Cold, lifeless air flowed uncaringly amidst a sea of tension and hidden bloodlust. Within the confines of the outpost's observatory stood two. The sand-brown eyes peered jovially into the icy cold blue that glared back. The now revealed form of the young red-haired ANBU stood as still as a statue in the face of the Rock Jonin planted across from himself. His mind twitched in anticipation and with immense self-restraint as the corner of his eye kept drifting to the fallen body nearby.
A young woman; her chest plate shattered at her right shoulder, her mask valiantly fighting to stay on her face with it cracked and burnt, her arms singed and exposed, her body slumped against the debris of what was once a support beam for the outpost. In addition to her lack of movement, Naruto's concern and unease elevated to levels he couldn't temporarily ignore. However, he knew that if he didn't focus, he and Hitomi would die, with war a certainty.
This inner conflict seemed to amuse the man in front of him more than it enraged him, with his eyes once again holding the same murderous glee he acquired before blasting Hitomi away. It all culminated in a small chuckle and soon turned into an infectiously psychotic laugh. "This was certainly not what I was expecting from Konoha..." He muttered to himself in delirium.
He turned his head towards the young woman, feeling the concealed, venomous hatred smashing towards him as had done so only added to his amusement. "Children. Sent to kill veteran soldiers..." He spat with a sudden burst of disdain and hatred as he stared at the broken body of the girl that had tried to kill him.
"Adults..." He muttered in a murderously low tone. Though, as he said this, his gaze turned towards the blond. His glare was now deathly professional and cold as he focused on the hair, on the eyes.
"Tell me, boy. How and why are you here?" He inquired, "Why would the 'supposed' strongest hidden village in the Elemental nations send children to war during a time of peace?" Continuing in a much more deadly glare. However, what he got as a response was something he didn't expect. The boy's eyes spoke to him, screaming to him: the pain, the determination, the purpose he held within his heart.
"At the end of our battle, you will know. Whether victorious or defeated, you will know Hinote. I promise you at least that much." Naruto spoke in a dull, monotone voice as his mind was operating on an agonisingly slow clock, with his patience wearing thin. His hand carefully grasped the hilt of his katana, slowly unsheathing to reveal its bloody red blade.
Though all the while, Hinote stood slightly shocked. The professionalism. The honesty. The appearance. These things managed to spark a thought in his mind that he didn't want to believe but wished to be true.
But the sickeningly, tense silence was abruptly halted upon a burst of lightning chakra directly behind Hinote. Instinctively tilting his head to avoid the bullet of lightning, the clone of the red-head became known to Hinote. The clone was now constantly moving around the area, previously, directly behind Hinote moments prior.
Meanwhile, Naruto built up more and more chakra to the point of it becoming visible to Hinote when he finally had the reprieve he needed to charge towards the original. But he was too late.
Suddenly, through a lightning-fast, brief set of hand signs, the Uzumaki quietly muttered to himself.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Beam," as with this utterance, Naruto began shooting out the very same bullets of lightning that his clones had been harassing Hinote with before. Only this time, the aim of each bolt was more precise and powerful, each coming tantalisingly close to hitting their target.
This constant pressure and cause for concentration didn't go unnoticed by the experienced Jonin. He knew something was not right but didn't have the time to identify what until he had needed to jump to avoid one of the bolts.
Upon his landing, eight clones of the red-haired boy revealed themselves as they set kunai evenly around the lookout as they all went into the same set of hand signs.
"Lightning Style: Piercing Lightning Beam" echoed throughout the area as both Naruto and Hinote attached themselves to the room of the outpost to avoid the powerful streams of lightning chakra now covering the floor below them.
Through a millisecond's lapse of concentration from the Uzumaki, Hinote had closed the gap to a deadly degree. Both noticed this lapse. While Naruto tried his best to retain their distance, the experienced shinobi was much quicker than he was, resulting in the two clashing their blades. Kunai against Katana.
With the fair superior speed and strength besting any attempts for evasion, Hinote's hand began to glow a murderous white. Desperate, Naruto launched his katana at Hinote, knowing that he couldn't miss from this range.
With attention solely in front of him, he neglected a small, loose rock behind him. The seemingly insignificant rock became more and more humanoid. And as this happened, Naruto's katana connected with Hinote. Only to result in the body of Hinote turning into stone, as it was at that point. Naruto felt fear.
Spinning at a lightning-quick pace, Naruto met his mistake fully. A brightly white lighted palm descended upon Naruto's small frame whilst Naruto's right arm came to cover his body as best he could.
For Naruto, it seemed time froze for a split second as Hinote's jutsu activated against his arm. His vision turned a bright white at the explosion that was to come. He braced himself, tensing as much as he could until it hit him.
Immediately, an explosion shook the lookout to its foundations. The stone roof began to spew dust in addition to the raining of small stones, as the epicentre of the explosive jutsu held a large crack. The clones of the masked boy all cancelled their jutsu, rushing in a desperate defence of the original.
Hinote landed upon the debris-ridden stone floor as the clones of the child charged at him from all directions. However, the sight before him left him with a bitter taste of victory. Across from him, looking deathly pale and broken, Naruto lay. His left-hand glowed a weak green light over his right shoulder. Blood erupted from it like a grotesque fountain of misery as his eyes centred on the thick blood trail, ending in the bloody arm of the boy, charred and cut-ridden with the bicep of his right arm bearing the most damaged.
Looking back to the boy, Hinote looked on in shock and disgust at the state of the boy's shoulder, charred just like his missing appendage but now not bleeding. The whole of the red head's right-hand side was drenched in blood as his breath was heavy, uneven and forced.
Before he could further inspect the extent of his injuries, the clones had launched themselves towards the hidden Stone ninja. With all but six of them blasted away into dispelling, leaving the two remaining to coordinate their weakened attacks to try and buy what little time they could. Much to Hinote's disregard, the last clone only managed to touch him which, he believed to be dangerous on second thought but justified to himself out of it. He couldn't know that despicable jutsu. If he did then, why didn't he use it?
Slowly walking over to the now kneeling young man, Hinote was hesitant and still on guard for any tricks the Leaf shinobi may attempt but doubted any would come considering he looked close to death's door. He stopped a few feet away from his broken opponent, looking down with pity almost, screaming from his eyes. He knelt across from the boy as he looked at the shattered mask still on the boy's face.
A crack permeated throughout the outpost. With the blank mask's last string broken, it descended off the boy's head, disintegrating upon its contact with the ground. It revealed the whiskered, somewhat scarred face of the boy he had just mortally wounded. It held little innocence. It was hardened like his, devoid of any fat or care. But what it did scream was pain, a level of it Hinote had not seen since the times of war he had endured.
"You probably want my explanation?" the boy asked weakly, as his head slowly, shakily lifted itself to look Hinote dead-in-the-eye. "Right?" he said with a small smile. The sudden shock of the boy's surviving strength left the veteran shinobi in a stupor. He could only nod respectfully in response.
He proceeded to look at Hinote slightly, amused at the reaction before continuing, his eyes turning more hardened but also honest and trustworthy. "I saw the look in your eye when you looked at me. You despise me, don't you?" He said rhetorically, to which Hinote's shock on elevated. He didn't know what to think. He had revealed that he was the son of the Hokage who'd killed hundreds of his comrades, a person the hidden stone despised. But instead of killing that bastard's son, he would wait. He would give the respect, the honour he had been given for his men and for the promise he could've left unkept.
He chuckled much to Hinote's concern, "You are one of a handful of people who knows this. I find it ironic and therefore amusing," he explained much to Hinote's bemusement. He could only guess it was to protect him from the stone. How ironic indeed.
However, what came from the boy's mouth made the atmosphere of the conversation take a drastic turn. "He had nightmares, you know?" He muttered, much to Hinote's immediate anger as he stood up with venom in his eyes. Though, Naruto looked on in complete exhaustion. "So do I. We never kill because we want to. At least not in the beginning. We do what we must. Kill or be killed that is the law we live under." He snapped with an exhausted annoyance, much to Hinote's understanding but, his anger was still boundless.
"That is easy for you to say. You didn't lose anyone to that monster." Hinote retaliated in utter disgust. The result was Naruto lifting his head higher to meet the eyes of Hinote's newly elevated form, his eyes radiating in pain.
His hand then slammed itself against the stone floor, causing it to crack under its force, as Hinote looked unfazed at the foolish action. "I thought you were better than that." Naruto began as Hinote's rage was supplemented further through the comment grabbed the boy by the skin-tight black under armour he wore as their eye met once again, only this time Naruto was showing a deeply locked rage in his heart.
Naruto defiantly grabbed his hands as he continued, "Imagine having to live knowing that you're harbouring the being that took everyone that would've cared for you." He said with a dull, stone-faced expression as Naruto looked at the initially puzzled man. He saw the cogs turn and sparks alight. Hinote frustratingly tightened his grip on the boy's collar at his conclusion.
"Then you should know, should understand this feeling. Reciprocate it and feel it every day." The Jonin spat back with bewilderment at the boy's backwards logic, not beginning to believe that he was any different than he is.
The grip on his hands loosened a little as his eyes softened. "I did for a time, but regardless of what he did, I tried and did forgive him. Despite all that he has done to make my life hell, whether intentional or not. I forgave him." He said with genuine sadness in his voice as Hinote immediately dropped the boy before taking a step away from him. Naruto proceeded to crash towards the ground landing, roughly upon the stone floor as he grunted in his discomfort and pain.
Hinote then turned to face the beautifully clear night sky. The moon, in its, lunar illuminance projected serenity to the hostile landscape that surrounded them. It brought a semblance of peace to the veteran's mind, giving him time to think upon questions that he would need to provide an honest answer. "How do you forgive someone who's wronged you in so many different ways?" Hinote asked with uncertainty, to which Naruto painfully sighed as a line of blood escaped his lips, with then coughing a small amount of blood upon the barren stone.
As the redheaded boy slowly sat up, his gaze fell upon his teammate. She was still unconscious and was still bleeding, still charred. She was still broken and in need of medical attention. He knew he needed to find a way to escape or remove Hinote soon, else he'd lose another one of his precious people. Something he wouldn't allow to happen, even if it killed him.
"Through accepting who that person was. Were they merciless killers? did they mourne for every life they took?" He weakly stated, lifting himself onto one knee, his lone arm supporting his weight on his left knee. "My father detested violence. So do I. We all do, to some degree. But commit it to protect those we love. You fight to protect the hidden stone. My father fought for his girlfriend, his friends and his village." He softly spoke as he shakily got onto his feet, his hands twitching in apprehension and his body buckling under its weight.
Hinote sensing and hearing the heavy movements of the Namikaze made him turn around, in slight interest at what the boy was doing. But the sight of him standing defiantly in opposition to him made the respect he held for the boy grow to lengths he would've thought impossible given his heritage. "Just like how I must fight for my teammate." He said with confidence and determination radiating off his tone as Hinote could only smile at the last stand. His eyes were firm and calm, with his body becoming more and more steady, more planted as Hinote could feel the new chakra entering the Namikaze's system.
Before Hinote could summon his infamous jutsu, a red flash illuminated the shadowed outpost, causing Hinote to stand in fear. His was body as rigid and still as a statue.
The eyes of the stone ninja widen by the second with each realisation.
There weren't any Kunai. The red-head must've marked him.
The boy hadn't landed a hit on him. But he had been touched on his right shin by the last of his clones.
When he'd realised these errors, he felt a person breathing down his neck, kunai at his throat.
Undeniably, he is that bastard's son.
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Before I begin waffling. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
I hope this chapter wasn't too, Naruto talk-no-jutsu, though I wanted to try and make the enemy shinobi more like people rather then mindless murders. Try to humanise the regular shinobi of other villages rather then just Konoha shinobi which I found to be quite prevalent in many fanfics and sometimes in the show.
Hope the conversation wasn't too much of a mood breaker as well. I know they do it a lot in the show but I see how this would be unappealing because of the nature of both Hinote's and Naruto's current professions and how their supposed to emotionless and uncaring. So if there any criticisms to that then I'm welcome to hear them as well as things that are just generally off-putting about this story.
Well, I think that is enough waffling for today anyway. Hope you all stay safe and have great Christmas tomorrow or good day if your reading this in the future.