"Death suits you."
Hinata laughed lightly as she gripped the arm of her dear friend, both sitting on the dock looking out to the ocean. She almost didn't believe he was here and the surroundings were so picturesque she could be forgiven for thinking this was a figment of her imagination, her mind fulfilling the longing for the price she paid for her freedom. It didn't have to be him, it could have been Hanabi-chan or one of her teammates. She missed them all and sometimes wished there was a version of her that could have been true to herself and remained in the village.
Konoha was stifling. The Hyuuga were restrictive. She could barely breathe and serving Orochimaru had hardly been a significant burden compared to the demands of being an heiress and daughter to a broken man too proud to admit it. She needed to be unshackled but it was an exchange; one's whose consequences stayed with her daily. She wasn't unhappy, quite the opposite but she still missed those she'd come to care for and the lonely boy that could will himself to do the impossible would always have a special place in her heart.
She discreetly noticed the ring on his finger so didn't need to ask about his status. She had won, that was clear. But he wasn't shocked to see her alive so she must have divulged their deal which didn't sound like the Orochimaru she knew. Not that she could claim to be an expert on the woman.
"I didn't take you as one for gallows humor, Naruto-kun," Hinata observed after her moment of contemplation. He beamed at her, that blinding smile that could melt all but the most ardently unreasonable, which included most of Konoha to Hinata's mind.
"I have my moments. But you do look good, Hinata; lighter."
"A part of me thought you'd be angry, all of you would if you knew."
"I can't speak for the others, their relationship to the village is so different from mine but I understand needing to leave. I almost did, several times. How could I fault you for doing the same?" She squeezed his arm a little more. She hadn't been looking for absolution but his words still moved her. Theirs was an odd friendship, so short and yet they seemed to get each other. In another life, who knows what that could have become?
"You seem happier, too," Hinata responded and he nodded as he wore a goofy smile.
"Orochi-chan and I were supposed to be on our honeymoon but got called away and I'm going to be a dad soon, how cool is that? And I have a goddaughter, Mirai-chan. Well, Shika, Shino and I all share godfather duties but I'm going to be the favorite. Kurenai-sensei keeps forbidding me from teaching her high level techniques too soon as if I'd have her whipping S-rank genjutsu at nine or something," Naruto rambled.
Hinata quirked her brow as she'd seen how he trained himself and he was not one for restraint, which she pointed out. Naruto laughed and scratched the back of his head but couldn't deny the charge. He shared stories of his travels with Jiraiya, of his time back in the village and most importantly, at least to Hinata, that he'd be assigned to Hanabi as her elite trainer.
"My father is allowing this?" she asked in genuine shock.
"Unless Hanabi has an alternate means of earning money, I'm pretty sure he's doing more than allowing it cuz I don't come cheap," Naruto joked. "Anyway, yes, he's supporting Hanabi's ambitions. Losing you changed him and the guilt is making him proactive."
"Guilt?" Hinata asked. She may have a low opinion of Hiashi but not so much to erase his humanity entirely but she hadn't expected he'd feel guilty. She figured he'd see it as proof he was right.
"Yea. I won't claim to understand him to any significant degree but I think people become so unaware of the limits of the status quo that any deviation feels like a grand rebellion so they try to stop it, especially in their children. But when you lose that child you realize the real earth shaking change isn't them being different from what you expect but them no longer being there. In the two people I've seen this in they were both fathers mourning the loss of daughters and kicking themselves for learning their lessons too late."
"So, he can finally change after he thinks I'm dead? What am I supposed to do with that?" she asked heatedly.
"No idea," Naruto answered honestly. "I've had many people try to advise me on how I should feel about the village, about the Sandaime, about my life. They all meant well but could only understand my perspective so much. If how you feel doesn't blind you to everything else then it really isn't anyone's business."
"He gaslit me for most of my childhood, without the outside training I received I would have believed I was worthless. I'm happy Hanabi-chan won't have to endure that but I can't forgive him for being a bastard when I needed my father." Naruto said nothing as he leaned into her. Not liking the shift in mood, Hinata resolved to change it and the subject. She found it easy as she recalled an important detail he shared.
"Boy or girl?" she asked.
"Dunno yet, I have to wait a few more weeks and it has been torture," he said dramatically.
"Poor thing," Hinata said as he chuckled. "Do you have a preference?"
"Not strongly but if I had to pick I think I'd want a girl," he answered, surprising Hinata. A fact she admitted to.
"I thought all men wanted sons for their legacies and to carry their names forward."
"Seems like a lot of weight to put on a child," Naruto said and Hinata could tell for the briefest moment he was somewhere else, a place she couldn't reach. It felt inappropriate to ask, the question was one only the closest of friends could pose without offense. She wasn't that, not anymore. "I think I'd rather just let my legacy be my work and deeds and let my kid create their own, whatever it may be."
"That sounds nice, Naruto-kun. It really does."
"How'd you wind up in Nami?" Naruto asked, shifting topics again.
"Oh, well long story short is that while my freedom is great I started getting bored so after leaving Oto I took up bounty hunting."
"How was it?"
"Lucrative but with my Byakugan and archery skills it's sorta like cheating for anyone below a mid A-rank threat."
"Fair fights are for losers anyway." Naruto held his first out and Hinata dapped it.
"Anyway, while wandering I heard about the bridge with the most familiar name and decided to visit the people who would name a landmark after you. There were endless stories about the tiny redhead with the heart of a lion, facing off against Gato and his army of thugs. The bridge builder's grandson idolizes you. The bridge builder… not so much," Hinata joked.
"He's probably still a little raw about my almost killing him."
"You'd be amazed at how personally civilians take that."
"It's almost as if they don't endure it often. Buncha chumps," Naruto quipped.
"Whimps," Hinata added. Her companion's laughter warmed her soul.
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"You should stop staring at me, it's bad for the baby," Tsunade said to her best friend. She knew the woman was mad, understood why but it was necessary and being glared at wouldn't resolve anything. However, her words had zero effect so the two women continued to stare at each other, both recognizing it'd moved past an expression of annoyance and settled into a juvenile challenge between the leader of the village and an expectant mother. Tsunade blinked first and saw a flash of a smile.
"You sent me to Kiri and I had to waste time with that insufferable trollop for no reason. You know where I was yesterday?"
"On your honeymoon," Tsunade replied.
"On a private beach. Sun, sand, waves; the whole bit. Do you know what Kiri has?"
"A large collective of people you'd never want oral sex from?" the Godaime asked but was ignored by the snake summoner.
"Mist. And worse still, Kiri ninja. You know how I feel about Kiri ninja, Tsunade-chan."
"It was necessary," the Hokage justified.
"It was necessary," Orochimaru mocked, which surprised Tsunade as that was not her brand of humor. Her reaction was noticed by Orochimaru. "Blame the baby," she said. Orochi then explained why the negotiations failed. Tsunade agreed with her fellow Sannin's decision as she'd never allow herself to be that compromised by a rival village.
"She couldn't have expected you'd actually take the job. Maybe she wanted to stay neutral but wanted us to refuse so there would be no hard feelings," Tsunade tried to reason. It made a certain amount of sense and if Kiri were neutral that was better than the alternative.
"Oh, she'd have likely agreed to anything if I'd let her have a run at Naruto. Auburn-haired whore," Orochi spat.
"I mean, for the good of the village maybe-"
"Don't finish that sentence, Tsunade."
"Ok, ok, ok. It was just a joke. We'll consider the Kiri matter settled pending new information. Where is Naruto by the way?"
"Nami."
"Why?"
"He went to see about a bridge," Orochi answered. Tsunade waited for additional information but it never came. Orochi took it upon herself to press on, "I want your authorization to create some contingencies for when Iwa and Kumo betray us."
"What kind of contingencies?" Tsunade asked. She didn't know why she asked the question when she knew the answer. Maybe she was hoping Orochi would buy into her attempt at peace, to accomplish something not even her grandfather could achieve.
"Things cannot remain as they are," Orochi replied. "Ay unleashed the spirit of revolution amongst his ninja. They no longer dream of a world where Konoha is defeated but one where we do not exist. Onoki waits and plans but even the Fence-sitter can see what you refuse to accept; the age of the Gokage is coming to an end."
"And I won't accept it. The three wars previous were bloody enough and what you're suggesting," Tsunade didn't finish her thought but she knew her fellow Sannin took her meaning. A war that required total victory to end would only produce losers. Severely weakened, the smaller villages would pick them off unless they were forced to take sides from the start. Death on a scale no living ninja has ever seen.
"You assume you'll have a choice in the matter. Fate is rarely so kind, Tsunade-chan."
"Fate can go fuck itself, then. A war waged due to a deadman's obsession, I refuse."
"It amazes me that I understand people better than you. There is not one person that enters a shinobi academy that doesn't dream of being greater than they ever thought possible. Most don't achieve it, they settle in the middle and yet still brimming within them is a piece of divinity. I, too, once felt imprisoned by my own limitations and sought to ruthlessly free myself from them. To be an agent of change that could direct the course of history.
No matter how much you want to, no matter how much you hate it, you cannot stop what's coming. Nor, it should be said, can you blunt its aftermath."
"Foolishness and empty ambitions will damn us all. Is that what you're telling me?" Tsunade said in defeated acceptance. It was uncomfortable how small it felt. A conflict not spurred by having too little but for the sake of having more.
"Change is natural, Tsunade-chan. We've stood in the way of it for a hundred years but it was always a losing battle. If you refuse to embrace change then you will be damned. If you accept it then who knows but you don't believe Darui and Onoki will abide by that treaty so what's the harm in being prepared? I can leave yo-"
"No. I'm not Sensei. If you're doing this for Konoha then I'll be aware of every step. Just… whatever we come up with we only target enemy combatants. Almost anything else can be discussed but that is mandatory."
"Kukuku, I can work with that."
"You have thoroughly ruined my mood, Orochi-chan and since that brat knocked you up you can't even drink with me. Blah," the Godaime complained.
"Don't be so mean, Tsunade nee-chan," Orochi said, projecting pure innocence.
"Blah!"