War of Love and Lies 8

When we found Naruto's father, we didn't think he should have been alive though… no one was complaining. We were all glad that the commander was still alive and well… Right now, he had to heal though I felt bad for Naruto since he spoke to his father while he slept. Was it to help him or was it just to get a few things off his chest?

That, I can't really say but what I can say, is that we still have a war to win…

And I was going to help stop this war so I could go home and be with my family… and hopefully have changed the lives for every woman to have an equal right.

Hinata and the others had been forced to set up camp for the night, knowing that right now Naruto couldn't focus on anything right now but his father. It made her wonder why that was… sure, anyone would be worried about their father but… he seemed to have taken it to a new level… he didn't trust anyone to be alone with his father, even the doctors.

Hinata sighed… Konohamaru had asked her to bring in some food for Naruto and his father, maybe it would be a good chance for her to get along with the blonde haired man. The thought of being with Naruto made her heart pound in her chest… Giggling, only to yelp and quickly turn around to make sure that no one else was around to have heard her girlish laughter.

Thank god, no one was around to have heard that, least no one that she could see. Looking to her left, she saw Ryu as she asked "is anyone around?" Her voice, a soft whisper so no one would think that she was talking to herself, though as she stared at her guardian, she wondered how he would ever make things right from his past… it made things a little unfair… Ryu just shook his head and smiled at Hinata and watched as she walked toward the big orange tent.

Gulping, Hinata knew that she would have to get over this, that she would have to go into the tent at some point… right now; she had to make sure that Naruto was eating as was his father…

Moving the flap of the tents door, she walked in… sitting by the bed was Naruto, staring at his father with a sad look… when she looked over to the sleeping man, she could easily see that he was worn out and needed rest… it was a good thing that they had a doctor with them but it made her wonder what had caused this, was it a surprise attack or just random?

"Captain Uzumaki… I brought you and your father some food…" said Hinata, trying to make her voice sound a little manlier though felt like she had failed at it.

"Thanks…" whispered Naruto with a soft yet sad sigh. He looked up at Hinata and gave her a soft smile before staring back at his father. Hinata frowned and set the two trays down, wondering if he would want her to stay or to leave… Sighing softly, the young woman pushed herself up and was starting to leave until… Naruto's voice made her stop as he said "Yuudai, please stay here… I need to get some air."

Frowning in confusion, Hinata just nodded and took Naruto's seat while he stepped out for some air… she guessed that the depressed aura that surrounded this place had taken its toll on him… not that she could blame him. Hinata sat in the room for what felt like hours, when really, it had only been minutes… had it really only been that long or… was it all just in her head? "You're… a Hyuuga correct?" whispered a tired voice which had caused Hinata to look down in shock at the sight of two blue eyes looking at her with a soft smile on his face.

Nodding, Hinata calmly said "yes… I… I'm Yuudai Hyuuga; I was the one that found you in the rubble…"

He just chuckled weakly as he said "I know the Hyuuga's very well… I know that your name isn't Yuudai… Hiashi never had a son. The only known boy in the Hyuuga family is Neji." Hearing that, Hinata's eyes were wide… he knows? That… no! She can't allow this to happen! There is no way that she was going to let anyone know about her secret… but, what he said next had surprised her. "I'm not going to tell anyone. You had to have had your reasons. Am I right?"

Nodding, Hinata whispered "my father would have died on the first day with his leg the way it was. I did this to save him. Wouldn't any child do that for their father?"

"For them to risk everything, only a child that really loved their father could do that. You have to love him very much."

"He's my father… he's the only one I'll ever have."

Smiling, Minato whispered "I bet… I would have done the same thing if I was in your shoes young one." Hinata looked at the blonde haired man and wondered why he was being so nice to her… doesn't he know the rules of her being in the army in the first place? She should be killed right now and her family would be forever dishonoured… why is he being so kind to her?

"Why… why aren't you angry with me for being here?" asked the young woman, trying hard to remain calm right about now though… she had a feeling that he wasn't trying to harsh to her at all… as if he was really more understanding than most people should be… but why? None of this was making any sense to her at all…

Minato just smiled at her as he said "you aren't following the rules… you are following your heart which is a rare gift that very few people have these days." Hinata just stared at him in shock and confusion; she was… following her heart? That would explain a few things like why she wasn't like other women her age… or like anyone for that matter. So many people were by the rules of law while she listened to the voice that was within her… her heart was leading her, guiding her through her life.

"Listening to your heart isn't a bad thing. Your heart can never lead you wrong… There is nothing wrong with that… Just remember that." He said with a soft chuckle, though only to stare at her for a moment… "You're the heir to the Hyuuga fortune correct?" Seeing Hinata's nod, he got a deeper grin as he said "so you're the girl my son has been talking about."

Hinata blushed softly.

"He can't stop talking about you… he really does like you."

"I guess… who would like me though… that isn't about my money?" Hinata whispered softly, feeling that was all she was good for. That people would only like her because she was the heir to a huge fortune…

"I don't think that's the case, Naruto… the way he talks about you tells me just how much he cares about you, for you. Not about your wealth." Minato said with a chuckle and took a few deep breaths before he sat up and started to eat his own meal. Looking over at Hinata, he calmly said "Naruto will come around I'm sure… just don't give up on your reason for being here… and you two will be together I'm sure."

Hinata didn't know why it sounded weird for him to talk to her about Naruto and her getting together… all she knew, was that it would never happen. There was no way that he would care about her if he knew the truth, that she… was really a girl pretending to be a boy in the army.

"I'm back." Said Naruto as he walked over to his father and Hinata, he stared at the two with a raised eyebrow and frowned as he said "did I miss something here?" Hinata just shook her head and left the tent before going back to the food tent to grab herself a meal. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if… if what Minato said was true, would she and Naruto be together if they really did love each other?

"I highly doubt it…" she whispered softly before walking into the tent.

***

New day… that was all Hinata had to say about this place. She carried a carriage, least her horse Usagi did… Usagi carried the carriage filled with fireworks, or in this case fire launchers. It was the only thing that she could think of them as; since it was the only chance they had to fire at the army from such a distance.

Looking over at Naruto, she saw that he was riding his horse with a bit of a sad look on his face. Not that she could blame him; some of the warriors had stayed behind to keep an eye on his father while he was healing. Minato, of course had told Naruto that right now, the mission was what was important and the heart's desire was just as important to the both of them. Hinata knew that Naruto's heart was telling him to stop this war, but his emotions were telling him to stay by his father.

All of this had to be hard on him for sure. Sighing softly, the young woman kept on walking with Usagi at her side, holding the horse's reins as she walked. Hinata wondered though, what the blonde man was thinking now… what was his heart telling him to do once the war was over.

Running a hand through the hair of her ponytail, she wondered what to do now…

Suddenly, there was a sound in the carriage and it made Hinata wonder who was inside. Narrowing her eyes, she moved the curtain aside and saw Shikamaru, Sai and Sasuke all inside. Raising an eyebrow, they were chatting among themselves, and of course Shikamaru was smoking a cigarette… wait… Smoking a cigarette?!

"Guys get out of there!" shouted Hinata as she tried to get those guys out of there. Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow and shrugged before lighting his cigarette only for a spark to fall over. Hinata yelped and moved away from the carriage with Usagi, freeing her from the death trap for a fire cracker burst from the carriage and flew high into the sky and breaking into pieces.

"What the hell?!" shouted Naruto as he rode over to them, growling as his eyes flashed red at Hinata. Narrowing his red eyes, he said "what did you do Yuudai?! You just gave us away!"

"It wasn't me! Shikamaru, Sai and Sasuke are in there and Shikamaru was lighting a cigarette!"

Before Naruto could turn around, he shouted out in pain as an arrow was shot into his shoulder as he fell off the horse. Hinata yelped and rushed to Naruto's side and helped him up as she stared at the arrow in his shoulder and helped him out of the way. Everyone was gathering the fireworks out of the carriage and ran as far away as they could from it.

Hinata stared at Naruto as she asked "are you alright?"

"Pull it out!"

"What?"

"I said pull the arrow out!"

Hinata gulped, not sure that she would be able to handle that… Placing a hand on the back of his shoulder, she felt the arrow head come out of the back and sighed, least it could be a little easier for her. Taking a deep breath, the young woman snapped the arrow in half, causing Naruto to howl in pain. Hinata felt like her heart strings were being tugged from when she broke the arrow… though she knew that she had to rip the remaining of the arrow out. Taking a deep breath, the young woman stared at Naruto and saw that his face was drenched in sweat, his skin pale from the pain.

Hinata didn't want to do it… she didn't want to cause him any pain, but she knew… just knew that she had to do it or Naruto would have some horrible infection.

Taking a deep breath, the young woman tightly gripped the end of the arrow and stared at Naruto's pain stricken face one more time before quickly, pulling the arrow out of his shoulder and hissed when he growled and howled out in pain. Hinata tightly closed her eyes; his screams were so loud that she felt like her ears would have popped on her.

Naruto soon gasped out in pain and looked up as she saw an army running down from the army. Narrowing her eyes, she looked around and saw that people were charging into battle, she had to do something before it was too late. Looking around, she grabbed the firecracker and smiled… and idea had just popped into her head. Getting up, she rushed forward, quickly picking up the firecracker and ran forward.

"Yuudai what are you doing?! Get back here!" shouted Naruto, though Hinata just kept on running before she had lost her nerve.

Hinata had to make sure that this was going to work; she had to make sure that the enemy would be buried by the snow that covered the mountain. Looking up at the sky, Hinata wondered if this plan was going to work, that she would be able to earn honor back to her family and to herself. It didn't make sense to her at the moment, but right now she wasn't thinking, she was mostly just acting…

Narrowing her eyes, Hinata jammed the butt of the firecracker into the ground, looking up as she saw the enemy running toward her. Looking around, Hinata tried to think if this was the right thing to do… though right now it didn't matter to her…

Once she found her spark rocks, Hinata aimed the rocket to the location, hoping that this plan would work… it was the only thing that she could come up with without the risk of hurting or killing anyone from her group… Naruto wouldn't have been able to do anything with that wound in his shoulder… Pointing the firecracker to the mountain, Ryu walked over to her as he asked "what are you planning to do?"

"Trying to hit the mountain is all… if I hit the mountain, it'll cause an avalanche and the enemy army will be buried in the snow, no one can survive that." Hinata calmly said before hitting the rocks together, hoping to get a spark to light the damn thing. But her hands couldn't hold them properly, that they couldn't spark for the firecracker. The young woman kept on cursing under her breath, trying to get at least a small spark but still, it wouldn't light up at all.

"Here." Ryu calmly said as he bent over close to Hinata to help give her the illusion of her using the sparking stones in her hands as he inhaled deeply and had breathed out a wisp of fire as the string had sparked and was starting to grow shorter and shorter…

"Thanks…" Hinata whispered, not wanting anyone to hear her, not like it could happen with the sound of the two arms charging at each other while screaming out a battle cry at the top of their lungs.

Finally, the firecracker launched toward the mountain, having shocked the man that had ran up to her and was ready to strike… until Hinata yelped and ran away for coming toward them was snow, and lots of it in the form is a tidal wave that would swallow them up until there was nothing left. As she ran, Hinata looked over at Naruto and saw that he had been running toward her when she had ran off and had launched the firecracker at the mountain.

Looking over her shoulder, Hinata saw that the snow was coming even faster now… Narrowing her eyes, she ran to Naruto, quickly grabbed his wrist and ran on down the mountain with him. Hinata had to find a good spot for them to hide in so they would stay safe… wait! At the speed that the snow was going, if they were just somehow able to dig a hole the snow would just run on past… no, that won't work they would run out of air before it stopped.

Looking over, Hinata saw a curved rock… she remembered that from when she was running up the hill, that'll come in handy for sure!

Though, as she ran, Hinata screamed out in pain for something had grazed her side… though right now the main thing that mattered was to make sure that Naruto stayed safe. Once they were in the safety of the rock, the snow had passed right over the both of them, and behind the other rocks, of course were the men from Naruto's army. Hinata took a few deep breaths as Naruto looked over to the side, watching as the snow ran right on past the two of them.

"Smart move Yuudai…" whispered Naruto as he stared at Hinata with a bright and cheerful grin, which of course made Hinata smile in return, least this was going as planned for sure… but it made her wonder just how long this was going to last. Or, if it even worked on the enemy at all… All of this was so very confusing for sure but at least they were safe, for now…

For what felt like hours, Naruto and Hinata stayed behind the rock as they felt the tremors of the avalanche slow down before halting, Hinata and Naruto both sat up from their hiding spot and smiled it seemed like a mission was accomplished no problem.

"You did great Yuudai!" shouted Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

Hinata just smiled and scratched the back of her head with a laugh. "Thanks Sasuke, it was better than letting people kill themselves for nothing." Though, soon she felt someone's hand on her shoulder which had caused her to look up in shock for smiling down at her was Naruto… she hadn't felt like this before… her heart fluttered, her skin was hot to the touch… yes, this was love… pure love. Hinata felt like she was in heaven…

Until she hissed out in pain and had her arm on her side…

"Yuudai?!" shouted Naruto as he looked at her where her hand was and his skin went pale when he saw the blood starting to seep through Hinata's clothes. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto shouted out "he's wounded, get him some help right now men! Move it!" Looking over at Hinata he gave held onto her hoping that his body heat would keep her warm and help her until the doctor could treat her wounds.

"Hold on… just hold on, you'll be good as new."

"Naruto…"

"Don't talk Yuudai; the doctor will treat to your injury no problem, just stay awake alright?"

"Have… to tell you something."

"Stop talking."

"I'm not who… I say I am…" she whispered before her eyes closed. The pain had caused her to pass out.

***

Naruto growled, he was pacing back and forth in front of the tent that held Yuudai, he wasn't sure what was happening, all he knew was that the doctor was sure taking his sweet time to treat the wound… Though, it did have to be stitched up before anything else… Well, that and cleaned.

Everyone that was in the army had waited out with Naruto, though instead of pacing like he was they all sat down to wait instead. Sighing softly the young man looked over at the tent and saw that the doctor was just coming out… Naruto walked over to him and asked with worry "will he be okay…?"

"Yes but… there is one problem, he isn't… a well… a he so to speak… you'll find out though Captain Uzumaki… please go in and see for yourself…" said the doctor before walking away.

Naruto was greatly confused before walking into the tent, frowning in confusion he saw that Yuudai still looked the same… his hair was still tied back and his face wasn't as pale as before so that was a plus at least… "Yuudai, are you alright?" asked Naruto as he walked toward him…

Yuudai opened his eyes and stared at him with the same lavender coloured eyes. Naruto wondered, if it was true that all Hyuuga's had the same eyes but didn't dare say anything about it. Yuudai smiled and pushed himself up, the blanket falling away from his body which… had made Naruto's eyes almost pop out of his head. He didn't see a flat chest but… a very well developed cleavage that a woman would kill for… but wait…

"You… you're a…" He glared at her for a moment before walking out of the tent; Hinata cried out after him and held the blanket close to her chest. Meanwhile, Konohamaru walked in and narrowed his eyes at her before grabbing Yuudai by the arm and pulling her out of the tent and held onto her tightly.

Naruto felt like such a fool, the whole time… the whole time he was talking to Yuudai about the girl he cared for… about the girl that he had fallen in love with was the very one he was talking too! Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Konohamaru had grabbed Yuudai and pulled out her ponytail. "So you were a woman the whole time." Growled out Konohamaru, not that Naruto could blame him; he followed the rules as best as he could…

Soon enough, Konohamaru threw her to the ground causing Hinata to yelp out in shock and pain. "My name… is Hinata Hyuuga! I'm sorry, I had to come here! I had to save my father from a horrible fate, I didn't want him to die please, believe me!"

Listening to her words, it made Naruto think… she came here because she wanted to keep her father safe… would he have done the same thing if he was in her shoes? Yes… he would have. Closing his eyes, he listened as Konohamaru had said that her family would have never lifting dishonor, and that her sentence is death… He stared at Naruto and he knew… what he had to do. Reaching over for a sword, Naruto lifted it over his head, getting ready to slice her head off her shoulders…

Though, when he looked at her scared lavender coloured eyes, he… he couldn't do it. Damn it, he loved this woman too much to do it… and he still owed her… she saved his life and now, it was up to him to decide her fate. Placing his sword back in its sheath, he calmly said "she had saved my life, and hers will remain intact. We move out to the Imperial City, and tell the Empress the good news… lets go."

With that, everyone started to pack up and leave… as for Naruto, he just glared at Hinata as he said "I can't believe I trusted you with my life… and my secret." With that, Naruto left though… as he walked away he felt like his own heart was shattering into pieces… though he had a feeling that was also happening to his very soul… The very thought of having to leave the one he claims to love in the snow…

That this, would be the very last time that he would ever see her. Was this for the greater good and also… what told him to spare her? Was it his mind, or his heart that told him to spare Hinata's life? Or maybe, it was that he had a dept to her, that with her saving his life that he had to save hers…

'Maybe I'm just over thinking this…' thought Naruto with a sigh before disappearing with everyone else… leaving Hinata behind.