Before reading, I would like to say that it has been enjoyable writing these stories, but I am no longer active in writing in any shape or form, nor am I on this site anymore. This story was one of my first attempts at writing, so there will be missing depth at times and parts where things should have been handled differently, but all in all it turns out decently for what it is.

All my stories were written in 2007 (without a beta), so there are things we know now that we didn't back then

Also I do not read review posts anymore, so don't expect any replies

FYI: I like using honorifics when possible but I'm clearly an English only speaker, so forgive anything that looks off when it is a different language. Beware that throughout this story, many time frames will not agree with each other; those were planned. Also I think some Japanese words may be spelled wrong, so don't hate me for it. Enjoy Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 The Hell That Is Now

I so don't own the anime/manga (Naruto) this is based off of... That is all...

Damn, it has been maybe a year since I have become a wanderer. A year since I was betrayed by my village, and some people which I loved. I really have no idea where I am or even if I'm going the right way, but I will return to my village and either save them, or destroy them, if they haven't managed to change their ways.

Who am I, you ask? I have long since stopped using my real name and mostly am referred to as 'the wanderer' where ever I go. You may also wonder why I don't just stop at the closest friendly village and forget my bastard of a village, tempting, but I can't. There once was a girl that I met that beyond all logical reason came to like me, and even love me, so that is why I must return. I will return if only it is to see her face once more. She is my light in the darkness, the sunny place I wish to be near, my…..Hinata.

I was clueless back then. Everything she did for me, I just seemed to overlook. She never did anything remotely huge to grab my attention except for her determination when everything looked down. She was always kind, and gentle to everyone and most saw that as her weakness not her strength.

If you are wondering how I was such an idiot by not seeing her caring for me, I too wonder that, but let me tell you a story of how I realized her love for me, as short as it may be.

When I was taking off early in the morning, about 4 years back, for a special long term training mission, I was surprised to see her just sitting on a bench staring at her feet.

"Hinata?" I asked, causing her to jump and blush furiously.

"Um… H-h-hello Na-Naruto-kun" she stammered out.

"Hinata, what are you doing out here so early?"

"I uh…well it's… um…n-nothing." She replied to my question looking at the ground

"There has to be a reason Hinata, no one is out this early. So what is it?" I reasoned

"Well there is this… uh… thing…. I um… wanted to….." she was cut off by none other than the white haired idiot, Jiraiya.

"Hey brat lets get going. You can talk to your little friend when we get back in 3 years."

Hinata gasped and tears started to flow down her cheeks when she heard how long I was to be gone, but again I was too dense to notice why and what she did that for.

"Sorry Hinata, I have to get going. See you in 3 years ok?" I turned around to leave but I heard a high pitched squeak that sounded like a "no" so I turned and found myself face to face with sparkling wet eyes of the shy Hyuuga with her face beat red.

"Na-Naruto-kun…..p-please come back to m-me safe." She quickly uttered and then came the action I thought I could and would never feel…. She kissed me on the cheek.

During that short moment I felt warmth like I never experienced in my life, someone my age truly cared and wanted to see me safe. Suddenly memories came to me that I had long forgotten about because I just shrugged them aside. There were images of pearly eyes watching me from afar, small words of encouragement, and even small gifts, that I completely overlooked for their true meaning. For her, she wanted me to be more than friends, and I, strangely, just wanted to return everything she gave me, once I figured it all out in that moment.

Her embarrassment took over and she turned to flee from her action when I quickly snatched her wrist and tugged her back. I pulled her closer as her eyes widened, I don't know how but she managed to stay conscious through the whole thing, since she would usually faint it these circumstances, but she kept standing. I leaned in and gently touched my lips to hers as I felt an exciting jolt run down my spine, a feeling unlike I have ever felt. I broke the kiss and hugged her tight and whispered into her ear.

"I'm sorry for never noticing before; I was too obsessed looking at Sakura to realize what I really wanted was being freely given by you. Thank you for caring, when I return, we should really try go out."

Her quiet sweet voice came back "you m-mean like a date?"

"No Hinata-chan as a date. I would like to date you, if you're ok with it."

"Oh, Na-Naruto-kun…. It's like a dream come true… Y-yes I'll g-go out w-with y-you."

"Great, I'll look forward to it. I'll try to send you a message if I can while I'm gone."

She nodded and we reluctantly broke the embrace as I gave her a small wave and left my new crush, or perhaps my new love, behind for me to go train with the super perv.

Now we did manage to write back and forth quite often in my travels with the help of a messenger toad that I was taught how to summon. Our relationship steadily grew as we both got to know the people under our respective masks. I found she enjoyed pressing flowers, and that she enjoys eating quite a few sweet things, while she got to see the neglected child turned future Hokage that I hid from the hurtful villagers. I noticed that at the end of her letters she would scribble out the word before her name and just end it with "–Hinata"; but once she didn't do a very good job of her scribbling and I was able to decipher the word "love" out of it. My heart skipped when I discovered that one single word I always wanted directed towards me. Hinata kept her shy nature even in her letters which always brought a smile to my face; I hope she doesn't change too much, but just a little self confidence would do wonders for her.

I increasingly found myself thinking of her over the training mission to the point where I longed to receive another letter, and even more to meet her again. Ero-sennin hated having my attention divided, but he was barely around anyways. Baa-chan has always told me that I had the best luck of anyone she has ever met, but my great luck managed to run out when I neared the end of my training.

Ah hell what is it now 3 years I've been wandering? Great now I'm talking to myself, what's worse is myself talks back to me, saying he is some powerful fox or what ever; maybe I'm starting to go insane. Well, I suppose I can continue where I left off.

Um, oh yeah I remember now, it was when my sensei, what's his name, and I stumbled across that "snake bastard" and Sasuke, about 2.5 years into the mission. The details on the battle are quite foggy now, but what I do remember is my sensei took on the bastard while I fought Sasuke. I accidentally took more chakra from Kyubi than I was intending, and ending up loosing control in what we called the 4 tailed state and ended up killing him, with the bastard running away to die of a mortal wound without his gay nurse Kabu-whatever to heal him. Worse yet, the pain of loss I felt for killing my 'brother' wasn't allowed to disperse.

When we decided that was enough training we picked up his body and headed back home. halfway there we got notice that Tsunade, Godaime Hokage, died of an incurable blood disease from an unknown source, they think it was genetic and was part of the reason why her grandfather, Shodaime Hokage, died at a young age. My sensei took the news very hard and instructed me to go on ahead of him while he went to get something, and I never really got to see him again because of what happened when I returned.

I got to the gate of K-kon…, ah hell, my home village and everything went horrible. I got blamed for the death of their hero, the last Uchiha, and was arrested on site and was convicted by the city council for the death of a ninja of the village as well as the Hokage, how they managed that I don't know, but it happened anyways and was sentenced to death. Sure there were many of my acquaintances and even friends and senseis that would have done their best to stop this, but most were away on missions at the time

They drug me through the streets of my village gaining more followers for the lynch mob as they went. "Kill the demon" and "He murdered two Hokages" were among the many words flung at me, along with rocks and other hard shit. Every time I attempted to free myself, I felt a massive drain of chakra leave me from the weird chains I was shackled to, must have been made from chakra eating metal. To top it all off, I couldn't even be killed with the last thing I had to remember the Hokage with, my necklace. That really sucked, but I was really hurting now, from killing my friend, and from the horrible pain that was being inflicted, but that was nothing compared to what was coming.

I was drug past some of my friends and the looks they had weren't of friendly faces. Some of them looked as though they believed I deserved the punishment while a small few wore conflicted feeling on their face, but the worst was the look I saw on Hinata. Her face was older and much more elegant than before, but still contained the cuteness that I became fond of over the years. She was stunningly beautiful, but those eyes made my heart sink. There was no hatred towards me in those eyes, only caring and sorrow. She managed to break through the crowd to run towards me. When she got near I caringly held her hand looking into her tearing eyes until another shout was heard.

"The demon is trying to kill the Hyuuga princess… Stop Him!"

My wrist shattered when it was greeted by a powerful hit from someone's tonfa, that damn bastard.

"No! Stop it! He's done nothing wrong. Quit hurting him!" Shouted the usually silent heiress, but she managed to get pulled back, by a squad of Anbu, preventing her to get too close. I tried to reach out to her, but my arm was smashed down again as I lost view of her. I was continually being beaten now when I was drug past Sakura and she just eyed me angrily.

"You promised you would bring Sasuke-kun back to me…. You broke that promise… I hope you rot in hell!" she screamed at me with tears in her eyes as she ran away. I still wonder if she knew exactly what was happening to me at that moment

I guess, in a way, I didn't break her promise; I brought him back, but he was just a little dead. I hope in time she will forgive me, I guess I may never know, but I don't blame her for the hate she has, I would easily hate anyone who even thought of harming Hinata.

The beating finally stopped as I was tied and chained to the execution pole. From that vantage point I was barely able to see everyone that was in attendance through my bloodied vision. The speaker of the city council announced my crimes and my punishment for the crimes; death by complete incineration by fire. It was at that moment that I heard the angelic voice over the crowd.

"NO!... You can kill him! I love him too much! Please! Don't take my only love away from me!" my angel called out only to fade away in sobs. After I heard her, I just couldn't reason it away any more, I realized, I really did fall in love with the Hyuuga heiress.

The executioner removed the collar from my neck that prevented me from speaking and asked me. "Do you have any last words?" I nodded and addressed the crowd.

"It was my fault Sasuke died, and for that I truly am very sorry, but I had nothing to do with Tsunade's death." After starting, the executioner was angrily approaching to silence me all too soon thinking I was undermining the authority on the village, and I knew I had little time left to say what I really wanted. I took a deep breath and called out what I wanted my lasts words to be. "I LOVE YOU HINATA!... ackkkk" my shout was cut off by having the collar reconnected so I was unable to speak. The last I saw was my love kicking and screaming while an entire team of Anbu struggled to keep her away as the multiple fire jutsus hurtled towards me just as my white haired sensei jumped up trying to block the jutsu from connecting, but he was just a moment too late.

The fire was unbearably hot as I felt my flesh melt. The stench of burning hair and skin filled my nostrils making me utterly sick. Suddenly the pain just disappeared as I saw a flash of red. The pain came back shortly after, easily twice as hard, when I felt myself landing on the stony ground. I felt the massive wave of kyubi chakra subside while taking most of my pain with it. As the pain faded all I heard was a deep chuckle; that was when I found myself naked in some weird place and decided started my journey home as a wanderer.

…Later