Yeah! I'm back again, with an all new chapter. I realised that I forgot to write about what happened to Kiba and Shikamaru before they were found by the Naruto clones. Also, I know the sand siblings were supposed to make their grand appearance during that time, but for what I wrote last chapter to make sense, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro had to be left out. Lets just say they left the leaf-village a little too early. But listen, should I make the next chapter about what happaned or just write about it in the next Authors Notes? I'll let you guys decide, since I couldn't care less either way.
Well on with the story!
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO! (damn)
Shizune walked the quiet, pale white, halls of the hospital, trying to remember where Hyuuga Hinata was staying. She was still slightly disgusted by the large wounds the girl had endured through. Thankfully they had been able to heal her wounds to a point where they could heal on their own with minimal scarring. And it was all thanks to the secret healing technique Tsunade hadsuggested.
Flashback
Tsunade quickly walked down the hallway, hoping to find Shizune before it was too late. She let out a sigh of relief as she found her former apprentice in one of the many surgery rooms, desperately trying to heal the dying Hyuuga with a madical jutsu. She was not making much progress. Tsunade ran over to Shizune and stopped her healing, recieving a shocked stare.
"Its no use Shizune. Simple medical justsu like that won't be enough to heal Hinata's wounds." said Tsunade. Shizune stared at the Hokage, completely dunbfounded. "The only thing we can do now is..." Shizune's voice faded as Tsunade suggested. "Chikatsu Saisei no Jutsu"(Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique) Shizune stared at the Hokage. "But, Tsunade-sama, there is a high chance that that technique might not even work." she said.
"We don't have any other choice. We either give it a shot or let Hinata die, and since the latter is not an option, I suggest we begin the jutsu as soon as possible.
Shizune nodded "Come, we need to get her to the underground chamber, you know how big the seal has to be." said Tsunade as she started to walk out of the room. Shizune, along with several other medic-nin present, started off after the Hokage, Hinata in Shizune's arms.
'This is going to be a long night." thought Tsunade as she walked through the long staircase leading to the underground chamber.
End Flashback
Thankfully the jutsu had worked, unfortunately Hinata was left unconcious from chakra depletion. Shizune had estimated that Hinata would be unconcious for at least two more days after the use of the jutsu. It had already been two days.Shizune continued her search, desperately trying to remember where Hinata's room was.
Naruto sat in the depressing silence of his room. His windows were closed, leaving the room dark, adding to the already depressing atmosphere. Naruto was sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the floor, silently wishing that it would just come alive and swallow him whole. Anything to rid him of the intense guilt he was feeling. He still had no clue if Hinata was dead or alive. It had been two days since the failure of the mission and Naruto's hope for Hinata's survival was slowly fading away.
His eyes drooped from exaustion. He had also been having nightmares when he tried to sleep. Every time he would nod off, Naruto would see Hinata lying on the ground, covered in her own blood. He would run over to her and hold her the same way he did in the forest. She would open her eyes, but instead of the dreamy look they had in the forest, they were full of hate. She would glare at him, eventually openeing her mouth and saying "Its all your fault." before dying in his arms. He would snap awake, usually ending up in tears. He couldn't take the hateful glare he got from the Hinata in his dream. It reminded him of all of the others in the village. Of all the others who hated him. So he stayed awake, never wanting to experience the glare again, especially from her.
He listened to the constant tick tick of his alarm clock, it was slowly eating away at his sanity. Finally something broke through the depressing silence. Naruto looked over to his window as it opened and a certain perverted, white-haired man hopped down from the window sill.
"What's up brat?" said Jiraiya. The old hermit had heard about Naruto's mission from Tsunade and decided to come down and make sure Naruto didn't go into some kind of depression. From the looks of it he was too late. "What do you want Jiraiya?" asked Naruto as he continued his staring contest with the floor. Jiraiya looked at the boy, his eyes wide in shock. Naruto never used his real name. 'he must really be out of it.' thought the sannin. "Its not your fault the mission failed. The way I see it, it was because of you that your friends survived. If you hadn't sent your Kage Bunshin out to look for them, it might have been ours before a search party found them." said Jiraiya.
"But because I couldn't escape from a net the enemy trapped me in, I couldn't go and help Shikamaru and Kiba. Because I couldn't free myself, Hinata got hurt. She's probably dead by now." Naruto said the final part of his statement no louder than a whisper. Jiraiya looked at the blonde simpathetically.Seeing the young shinobi like this reminded him of what he had felt after Orochimaru left the village. Thanfully Jiraiya had visited Tsunade that morning to find out about Naruto's mission. During his visit, Jiraiya learned some information that would lift the blonde's spirits a little.
"Your friend isn't dead." said the sannin. The simple statement made Naruto's head snap up, his eyes wide as he stared at the perverted old man. Jiraiya smiled, satisfied with the fact that he was able to cheer the kid up a little and walked back towards the window he came from. Before he exited the small apartment, Jiraiya said "Blaming yourself won't make the events of the past change. Instead, you should be looking for a way to get stronger, so you can prevent things like this from happening again. If you decide to try and strengthen yourself, come and find me. I think I'll be able to help." with that, the white-haired sannin left Naruto to think about what he said.
Naruto sat on his bed, Jiraiya's words repeating themselves in his mind.
'He's right, I need to get stronger, but first...' Naruto's thoughts trailed off as he jumped from his bed to get dressed. Before he thought about getting stronger, Naruto had to see a certain pale-eyed girl.
Moments later, Naruto emerged from his apartment, no longer plagued by his intense guilt. He started off towards the hospital, his hands on his head as he walked the busy streets of Konoha. As he walked by all of the merchants and small shops, something caught his eye. "The Yamanaka Flower Shop" said Naruto as he read the sign that hung over the doorway. 'Hmm...'
"Hi Naruto. " She watched as Naruto ignored her and continued to search through the rows of flowers. "Your not trying to impress Sakura again, are you?" she asked, a pitiful look on her face. Naruto looked at her and said "No, actually its for Hinata." he said with a grin. He instantly regretted what he said as the blonde girl squeled and started to unload a ton of questions.
"Did she finally get through that thick head of yours? Are you two going out? Did she actually tell you how she feels?" Naruto sweat dropped. Ino was about to continue her onslaught of questions when her mother called from up the stairs. "Ino, can you come here for a second?" asked her mother. "In a minute mom." called Ino. "Don't move, I'll be right back." she said as she walked up the stairs.
Naruto quickly looked around and picked a red flower to his left. He then procedded to create a Kage Bunshin. He slapped some money in the clone's hand and quickly said " Here pay Ino with this. See ya." as he ran out the door. The clone stared at the door completely dunbfounded. He heard Ino come back and heard her continue her interrogation.
After she finished all of her questions, the blonde kunoichi looked at the clone expectantly "Well, are you going to answer me or just stand there like an idiot?"
"Uhhh...who are we talking about again?"
Naruto looked down at the flower he had managed to snatch before fleeing the Yamanaka's flower shop. It was a rose. To Naruto it was just another flower but to others it was a symbol of love and affection. If only he knew that.
Soon the large hospital came into view. Naruto hurried over to the large building and entered. He walked over to the receptionist and asked what room Hyuuga Hinata was staying in. The woman told him that she was in room 136, down the long hallway to his left, fifth door to the right. Naruto thanked the receptionist and started off down the long hallway.
Naruto finally found room 136 and opened the door. He smiled softly as he saw the sleeping form of Hyuuga Hinata lying in the single hospital bed. He walked over to her bedside and placed the his rose in the vase that had been conveniently placed on the bedside table. He pulled up a chair that was placed along the wall and sat next to the girl. He stared at her and noticed something different about Hinata. Maybe it was the light from the window or the fact that she looked so peaceful, something about her made Naruto think she looked kind of...cute, no it was something else. What was it?
As he thought this over he once again remembered what Hinata had said in the forest, while she was in his arms.
In truth...I believe...that I have fallen in love with you, Naruto-kun...
Naruto blushed at the memory and stared at the sleeping Hyuuga. As he continued to remember the events in the forest, Naruto realized something. In the forest, when he held her, Naruto thought that she looked different then too. But he came to realize that Hinata didn't look cute like he originally thought. No, the word he would use to describe her wasn't cute, but...beautiful. Naruto quickly shook the thought from his head. 'I shouldn't be thinking about her like that. She's just a friend. I like Sakura-chan...right?" he debated the thoughts in his mind. It was true that he did like Sakura, but he had only thought of her as pretty, not once did he ever use the word beautiful to describe her. And Hinata had never hit him, never called him an idiot, and from what she said she really liked him.
'Maybe I should give up on Sakura. Maybe I should like...no I don't like Hinata like that. Not yet at least.' he paused his thoughts and looked over at Hinata. He smiled at the sleeping girl as he started to feel his eyelids get heavy. Naruto slowly started to nod off, his exaustion finally taking over. Finally the blonde fell asleep, one thing still on his mind...
Hinata...
Hinata slowly started to stir, her eyes slowly starting to open. She was only able to open her eyes a little due to the light pouring in from the window. She wondered where she was. If she was dead. She looked around her surroundings seeing the blank, white, walls surrounding her. She realised that she was in a hospital room.
'I'm...alive?' she thought to herself. Her head was being propped up by a couple of pillows, allowing her to sit up without straining herself. Her entire body ached, but for some reason her leg seemed to be heavier than the rest of her body. She looked down and let out a small squeek. What she saw caused her eyes to grow wide, a blush instantly appearing on her face. Naruto was sound asleep on her leg. As she stared at him, everything that happened before she passed out in the forest came back to her. She remembered how he held her in the forest, she remembered how she explained everything that lead up to her feelings, but most of all she remembered how she cupped his cheek in her hand and told the blonde of her feelings for him.
All of these things caused her blush to increase in size, now covering her entire face and some of her neck. The combination of exaustion and all of the blood rushing to her head caused her to do something she always did in these situations
She fainted.
Naruto slowly stirred from his little nap after hearing a small squeek. He looked up groggily and saw that Hinata was still sound asleep, but something was different about her.
'Why is Hinata blushing?'
Well thats finishes that chapter. Again I didn't really like this chapter all that much, overall. I loved the last part, though. Oh, and Healing Resuscitation Regeneration Technique is what they used on Neji after his fight in the Anime/Manga.
So, yeah
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