Getting Past His Lamentation

First one shot fic. Tell me what you think. Also, to let you know, only the Rasengan will retain its Japanese name and the techniques that are used with the Rinnegan. All else will be English.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1.

Carrion birds flew through the air above, crowing their haunting cry. Soon, they would feast on all of his deceased loved ones, those he have fought alongside with, ate and drank with, celebrated with. With all of his might, he was powerless to even stop these disgusting creatures from desecrating their corpses with their morbid profanity. He was all alone in his fight, not by abandonment, only by choice. And the man responsible for all of that was trying to convert him to his twisted idea of true peace. This man, responsible for so much suffering trying to teach him about peace; he couldn't stand hypocrites. They lied to themselves.

All of that changed in an instant.

…

"I was always chasing you…wanting to overtake you. I just wanted to walk with you. I wanted to be with you… You changed me! Your smile saved me! So I'm not afraid to die protecting you!"

"…Because I love you…"

All he could do was listen to her moving confession, now realizing the truth with frightening clarity.

The girl put up a gallant fight to save her beloved but she was far outclassed. Oceans of skill, experience and power only widened the gap between herself and her foe. In the end, the man used one of his most powerful techniques to try to destroy the girl's will to fight, but she refused to give up.

In the end, she lost.

The man struck her down, right in front of him. It drove him over the edge and he gave in to the powerful hate that threatened to swallow him in the dark abyss…

Naruto's eyes snapped open, breathing deeply. His eyes scanned the room quickly with the skill bred from years of experience from his practice. He realized that it was another nightmare, another recount of what had happened on that fateful day. His internal clock told him that it was around five a.m. so he quickly finished rousing himself awake and gathered his bearings.

The young man went into his bathroom and took a long shower, trying to forget the life-changing event. It did little to wash away his emotional pain. He sighed and turned the knob, killing the flow of water to the shower head. He put on his mesh armor and drew on his clothes, a now predominantly black close-fitting shirt and ankle-length pants with some orange streaks. Finally, he turned to the hangar on which his prized sage cloak hung. A small tear swelled up and he choked back a small sob as he remembered the giver, Jiraiya, who had passed on. It was all he really had to remember him by in the way of worldly possessions. He made sure to wear it as often as possible as a way to honor him by. He put it on a bit reverently, the flames of the coat lapping at the bottom, giving the young man an imposing figure and left his house, closing the door behind him.

He bounded across the rooftops to make his daily ritualistic visit to the memorial stone. As he made his way there, he tried to appreciate the peace and quiet that the village exuded. Only in times of peace the village truly felt happiness but ninja life was short lived. Ninja went on missions, sometimes missions went against other ninja's missions. They don't just shake hands and agree to let one mission go through. They fight to the death, with all that they have, with all that they are, to the death. Even if they have to break out their own teeth because it handicapped the chances of mission success, they would. Such was the life of a ninja; to kill for a living. Thus there will never be true peace, so long as ninja existed, fights fought, wars waged, sinners sinning and killers killing. So why should he believe that as a ninja, he would be any different? All happiness was a lie.

Finally reaching his destination, he stopped in front of the memorial stone and scanned the names. Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Shizune Kato, Kakashi Hatake, Neji Hyuuga, Ino Yamanaka, Rock Lee, Sakura Haruno, Shino Aburame, Tsunade Senju, Iruka Umino.

Hinata Hyuuga.

It took all of his will power to not let the tears spill from his eyes. After going ballistic on Pain in a six tailed shroud, even going to the lengths of killing Nagato and destroying his eyes in the process. Naruto even went as far as to try to assimilate some of his DNA to acquire his own Rinnegan, hoping that he'd be able to use the Rinnegan's abilities of reviving people, as he had observed in the recurring Paths from his fight; but all he learnt was the Deva Path's abilities over gravity. He fought his own crusade against the powers that be, killed the instigators of Fourth Great Ninja war and the world was at 'peace'.

But he was all alone. So much of the people precious to him had died. They had perished along the way. Kurenai died on a solo mission. Asuma fell to the missing Nin, Hidan. Shizune died in Pain's invasion. Neji, Lee, Shino and Iruka died in the war. Ino went too deep in an undercover mission and had gotten raped and decapitated to send a threatening message. Tsunade passed only as natural causes; she went peacefully in her sleep. No doubt her life span was significantly shortened due to her excessive use of her Mitotic Regeneration Technique, dying at the age of sixty. But Hinata; when she died to Pain, he sobbed over her cold body, trying in vain to resuscitate her. He lashed out at everyone who tried to approach them; anyone who persisted was threatened with a Rasengan. He stayed there beside her for six hours, finally falling asleep due to his earlier exertions to fighting Pain and using the Kyuubi's chakra. When he woke up forty eight hours later, he refused nourishment of all kinds. After a week of total emaciation, he was overpowered when he was weakened and placed in a coma to keep him alive via drips and tubes.

Essentially, he continued fighting over the years, not because he wanted to or supposed to. It was because that Hinata's last words would forever haunt him, her adopting his nindo. She loving him; pining away for him.

And paying the ultimate price for it.

"Hey, guys. Hey, Hinata-chan. I'm back. Life in the village has been progressing as usual…"

Hyuuga Compound

The Hyuuga heiress woke up in a start, gasping for breath. Her long forged habit of 6 am rising had broken through her deep sleep, making her disoriented. It was a perfect time to rise; her own personal hard-to-break tradition. She got out of her queen sized bed and made her way to the mirror, observing her reflection. A disheveled-looking girl stared back at her, making her frown. She went into her bathroom and made amends by taking a rather brisk shower and attended to her other hygienic needs as well as drawing on her outfit. Making her way back to the mirror, she nodded in satisfaction seeing the palpable change in appearance. Hanabi Hyuuga left her room to get her breakfast and start her day as a Hyuuga kunoichi.

Chapter 2.

The Hokage's office

A young man sat in the office, sorting out the daily paperwork, sifting the missions that would be allotted to the different shinobi that came in daily. He reserved the D ranks for the fresh genin, C ranks for veteran genin, B ranks for chunin, A ranks for jounin of all types but the few S ranked ones… they were only two people in the whole village who could receive those. Maito Gai… and Naruto UzuNamikaze. (1)

He could not help but worry. Ever since Hinata passed away, the double-clan-head had simply… closed up; he was like a blank book. You could see everything he had to show you but there really wasn't anything there. It just got worse as his friends started dying off, one by one. Only a few remained from his generation, like Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba. He could talk to them, but they felt more like ordinary pleasantries rather than friendly conversations. He was reclusive to them, not even bothering to put on a façade for them. The only person that he spoke to was himself and the graves of who had died and he couldn't help but wonder if it was because of their childhood ties. The young man couldn't follow through to protect his precious people; becoming morose and taciturn. That was how one death, led to all of this mess.

Suddenly, a yellow flash lit the room, announcing the ninja's arrival. Naruto appeared, sage cloak and all, said blond with a smirk on his face. "Yo, Konohamaru. What do you have for me today, huh?"

Konohamaru Sarutobi smiled. "I don't have anything your speed today, Naruto. Unless you want to do a B rank or C rank."

"What? Can't you just send me on an A rank or something? Even if I have to work with other people?" He mumbled the last.

"Gomen, Naruto. In the future, you're going to have to pre-handpick your missions before time if you want to get them."

"What?" Naruto was incredulous. "Like a hotel reservation or something?"

The Sarutobi only nodded in his reply.

"So for some ninja, you get to select from ahead of time which mission you want to go on? Which poison you want to drink?"

"That's an interesting way of putting it. But yes. That's seems to be true in rare cases, if you want to get technical."

"Anyway, how's the hat treating you?"

"I'm fine. But with this steep paperwork, I understand a bit what kind of beginnings my grandfather had when he first took the office, around sixty years ago. He must have been encouraging us to become Hokage so he could get to his retirement, you know?"

Naruto stared at Konahamaru stupidly. At first, the young Sarutobi Kage thought his joke didn't come off but soon, Naruto grinned before laughing amiably. "True. But Konohamaru?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't go in those kinds of waters again. I don't like being reminded about those times, you know? Makes me feel like the best times of my life are gone and I have nothing left to look forward to… Damn. Now I've gone and made the mood depressing."

"It's not your fault. Now, as I was saying before, I don't have any solo missions for you right now, but we do have a few missions that are short a few people. Like reconnaissance, escorting, assassinations…"

A sharp rap came at the door, interrupting the leaf shadow.

"You may enter," he called.

The door was pushed inwards to reveal a strikingly attractive young Hyuuga woman who made her way to the Hokage's desk and stood with her feet together, as if at attention. "Good morning, Hokage-sama."

"Hanabi, please. We're the same age. It still feels awkward when you use that honorific."

Hanabi did not show any changes in her countenance. "The honorific comes with the office and status. May I have my mission please?"

Konohamaru quickly spawned a shadow clone who went over to the 'mission distribution area,' (as he liked to call it) and started leafing through the papers that bore the missions and their details. "Ah, here it is!" The clone exclaimed. "You are supposed to do some espionage work out in lightning country. There's this castle that is occupied by a rogue party. All you're commissioned to do is to find out their strengths, weaknesses, motivation, purposes and such."

The Hyuuga frowned. "Lightning Country?"

"Hai." 'I wonder if she's worried about Kumo? Her fears would be entirely justified, considering that her sister was once kidnapped by them for the Byakugan.' The Sarutobi momentarily lost himself in thought.

"Where in the Land of Lightning?"

"The castle is on a cliff overlooking a large lake, which is about… sixteen or seventeen miles from the Hidden Cloud."

Naruto spoke for the first time. "Do you think this is a trap?"

"It's likely," Hanabi responded, now regarding the young man for the first time. Why would her sister die to protect this man, aside from the fact that he was powerful and loyal?

"Even if it is, you still have to go. Whether it is a trap or not, if we don't fulfill a mission, we'll lose face with our clients and lose future ones because of a fall in reputation, fearing mission outcomes. We've got to keep up a good image."

"Does it have to be a Hyuuga Scout? A main branch one at that?" She asked in a half-flat, half-worried tone. She was not going to go if it could be helped.

"Unfortunately, no. From what I've been able to learn, the castle has special properties that cannot be breached because of a large amount of blood sealing techniques so the Hyuuga dojutsu will have to be the one that has to see through it."

"Can't another Hyuuga go? Perhaps one of those from the Cadet branch?"

"I cannot. Everyone has been running their own gauntlet of missions so unless they want to go instead of you, you're on your own. Besides, the cadet branch can only see through objects within a hundred yards and normal vision beyond that. The castle is very large, with at least twice that metric distance from the closest boundary to its center. The only exception to the inferior side branch version was Neji and…"

"… He died in the war." The girl finished. Naruto's visage immediately became crestfallen as he remembered the youth. He really became a good confidant when he returned back to the village with Jiraiya… and he died also. It was like a horrible chain reaction that kept progressing as he recalled who had deceased in earlier years.

"If you're that worried, let Naruto go with you. He's complaining about not having anything to do."

"What?!" "What?!"

Both young people's eyes snapped to each other's for a quick moment before looking back to the kage who chuckled, noting their reactions.

"Unnecessary." "Pass."

"So you want to go on your own then, I take it?"

Hanabi hesitated. Here was reputably the strongest person in the village who was willing to accompany her on her mission that was highly probable to go horribly wrong. He was merely putting on a show to make it look as if he wasn't desperate for a little excitement, if nothing to occupy his time. But on the other hand, she had some mixed feelings about him and she could do without the awkwardness that came with his baggage of poor personal history. What to do?

"I approve of the arrangement. If Naruto-san so chooses, he may accompany me on my mission."

"Excellent."

=X=X=

The two walked along the pathway leading to the direction of Kumo. The duo was silent; each thinking of the other, and keeping a vigil for any threats in their surroundings.

"Hanabi?"

She looked to him. "Hai?"

"Family doing well?"

"What do you care?" she glowered at him. "My sister died because of you and cousin Neji died in the war by your side."

"It's not my fault." But he really felt as though it were his fault, for not being strong enough to stop Pain/Nagato from killing Hinata, or from stopping Madara and Tobi from killing Neji in the war. Even though he was now the 'strongest' person in the elemental nations, he still felt so weak when he thought of the people he outlived.

"Oh really?" She replied the question sarcastically. "Even if it weren't, they're gone and I didn't even get some closure." A tear came to her eye but she quickly swiped it away before he could see. He did notice the action but he chose to ignore it. Obviously she didn't want him t see her 'weakness.' "They had to put up with me and my behavior towards them, and now they'll never get to know that I'm apologetic."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry; I know the feeling .If there's anything I can do to help-"

"Bring them back to life." She interrupted shortly.

"-Within reason," he finished. "Unless you want me to use the Impure Resurrection Technique, kill two more people for the sacrifices and get two hollow and empty versions of their past selves, then no. I can't do that. However, the person who…" he looked to Hanabi. "…Invaded Konoha could revive his 'dead' paths. I am looking into that avenue, of course. But I found out that he spent thirty years of his life developing his powers, and they only came to be because of a cataclysmic event of emotional loss."

"Then how come it didn't happen when nee-chan died?"

"I didn't have the rinnegan then, and I probably won't unlock anymore of its secrets because I don't have anyone that close to me anymore."

"Oh?" The hyuuga raised an eyebrow.

"It's true." Naruto sighed. "Guess that's how sad my life is, huh," he resigned with a shrug.

The girl thought for a moment. She had a large family to keep her 'company' even though she didn't really appreciate them. If for lack of someone to name close to her, she had her father, Hiashi. But Naruto had no one, and by the looks of things he did sound like a lonely character.

"Indeed," she said with a smirk, knowing she had something that he did not.

Naruto did not respond with words. Rather, he dive tackled her to the far side, turning on midair so that she landed mostly on him while he landed with full brunt force on the ground. He didn't mind doing that, but she hotly blushed as he was spooning her, not to mention she could nearly hear his developed lean muscles creak. A half-second later, kunais sallied through the space where she previously occupied, enough to coat them like porcupines if they hadn't dodged it.

"What are you doing?" She asked a question with an obvious answer. She thought she was getting him to open up a little and he tackles her. Couldn't he have just told her to dodge?

"Saving your life." He looked around in the surrounding areas briefly before shutting his eyes closed momentarily.

And opening them, revealing the Rinnegan.

"Bansho Tenin!" (Heavenly attraction of all things.)

He pointed his hand at a bush with the palm facing outwards. Suddenly a missing Nin with a slashed Iwagakure hitai ate came out of it, chest outwards, indicating that he was being pulled against his will. Halfway towards Naruto, a kunai flew out of a storage seal in his palm, hitting the ninja in the chest and passing clean through to the other side. The kunai was imbued with wind chakra and subsequently, the man had a hole in his chest where his heart was located. Or rather, where it used to be in properly.

The man passed on into death effortlessly while Hanabi watched, a bit in shock. Her companion disposed of the man so effortlessly and so callous it was scary.

Naruto created a shadow clone. "Remove his head, burn the body and collect the bounty. Then forward the proceeds to an orphanage." He ordered simply.

He walked over to Hanabi, who had yet to get back up. He held out his hand, which she grasped and pulled herself up. He then started to walk away, beckoning her to follow. She looked to him, then to the clone who had started channeling wind chakra to a kunai to ready a soon beheading, then to Naruto before she made up her mind.

She followed him, and apparently tried to look a bit more 'serious', like he did.

"Arigatou, for saving me." She thanked after a long while. It was out of her nature to, but recently, she had been trying to change her stoic way and…certain Hyuuga habits of self righteousness.

"Actually, I'm sorry. He was out for my head and you were here as some sort of interference."

"This happens often?"

"At least once on every escapade out of the village. So as we were saying before. You were agreeing that my life was 'sad' and you did it with a smug expression."

She blinked.

He just tried to get back to a superfluous conversation after killing a man in three seconds flat, as if it were normal behavior.
Which it was. At least for him, anyway.

"…H-H-Hai."

"If we were not interrupted, I would have said that your life was somewhat sad, too."

"Excuse me?"

"Of course it is. You getting everything you want, especially from being waited on hand and foot as made you lax, complacent. You nearly died back there, if you didn't know."

"You took responsibility for that mishap!"

"Yes I did. And it wouldn't have changed a thing if you really did bite the dust."

Hanabi frowned. 'That's true.'

"So in that case," he continued. "How do you feel about your family?"

"What do you mean?"

"About the two branches."

'What's he playing at?' "I don't like it. I abhor the seal. Everyday I see it, I think about Hinata's life goal of changing the clan's ideals. If Hinata-neechan hadn't died, I would have gotten the seal, most likely since I was the second born. There would have been no contest; they were practically instilling in me a braggart nature and tendencies to make my sister more 'firm' and confident in herself, fooling me to think that I would have had a chance. I was actually scheduled to be sealed at a certain date, but Pain invaded the week before. In that scenario, nee-chan 'freed me' by dying."

"I also thought the same thing. So in a way, I would try and 'make it up to you by helping your clan with that problem."

"With what problem?!" The heiress yelled the question. "The seal? You would abolish it?"

"I can do better than that. I can give you the counter seal's matrix to remove it."

"Why would you do this?"

"I…your sister is the reason."

"Hinata-nee? Why?" She asked, dumbfounded.

"Hai. She did mention about trying to change the clan several times. If it was one thing I could make it up to her, I had been working tirelessly to make my way to being a sealing master by spamming clones to learn. It still took me seven years."

"You dedicated seven years of your life just to help the clan?"

"No, to help Hinata, especially in her memory. While I may not have loved her like she did me, I owe her that much, even to the fact that she died trying to save me."

"So you like me then?" She gave a coy smile.

Naruto sputtered. "I-I don't know w-what you're t-talking about. Um…what's there n-not to l-like?"

"So I'm not pretty like her, that's why?" She frowned.

"I-It's not t-that, ahh, you're p-pretty and all that, determined, self-esteemed, to be sure…" he trailed off.

"And?" She waited expectantly.

"I just met you." He said in deadpan, finally regaining his composure.

Hanabi sweat-dropped. "Of course."

"Let us be on our way then, Hanabi."

"Let's."

1- He merged his two last names.

And that's the first two chapters. This one shot should be done in six chapters (Three updates), plus an epilogue. What was that? A one shot is usually one chapter? Well… whatever. For me, a one shot goes from anywhere between 1k to 15k words, no matter how you divide it up. One shots also have a lack of substantial plots too, so yeah. By the way, this pairing was a request by a certain mavb50 (hope I got that right) so does this mean I accept pairing ideas for one shots? Well, yeah, I do. Or as of right now during a routine tidying for fic, not really.

Don't hit me up right now, though. This fic's been done a long time ago, and right now, I'm doing one for Matsuri, one I'm proud of. People have told me that they've never been fans of the pairing and when they read it, they liked it. Maybe they have poor standards, or I'm getting better. That's all I really want. And reviews. I like reviews.
A LOT.

Valete omnes,

MRAY 4TW.