A/N - Omg y'all, my solution is working loool! I was able to get this chapter done in two days ❤️❤️❤️ this looks like a sign of hope that there really will be more frequent updates cause I owe y'all a lot of them after missing so many weeks in between chapters, my lord 😂😂😂

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Chapter 27: Nia's Location

"We tried to tell you, Naruto," Sakura said as she and Ino were speaking with the blonde while he was currently being restrained in another room away from Kiba. "Kiba was trying to get with Nia behind your back."

"But I just don't understand, why would he do that to me?! And why hadn't Nia ever say anything about it?"

The girls exchanged looks with one another.

"I don't think Nia really realized he was trying to flirt with her," Ino responded. "Whenever he'd hit on her, she kinda took it as though she thought he was joking around with her. She seemed pretty oblivious, if you ask me."

Naruto was annoyed.

"There's nothing to worry about from her side of things, Naruto," Sakura reassured him. "She never did anything that made any of us question her loyalty to you."

"I'm not questioning her faithfulness, I'm just trying to figure out why Kiba would just turn on me like that... How long has he been going behind my back for?"

"When I first noticed, it was probably a month or so after that whole incident with Nia happened. How about you, Sakura?" The blonde girl glanced over at her friend.

"I think I started noticing at around the same time as you, maybe a week or two after though."

"Yeah, cause I remember when you guys would be out on a mission, Kiba would always be hanging around Nia and not really leaving her alone. It was kinda weird cause one minute he hated her guts, then the next, it was like he was all over her. At first, I just thought he was trying to make up for treating her so badly, but then... after some time, it became obvious he liked her."

"That's when Ino and I started telling you about what he was doing, but you wouldn't listen," Sakura added in.

"I didn't listen cause I believe in my friends," Naruto told them. "I trust them not to do messed up things like that and even when I had confronted him about it, he denied it, and so I believed him, ya know?"

Immediately after, he shook his head and attempted to escape the strong wood wrapped around him.

"But never mind all that — I'll finish dealing with him later! Right now my only priority is saving Nia, so if you don't mind: WILL YA FREAKING GET ME FREE, ALREADY?! DAMN, I CAN'T STAND BEING RESTRAINT LIKE THIS AND NOT BEING ABLE TO DO ANYTHING TO HELP HER!"

"We understand the concern, but you need to listen to everyone, Naruto," The pink-haired girl rested her hands on her hips. "You really do need sleep. The whites of your eyes are red and we can all tell you're exhausted."

"Yeah and plus we've got Shikamaru, Choji, Sai, Neji, Shino, Guy-sensei, and Captain Yamato all looking for Nia during this time of night while the rest of us should be using this chance to get some sleep then reverse duties in the morning with them so then they can use that time to get their rest in." Ino stated.

Sakura nodded. "So just hang in there, all right? If they wanted her dead, they would've killed her right when you took your eyes off her and wouldn't have bothered to have abducted her, unless they were planning something that requires her to be alive."

"But-"

"We'll see you in the morning, Naruto," The girls headed for the door and just before closing it, reassured him, "We'll find her and just trust in our friends out there right now searching for her. You're not the only one who wishes to save her. Goodnight..."

With that, they left, leaving Naruto bounded within chakra restraints and unable to stand nor move his arms at all. The only thing he could do was flop around the room.

"ARGHHHH!" He tried to wiggle himself out or roll to the door in hopes of opening it and leaving, but quickly found out it was locked from the outside, making it impossible for him to escape. "DAMMIT, YOU GUYS! QUIT DOING THIS TO ME! GET ME OUT OF HEEEEEEERE! HEEEEEYYY! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENIIIING?! LET ME OUT, YA KNOOOOW!"

"DAMMIT! SHUT UP, NARUTO!" Sakura heard him from the hall. "EITHER YOU SHUT UP AND GO TO SLEEP OR I'LL GO IN THERE AND KNOCK YOU MYSELF SO YOU GO TO BED!"

"GAH!" This immediately made the blonde jolt and turn blue in the face. "I-I'll just... stay quiet."

Outside his room, stood Hinata, who nervously was contemplating what to do as her hand softly touched the doorknob.

I-It's cruel to leave Naruto in there unable to really move... but at the same time...

"Naruto isn't worth your time, Lady Hinata," Neji's voice ringed through her mind. "He'd not only ignored your feelings in preference of chasing after Sakura when we were all younger, but now he's declared his love for Nia this time around and continues to keep her around no matter what anyone says or does. He simply doesn't ever notice you and therefore, you should focus on more important matters. He in no way, shape, or form, deserves you at this point."

"Hinata... he and Nia are always doing it with one another. He always talks about, it's crazy how you're just hearing about this now," Sakura's words from an earlier time caved down next.

"That Naruto... he's always had such bad tastes in women. How he hasn't asked you out is beyond me... but don't worry, he'll come to his senses and break up with Nia in no time, so just hang in there, all right? I'll convince him to be with you," She remembered Kiba's words from back when he used to have problems with Nia.

Speaking of Nia, her voice came echoing in the Hyuga's mind as well.

"I don't give a damn about how beautiful you are or how much you or anyone else believes you're entitled to his love or that I'm not good enough... I'm laying the cold hard facts right now... I don't give a rat's ass what kind of person you are... you try to take him away from me... I'll beat the holy hell out of you or anyone who was involved in the whole thing even if it makes Naruto or the rest of the world hate me like crazy... Don't play with me... I'm a very kind person, but if you give me a reason to go crazy and furious, I'll show you what insane looks like... This is not a threat, it's a promise."

"No, I refuse to leave her to die!" Naruto's voice was the last to make a sound in her head. "None of you can get me to stop searching! I ain't going back to the Leaf until I've got Nia with me! Even if that means I'm gone for the rest of eternity! I love her, so don't even try to convince me to give up finding her! It'll never happen, ya know!"

With an ache in her heart, Hinata lowered her head; her bangs casted a dark shadow over her eyes. Her hand trembled with uncertainty on the handle until finally, her emotions forcefully made her slowly move her hand away from it and to her side again.

So much negative emotions had been building up within her heart over the past year since learning about her crush's relationship. She had always hope her love for him will help her to accept that reality, but as time progressed, her sadness grew... as did her jealousy.

Even though Nia had many times sincerely apologized for her harsh words in regards to the drama of who deserves the genin's heart and had actively built a pretty solid friendship with the Hyuga and showed kindness and sympathy for her, none of that had any lasting effects on Hinata as her dark emotions grew more and more.

Having overheard the passion in Naruto's voice from when he had argued with Kiba moments before, his confession of love and protectiveness over Nia had brought the girl to a breaking point.

Her heart felt like it was thrown into an ocean full of sharks. Her stomach felt as though it was about to hurl and she just hurt like hell.

'I can't... I can't bring myself... to wish for Nia t-to... return...' She found herself thinking horrible thoughts — things she'd never thought she'd be capable of ever thinking. 'I love Naruto... and she doesn't de-deserve to have him. I do... I just... I just wish she... that she would just disappear or di-'

Suddenly, her eyes shot open upon realizing what she was going to wish for.

"Hinata," Tenten peeked into the hall from the room next door. "What're you doing over there? That's the room where Kakashi-sensei restrained Naruto in so he could get some sleep."

"O-Oh," The girl gave a small smile and tried to play everything off. "I thought it was weird how the door was locked from the outside... thanks for... looking out for me, Tenten."

"No problem. Now why don't you hurry in here with the rest of us? We're all going to sleep right about now. You've been working hard all day and we don't need your eyes getting strained from a lack of sleep during this time of crisis."

Not wanting to have the others suspect her of anything strange, Hinata did as suggested and headed on over to the girl's room. However, her emotions... were beginning to overwhelm her.

Meanwhile, miles away from them in a inn of that of a small village, Sasuke's group currently all stayed in one room as Nia was continually throwing up into a bucket while Karin was rubbing her back to help ease her.

"Ugh, gross... she got it all over me," Suigetsu took his shirt off after Nia had first vomited on it unexpectedly some minutes ago when the boy was in front of her, performing random movements or saying random words to see her make any sort of emotion, which ultimately failed and made him regret what he did.

Karin laughed at the sight.

"You think this is funny?" The shark-like being sounded annoyed.

"After all the headaches you've given me while traveling with you... of course," She answered.

"Guh... well jokes on you, I'd rather deal with this than be you and suffer from that unrequited love you have for Sasuke," Suigetsu threw his shirt in a nearby garbage.

"WHAT?!" This embarrassed her as she immediately pushed at her glasses while blushing. "W-Who likes Sasuke, n-now? I d-don't know what yo-you're talking about. I don't h-have a cr-crush on him, stupid!"

"Yeah, yeah... keep lying."

"Enough," Sasuke ordered as he was sitting down with his back against a wall and an arm resting atop a risen knee while his other leg stayed down. "Karin... why is she vomiting? Did we accidentally give her something that was contaminated to eat?"

"No... it seems to me that this is just a result of her being pregnant. Morning sickness basically."

"But it's night time," Jugo pointed out as he stood beside Sasuke.

"Well, whatever..." Karin felt flustered and put on the spot. "Her pregnancy is why she's been throwing up, I'm sure of it."

"Sasuke..." The orange-haired man faced the Uchiha. "What should we do with her? This is our last stop before we make it to the Cloud. Wouldn't she get in our way in the battle with the jinchuuriki?"

"No..." Sasuke answered solemnly. "This... actually works in our favor..."

"Huh?" Suigetsu raised an eyebrow and placed a hand on his hip. "What? We're gonna use her to vomit at our opponent or something?"

"I didn't mean she would help us battle-wise. More like, she won't be able to pose any threat to us if she's rendered weak and vulnerable as she is right now."

"This again? Man, there's no way she would be a threat to us in any kind of circumstance."

"It's odd that instead of killing her, Madara would have her "assist" us in taking down the eight tail's. I'm sure he know I'm more than capable of getting the job done without an extra person involve. I don't trust him..." The Uchiha explained. "That whole thing is very suspicious to me. I feel like he's going to use her to kill all of us when our guards are down or when any perfect opportunity arises for Nia to strike..."

"Like if we're to be injured and weakened tomorrow in our battle?" Jugo questioned.

"Exactly..." Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the room became silent for a few moments, before Karin jumped with fright when Nia again threw up in her bucket.

Suigetsu bursted out laughing.

"BWAHAHAHA! You really thought she was about to kill you right now, didn't you, Karin?"

"Damn you, Suigetsu!" This enraged her as she stood up and punched him in the face, causing it to explode with water before it quickly reformed back into its original state.

As that was going on, the assigned Leaf ninja of the night duty, stood in a dark alleyway of that same village; Neji peering in through the walls of Sasuke's group rooms with his byakugan.

Pakkun, stood on his four paws to the side of the Hyuga while Shikamaru and the others stood next to Neji in a line, with their backs to the side of a building.

"So then... the scent I caught earlier really was that of Sasuke's..." The pug said.

"Neji," Shikamaru spoke. "Is it true? Are you seeing Sasuke in there with Nia?"

The Hyuga nodded.

"Pakkun is telling the truth... Sasuke... really was the one who abducted Nia..."

Hearing this, everyone else gasped in disbelief.

"Naruto... will not like the sound of that, will he?" Sai said nonchalantly.

Shikamaru shook his head.

"Of course not... but we gotta alert the message to the others and get them over here before we try anything anyway. He's got three others with him you guys said, right Neji?"

"Yes... and two of them don't necessarily seem weak at all..."

"Don't worry... I'll go inform Kakashi immediately," Pakkun said before taking off.

And with that, the Leaf had succeeded in track Nia down, but... the distance from where they were to where the others were was quite a long distance and the time to act could change at anytime. Will they be able to wait with peace until Naruto's group arrived on the scene or would something force Shikamaru to make the decision to retrieve Nia as soon as possible without backup?

———

A/N - Thanks for reading everyone! Please comment and vote and have a great rest of your day!

QOTD:

1. Fave Part?

2. Fave Line?

3. Who would you say is your favorite character in this fanfic beside Naruto and Nia? Why?