The Last: Naruto the Movie - Chapter Prologue

Memories

On a particular day in March while preparing to enter the academy, Hyuuga Hinata was surrounded by a group of three bullies in a grove where snow still remained.

“Show us your byakugan, Hyuuga girl!”

“That byakugan is creepy, idiot!”

“Are you a youkai? Byakugan youkai!”

Just when she couldn’t take it anymore, a hero appeared before her.

“Hey! Don’t be mean to girls!”

He appeared before Hinata when she was in trouble.

The small boy wrapped in a scarf wasn’t the least bit timid in the face of three boys who were bigger and stronger than he was. He just smiled. The bullies on the other hand, were quite shocked.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto… the future Hokage dattebayo!”

He barked at the group of three, and grabbed at them fiercely. The bullies were completely on their guard. Hinata clenched her first as she said in her heart “hang in there.”

Several minutes later, the boy collapsed. He was completely out cold. The kage bunshin no jutsu he had released had been a failure, and he had been beaten up by the three bullies.

“Future Hokage, yeah right! This guy’s totally weak!”

The three stole the boy’s scarf, and after having torn it up by throwing it around and trampling it, they left while laughing.

The boy was unconscious with his mouth half open and didn’t move even the slightest bit. Hinata tried shaking his body just a little bit. His body shook limply, and his eyelids began to twitch.

The moment he woke up, he immediately jumped up and put himself on guard.

“It’s not over! This time I’ll use a great… j-jutsu… ooh! Ow-ow-ow…” He grabbed his face and fell down in agony.

“…Are you ok?” Hinata peered at the boy and saw blackish-red swelling around his mouth.

“It-it’s nothing –ttebayo…”

“This… those boys…”

Hinata held out his scarf, which had been torn up by the three bullies.

“…I don’t need it anymore.”

“I’m sorry. Um… if this is ok…”

Hinata took the scarf from her own neck and tried to give it to the boy, but he stopped her with his hand.

“Don’t worry about it… bye,” he murmured in a small voice as he stood up and trudged away.

“Th-thank you!”

Hinata turned towards the boy’s back, and silently cast her face downward.

“….It was nothing –ttebayo!”

The boy looked over his shoulder and smiled brightly, then energetically ran off.

The boy was weak. Despite that, he had stood up to bullies for a girl he didn’t even know.

Hinata tightly grasped the torn up scarf that the boy had worn.

*******

The voices of cicadas could be heard from the schoolyard in the academy classroom.

“If the end of the world was coming tomorrow, who would you want to be with?”

When Umino Iruka asked this question from the front of the room, Uzumaki Naruto burst out.

“There’s no way the end of the world is coming!”

“Say for instance… if the moon was falling,” Iruka responded.

“If it was the last day on earth, it would be nice if meat was falling instead of the moon.”

The classroom was filled with laughter at the words of Akimichi Chouji, who was looking up at the ceiling.

“Even if the moon was falling, I would protect you, Sakura-chan!” Naruto said brimming with confidence to Haruno Sakura, who was in the seat next to him.

“Why by you? I’d rather not be protected!”

Sakura turned the other way.

“Alright. Now everyone write down a name. For the last day on earth… who would you want to be with? Want to take your time on it? Write down that person’s name.”

The students became slightly excited and picked up their pencils.

“Your sensei won’t look at this. It will be your own secret. So I want you to write your honest feelings.”

Naruto became curious as to what name everyone was writing, and looked around. There were many kids who wrote “Dad” or “Mom.” This was only natural in a class full of children.

I don’t know my dad or mom…

“I’m sure there has to be someone… just honestly write down whatever name pops into your head,” Iruka whispered as he came over to Naruto and patted his head.

Whatever name pops into my head… who could I say?

Naruto couldn’t come up with anyone at all. Naruto stuck his pencil under his nose and sat filled with worries.

Sakura wrote down “Uchiha Sasuke-kun” while blushing.

Sasuke on the other hand, was resting his chin on his hands and staring out the window.

I don’t have any friends, either… I’m completely alone.

Still unable to write anything, Naruto got upset and gradually became desperate. He then folded his blank paper into an airplane, and suddenly tossed it out the window.

“Hey Naruto! Don’t throw away your paper!”

“But there’s no way the end of the world is coming!”

“We’re talking about what if the world was ending!”

“It’s not ending!”

The paper airplane soared through the air. Following the airplane with her eyes, Hinata took a quick glance at Naruto and smiled, then began to write down someone’s name.