“W-who are the other two?” She asked shyly.
“Ino and Anko,” I replied. “But I’d rather have one friend I can spend years with than split the same amount of time over several people, so until I figure out a better technique you’re it.”
She smiled. “Then I’d better get to work, especially if I might have to compete with Anko one day. Teach me, sensei.”
Neji was an amazingly skilled genin, but the element of surprise can make a big difference. It only took a few months to get Hinata to the point where she could trap her cousin in a Syrup Capture Field, and then slip around behind him and take him down. The first time she pulled it off she actually used a lethal strike to the base of the skull to do it, which shocked me a little. But then again, by that point she’d been beaten to within an inch of her life at least a dozen times by the fatalistic asshole, so maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised.
To be honest, I was actually happy at the display of backbone. Hinata was finally gaining a little confidence, but without Naruto’s influence it was a painfully slow process. But it was a week before I was able to contact her again that loop, and when I did she’d started wearing her forehead protector on her head.
To cover the Caged Bird seal.
Apparently her father wasn’t happy about her ‘inexcusable loss of control’, and decided to use her as Neji’s replacement. I was so pissed I would have marched right over to the Hyuuga compound and leveled the place, except for the fact that they’d kick my ass. What’s worse, Hinata was back to stammering and staring at the ground all the time.
Fuck this. You know what we need to do to get this girl some confidence.
“Fine. But I’m going to take a loop off to figure out how to copy a memory bubble first, just in case she goes nuts or something.”
“Sexy Technique!”
Hinata’s sexy form was as mouth-watering as I’d expected. Even curvier than mine, with amazing breasts and the most incredible legs I’ve ever seen. I’d be jealous if I wasn’t so busy trying not to drool.
“Not bad, Hinata. It only took you three tries to get it down. That’s good chakra control, and I see you’ve got the real Hyuuga bloodline too.” Well, that’s what Anko always calls the Hyuuga figure, anyway.
Hinata giggled. “I sure do. I bet Naruto would love seeing me like this.” Then she frowned, and put a hand to her head. “Oh, dear. You weren’t joking about it suppressing inhibitions, were you?”
“Nope. I liked it back when I used to use it, but I know it’s too much for some people. Are you doing ok?”
“I feel like I’ve set down a massive burden I’ve carried all my life. Insecurity, propriety, Hyuuga reserve…I don’t have to be a prisoner any more. Sakura, thank you!” She threw herself into my arms and hugged me with more strength than I’d thought she had.
“Wow. You’re really different like this.” I laughed. Our breasts rubbed together delightfully, and I was about an inch away from pulling her back in for a kiss that would make her mine whether she normally liked girls or not. “I like it. But I’m not sure you will when you turn back, so don’t get carried away.”
“Why would I ever turn back?” She growled. “I’m spending the rest of the loop like this. Now come on, show me what your transformation looks like. Then we’re going to track down Naruto and make him put that stamina of his to good use.”
How could I argue with a plan like that?
It was a fun loop, but I was a wreck when it came time to restore her again the next time around. Hinata sat quietly for a long time digesting the memories I’d just restored, something she’d never felt the need to do before. I waited nervously, hoping I hadn’t screwed up this whole relationship. She was normally so shy and quiet. I should have never let her talk me into restoring Naruto’s memories and ditching the Forest of Death for a wild week-long fling. Even if she did end up talking him into using shadow clones so we didn’t have to take turns, and then mass shadow clone so we could each have our own little orgy, and my god what a mind-scramble that turned out to be. I was getting wet just remembering it.
But now Hinata was going to hate me, and how the hell would I fix that? I suppose I could switch to using the backup I’d made before I taught her Sexy Technique, but the thought of even that level of manipulation made me queasy. Besides, what if I just screwed it up again? Was I too much of a pervert to have a relationship with anyone normal?
“Sakura.”
Hinata’s voice pulled me out of my internal recriminations. She was giving me that look of focused intensity she gets just before she kicks Neji’s ass.
Oh, shit. This is going to be bad.
“Yes, Hinata?”
“You are going to teach me your hentai-jutsu.”
I gaped at her. She held the serious expression for a few more seconds before it cracked, and she broke down in giggles.
“Hinata! God, do you have any idea how scared I was? I was afraid you’d hate me forever.”
“Silly Sakura, I could never hate you. I’ve spent my whole life locked in a prison, and you gave me the key. Now why don’t you go restore Naruto, and we’ll see if we can manage to get through a training loop together without getting too, um, distracted.”
I laughed. “Yes, Hinata-sama! One eager young stud, coming up! Or ten, or a hundred, or a thousand…”
We grinned at each other in shared remembrance, and I slipped back out the window.
Unfortunately, we found out later that loop that there were unexpected problems with taking our relationship with Naruto physical. I’d always known intellectually that there couldn’t be many secrets in a household of paranoid ninja with 360 degree x-ray vision, but no one had ever confronted me over my habit of slipping into Hinata’s room in the wee hours of the morning to restore her memories. I figured her family had some custom of ignoring each other’s private lives, which made a certain amount of sense.
That courtesy didn’t extend to the village pariah.
Our first warning that something was wrong was an explosion of demonic chakra that took out the whole block where Naruto’s apartment had been. Hinata gasped as a familiar wave of killing intent washed over the whole city, and I looked out the window in time to see a gigantic fox emerge from the smoking crater.
“Oh, shit.” I said. “The Kyuubi is free, and he’s headed this way.”
Hinata looked out the window, got a good look at the giant fox, and fainted.
“Great.” I left a clone to copy her memories of the loop, and went to intercept the Kyuubi. A few ninja were moving to respond to the attack, but most of the people I could see were unconscious or fleeing in terror.
I body flickered into the fox demon’s path and leapt to the top of a utility pole. “Kyuubi!” I shouted. “What happened to Naruto?”
He vaporized the Hokage tower with the biggest damned fire technique I’d ever seen, and turned to me with a vicious grin. “Ah, the little kami. Are you here to stop me?”
“Hell, no!” I shouted. “Do I look stupid to you? I just want to know what happened to Naruto.”
“Killed in his sleep by a Hyuuga assassin.” The great fox rumbled. “It seems the seal doesn’t quite take me with him anymore.” He waved his tails, and I noticed there were only four of them.
“What, they don’t want Hinata to be with him so they murder him? Those bastards! Can I help kill them?”
The fox laughed. “Be my guest, little kami.”