Chapter 77: Naruto's Battered Heart|Nia's Unfortunate Fate

As Nia fell to the ground, Naruto's eyes had began to return to their normal blue color. However, the sight of blood all around him had made him tremble all over.

"What the-" He looked at his hands as the blood covered over it and his shortened nails, "Where did-"

His eyes then landed on Nia as she had her hand on the wound inflicted on her all while laying in a pool of blood.

"Curly Brow!" He immediately went to her and sat her up by using his knee to keep her back against it, "Curly Brow, hey!"

Nia's eyes had turned dull. Her pupils had disappeared and the luster and shine in them were no longer there either.

Seeing as there were multiple stab wounds right above her abdomen and a deep long wound made to her arm had caused the genin to quickly assume the worst.

Could I have- No! I couldn't have! There's no way I could've done this much damage to her, ya know!

"Curly Brow!" He then patted the girl's cheeks, "Curly Brow, stop messing with me! Curly Brow!"

"Naruto!" The boy then turned to see his sensei right beside him.

"Kakashi-sensei..."

"Damn it!" Yamato also came running to the scene along with Jiraiya, "I hope it's not too late!"

"Kakashi-sensei, hurry! We need to take her to a medic quickly!" Naruto spoke quickly.

Jiraiya placed his two fingers on Nia's wrist then on her neck. In seconds, he looked down as his bangs covered over his eyes.

"Naruto..." He said with an ache in his voice, "Kid, I'm sorry, but... there's no... pulse."

In that moment, the genin's world collapsed—where there was light became shadows.

"What the hell are you talking about, Pervy Sage?!" The blonde immediate became upset as tears surfaced in his eyes, "There's no way she could be-"

"Naruto." Kakashi placed a hand on his student's shoulder as he tried to comfort him.

"Don't touch me!" Naruto brushed him off as his grief ate away at him.

What he once treasured was now a memory, a shadow lingering in the depths of his mind. A powerful feeling of helplessness and hopelessness stirred into his being as he rested his hand on Nia's cheek all while staring into the lifeless half-lidded orbs that no longer had any warmth in them.

"Curly Brow..." His voice cracked as he now understood he was the one that had caused her demise, "I told you... I told you to stay a-away from me."

The ninja's arms wrapped around her corpse as he brought her to his chest, "But... you didn't listen to me. Why didn't you listen to me?"

His entire world turned into a blur, and so did all the sounds. The taste. The smell. Everything was just gone. He paused trying to hold back the strange feelings rumbling inside him but he couldn't. A lone tear traced down his cheek, and just like that, the floodgates opened.

So many tears burst forth like water from a dam, spilling down his face. his chin trembled as if he was a small helpless child. He breathed heavier than he ever had before.

"Nia!" His throat burned as he screamed, "NIAAAA!"

His screaming and burning of his throat had eventually formed a silent cry. He was gasping for air that simply wasn't there.

Naruto cried as if his brain was being shredded from the inside. Emotional pain flowed out of his every pore. From his mouth came a cry so raw that even the eyes of the grown men around him were suddenly wet with tears though they tried to hide that by either turning away or covering their eyes with their hands.

His whole world had vanished for him, now there was only pain enough to break him, pain enough to change him beyond recognition.

He felt himself loosing his mind...again. He could feel it unraveling, the threads of every happy memory he could ever once recall with the girl, all but a disarray of strings scattered about his feet.

Nia always said Naruto loved like a hurricane. She was right. When she passed he cried with more violence than any gale. Not to have her right there was a torture to his soul. He certainly didn't break quietly, it was like every atom of his being screamed in unison, traumatized that he should exist without her. When the wracking sobs passed, Naruto cried in such a desolate way that no-one could bare to listen for long. He had gone from gregarious to hanging by a thread, a transformation no-one knew how to reverse

Suddenly, he couldn't take it anymore. His anger had reached its breaking point. His sharp knees dug into the earth, his hands unsteady as they silently claw through the kunoichi's jacket and into her skin. He opened his mouth, but not a sound came out, his head violently quivered as if there was a drill to the back of his skull.

His eyes saw nothing; they had lost all sight of what is and what could have been.

Then all of a sudden... the Nine-Tails had won him over in his blinded rage.

•••

Blackness...

Blackness was all Nia could see as she stood in what looked like nothingness.

She looked around as nothing but a glimmer of light was in front of her. However, she didn't approach it. She felt as though there was something wrong with it despite its beautiful presence. As she made that decision, the light approached her instead.

As it did, the scenery began to change. Buildings were beginning to appear and the sound of children playing in the streets, birds chirping, and villagers talking filled the area. Somehow, everything seemed so peaceful to the girl. She felt at ease with herself and everything surrounding her.

"Geez, what took you so long?" She then felt a tap on her shoulder.

Instinctively, she turned around and gasped into her hands as she saw Naruto appearing as normal as she'd remembered right in front of her.

"Uzumaki..." Tears filled her eyes as she hugged the blonde, "You're back... You're back to normal!"

The boy had his arms behind his head as he grinned, "Oh man, you were knocked out for a long time, ya know?"

"I... was?" Nia then pulled away.

"Mhm..." The genin nodded as he then gently grabbed the girl by the wrist and pulled her back into the hug, "One of Pervy Sage's toads put you in some weird ol' genjutsu. I don't know what the reason was for, but you wouldn't wake up for a really long time."

"So that wouldn't work out, huh?" The Toad Sage walked over to the girl as she stepped away from him and behind the blonde.

"Stay away from me!" She yelled as she glared at him, "Don't come near me!"

"Relax," The old man crossed his arms, "Everything you saw and experienced didn't really happen."

'If I were to have beaten her down, Naruto would've gone mad, the Nine-Tails would've gotten the best of him, and he would've murdered her,' He thought to himself with a deep sigh, 'Golly... it's a good thing I decided against that tactic at the last second. She would've died anyway. Hah... there has to be a way to save her.'

"So you mean... everything-"

"It was just a dream," Jiraiya clarified, "None of that actually happened."

"But everything felt so real!" Nia placed a hand on her heart, "You and I were fighting, Naruto got all-"

"While we were heading out of the village, I summoned a small toad when you weren't looking and had it put you to sleep—into a genjutsu. I guess I was just testing your mind...." Jiraiya lied about the last sentence.

Everything going on in Nia's mind was just a simulation for him to determine an outcome of his choice if he had decided to beat her within a fraction of her life. In the end, he had decided against it as there was no way he could possibly make the girl—his pupil—suffer that greatly. In the end, he had made the correct decision.

Hearing as everything was practically just a dream, Nia turned to Naruto as she squeezed him really tightly and cried into his chest.

"I was... I was so scared for you!" She sobbed as the boy just raised an eyebrow.

"Curly Brow, what're you crying for? I'm all right, ya know?"

"Naruto." Jiraiya gave the boy a solemn expression.

"Huh?"

"I hope you know she loves you with all her heart, kid. She literally loves every side of you—all of you."

Naruto blinked a few times before looking down to see the kunoichi's face entirely red and soaked with tears as she coughed a few times and sniffled a couple times also. Though everything she experienced was fake, the feelings she had during it were real.

"There's no doubt in my mind that she'd stay by you always. She loves you despite the demon in you." The old man informed his male student.

The genin thought back to the girl's diary and held her closer to him, putting a hand to the back of her head and an arm around her waist.

"Yeah..." He said lowly as he rested his lips atop Nia's head, "I know..."

Seeing this, Jiraiya felt remorseful over putting Nia through what she experienced. Her heart had ached the entire time and she had to even experience her own love slay her down due to being controlled by the beast within him.

"Forgive me, Nia..." He apologized as she turned her head enough to glance at the man, "I... What happened to you was not what I was hoping to see while you were placed in that genjutsu."

Nia didn't say anything. Her eyes only continued to water as she stayed in the blonde's embrace.

"I love you, Naruto." She told him as her heart absolutely ached for him.

"I don't get what happened to you, but... I love you too, ya know?" He told her softly.

Jiraiya lowered his eyes as he thought about what had happened in the genjutsu.

'Even though Naruto was used to murder her, she still loves him.' He thought, 'Even there, Naruto lost control of himself like in the vision. If Nia's murdered in any fashion... we're all...'

"Jiraiya-sensei..." The kunoichi suddenly approached the sage.

Jiraiya looked down at her.

"I... forgive you." She told him with an immense gentle tone.

Having feared that the girl would hate him forever, this moment of forgiveness had actually greatly touched the old man for the first time in a while. To everyone's surprise, his eyes watered a bit.

"Pervy Sage... are you... crying?" Naruto came up to his master as he tried to get a better look into his eyes.

"Don't be silly, kid. The amazing toad sage never shows his tears!" He denied as was then grinning from ear to ear.

He next lowered himself a bit and locked each arm around his pupils' shoulders as he gave them a hug, "Give Grandpa a hug, you two!"

"Grandpa?" Naruto sweatdropped as he was being hugged from the right side.

"I never knew my grandpa so I guess this makes up for that." Nia practically accepted the sannin as an adoptive grandfather.

In the end, Jiraiya had made the correct decision of not entering battle with Nia as everything would've gone downhill from there.

He was going to have to save her another way.

---

A/N - PLOT TWIIIIIIST LOLOL I wonder if I fooled you all lol. Everything Nia had experienced was a genjutsu. Jiraiya had actually decided against hurting her and instead had her be in a genjutsu in where he did battle her to the death just to see what her fate would become.

And NO HE DID NOT SEE THEM DO IT LOL I'll explain later

I know you all may have questions, but don't worry they'll be answered within the next chapters to come.

Anyway this chapter came out early as a present for you guys getting me to 100,000 reads!

Thanks for reading! Please comment and vote and have a great night ❤️

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