Greed and Guilt

The Land of Snow finally began its new peaceful Era with the help of Naruto and things were looking great at the moment. Koyuki being an actress was not shy around the crowd and managed to get the people to listen to her.

There were few who blamed her as their suffering was tied to her family. Koyuki was mature enough to know that there were people who saw half-empty glass and some who saw it as half full. She didn't make any promises saying what she would do but rather wanted to prove it by her actions.

The more troublesome group were taken care of by Asama and his group as some needed to get their butt kicked before they listened to what others had to say. Asama and his men had gone through a lot hence they had no time for chit chat and they did their job fast and clean.

As for how the Land of Snow would progress only time would tell. Naruto watched the Land of Snow disappear slowly from the ship as he stood by the railings. A smile formed in his face as Koyuki and few of her men waved their hands to send of Naruto.

Naruto was satisfied with the mission as he met an actress who happened to be a Princess and starred in a movie together with her and killed the bad guy at the end to save a country. It was a fun adventure and definitely a good story to tell his grandchildren when he got old.

Naruto managed to return to Konoha in his second week after his departure and reported to Jiraiya for the completion of his mission. With a pouch full of Ryo(gold coins) Naruto walked towards Namikaze residence while skipping his steps.

Getting inside the house Naruto was disappointed to find the house empty but seeing it was mid-afternoon Yugao was probably in the Academy teaching the new kids.

Naruto decided to roam the village as he was free. After coming back from Sacred Mountain Naruto didn't get to look at the changes of the village due to Orochimaru's attack. Naruto stayed at the village for a couple of days before leaving for his mission in the Land of Village so he was not aware of the changes at the village.

Besides the death of Hiruzen, there wasn't much highlight in the anime during the attack so Naruto didn't take into account that his existence had created few differences in reality. It was like how to change a few things in the past would create a different timeline and Naruto didn't think his mere existence had already created a different reality than the one in the anime.

Walking down the village Naruto suddenly remembered Hinata as she was one, who he spoke to the most in his academy days and he completely forgot about her after coming back from Scared Mountains and even worse he didn't go to meet her after coming back.

"Yikes, I bet she is pissed at me," Naruto said to himself as he made his way towards Hyuga clan's neighborhood. Jumping through the roofs Naruto looked for the biggest house and made his way to the front gate.

"Hello, I'd like to meet with Hinata Hyuga. Is she home at the moment." Naruto asked the guard at the gate.

"No, Hinata-sama is at the hospital at the moment." The guard replied in a polite manner.

"What! What happened to her?" Naruto asked in shock.

"She was one of many casualties in during the attack. I think you should visit the hospital for further details." The guard said with a sigh. Many had been injured during the attack and Hinata was one of the unfortunate ones.

Naruto hurried to the Village Hospital and quickly found Hinata's room after asking around. Naruto went to the VIP ward and found Hinata's room and knocked on the door twice before entering.

Inside the room, Naruto forgot to breathe as the scene was not what Naruto was expecting. One of the Hinata's eyes was bandaged and she seemed to be asleep. Kurenai was by the bed cutting an apple.

"She is asleep. Please come after a while if you want to visit her." Kurenai said without looking back.

"How...How did this happen? Is she alright?" Naruto said stuttering as he looked at the pale and skinny figure.

"I'm sorry please keep it down. She is resting. And who are you exactly?" Kurenai said raising her eyebrow.

"I'm sorry about that. Can we talk outside? I'd like to hear what happened?" Naruto said in a low voice.

"I'm fine with talking with your clone Ms. Kurenai. You don't have to tell me personally." Naruto said again seeing the hesitation in Kurenai's eyes.

"It's fine. Let's talk outside. The whole hospital is being guarded by the Hyuga so you don't have to worry about Hinata." Kurenai said as she led Naruto to the top of the roof.

.

..

"So, you're the kid who disappeared huh. Hinata used to talk about you often." Kurenai said after Naruto introduced himself. The sentence only made Naruto feel more guilty as Naruto was one the reason why Hinata strived to be better and stronger.

Looking back, Naruto should have been there to help Hinata with during the Chunin exam when her resolve was tested by Neji. Naruto wasn't there this time so he was worried if he foolishly affected Hinata's mental development.

"What happened to her exactly? I'm pretty sure with Hyuga's clan's protection she shouldn't have ended up like that." Naruto said with his head down.

"It was the shinobi from Kumogakure. They had always been eyeing the Byakugan and it was not their first attempt. Hinata was targetted once before when she was a child and they managed to get their hands on her during the Orochimaru's attack.

Unlike the last time, they went for the eye rather than taking her along. By the time we found them, they had already taken out one of her eyes. One got away with her eye and the other stayed back to buy some time. It was only Neji, Tenten and Kiba so they couldn't do much to stop the other guy. By the time elders got there Hinata had already lost one of her eyes." Kurenai said clenching her fist.

Rage filled Naruto's eyes as he just realized he was not taking this world seriously. The Five Nations and its hidden villages had come together to fight Madara or Tobi but before that, they were just Hyena's eyeing each other's flesh.

Hyuga clan didn't put caged bird seal on their branch family for nothing. Kumogakure' had created a reputation amongst other villages for being shameless. They had been stealing other village's secrets for decades now and looking back at the history of Elemental Nations there wasn't a single village that didn't have a dark past.

Even Konoha had its fair share of dark and shady dealing that existing till today. Uchiha Massacre and Root being the biggest example. Kirigakure was literally known as Village of the Bloody Mist. Iwagakure had backed stabbed its ally Kirigakure and they also had shady dealings with Akatsuki.

The villages were different but it was still run by humans and human's greed was limitless. There was a reason why 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ninja war happened and even if the Akatsuki didn't spark the war later, the 4th Ninja war would happen sooner or later anyway.

Naruto stayed at the hospital for a whole day, looking after Hinata. Naruto's guilt touched the sky as Hinata started to cry seeing Naruto by her side. It took a full hour to get her to stop as Naruto hugged her skinny body. Hinata had lost so much weight after the incident, even Kurenai was worried. And with one of her eyes stolen Hinata was scarred for life.

Naruto went back to Jiraiya regarding the matter of Hinata with rage in his eyes.

"Jiraiya, the matter of Hinata Hyuga. How is it being handled?" Naruto asked in a grim tone.

"I think you already know the answer. But I'll tell you anyway. They are denying it was their Shinobi who stone the kid's eye. We've searched the body the guy who we managed to kill and there isn't anything that is tying the men to Kumogakure. I'd be more surprised if there was something to tie them towards Kumogakure." Jiraiya said with a sigh.

"So, we aren't doing anything regarding this matter?" Naruto asked but he already knew the answer.

"What can we do? Do you want me to start the war? It's easy for you to say do this and that as an individual but when you take on the title as a Hokage I've to be careful with my words. My decision is tied to the lives of many. I don't want to act weak Naruto but you don't know how heavy these chains are that are binding me." Jiraiya said with a weak voice.

Naruto had no words to say as he returned home with a sour mood. He was thinking of going to Kumogakure to retrieve Hinata's eyes but what after that and before he could even talk about what after that. He was not sure he could even retrieve the eye in the first place.

The Raikage wasn't a pushover and there was Killer B the eight tails Jinchuriki and Yugito Nii the second tails Jinchuriki.

Naruto was powerful but he was not at the level where he could dominate the whole world by himself yet.