Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Twice Shy - Story Completion ❯ Heaven and Hell ( Chapter 5 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: eternalshiva 
Part Two chuunin exam - Forest of Death
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.24.2009 | Updated On: 04.05.2009 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.0K | Visits: 504 | Status: Completed
Part Two chuunin exam - Forest of Death
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 02.24.2009 | Updated On: 04.05.2009 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.0K | Visits: 504 | Status: Completed
Twice Shy – A story completion
A continuation by eternalshiva
DameWren has given permission to anyone that wants to continue her wonderful fic Two Halves which I intend to do. I greatly appreciate any feedback / comments.
AN – Sorry to disappoint those who requested lemons during this part through your e-mails and messages on deviantart, I will not be implementing a lemon for a while still, this is about a developing relationship and the unusual problems attached to that relationship. That doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of tension and wants though as every couple goes through. >:3
Please not I’ve use writer’s creative modification no jutsu to on some of the original jutsu to fit my need. Please don’t rant to me how it’s used~! I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter in case you are wondering what they are.
Thank you Hinata’s Husband for the beta, you’re a hard mistress and I appreciate all the hard work you do and how you put up with my terrible writing in drafts.
Disclaimer –
I do not make any monies off this fanfic.
Naruto is copyright of Masashi Kishimoto.
Sora, Yasu, Miki, Dango, Kaze Clan, Shivani are all copyright of DameWren.
Chapter 5
Heaven and Hell
The blood was everywhere. The two shinobi looked down from their perch to what they assumed was a team that had been thoroughly defeated. Hinata pressed the back of her hand against her lips as she repressed the bile making its way up into her mouth, and closed her eyes in disbelief. Naruto surveyed the area, noting the more heavily damaged areas. It was hard to really get a clear picture of what happened with the thick layer of red liquid covering roughly fifty feet of the forest floor and some of the trees. She felt Naruto tense up as the sounds of another battle exploded far to their right, he glanced in the general direction of the sound and subconsciously grabbed for Hinata’s hand.
His eyes lingered on the horizon a moment before he dropped to the ground quietly, losing his footing suddenly as he slipped in the ooze on the ground. Straightening himself, he motioned to Hinata to stay put and searched the area carefully, hoping that maybe a scroll had been forgotten in the mad rush. Hinata activated her Byakugan and focused on the threats in their immediate surroundings.
Naruto sighed as he pushed chakra down against his feet to balance himself, preventing any more stumbles on the slick surface of the ground, blood was difficult to get out of clothes even when they used the cleaning jutsu. Exasperated, he looked up to Hinata and motioned that there was nothing down here that was of any use to them. He shifted the weight from his backpack, preparing to return to Hinata when he heard her small sound of alert. His attention focused on the kunoichi as she signaled quickly for him to move up into the darkness offered by the trees. Nodding he leaped up and quickly hid with her.
The ground suddenly shook and a rush of wind followed the sound of an explosion. Hinata pressed herself against the tree trunk trying to keep her balance. She expanded her Byakugan and caught in her sensory web the signature of two strong chakra sources heading in their direction. Naruto watched Hinata as she motioned to him what she had discovered and added the symbols for Wind and Water. These were the elemental affinities they would need to use against them if they were to fight them.
Another explosion rumbled closer to the two shinobi, the sounds of battle were getting louder. They heard one female scream and a surge of chakra flooded the area. The air filled with an electric charge as the forest seemed to darken a moment before the brightness of lightening blinded Naruto and forced Hinata to shut down her Byakugan. Naruto blinked rapidly trying to clear the blind spots caused by the brightness and was surprised to see a blue and black blur explode out from the brush underneath him.
He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raise as she began to form seals with her hands, running skillfully through the slush of blood. Naruto was impressed by her balance.
“Raigeki no Yori!” the shinobi screamed after finishing the required seals. The forest darkened again and expecting the worst, Naruto crouched down hoping to avoid the oncoming assault of lightning. Nothing seemed to happen for several seconds then suddenly the kunoichi was covered in a shimmer of lightning, armouring her against her opponent. It seemed dangerous to Naruto but he could see the effectiveness of it.
Her pursuer was in tow, laughing as fireballs burst from his mouth showering the runaway ninja. One of the fireballs hit her shoulder and she yelled in pain, stumbling down. There was no injury to her due to her protective armour but the scorching heat could still be felt.
“What more do you want?!” she yelled from her crumpled position on the ground. “You have the damned scroll from us! You killed my team after getting it! What do you want?” her voice grew unsteady as the still raw emotions ran rampant in her.
“It’s quite simple really,” the much larger ninja answered her angry cry. “I just like killing.” The woman’s eyes grew with fear as she stared at the man before her. Soon she realized that she was sitting in something gooey and strangled a horrified cry when it dawned on her that this was where her team had be decimated.
Naruto was furious and without warning leaped down to the ground as the man began to puff his chest full of chakra. His knee landed square into the back of the man’s head, the chakra misfired from his mouth and blew out one cheek, fire scalding the skin. He screamed while releasing the remaining pent up chakra, his hands touching the area where his cheek once hung. He glared at the offender, his tongue stuck out oddly from the side of his face; Naruto wasn’t entirely sure if it was due to a lack of control or he was telling him off. He wasn’t going to waste any time finding out.
The woman lying on the ground suddenly rose up at the intrusion, unknowing if this was a new enemy or friend. She warily watched as four more of the yellow haired ninja appeared in puffs of smoke, she wasn’t sure of the technique since she hadn’t heard him say anything. She felt a hand on her shoulder and panicked. Hinata subdued the woman quickly with her Gentle fist, disabling her chakra use.
“Sit still, we’re trying to help you!” she whispered harshly, the woman’s eyes were too far gone into fear to be logical at this point Hinata concluded and left her in a safe area, away from the remains of her team. She looked up towards the other ninja standing off with her boyfriend and activated her Byakugan.
“His chakra levels are very high.” she spoke in western language. “Use the water scrolls, and don’t hold back.” Naruto nodded to her commands and sensed her take a battle stance behind him.
“Two against one is it?” Naruto cringed a little when he heard wet bubbling sounds coming out between the words spoken by the waterfall ninja. “That seems a little unfair.” He added as Naruto snorted in disbelief.
“You should learn when to quit while you’re ahead.” Naruto launched himself against the grey-haired ninja, his clones following behind him.
“Shihouhappou Shuriken!” Naruto cried out suddenly, his clones threw a volley of shuriken towards a very surprised foe who barely managed to escape with his life, several of the shuriken embedded themselves deeply, invoking strangled groans. Hinata followed close behind Naruto, using her ability to go unnoticed to her full advantage, she moved as Naruto did, hiding and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She concentrated on Naruto’s chakra and flowed with it, the two were like a well oiled machine.
Naruto pushed onwards, cerulean eyes met against silver for a moment before the blond-haired shinobi nailed a vicious punch right into the wound of his opponent’s face, ripping another scream from him.
“Preying on those who cannot counter attack is a shame no ninja should carry out.” Naruto growled under his breath, feeling unrelenting rage build inside him. His opponent managed to duck down and narrowly missed another hit from the leaf shinobi and quickly rolled away from him.
“Have to be quicker than that, brat. Katon:Kasumi Enbu no Jutsu!” A think mist expelled from the ninja’s mouth and ignited it. Fire razed the area, cooking the blood. The stench was starting to become unbearable, forcing Naruto to back off. As he tumbled back, he pulled out a scroll from his right pants pocket Hinata had prepared for him. He flicked it open with his hand and let it unroll itself, dropped it to the ground and landed effortlessly next to it. Without hesitation he called it forth, slapping his hand down onto the paper.
“Houmatsu Rappa!” it was barely a whisper above the roar of the flames. A thick wave of bubbled water poured out of the scroll and doused the inflamed surroundings. He breathed relief for a split second as the scalding heat pulled away and no sooner had it receded, his opponent began shooting small fireballs at him. Naruto pulled out his kunai prepared with explosion tags and threw them in various areas. His clones had been dispelled and he had no intention to call them back – their services were no longer required.
“Have you found where to strike yet?” He asked Hinata, she shook her head, still analysing the coils of their opponent. He growled under his breath as she separated herself from Naruto and circled around them, trying to get into a more advantageous position. She was feeling frustrated but Naruto in this case had to keep up the distraction. He was the shield and she was the hidden sword, the key.
The two shinobi began to fight again but it was in no way fair, the waterfall ninja threw dirt and ash into Naruto’s face, blinding him momentarily and landed a solid and heavy punch to the blond ninja’s stomach. He was launched back nearly ten feet from the force but managed to stay upright. Naruto quickly rushed him again, shouting in rage. The whiskers on his cheeks had begun to expand as he pulled from the Kyuubi chakra to make him a little faster, a little bit more powerful.
Hinata frowned as the seal on Naruto’s belly suddenly brighten, distracting her from her task to an unpleasant memory. As if on cue, her arm throbbed lightly at the reminder; she shook herself from the memory and continued to visually probe his points. She needed to cut off the supply long enough for Naruto to subdue or kill this ninja.
She let out a stronger pulse of her chakra, pressing the Byakugan field to give more detail, more refined information. The extra work paid off as a bright point caught her attention. She saw it, there at the base of the neck, several chakra coils gathered together and pulsed brightly when he released another Endan.
“Found it!” she yelled out in Western “Use intention, make it so he can’t even fathom the possibility of escaping you.”
Naruto grinned wickedly as Hinata revealed her plan, his speed increased for a split second, confusing the other ninja and without notice Naruto leaned in head first and head butted him in the mouth, successfully knocking him back far away and long enough for him to prepare the next part of the plan.
Naruto breathed in deeply and gathered chakra in his core, pulling it around the spiral in his stomach into a tight ball. Every breath he took drew the chakra tighter and stronger, pulling it around and around his center.
Ten breaths. Focus on the goal.
His eyes shot open and visually captured the target. The other ninja staggered up from the ground, nursing sore teeth, he could feel some of them loosen after that head butt. He did however feel some satisfaction noticing that the yellow haired brat was bleeding profusely from the brow, but he wasn’t bothering to blink away the blood leaking down into his eye; his teeth seemed to have deeply cut the flesh there.
“What are you doing?” he croaked out, the sound wasn’t clear but the sneering tone directed at Naruto wasn’t missed. Ignoring him, Naruto’s eyes hardened and the other shinobi felt a change in his opponent’s energy. Something wasn’t quite right.
Set your intention.
Overwhelm and leave him open for Hinata to strike him down. Don’t give him the time to look anywhere but directly and only at me.
Let the chakra unwind and go.
A burst of power rolled off Naruto as he launched from his position. He seemed to be in two places at once but as the other ninja would eventually conclude, it was a trick of the eye, his speed was immeasurable. The other shinobi barely had time to bring up his arms in defense as Naruto unleashed an attack furious enough that Hinata could hear the slams of her boyfriend’s fists crushing vulnerable bones and the frightened cries of their enemy.
The waterfall ninja couldn’t move, Naruto was completely overwhelming him with power and will alone. The gray haired ninja couldn’t react fast enough against the barrage of fists and kicks but to defend and survive against the hits. Naruto continued to focus on neutralizing the ninja, forcing him to focus on survival, on Naruto being the only threat he should be concerned about. Hinata circled around them in the shadows and once in position, she broke into a run behind Naruto. Hearing her familiar footsteps he prepared himself for her the last part of the plan that she had yet to reveal. He felt the familiar pulse of her Byakugan push against him.
“Duck and spread his arm, bring up his chin, I need to get to the chest!” she yelled as her eyes narrowed in on the spot where all the coils gathered; her fists glowed with gathered chakra anticipating the hit. Naruto slapped apart the arms of his opponent suddenly and grabbed the wrists, pulling down the arms to force the upper body down. He raised his right knee and slammed it hard under the chin forcing the ninja’s face to whip back suddenly with a loud and sickening crunch. The violent force of the hit knocked out several teeth and threw the shinobi’s head up and away from Naruto, ducking down in the process as Hinata’s feet reached him. He threw out one of his legs toward her and crouched down like a crab, one foot pointing towards the foe and the other pointing at Hinata.
Hinata stepped up on the offered boost and jumped over him as he positioned himself to brace for the force of her impact, her fist glowing intensely as it slammed squarely into the upper part of the chest. More snapping sounds of bones were heard as many different velocities worked against their foe’s body. She flipped herself around in the air and landed gracefully behind the ninja, who was still in the process of falling. Rushing him, she hit several areas behind him, blocking the pain receptive nerves and disabling his ability to use any limbs that might potentially work after the whole ordeal was over with.
The body finally hit the forest floor with a shallow thump, the ninja wasunconscious but still very much alive. Naruto had to shake his head a little. Even fighting an enemy, Hinata was still worried about their condition when they woke up and had already taken care of the silver-haired man's pain. Sometimes Naruto wondered what he had done to deserve her. He wiped at his brow before leaning down and retrieving the man's Heaven Scroll.
“Mission accomplished.” Hinata grinned at her boyfriend who seemed quite pleased with the result of the battle.
* * *
“What are we going to do with these two?” Naruto asked as he slipped down into a comfortable position on a rock deep in the water of the river. It was cold but it felt good against the strain of his muscles. They had three days left to find the tower and although they both remembered the general direction, they had gone that way on the first day and it was painfully clear that the tower had been moved. The giant gaping hole in the ground seemed to be an obvious clue.
Hinata bit her lower lip in thought. The woman who had been stalked had been severely traumatized by her team’s death and she had been pretty much incoherent since she woke from her forced sleep. The more dangerous of the two was bound by lack of chakra and her well-practiced Silence no Jutsu kept him from invoking another battle with the silenced taunts he was openly mouthing at the two.
“I could summon my falcon to warn the medics and have them picked up.” She spoke softly while continuing to scrub the clothes in the river. With all this blood and dirt, the cleaning jutsu would use up more chakra then she was willing to use at the moment since they were in a constant life or death situation. Naruto seemed thoughtful at her suggestion but shook his head.
“That would be like being a messenger falcon. I think it would breach your current agreement.” Hinata blushed and berated herself. He was correct, that would indeed fit the no-no’s of her pact.
“If it was us that needed the medics, I think it would be a different situation and your falcon wouldn’t mind getting help. But this guy tried to kill us.” Naruto pointed at the glaring ninja. “I think he would rather peck out his eyes then get help.” She nodded in agreement.
“Once we settle into our camp for the night and secure the premises, I will get Seiryu to scout and maybe see if he can locate the tower.” She watched from the corner of her eye as Naruto nodded in agreement and leaned back against the rocks, his eyes closed while enjoying the coolness of the water. She blushed lightly as her eyes lingered on the exposed wet skin. Naruto opened an eye and caught her staring at him, then grinned as her blush deepened.
“You know Hinata, all of this...” he pointed at the top of his head, motioned the length of his body and stuck a foot out of the water, wiggling the toes while pointing at them “belongs to you, you can touch it or do whatever you want to it anytime.” His eyes twinkling with mischief met with hers momentarily. His were full of intent and hers were wide in shock.
She threw the bar of soap she was using to clean the clothes and hit him square on the head. He laughed as she blushed deeply. That didn’t last long as he himself was shocked into silence when he heard a meek “I-I’ll have to t-take you up on t-that offer Naruto-kun” stuttering from her mouth. The acceptance of his invitation rang hotly in his ears. Her eyes shyly peeked over at him again, openly taking in the sight of her partially naked boyfriend, their eyes met for a moment again and she had to hold back a giggle. Naruto’s cheeks had tinted pink in an unusual and very Hinata-like fashion.
She had managed to make the Great Naruto, Konoha’s number one most unpredictable ninja - speechless. She gathered up the wet clothing and smiled at him. She could feel his stare on her back as she walked away, and swelled with pride. This was going into the next letter she would send Sora.
* * *
After a full day of rest, Sonara, the woman they had rescued, was finally lucid enough to cooperate with them but she still wasn’t right in the head. She was grateful to have been saved but her grief over the loss of her partner was still playing tricks with her mind. She kept to herself mostly and occasionally stared too long at their prisoner. Naruto was a little worried but Hinata had already blocked her chakra, preventing her from doing anything rash.
They picked up camp and Naruto threw the gimped prisoner on his back and made it his responsibility to carry the injured man. If he had it his way, he would have tied his foot to a rope and dragged him back but Hinata had only given him a flat disapproving look at his well-thought-out suggestion. It did however bring a short muffled laugh from Sonara as she agreed with him.
Seiryu had scouted most of the day they rested and had found the tower and at the steep cost of three rabbits and Naruto’s dignity. It was about 5 miles northwest of their current location. It didn’t seem that far but in this forest, you always had to fit in the inconvenient death factor. They leaped off into the safety of the trees and headed towards the tower with their charge in tow.
* * *
Their morning had started decently enough as he shifted the weight of the slumbering ninja around on his back. He watched Hinata as she ran ahead of him, her Byakugan active as she searched the area again, he heard her sigh and turn to him, her veins still showing on her temples.
“Centipedes. Small ones by what I can tell.” She had this look on her face that didn’t invoke confidence and he narrowed his eyes at her.
“Just how small-“ Naruto’s question was cut off as a large black trunk popped out from below them. The slithering hissing sound sent a shiver of disgust down Naruto’s spine. He hated centipedes. Oh how he hated them.
“That’s not tiny!” he yelled at Hinata. She shrugged as a look of annoyance came over her face.
“They’re a lot smaller than the ones lurking deeper in.” she responded in a flat unconcerned tone. She heard Naruto openly express his repulsion as they found a safe area to put their two charges down and faced the screeching bug that was eagerly following them.
“They absorb chakra Naruto, we have to dispatch them quickly or we’ll be in trouble.”
The centipede snapped it’s large jaws at the two shinobi bouncing towards it, Hinata activated her Byakugan once more as she probed the creature for chakra coils but was taken aback when all she saw was a solid black mass. No chakra whatsoever.
“No chakra coils for me to disable.” she shouted over to Naruto, her voice was laced with worry as she realized she was going to be very little help. She watched his face grimace as the centipede crawled up a massive tree.
“Kami that’s nasty.” She heard him complain loudly as the centipede made a dive for him. She wasn’t entirely surprised it was trying to eat him considering he was oozing chakra with the Kyuubi.
“Stop focusing on how gross it is and just kill it!” she yelled at him as he narrowly jumped away from the tooth filled mouth of the centipede. He shuddered when he heard the pitter patter of the legs against the tree trunk, making its way around to catch him.
Naruto groaned, there was just one way to deal with large, slithery snake like things in this forest, recalling his own encounter all those years ago.
“Hinata, you’re not going to like this.” He shouted at her. She frowned as Naruto stood still suddenly, grinning sheepishly at her. He opened up his right leg kunai pouch and sighed.
“Oi, you ugly-ass centipede, diner’s over here!” he threw the kunai, watched it bounce off its shelled body and suppressed a shudder as its large tooth-filled mouth opened and hovered over him. The things he did for Hinata…
Hinata screamed his name as the centipede dropped over his head and swallowed him. In a split instant her world had just disappeared in front of her eyes. Her mind reeled; her heart felt like it had stopped.
“Na-Naruto!” she screamed again, leaping towards the centipede. Her eyes swelled with tears, her mind was blank. She smacked the centipede with chakra, futile she knew as much but she needed to do something.
The Centipede stopped in its descent back to the ground, ignoring Hinata as it made a deep and uncomfortable groan. Hinata activated her Byakugan, seeing a huge amount of chakra light up from inside the darkness. She leaped away from it as it swelled suddenly and exploded. She covered her face and crouched down as the centipede burst open revealing a small army of orange-clad shadow clones. They all puffed out of sight leaving only Naruto, sitting in the midst of it all.
“Y-y-you asshole!” Hinata screamed at him, tears falling freely from her eyes. She was partially relieved but mostly enraged. Naruto was in the middle of shaking the goo off his hands when he heard her use a-, a swear word? He stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide open.
“What? I’ve done that before, well with a snake, but regardless I had to be inside to kill it.” He looked up at her and saw her tear streaked face, guilt was suddenly eating at him when he remembered that when the snake had swallowed him he had been alone and Hinata had never known this specific part of the last exam.
He quickly got up and jumped up next to her and pulled her in his arms, looked into her eyes trying to get her attention. She was furious.
“I’m sorry Hina-chan! That’s the only quick way to beat it that I could think of! You didn’t seriously think a centipede was going to defeat me did you?”
She didn’t know what to think. She glared at him and pushed him off her and ground her teeth. Her mind went blank again, swarming with emotion. She pointed at him accusingly and shouted again.
“I’m so relieved and so mad at the same time! Don’t do that again!” Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek with his right hand. She seemed to have forgiven him, considering she was now in his arms again kissing him, tears flowing down her face, and hitting his back with her small feminine fist. He really was an idiot.
* * *
A few hours had passed since the centipede incidident and the morning still wasn’t improving. They had never considered that covering the short distance was going to be such a pain in the ass. Naruto seemed to have a knack for attracting the weirdest things and as if to prove the point they were now face to face with residents of the forest he would later call “death personified as butterflies”. Hinata had stopped to look at them a few minutes earlier and had cooed at their purple shimmer. Naruto stared at them with his trademark frown of distrust.
“That’s not cute at all.” He said to Hinata. She shot him a dirty look and was about to step off to continue their tree run when she heard a snap from her charge. Sonara had accidently pressed too hard against a smaller branch and it had broken, loudly.
Naruto couldn’t help but sigh in dejectedly as the butterflies were startled into flight. “Damn it…” he whispered to himself as he noticed a purple powder fill the area. He covered his mouth and nose with a ninja mask, as did Hinata and Sonara. He turned and begrudgingly did the same for his incapacitated “friend”. The waterfall ninja only sneered at him and Naruto ignored it.
“I really wanted one for my room.” Hinata sighed, disappointed, as the 400 or so insects swarmed them. “It would have looked nice over my headboard.” Naruto momentarily gave her a flat look.
“Are you serious?” As he began to hit the first few that approached them she looked at him, her white lilac eyes focused on Naruto. He could have sworn she was giving him puppy eyes.
“No Hinata… you can’t have one for your room.” He responded flatly. She pouted again and activated her Byakugan.
“Fine, I won’t keep one. Shugohakke Rokujuuyon Shoo!”
The butterflies were cut to shreds as she used her protection Jyuuken technique but so quickly dispatching the poisonous winged insects brought on another little problem: her chakra burst had caught the attention of small little black bugs. Naruto noticed them as they poured out of the tree in which they'd been hiding.
“Bugs, why does it have to be BUGS?” he said softly, his mouth grimaced as they gathered towards Hinata. He crouched down and tried to figure out this little problem.
Sonara couldn’t believe they were this calm, still playfully teasing each other as they were in peril danger. Just who were these people?
“They look like beetles Hinata.” Naruto said curiously.
“I’m a little busy.” She responded. Naruto rolled his eyes.
“What do you suggest we use on them? They look like something Shino would like to have.” Hinata quickly glanced down to them and with some effort pushed her Byakugan out until she sensed them. That was a mistake she quickly concluded as it absorbed her shield.
“Chakra eaters, they’re probably from Shino’s batch he made when we were here 3 years ago. He lost quite a few in battle.” She added, changing Naruto’s inquisitive look to a disgusted one.
“Typical. Those centipedes are probably his too.”
Hinata laughed. “No, I’m almost certain those are part of the natural fauna here, same as the butterflies.” Naruto made another disgusted sound as he pulled out a scroll from his pocket. He laid it down on the ground and mentally calculated the amount of chakra he would need.
“You may want to hurry.” Hinata said casually as she dispatched the last of the poisonous insects. She peeked over his shoulder to see what he was up to as he formed hand seals and slapped his hand down on the scroll while the other formed a circle around his mouth.
“no Jutsu” he blew out a thin amount of air that seemed to frost over and one finger touched the tree. A thin layer of ice covered the tree and froze the beetles in place. He stood up and threw out the now emptied chakra scroll.
“The seal papers I requested from Tenten’s mother work really well.” Naruto said with satisfaction.
They picked up their charges and proceeded to head out but someone shouted to them. Naruto narrowed his eyes and groaned. “Perfect.” He whispered. Hinata glanced down to where the voice was coming from and pursed her lips in thought.
“Hello!” the voice sounded cheery, and genuinely happy to see them. It was from the infamous red-headed ninja from the first exam, as they descended from their branch, Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man as he greeted Hinata again. He suspected the man was leering at his girlfriend.
In reality all he said was “Hello” and gave Hinata a friendly smile and a wave but as always, jealousy had a way to warp your interpretation of basic common politeness directed towards someone with whom you happen to be in love.
“Good afternoon.” Hinata returned the friendly smile and noted that his partner was also carrying an injured ninja. “I assume you were successful in your quest for the Heaven scroll?” she tentatively asked. This was a heavily loaded question since it would reveal their status as opponents or friends.
“Yes, we were just carrying back the survivor. This is just a competition, even if some do die; no point adding to the death toll.” He smiled sheepishly looking at his partner, wondering if they had made a mistake revealing they had both scrolls. The other ninja shrugged and adjusted the unconscious body on his back.
“As do we.” Hinata added, relieved they didn’t have to fight again. She could see the same emotion reflected in his face as well.
“Let’s travel the rest of the way together then, safety in numbers. My name is Saotaori, I am from Rock Country as I’m sure your partner has already deduced.” He turned his smile towards Naruto, but was ignored. Hinata elbowed him in the ribs.
“I am Hinata and this is Naruto.” They began to move together towards their destination, forming an alliance of sorts. Hinata looked over the injuries of both their charges. She suppressed the pain receptors in Saotaori’s prisoner and noticed a more relaxed atmosphere. They hadn’t done as nearly as much damage to their prisoner but she doubted he was a murderous maniac.
Saotaori related a play by play of their battle that brought them victory to pass the time. Hinata only smiled and congratulated them on their achievements while Naruto managed to keep a snort from coming out. She had given an overview of their own battle, not revealing much since honestly most of the battle was just routine training for them being put to use, she didn’t honestly remember all the specifics, just that she and Naruto had successfully played their roles in bringing down the threat.
Sonara watched them carefully interact and was brought back to life by their warmth; she wanted to be part of the conversation after a little while and opened up a little about herself. She was from Rice Country and this was their first time participating in the exams hosted by Konoha since they were new allies. Naruto had begrudgingly recognized the rock ninja as a good protector while fighting the natural enemies of the forest, a small amount of respect had began to bud and it helped that Saotaori’s attentions seemed to have moved to Sonara.
Night had fallen and the group had decided to call it a day, they were all exhausted from the impromptu battles, Seiryu had confirmed they had nearly traveled 4 miles and with tomorrow being the last day, they should be able to reach the towers if there were no more problems.
Hinata did one last check on the injured before heading toward her own sleeping bag. Naruto had claimed first watch and without a word, scooped up Hinata in her sleeping bag and jumped up on his watching perch, she complained and tried to get away but he clung to her and passively told her to sleep as she needed to recover her chakra and strength for the travel tomorrow. She blew air from her cheek in annoyance but settled on his lap and leaned her head against his chest under the chin. She drifted off to sleep listening to the beating of his heart and felt a chaste kiss on her lips before darkness took over.
* * *
They arrived at the tower, much later than anticipated. They were battered and exhausted. Naruto had accidentally stepped on what he thought was a large brown dead tree trunk but in the end had turned out to be a mother centipede and her egg nest. After the many glares, angry comments from his partners, they had been running for their lives for four straight hours as the babies screeched and slithered after them. The queen had managed to force them to battle on occasion but escaping was the only option.
They had done things to survive they would never speak of again. They reeked of animal carcass, sweat, and most notably fear and annoyance. Never in his life had Naruto seen so many wiggly legs, he shuddered violently again at the thought of them.
The forged alliance proceeded into the building. Naruto was hit with a wave of déjà vu when his eyes landed on the written words left by the Third. He recalled Iruka-sensei telling him the meaning behind the words and now, years later he finally understood them to the fullest. He took out the two scrolls and laid them down to the ground and gave Hinata the honors to unroll them. The other two ninjas also followed their lead and placed them the same way.
A puff of smoke appeared on both scrolls and two Anko clones popped before them, reciting the obligatory congratulations but she wasn’t making any effort to hide her half-serious disappointment that they were still alive and well. Medics appeared out of nowhere once Anko had determined they were actual participants and took away the injured parties, including Sonara.
They were brought into another room where the other remaining participants were gathered and waited for the next part. Naruto fidgeted, last time they had been in here, they had been told that they were going to cut the numbers in half by doing early one on one matches. Hinata had nearly died that day. A memory he did not want to recall.
He felt her small hand grab his own, wrapping her fingers with his and squeezed it gently, looking to reassure and receive the same as the memory haunted her. Neji’s rage had overcome her own senses that day and she had learned how deeply the spirit of the clan had been injured.
Anko stepped forward on the small makeshift stage before a large statue, it was frozen in time forming a seal with large overpowering hands, signifying the warrior tools of war in the shinobi world. Naruto hoped to change that someday but it was a difficult task. Hating was much easier than forgiving. He had learned that from Sora and Jiraiya over the years.
“Since you remaining participants meet the number criteria, we will not have to cut the number of teams with one on one battles. Personally that’s my favourite part but this year the Forest of Death was ruthless and its participants blood thirsty.” Her eyes glinted again sadistically as she emphasized the last words, a slow grin formed on her porcelain face. Naruto noted that she seemed snake-like at times, but she had been a student under Orochimaru before he became a rogue ninja. It would only be natural for her to develop an eerie personality similar to her old sensei.
“Since you are an advance level gennin class, you will not be given the mandatory one month of preparations for the third part of the exam.” She walked around the small stage, looking over the exhausted shinobi as they stood in attention. She liked her position as an examiner.
“You will have exactly ten days to prepare your training and recover from your wounds in a team versus team public match at the Konoha Arena. Those who have lost their partners are automatically disqualified. Dismissed.” She waved her hand as she puffed out of sight. Naruto sighed when he calculated the dates in his head. The exam was the day before his birthday; Konoha’s historical holiday that was both celebrated and grieved.
* * *
There wasn’t a more welcomed sight to Hinata than the warmth of the sun on her face as she stepped out of the Forest of Death. The gates were almost blinding as the silver metal reflected the sunlight straight onto them as they approached. Naruto complained as he shielded his eyes but she laughed, her heart filled with joy and pride at their accomplishments.
He couldn’t help but stare at her in wonder as her eyes twinkled and her laughter tickled his ears in a way only she could. Her happiness seemed to be infectious as the surrounding ninja also broke into a smile; the nervous feeling from earlier seemed to be leaving as Hinata’s laughter resonated.
He threw the two backpacks on his back and smiled at her as she met his eyes and leaned in for a kiss which he happily provided. She whispered she loved him before pushing him away and grabbing his hand. To anyone watching the pair almost seemed to glow. He let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders and continued their conversation on what to expect of the team battles when suddenly a shadow approached and Temari stood before them, smiling.
“Temari!” Naruto shouted and waved at her as the gap closed between them.
“Hello Naruto, Hinata.” She nodded in greeting. “Sorry about before, I wasn’t allowed to speak casually with the participants, but since my part has ended I figured I’d catch up with you two.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously a moment as she looked from Naruto to Hinata.
“By the looks of things, you two have quite a bit to tell. I watched your battle with the waterfall ninja. I must say I was quite impressed with your team work.”
“Oh you watched us?” Naruto asked in wonder. He hadn’t realized people could see them. “Hinata really improved right?” he said with pride.
“Not just Hinata, Naruto.” Temari interjected. Naruto glanced towards her, confusion settling on his face. “I couldn’t believe how you yourself have improved.” She smiled as the shinobi grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek with his free hand. He had barely done anything worth noticing. He was more impressed with Hinata.
“Yes well, it’s my role to do that with our partner-training.” He added trying to avoid taking credit. Temari blinked, a little taken aback. Was this the same Naruto? Was he playing down his participation and obvious win in that fight?
“Who are you and what have you done with Naruto?” Temari took out a kunai and positioned herself in an attack postion. Hinata burst out laughing as Naruto hid behind her. Temari was not serious, no chakra had flared out from her coils.
“Temari! Don’t do that!” He shouted, pulling Hinata around to stay out of sight. Temari snorted at his lame tactics to hide behind the kunoichi.
“You’re lucky I like Hinata.” She warned and put away her kunai. Had she been really serious, he would have eaten a gust of her fan strapped to her back.
“You two come out with Shikamaru and I tomorrow after you rest.” She casually added. Naruto peeked over Hinata’s shoulder with an eyebrow raised unusually high.
“Are you dating that lazy-ass?” he asked. He immediately regretted it as killing intent radiated off the woman from the sand village.
“It’s a long story.” Was all she said before she turned around and waved goodbye. “I’ll come get you Naruto when I’m ready.”
“What about Hinata?”
“She’s staying at your house tonight no?” She looked over her shoulder, a smile barely showing. She was teasing them.
They blushed instantly and Naruto stammered, “W-w-what! Stop suggesting things!” Hinata was mortified but Temari continued to walk away, smiling to herself. That was too easy.
* * *
“That was awful.” Naruto was still complaining about Temari. He dropped the bags off at the entrance and plopped himself on the couch. She bent down and kissed his lips silencing his tirade for a moment as she wandered toward the shower. “And another thing!” she heard him continue She shook her head as she closed the bathroom door ready for warmth, steam and girly shampoos.
The sound of the shower echoed in the silent apartment. Naruto was suddenly aware that his girlfriend was naked and wet in the next room. Normally he’d be ok with that but lately he wasn’t so sure. Their relationship had been moving along a particular path lately and he was starting to feel like he had when they first started to go out. He’d become more aware of her lately, her taste, her scent, and certain sounds she made in his dreams as of late seemed to surface more often, especially when they were kissing heavily.
He needed to get out. He walked up to the door and knocked on it, her muffled “Come in” startling him. Come in? What? eh... He poked his head inside the bathroom and could see her shape behind the curtain. Losing his train of thought for a moment he stammered out “Hi-Hinata, I’m going to go over to Tenten’s family shop to let them know about the seals and the weapons. I promised to give them a report.”
The sound of the shower was deafening. He could have sworn he could hear the water sliding down her skin. She peeked her head around the curtain and bit her lip, her heart beating hard in her chest as she looked at him. He couldn’t tell if the blush on her cheek was from the heat of the shower or if she was nervous about him being there, looking at her. He smiled shyly at her and was preparing to leave but she looked like she was struggling with something.
“What is it Hinata?” Naruto asked, concerned with her insecurity.
“Ano… Naruto-kun…” her face brightened as she slipped part of her leg out of the curtain and caught his full attention. “Y-you know, from here …” she pointed at the top of head and slipped her hand through the curtain opening, shyly exposing a small carefully planned amount of her creamy skin. Part of a breast peeked out as she pointed at the length of her body. He could see the well defined mounds against the shower curtain and felt a little jealous as she strategically hid her nipples with her free hand and the curtain. He followed her finger as it descended down to her stomach, lightly touching her navel and cutting over to her thigh. Her leg was propped up against the bathtub edge hiding another promise to heaven “… to here” she wiggled her exposed toes “b-belong t-to you, you can touch a-anywhere whenever you want to.” Her voice threatened to give out.
Sensory overload. He blushed and tried to look into her eyes but she was looking at the floor and debating between hiding, fainting or running out of the bathroom. Naruto smiled at her and walked into the bathroom, she didn’t budge from her position, didn’t move to hide herself and he considered her more brave than anything else. He leaned in towards her and closed his eyes, giving her some privacy while he kissed her lips and whispered in her ear.
“Thank you Hinata, I just might take you up on that offer sometime soon.” She was definitely considering fainting. This was bold, even for her and he was impressed she had pulled it off.
“I’ll see you when I get back sweetheart, we’ll go out to eat before calling it a night.” They needed to be out of his apartment. After what she'd just shown him, he didn’t know if he could control the urge to pin her down and have his way with her.
He turned around and gave her a longing look before smiling again. Then he said to her in a voice so full of want and pride that she couldn't understand why he didn’t take the bait to her obvious offer: “You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen Hina-chan. I love you so damned much and I don’t know what it is that makes you mine but I refuse to throw that away. I want us to both be ready and sure about everything and have everything settled with your family and my fox versus village problem. ” She nodded and smiled at him with pure and radiated happiness.
He had to go now. Good god he had to go now or his exercise in restraint and control would fail.
* * *
Hiashi entered his study, a small stack of papers sat on his desk waiting for him to review the report on his daughter’s performance at the exams. At his request, Hibiki had scanned the mind of the deranged ninja that his daughter had taken part in defeating and produced a detailed report on the whole battle and anything that the ninja had been witness to while in the presence of his daughter.
Tsunade had objected but she could not refuse entirely as it was a matter involving the heir to the clan and its future, and she did see the benefit to showing Hinata’s father her capabilities as Naruto’s partner. After all that was said and done, there it was in front of him.
He sat down and picked up the first page of the report and began to read how his daughter had come up with a plan, worked with Naruto flawlessly and destroyed her opponent’s chakra expulsion points in one swift hit thanks to her training with Sora and Naruto.
As he continued to read well into the night, Hiashi came to a very obvious conclusion, Hinata had grown into the heir he had always wanted and for the first time in his life felt shamed for his treatment towards his daughter. With a heavy heart, he wondered how he could make years of humiliation, shame, and neglect into something his daughter could forgive. He vowed to never again withhold from her the pride he had always shown for Hanabi. Hinata would become a fine heir, and he would ensure nothing stood in her way.
* * *
Jutsu References used in this chapter:
Raigeki no Yoroi - Lightning Strike Armor (Anime only)
Electricity will envelop the body in a protective armor.
Shihouhappou Shuriken – All directions shuriken
After creating copies of oneself with shadow clones, the clones bombard the opponent with shuriken from every direction. It is similar in practice to the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
Kasumi Enbu no Jutsu - Mist Waltz Technique
The ninja does a string of hand seals and then proceeds to blow a large combustible mist at the target. When the mist hits flame, it will ignite in an explosion of fire.
Houmatsu Rappa – Violent Bubble Wave
Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Water Element. After Pain summons his giant crustacean, the creature will expel a huge wave of water from its mouth. Normally used by Pain’s Crab summon – I made it a scroll here for obvious use.
Katon: Endan – Fireball
Jet of fire is emitted from the mouth.
Shugohakke Rokujuuyon Shoo - Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms (Anime only)
Hinata emits a constant stream of chakra from her palms, creating extremely sharp chakra blades. With her natural flexibility, Hinata can reach any point around her, allowing her to hit any target within her field of vision. While using this jutsu, Hinata moves extremely fast (her movements become a blur), allowing her to hit hundreds of targets with extreme precision, much like the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Additionally, Hinata can control the size of the chakra beams in her palms, allowing her to create larger, arc-shaped chakra beams that spread out across her entire attack range.
Hyourou no Jutsu – Ice Prison Technique (Movie)
Ice rises from the ground and imprisons the target. Modified to fit the need to trap the bugs.
* * *
Uh RR please? Sorry for the lateness ^^;
A continuation by eternalshiva
DameWren has given permission to anyone that wants to continue her wonderful fic Two Halves which I intend to do. I greatly appreciate any feedback / comments.
AN – Sorry to disappoint those who requested lemons during this part through your e-mails and messages on deviantart, I will not be implementing a lemon for a while still, this is about a developing relationship and the unusual problems attached to that relationship. That doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of tension and wants though as every couple goes through. >:3
Please not I’ve use writer’s creative modification no jutsu to on some of the original jutsu to fit my need. Please don’t rant to me how it’s used~! I’ve listed them at the end of the chapter in case you are wondering what they are.
Thank you Hinata’s Husband for the beta, you’re a hard mistress and I appreciate all the hard work you do and how you put up with my terrible writing in drafts.
Disclaimer –
I do not make any monies off this fanfic.
Naruto is copyright of Masashi Kishimoto.
Sora, Yasu, Miki, Dango, Kaze Clan, Shivani are all copyright of DameWren.
Chapter 5
Heaven and Hell
The blood was everywhere. The two shinobi looked down from their perch to what they assumed was a team that had been thoroughly defeated. Hinata pressed the back of her hand against her lips as she repressed the bile making its way up into her mouth, and closed her eyes in disbelief. Naruto surveyed the area, noting the more heavily damaged areas. It was hard to really get a clear picture of what happened with the thick layer of red liquid covering roughly fifty feet of the forest floor and some of the trees. She felt Naruto tense up as the sounds of another battle exploded far to their right, he glanced in the general direction of the sound and subconsciously grabbed for Hinata’s hand.
His eyes lingered on the horizon a moment before he dropped to the ground quietly, losing his footing suddenly as he slipped in the ooze on the ground. Straightening himself, he motioned to Hinata to stay put and searched the area carefully, hoping that maybe a scroll had been forgotten in the mad rush. Hinata activated her Byakugan and focused on the threats in their immediate surroundings.
Naruto sighed as he pushed chakra down against his feet to balance himself, preventing any more stumbles on the slick surface of the ground, blood was difficult to get out of clothes even when they used the cleaning jutsu. Exasperated, he looked up to Hinata and motioned that there was nothing down here that was of any use to them. He shifted the weight from his backpack, preparing to return to Hinata when he heard her small sound of alert. His attention focused on the kunoichi as she signaled quickly for him to move up into the darkness offered by the trees. Nodding he leaped up and quickly hid with her.
The ground suddenly shook and a rush of wind followed the sound of an explosion. Hinata pressed herself against the tree trunk trying to keep her balance. She expanded her Byakugan and caught in her sensory web the signature of two strong chakra sources heading in their direction. Naruto watched Hinata as she motioned to him what she had discovered and added the symbols for Wind and Water. These were the elemental affinities they would need to use against them if they were to fight them.
Another explosion rumbled closer to the two shinobi, the sounds of battle were getting louder. They heard one female scream and a surge of chakra flooded the area. The air filled with an electric charge as the forest seemed to darken a moment before the brightness of lightening blinded Naruto and forced Hinata to shut down her Byakugan. Naruto blinked rapidly trying to clear the blind spots caused by the brightness and was surprised to see a blue and black blur explode out from the brush underneath him.
He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raise as she began to form seals with her hands, running skillfully through the slush of blood. Naruto was impressed by her balance.
“Raigeki no Yori!” the shinobi screamed after finishing the required seals. The forest darkened again and expecting the worst, Naruto crouched down hoping to avoid the oncoming assault of lightning. Nothing seemed to happen for several seconds then suddenly the kunoichi was covered in a shimmer of lightning, armouring her against her opponent. It seemed dangerous to Naruto but he could see the effectiveness of it.
Her pursuer was in tow, laughing as fireballs burst from his mouth showering the runaway ninja. One of the fireballs hit her shoulder and she yelled in pain, stumbling down. There was no injury to her due to her protective armour but the scorching heat could still be felt.
“What more do you want?!” she yelled from her crumpled position on the ground. “You have the damned scroll from us! You killed my team after getting it! What do you want?” her voice grew unsteady as the still raw emotions ran rampant in her.
“It’s quite simple really,” the much larger ninja answered her angry cry. “I just like killing.” The woman’s eyes grew with fear as she stared at the man before her. Soon she realized that she was sitting in something gooey and strangled a horrified cry when it dawned on her that this was where her team had be decimated.
Naruto was furious and without warning leaped down to the ground as the man began to puff his chest full of chakra. His knee landed square into the back of the man’s head, the chakra misfired from his mouth and blew out one cheek, fire scalding the skin. He screamed while releasing the remaining pent up chakra, his hands touching the area where his cheek once hung. He glared at the offender, his tongue stuck out oddly from the side of his face; Naruto wasn’t entirely sure if it was due to a lack of control or he was telling him off. He wasn’t going to waste any time finding out.
The woman lying on the ground suddenly rose up at the intrusion, unknowing if this was a new enemy or friend. She warily watched as four more of the yellow haired ninja appeared in puffs of smoke, she wasn’t sure of the technique since she hadn’t heard him say anything. She felt a hand on her shoulder and panicked. Hinata subdued the woman quickly with her Gentle fist, disabling her chakra use.
“Sit still, we’re trying to help you!” she whispered harshly, the woman’s eyes were too far gone into fear to be logical at this point Hinata concluded and left her in a safe area, away from the remains of her team. She looked up towards the other ninja standing off with her boyfriend and activated her Byakugan.
“His chakra levels are very high.” she spoke in western language. “Use the water scrolls, and don’t hold back.” Naruto nodded to her commands and sensed her take a battle stance behind him.
“Two against one is it?” Naruto cringed a little when he heard wet bubbling sounds coming out between the words spoken by the waterfall ninja. “That seems a little unfair.” He added as Naruto snorted in disbelief.
“You should learn when to quit while you’re ahead.” Naruto launched himself against the grey-haired ninja, his clones following behind him.
“Shihouhappou Shuriken!” Naruto cried out suddenly, his clones threw a volley of shuriken towards a very surprised foe who barely managed to escape with his life, several of the shuriken embedded themselves deeply, invoking strangled groans. Hinata followed close behind Naruto, using her ability to go unnoticed to her full advantage, she moved as Naruto did, hiding and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She concentrated on Naruto’s chakra and flowed with it, the two were like a well oiled machine.
Naruto pushed onwards, cerulean eyes met against silver for a moment before the blond-haired shinobi nailed a vicious punch right into the wound of his opponent’s face, ripping another scream from him.
“Preying on those who cannot counter attack is a shame no ninja should carry out.” Naruto growled under his breath, feeling unrelenting rage build inside him. His opponent managed to duck down and narrowly missed another hit from the leaf shinobi and quickly rolled away from him.
“Have to be quicker than that, brat. Katon:Kasumi Enbu no Jutsu!” A think mist expelled from the ninja’s mouth and ignited it. Fire razed the area, cooking the blood. The stench was starting to become unbearable, forcing Naruto to back off. As he tumbled back, he pulled out a scroll from his right pants pocket Hinata had prepared for him. He flicked it open with his hand and let it unroll itself, dropped it to the ground and landed effortlessly next to it. Without hesitation he called it forth, slapping his hand down onto the paper.
“Houmatsu Rappa!” it was barely a whisper above the roar of the flames. A thick wave of bubbled water poured out of the scroll and doused the inflamed surroundings. He breathed relief for a split second as the scalding heat pulled away and no sooner had it receded, his opponent began shooting small fireballs at him. Naruto pulled out his kunai prepared with explosion tags and threw them in various areas. His clones had been dispelled and he had no intention to call them back – their services were no longer required.
“Have you found where to strike yet?” He asked Hinata, she shook her head, still analysing the coils of their opponent. He growled under his breath as she separated herself from Naruto and circled around them, trying to get into a more advantageous position. She was feeling frustrated but Naruto in this case had to keep up the distraction. He was the shield and she was the hidden sword, the key.
The two shinobi began to fight again but it was in no way fair, the waterfall ninja threw dirt and ash into Naruto’s face, blinding him momentarily and landed a solid and heavy punch to the blond ninja’s stomach. He was launched back nearly ten feet from the force but managed to stay upright. Naruto quickly rushed him again, shouting in rage. The whiskers on his cheeks had begun to expand as he pulled from the Kyuubi chakra to make him a little faster, a little bit more powerful.
Hinata frowned as the seal on Naruto’s belly suddenly brighten, distracting her from her task to an unpleasant memory. As if on cue, her arm throbbed lightly at the reminder; she shook herself from the memory and continued to visually probe his points. She needed to cut off the supply long enough for Naruto to subdue or kill this ninja.
She let out a stronger pulse of her chakra, pressing the Byakugan field to give more detail, more refined information. The extra work paid off as a bright point caught her attention. She saw it, there at the base of the neck, several chakra coils gathered together and pulsed brightly when he released another Endan.
“Found it!” she yelled out in Western “Use intention, make it so he can’t even fathom the possibility of escaping you.”
Naruto grinned wickedly as Hinata revealed her plan, his speed increased for a split second, confusing the other ninja and without notice Naruto leaned in head first and head butted him in the mouth, successfully knocking him back far away and long enough for him to prepare the next part of the plan.
Naruto breathed in deeply and gathered chakra in his core, pulling it around the spiral in his stomach into a tight ball. Every breath he took drew the chakra tighter and stronger, pulling it around and around his center.
Ten breaths. Focus on the goal.
His eyes shot open and visually captured the target. The other ninja staggered up from the ground, nursing sore teeth, he could feel some of them loosen after that head butt. He did however feel some satisfaction noticing that the yellow haired brat was bleeding profusely from the brow, but he wasn’t bothering to blink away the blood leaking down into his eye; his teeth seemed to have deeply cut the flesh there.
“What are you doing?” he croaked out, the sound wasn’t clear but the sneering tone directed at Naruto wasn’t missed. Ignoring him, Naruto’s eyes hardened and the other shinobi felt a change in his opponent’s energy. Something wasn’t quite right.
Set your intention.
Overwhelm and leave him open for Hinata to strike him down. Don’t give him the time to look anywhere but directly and only at me.
Let the chakra unwind and go.
A burst of power rolled off Naruto as he launched from his position. He seemed to be in two places at once but as the other ninja would eventually conclude, it was a trick of the eye, his speed was immeasurable. The other shinobi barely had time to bring up his arms in defense as Naruto unleashed an attack furious enough that Hinata could hear the slams of her boyfriend’s fists crushing vulnerable bones and the frightened cries of their enemy.
The waterfall ninja couldn’t move, Naruto was completely overwhelming him with power and will alone. The gray haired ninja couldn’t react fast enough against the barrage of fists and kicks but to defend and survive against the hits. Naruto continued to focus on neutralizing the ninja, forcing him to focus on survival, on Naruto being the only threat he should be concerned about. Hinata circled around them in the shadows and once in position, she broke into a run behind Naruto. Hearing her familiar footsteps he prepared himself for her the last part of the plan that she had yet to reveal. He felt the familiar pulse of her Byakugan push against him.
“Duck and spread his arm, bring up his chin, I need to get to the chest!” she yelled as her eyes narrowed in on the spot where all the coils gathered; her fists glowed with gathered chakra anticipating the hit. Naruto slapped apart the arms of his opponent suddenly and grabbed the wrists, pulling down the arms to force the upper body down. He raised his right knee and slammed it hard under the chin forcing the ninja’s face to whip back suddenly with a loud and sickening crunch. The violent force of the hit knocked out several teeth and threw the shinobi’s head up and away from Naruto, ducking down in the process as Hinata’s feet reached him. He threw out one of his legs toward her and crouched down like a crab, one foot pointing towards the foe and the other pointing at Hinata.
Hinata stepped up on the offered boost and jumped over him as he positioned himself to brace for the force of her impact, her fist glowing intensely as it slammed squarely into the upper part of the chest. More snapping sounds of bones were heard as many different velocities worked against their foe’s body. She flipped herself around in the air and landed gracefully behind the ninja, who was still in the process of falling. Rushing him, she hit several areas behind him, blocking the pain receptive nerves and disabling his ability to use any limbs that might potentially work after the whole ordeal was over with.
The body finally hit the forest floor with a shallow thump, the ninja wasunconscious but still very much alive. Naruto had to shake his head a little. Even fighting an enemy, Hinata was still worried about their condition when they woke up and had already taken care of the silver-haired man's pain. Sometimes Naruto wondered what he had done to deserve her. He wiped at his brow before leaning down and retrieving the man's Heaven Scroll.
“Mission accomplished.” Hinata grinned at her boyfriend who seemed quite pleased with the result of the battle.
* * *
“What are we going to do with these two?” Naruto asked as he slipped down into a comfortable position on a rock deep in the water of the river. It was cold but it felt good against the strain of his muscles. They had three days left to find the tower and although they both remembered the general direction, they had gone that way on the first day and it was painfully clear that the tower had been moved. The giant gaping hole in the ground seemed to be an obvious clue.
Hinata bit her lower lip in thought. The woman who had been stalked had been severely traumatized by her team’s death and she had been pretty much incoherent since she woke from her forced sleep. The more dangerous of the two was bound by lack of chakra and her well-practiced Silence no Jutsu kept him from invoking another battle with the silenced taunts he was openly mouthing at the two.
“I could summon my falcon to warn the medics and have them picked up.” She spoke softly while continuing to scrub the clothes in the river. With all this blood and dirt, the cleaning jutsu would use up more chakra then she was willing to use at the moment since they were in a constant life or death situation. Naruto seemed thoughtful at her suggestion but shook his head.
“That would be like being a messenger falcon. I think it would breach your current agreement.” Hinata blushed and berated herself. He was correct, that would indeed fit the no-no’s of her pact.
“If it was us that needed the medics, I think it would be a different situation and your falcon wouldn’t mind getting help. But this guy tried to kill us.” Naruto pointed at the glaring ninja. “I think he would rather peck out his eyes then get help.” She nodded in agreement.
“Once we settle into our camp for the night and secure the premises, I will get Seiryu to scout and maybe see if he can locate the tower.” She watched from the corner of her eye as Naruto nodded in agreement and leaned back against the rocks, his eyes closed while enjoying the coolness of the water. She blushed lightly as her eyes lingered on the exposed wet skin. Naruto opened an eye and caught her staring at him, then grinned as her blush deepened.
“You know Hinata, all of this...” he pointed at the top of his head, motioned the length of his body and stuck a foot out of the water, wiggling the toes while pointing at them “belongs to you, you can touch it or do whatever you want to it anytime.” His eyes twinkling with mischief met with hers momentarily. His were full of intent and hers were wide in shock.
She threw the bar of soap she was using to clean the clothes and hit him square on the head. He laughed as she blushed deeply. That didn’t last long as he himself was shocked into silence when he heard a meek “I-I’ll have to t-take you up on t-that offer Naruto-kun” stuttering from her mouth. The acceptance of his invitation rang hotly in his ears. Her eyes shyly peeked over at him again, openly taking in the sight of her partially naked boyfriend, their eyes met for a moment again and she had to hold back a giggle. Naruto’s cheeks had tinted pink in an unusual and very Hinata-like fashion.
She had managed to make the Great Naruto, Konoha’s number one most unpredictable ninja - speechless. She gathered up the wet clothing and smiled at him. She could feel his stare on her back as she walked away, and swelled with pride. This was going into the next letter she would send Sora.
* * *
After a full day of rest, Sonara, the woman they had rescued, was finally lucid enough to cooperate with them but she still wasn’t right in the head. She was grateful to have been saved but her grief over the loss of her partner was still playing tricks with her mind. She kept to herself mostly and occasionally stared too long at their prisoner. Naruto was a little worried but Hinata had already blocked her chakra, preventing her from doing anything rash.
They picked up camp and Naruto threw the gimped prisoner on his back and made it his responsibility to carry the injured man. If he had it his way, he would have tied his foot to a rope and dragged him back but Hinata had only given him a flat disapproving look at his well-thought-out suggestion. It did however bring a short muffled laugh from Sonara as she agreed with him.
Seiryu had scouted most of the day they rested and had found the tower and at the steep cost of three rabbits and Naruto’s dignity. It was about 5 miles northwest of their current location. It didn’t seem that far but in this forest, you always had to fit in the inconvenient death factor. They leaped off into the safety of the trees and headed towards the tower with their charge in tow.
* * *
Their morning had started decently enough as he shifted the weight of the slumbering ninja around on his back. He watched Hinata as she ran ahead of him, her Byakugan active as she searched the area again, he heard her sigh and turn to him, her veins still showing on her temples.
“Centipedes. Small ones by what I can tell.” She had this look on her face that didn’t invoke confidence and he narrowed his eyes at her.
“Just how small-“ Naruto’s question was cut off as a large black trunk popped out from below them. The slithering hissing sound sent a shiver of disgust down Naruto’s spine. He hated centipedes. Oh how he hated them.
“That’s not tiny!” he yelled at Hinata. She shrugged as a look of annoyance came over her face.
“They’re a lot smaller than the ones lurking deeper in.” she responded in a flat unconcerned tone. She heard Naruto openly express his repulsion as they found a safe area to put their two charges down and faced the screeching bug that was eagerly following them.
“They absorb chakra Naruto, we have to dispatch them quickly or we’ll be in trouble.”
The centipede snapped it’s large jaws at the two shinobi bouncing towards it, Hinata activated her Byakugan once more as she probed the creature for chakra coils but was taken aback when all she saw was a solid black mass. No chakra whatsoever.
“No chakra coils for me to disable.” she shouted over to Naruto, her voice was laced with worry as she realized she was going to be very little help. She watched his face grimace as the centipede crawled up a massive tree.
“Kami that’s nasty.” She heard him complain loudly as the centipede made a dive for him. She wasn’t entirely surprised it was trying to eat him considering he was oozing chakra with the Kyuubi.
“Stop focusing on how gross it is and just kill it!” she yelled at him as he narrowly jumped away from the tooth filled mouth of the centipede. He shuddered when he heard the pitter patter of the legs against the tree trunk, making its way around to catch him.
Naruto groaned, there was just one way to deal with large, slithery snake like things in this forest, recalling his own encounter all those years ago.
“Hinata, you’re not going to like this.” He shouted at her. She frowned as Naruto stood still suddenly, grinning sheepishly at her. He opened up his right leg kunai pouch and sighed.
“Oi, you ugly-ass centipede, diner’s over here!” he threw the kunai, watched it bounce off its shelled body and suppressed a shudder as its large tooth-filled mouth opened and hovered over him. The things he did for Hinata…
Hinata screamed his name as the centipede dropped over his head and swallowed him. In a split instant her world had just disappeared in front of her eyes. Her mind reeled; her heart felt like it had stopped.
“Na-Naruto!” she screamed again, leaping towards the centipede. Her eyes swelled with tears, her mind was blank. She smacked the centipede with chakra, futile she knew as much but she needed to do something.
The Centipede stopped in its descent back to the ground, ignoring Hinata as it made a deep and uncomfortable groan. Hinata activated her Byakugan, seeing a huge amount of chakra light up from inside the darkness. She leaped away from it as it swelled suddenly and exploded. She covered her face and crouched down as the centipede burst open revealing a small army of orange-clad shadow clones. They all puffed out of sight leaving only Naruto, sitting in the midst of it all.
“Y-y-you asshole!” Hinata screamed at him, tears falling freely from her eyes. She was partially relieved but mostly enraged. Naruto was in the middle of shaking the goo off his hands when he heard her use a-, a swear word? He stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide open.
“What? I’ve done that before, well with a snake, but regardless I had to be inside to kill it.” He looked up at her and saw her tear streaked face, guilt was suddenly eating at him when he remembered that when the snake had swallowed him he had been alone and Hinata had never known this specific part of the last exam.
He quickly got up and jumped up next to her and pulled her in his arms, looked into her eyes trying to get her attention. She was furious.
“I’m sorry Hina-chan! That’s the only quick way to beat it that I could think of! You didn’t seriously think a centipede was going to defeat me did you?”
She didn’t know what to think. She glared at him and pushed him off her and ground her teeth. Her mind went blank again, swarming with emotion. She pointed at him accusingly and shouted again.
“I’m so relieved and so mad at the same time! Don’t do that again!” Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek with his right hand. She seemed to have forgiven him, considering she was now in his arms again kissing him, tears flowing down her face, and hitting his back with her small feminine fist. He really was an idiot.
* * *
A few hours had passed since the centipede incidident and the morning still wasn’t improving. They had never considered that covering the short distance was going to be such a pain in the ass. Naruto seemed to have a knack for attracting the weirdest things and as if to prove the point they were now face to face with residents of the forest he would later call “death personified as butterflies”. Hinata had stopped to look at them a few minutes earlier and had cooed at their purple shimmer. Naruto stared at them with his trademark frown of distrust.
“That’s not cute at all.” He said to Hinata. She shot him a dirty look and was about to step off to continue their tree run when she heard a snap from her charge. Sonara had accidently pressed too hard against a smaller branch and it had broken, loudly.
Naruto couldn’t help but sigh in dejectedly as the butterflies were startled into flight. “Damn it…” he whispered to himself as he noticed a purple powder fill the area. He covered his mouth and nose with a ninja mask, as did Hinata and Sonara. He turned and begrudgingly did the same for his incapacitated “friend”. The waterfall ninja only sneered at him and Naruto ignored it.
“I really wanted one for my room.” Hinata sighed, disappointed, as the 400 or so insects swarmed them. “It would have looked nice over my headboard.” Naruto momentarily gave her a flat look.
“Are you serious?” As he began to hit the first few that approached them she looked at him, her white lilac eyes focused on Naruto. He could have sworn she was giving him puppy eyes.
“No Hinata… you can’t have one for your room.” He responded flatly. She pouted again and activated her Byakugan.
“Fine, I won’t keep one. Shugohakke Rokujuuyon Shoo!”
The butterflies were cut to shreds as she used her protection Jyuuken technique but so quickly dispatching the poisonous winged insects brought on another little problem: her chakra burst had caught the attention of small little black bugs. Naruto noticed them as they poured out of the tree in which they'd been hiding.
“Bugs, why does it have to be BUGS?” he said softly, his mouth grimaced as they gathered towards Hinata. He crouched down and tried to figure out this little problem.
Sonara couldn’t believe they were this calm, still playfully teasing each other as they were in peril danger. Just who were these people?
“They look like beetles Hinata.” Naruto said curiously.
“I’m a little busy.” She responded. Naruto rolled his eyes.
“What do you suggest we use on them? They look like something Shino would like to have.” Hinata quickly glanced down to them and with some effort pushed her Byakugan out until she sensed them. That was a mistake she quickly concluded as it absorbed her shield.
“Chakra eaters, they’re probably from Shino’s batch he made when we were here 3 years ago. He lost quite a few in battle.” She added, changing Naruto’s inquisitive look to a disgusted one.
“Typical. Those centipedes are probably his too.”
Hinata laughed. “No, I’m almost certain those are part of the natural fauna here, same as the butterflies.” Naruto made another disgusted sound as he pulled out a scroll from his pocket. He laid it down on the ground and mentally calculated the amount of chakra he would need.
“You may want to hurry.” Hinata said casually as she dispatched the last of the poisonous insects. She peeked over his shoulder to see what he was up to as he formed hand seals and slapped his hand down on the scroll while the other formed a circle around his mouth.
“no Jutsu” he blew out a thin amount of air that seemed to frost over and one finger touched the tree. A thin layer of ice covered the tree and froze the beetles in place. He stood up and threw out the now emptied chakra scroll.
“The seal papers I requested from Tenten’s mother work really well.” Naruto said with satisfaction.
They picked up their charges and proceeded to head out but someone shouted to them. Naruto narrowed his eyes and groaned. “Perfect.” He whispered. Hinata glanced down to where the voice was coming from and pursed her lips in thought.
“Hello!” the voice sounded cheery, and genuinely happy to see them. It was from the infamous red-headed ninja from the first exam, as they descended from their branch, Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man as he greeted Hinata again. He suspected the man was leering at his girlfriend.
In reality all he said was “Hello” and gave Hinata a friendly smile and a wave but as always, jealousy had a way to warp your interpretation of basic common politeness directed towards someone with whom you happen to be in love.
“Good afternoon.” Hinata returned the friendly smile and noted that his partner was also carrying an injured ninja. “I assume you were successful in your quest for the Heaven scroll?” she tentatively asked. This was a heavily loaded question since it would reveal their status as opponents or friends.
“Yes, we were just carrying back the survivor. This is just a competition, even if some do die; no point adding to the death toll.” He smiled sheepishly looking at his partner, wondering if they had made a mistake revealing they had both scrolls. The other ninja shrugged and adjusted the unconscious body on his back.
“As do we.” Hinata added, relieved they didn’t have to fight again. She could see the same emotion reflected in his face as well.
“Let’s travel the rest of the way together then, safety in numbers. My name is Saotaori, I am from Rock Country as I’m sure your partner has already deduced.” He turned his smile towards Naruto, but was ignored. Hinata elbowed him in the ribs.
“I am Hinata and this is Naruto.” They began to move together towards their destination, forming an alliance of sorts. Hinata looked over the injuries of both their charges. She suppressed the pain receptors in Saotaori’s prisoner and noticed a more relaxed atmosphere. They hadn’t done as nearly as much damage to their prisoner but she doubted he was a murderous maniac.
Saotaori related a play by play of their battle that brought them victory to pass the time. Hinata only smiled and congratulated them on their achievements while Naruto managed to keep a snort from coming out. She had given an overview of their own battle, not revealing much since honestly most of the battle was just routine training for them being put to use, she didn’t honestly remember all the specifics, just that she and Naruto had successfully played their roles in bringing down the threat.
Sonara watched them carefully interact and was brought back to life by their warmth; she wanted to be part of the conversation after a little while and opened up a little about herself. She was from Rice Country and this was their first time participating in the exams hosted by Konoha since they were new allies. Naruto had begrudgingly recognized the rock ninja as a good protector while fighting the natural enemies of the forest, a small amount of respect had began to bud and it helped that Saotaori’s attentions seemed to have moved to Sonara.
Night had fallen and the group had decided to call it a day, they were all exhausted from the impromptu battles, Seiryu had confirmed they had nearly traveled 4 miles and with tomorrow being the last day, they should be able to reach the towers if there were no more problems.
Hinata did one last check on the injured before heading toward her own sleeping bag. Naruto had claimed first watch and without a word, scooped up Hinata in her sleeping bag and jumped up on his watching perch, she complained and tried to get away but he clung to her and passively told her to sleep as she needed to recover her chakra and strength for the travel tomorrow. She blew air from her cheek in annoyance but settled on his lap and leaned her head against his chest under the chin. She drifted off to sleep listening to the beating of his heart and felt a chaste kiss on her lips before darkness took over.
* * *
They arrived at the tower, much later than anticipated. They were battered and exhausted. Naruto had accidentally stepped on what he thought was a large brown dead tree trunk but in the end had turned out to be a mother centipede and her egg nest. After the many glares, angry comments from his partners, they had been running for their lives for four straight hours as the babies screeched and slithered after them. The queen had managed to force them to battle on occasion but escaping was the only option.
They had done things to survive they would never speak of again. They reeked of animal carcass, sweat, and most notably fear and annoyance. Never in his life had Naruto seen so many wiggly legs, he shuddered violently again at the thought of them.
The forged alliance proceeded into the building. Naruto was hit with a wave of déjà vu when his eyes landed on the written words left by the Third. He recalled Iruka-sensei telling him the meaning behind the words and now, years later he finally understood them to the fullest. He took out the two scrolls and laid them down to the ground and gave Hinata the honors to unroll them. The other two ninjas also followed their lead and placed them the same way.
A puff of smoke appeared on both scrolls and two Anko clones popped before them, reciting the obligatory congratulations but she wasn’t making any effort to hide her half-serious disappointment that they were still alive and well. Medics appeared out of nowhere once Anko had determined they were actual participants and took away the injured parties, including Sonara.
They were brought into another room where the other remaining participants were gathered and waited for the next part. Naruto fidgeted, last time they had been in here, they had been told that they were going to cut the numbers in half by doing early one on one matches. Hinata had nearly died that day. A memory he did not want to recall.
He felt her small hand grab his own, wrapping her fingers with his and squeezed it gently, looking to reassure and receive the same as the memory haunted her. Neji’s rage had overcome her own senses that day and she had learned how deeply the spirit of the clan had been injured.
Anko stepped forward on the small makeshift stage before a large statue, it was frozen in time forming a seal with large overpowering hands, signifying the warrior tools of war in the shinobi world. Naruto hoped to change that someday but it was a difficult task. Hating was much easier than forgiving. He had learned that from Sora and Jiraiya over the years.
“Since you remaining participants meet the number criteria, we will not have to cut the number of teams with one on one battles. Personally that’s my favourite part but this year the Forest of Death was ruthless and its participants blood thirsty.” Her eyes glinted again sadistically as she emphasized the last words, a slow grin formed on her porcelain face. Naruto noted that she seemed snake-like at times, but she had been a student under Orochimaru before he became a rogue ninja. It would only be natural for her to develop an eerie personality similar to her old sensei.
“Since you are an advance level gennin class, you will not be given the mandatory one month of preparations for the third part of the exam.” She walked around the small stage, looking over the exhausted shinobi as they stood in attention. She liked her position as an examiner.
“You will have exactly ten days to prepare your training and recover from your wounds in a team versus team public match at the Konoha Arena. Those who have lost their partners are automatically disqualified. Dismissed.” She waved her hand as she puffed out of sight. Naruto sighed when he calculated the dates in his head. The exam was the day before his birthday; Konoha’s historical holiday that was both celebrated and grieved.
* * *
There wasn’t a more welcomed sight to Hinata than the warmth of the sun on her face as she stepped out of the Forest of Death. The gates were almost blinding as the silver metal reflected the sunlight straight onto them as they approached. Naruto complained as he shielded his eyes but she laughed, her heart filled with joy and pride at their accomplishments.
He couldn’t help but stare at her in wonder as her eyes twinkled and her laughter tickled his ears in a way only she could. Her happiness seemed to be infectious as the surrounding ninja also broke into a smile; the nervous feeling from earlier seemed to be leaving as Hinata’s laughter resonated.
He threw the two backpacks on his back and smiled at her as she met his eyes and leaned in for a kiss which he happily provided. She whispered she loved him before pushing him away and grabbing his hand. To anyone watching the pair almost seemed to glow. He let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders and continued their conversation on what to expect of the team battles when suddenly a shadow approached and Temari stood before them, smiling.
“Temari!” Naruto shouted and waved at her as the gap closed between them.
“Hello Naruto, Hinata.” She nodded in greeting. “Sorry about before, I wasn’t allowed to speak casually with the participants, but since my part has ended I figured I’d catch up with you two.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously a moment as she looked from Naruto to Hinata.
“By the looks of things, you two have quite a bit to tell. I watched your battle with the waterfall ninja. I must say I was quite impressed with your team work.”
“Oh you watched us?” Naruto asked in wonder. He hadn’t realized people could see them. “Hinata really improved right?” he said with pride.
“Not just Hinata, Naruto.” Temari interjected. Naruto glanced towards her, confusion settling on his face. “I couldn’t believe how you yourself have improved.” She smiled as the shinobi grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek with his free hand. He had barely done anything worth noticing. He was more impressed with Hinata.
“Yes well, it’s my role to do that with our partner-training.” He added trying to avoid taking credit. Temari blinked, a little taken aback. Was this the same Naruto? Was he playing down his participation and obvious win in that fight?
“Who are you and what have you done with Naruto?” Temari took out a kunai and positioned herself in an attack postion. Hinata burst out laughing as Naruto hid behind her. Temari was not serious, no chakra had flared out from her coils.
“Temari! Don’t do that!” He shouted, pulling Hinata around to stay out of sight. Temari snorted at his lame tactics to hide behind the kunoichi.
“You’re lucky I like Hinata.” She warned and put away her kunai. Had she been really serious, he would have eaten a gust of her fan strapped to her back.
“You two come out with Shikamaru and I tomorrow after you rest.” She casually added. Naruto peeked over Hinata’s shoulder with an eyebrow raised unusually high.
“Are you dating that lazy-ass?” he asked. He immediately regretted it as killing intent radiated off the woman from the sand village.
“It’s a long story.” Was all she said before she turned around and waved goodbye. “I’ll come get you Naruto when I’m ready.”
“What about Hinata?”
“She’s staying at your house tonight no?” She looked over her shoulder, a smile barely showing. She was teasing them.
They blushed instantly and Naruto stammered, “W-w-what! Stop suggesting things!” Hinata was mortified but Temari continued to walk away, smiling to herself. That was too easy.
* * *
“That was awful.” Naruto was still complaining about Temari. He dropped the bags off at the entrance and plopped himself on the couch. She bent down and kissed his lips silencing his tirade for a moment as she wandered toward the shower. “And another thing!” she heard him continue She shook her head as she closed the bathroom door ready for warmth, steam and girly shampoos.
The sound of the shower echoed in the silent apartment. Naruto was suddenly aware that his girlfriend was naked and wet in the next room. Normally he’d be ok with that but lately he wasn’t so sure. Their relationship had been moving along a particular path lately and he was starting to feel like he had when they first started to go out. He’d become more aware of her lately, her taste, her scent, and certain sounds she made in his dreams as of late seemed to surface more often, especially when they were kissing heavily.
He needed to get out. He walked up to the door and knocked on it, her muffled “Come in” startling him. Come in? What? eh... He poked his head inside the bathroom and could see her shape behind the curtain. Losing his train of thought for a moment he stammered out “Hi-Hinata, I’m going to go over to Tenten’s family shop to let them know about the seals and the weapons. I promised to give them a report.”
The sound of the shower was deafening. He could have sworn he could hear the water sliding down her skin. She peeked her head around the curtain and bit her lip, her heart beating hard in her chest as she looked at him. He couldn’t tell if the blush on her cheek was from the heat of the shower or if she was nervous about him being there, looking at her. He smiled shyly at her and was preparing to leave but she looked like she was struggling with something.
“What is it Hinata?” Naruto asked, concerned with her insecurity.
“Ano… Naruto-kun…” her face brightened as she slipped part of her leg out of the curtain and caught his full attention. “Y-you know, from here …” she pointed at the top of head and slipped her hand through the curtain opening, shyly exposing a small carefully planned amount of her creamy skin. Part of a breast peeked out as she pointed at the length of her body. He could see the well defined mounds against the shower curtain and felt a little jealous as she strategically hid her nipples with her free hand and the curtain. He followed her finger as it descended down to her stomach, lightly touching her navel and cutting over to her thigh. Her leg was propped up against the bathtub edge hiding another promise to heaven “… to here” she wiggled her exposed toes “b-belong t-to you, you can touch a-anywhere whenever you want to.” Her voice threatened to give out.
Sensory overload. He blushed and tried to look into her eyes but she was looking at the floor and debating between hiding, fainting or running out of the bathroom. Naruto smiled at her and walked into the bathroom, she didn’t budge from her position, didn’t move to hide herself and he considered her more brave than anything else. He leaned in towards her and closed his eyes, giving her some privacy while he kissed her lips and whispered in her ear.
“Thank you Hinata, I just might take you up on that offer sometime soon.” She was definitely considering fainting. This was bold, even for her and he was impressed she had pulled it off.
“I’ll see you when I get back sweetheart, we’ll go out to eat before calling it a night.” They needed to be out of his apartment. After what she'd just shown him, he didn’t know if he could control the urge to pin her down and have his way with her.
He turned around and gave her a longing look before smiling again. Then he said to her in a voice so full of want and pride that she couldn't understand why he didn’t take the bait to her obvious offer: “You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen Hina-chan. I love you so damned much and I don’t know what it is that makes you mine but I refuse to throw that away. I want us to both be ready and sure about everything and have everything settled with your family and my fox versus village problem. ” She nodded and smiled at him with pure and radiated happiness.
He had to go now. Good god he had to go now or his exercise in restraint and control would fail.
* * *
Hiashi entered his study, a small stack of papers sat on his desk waiting for him to review the report on his daughter’s performance at the exams. At his request, Hibiki had scanned the mind of the deranged ninja that his daughter had taken part in defeating and produced a detailed report on the whole battle and anything that the ninja had been witness to while in the presence of his daughter.
Tsunade had objected but she could not refuse entirely as it was a matter involving the heir to the clan and its future, and she did see the benefit to showing Hinata’s father her capabilities as Naruto’s partner. After all that was said and done, there it was in front of him.
He sat down and picked up the first page of the report and began to read how his daughter had come up with a plan, worked with Naruto flawlessly and destroyed her opponent’s chakra expulsion points in one swift hit thanks to her training with Sora and Naruto.
As he continued to read well into the night, Hiashi came to a very obvious conclusion, Hinata had grown into the heir he had always wanted and for the first time in his life felt shamed for his treatment towards his daughter. With a heavy heart, he wondered how he could make years of humiliation, shame, and neglect into something his daughter could forgive. He vowed to never again withhold from her the pride he had always shown for Hanabi. Hinata would become a fine heir, and he would ensure nothing stood in her way.
* * *
Jutsu References used in this chapter:
Raigeki no Yoroi - Lightning Strike Armor (Anime only)
Electricity will envelop the body in a protective armor.
Shihouhappou Shuriken – All directions shuriken
After creating copies of oneself with shadow clones, the clones bombard the opponent with shuriken from every direction. It is similar in practice to the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.
Kasumi Enbu no Jutsu - Mist Waltz Technique
The ninja does a string of hand seals and then proceeds to blow a large combustible mist at the target. When the mist hits flame, it will ignite in an explosion of fire.
Houmatsu Rappa – Violent Bubble Wave
Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Water Element. After Pain summons his giant crustacean, the creature will expel a huge wave of water from its mouth. Normally used by Pain’s Crab summon – I made it a scroll here for obvious use.
Katon: Endan – Fireball
Jet of fire is emitted from the mouth.
Shugohakke Rokujuuyon Shoo - Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms (Anime only)
Hinata emits a constant stream of chakra from her palms, creating extremely sharp chakra blades. With her natural flexibility, Hinata can reach any point around her, allowing her to hit any target within her field of vision. While using this jutsu, Hinata moves extremely fast (her movements become a blur), allowing her to hit hundreds of targets with extreme precision, much like the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Additionally, Hinata can control the size of the chakra beams in her palms, allowing her to create larger, arc-shaped chakra beams that spread out across her entire attack range.
Hyourou no Jutsu – Ice Prison Technique (Movie)
Ice rises from the ground and imprisons the target. Modified to fit the need to trap the bugs.
* * *
Uh RR please? Sorry for the lateness ^^;