A Small Ordeal

"Hanabi, answer me!" Hinata hurried after her, frantic with worry. Her ring finger sent Naruto a message through the Red Thread of Fate.

Hanabi has been kidnapped by a mysterious person. I'm chasing them.

Konoha Sake House.

Kakashi held Naruto's hand with his left and Lee's with his right, grinning as he said to Might Guy, "A man only grows after experiencing heartbreak. Those unforgettable memories teach us to become better men. Guy, don't cry. Drink. Keep drinking."

Guy's eyes were red and swollen. He'd just had a good cry. "Kakashi, I don't understand. What's wrong with me? My heart hurts so much."

After speaking, Guy lifted the sake jug to his mouth and drank. He was already so drunk that he was helping himself to more.

Lee glanced at Naruto. "What should we do? It seems we came at a bad time."

Naruto's ring finger twitched as he received Hinata's message. "Lee, we can't do anything about them. Hanabi's in trouble. We have to go to the back mountain and stop the enemy."

"Understood." Lee bent down, flicked Kakashi's hand away, and shot off alongside Naruto.

In midair, Naruto caught sight of a proud-looking young man out of the corner of his eye. He seemed somewhat familiar.

Sasuke, whose eyesight was sharper, saw Naruto too. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. Four years had passed. Naruto, have you gotten stronger again?

The trees on Konoha's back mountain grew thick, blocking out even the moonlight.

Hinata chased the kidnapper through the dense woods for over ten minutes before they finally stopped and turned around.

Hinata shouted at the person, "Let my sister go, or I won't go easy on you!"

"I have to complete the mission Lord Raikage gave me. If you want me to let your sister go, you'll have to beat me first." The kidnapper wrapped their hair in a cloth and turned pale. Their eyes slowly became bloodred. "My little friends, come out and play with the little girl in front of me."

Hinata's gaze met the other person's. In an instant, she fell under a genjutsu and froze in place.

Countless gray moths flew out from beneath the leaves around her. Each moth had a pair of bloodred eyes, and soon they swarmed all over Hinata.

"Goodbye, little girl."

"Explode!"

Each moth was equivalent to a small explosive.

Just as Hinata was about to be blown up, Naruto arrived with the Body Flicker Technique. "Water Release: Surging Water Ball!"

The water ball enveloped Naruto and Hinata, and its rippling surface absorbed the force of the moths' explosions.

Hinata broke free of the genjutsu and saw Naruto carrying her as he leapt onto a branch. Her anxious heart settled. "Their eyes can cast genjutsu."

"Lee, did you hear that?" Naruto called ahead.

Lee, Konoha's Blue Beast, seemed to tear through the distance between them. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the kidnapper. "Leaf Whirlwind!"

Lee opened the Gate of Pain and whipped out a spinning kick that made the air crack. "I don't need my eyes to sense him!"

Sure enough, Lee had his eyes closed.

Lee's kick struck the kidnapper's face. They didn't even have time to scream before their skull cracked and their body went flying like a ball.

Lee spun once in midair and safely caught Hanabi in his arms.

"How dare this person!" Lee said furiously. "They actually dared to go after Hanabi. Hinata, if you hadn't kept on their trail, Naruto and I wouldn't have found such a good chance to attack."

Naruto could tell Lee hadn't held back. It had truly been a furious blow. "Is Hanabi all right? She's so young. If the genjutsu was too strong, it could damage her brain."

Hinata picked Hanabi up and called softly to her, but Hanabi kept frowning and wouldn't wake up.

None of the three of them was a genjutsu expert. Naruto was immune to genjutsu, but he couldn't make other people immune as well.

"We'll take her to Konoha Hospital right away," Naruto said. "Lee, sorry for the trouble, but hand the criminal's body over to Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto was faster than Lee with the Body Flicker Technique, so he would take Hanabi to Konoha Hospital.

"Hanabi will be fine. Hinata, could you go home and tell Uncle Hiashi?" In the blink of an eye, Naruto opened the Sixth Gate.

Hinata drew her hand back from Hanabi's forehead. "Okay!"

Whoosh!

Three seconds later, Naruto appeared in the lobby of Konoha Hospital.

Naruto immediately realized that Konoha Hospital had almost no doctors skilled in genjutsu. He should have gone to Uncle Fugaku instead and used the Sharingan to undo Hanabi's genjutsu first.

So Naruto changed direction. Three seconds later, he landed outside Fugaku Uchiha's house.

He happened to run into Sasuke, who was standing outside, afraid to go in.

Naruto paused in confusion. "Sasuke?"

He felt neither surprise nor even the slightest shock. He recognized Sasuke at a glance.

Sasuke's expression was just like when they'd first met: proud as a phoenix among chickens.

Sasuke snorted. "What happened to the little girl in your arms? Looks like she's under a genjutsu!"

Naruto thought that if he could undo Hanabi's genjutsu immediately, it would cause less damage to her body. "Could you do me a favor and use your Sharingan to dispel it?"

The two of them weren't as close as they used to be.

Before long, three tomoe appeared in Sasuke's dark eyes. He gently lifted Hanabi's eyelid and watched the tomoe spin once. "It's dispelled. She was probably caught in a genjutsu created by a dōjutsu. The Byakugan's abilities are a little lacking."

Naruto watched the crease between Hanabi's brows relax. "It depends on who's using the ability. Since you're home, spend more time with your parents. Itachi wrote you lots of letters. You can read them all. That's all."

Naruto said a few more things, but whether Sasuke took them to heart was up to him.

Konoha Hospital's general ward.

Hiashi, freshly sober, rushed in barefoot and stared anxiously at Hanabi.

"She's asleep," Naruto said.

When Hiashi heard that something had happened to Hanabi, he was reminded of the frightening time Hinata had nearly been kidnapped. A strange pressure seemed to lodge in his chest, making him feel terrible.

Hiashi looked a little more at ease. "Drinking causes trouble. The Land of Lightning still hasn't given up on the Byakugan. We wanted to ease tensions between our two countries, but they took this opportunity to hurt my child. I'll make the Land of Lightning give us an explanation."

His words sounded resolute in the heat of the moment, but Hiashi's nature leaned toward compromise. If Konoha's High Command decided not to pursue the matter, Hiashi would let it go.

Naruto stopped disturbing them and quietly left the ward. He saw Hinata leaning alone against the hallway wall, her head lowered and her mood a little low.

"Feeling like things aren't fair?" Naruto walked over to Hinata and leaned against the wall beside her. "Parents' love is never exactly equal. It's hard for parents with two children to treat them the same. You and Hanabi have different kinds of love."

The words in Hinata's heart reached her lips, but she didn't say them. Her eyes shone. "Naruto, I understand Dad's favoritism. Hanabi is more outstanding than I am. But I have you, Neji, and Lee by my side. I'm actually happier than Hanabi."