Time Braid

16. Promises

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.

Sakura, what did you do to this place?

It was Hinata’s voice, but I was lying in my old bed again. In my thirteen-year-old body, damn it, but I’d fix that soon enough. I closed my eyes, and found Hinata standing in my jungle with a faintly nauseous look.

“You might not want to stare at it, sweetie. I was trying to make the space warp as confusing as possible.”

She spun to face me, and I realized that was probably the first time I’d ever managed to sneak up on the girl.

“You succeeded,” she confirmed. “What is that, three different fractal patterns rotating through each other in four, no, six dimensions? I’m getting motion sick just watching, and I thought I was immune to that. Please, get me out of here.”

I chuckled. “Sure, sweetie. Just close your eyes and let me lead you.”

“Always,” she declared. “But it’s been years since I could fully deactivate my eyes, and it’s not like eyelids are any barrier to my sight. Can you do that blindness thing to me?”

I caught her face between my hands, and met her gaze as I focused my will in that particular way I’d perfected for shaping my mindscape. “Hinata, the fact that your Byakugan works here means that it’s an essential part of your nature, and I will never deny you that again,” I said seriously. “But here in my realm, if you close your eyes you can seal off your sight as well. Give it a try.”

She closed her eyes, and relaxed with a sigh. “Oh, that’s much better. Thank you, Sakura.”

I kissed her forehead, and swept her off her feet bridal style. She giggled, and threw her arms around my neck as I carried her down the path to my garden.

“Now this is the Sakura I remember,” she sighed. “I’m glad you’ve gotten better, but I wish you’d let me stay and help.”

“I probably should have,” I admitted. “That was kind of a manic impulse. But I think I’ve fixed myself pretty well, so it worked out in the end. How was your visit with Naruto?”

“Wonderful!” She exclaimed. “It was a little odd being in your body, but I’ve been getting used to that. He left a pair of clones in the village to play our parts, and we spent the whole loop traveling. He was so good to me! It’s too bad I can’t merge with the other Hinata anymore, because those memories would definitely win her over. I feel like all those years alone are just a fading dream.”

“Really? Sounds like miss lethal curves might be losing her edge,” I teased.

“Oh, you’re just jealous,” she replied airily. “Don’t worry, mistress, I’ll still happily dismember our enemies and bathe in their blood with you. Just not anyone who doesn’t deserve it. If he found out I’d killed an innocent he’d be disappointed with me, and I couldn’t bear that.”

I chuckled. “Hinata, have I told you lately that you’re psychotic?”

“I know,” she chirped happily. “Aren’t you glad I’m on your side? Well, yours and Naruto’s, but it’s not like either of us could handle him alone. I almost died of exhaustion!”

“Lucky girl. Well, as long as you’re happy,” I told her. “So, is Naruto going to summon us again this loop?”

Her mood turned more serious. “Yes, in about ten minutes. He isn’t very happy with you right now, but he’ll get over it.”

“Hmm. Well, I’ll handle that when the time comes. You can open your eyes now, we’re here.”

Hinata opened her eyes, and gasped in delight. I’d stopped by a deep pond filled with koi under a stand of towering sakura trees in full bloom. Before us was a small open field of lush green grass, with a steep rocky slope beyond. A near-replica of the cozy little home I’d built on my mountain hugged the slope, but this one was built in the path of a fast-moving little stream that cascaded across the roof and down the sides in a dozen miniature waterfalls.

“Sakura, you’ve changed it so much!” Hinata wiggled out of my arms and stood perfectly still for a moment, which I’d learned was the Hyuuga equivalent of spinning and staring. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad you like it. Everything here is a part of me, so please don’t break anything. But I know there are going to be times when you don’t have a body in the material world, so I tried to shape it to be a good home for you.”

She threw her arms around me and kissed me soundly.

“I love it!” She exclaimed. “I had no idea you could make something like this. But, um, is there someplace I can train?”

I laughed, and mussed her hair. “Workaholic. Yes, there’s a door to the place where violence happens, and I’m sure you’ll be right at home there. But this is a better place for anything but breaking things, so this is where I’m going to anchor you. Hold still for a moment, I don’t want to make any mistakes with this.”

I shifted my awareness until I could see the silver collar that represented my claim on Hinata’s soul, and unwrapped the golden thread I’d attached to it when we were last together. I embraced the dangling end of that connection to Naruto, rooting it in my heart as firmly as I could. Then I took hold of the slender chain that ran from my heart to Hinata’s collar. Carefully, with a precise awareness of what I intended to accomplish, I moved my end of the chain to the center of one of the great trees that ringed the pond.

“There,” I said. “Now when a loop ends or you die you should find yourself here, instead of the jungle outside.”

“That’s perfect. I certainly don’t want to wake up out there again. But wait, isn’t the jungle some kind of psychic defense? That would make this the place you’re trying to defend, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes,” I said seriously. “The jungle is the wall around my heart, and where we are now is the most vulnerable part of my soul. I’ve put a lot more of myself into my new mindscape than I ever did with the old one, and you could hurt me terribly if you went on a rampage here. I’m trusting you not to do that, just like you had to trust me not to edit your memories when that’s all you were.”

She looked up at me with wide eyes. “Sakura, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yes I do,” I said firmly. “I owe it to you, after what the demon put you through. I may not be able to release you from our contract, but I don’t want you to be helpless against me.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, with a hint of moisture in her eyes. Then she gave me a troubled look. “Does this mean we’re going to go back to how things were before?”

I’d thought long and hard about that question, back on the mountain. In my long mental housecleaning I’d found the affection, respect and budding love my original self had felt for Hinata, and it had been tempting to embrace it and try to recapture our old relationship. But then I’d found the hard, sharp diamond of my demon side’s love, and reconsidered. My demon had loved Hinata with an immortal’s devotion, a passion that could burn unchanged for millennia. She hadn’t known how to express such feelings, but the ghost of the Sakura that Naruto had made certainly did.

Then I’d thought about Hinata’s devotion to Naruto, and wondered if her dragon ancestry had affected more than just her eyes. Was this how she felt about him? Could she ever feel that way about me as well? I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to find out.

“Is that what you want?” I asked. I knew what I wanted, but I’d die before I hurt her again.

She dropped her eyes. “No,” she whispered.

I nearly sighed in relief, but I knew this was no time for a display of uncertainty. If I was right about her, she needed me to be stronger than that. So instead I caught both her wrists behind her back with one hand and pulled her forcefully into another kiss, with my other hand tangled in her hair. She surrendered eagerly to my attentions, leaning into me and squirming delightfully as her tongue danced with mine.

I smiled as I pulled away. “That’s what I thought. Hinata, if you actually wanted me to let you go I would, because I love you and I want you to be happy. But unless you change your mind someday our bargain stands. You’re mine, and whenever I want to I’m going to carry you off to do terrible… twisted… wicked things to you, and make you love every second of it.”

“Oh!” She shuddered delicately, her breasts pressing into mine. “Yes,” she breathed. “That’s what I want!”

I chuckled. “That’s my girl. How can you be such a ruthless killer, and still be such a sub?”

“You like me this way,” she pointed out with a naughty grin. “You have no idea how hot it is to know that I can’t resist you. Besides,” she paused, and bit her lip. “I… really am crazy, Sakura. I know that, and I know I can’t entirely trust myself not to do things that would disappoint Naruto. But I can trust you. You’ll tell me who to kill, and who to spare, and help me find my way back out of the darkness. It’s so much easier when I can just let you lead me, instead of trying to find the way on my own.”

“I… see,” I said, not sure how to take this new revelation. I was flattered that she trusted me that much, but disturbing to hear that she still felt so lost. I thought she’d been getting better after her talk with Naruto, but then again her relationship with my demon self spoke volumes about how fragile that recovery must have been. She’d lured poor Hinata into indulging her worst tendencies, and lavished her with praise and affection and unbearable ecstasy after each episode. She’d been equally quick to punish anything that smacked of softness or ‘impractical’ compassion, and they’d been together for… six months? A year? My memories of that time were less than complete, but that seemed about right.

It was enough like what Sasuke had done to turn my stomach. After so many months of what might as well be brainwashing it was entirely possible that Hinata’s obsession with Naruto was the only reason she cared about morality any more. She’d worshipped my demon almost as much as she did him by then.

Except that in the end she’d turned on her dark mistress to side with me. No, she’d known all along what was happening to her, and jumped at the first chance of escaping. Kami, but she was strong.

I released her wrists, and ran a gentle hand through her hair. “I can do that for you, my love.”

“Promise?” She asked. “Because I’m not sure I could handle it, if we picked up where we left off and then you got tired of me in a few months.”

“I promise, Hinata. If you can’t control yourself, I will control you. If you don’t know what to do, I will tell you. If you want to remember how to be sweet and kind and gentle again, I will help you. You can borrow my strength when you need it, and as long as you keep trying I will never give up on you. I love you, and I will see you whole again no matter what it takes.”

A familiar sense of finality settled around me, and I blinked in surprise. “Um, and apparently my promises to you are binding, so it’s a good thing I meant that.”

She smiled shyly. “Celestials can’t break their word, supposedly. I guess you got some of that along with the aspects.”

My reply was cut short by the tug of Naruto’s summoning.

“Oh, here we go,” I said, pulling Hinata into a tight embrace. “Hold on tight, sweetie. I don’t think you can get stuck between worlds, but I’m not taking any chances.”

I closed my eyes and let go of my surroundings as the second tug came, and we were yanked away together.

“Sakura? Did it work this time?”

I opened my eyes to Naruto’s face, and smiled. “Yes, I’m the real me now. I take it your technique isn’t completely reliable?”

He sat back with a frown. “Yeah. Some loops it doesn’t work at all, and when it does it always takes two or three tries.”

I sat up and stretched, grimacing at the sluggish weakness of my original body. My chakra coils were so underdeveloped I’d probably fry them if I tried any significant ninjutsu, and I couldn’t even boost myself without mangling feeble muscles and twig-like bones. I absently transformed myself to a more bearable state as I thought out loud.

“Ug. I hate waking up like this. Um, maybe our timelines aren’t perfectly in sync? I have to make an effort to let the summon grab me, so it’s usually the second or third time I feel it that I actually get pulled here.”

“That makes sense,” he nodded, but he still looked unusually serious. I sighed, and put up a sound barrier.

“Ok, no one will hear us now. What did you want to yell at me about?”

He sighed. “I know it’s not fair to blame you for what this demon version of you did, Sakura. It’s just, damn it, she stole Hinata’s soul! What are we going to do about that? I can’t even begin to see a way to make it right. Can’t you just let her go, or something?”

Well, that killed my mood. “She died, Naruto,” I replied glumly. “I think I could let her go if I tried, but her soul would go on to the afterlife. We’d never see her again.”

“I was afraid of that.” He lurched to his feet and started pacing. “What was that crazy bitch thinking? Tell me you at least killed her.”

“Actually, I passed out after I ripped out her… um… demonic essence, I guess you’d call it. Both our minds were pretty shredded in the process, and by the time I woke up all three versions of me had pretty much merged. So if you want to blame me for this I don’t think I can argue the point.”

He stared at me. “You… but… gah! What do I even say to that? Why does everything you get involved in turn into such a mindfuck, Sakura?”

I sighed. “I’m sorry, Naruto. Look, I’m not happy about it either, but it’s really not as bad as it sounds. She’s still here with me, and I can lend her my body or make a clone for her to inhabit whenever I want.”

“Yeah, great,” he said harshly. “Can you give her back her own body, with Byakugan eyes and everything? Can you make it so there’s only one of her again, so we don’t end up with two Hinata’s murdering each other to get me all to themselves? You can’t fix this, Sakura!”

I thought about it for a moment. “Actually… I think I can, Naruto,” I said slowly. “I haven’t done it with anyone else, but it should work…”

“We are not going to use Hinata as an experimental subject,” he said firmly.

“Of course not!” I said hotly. “How could you think—”

“I don’t know what to think anymore!” He shouted. “I thought I could trust you, and you’re telling me it’s not so bad that Hinata’s a ghost?”

“But she’s—” I began.

“Dead. You said it yourself. And then you tell me you’re the person who killed her! What’s next, you turn her into a zombie and make her think she’s still alive?”

I slapped him.

“I would never do that!” I shouted. “How could you think that? I carried her inside me for years and never touched her mind, even when I knew you loved her more than me, and it would have been so easy…” I choked back a sob. “Damn it. I swore I wouldn’t turn into a monster, but even you don’t believe in me, do you?”

“If you slap me again I’m going to flatten you,” he growled. “And right now I don’t even know who you are. I’ll give you a chance, Sakura, but you’ve got to stop this crazy talk. You can’t bring back the dead.”

“Yes. I. Can!” I insisted. He looked at me like I was crazy, but I shook my head and plowed on. “Look, I know what you’re thinking. Resurrection techniques don’t work because you can’t summon more than an echo of the soul back from the afterlife, and that gets mutilated when you try to stuff it into a body, and there are all kinds of technical issues that make the damage even worse than it sounds, so you end up with a crazy, crippled mind with just a few traces of the original personality. But this isn’t that kind of situation. I don’t have to summon her back, because she’s here with me right now. I don’t have to hurt her by shoving her soul around with brute force, because I have a legitimate claim on it. And if I can get a tissue sample from your loop’s Hinata, I can make her a real body to live in.”

“What do you mean, a real body?” Naruto asked suspiciously. “Cloning a whole body takes months, and it usually ends up with a soul of its own.”

“And you know this, how exactly?” I asked. He looked away, and I snorted. “Yeah, and you say I’m the one with questionable ethics. But fine, I’ll show you.”

I pulled the kunai out from under my pillow and cut myself with it, then applied my transformation to the blood. I was so upset I didn’t even realize I’d used the template for my familiar twenty-year-old form until it was half done, and by then it was too late to switch to a younger one. I finished the transformation, and did a careful double-check to make sure everything was normal.

“There you go,” I said defiantly. “One perfectly normal, healthy copy of the body I was wearing the last time I did serious training. Hinata, do you want to try it on?”

I’d love to, Hinata said, but Naruto said not to use me for research. Can you give me a clone body so I can ask him for permission?

I rolled my eyed. “God, you two are going to drive me nuts. Fine, here you go.”

Fortunately Naruto caved. That evening we sat on the shore of one of the little lakes that dotted the Konoha training grounds, watching Hinata review jyuuken kata on the water in her own body. I’d made her nineteen because she said it felt comfortable, and given her the same insane level of fitness I’d developed for myself. Now she was dancing naked in the moonlight, supposedly because she wanted to get a feel for her new body and that was her preferred approach to serious training. I think she just wanted to show off, and maybe distract Naruto and me from shouting at each other, but I wasn’t complaining.

“I’m sorry,” Naruto said stiffly. He’d transformed himself too, and the sight of Naruto as a buff twenty-year-old was terribly distracting. But I was still pissed.

“Oh? Does that mean you’ve decided I’m not a delusional mind-raping psychopath after all?” I snapped. “Or just that you’ll overlook it if it gets you a version of Hinata who isn’t a child?”

He sighed. “Look, I was upset, and I wasn’t thinking straight, and I should have listened to you. I’m sorry, ok?” He tried to put a hand on my shoulder, and I flickered a foot to the left to avoid it. “Damn it, Sakura, why are you so upset? You weren’t this mad when I almost scrambled your brain!”

“That didn’t hurt nearly as much,” I muttered. “You don’t trust me.”

“Sakura, you said yourself that you just got your mind run through a blender and had to put it back together alone. How am I supposed to know you got it right? Besides, wasn’t that crazy demon bitch made out of you?”

“Yes, Naruto,” I said tightly. “The Sharingan curse copied off all the darkest parts of my soul and stitched them together to make a whole person, stuffed her head full of demonic propaganda, and plugged her into an infinite source of black chakra that corrupts anything it touches. And what did she do? She tried to find love, punish injustice, and become stronger. Oh, I’m so ashamed.”

He sighed, and went back to watching Hinata.

“We’ve both gotten pretty used to doing things our own way, haven’t we?” I said a few minutes later.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “But… my Sakura is still in there too, right?”

I nodded. “Yes. All three of us are. Well, four if you count my warrior aspect, but you never met her. I tried to pick the best parts of each of us to weave back together when I was healing, and throw out what I could of the nasty bits, but I’m still very much a creature of dichotomies. When I’m happy I can be a lot like girl you remember, but when I’m not… well, I can be a complete bitch. I’m sorry, Naruto, I know you didn’t really mean it. It just hurts. You must know how hard it is to stay sane in these loops, and I’ve had to resist so many temptations. I tried to overcome my old faults, and avoid picking up new ones, and every time life breaks me I just pick myself up and put the pieces back together as best I can. But there’s always this nagging fear that I’ll get it wrong, that I could go crazy and not even know it, and then you… the man I look up to… you as much as tell me I’ve failed…”

There were tears running down my cheeks, but I refused to break down completely in front of him. Minutes passed in silence.

“You haven’t failed, Sakura,” Naruto finally said. “I have. If there’s anyone I should have faith in it’s you. You’ve never let me down, and even when you’re in over your head you always know exactly what you’re doing. I think… I’ve been alone for so long, surrounded by echoes of people that go through the same old motions every day. It’s hard to remember sometimes that you’re real, not just another echo or a figment of my imagination. But you are. You’re as strong as I am in your own way, and the things you can do amaze me.”

“Your dragon form is pretty amazing too,” I pointed out. I leaned against him, and finally admitted to myself that I couldn’t stay mad at him any longer. I needed him too much. That massive aura of his swirled around me, offering a haven of safety against all the dangers and demands of harsh reality, and I was so tired of standing alone.

“So, do you have a magic solution to the fact that there’s two of her now?” He asked hopefully.

“They’re different versions of the same person,” I pointed out wearily. “That means their souls are compatible. Put them in the same body and they can merge if they want to. Then she can object that only half of her sold me her soul, and I can use that as an excuse to let her out of our contract. I think the soul merger would combine their chakra too, so she’d end up even stronger than she is now.”

“You really do have it all under control,” he said in wonder. “Thank you, Sakura. I couldn’t stand to lose either of you, let alone both.”

I relaxed, and let him pull me into his lap. I’d thought a lot about this relationship too, when I’d been meditating on my mountain. The old me had loved him, though I realized now that part of that was because he was the only man I could actually have a relationship with while I was trapped in the loop. The demon had hoped he’d do the same thing to her that she’d done to Hinata, and looked forward to being conquered despite her best efforts. But it was the third Sakura who dominated my heart. She’d been a creature of boundless elemental passion, and Naruto was the center of her world. Her love burned as bright as the sun, as constant as Hinata’s obsession, and I wanted so very much to give in and let that be the sum of my feelings as well.

But I had only Naruto’s word that she’d turned out that way by accident. The idea of Naruto of all people using the loops to experiment with mind-altering jutsu until he learned to turn me into a devoted love-slave was far-fetched, but then again so was the idea of shy little Hinata turning into the hard-edged killer who was practicing on the lake before me. Being alone for too long does strange things to people, and being the village pariah meant Naruto was more alone than any of us.

Then again, he’d been alone for the first twelve years of his life too, and look how that worked out. I might be worrying over nothing. I remembered how wonderful it felt to trust completely. To love with utter devotion. To know as sure as breathing that I’d never be alone. I’d never have that again if I couldn’t make myself take a chance.

So I gathered my courage, and took the plunge.

“Naruto?” I said. “Will you promise me, that if you ever think I’ve gone crazy you’ll just tell me? Explain what you think has gone wrong, and help me test myself, and then listen to me in turn if I disagree?”

“Um, sure.” He gave me a concerned look. “You really worry about that a lot, don’t you?”

I nodded. “In case you hadn’t noticed, two of the four of us are completely around the bend. Three of five if you count both versions of Hinata. I think we can help her, and I think you and I are both ok, but things happen. I’ve had my mind shattered twice now, and that’s not counting all the strange problems with my aspects. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you.”

He wrapped me in his arms and hugged me gently. “I haven’t had it half as bad as you, Sakura. It was kind of lonely sometimes, and getting training was always hard, but none of it was any worse than what I went through growing up. Hell, these last few years have almost been a vacation. You’re the one I’m worried about. You’re… not like I expected.”

I sighed. “I know. You’re not sure if I’m the girl who wanted to be your partner with benefits, or the one who worshipped the ground you walk on. The answer is I’m both. I still have all those feelings inside me, and sitting here in your aura makes me wish to god I could just stop worrying and let myself be swept away again. But I need to actually talk to you first.”

He ran his hand through my hair, and smiled knowingly as I struggled not to react. “Have I ever told you how hot it is that you can actually resist? You do know what’s happening, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” I nodded. “It’s obvious if you think about it. Yin and yang chakra attract each other, which is one reason why strong ninja tend to pair up with each other instead of civilians. I’ve become a chakra sensor since we last met, so I feel the pull a lot stronger than most women would. But you’re so powerful that when you stop suppressing your chakra it doesn’t just bleed out into the surroundings a little. Even several feet away it’s so strong it actually interpenetrates my aura instead of flowing around it, and I can’t help but feel the fact that you’re… oh… two thousand, seven hundred and thirty times stronger than I am.” I shivered. Good god, just thinking about how that felt made me want him so much it was hard to restrain myself.

“So right now all my instinct are screaming at me that the god of all alpha males is right here, and I can feel that you’re interested in me, and I need to get these clothes out of the way and seduce you and do whatever it takes to get you inside me and get your babies right fucking now.” I stopped, and took a ragged breath.

“I’ve never heard it put quite like that,” he chuckled.

“Well, like I said, being a chakra sensor means I’m affected more than most kunoichi would be,” I admitted. “But considering that I’ve got jounin-level chakra and massive mental defenses, and I still have to struggle for control sometimes, I bet you have half the chuunin girls in town following you around like lost puppies.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” he admitted. “Do you want me to stop it?”

“Oh, hell no!” I exclaimed. “I love the fact that you can make me feel like this. That you don’t even need to use a technique. All you have to do is stop hiding what you are, and every kunoichi in sight is going to be jealous of me. But I need to know what we are to each other, Naruto. Am I your teammate, or your toy, or… or something more?”

“Did you want to be a toy?” He teased. I swatted his chest, and he kissed me.

Good gods above, there was no resisting that. My head spun as he plundered my lips, and I clung to him desperately. By the time he came up for air I could barely remember why I’d been trying to control myself.

He looked down into my eyes, and cupped my cheek in one calloused palm. “Sakura,” he said seriously, “When this thing with the loop is over I’m going to marry you.”

My heart clenched, and I wondered dazedly if I’d really just had an orgasm.

“Yes!” I gasped. “But, what about Hinata?”

“I’ll marry her too,” he replied with a cocky grin. “Nobles get to do that, you know. I’ll let the two of you work out who gets to be first wife.”

Fuck caution. I abandoned my last vestige of restraint, and tackled him to the ground with a sudden burst of strength.

“We’ll hold you to that,” I purred, pinning his arms while I ground myself against him. “Hinata, get your tight ass over here! We’ve got a future husband to claim!”

We caught up on each other’s progress as we trailed along after Sasuke in the Forest of Death. Hinata was transformed into a female version of Naruto, allowing her to pass as one of the squad of mixed-gender clones that surrounded our party to prevent ambushes. Well, actually we were all pretending to be clones at the moment. The Sasuke we were with might only be a genin, but he wasn’t so oblivious that he’d miss our conversation if we were within earshot.

“So you can derail the invasion and pass the exam whenever you want?” Naruto shook his head. “Why didn’t I ever think of that? I’ve actually stopped the invasion before, but if I show off that much it just makes everyone all paranoid about me. But if I did it that way maybe I could find a pattern where the old men go along with promoting me.”

“You probably shouldn’t do it just yet,” I pointed out. “I’m still pretty sure the loops are centered on you, so if you do it that might end them. Which would be nice, except that we need to resolve things with Hinata and come up with a plan to deal with Pein first.”

He frowned. “That sucks. Are you sure there’s no way for me to get away with it? Maybe getting killed by this six-bodies guy would reset me anyway.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s a minor kami who promised to show me what’s causing the loops once I got free of the demon, but I haven’t been able to figure out a way to contact her. Any ideas?”

Naruto chuckled. “Are you sure you’re not a kami yourself, Sakura? You seem to have a lot of contacts in the spirit world for one of us mere mortals.”

“Oh, yeah, like you’re just an ordinary ninja,” I retorted. “You’ve already got more chakra than the one-tail, and you get stronger every time I see you.”

“Um, Sakura?” Hinata interrupted. “Father has a device that can contact kami. He keeps it in the secure wing, but I’m sure we can find a way to sneak in.”

I thought about it. “Yes, I think we could. That place is shielded against the Byakugan, but that cuts both ways.”

“Actually, I can see through the security wards,” Hinata said with a hint of pride. “They’re only as strong as the seal master who makes them, and I’ve had the strongest Byakugan in the clan for several years.”

“That’s my girl,” Naruto congratulated her. “Alright, I’ll give you two a few loops to figure that out and see what this kami can tell you, and then we’ll talk strategy. So, who wants to fight the pedo-snake today?”

“I still couldn’t beat him the last time we fought,” I admitted. “But I’ve gotten much stronger since then. I usually just let the fight play out normally, but I think I could beat him if I had to. How about you?”

“He runs if I go dragon,” Naruto grumbled. “I’ve never caught him. Then he brings in an S-rank crystal user and bunch of guys with that cursed seal for the invasion.”

“May I try something?” Hinata asked. “I’ve fought him a few times during the invasion, and always lost badly. But this body you made for me is just unbelievably strong. I’ve struggled against the limitations of a weak child’s body for most of my life, and somehow managed to fight jounin on an even basis now and then. But now all those old limits are gone. I’d very much like to test myself against our strongest opponent, and see how far I’ve come.”

Naruto and me exchanged a glance. “Sure,” he said. “This could be interesting.”

“Let me take a blood sample now, and I can just rez you after the fight,” I agreed. “He’ll assume you were a plant, so he’ll just finish biting Sasuke and leave in a hurry.”

It was trivial for Hinata to henge into me and replace the clone that was traveling at Sasuke’s side. Twenty minutes later the Snake Sannin made his usual appearance, and Sasuke was paralyzed with fear by his aura just like always. Naruto crossed his arms and looked bored.

Hinata sized up the situation with a suitable appearance of terrified innocence, and I was struck by how vulnerable she looked wearing my old face. Was I really that much of a babe in the woods the first time through?

Visibly gathering her resolve, she pulled the scroll Sasuke thought he’d been carrying out of her pack and stepped towards Orochimaru. “Here,” she said timidly. “Take our scroll. We can’t possibly beat you, but you’ve nothing to gain by killing us.”

Orochimaru was amused enough to let her walk right up and hand him the scroll, which he promptly incinerated with a fire jutsu. “Ku ku ku ku,” he laughed. “Silly girl, I’m not here for your—”

She slammed a chakra spike through his heart with a sudden burst of speed that I couldn’t have matched even at full boost. I had an instant to wonder why I hadn’t heard the crack of a sonic boom as the body began to topple, but of course our opponent wasn’t the sort to die that easily. The mouth distended and an uninjured Orochimaru began to climb out…

Hinata’s hand flashed out and blew the top of his head off with another chakra spike, so quickly that even with my senses fully boosted I could barely follow the motion. “You are within the range of my divination,” she said coldly, as she reverted to her real form and peppered both bodies with a lightning series of jyuuken strikes.

The second body’s mouth gaped wide as the blade of the Kusanagi emerged to strike at her. She wove around the attack and animated her hair, using it to grab the blade and drag it forward to expose the hand that held it. The hand let go and tried to retreat, but again Hinata was too fast. She released the sword and plucked it out of the air before it could fall, neatly spinning it around to ram the poisoned blade down Orochimaru’s throat point first.

The bodies bulged unnaturally, beginning to swell into some sort of giant white snake-hydra thing I’d never seen before. Hinata blurred into motion, and for an instant I thought she was using that Kaiten technique I’d seen Neji rely on so often. But instead of a shield her chakra formed a whirlwind of sharp-edged streamers that shredded the snake-monster before it could finish forming. The chakra construct slumped into white goo again as it lost cohesion, but an instant later the goo transformed into thousands of tiny, fast-moving snakes that were so venomous I could feel the destructive chakra in their fangs from forty feet away.

Hinata continued spinning, her hands a blur of motion as a thin ray of cutting chakra erupted from each fingertip, and in the space of three heartbeats she destroyed each and every one of the slithering horde with those burning lances of power. Not one was able to bite her, and as far as I could see not one escaped.

The Snake Sannin’s chakra began to dissipate.

Hinata spun to a stop and stepped back with a decidedly feral grin. I extended my senses, searching for any trace of our foe.

He was gone.

“Hinata! That was awesome!” Naruto shouted, and leaped forward to wrap her in a hug. I wasn’t far behind him.

“He was very careless,” Hinata said modestly. “And he’s weak at close range. None of his techniques were as fast as mine.”

“That’s the problem with knowing more techniques than you can fully master,” I confirmed. “But still, holy crap Hinata. You just took down the strongest of the Sannin! I’ve tried that kind of thing before, but I was never good enough to pull it off.”

“What, exactly, is going on with you three?” Sasuke’s voice interrupted. Oh, great. We’d all forgotten about him, and we couldn’t just make him disappear without… wait a minute.

“Um, Naruto, do you have any idea what happens to the loop if Orochimaru dies before the invasion?”

He blinked in surprise. “No clue,” he admitted. “Hey, I guess we’ll find out.”