Achilles

Nothing much to say about this. It was a prompt from one of my betas. The Characters were Kyuubi/Hinata and the word was Boots. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.

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Achilles

Author: Keotalf

The man pushed up against the rock, propelling himself forward. It would’ve been impossible to determine most people’s identities if they were cloaked the way he was: Thick Leather Boots, Dark Black Cloak and a Fox mask. In fact, only a handful of people knew where he was in the first place. He had volunteered for this on his own, desperate to be of use anyway he could. That was his mantra: I need to be useful. I need to be useful. I can’t be weak. I NEED to be useful.

He recalled when the war had started, just a few months ago. Iwagakure, rash as ever, declared war against Fire and Sand. Even though they were out matched and out manned, every person in the country was willing to fight to the death. That was the examples they had seen anyway; Stone ninjas ruthlessly attacking the borders for days, only for each one of them to die.

It had been a gruesome site for the ANBU like him when they arrived. There were bodies everywhere: shinobi AND civilian, destroyed, smoking buildings and medic nins lining the streets. Those ANBU ended up as clean-up crew. Healing Konoha-nin and taking prisoner Iwa-nin. Naruto remembered seeing a boy stuck in the rubble, looking at him with pleading eyes. He was disgusted when he remembered that he had to think twice about whether to save the child or continue onwards. It was a miracle that Rain and Grass had stayed neutral this whole time, otherwise there would’ve been a slaughter on one side or the other.

He was out now in the front lines because he’d asked for it. He was part of a small team: Fox-Deer-Bird. Really, the names of the group weren’t particularly menacing, but they were definitely one of the strongest. Between Hinata’s ability with Long Range Combat and defense, Shikamaru’s Mid range skill and strategy and Naruto’s abilities with tracking, Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, they were some of the strongest Konoha had to offer. The group stopped as the figure in the deer mask slowed to a halt. He turned to the bird and asked her, “I think we’re close to a hot spring. Could you try to check?” With a nod and a turn, the woman looked around through the canyon.

Sometime later, she nodded again, and they took off running, this time with her leading. After a short time of leading them through the labyrinth of rock, the sun beating down on them, they found the spring. The spring itself was relatively small, but there were also small amounts of vegetation growing a few feet away. The clearing itself was large enough to properly house them and almost had a natural “ceiling” due to the rocks above.

It was about evening when somebody next spoke. Shikamaru and Hinata were preparing to rest while Naruto guarded them. It was then that Hinata spoke.

“N-Naruto-kun?”

“Yes Hinata?”

“I have something to say.”

“Well?”

“I-I love you Naruto-kun. I’ve admired you ever since we young. I’ll understand no matter what you’ll say. I just needed to tell you.”

Naruto sat on the rock next to him, staring in disbelief. Even Shikamaru was stunned for a moment at this revelation. Naruto was more surprised by the action itself and by how little Hinata stuttered. Soon, Hinata sat and lay on the ground to sleep and Shikamaru followed suit, while Naruto turned toward the opening to the clearing to think.

In all honesty, he wasn’t quite sure what to think. A woman that he’d known since childhood had just confessed her love for him. In addition, she claimed she didn’t care for his reaction, but he knew she was lying. To him however, it was the action that counted. He was entirely confused about the situation. His feelings for Sakura had greatly changed and he never had a real love life. He supposed that he would have to decide soon enough and there was only one other person he could consult.

Retreating deep into the confines of his mind, he dug through the sewers of tangled memories and forgotten dreams. He trudged through to the prison, and by that time his boots were covered in ilk. He marched up to the Bijuu’s cage, ready to ask advice, a now familiar action.

“I know you heard the exchange Kyuubi. This is probably the most important thing I’m going to ask you. I desperately need help.”

“Exactly how many most important things have you asked me for? How desperately do you need relationship advice?”

At this there was only silence while Naruto thought this over. What seemed like an eternity was less than a few seconds.

“Please Kyuubi. I don’t know what to do.”

The great beast sighed.

“Look kit, follow your instinct. It will always leads to the best choice.” At this he sneered. “Always.”

Naruto immediately looked up from his thoughts, only to realize that it was nearing dawn. He quickly woke the others and they continued on their way. The travel there was uneventful, but there was an undeniable air of tension. Hinata was too busy worrying about what Naruto would think and Naruto just thought; unable to reach a conclusion he wouldn’t have regrets about. When they’re reached the cliff that overlooked Iwagakure, Naruto decided that he would have to make his decision sooner or later, so why not sooner rather than lat-KLANG.

The sound of metal crashing against metal and metal against rock sounded, alerting them of their attackers. After hearing a rumbling Naruto flipped to the side in order to dodge the ninja quickly rising below, the ninja’s hands met only with a rain of Senbon. Shikamaru and Hinata were busy preventing the ninjas from rising up the cliff face, and Naruto was defeating the ones foolish enough to try for close range combat. Soon enough, the earth around the cliff began rising up around them and closing them in. Naruto recognized the technique and shouted to Hinata, telling her to use her Kaiten. Immediately, both he and Shikamaru dived towards her and hugged the ground as the earth around them shattered and the rocks below caved in.

Soon Naruto and Shikamaru were falling down to what was now a plateau, preparing to defend themselves properly. Sure enough, the ninja were now desperately attacking; many of them attempting to surround them, while a hail of rocks fell from above. Immediately, Hinata began destroying the rocks with Chakra while Shikamaru formed hand seals. Rat-Ram-Dragon-Tiger SUCCESS! He finished his technique, defeating a great amount of enemies, their own shadows killing them. They all fell down, split evenly front and back as if they stood upon giant blades. What the shadow manipulator did not expect when he turned to smile at his companions, was a lance greeting him. The blade lodged itself deep in head, past his forehead, entering his brain. The man only took two steps before falling face first to the ground, driving the pike through his own head, killing him instantly.

The look of satisfaction on the man’s face was only temporary, for seconds after the pike was thrown, he was torn apart by a raging wind. There was no time to morn for someone lost in battle, especially when the battle was still going on. It took Naruto and Hinata a moment to realize that their companion was truly dead. There was no time for a reaction, however, it made Naruto realize that they might die. They might be defeated here, but he wasn’t ready to let that happen. He immediately shouted, trying to get Hinata’s attention. As soon as she answered, he said what he needed to say: “I love you too.” In the seconds of distraction that followed after, the only rock she missed (a relatively small one at that) fell from directly above her with enough force to knock her unconscious.

At the sound of the rock impacting, he turned around to see her. He knew it wasn’t possible that she was dead, she was stronger than that. He finished with his current enemy and immediately ran to her. He immediately snapped deep into his mind, right in front of the Kyuubi Cage. He looked up into it, only to see the fox grinning ear-to-ear. Before the words left his mouth, the fox spoke. “Sleep kit. I’ll protect her. Don’t worry about anything.” Naruto couldn’t help but take solace in the beasts words and was immediately back outside. He felt himself slipping, losing control. He didn’t care though, he thought everything would be all right. He felt assured even as 5 Tails were released and he lost control.

That group was never heard from again, but Shikamaru’s body was found some days later with Hinata’s close by. She was found covered in blood, gore, sweat and every other liquid imaginable, articles of clothing shredded nearby. Her body was fragile and her neck was broken, meaning she had probably fought to the death. Only one person knew what had happened, and he was long gone.