Blonding

Finale : Going Back Home

"Help me hold him down!"

The hospital erupted into chaos, and Hinata could only stand back in horror as her recurring nightmare struck once more.

The wailing of the alarms, the cacophony of shouting nurses and screaming machines... she let it all soak through her, weave around her like a smoothed stone in the pool of a gentle river stream.

The sounds stopped, but she could no longer tell if it was because she was fainting again or if it was because her heart couldn't take it any longer.

Nurses swarmed past her, latching onto Naruto's arms and Boruto's legs and forcing them back into the beds. They zoomed by like the starry skies in the faraway, unoccupied lands east of the Land of Tea. Hinata swore she saw trails of their movement, echoes that forced her sluggish mind to remember to think, to feel, to breathe.

Another nurse shot by with iron chains, and it was only with the sound of the metal linking together around their wrists and ankles that Hinata noticed she was walking towards them, too.

She bent over Boruto, stared into his open eyes, and the world went silent again.

Electric blue, as blue as the day he was born.

They turned on her.

"Mom?" Boruto whispered, voice like shattered glass in the enrapturing silence.

And then he was gone again.

They reappeared in the clearing before Three sweaty, wide-eyed, and with thundering hearts.

"I saw it," Naruto said, pale-faced and clammy.

"Me too," Boruto exhaled.

Three coughed, leaning over her chest as she heaved lungsful of air through her gaping mouth. "I felt it," she said. "You saw it, but I felt it."

"You did?" Minato asked, wondering. He turned to Naruto. "Do you think that would work if we did it enough times?"

"No," Three said. "I see." She gulped. "I'm the tether."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"I'm what's holding you back," she said. "This whole time, I've been what's forcing you to stay here. And I hadn't even realized it."

"What?" Boruto asked.

"I... wanted you around," Three said, and him a simple smile. "And I'm glad I did."

She went silent, her breathing steady like the low hum of a faraway storm. Boruto's head went light.

"Try it now," she told Minato, and they disappeared again.

More lights.

More sound.

More panic and indecision and sobbing that Hinata wasn't quite sure was her own until she saw the stains of tears on the sheets beneath her face. Blue eyes staring at her teary eyes ,grinned muttered with his hoarse voice " I'm Back."

Minato returned to the clearing alone. His surprise faded away and left him laughing, amazed, and far too drunk on the moment to remember much else.

He recalled Jiraiya, appearing beside him with a crowd of monks that had no doubt sprinted up the overgrown path as soon as the news had caught on. Their jubilation, however, was rooted elsewhere.

"You did it, kid," Jiraiya said. "You did it."

As they turned to leave, giving the clearing one last nostalgic glance, Three shouted out after them.

"I know what happened," she said. "That Obito killed my grandfather."

Minato's stomach dropped.

Three smiled. "Tell him, please, that he forgives him."

---

Six months later, the dust settled.

Six months later, after all the paperwork and all the rebuilding and all the patient speeches to impatient crowds, Minato Namikaze celebrated the end of his first year in office. The village threw a festival, and Minato watched from the top of the Hokage Office as the fourth face on the Monument was unveiled in a frenzy of applause and cheer.

Six months later, Kakashi and Obito left with Jiraiya on an excursion around the world. Minato and Kushina watched from the village gates as they disappeared into the haze of a muggy fall afternoon, three silhouettes casting dark shadows down the beaten path. Even from a distance Minato could see Kakashi swiping at Obito out of Jiraiya's view, and the other swiping right back. He smiled. Obito was troubled, for certain, but all things change with time.

Six months later, Minato explained his bizarre, sudden appearance in the Tsuchikage's office over a bottle of sake, and after enough drinks the tiny man was eager to forgive him.

Six months later, the Hidden Sea Village and the Hidden Leaf Village formally ratified a peace treaty between their two nations. Minato remembered Three; remembered her strength and courage and tenacity despite the odds. He wrote as much in his journal that evening before bed - then, after realizing his mistake, crossed out the word "Three" and replaced it with "One".

Six months later, after two mysterious shinobi appeared in his office and threw his life into disarray, Kushina gave birth to a boy with blond hair, whiskers on his cheeks, and a fire in his eyes.

They named him Naruto.

BLONDING

MMXVII

J.K.M. / ENDOPLASMICPANDA