青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 10

Spring
Friday—1:13PM

Naruto needed some time to think.

After Hanabi left, he found himself staring off into space as he digested the words she had spoken a few minutes prior. He just could not believe the bullshit that Hinata's family had put her through, and he had half the mind to go straight to Hiashi instead of sitting there doing nothing. His hands shook as he brought them up to cup his face, his lips were caught in his teeth as he stared at his empty cup.

Family was supposed to love and protect; that's what he had thought since he was a child—he envied love and protection. He saw the other children in the academy get picked up by their parents after class, and he wanted that too. He wanted a big family like the clan heirs/heiresses, but a small family like the civilians would be alright too. He just wanted what they had.

Yet, he felt ashamed for being jealous of Hinata when she was a child. He held so much jealousy in his heart when he found her being bullied and saved her, only to see her leave with one of her family members. He felt envious whenever she would be escorted by them—and now he knew that even if Hinata was treated kindly out in public, she was living a sad life behind closed doors. Had he known it then, he would have done something. He didn't know what, but he was sure his younger self would figure something out.

Sighing as he stood up, he dropped a few bills on the table as a tip and walked out of the café. His destination was Kakashi's office once again, and this time, the grey haired Hokage was shocked to see him return so soon.

"I haven't even—"

"Forget the mission, Kakashi, where the hell is Hinata?" Naruto leaned over his desk, his pupils turning red a few times until they settled back to his normal sky blue ones. "And don't lie to me, I'll know when you're lying."

Kakashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath before matching Naruto's heated gaze with calmness. "She requested some time off so she could go on a personal mission."

"When was that?"

"Two weeks ago."

"Any updates?"

He paused then shook his head, "she said that she would contact me if there were any problems. I assumed that she returned safely since there were no messages left for me."

"Are you aware that she's no longer in the village? And I don't mean that she was deployed or anything. Hinata might have gone rogue—her family hasn't seen her for who knows how long, she hasn't bothered coming to our gatherings, and I...I can't even sense her right now."

"What are you planning on doing, Naruto?"

"I'm going to go look for her."

"You're not."

"No one's stopping me."

Kakashi massaged his forehead. "As your Hokage, I'm stopping you."

"Come on, don't play that card."

"I am, but I'm not denying you anything. Give it some time, if she doesn't send me a notice within the next week, I will allow you to take this 'mission'."

"A week is too long."

"A week is just fine. You need to stop jumping into things without thinking; Hinata requested a vacation of some sorts, explicitly saying that she does not want to be perceived as a rogue ninja since betraying Konoha is the last thing on her mind. Like you, she wanted to get away for a few days to understand herself and deal with some of her problems. If her stay out there is extended, that's up to her, hence why I said a week. If I don't receive a notice from Hinata within that time, I will allow you to go searching for her."