Intro

It was a dark, stormy night when the brigands arrived near the small secluded village and our twenty ninja went out to hold them off to allow the townspeople to escape. There were about 100 mercenary ninja armed to the teeth with weapons and deadly intent. The most unsettling sight was their leader, who wore a black wolf mask with red markings, a black suit of armor and gauntlets. However, he was in total control of his men and started talking to our ninja.

He said, "You are heavily outnumbered and outmatched. I will give you a choice: If your strongest ninja join my ranks, then I will spare your entire village. If you refuse, then every single man will die and the village will burn to the ground." These words were spoken with conviction and coercion. Our ninja replied, "How can we possibly trust your word that our townspeople will not be harmed?" Then one of the mercenary ninja suddenly charged forward and brandished his sword, shouting "Let's kill them all!"

Suddenly, a fist surrounded by lightning chakra pierced through the ninja's chest and killed him instantly. It had come from the leader of the mercenaries himself! The masked man stated coldly, "I ordered that no one would attack without my permission. You all now understand the penalty for disobeying me. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!" A collective "yes" was heard on the cliff side and our ninja saw that this man meant every word of what he had said. They had seen his ruthlessness and his sense of honor in the slaying of his own henchman. Seeing no other alternative, our ninja agreed to join his ranks. With the business concluded, the mysterious man smiled and stated, "Now we prepare for our enemies to arrive and they will pay a heavy price for their crimes against my family. Everyone will remember my name as Takeshi Matsuda and I will finally fulfill my promise: Never to rest until I avenge their deaths."

That same night in Konoha, Naruto was sleeping adjacent to Hinata as a guest in the Hyuga home. He was dreaming about Hinata and himself walking alongside a beach. They were smiling and happy to be together with no cares in the world. Suddenly, a huge tidal wave crashed unto the shore and swept Hinata away from Naruto. He was instantly surrounded by darkness and cried out for her in vain.

Naruto then saw a faint light at the end of a long tunnel. He raced towards the opening and found a heart-wrenching sight. Hinata was lying in a pool of blood with a kunai in her heart and a black wolf mask was lying on the ground next to her. Naruto woke up instantly in a cold sweat and screamed with fright. This loud commotion awoke Hinata, who asked if Naruto was all right. Naruto climbed out of his bed and hugged Hinata tightly with tears running down his face.

He cried, "I had a terrible dream, Hinata. You were taken away from me and I couldn't save you…." Hinata had never seen Naruto so distraught except when Neji sacrificed his life to protect them. Hinata dried his tears with a wipe of her hand and said,"Naruto, I will always be here because I love you and because you saved me from my sorrow."

Naruto replied, "You don't understand, Hinata. You are the one who saved me. I was so lonely as a kid from being ostracized because of Kurama. Did you really think that I never really noticed your smiles whenever you looked at me? Those smiles of yours carried me from the depths of my sorrow and eventually made me into the man that you love." Hinata was deeply moved by Naruto's words and kissed him passionately as the storm raged outside.