Hidden Underneath the Underneath

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hinata blushed when she saw Akito's lean muscular arms and handsome features. To her, his looks were on par with Naruto's, not that she felt anything towards him anymore.

Akito grunted and stood up and offered a hand to help Hinata up. Hinata blushed even more.

"T-Thank you," she said, flustered.

Akito smiled at her. "Sorry, I flickered here cause I wasn't bothered walking, who is, nevermind, anyway, sorry, apologies for flickering right into you."

"It's alright," said Hinata, smiling gently.

Akito felt heat rush to his cheeks.

"So um...you here alone?" he asked awkwardly.

Hinata gave him a small nod. "The others ditched me...accidentally..."

"Oh, I see...I'll be your tour guide around Uzushio, as an apology for knocking you down, alright? I'll show you the best cinnamon buns," said Akito, winking at her. "I'm Uzumaki Akito by the way. What about you?"

"Hyuga. Hyuga Hinata. Nice to meet you," said Hinata shyly, slightly blushing.

Akito felt his cheeks grow even hotter. Was it normal that he found a girl he had just met undeniably attractive?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It had already been four days since the Rookie 12 had stayed in Uzushio. They were planning on leaving the next day. Early in the morning, Naruto had summoned them to the Uzukage Tower.

Quizzically, they stood in front of the Uzukage. Why did the Uzukage want to meet them all of a sudden? The whole situation was very awkward and quite tense. It was just the Rookie 12 and Naruto in the room. Naruto was still wearing his cloak. It was time...

"Good morning, Konoha shinobi," said Naruto cryptically. "There isn't an easy way to say this so I'll just show you,".

In one fluid movement, Naruto took off his cloak. When he did, the Rookie 12, except for Sai, gasped.

"Na-Naruto? Is that you?" stuttered Sakura, trembling.

Naruto nodded, looking away from them. Sasuke, perhaps, received the biggest shock of all.

His best friend, the one he had considered his brother was banished, because of him and six years later, when they were reunited, he was one of the strongest people on earth.

"Why though?! All these years we thought you were dead! Why didn't you tell us?!" screamed Kiba.

Naruto sighed and shot Kiba a cold look. "You do not know my reasoning, Kiba. I was to never set foot or even been seen in the Fire Country. Failure to obey this requirement meant death. If I had even sent you mail or any notes via my summoning animals, there was a chance I could have been caught.

It's not just my safety that was on the line. It was also yours. If they found out you had any associations with the, I quote, 'Demon-brat', you could have also been banished or even worse, executed.

Do you expect me to talk to you and tell you I was alright when your life could have been in danger?! What's the point anyway?! You probably would have just lived your life as the same when you didn't know me."

"That's not true!" exclaimed Hinata.

Everyone looked at her in astonishment. Hinata was never the one to speak up, nor shout.

"Naruto-kun, you are an inspiration. Thank you for being in my life at least. Thank you for everything; you have done more for me than you would know."