Chapter Seven

"The One Who's Going to Marry Her is Me!"

Chirping birds echoing in the whole forest. There were people standing in the middle of the forest near an abandoned building. They were not moving for seconds.

The man took a step backward after seeing Naruto. He was frightened by his presence.

"You scared, scaredy-cats?" Kiba teasing them. He gave them a smirk.

"Let's go and rescue the Princess," Naruto ordered.

"Roger that!" Kiba replied.

"Do you think we're scared of you because you were known as the hero of the previous war? Don't mock us bastard!" the man muttered and waved 'attack' to his colleagues.

They ran towards Naruto, Kiba, and Shino. Shino dispersed his insects and started attacking enemies.

"What the hell are these annoying bugs?" one of the enemies muttered.

"Calling my bugs annoying disgusts me!" Shino muttered then clenched his fist. A loud scream came out from the man's mouth.

"Let's go Akamaru! Let's teach these bastards a lesson." Kiba said. Akamaru barked as loud as the thunder.

"Fang Over Fang!" he screamed and smacked down enemies in one blow.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Technique!" Multiple Naruto doppelgangers appeared attacking enemies. Some of his shadow clones disappeared in a poof sound.

The man who was their leader left the area and headed towards the abandoned building. He got inside and rushed to where the Princess was kept. He opened the door and revealed the Princess being tied down and had her mouth shuts with tape covering it.

"Let's get the Princess out of here. Leaf Ninjas are trying to retrieve her." He told his comrades who were guarding the Princess.

'So Naruto and the others came to save me? What happened to the Kingdom? How about the marriage meeting?' Selene thought.

The men grabbed Selene out of the room and they were trying to escape while Naruto and his friends were busy fighting their colleagues.

"We must secure the Princess, we have not been paid yet for this." the leader said.

They left the abandoned building and escaped.

"Damn it! They are trying to escape with the Princess!" Naruto screamed.

"Leave the rest to us Naruto, follow those bastards, and save the Princess. We'll follow you once we're done here." Kiba told Naruto. He nodded as a response to Kiba's statement. He ran after those guys.

'I will not let you escape this time.' Naruto thought.

***

"Lady Hinata, take a look at your wedding gown." The old woman spoke. Hinata was watching outside the window. She turned her gaze to the voice and saw the gown. It was beautiful but, she did not want to wear it. 'It's not me who should wear that gown. It must be Selene.' She was protesting inside her but, she did not have the courage to just dump the wedding and run away from the Kingdom and look for Naruto and her friends. She could not do that. She just could not.

The old woman noticed her sad face and approached her.

"Lady Hinata, I apologize for making you miserable. I just can't let the Kingdom die. My granddaughter recently died of malnutrition, her parents are dying too. She was too young, she was not able to see how beautiful the Blue Moon was. She always dreamed of watching the Blue Moon with her parents including me, her grandma. I was late. I failed to save her." The old woman told her and sobbed.

Hinata's chest hurt. She did not expect to hear it from the old woman. It was so tragic. She could clearly feel what the old woman felt until that very moment. She hugged her.

"It's fine granny. Everything's gonna be fine." Hinata told her.

The sun was about to set but there was no sign of Naruto and her friends. Hinata kept on waiting for them hoping they would appear before the morning comes. She's going to marry a stranger. A grain of tear left out from her eye.

***

Naruto kept on following those guys who kidnapped the Princess and now trying to escape. He almost caught up to them when the leader ordered his men to buy him some time and lure Naruto so he could escape easily.

"As if I would let you escape!" Naruto muttered.

The men attacking Naruto with kunais and shurikens. He easily dodged all of them. One of the men weaved a sign and started attacking Naruto with lightning technique. Naruto used his Multi-Shadow Clone Technique and covered himself. A ball of chakra appeared on his right hand, a Rasengan. He attacked the man with it and he went flying and stopped on a tree trunk. The other guys gulped and looked so frightened. Naruto approached them and they were holding a kunai in a dodging stance.

Naruto fought them with Taijutsu. He kicked and punched each of them but those were not enough to defeat them. One of the men weaved a sign and used a fireball technique to attack him. He almost got hit by it but he managed to escape. He again used his Shadow Clone Technique to deceive his enemies. They fought in Taijutsu. A huge shuriken appeared on his palm to attack them.

"Rasenshuriken" Naruto shouted and launched the giant shuriken from his palm. He did not intend to directly attack the enemies but the trees so he could bury them down. He succeeds in burying them. One enemy left and the dusk was already welcoming them. 'I must save the Princess before it gets dark or I might get lost sight of her again.'  Naruto thought.

He chased after the guy. He was carrying the Princess.

"Damn it!" The guy muttered. He realized it was a wrong choice to fight with Naruto, he might lose his life fighting him. There was a huge difference between their power level. He knew Naruto very well. He was one of the survivors of the war. He was part of the Allied Shinobi Forces and went missing after the war.

Naruto overtook them. He came to a stop.

"Leave us alone bastard." The man shouted at him.

"I will leave you alone once I retrieved the Princess," Naruto replied. The man gritted his teeth out of anger.

"You can only have the Princess if I die." He told Naruto.

"What do you want from the Princess?" Naruto asked him.

"I want the money promised to me in exchange for the Princess' life," he revealed.

"Who's the person behind this?" Naruto impatiently asked him.

"As if I will tell you," he replied.

"Then I'll make you speak," Naruto said and attempted to attack the man. He then used the Princess as a shield. He pointed the kunai on her neck. Naruto stopped.

"Come closer and she's dead." He said and chuckled.

"Quit it. You have no match against me and we have cornered you. You might get killed before you can strike that kunai to her neck." Naruto said. Kiba and Shino appeared behind the man.

"Damn you!" the man muttered.

Without noticing it, the man's body was covered by Shino's insects. He screamed when the insects were invading his body. He dropped the kunai as well as let go of the Princess. Accidentally, the tree branch broke and both the man and the Princess fell down. Naruto went to save the Princess. He was carrying her. The Princess looked at his face and blushed. Naruto looked at her and smiled.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She nodded.

Naruto dropped her on the floor. Kiba and Shino went down too.

"Thank you, Naruto. You are really a hero." Selene said.

"Ahhh. It's our mission to protect you." Naruto replied.

Shino approached the man once he let his insects gone from his body. He was still alive. Naruto followed him.

"He might know about the person behind this." Naruto said.

"Just kill me. It's useless to ask me, I won't tell you what I know." The man said.

"We won't kill you. We know someone who can reveal information without--" Kiba was interrupted.

Everyone was shocked. The Princess covered her eyes. The man killed himself. He struck the kunai on his neck.

"Damn it!" Kiba muttered.

"They don't want to share any information with us. They might get killed once a piece of information was leaked." Shino said.

"A forbidden Jutsu?" Naruto muttered.

"Yeah," Shino replied.

"What should we do now?" Kiba asked.

"Let's head back to the Kingdom" The Princess replied.

"But it's getting dark. We can head back tomorrow morning." Naruto replied.

"Maybe the Prince was still there. If the marriage meeting did not happen earlier, we could still make it on time before the dawn," she explained.

"It's fine with us but, we're worried about you Princess," Naruto said.

"It's okay, Hinata might be waiting for you too," Selene said.

"Yeah. You're right about that." Naruto replied. Even it's dark they head back to the Kingdom. The Princess was riding on Akamaru's back.

"Is it really fine riding on Akamaru's back?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Don't worry about that Princess, Akamaru is used to do dog back riding," Kiba replied. The Princess laughed at his statement.

"What's funny?" Kiba asked.

"Nothing. Ninjas are really cool," she muttered.

"Of course, we're cool right Akamaru?" Kiba said. Akamaru replied with a loud bark. 

"Thank you for saving me guys. You all are cool." The Princess said. All of them looked at her and gave her a smile.

"How I wish the Prince was as cool as you." She added.

"He's cool for sure. Princes were born cool." Kiba replied.

"Really? If that's the case, I am excited to meet him," she said.

***

Hinata's wearing a very elegant wedding gown. It looked perfect on her. The old woman was so happy seeing Hinata in that dress but Hinata did not show any happiness on her face. She was thinking of Naruto at the moment. She wanted him to show up before the wedding.

"The King of the Crescent Moon Kingdom has arrived." One of the attendants announced.

"Please accommodate the King very well." The old woman said.

The ceremony was about to begin but there was no sign of Naruto and the Princess. 'Why are you taking so long, Naruto?'  She was worried about him. She was thinking that something had happened. 'No, Naruto never breaks his promise.' she thought.

"Lady Hinata, it's time." The old woman said. She nodded as a response. She walked towards the sacred room. The wedding will be held there. Some of the attendants assisted her.

The Prince was already there waiting for her. Beside him was his father, the King of their Kingdom.

She stopped in front of him. Hikaru offered his arm and Hinata accepted it. They walked towards the sacred stage together. There were few people inside the room. Just the both of them, the King, the Prince's bodyguards, and the Princess' attendants, and some of the Kingdom's soldiers.

The Priest was waiting for them on stage. Upon their arrival, the ceremony was soon started. Before anything else, the Priest asked if there were any objections. Nobody answered. Hinata was hoping Naruto would show up and object but, nobody came. She felt sad. "If there are no objections, let's begin. The Priest was about to begin when the doors of the sacred room opened.

"The one who's going to marry Hinata is me, so I object!" Naruto shouted at everyone.

Everyone looked at him with suspicious looks. Hinata's eyes widened and smiled.

"Naruto!" Hinata shouted. Hikaru and the rest got confused.

"Naruto?" Hikaru repeated.

"What's going on?" The King muttered.

"That was an epic entrance Naruto," Kiba told him.

"I know right," Naruto replied.

Selene stared at him with amusement. 'Hinata sure is the luckiest to have Naruto.' she thought.

"Princess!" The old woman and her attendants shouted.

The Princess immediately approached the stage.

"Hinata, forgive me. You shouldn't do this for the Kingdom. It is my responsibility as the Princess." Selene told her.

"Selene, I wanted to help you. I know what you really feel. If this thing happened to me I know you will do the same as well. I think we need to explain things to the Prince." Hinata said.

Both of them looked at the Prince. He wore a confused face.

"Your highness, let me explain." Hinata approached Hikaru.

"This is Princess Selene. She's the real Princess of this Kingdom. She was kidnapped by unknown bad guys and in order to make the marriage meeting happen, I pretended to be her. I wanted to tell you the truth since then but, I was also afraid that you will refuse to marry Selene once you have come to know about the truth. I know this marriage is very important to the Kingdom that's why I took the risk of playing the Princess until she got back. Please forgive me for lying to you." Hinata said while bowing her head.

Hikaru finally understood the situation.

"You should have told me about it. Since everything had already happened I think I should marry the real Princess." Hikaru said then stared at Selene. Hikaru stared back at him.

"My name is Selene, my pleasure to meet you," Selene said and bowed her head. She raised her head and saw the Prince's smiling face.

"Your eyes sparkle like the Blue Moon. They are beautiful. You're beautiful." He said then kissed the back of her hand.

"I am Hikaru Tsuki. So glad to meet you, my future wife." He added.

Selene's face lightened, her eyes widened and she felt like crying upon hearing his words.

"Thank you," Selene replied. They smiled at each other.

Naruto climbed up the sacred stage to fetch Hinata.

"Naruto? Is that really you?" Hikaru asked him once he stood up in front of him.

Naruto tilted his head out of confusion.

"This is me Hikaru Tsuki remember?" He added. Naruto widened his eyes upon realizing he was talking to an old friend.

"Hikaru? Hikaru! Yeah. That's really you!" Naruto said.

"I would really like to talk to you but I guess we need to finish the ceremony first," Hikaru said.

"Yeah. I'll just assist Hinata downstairs." Naruto replied and he suddenly carries Hinata (Bridal style/Lover's carry).

"Na-Naruto..." Hinata muttered while blushing so bad. He jumped off the stage then dropped Hinata down on the floor.

"So can we start the ceremony now?" The priest asked.

"Yeah," Hikaru replied.

"Is it fine with you marrying a messy Princess?" Selene asked. Everyone laughed at her statement. She blushed and looked away.

"It's fine. You're still beautiful despite that messy dress." Hikaru said.

"Really?" She asked. Hikaru nodded.

'He's so cool.' She thought.

The ceremony started and everyone was so happy for the both of them.

"You know Hikaru, Naruto?" Hinata asked him.

"Yeah, we've met a long time ago. Me, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, and Lee had a mission on the Crescent Moon Kingdom before." Naruto explained.

"I see," Hinata replied.

"Hinata, sorry if I took so long. You could have married Hikaru if I was late." Naruto said. Hinata shook her head.

"You're just right in time and I should be the one apologizing," Hinata said.

"Nah, you just did what you could do to help the Kingdom. You are amazing Hinata." Naruto told her. She blushed so bad that it made her look away.

They looked at Hikaru and Selene who had shared their first kiss as husband and wife. The Kingdom celebrated the new hope coming after the two hearts became as one.

Selene showed her gratitude towards Naruto and his friends. She believed that ninjas were really cool but, her husband was way cooler.

Naruto and his friends returned home.

Note:

Hikaru Tsuki was from the third and the last film of Naruto Part 1, Naruto the Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom.