't exist." Sakura said matter-of-factly.
Naruto shuddered. "Yeah. I hope Uri is wrong for once."
"But WHO is he?" Kiba repeated. "To you, I mean."
Naruto opened his mouth, but nothing came out. What should he say? He knew from watching Seto's memories that Uri was his kaa-chan's twin brother. Which made him Naruto's uncle. But that felt strange and dangerous to admit, even to his new friends. So he went with what he'd originally thought.
"He's my fuinjutsu mentor." Naruto grinned, feeling extremely proud. "He took care of me and protected me when I was sleeping. And he spent every day after that beating sealing jutsu, speed, and chakra control into me! He also made me study! It was terrible! He tied me to a chair and wouldn't let me sleep until I memorized it all!"
Kiba gaped, then closed his mouth, pointing at him.
"He made YOU read? YOU read things? YOU?" Kiba asked, as if this were the most shocking thing in the world. "Like actual books?"
Naruto exhaled through his nose. What right did he have to act that way? He didn't even know him well enough to say that.
"Back to the issue at hand," Sasuke said, reminding Naruto and the others, "What are we going to do about those 'sailors?' Should we still sail with them?"
Naruto smirked, making a fist. "Absolutely. We need to keep our enemies close. That's another thing Uri says a lot. If we let these guys go, they'll just tail us, and it's hard to be stealthy when you're riding a ship and your enemy already knows where you're going. We'll sail with them, but we better keep our guards up."
"But what about--" Sakura began.
"Let's go, guys! To the ship!" Naruto declared, cutting her off.
FLASHBACK ENDS HERE
NARUTO'S POV
PRESENT TIME
A few miles into open sea, Naruto stood on the ship edge, looking out at Uzushio. It actually looked almost... Tiny from here. It had looked so big in Seto's memories though. Huge, and wealthy, and beautiful.
Now it was just a bunch of ruins. Beyond those mountains was probably moss and dust covered rubble. And skeletons. And ghosts!
He shuddered.
But Kairi was there. The Sacred Tree was alone again.
"Naruto-kun?"
He smiled at the sound of her voice as he turned on his heel and dropped down from the edge to the deck. Taking her hand, he squeezed her fingers and leaned his forehead on hers, grinning cheerfully.
"What is it?" He asked.
Hinata was only barely blushing, but she was also smiling and looking up his face in a slow zigzag motion as she sighed happily.
"You're okay." She stated, squeezing his hand back. "I was a little worried, with what happened earlier... You seemed so down."
Naruto nodded. "I'm worried about Kairi."
Hinata tilted her head, knitting her brow. "Is there any way you can move her?"
"Maybe..." He answered, looking back at Uzushio before looking back at her. "But she's a tree now, so it might just kill her again. And anyway, where would I move her to?"
Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but quickly bit her lip and looked down.
Naruto sensed she had something important to say.
"What is it?" He asked, brushing their noses together.
She shifted uncomfortably and squeezed his hand a little too hard.
"You could... Move her to Konoha." Hinata suggested, making Naruto stiffen.
"You... You could bring your family there too!" She continued, lacing their fingers together and standing on her toes. "All of them. They'd be safe, and happy, and protected. The children could go to the ninja academy, and become genin. The Uzumaki veterans could be friends with the other ninja and the villagers, and embrace outsiders and outer-clan marriage, and half-bloods. The Uzumaki clan won't have to live in the darkness anymore, or travel from hideout to hideout, or... Take you away from me."
Naruto straightened up, blushing but also feeling very afraid as certain ominous, far less hopeful outcomes of what Hinata was suggesting came to mind. His heart sank and filled with hot air and did back flips and shot into his throat, then back to his chest and beat like crazy.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something as his head shook slowly from side to side.
But Hinata grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him down to her eye level, so she had his full attention again.
"You could live in your parents house, and I could come over." Hinata suggested, making his eyes widen and his face turn red. "I could cook for you, and we could spar in the training rooms and... Sakura and Sasuke could come over and spar too. I could get your memories back. And you could be happy."
Naruto's eyes shifted as opposing thoughts bounced in his head. He looked at Hinata and his heart fell into his stomach, fluttering miserably.
Too many conflicting thoughts, a bipolar heart, words he didn't know how to say, and big, purple eyes staring at him lovingly, pleadingly were all the ingredients to the perfect recipe to nerves. Bad nerves. Stomach rolling, brain-cell destroying, heart-killing nerves.
He wrenched his hand free and quickly put as much distance between him and Hinata as he could. He couldn't look her in the eye! He felt like such a coward for not facing her and such an idiot for not being able to sort out his thoughts in an even, sensible order and explain to Hinata just what he thought about the Uzumaki moving into Konoha.
But she simply laughed, setting him at ease with a small, understanding smile.
"I'm sorry." She apologized, making him straighten up and look at her blankly, but confused. "I said too much. I got too excited, I guess. I've been thinking about all of that for a while now, so it just spilled out. It's okay... You don't have to think about all that right now."
She walked over, placing her hands on his chest and leaning into him. He blinked and smiled, hugging her before feeling her kiss his chin and push away.
"Good night." She told him as she walked away. "Try to get some sleep, Naruto-kun."
She disappeared to one of the rooms the captain had rented to them.
He felt a cool summer breeze blow over him, ruffling his hair and making his jacket fly out behind him.
"Good night..." He said, staring at her door calmly, "Hinata."
flowersXD
