Author's note.

This is a rewording of another fanfiction of mine. The previous name of this fanfiction was "Naruto: Chronicles of the End". For the rewording of this fic in a correct English, I must thank my helpful betareader, which wants to stay hidden for the moment. About him/her I can only say that he/she is a very talented writer, with a great style and lots of good ideas.

The rating of the story will probably change in the future.

Now to the story.

Naruto: Path to the Future

Chapter 1 – A new beginning.

Can you really tell when is the exact moment which something new starts?

It was a beautiful day within the forests surrounding the great village of Konoha. The sun was shining brilliantly, and a gentle breeze whispered through the trees, carrying the sounds of the wildlife that lie hidden among the dense vegetation. It was the very definition of picturesque….

Were not a small band of travelers slowly making their way along the road, sticking out like a sore thumb.

They were dressed rather warmly for that time of year, being completely covered head to toe in black. Long, flowing cloaks draped across their shoulders, falling down to the knee while thick hoods obscured their faces. They wore matching leather boots, crushing the tender leaves that lay scattered across the path beneath them, leaving deep indentions within the earth. Only the fourth member of the group chose to wear something different, his coat colored a blaring white while his hood remained the same black that adorned the others.

The warm weather didn't seem to bother them all the much, but considering all that had happened recently, there was little reason to be upset. Despite heavy casualties in some of the bloodiest, most brutal conflicts in the shinobi world's history, the alliance of the five great ninja nations had managed to topple Madara Uchiha and his army of immortals. While no one country could claim greater fame than any of the others, one particular individual stood out among them as the bravest of them all, a true hero in the eyes of thousands.

Naruto Uzumaki, the young shinobi from Konoha, had overcome all odds and soundly defeated the mad Uchiha, despite his apparent immortality. Man had predicted the boy had rushed to his death, but if there was one thing the shinobi world was taught that day, it was that Naruto Uzumaki was anything but predictable.

To further add to his accolades, the young man had also defeated Madara's descendant and Naruto's closest friend before his defection, Sasuke Uchiha. Only a select few had been witness to the clash between them, but any and all who saw it claimed it would be passed down into legend as one of the most destructive battles in history. The last remaining member of the once mighty Uchiha clan renounced his desire for vengeance against Naruto's home, and the world was allowed some respite, if only for a while.

The person dressed in the white coat began to take larger strides, separating himself from the rest of the group. He didn't get far, however, before one of the stranger's companions caught up to him.

"Toraku, there's no need to pick up the pace!" the person lightly scolded, their voice revealing themselves as male. He didn't raise his voice, but his tone inspired authority nonetheless, and felt calm and reassuring. "We'll arrive at the Leaf Village soon enough; what's the point in rushing things if it's only by one day earlier?"

The one dressed in white seemed to slow down at his companion's words, albeit a little unwillingly.

"Try to understand his excitement, dear." Another of them gently responded, this time female. "He's excited to see his new home, and for good reason! To be honest, I'm a little excited myself to see just how much the village has changed after all these years!" She sounded much more relaxed than the others, lost in her nostalgia of the village she had apparently once called home.

The one called Toraku took her words as encouragement, and soundly returned to his former pace. "Yeah, hurry up! I wanna see if there are any strong ninja worth fighting! They're gonna be amazed when they see what I can do!"

The fourth member of their little troupe snorted at Toraku's bragging, shaking their head. "Please…with your skills it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that you'll get your ass kicked by their weakest genin!" Another woman, but of a much more confident and defiant disposition, seemingly daring anyone to challenge her with the way she carried herself.

"I'm talking to you too, Aunt Mitzuru!" Toraku shouted back. "If I remember correctly, I was gonna win our last fight if you hadn't cheated at the last second! And by the way, wasn't it you who whined that we shouldn't use our kekkei gankai because it's 'more interesting'?" He mimicked her voice as he spoke, striking a nerve with Mitzuru.

"Then you fake an injury just to take advantage of my good heart, and trap me in the stupid Genjutsu of yours!"

"Enough fighting, you two! You sound like children bickering like that." said the man who had spoken first. A small smirk spread across his face from beneath his hood. "Though to be honest, it will be nice to see Minato again and show him how much stronger I've gotten. I might even be able to steal the title of Hokage for myself!"

The woman fiddled with her cloak, sighing at the man's hypocrisy. "It's been 17 years since you've seen Minato…and the first thing you think about is challenging him? Humph, now I'm beginning to understand where Toraku gets his competitive behavior! Don't you want to see Kushina again, or meet their son, Naruto? Ahh, just imagine how much he's grown! Shiku, do you think he'll be more like his father or his mother?"

The man now known as 'Shiku' shrugged his shoulders absentmindedly. "Personally, I'd prefer if he was more like his mother. Minato can be such a bore sometimes, always serious this and authority that!"

Toraku hopped into their conversation, squeezing in between them. "I hope he's strong enough so that I can fight him!" he quipped happily, excited at the idea of facing the Hokage's son, especially since he was his own age.

Mitzuru snorted again, ruining Toraku's good mood. "He's bound to be stronger than you, not that it takes much to even achieve that!" She placed her hand on Toraku's shoulder, who only slapped it away in anger.

"Shut up! You're just envious of the fact that I'm only 16 and way stronger than you, whose already almost 35! I haven't even reached my prime yet, but you only have a few years before you're nothing but an old hag!"

The two continued to bicker amongst themselves, having grown completely oblivious to the two others that had fallen behind them.

Shiku sighed. "Those two will go on like that for hours unless we stop them. Would you mind handling that, Tsushika? You were always better at solving their little…Tsushika?"

Tsushika hadn't responded, staring off into space with a rather serious look in her eye. Shiku waved a hand in front of her face, snapping her out of her daze.

"Were you even listening to me?" he asked, defeated that even his wife was now ignoring him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Shiku! It's just that it's been so long since we've seen the village, our home…we really ought to play a little prank on the Hokage! You know, just to say hello in our own way!"

Shiku grinned at his wife's more mischievous side. "I love it when you get like this. Okay, I'm in, and we should probably involve Mitzuru as well as…oh, dammit!" He suddenly exclaimed, slightly surprising his wife.

"Dear? What's the matter?" she asked, worry evident in her tone.

"I just now remembered that since Toraku was born outside of the village, he'll have to be registered and everything! Oh, the paperwork alone will be the death of me…you'll take care of it for me, won't you Tsushika?"

His wife seemed to resist the complete ass-kissing he was lacing his voice with, and sought to catch up with her son and Mitzuru.

"We'll see, dear…we'll see…" she replied airily, waving his request off with a wave of her hand.

Shiku didn't like the sound of that, and hurried to catch up to try and convince his wife to handle the veritable mountain of paperwork that awaited them once they reached Konoha's walls.

The war finally over, the village of Konoha could now concentrate on reconstruction of the village, no easy feat considering how little left there was to rebuild, due to the severity of Pain's attack. Tsunade had wanted to start rebuilding during the war, but the village's only shinobi left were the genin, whom were too young to participate, and they were needed as security guards in case of bandits seeking to take advantage of the village's plight. So only the most capable of the village's civilians were allowed to start construction, and they could only do so much. But now that the village's chūnin and jōnin had returned, reconstruction was in full swing, and the villagers were amazed at the pure speed the buildings were popping up.

Separated from the rest of the village, lay one of the training grounds that dotted the landscape around the village. Specifically, the training ground that Team 7 used for the training exercise, and where a certain member of team 7 was currently training, his blond hair soaked with sweat as he sparred against one of his clones, doing some simple combat practice.

'What do I do…' he thought to himself, striking against the clone harder than he had intended. 'I can't put this off any longer…ever since you defended me from Pain, I haven't had a chance to talk to you.'

Naruto winced as his clone struck into his thigh, silently keeping him from getting the wrong idea.

'No…that's not it. It's not that I haven't had the chance to talk to you yet…it's that I don't have the guts to! Dammit, why is this so hard! And then there's Sasuke and the village…argh!'

Naruto's blocking became sloppier as his mind became heavier and heavier with the burdens of recent events. His clone didn't fare any better, and soon neither of them saw any point in continuing. Naruto dispelled the clone, who disappeared without another word.

The blonde was so lost in his troubles, that he hadn't even noticed a certain girl approaching him from behind. She took one last uncertain and insecure step towards him, gazing at him shyly with those pearly white eyes.

"Na…Naruto-kun?" she called out hesitantly, making her heart flutter as she spoke his name.

Naruto spun around like a top, frustrated he had been snuck up on so easily. From the look on his face, he was visibly shaken at whom he was staring at.

"H-Hinata…Hi. Sorry I didn't notice you…what're you doing here?" he asked, scratching the back of his head as he so often did when he was nervous.

The Hyūga began to fiddle with her index fingers, a sure sign that she was just as nervous as he was.

"I c-came to train a little, and w-when I saw that you were h-here, you looked a little upset." she stuttered, her face growing redder by the second. "…I'm sorry, I thought I could help y-you but I d-don't want to be a bother. I'll l-leave you alone!"

"Wait!" Naruto cried out, louder than he expected. He looked down to find that his hand had subconsciously grabbed a hold of hers to keep her from leaving. "P-please, don't go…I was thinking about you, after all…."

Although he had barely whispered that last part, the embarrassment was becoming increasingly obvious in Naruto's face.

Hinata's own face had turned redder and redder since she had approached him, and right now she couldn't tell if she was more excited about the fact that Naruto was holding her hand, or about what had just come out of his mouth.

'I was thinking about you, after all….d-did Naruto-kun really say that?' Hinata wondered to herself. 'He was thinking about me, even after all this time apart?'

Her heart began to sink as she thought about what he could have possible been thinking about that involved her.

'It can't be that he loves me back…even after all that training, all that hard work to protect Naruto-kun, he still was the one who ended up saving me…who could love a weak and useless shinobi like me…'

Hinata slowly turned back around to face Naruto, the object of her affections since as long as she could remember. The same Naruto who had quietly entered her heart without even trying…the same Naruto whom she had almost sacrificed her life for in a pathetic attempt to spare his own.

Fortunately, he had managed to escape, but that only served to lessen Hinata's opinion of herself even lower. She hadn't done anything useful, at least to her. But he had survived, and Hinata thanked the heavens every day for that fact.

Now, he was there in front of her, and unbeknownst to her, lost in her beautiful eyes. He didn't know what to do from there, still keeping a gentle grip on Hinata's softer hand, but had he thought of anything, he may not have gone through with it. For now, he was content to wander forever in those eyes of hers, studying her delicate features with had become more and more striking without Naruto even being aware of it. In fact, he would be hard pressed to describe Hinata as anything other than 'beautiful'.

After several seconds of passing glances, Hinata shyly lowered her head, and Naruto felt himself finally able to think clearly once more.

"I think I owe you an apology…" Naruto muttered, finally letting go of Hinata's hand.

"Naruto-kun, why would you need to apologize to me? You ha-haven't done anything wrong!" she protested, her eyes searching his for answers.

"That's just it! I haven't done anything at all!" Naruto responded, gritting his teeth together. "I haven't talked to you since…" He stopped, taking a deep breath, and looked ashamed of himself. The horrifying image of Pain ruthlessly piercing Hinata's flesh with his chakra rod…he couldn't get it out of his head.

To his surprise, Hinata spoke up. "I know…since I ruined our friendship with w-what I said. But I meant them, Naruto-kun, I meant them with all my heart! Every word I said that day was what I had wanted to tell you for so long…" It was growing harder to speak, but Hinata planted her feet and continued, pulling from a strength she didn't even know she had. If she wanted to remain friends with Naruto, she needed to at least show him that she could be honest with him, and show him that she's strong.

Naruto's breath caught in his throat. "H-Hinata…you.."

"I've always admired you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said, interrupting him. "At the beginning, it was just a childish crush, but these feelings for you started to grow stronger and stronger! When I saw what Pain did to you…and what he was going to do…I couldn't stop myself. I was afraid…afraid that I would lose you, never getting to see your smile or hear your voice again…it wasn't a world I wanted to live in! If sacrificing my own life would spare yours, I'd do it a thousand times over. My only regret would have been never having been fully honest with you, so I could no longer hide how I really felt about you!"

Naruto said nothing for several minutes, watching her face as she spilled her out her heart and soul for him to see. It was only after she had finished speaking that Hinata noticed that she hadn't stuttered a single time, and couldn't help but draw comfort from it.

"…When did you first feel this way?" Naruto finally asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Hinata blushed. "It was a long time ago, actually. Ever since you came to my rescue from those bullies near the academy."

'Has she really cared this much for me for all this time?' Naruto wondered. 'I had always chased after Sakura-chan, never knowing that this was how Hinata felt about me. I wonder how she felt all those years, watching me follow someone else when someone was right in front of me the entire time…Hinata…I'm…'

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun…when we were at the academy, when you were growing up, I knew you were alone and didn't have any friends. I wanted to overcome my shyness and talk to you, just be with you and be your friend so you wouldn't be alone all the time…I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun!" Her eyes began to tear up, and Naruto felt a lump grow in his throat, guilty that he was indirectly the cause of all this internal pain.

"Hinata, you shouldn't be the one apologizing!" Naruto protested. "What happened is the past is just that…the past. It may have hurt…but, it made me who I am today! I have to be honest with you, Hinata, just like I've always been. What you said to me before Pain, and what you're saying to me now, I don't…"

"I know you like Sakura…" Hinata finished. "I've always known, but I still wanted to tell you how I feel before-"

To her shock, Naruto had stopped her from finishing that sentence by lightly placing his finger over her lips, making her face turn a vivid red. Apparently he had done so without thinking, as when he noticed exactly what he had done, Naruto hurriedly removed his hand, even though it upset him a little to lose the feeling of those soft lips touching his flesh.

"No Hinata, I don't know how I feel about Sakura-chan anymore. When I went to the Land of Iron to meet with the Raikage, Sakura-chan met up with me there and…confessed her love to me."

Hinata felt her breath leave her throat sharply, but before she could say anything, Naruto continued.

"I knew right from the beginning that she was lying, that she didn't really feel for me what she said she did. I remembered what you had said…and it just didn't feel the same. Since then, I couldn't stop thinking about what you said, how you could love someone like me. I know almost nothing about you, but I always feel so safe when I'm around you. I can open up and let my guard down; you're the first person I've ever been able to do that with, Hinata. Back during the Chūnin exams, before my fight with Neji…it was the first time I ever showed weakness, to anyone. I don't really know what I'm saying here, but…I want to know you better and learn more about you. I want to understand what you see in me and see what can be between us."

Then he muttered something incomprehensible, and Hinata found herself scooting closer to see if there was any chance she could make out what he was saying.

"Na-Naruto-kun? What did you just say?" she asked, her heart skipping a beat when she saw how red his face was.

The blonde smiled. "Would you…like to go on a date with me?"

Hinata couldn't believe her ears. She had been hanging on his every word, but could never have expected that to come out of his mouth. She began to wonder if she was actually dreaming, or that this was all just her imagination. But as Naruto stood there, not fading away or revealing it was some cruel joke, Hinata felt the question really sink in.

In the meantime, Naruto had been anxiously awaiting an answer. His cheeks were now thoroughly red, and felt like he could just crawl inside his jacket he felt so embarrassed, something that had never happened when he would ask out Sakura. When he still didn't hear a response, Naruto began to think that perhaps his request hadn't been heard, and took the courage to ask again.

"Hinata Hyūga, would you go on a date with me tonight?"

The repeated question finally snapped Hinata out of her daze, and even though she felt faint, she managed a resounding "YES!" in a tone usually unheard of from a girl like her, before passing out without another sound. She would have fallen to the ground had Naruto not reached out and caught her tiny frame.

'I'm beginning to understand why she's like this all the time.' Naruto thought, chuckling to himself. 'I just hope she won't faint every time I talk to her, or starting a conversation may be a little harder than I thought. Gotta admit though, I think I could get used to this.'

What Naruto was referring to, was the warm feeling he was getting as he cradled Hinata in his arms, carrying her over to a tree to get out of the heat of the day. When he had set her down against the trunk, he found his eyes trailing all over her.

It was a strange thing; Naruto had never looked at Hinata as anything more than a friend and a companion of the Leaf, but as he watched her body rise and fall with her soft breath, he found himself amazed by her beauty, her features looking so calm and serene.

His eyes traveled south, and he felt them search over her body, studying her. She was wearing her usual attire of a loose, heavy jacket, but the generous and inviting curves that lay underneath didn't escape his eye.

A rather lecherous grin split across his face as he imagine her in more seductive clothing, before cursing himself for having ended up so much like his perverted teachers.

'I need to calm down, or risk ruining the moment! Still, to say I'm not attracted to her would be a lie…I just hope this isn't all I see in her. I couldn't be with her if I all I cared about was her body. She deserves better than that, and it's not fair to her or me!'

His control reassumed, Naruto was content to study her face for a few minutes longer until he noticed Hinata beginning to wake up. She cuddled deeper into whatever was providing her with such wonderful warmth, feeling protected and secure. But a certain scent caught her nose, and she began to hear the small thud of a heartbeat resting against her ear. Her eyes shot open when she realized that the 'warmth' was in fact Naruto, holding her in his arms with his face as red as can be.

"Good morning, sunshine!" he quipped happily. "You fainted so I brought you over here until you woke up. I promise I haven't done anything!" he added quickly, flashing his teeth in an awkward smile.

"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun…I'm sorry if I embarrassed you…" Hinata replied, visibly shaken. They had never been this…intimate before, at least not since she had told him of her feelings.

Naruto brought Hinata to her feet, setting her down softly in the grass, and it was obvious that neither of them were happy about breaking the contact. It felt nice to be out of that awkward situation, but still…

Naruto grinned. "So, for our date…is 7 alright? We can go grab something to eat, so be hungry when I come by!"

"Of course, naruto-kun! 7 sounds wonderful." Hinata replied, her heart doing cartwheels as he flashed that brilliant smile in her direction. He bade her a fond farewell, and with one last look, turned to head back to the village.

Hinata returned the goodbye, although she really wasn't aware of what she had said. She remained rooted to the spot, lost in thought that this would forever be the place that Naruto asked her on a date. The boy of her dreams, Naruto Uzumaki, had asked her on a date.

Suddenly, a whirlwind of worries spun into her mind. What to wear, how to act, what to say…Hinata felt a little overwhelmed, but in a good way. She turned on her heels, and began her own journey back to the village, headed in the direction of the Hyūga compound.

Author's note (yes, another one.)

If you came here thinking of this as one of the many Naruhina fanfiction full of fluffy stuff, I'm sorry to delude your expectations. This fic will tell a story about Naruto and his world, as a whole. Some chapters will contain romanticism, others will be dedicated to family issues, others to action and so on.

Those at the beginning are all Original Characters of mine. They'll cover a very important role in the story, so you can expect to see them very often.

Please, be kind and leave a review.