Chapter 54: Seal Of Broken Fate

"Old man! Give me another!" Naruto demanded as he slurped down his fourth bowl of miso pork ramen.

Nia was still on her first bowl. She wanted to eat slowly so she could savor each and every taste possible. Her order was made curly just like she asked.

As Naruto received his next bowl, Ayame placed her elbows on the counter and her cheeks on her palms then smiled, "So Naruto, is this some sort of date? Bringing a girl here alone late at night isn't something you've done before."

"Yeah, it is," He answered as he was getting ready to dig in, "Her name is Nia. She's Iruka-sensei's cousin, ya know?"

"Iruka's?" The brown-haired woman scanned the girl's face.

She then gasped upon noticing a feature she recognized.

"Your eyebrow! You're that little girl from all those years ago!"

"Wait, you know her?" Naruto asked.

"Dad!" Ayame called as she pointed at the kunoichi, "Its that girl from all those years ago! You know, the one who kept crying if we didn't make her ramen curly?"

Teuchi stopped what he was doing and looked over his shoulder.

"Just look at her eyebrow!"

"Ah!" The ramen owner gasped a bit in surprise, "It really is... how're we just now noticing this, Ayame?"

The two then looked at one another then at the teens and began to laugh.

'She's the little girl that gave Naruto her bowl of ramen because we didn't make it curly. I hadn't seen much of her since she left all those years ago. It's so cute how she made her way back to that guy.' Ayame thought to herself.

"We hope you guys have a good time here." Teuchi said as he then resumed back to what he was doing before.

Ayame also did the same as Nia just began to stare at the blond again as she thought of his confession.

'Love?' She said in her mind as she watched Naruto slurp his ramen, 'He says he knows what it is, but... the way he shows it... it's like he only knows about kissing, hugging, and having the desire to have sex... and not much of anything else."

"Hey Naruto... can I ask you something?" The girl asked softly.

"What's up?"

"Um... how is your way of showing me you love me?" The girl asked out of the blue.

"That's easy: Pervy Sage always told me that if I wanna express my love to someone, all I gotta do is touch them in some way." The boy answered.

"Huh?" Nia responded, "What do you mean?"

"Like kissing them or making love to them. He says that making love to a woman is the ultimate way of showing her how you feel."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Nia waved her hands in front of her, "Are you saying that the reason you've gotten so touchy and a little rough with me is because Jiraiya-sensei told you that if you do something like that to me, it's the ultimate way of showing you care for me?"

"Yeah," The genin nodded, "That's the only way I can show you I care, isn't it?"

Immediately, the kunoichi sweat dropped.

Oh man... this whole time... the reason he seemed so aggressive with his displays of affection... is because... of what Jiraiya-sensei has been telling him. Naruto's actually really innocent. He's just really naive in these subjects. He just believes everything our master tells him about this subject.

"Naruto... kissing and trying to make love to me isn't the only way you can show me you love me... or at least, that you care for me."

"But that's what Pervy Sage has been telling me. I have to do that in order to let you know I care, ya know?"

"No," Nia shook her head, "There are other, more softer ways of showing me you have feelings for me. For example, being kind and respectful to me, doing whatever you can to cheer me up when I'm sad, listening to me, laughing with me, being protective of me, asking about my day, complimenting me... just little things, you know?"

Naruto looked a bit flabbergasted.

"This stuff is confusing! I thought making out with you and trying to sleep with you was the only way to show my feelings! I can't believe I let Pervy Sage make me believe all that garbage!"

"I have an idea: The stuff we've been doing is something that's really meant for a true couple. We haven't made anything official and so, we're not truly a couple. We just have a thing, or we have feelings for each other, but aren't really sure or ready if we wanna be in a relationship right now. Basically, I'm thinking that maybe we should refrain from all the kissing and couple like things for a bit and just focus on getting to know each other on an even deeper level than before if that makes sense."

"So... you don't wanna be with me?" The genin looked at the girl with disappointed eyes.

"No, that's not what I mean," She immediately panicked, "I'm just saying: let's take things slow and go on some dates and continue hanging out without being or getting physical. If we still feel the same way even after all that, then..."

Nia began to blush and shyly mumbled, "I wanna... I wanna be all yours, Naruto."

"Really? You do?"

The girl nodded and smiled bashfully.

"I don't get it... I like you, you like me, we've already known each other for a while, we've kissed, confessed our feelings, held hands and all that other stuff... aren't you already my girlfriend then?" The genin asked blankly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"EH?!!! YOU THOUGHT THAT THIS ENTIRE TIME?!" Nia's eyes nearly bulged out of its sockets.

"Yeah," Naruto began to blush, "I thought of you as it ever since I completely returned your feelings, ya know?"

Hearing this, the girl's face poured out steam.

"You can't be serious, can you?"

"Why wouldn't I be serious?"

Nervously, Nia shifted in her seat.

"I mean... but me?" She asked, "My hero wants me to be... his... his..."

"Woman?" The blond finished then nodded, "Yeah."

Quickly, the kunoichi hid her face in her hands.

I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming!

Naruto sweatdropped.

She's so weird...

"You're so straightforward and to the point," The girl spoked, "Don't you feel the least bit awkward about my feelings for you or your feelings for me? I mean, I've liked you for a while and you just sorta figured it out because I made it obvious to a point where even you saw right through me."

"That's only because you started to act really shy and weird. You weren't like that before so I was really confused. Then you were all like i'm the only one who makes you feel shy then after that, you pretty much just confessed to me. You made it really clear, ya know! Besides, I've gotten used to you, so when I found out how you felt, I was feeling a bit more surprised and happy than awkward. I'm not shy like you."

Nia lowered her hands to her lap, "I know... but... that same day I made you think that I wanted to sleep with you."

"..."

"Sorry." The girl apologized.

"Remember when you told me that petal jutsu lady wanted to have fun with me and you tried to break it down by saying she wanted to sleep with me but I still didn't know what you or her meant?"

"Back when we were trapped in that cave?"

Naruto nodded, "You told me that when someone wants to sleep with you, they wanna have sex with you."

It didn't take too long for Nia to realize her mistake, "Kya! I'm so sorry, Naruto. I did tell you that all those months back and when I was trying to ask you to protect me from the rats and spiders, I ended up asking you to sleep with me instead of saying something like sleep near or by me. It really is my fault! I can see why you got the wrong idea. I'm so sorry."

Picking his chopsticks up again, Naruto then said, "It's fine. Besides, you already told me you want it eventually so-"

"Naruto," The girl leaned closer to him and whispered, "Don't talk about it here. That's so embarrassing."

"I'm just saying it as it is, ya know?"

"Saying what as is?" Ayame decided to speak to her customers again.

"Nothing!" Nia went completely red.

Naruto smirked, "She told me that she wants to have-"

"KYAA!" The kunoichi threw a hand over the genin's mouth to shut him up, "Another bowl! I would like to have another bowl please!"

"Oh? Why didn't you just say so? I'll cook you up some right now." Ayame fell for the lie and went straight back to work.

Nia sighed in relief then whispered loudly, "Naruto, they don't need to know all that. That's just between you and me!"

"But I sorta wanna say something..."

"If you say something, I'll tell Iruka!"

"Guah!" Naruto bit on his nails as he slowly turned blue, "You wouldn't, would you?!"

"I would... if I can get him to promise to not kill me first that is."

Naruto laughed, "You're not gonna say anything! You're scared of him too!"

"Your bowl of ramen is here! Enjoy." Ayame placed another bowl in front of Nia.

"Thank you." The girl said as she took her chopsticks and began to eat again.

Naruto smiled then did the same.

Over the next hour or so, the two would eat a little then tell stories about some of the missions they've been on. Some stories were serious and others were hysterically funny. They'd tell each other their favorite and least favorite mission they've been on then continued to talk about some secrets they've kept to themselves till then.

"You talk to plants while watering them?" Nia laughed as soon as the teen revealed, what he considered, his embarrassing secret.

"Yeah." Naruto nodded as he then continued talking some more.

However, though she could hear everything he was saying, the girl got lost in her own thoughts about him.

'He sure talks a lot,' She thought as she had her left elbow on the counter and her cheek on her left palm all while staring at the genin with a smile that seemed as though she was caught in a daydream, 'I love hearing him talk. It's like every time he does, I feel alive. He always brightens up my day no matter how terrible I feel. He's just so sweet and kind. He's like everything I've ever wanted in someone. Or at least, close to it.'

The girl then stared into his eyes as he continued rambling on and on about himself.

Look at his eyes... they're so damn gorgeous. They're like a beautiful sapphire color and they're always so lit up and gentle. He has such nice tan skin and his whisker marks are so cute. His smile is like... everything. God, I can't stop staring. I think he's just so handsome. Hah... why does he even talk to a girl like me? He can do so much better, but still... I wanna be the one to make him smile. I wanna be the only girl who can cheer him up really good. He's so wow.

She then heard him talking about something that had to do with what his favorite ramen flavors were, but kept her thoughts elsewhere still.

I wonder if anyone's ever told him how funny he is or how cute it is with how he gets with his ramen? I had to eat that thing all my life while growing up. I mean, it was good and all, but I hated eating it every single day. Naruto wishes he could eat ramen everyday which is completely surprising to me haha. I didn't know someone could be so obsessed with it. Especially with cup noodles... those are gross but the other variations are pretty good. I'm a fan of the more spicy flavors though. They're amazing.

"So what about you, Curly Brow? What's your favorite flavor?" Naruto broke the girl out of her thoughts.

"All the spicy flavored ones." Nia answered.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about those packaged ones! There's-" Naruto went off listing another bunch of ramen flavors while Nia still kept staring at him.

'Naruto...' She nearly melted, 'You're amazing... why doesn't anyone tell you enough? I can't believe anyone could ever be mean to you... you're like an angel. Those people are crazy to treat you like dirt. I'd never treat you so bad just because of some beast inside you. I couldn't care less about that. It's not like you're an actual beast. You're a person... a human... someone that deserves to be acknowledge. You work so hard and you're always there for people who needs acceptance of any sort. You're a hero... I'm so glad I've gotten to known you. You're the light at the end of the tunnel to me. Hero, hero, hero.

Eventually, after another half hour of laughter, eating, and talking, the two were finally ready to leave.

Nia was still finishing her last bowl while Naruto was searching for his frog wallet. When he found it, Nia quickly took a look at it and had sparkly eyes.

"That's soooo cute!" She exclaimed as she couldn't take her eyes off it, "Naruto, you're so cute with this!"

"Cute?" He sweatdropped, "I don't wanna be cute."

"I was saying how you are is cute. You're handsome." Nia clarified.

"That sounds a lot better, ya know?" He smiled at the girl while opening his wallet.

When he did, it was revealed that he was hopelessly, without a doubt, one-hundred percent, completely broke.

Immediately, both teens sweatdropped.

"Erm..." Naruto began to nervously rub the back of his head, "I guess... I forgot to pick up my money from Granny Tsunade after we got you back here..."

"No kidding," The girl observed just how sad that froggy was. When she looked closer, she saw something, "Is that... a smushed leaf in there?"

"Y-Yeah..." Naruto ashamedly took the piece of nature out and dropped it to the floor.

Nia sighed and proceeded to take her wallet out and payed for everything. Because of the immense food Naruto consumed, her wallet became pretty thin.

When they went outside, the genin apologized profusely.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto. I don't mind," The girl said to him, "I'm just glad you took me out. That's very nice of you."

"Curly Brow," Naruto took the girl's hands and held it in his own, "You're so..."

"?"

Naruto smiled, "Just... thank you."

"You're welcome," She replied, "This was really fun, Naruto. Your stories were freaking hilarious. I had a nice time. Do you still..."

She began to blush.

"Do you still wanna go on another date sometime?"

"Do you?" Naruto asked back.

The girl smiled widely and nodded, "I'd love to."

"Well, I guess that's my answer too."

"Awesome!" The kunoichi squealed as she hugged the genin, "Thank you so much for this! I really did have a good night."

"Yeah, me too." The genin responded as the girl pulled away from him.

"Well, I gotta get going. It's almost midnight. Iruka might kill me for coming home so late."

"Wait!" The blond stopped the girl before she could leave.

"What is it?"

"About what you said earlier... do you... do you... wanna be with me or something?"

"I wanna be with you," The kunoichi said much to Naruto's delight, "But at the same time, I wanna take things slower so that we'll be able to understand if what we feel is truly love or something else. That's why I think we should reserve all the intense kissing and stuff for if we do become a couple."

"So then, am I not allowed to touch you anymore?"

"Hugs and soft kisses on the cheek is allowed I guess. Even occasional hand holding, but nothing more okay? If we do become a couple, that's gonna be completely broken... to the maximum."

"Why did you say it like that?" Naruto tilted his head.

"You'll see... if we ever get together." Nia smiled.

She then took a few steps forward, "Whenever we go on a date, I'll give you a kiss at the end of it each time, okay?"

Naruto began to redden, "Oh, so you mean like right now we can-"

"Mhm," Nia nodded shyly, "We can kiss. I mean... if you'll let me that is..."

Naruto placed his hand on the girl's cheek and stroked it. They began to gaze into the other's eyes as they then closed it and slowly pressed their lips against one another.

Happening to pass by Ichiraku, Shikamaru saw this and stopped.

'So... Naruto wasn't kidding. He does like that girl.' He said as he placed his hands in his pockets.

When the two finally shared their last kiss for a while, Nia said her goodbyes and disappeared within the crowd.

"See ya!" Naruto yelled as he waved, "Get some good sleep, ya know!"

He then placed his arm down and stared in the direction the girl went off in.

Curly Brow... Did I... Did I mess up?

"You two went on a date?" Shikamaru walked to Naruto's side.

"Oh, Shikamaru... what're you doing out here so late?"

"I had to discuss a mission Lady Tsunade wants Hinata, Chouji, and I to go on to Hinata." The Nara boy explained.

"Huh? What kind of mission?"

"I'll explain it all later. Just answer my question."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, we finished our first date."

"So how did it go? You look bothered."

"Well, it went good until the very last few minutes. I forgot to receive my money from Granny and well-"

"She ended up paying on the first date..." Shikamaru correctly guessed.

"Yeah," Naruto felt bad, "I read in one of Sai's books that the guy should be the one to pay for the first date always."

He dropped his shoulders in disappointment, "Gah, I'm pathetic."

"I wouldn't stress myself. After all, she kissed you."

"Guah! You saw all that?!"

"Yeah," Shikamaru kept his hands in his pockets, "She looks like she really likes you. When she turned her back, she was smiling to herself and I think she was blushing too. She looked really happy."

"Oh!" The genin placed his hands behind his head and grinned, "I guess I have nothing to worry about then."

Shikamaru smiled.

"Naruto! Shikamaru!" Someone came running to the two boys.

"Hinata, its you." Naruto turned around and smiled, "What's up?"

"Naruto, I'm happy to see you," The girl blushed slightly and smiled back, "I need to talk to Shikamaru, but I don't mind if you listen in."

"All right. What's this all about?"

•••

As she headed home, Nia just couldn't stop thinking about the boy she loved.

'Oh gosh!' She felt her heart flutter, 'He wants to be my boyfriend! I can't believe this! This is insane! It's amazing! Naruto's so sweet! Kya, I can just kiss him all day!'

While she had her thoughts completely in la la land, she wasn't aware of a person in dark clothing following behind her. They wore a long black coat with their hoodie on as it covered the top part of their face. They took out what looked like a paper bomb, and slowly approached the girl from behind.

When no one was looking, they slapped the paper onto her back and held a hand seal up.

"Seal of broken fate!" They muttered in a low voice as the paper on Nia's back began to shine purple.

Startled by the sudden touch, the girl turned around to see a familiar person with the most sadistic smirk she'd ever seen.

In seconds, the night sky ripped open and from it came a portal of some sort. When it appeared, it began to thunder and strong winds began to blow harshly within the village causing everyone outside of their homes to begin to panic and look into the sky.

"What the hell?!" Naruto's eyes widened as he placed his arm over his eyes to keep it protected from the harsh winds. He then looked into the sky and nearly felt his jaw drop, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

"It looks like... a black hole!" Shikamaru exclaimed as he couldn't believe what he was seeing, "But still, if it were, we should all be pulled into it by now!"

Back where Nia was, her feet began to lift off the ground against her will. She was slowly headed into the frightening vortex that was opened.

'What the- What the hell is going on?!' She thought as she struggled to get her feet back to ground, 'I can't... I CAN'T STOP! I can't move either!'

She looked down to see the culprit still smiling up at her as the crowd began to try and save the girl. However, every time they tried something, lightning would shoot down at the ground and the wind would blow stronger which prevented anyone from getting close to her.

"Oh no!" Hinata gasped as she activated her byakugan.

"What do you see, Hinata?" Shikamaru asked as he was desperate for answers.

"It's Nia!" She answered, "She has some sort of paper seal on her back and... and she's being pulled up into that black hole!"

"WHAT?!" The two boys gasped in shock as soon as Hinata gave them the information.

Quickly, Naruto took off as fast as he could, "CURLY BROW!"

"NARUTO, WAIT!" Shikamaru yelled out as his friend then jumped onto the roof of a building and ran across it.

"Damn it! We have no choice!" The male left behind began to run after the Uzumaki, "Hinata! You come along too! We're gonna need that byakugan of yours!"

"R-Right!" The kunoichi quickly obliged and followed behind.

Ahead of them, Naruto was nearing to where the vortex was. However, as he approached it, lightning would begin to hit the buildings he would run on. He dodged the bolts by zigzagging then summoned his clones to give him an extra boost of speed.

The culprit began to allow the vortex to slowly lift themselves into the sky as well. When Naruto saw this, he grew furious.

"So you're the one who started this!" He yelled as the culprit only kept smirking as the upper part of their face was hidden under their hood.

"Naruto!" Nia cried out as she struggled to free herself, "What're you doing?! Stay away! I don't want you to get pulled in too!"

"I'm not running away!" He quickly responded, "I don't abandon the people I love, ya know!"

The genin began to form a rasengan and glared at the assailant, "I'll only say this one time!"

He then jumped into the sky and aimed his ninjutsu at them, "Let her go!"

On impact, the culprit blew into pieces as it was revealed it was some sort of puppet. However, even though it was destroyed, Nia was close to being pulled in.

"Curly Brow, reach for my hand!" Naruto demanded as he attempted to reach his hand out to the girl.

Before she could try and do so, another hole, this time formed on the ground, began to pull only Naruto down into it while everyone else cleared out of danger. They also tried to save the genin but again could do nothing against that of nature.

"Naruto! NARUTO!" Nia screamed as she saw the blond getting pulled down to the ground.

"Curly Brow, don't worry! I'll find you! I swear it on my life!" The boy responded as he realized there was no escaping being pulled into the black hole.

A tear fell from Nia's eye as she disappeared within the vortex. Immediately after, it closed and disappeared also.

Now seeing as that portal had closed, Shikamaru and Hinata had no choice but to jump into the portal in the ground which Naruto was being sucked into.

"Naruto!" Hinata called as she reached onto her crush's wrist and grabbed it while Shikamaru held onto her other wrist as all three were now connected.

"Don't worry, Naruto! We got your back." The male said as he fell also.

"Hinata! Shikamaru!" Naruto was surprised to see the two had followed him into the ice blue portal.

Seconds later, all three were completely swallowed into the portal and when they were, that too disappeared.

Where had they all gone?

----

A\N - Yes! Finally some drama lol. I was getting impatient but now I can finally publish this chapter.

Just in case anyone's confused. Nia was pulled into a different vortex than the other three. Her's formed in the sky while theirs formed on the ground.

Anyway thanks for reading and please comment and vote and have a great day ❤️

QOTD #1: Favorite part of chapter? (Imma just start doing this every chapter cause I like knowing what you guys liked most)

QOTD #2: What year did you graduate or will be graduating in?