Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Twice Shy - Story Completion ❯ A question of Will ( Chapter 9 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: eternalshiva 
Final part of the exams. Oh the Angst!
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.06.2009 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.9K | Visits: 495 | Status: Completed
Final part of the exams. Oh the Angst!
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 04.06.2009 | Pages: 6 | Words: 8.9K | Visits: 495 | Status: Completed
Twice Shy – 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 – A special shout goes to Soundless Steps and Zamoria on FF.net for reviewing like pros and also Zamoria was review # 50 :P Bumblemark made an awesome one shot called Kiss Me based on a line from Chapter 8 so please go check it out! I feel pride for inspiring someone. :)
Thank you Hinata’s Husband for the beta, I appreciate all the hard work you do.
Disclaimer –
I do not make any monies off this fanfic. Naruto is copyright of Masashi Kishimoto. Sora, Yasu, Miki, Nori, Dango, Kaze Clan, and Shivani are all copyright of DameWren.
Chapter 9
A question of Will
The darkness of the mountain forest was suffocating before Kiba lit the small camp fire, drowning the narrow area with an eerie orange glow. Shino set about releasing a small array of detection style bugs around their makeshift camp while Kakashi busied himself reading his trusty orange novel. Akamaru laid down behind his master to allow him to lean against him, promptly falling asleep while Kiba looked over to their team captain and considered his options as he pursed his lips in wonder.
“So...” the dog shinobi started, trying to catch Kakashi’s attention. He made no sign of acknowledgment and flipped a page, enthralled in the old worn-out book. Kiba rolled his eyes, he knew the older ninja was listening.
Fwip. Fwip.
The sound of the pages broke the silence between them. Sighing, Kiba kicked at the dirt and narrowed his eyes, trying to accost the subject in a somewhat delicate matter without sounding like he didn’t trust their leader.
“Why did you let that woman keep Sasuke?” he asked and realized that this was as tactful as he would ever be in his life and he wasn’t about to change. Kiba was met with another flip of a page and complete silence. The fire crackling filled the monotony of the night, the occasional dog snore breaking the seriousness of the question. Kiba sighed again, trying to figure out another way to break through to the stubborn sharingan user.
“Kakashi, why did you trust that woman so readily?” Shino cut in before Kiba could ask anything. The slight buzzing of his personal colony was a sound that could become unnerving if you were not accustomed to it. Kakashi looked up with a heavy lid, staring at the boys, the insatiable amount of questions was really starting to annoy him.
“If you must know, I left Sasuke in their care for a very good reason. I know the leader of that village personally and she was a Konoha resident once. In fact, her master was married to the Yondaime.” He explained as though it was something of common knowledge. Kiba blinked in response, dumbfounded, and Shino adjusted his dark glasses.
“Oh, well who didn’t know that? Silly me.” Kiba said sarcastically, the information given was just enough to shut them up but left about fifteen other questions open with no real way to ask without causing tension. Kiba actually wished Naruto was here so his idiotic friend could just straight up ask the questions and get away with it.
“There’s no record of the fourth ever marrying anyone, especially an outsider.” Shino said in a low tone. Kakashi glanced over lazily and shrugged, indifferent.
“There’s a lot about the fourth most people don’t know and it’s not my place to divulge any more information. That is up to someone else.” He flipped another page and stared down at it, indicating he was done and would not be pressed further into the subject. Kiba narrowed his eyes clearly annoyed and Shino merely burrowed his face deeper down into his large jacket, giving the impression he was seeking a form of comfort from his colony.
Kiba snorted before leaning back against Akamaru. While starring up at the stars through the dark trees, he wondered which bug from Shino’s many colonies had climbed up Kakashi’s ass and died because there was definitely one festering.
* * *
Hiashi reviewed the documents laid before him, closing his eyes momentarily in thought. He was still receiving reports on his daughter, although the purpose had changed over the last few weeks, the end result would be the same.
The spy had managed to pass the second phase of the exams and Hiashi would have to make sure that his daughter’s team would go against his in a battle that will determine her and Naruto’s worth in the eyes of the clan.
He just hoped she would forgive him if they died beforehand.
* * *
Every muscle ached, Naruto had to repress a gag as the tart taste of the soldier pill made its way down into his stomach. Hinata was still passed out after their intense sparring sessions. The sun had yet to rise and they were running on a few hours sleep. He stretched before getting out of his sleeping bag, carefully untangling himself from Hinata. He woke her with a few gentle kisses and heard her complain about needing five more minutes. He laughed.
“Come on, we have to go through the forms now that we have the sparring down. We can stop after lunch and take the rest of the day off to rest, I promise.” He chuckled.
“The sun’s not even up yet.” she complained. He grinned as he pulled her up by her hands and she grudgingly stood up, while trying to pull him back down to the sleeping bag without success. She didn’t know how he could be grinning that much so early in the morning.
“What are you talking about? Aren’t you up?” She blushed lightly.
“Ok you win.” she said shyly. All previous signs of his girlfriend’s grumpy mood had flown away as his laughter echoed in the training ground.
* * *
The two shinobi walked slowly through the crowd, Hinata envying Naruto’s stamina for a split second as he happily greeted those who smiled at him. She was exhausted after the last thirty hours of training but it had been worth it, at least they could read each other again, the forms still needed work but they would do for now.
“Those pills are so nasty.” Naruto’s face pinched as he clutched his stomach. “That’s the last time I ask Sakura to come up with some pills for us. She could have at least made them a little sweet.” He stuck out his tongue thinking of the taste. Hinata shook her head lightly.
“They did what they were supposed to, she did a great job with them Naruto.” She reprimanded him gently and he shrugged.
“They were still nasty.”
“Naruto!” The two shinobi turned their heads towards the shout, Saotaori waved frantically at them.
“Oh great.” Naruto let out a sigh and waved to the red haired Rock ninja, watching him rush over.
“Hello Saotaori.” Hinata greeted him with a small smile, which evoked a large grin from the other man. Naruto gave him a distrustful look, feeling a little jealous.
“Where have you two been?” he nodded to Naruto, the blond shrugged.
“Training and such, getting ready for tomorrow.” He answered, putting his left arm around Hinata’s shoulder. Saotaori’s eyes light up in excitement.
“I’m looking forward to the team battles. I hear there are some very strong opponents. It should be pretty intense this year.”
“Oh yeah?” Naruto looked over to the red head.
“Yeah, the interesting thing about the advanced exams is the brutality of it. Some of these guys are way too intense.” Saotaori laughed but Naruto frowned as he felt Hinata fidget.
“You think it would go as far as people dying?” Naruto asked, still not getting what was so funny. The other ninja gave him a quizzical look.
“People die in the low level exams, why not in this advanced one? Most likely it's going to happen.” He slapped Naruto on the shoulder in a brotherly fashion. Naruto didn’t appreciate the move but didn’t say anything. There was something about this guy he just didn’t like but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Well good luck Saotaori!” Naruto shouted and punched the ninja on the shoulder, returning the awkward friendly behaviour, only he didn’t hold back and hit the man quite hard.
“Ouch!” the red head yelped out and Naruto pretended to be surprised, sheepishly grinning.
“Sorry man, guess I hit you harder than I thought. Come on Hinata.” He waved good-bye to the Rock shinobi as he grabbed Hinata’s hand and pulled her towards the busy street. Saotaori winced as he waved, shaking his head.
“That wasn’t nice.” Naruto could feel Hinata’s stare on the back of his head. He had the urge to wave her off.
“There’s something off about him. He’s always sniffing around like Kiba– “
“Naruto!” she gasped out, scandalised he would say such a thing about her team mate.
“Well it’s true.” His face pinched, annoyed that they were talking about the Rock ninja. He pulled at her hand to bring her closer and sighed, dropping the subject. He wasn’t going to win. He had something else he wanted to talk about with her.
“Are you ok with this exam?” he asked her, his eyes still on the crowd. He had sensed her stiffen earlier on the subject of death and he needed to make sure that she was still ok with this.
“Yeah.” She answered, her hand gripping his a little tighter. She didn’t want to kill anyone in the exam, it was just a test. She knew though that if push came to shove she would have to make that decision and the life of Naruto was more important.
“We’ll do what we have to do to stay safe.” She spoke so softly he barely caught it, looking down he stared at her a moment, considering her last words. He put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulder as he pulled her closer to him, their steps falling together in unison, letting their bodies be taken by the movement of the crowd.
“Yeah Hinata, we’ll do what we have to stay safe.”
‘And alive’ he added to himself, squeezing her hand while guiding her through the thick lunch crowd of the village.
* * *
Anko pulled off another dango from its stick and moaned in satisfaction, her eyes nearly rolling in the back of her head. Asuma watched her with disgusted fascination while Kurenai ignored them, her thoughts focused on her student who would be participating in the battles the next day. She hadn’t seen Hinata since her return and had been prevented from participating in missions due to her preparations. She had no idea about her skill development and worried about her. Even if she did have Naruto with her, Yuuhi wasn’t entirely convinced that the knuckle-head was going to be of any real use.
Tsunade entered the office silently, nodding to the three already there. She made her way to her desk and apologized for being late. The shinobi merely nodded in response.
“Akatsuki has begun to move inside Fire country.” She announced casually as she sat down. Asuma closed his eyes while crossing his arms while Kurenai frowned. Anko kept eating her dango, not seeming too worried.
“I will be assigning you Asuma and a team of your choice to track them down. I recommend you take people you are comfortable with and who are trustworthy.” She gave him a hard look before glancing quickly to Kurenai, a small apologetic smile crossed her lips.
“Kurenai you have been taken off active duty due to your condition. You are not allowed to participate in this mission. I called you here for a different reason. You will be taking over Asuma’s responsibilities in the final exam while he leaves tomorrow. I'll let him debrief you on all the examinees before you take on the job.” Kurenai nodded.
“Anko I’m not sure what you’re doing here but I would appreciate it if you stopped eating that dango like it’s a lover. The noise is distracting.” The girl stopped eating and shot her leader a dirty look.
“Fine.” She put away the dango stick as she rolled her eyes.
A shadow caught Tsunade’s attention outside her window, she turned toward it and watched a falcon flick it’s wings past her window toward the messenger perches.
‘Why is Sora’s messenger summon here?’ she thought.
“You’re dismissed.” she spoke loudly. Two of the three ninjas left the office while Anko sat there still, picking at her teeth crudely.
“That includes you Anko.” Tsunade shot at her as she walked by the still-enraptured jounin and left her office to see what the message was about, the other ninja only grinned at her in a Naruto-like manner and sat deeper in her seat, preparing to take a nap completely ignoring Tsunade.
The blonde woman walked quickly to the upper level and was met with the display of an irate falcon refusing to give her subordinate the message.
“This message is for Tsunade only. I will not concede.” It squawked out, clearly annoyed.
“I’ll take it.” She dismissed the boy in charge and he grumbled under his breath as he walked away, returning to his desk in the other room.
“What do you have for me?” The falcon gave her a calculated look as it determined this was his target and leaned over, exposing the small container on his back.
“News from Sora with regard to a ninja she found.” Tsunade winced at the raspy sound of the falcon’s voice. He sounded parched. She stepped closer and thanked him, taking the small package.
The falcon then busied itself with the water dish while she opened the letter.
‘Obaa-chan I found this intriguing boy bleeding to death at my doorstep about two weeks ago. I didn’t send word because I wasn’t sure who he was (being unconscious and all) and since he’s been nice enough to come back to the living and give me his biography, I figured I’d let you know.
He said something about his girl so here’s a picture to give her so she can relax. I hope you liked my present.
Love always – Sora
P.S. Did you ever make that recipe I sent? It’s really delicious. I expect some when I visit.’
Tsunade watched a piece of paper slip from the package to the floor. Pushing aside her annoyed twitch at Sora’s lack of responsibility to report the missing Leaf ninja, she raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she picked up the flimsy paper, her eyes scanning the picture carefully. She let out a sudden loud laugh as she saw Sasuke looking downright miserable in a room full of pictures of Naruto, Sora had snuck her head in the picture and had wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and her lips looked like they were in the middle of telling the boy to smile as their cheeks touched. This was more familiarity then Sasuke was used to.
Tsunade wiped a tear from her eye, recovering from the sight and headed towards her office. She was glad that he was in good hands and almost skipped at the thought of her apprentice hearing the news – Sakura was going to be pleased.
* * *
Naruto rolled over groaning as the infernal knocking grew louder on his apartment door. With a quick glance towards his window, he noted it was dark outside and he wasn’t done sleeping. He ignored the sound as she snuggled closer to his sleeping girlfriend but it kept growing louder and eventually Sakura yelled his name.
“I’m going to break the door in, I know you’re in there!”
Hinata sighed and shoved her boyfriend out of the bed before rolling over into his spot, smiling at the sound of his very hard rump hitting the floor. He grunted in complaint as sleep tried to take him again but the cold floor and Sakura’s high pitched voice was keeping the sand man at bay.
“I’m coming, shit.” He yelled out but it was drowned out by the sound of the wood splitting. Hinata lifted her head in surprise from the pillow and looked towards the door of the bedroom, Naruto groaned.
“Too slow Naruto, she broke the door.” Hinata said sleepily before digging herself deeper in the blankets, her soft snore indicated she was well beyond the reach of his answer.
“Naruto!” Sakura yelled, her voice excited as she ran through the apartment and into the bedroom only to ram head first into the blond shinobi, who was taken completely off guard.
“Oh!” she said, surprised while Naruto held on to his nose, the pain flooding his sleepy senses had shaken him awake.
“For god sake Sakura.” He complained, she ignored him and grabbed his arms, jumping up and down like a small girl of five who had found something lost.
“They found him!” she yelled again, her eyes twinkling in the dark. He smiled at her and pulled her into a hug and sighed in relief.
“Thank goodness.”
* * *
Sakura woke to the sounds of music playing, she sat up from the couch confused a moment as she watched Hinata’s long hair disappear into the kitchen. She stood up unsteadily, recalling she had crashed here after she had forced her way into the apartment, she gave a guilty glance to the shards of wood all over the floor.
“You should feel bad, my landlord is going to have a fit.” She turned to face Naruto, who was in the middle of rubbing his head with a towel. She blinked in surprise, realising he was standing next to her in a towel. He grinned at her before she looked away. He had definitely changed over the years.
“I’m really sorry about that.” She said, embarrassed.
“I would have done the same Sakura, don’t worry about it.” He threw the towel on the couch and stepped into his room, closing the door behind him. Sakura watched the closed door a moment before turning towards the kitchen, following the sound of Hinata’s voice as she sang in a language she had never heard before.
“Anything I can do to help?”
Hinata was startled a minute, not expecting the intrusion.
“Ah good morning Sakura!” she said happily before pointing to the second knife and red peppers. “I’m making some omelets, you’re welcome to help.” The pink haired kunoichi stepped up to the counter and began to cut the peppers, her eyes glancing over to Hinata.
“Naruto’s gotten really buff.” She said, quite randomly. Hinata stopped cutting her vegetable and gasped in surprise, blushing.
“Yes, he has.” She answered timidly. Sakura laughed at her reaction and popped a pepper in her mouth, enjoying torturing her friend.
“What’s so funny?” she heard Naruto’s confused deeper voice cut in.
“Nothing. Just girl talk.” Sakura returned to cutting her share and Hinata tried to get her blush under control. He sighed. Why did he have the feeling this was about him?
* * *
The air almost crackled with energy. Naruto could feel his skin tingle with the anticipation of battle. It had been a while since he’d been this excited. The village was swept up into it as he walked towards the battle arena for the exams, he could hear the buzz of people talking about the possible candidates for the wins. His name was brought up often but he tried to ignore them.
“Are you ready for this?” He looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend who was fidgeting as the crowd squeezed them together. She smiled and nodded, her eyes twinkling with anticipation as well. This was an important day on several levels. How could she not be ready?
Her eyes searched the crowd as they entered the building, she wasn’t looking for anyone in particular but it was not hard to miss the formal ninja wear of her family. They were lined up neatly as they walked into the arena, her father caught her eye and for a moment she thought she saw a look of worry on his face but she dismissed it. Naruto grasped her hand as he followed her gaze towards her family. Neji waved to them and Naruto grinned, waving back in return while Hanabi only gave them an interested look, leaning over to her cousin and seemed to ask him a question to which he nodded in response. Tenten was there as well, following her teammate. He didn’t see Lee but he was sure the bushy brow ninja wouldn’t miss this.
“Yosh! Naruto! Good luck!” he heard the distinct cry of Lee come from above him, he was already inside the building.
“Too bad Kakashi’s not here.” He heard Chouji behind him, the crinkle of his bag of chips made the blond-haired ninja laugh.
“Hai.” He answered him, glad to see the rotund ninja. “Who else is here?” he asked.
“Pretty much everyone except Shikamaru and Sasuke.”
Naruto frowned, Shikamaru was gone? “Where did that lazy-ass take off to?” he puzzled out loud. Chouji shrugged, forcing his way past Naruto and deep into the crowd.
“Dunno, something about a mission with Asuma. See you in there. Excuse me...” Naruto watched Choji disappear into the crowds.
Ino and Sakura appeared at the entrance. The two girls waved at him and Ino seemed to look him up and down, making him uncomfortable. Sakura laughed at something Ino said before they turned in towards the building and disappeared as well.
“Let’s go inside sweetheart, we have to meet with the other teams.” Hinata said turning towards him, smiling.
“Ok.”
* * *
Kurenai stood before the group and looked for Hinata. She pushed down a smile as she spotted the kunoichi in deep conversation with her partner. They had just entered the rink and had yet to notice her. Naruto was looking around, listening intently as he guided her through the crowd and Kurenai had to admit that the boy seemed sweet.
“Welcome” she spoke loudly, quieting the buzz of the shinobi gathered, Her eyes met with Hinata and warmed as her student smiled at her. Naruto’s eyes lit up in recognition but as Tsunade and Gaara walked by above, he said nothing else in fear of the busty blonde’s reaction.
Satisfied with the silence, Kurenai continued. “As you know, this is the final part of the exam. You are to battle until your opponent is unable to continue either by forfeit, knock out or death.” She emphasized the last word, her eyes lingering momentarily on Hinata and as if Naruto was reading her mind, he unconsciously put a reassuring arm around the smaller kunoichi.
“You can still walk away.” she added. “No shame in that.” She meant it for her student but it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. She held in a sigh and turned from the group.
“The first teams to go against each other are the Water Team and the Sand Team.” And with that, she dismissed them leaving the two groups of three in the center as the deafening roar of the crowd outside the meeting room greeted them.
* * *
Naruto winced as the Sand ninja impaled the smaller Water Ninja in the leg, the scream she let out wasn’t very flattering. It wasn’t going very well for them. Naruto quickly glanced up towards the Kage seating area and wondered about what Gaara thought of his shinobi’s display. They were very good, he had to admit but nothing like Gaara and his siblings three years ago.
“I told you it was going to be intense.” The familiar voice grated his ears.
‘That shinobi again...’ Naruto thought as he looked to his left, giving the boy a distrustful look. A second person was trailing behind him and nodded to the blond in greeting. Saotaori sat down next to Naruto while the other bowed lightly to Hinata and sat down next to her. She gave him a quizzical look before returning the same respect.
“Yeah, it is pretty intense.” Naruto answered.
“Seems like our teams will be going against each other.” The red-head announced, grinning. That had Naruto smiling in return. If that was true, he couldn’t wait to kick that guy’s ass.
“Why do you say that?”
“They’re pairing up the teams with the same amount of people in it; we’re the only ones with two.” Saotaori added logically. Naruto shrugged and made a “ah” sound.
A splash of water resonated in the arena as the crowd made impressed shouting sounds. Gaara remained stoic as ever while Tsunade roared in laughter, the sand shinobi had just been washed up against a wall and knocked unconscious. The other two gathered and seem to briefly make a new plan. Naruto looked down to the battle and smirked. He could almost sense the frustration radiating off the teams. They were well matched.
“I hope you guys don’t go too rough on us.” The red head jokingly said, Hinata only smiled and Naruto huffed.
“This is an exam. I’ll dish it out as hard as you dish it out. You’ll be setting the bar.” The blond said without moving his eyes off the remaining two shinobi in the rink. They were resorting to taijutsu since it seemed that the flashy jutsu had eaten up most of their chakra reserves.
“Ah, you seem pretty confident you can beat us.” The red-head’s partner spoke, startling both Naruto and Saotaori who had almost forgotten he was there.
“Well, if I didn’t have confidence, I would have no business being here.” He spoke without thinking. Hinata gave him a hard look and he mentally had to smack himself.
“Shinobi of the Sand – Winner” Kurenai shouted out as the medics swarmed the arena, picking up the injured. “Leaf Team and Rock Team, please come to the arena.” Naruto grinned and stood up, extended an arm out to Saotaori and winked.
“After you.”
* * *
Hinata removed her thick jacket and stood before Naruto in a black body suit with the Hyuuga symbol stitched on her back, her hair was quickly piled up into a bun to which she inserted two orange hair sticks securely to keep it out of her face. Naruto grinned at the colour and removed his own orange jacket, using his mesh undershirt only. He pulled at his arms in a quick stretching exercise to loosen up his muscles, while Hinata practiced some breathing exercises to calm her nerves.
“We’ll be fine.” He said to her quietly, trying to ease her nerves. He knew once she was in the thick of battle she would be relaxed. The waiting was the worst part. She smiled and nodded, not wanting to speak, feeling her throat was far too shaky to sound confident. He looked down on her worried face and whispered to her words he uttered several years ago that brought back her confidence.
“Let’s get wild.”
* * *
“You may begin.” Kurenai announced.
Naruto locked on to his target, the annoying redhead. His teammate was Hinata’s target but they had decided to try to team up against them as much as possible to avoid being caught defenseless.
A flurry of kunai rushed towards the leaf team thrown by the redhead. Hinata activated her Byakugan and leaped out of the way, Naruto leaped up as well and produced four kage bunshin, utilising two to change his direction in mid-air, towards the two across the arena. Three more bunshin were created as he soared through the air. Grinning, Naruto formed a quick succession of seals that his clones copied and let loose hundreds of objects flying towards his target.
“Doro Gaeshi” the redhead slammed his hands down to the ground and a slab of earth lifted itself in front of him, successfully blocking the attack.
“Shit.” Naruto swore under his breath.
“Got to work harder than that Uzumaki.” Naruto's opponent shouted. Naruto grumbled and began to rethink his strategy.
“He’s mainly an earth user Naruto, weak against wind.” Hinata shouted in western, causing Saotaori to raise a curious eyebrow at the foreign sounds. Naruto nodded in understanding.
‘Wind techniques... Think Naruto think!’ he thought to himself as he continued to rush the shinobi, the gap getting increasingly smaller.
Hinata broke out of her run behind Naruto and leaped up in the air, heading straight for the second shinobi. Naruto followed her movement from the corner of his eye and grinned as she let out a sound he would later affectionately dub as her warrior call and slammed her fists hard into the ground where he had been standing moments before. The ground let a groan out as it split but she didn’t miss a beat, she immediately began to cut down her opponent with her hits.
Saotaori was solely focused on Naruto, who had again created several copies of himself.
“That’s getting kinda old.” He shouted out as the clones piled up on themselves.
“Maybe. Bunshin Taitari!” Naruto responded as one clone was thrown at incredible speeds toward the Rock nin with another clone following close behind the first one, hidden. Saotaori clenched his teeth as he produced spears made of rock from the ground and shot out to the oncoming clone. He hit the one in front successfully but missed the second, his eyes grew a fraction before he felt the fist of the clone hit him square in the face, knocking him back several feet.
Saotaori was stunned a moment as he watched the remaining Narutos scramble to him, leaping in the air with weapons. This could potentially be painful.
“Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu” Saotaori disappeared into the ground as the clones descended, missing him. They collectively swore before disappearing. Naruto frowned as he felt a spike in chakra by Hinata, something was off.
Hinata gasped as her Byakugan was momentarily blinded by a flash of chakra, her opponent merely grinned as he dropped his genjutsu. His eyes had gone from a silver-blue to a milky-blue, like that of a Byakugan. She was shocked; the chakra signature became instantly recognizable.
“Naruto!” she shouted ‘this was a trap!’ she thought but had no time to warn him. This man was no ordinary ninja. Naruto quickly leaped to her but was pushed back several feet by the man’s wind attack. Hinata was also knocked off her feet.
“Shuyoki! What are you doing?” Saotaori yelled at his partner as he crawled out of the ground. Why was his hair changing color?
“Your partner has been exchanged.” The man answered, dismissing the redhead. Saotaori blinked in shock and looked over to the two people he had begun to think on as friends, Naruto glared at both of them, unimpressed.
“What have you done with Shuyoki?” he shouted, worried. “Where is he? Who are you?” The other shinobi only snorted in response.
“I doubt you’ll live long enough to find out.” The man spat out coldly to the redhead shinobi. Saotaori glared at him.
“Naruto, that man is a branch member, the one that’s been following me around.” She spoke barely above a whisper. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man whose hair was now changing from a light grey to black. By Saotaori’s reaction, it looks like this man had duped him as well but he couldn’t be sure.
“We need to take him out.” She was the first to say it out loud. Naruto nodded. Saotaori was confused at best and wasn’t about to lose the exam so he continued to stand by his teammate. Naruto snorted at his stupidity.
“Ready?” he asked her, her eyes narrowed and without a word he disappeared leaving Hinata to watch as he threw himself into a battle she wasn’t sure they could win.
* * *
Gaara watched as the two teams seemed to stop in their tracks, he couldn’t hear what was happening below but the second Rock ninja's henge release had him concerned.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes.
“What the hell is going on?” she shouted at the examiners below. Kurenai gave her a confused look and shrugged. There was no danger yet so they couldn’t do anything until one of them called to end the fight.
* * *
Hiashi watched on as Neji shot his uncle a knowing glare.
“How could you do this to them.” He shouted. Hiashi ignored him but could feel his daughter’s eyes on him, Hanabi’s confusion was obvious but he said nothing. This was for the good of the clan.
* * *
The branch member sneered at Naruto’s fast approaching form. Naruto quickly dodged the kunai thrown his way, he leaped up into the air and within seconds he began to form the Rasengan in one hand, pushing the chakra together as tightly as possible. The dark haired ninja jumped out of the way as Naruto attacked, missing him by mere milliseconds. The ground exploded under him and he swore, his eyes never leaving the ninja. He saw Hinata move in quickly from behind and engage the man in a Gentle Fist battle.
She was successfully keeping his attacks at bay with her increased speed but she could sense a few of his hits make contact with her own points. She ducked down as a fist came barreling towards her and spun to the ground, missing his feet as he jumped up but he didn’t plan on Naruto leaping over Hinata and caught the Uzumaki's foot with his face.
The crunch sound it made echoed against the walls and a hush came over the crowed. This had gotten very serious very quickly. Naruto landed in front of Hinata, his back to her. He looked over her shoulder and winked. Before the other ninja had even managed to fall to the ground Naruto was already on the move again. Hinata felt his chakra focus and sharpen, his body relaxed. She prepared her next move as her partner let the chakra ripple from his body and heard him distinctly whisper “Deluge.” She blanched.
She watched as Naruto suddenly became a beast, his chakra flared and he let out a sound that was mixed with rage and fear. She couldn’t hear a single sound from the crowd as Naruto ran towards the falling shinobi. His first set of attacks connected with brutal accuracy as the falling ninja grunted with each connecting hit. Hinata analyzed the shinobi with her Byakugan thinking of a way to stop the man without having to kill him but she was suddenly aware of kunai being thrown her way, she spun in response pushing her chakra outwards like her cousin had done to Naruto so many years ago and pushed away the kunai, her fingers grasping a few that had managed to slip by. She stopped and stared at Saotaori, confused a moment and decided that he needed to go as well, he was a distraction they couldn’t afford.
As Naruto overwhelmed his opponent with powerful quick attacks, she couldn’t help but wince at the sound of bones snapping under his heavy fists.
“Take care of him Hinata, I need you.” Naruto shouted at her and she took off like a shot toward Saotaori who was watching Naruto with a strange fascination. She gathered chakra to her fists and took in a deep breath. She had to get him out of the way.
She pushed more chakra into her fists, concentrating on its purity as she reached the redhead. Her eyes held a fierce determination. Her fingers caressed his points between each hit, unaware that she was shutting him down. She slammed more chakra into him as she punched and pushed against him, she hit him in the ribs and felt them snap. Saotaori doubled over from the sudden blow and grunted. Taking advantage of his position she slammed her knee square into his face breaking the nose. Blood squirted out and hit her in the face, stinging as it hit her right eye. It wasn’t enough she surmised as the redhead countered by doing a spinning kick and knocking her down to her ass. She yelped in surprise as the ground below her turned to mud and swallowed her.
“One down.” The rock ninja muttered out, clutching his side. His chakra coils were nearly useless. Saotaori was at the point where he didn’t care who that other guy was, these two were going down. He stood up a moment and contemplated how he was going to beat Naruto when the blond whirled around in a kick that knocked his partner to the ground and looked at him, grinning and seemingly unconcerned about the kunoichi, before returning to his target.
The ground below the rock ninja glowed an eerie green before it exploded, sending him flying across the arena. Hinata climbed out from the small crater she'd created, panting.
“You h-have to do b-better than t-that!” she stuttered out, feeling tired from the huge amount of chakra she produced to force the Heavenly Spin to get her out of that trap. Saotaori decided at that moment that he hated Naruto’s grin.
She positioned herself in a fighting stance he didn’t recognize and she flicked her wrist towards him, demanding he attack her. He smirked and was happy to oblige.
Hinata moved like the wind in battle. Her agility made her very difficult to hit as she utilised every trick in Shina-To-Be. He could feel the gentle taps against his body as she attacked.
“Hit me!” he shouted, getting wary of her bouncing and flips, he wanted a real battle with her, one where blood would spray and bones would break but she ignored him and continued her soft assault. He could sense his chakra dissipating no thanks to her gentle fist and it was pissing him off.
He managed to nail her once when his anger had reached a boiling point and his moves had become erratic. She had been unable to read him at that moment and felt his fist connect with her jaw, rattling the teeth. She yelped out in pain and staggered back, holding her ground. She narrowed her eyes and spat out the blood collecting in her mouth, wiping it behind her fist. He smiled, satisfied he had made her bleed.
She pushed forward in a run, Saotaori threw rock-formed kunai at her but she spun out of the way, Naruto watched her from the corner of his eye and had a dreadful sense of déjà-vu. Time slowed down a moment as he saw the flash of chakra pushed out from her fists, her feet slamming to a stop in front of Saotaori and the dreadful words were shouted from her mouth. It made him pause as his fear escalated.
‘No no no don’t tell me you learned that already’ he frantically thought.
“Juuho Soushiken!” she shouted, more like a scream. Two lion heads formed as she pushed the chakra away from her and it pushed past him in a deafening roar, his hair blew back from the force and he grunted before falling unconscious to the ground. All his points had shut down at the exact same time, including the one closest to the brain, rendering him useless for a few hours.
Naruto had stopped dead in his tracks, the other shinobi found his opportunity to attack in the split second before planning his escape. Naruto let out a surprise yelp as he felt his right side sliced open by a blade from his opponent and the sudden kick in the wound made him stagger to the ground, stars of pain exploded behind his eyes. Immediately he began to feel something numbing him and he swore under his breath as the other ninja leaped away from the distracted boy.
The branch member was in severe pain and he needed to gather his wits to figure out how to get past the raw power of the blond. The boy had managed to break several ribs, all the fingers in one hand, his nose and knock a few of his teeth loose. The kunoichi had blocked some vital chakra points but to a gentle fist user, it was nothing he couldn’t re-open.
‘Hiashi never mentioned this, I may actually die.’ He thought as he watched Naruto double over on the ground from the wound. ‘I’m going to have to use that special jutsu to get rid of him.’ He pushed the last few closed points open and swore at the pain raking his body, his broken fingers didn’t want to work but he forced them into the needed seals and pulled on his low reserves of chakra.
‘Here goes nothing.’
“Naruto watch out!” she shouted, her voice having a desperation Naruto had never heard before and he looked up towards the shinobi he had been fighting. A burst of chakra overwhelmed Hinata, momentarily blinding her with the echoes as a sudden wall of mud came down from nowhere. Seconds after she felt a flash of heat burn her skin.
‘Fire?’ she thought in confusion. She felt Naruto’s hands on her, pulling her up into the air and threw her up towards the crowd. She blinked in horror as she saw Naruto below still on the ground staring at the shinobi and the oncoming wave of mud mixed with fire.
“Naruto!” she shouted again but he merely looked up at her and gave her a sad smile before he disappeared under the strange mixture jutsu. She felt sick and barely registered the fact that her body slammed against the clone, it grunted at the impact, her eyes meeting his as it dispersed. He had protected her from the wave successfully. The crowd around her scrambled as she stood up quickly, tears in her eyes spilled as she concluded that the mud had filled nearly half the depth of the arena.
‘He’s hardening the mud with the flame, trapping him under there!’ she frantically thought ‘He’s going to die!’ and with that thought, something inside her snapped.
She bit her thumbs and pushed down, screaming in desperation as she summoned her friend in aid. Seiryu appeared much larger than before, he blinked in confusion at the sudden burst of chakra running through him and stared down at his master.
“Mistress?” he worriedly asked as tears streamed down her face.
“Get me down there! GET ME THERE NOW!” she shouted, pointing at the shinobi who might have already killed her boyfriend and without a second to lose he spread his wings and grabbed her by the shoulders, she ignored the feel of his talons digging into her flesh, and took off with the wind.
The branch member watched the flames cook the mud with satisfaction nursing the numerous wounds that the brat had inflicted on him. Hinata watched him, hiding herself from his senses but the closer she got to him, the more she was having trouble control the urge to kill his man.
He felt a sudden rise in killing intent as Hinata dropped from the sky, screaming with rage as she pushed chakra down into the soles of her feet, Seiryu followed behind her searching the flames for his master’s partner.
Her foot made a solid connection with his face and the sound was unreal, a sickening crunch. She felt the vibrations of his bones cracking through her legs, his face turned at a weird angle in result and dropped to the ground soundlessly as Hinata rolled into the drop on the ground, nearly tumbling out of control. He was dead.
Hinata scrambled up from the body and made a whimpering sound as she mustered up the rest of her chakra and called on the moisture in the air, forming the seals quickly she grunted at the effort as it pulled on her low reserves of chakra. The water fell from the sky over the flames and doused them in a single swoop.
‘Please please please please’ she whispered as she activated her Byakugan, seeking his chakra under the harden mud. Her stomach dropped, It was so thick she couldn’t read anything. She didn't have enough chakra left to boost her sight and she let out a yell in frustration. Tears threatened to cloud her view but she pushed them back, frantic in her panic. The crowd hadn’t uttered a single sound in five minutes; they watched as the girl and her falcon searched for Naruto.
She felt the ground rumble a moment, cracking under her feet. Her eyes searched for the source and followed the cracks forming.
“There!” she pointed at an unseen light, it was faded but still there. She looked up to Seiryu with a small spark of hope and he nodded.
“Lend me your eyes Hinata, I will get him out.” She didn’t understand what he meant but she felt his chakra slip inside her as he grabbed her shoulders again, falling into some kind of stupor he took over their link and watched in wonder at the Byakugan eyes.
He could see the reddening chakra, could sense the demon lurking below as Naruto fought to survive. He had to get him out quick before the Kyuubi decided it was time to save him for its own survival's sake.
He let go of Hinata and flew up high into the air, circling once before he began a free fall dive into towards the earth, his beak glowed with gathered chakra as he fell towards the red glow. Hinata shook herself out of the stupor just in time to see Seiryu slam into the ground, shattering the ground as though Sakura had been angry at something Naruto said.
She saw a poof of smoke dissipate as Seiryu disappeared, his job done. She ran to the crater, her eyes searching for him. She was relieved for a split moment when she saw his orange pants but it soon was replaced with horror as she noticed his body was twisted in an odd way she never imagined possible. She let out a whimper, jumping down as the medics rushed the scene.
She reached out for him but was stopped by Sakura, leading the medic team to him. Hinata felt a burst of rage inside her, still brimming with adrenaline, she shoved Sakura with her last bit of strength, her eyes glaring. How dare they keep her from him!
“We got him Hinata, we got him.” She heard the pink haired kunoichi whisper to her as she forcibly held her back in a fierce hug meant to snap her out of her enraged state.
Kurenai watched in disbelief as they carried off the dead shinobi her student had killed and the other one she had knocked unconscious. Her heart went out to Hinata as she struggled in her friend’s embrace.
“Winner – Shinobi of the Leaf” She yelled out. The crowd exploded into a rousing cheer. They were trying to show their own that they were supporting Naruto, they were hoping he had survived.
Hinata laughed bitterly at the sound of her teacher’s voice and the village’s shouts of praise. A single thought crossed her mind before darkness took over and she lost her battle with consciousness.
‘We’re still too weak.’
* * *
o.o RR oh the magic of the review button, it shines!
* * *
References for this chapter:
Doro Gaeshi is a defensive Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. After striking the ground with their hands, a large wall of earth will rise into place as defense. The defense is not perfect though, a hard or drilling impact can puncture the wall.
Bunshin Taiatari (Suicide Clone Technique) is a taijutsu technique used by Uzumaki Naruto against Gaara in his mini-Shukaku form. Naruto uses the Kage Bunshin by throwing himself to his target, using the clones ahead of himself as a form of shield as he speeds towards the target.
Moguragakure no Jutsu is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. This technique allows the ninja to burrow into the ground and hide out of sight. This allows them to avoid attack or travel underground. Tobi used this jutsu to place Deidara's C2 Doragon spheres underground.
Juuho Soushiken is a Taijutsu technique utilized by Hyuuga Hinata. After gathering chakra to her fists, Hinata will skillfully spin towards her target to avoid attack and strike them. Spectral lion heads will then form around her fists. (I’m not actually clear on what it does so I embellished it a little to suit my needs until Kishi clarifies it in Data books)
Hakkeshou Kaiten is a Taijutsu technique unique to the Hyuuga bloodline using the Jyuuken. Kaiten is a special technique passed down through the main family line. Kaiten takes advantage of several of the unique abilities of the Byakugan eye. Byakugan gives the clan member an almost complete 360 degree view of their surroundings. This allows the member to see all angles of attack. If an attack is near, the clan member will release a large of amount of chakra from their tenketsu. The member then begins to spin like a top, creating a whirling vortex that can nullify almost any attack.
The Deluge Principle: An overwhelming number or amount, a torrent of abuse. To overwhelm, to cover, to overspread, to overpower, to submerge, to destroy. Letting loose, Naruto overwhelms the opponent with a flurry of attacks.
Chapter 25 – DameWren’s Two Halves for the area Naruto says “Let’s get wild.”
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 – A special shout goes to Soundless Steps and Zamoria on FF.net for reviewing like pros and also Zamoria was review # 50 :P Bumblemark made an awesome one shot called Kiss Me based on a line from Chapter 8 so please go check it out! I feel pride for inspiring someone. :)
Thank you Hinata’s Husband for the beta, I appreciate all the hard work you do.
Disclaimer –
I do not make any monies off this fanfic. Naruto is copyright of Masashi Kishimoto. Sora, Yasu, Miki, Nori, Dango, Kaze Clan, and Shivani are all copyright of DameWren.
Chapter 9
A question of Will
The darkness of the mountain forest was suffocating before Kiba lit the small camp fire, drowning the narrow area with an eerie orange glow. Shino set about releasing a small array of detection style bugs around their makeshift camp while Kakashi busied himself reading his trusty orange novel. Akamaru laid down behind his master to allow him to lean against him, promptly falling asleep while Kiba looked over to their team captain and considered his options as he pursed his lips in wonder.
“So...” the dog shinobi started, trying to catch Kakashi’s attention. He made no sign of acknowledgment and flipped a page, enthralled in the old worn-out book. Kiba rolled his eyes, he knew the older ninja was listening.
Fwip. Fwip.
The sound of the pages broke the silence between them. Sighing, Kiba kicked at the dirt and narrowed his eyes, trying to accost the subject in a somewhat delicate matter without sounding like he didn’t trust their leader.
“Why did you let that woman keep Sasuke?” he asked and realized that this was as tactful as he would ever be in his life and he wasn’t about to change. Kiba was met with another flip of a page and complete silence. The fire crackling filled the monotony of the night, the occasional dog snore breaking the seriousness of the question. Kiba sighed again, trying to figure out another way to break through to the stubborn sharingan user.
“Kakashi, why did you trust that woman so readily?” Shino cut in before Kiba could ask anything. The slight buzzing of his personal colony was a sound that could become unnerving if you were not accustomed to it. Kakashi looked up with a heavy lid, staring at the boys, the insatiable amount of questions was really starting to annoy him.
“If you must know, I left Sasuke in their care for a very good reason. I know the leader of that village personally and she was a Konoha resident once. In fact, her master was married to the Yondaime.” He explained as though it was something of common knowledge. Kiba blinked in response, dumbfounded, and Shino adjusted his dark glasses.
“Oh, well who didn’t know that? Silly me.” Kiba said sarcastically, the information given was just enough to shut them up but left about fifteen other questions open with no real way to ask without causing tension. Kiba actually wished Naruto was here so his idiotic friend could just straight up ask the questions and get away with it.
“There’s no record of the fourth ever marrying anyone, especially an outsider.” Shino said in a low tone. Kakashi glanced over lazily and shrugged, indifferent.
“There’s a lot about the fourth most people don’t know and it’s not my place to divulge any more information. That is up to someone else.” He flipped another page and stared down at it, indicating he was done and would not be pressed further into the subject. Kiba narrowed his eyes clearly annoyed and Shino merely burrowed his face deeper down into his large jacket, giving the impression he was seeking a form of comfort from his colony.
Kiba snorted before leaning back against Akamaru. While starring up at the stars through the dark trees, he wondered which bug from Shino’s many colonies had climbed up Kakashi’s ass and died because there was definitely one festering.
* * *
Hiashi reviewed the documents laid before him, closing his eyes momentarily in thought. He was still receiving reports on his daughter, although the purpose had changed over the last few weeks, the end result would be the same.
The spy had managed to pass the second phase of the exams and Hiashi would have to make sure that his daughter’s team would go against his in a battle that will determine her and Naruto’s worth in the eyes of the clan.
He just hoped she would forgive him if they died beforehand.
* * *
Every muscle ached, Naruto had to repress a gag as the tart taste of the soldier pill made its way down into his stomach. Hinata was still passed out after their intense sparring sessions. The sun had yet to rise and they were running on a few hours sleep. He stretched before getting out of his sleeping bag, carefully untangling himself from Hinata. He woke her with a few gentle kisses and heard her complain about needing five more minutes. He laughed.
“Come on, we have to go through the forms now that we have the sparring down. We can stop after lunch and take the rest of the day off to rest, I promise.” He chuckled.
“The sun’s not even up yet.” she complained. He grinned as he pulled her up by her hands and she grudgingly stood up, while trying to pull him back down to the sleeping bag without success. She didn’t know how he could be grinning that much so early in the morning.
“What are you talking about? Aren’t you up?” She blushed lightly.
“Ok you win.” she said shyly. All previous signs of his girlfriend’s grumpy mood had flown away as his laughter echoed in the training ground.
* * *
The two shinobi walked slowly through the crowd, Hinata envying Naruto’s stamina for a split second as he happily greeted those who smiled at him. She was exhausted after the last thirty hours of training but it had been worth it, at least they could read each other again, the forms still needed work but they would do for now.
“Those pills are so nasty.” Naruto’s face pinched as he clutched his stomach. “That’s the last time I ask Sakura to come up with some pills for us. She could have at least made them a little sweet.” He stuck out his tongue thinking of the taste. Hinata shook her head lightly.
“They did what they were supposed to, she did a great job with them Naruto.” She reprimanded him gently and he shrugged.
“They were still nasty.”
“Naruto!” The two shinobi turned their heads towards the shout, Saotaori waved frantically at them.
“Oh great.” Naruto let out a sigh and waved to the red haired Rock ninja, watching him rush over.
“Hello Saotaori.” Hinata greeted him with a small smile, which evoked a large grin from the other man. Naruto gave him a distrustful look, feeling a little jealous.
“Where have you two been?” he nodded to Naruto, the blond shrugged.
“Training and such, getting ready for tomorrow.” He answered, putting his left arm around Hinata’s shoulder. Saotaori’s eyes light up in excitement.
“I’m looking forward to the team battles. I hear there are some very strong opponents. It should be pretty intense this year.”
“Oh yeah?” Naruto looked over to the red head.
“Yeah, the interesting thing about the advanced exams is the brutality of it. Some of these guys are way too intense.” Saotaori laughed but Naruto frowned as he felt Hinata fidget.
“You think it would go as far as people dying?” Naruto asked, still not getting what was so funny. The other ninja gave him a quizzical look.
“People die in the low level exams, why not in this advanced one? Most likely it's going to happen.” He slapped Naruto on the shoulder in a brotherly fashion. Naruto didn’t appreciate the move but didn’t say anything. There was something about this guy he just didn’t like but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Well good luck Saotaori!” Naruto shouted and punched the ninja on the shoulder, returning the awkward friendly behaviour, only he didn’t hold back and hit the man quite hard.
“Ouch!” the red head yelped out and Naruto pretended to be surprised, sheepishly grinning.
“Sorry man, guess I hit you harder than I thought. Come on Hinata.” He waved good-bye to the Rock shinobi as he grabbed Hinata’s hand and pulled her towards the busy street. Saotaori winced as he waved, shaking his head.
“That wasn’t nice.” Naruto could feel Hinata’s stare on the back of his head. He had the urge to wave her off.
“There’s something off about him. He’s always sniffing around like Kiba– “
“Naruto!” she gasped out, scandalised he would say such a thing about her team mate.
“Well it’s true.” His face pinched, annoyed that they were talking about the Rock ninja. He pulled at her hand to bring her closer and sighed, dropping the subject. He wasn’t going to win. He had something else he wanted to talk about with her.
“Are you ok with this exam?” he asked her, his eyes still on the crowd. He had sensed her stiffen earlier on the subject of death and he needed to make sure that she was still ok with this.
“Yeah.” She answered, her hand gripping his a little tighter. She didn’t want to kill anyone in the exam, it was just a test. She knew though that if push came to shove she would have to make that decision and the life of Naruto was more important.
“We’ll do what we have to do to stay safe.” She spoke so softly he barely caught it, looking down he stared at her a moment, considering her last words. He put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulder as he pulled her closer to him, their steps falling together in unison, letting their bodies be taken by the movement of the crowd.
“Yeah Hinata, we’ll do what we have to stay safe.”
‘And alive’ he added to himself, squeezing her hand while guiding her through the thick lunch crowd of the village.
* * *
Anko pulled off another dango from its stick and moaned in satisfaction, her eyes nearly rolling in the back of her head. Asuma watched her with disgusted fascination while Kurenai ignored them, her thoughts focused on her student who would be participating in the battles the next day. She hadn’t seen Hinata since her return and had been prevented from participating in missions due to her preparations. She had no idea about her skill development and worried about her. Even if she did have Naruto with her, Yuuhi wasn’t entirely convinced that the knuckle-head was going to be of any real use.
Tsunade entered the office silently, nodding to the three already there. She made her way to her desk and apologized for being late. The shinobi merely nodded in response.
“Akatsuki has begun to move inside Fire country.” She announced casually as she sat down. Asuma closed his eyes while crossing his arms while Kurenai frowned. Anko kept eating her dango, not seeming too worried.
“I will be assigning you Asuma and a team of your choice to track them down. I recommend you take people you are comfortable with and who are trustworthy.” She gave him a hard look before glancing quickly to Kurenai, a small apologetic smile crossed her lips.
“Kurenai you have been taken off active duty due to your condition. You are not allowed to participate in this mission. I called you here for a different reason. You will be taking over Asuma’s responsibilities in the final exam while he leaves tomorrow. I'll let him debrief you on all the examinees before you take on the job.” Kurenai nodded.
“Anko I’m not sure what you’re doing here but I would appreciate it if you stopped eating that dango like it’s a lover. The noise is distracting.” The girl stopped eating and shot her leader a dirty look.
“Fine.” She put away the dango stick as she rolled her eyes.
A shadow caught Tsunade’s attention outside her window, she turned toward it and watched a falcon flick it’s wings past her window toward the messenger perches.
‘Why is Sora’s messenger summon here?’ she thought.
“You’re dismissed.” she spoke loudly. Two of the three ninjas left the office while Anko sat there still, picking at her teeth crudely.
“That includes you Anko.” Tsunade shot at her as she walked by the still-enraptured jounin and left her office to see what the message was about, the other ninja only grinned at her in a Naruto-like manner and sat deeper in her seat, preparing to take a nap completely ignoring Tsunade.
The blonde woman walked quickly to the upper level and was met with the display of an irate falcon refusing to give her subordinate the message.
“This message is for Tsunade only. I will not concede.” It squawked out, clearly annoyed.
“I’ll take it.” She dismissed the boy in charge and he grumbled under his breath as he walked away, returning to his desk in the other room.
“What do you have for me?” The falcon gave her a calculated look as it determined this was his target and leaned over, exposing the small container on his back.
“News from Sora with regard to a ninja she found.” Tsunade winced at the raspy sound of the falcon’s voice. He sounded parched. She stepped closer and thanked him, taking the small package.
The falcon then busied itself with the water dish while she opened the letter.
‘Obaa-chan I found this intriguing boy bleeding to death at my doorstep about two weeks ago. I didn’t send word because I wasn’t sure who he was (being unconscious and all) and since he’s been nice enough to come back to the living and give me his biography, I figured I’d let you know.
He said something about his girl so here’s a picture to give her so she can relax. I hope you liked my present.
Love always – Sora
P.S. Did you ever make that recipe I sent? It’s really delicious. I expect some when I visit.’
Tsunade watched a piece of paper slip from the package to the floor. Pushing aside her annoyed twitch at Sora’s lack of responsibility to report the missing Leaf ninja, she raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she picked up the flimsy paper, her eyes scanning the picture carefully. She let out a sudden loud laugh as she saw Sasuke looking downright miserable in a room full of pictures of Naruto, Sora had snuck her head in the picture and had wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and her lips looked like they were in the middle of telling the boy to smile as their cheeks touched. This was more familiarity then Sasuke was used to.
Tsunade wiped a tear from her eye, recovering from the sight and headed towards her office. She was glad that he was in good hands and almost skipped at the thought of her apprentice hearing the news – Sakura was going to be pleased.
* * *
Naruto rolled over groaning as the infernal knocking grew louder on his apartment door. With a quick glance towards his window, he noted it was dark outside and he wasn’t done sleeping. He ignored the sound as she snuggled closer to his sleeping girlfriend but it kept growing louder and eventually Sakura yelled his name.
“I’m going to break the door in, I know you’re in there!”
Hinata sighed and shoved her boyfriend out of the bed before rolling over into his spot, smiling at the sound of his very hard rump hitting the floor. He grunted in complaint as sleep tried to take him again but the cold floor and Sakura’s high pitched voice was keeping the sand man at bay.
“I’m coming, shit.” He yelled out but it was drowned out by the sound of the wood splitting. Hinata lifted her head in surprise from the pillow and looked towards the door of the bedroom, Naruto groaned.
“Too slow Naruto, she broke the door.” Hinata said sleepily before digging herself deeper in the blankets, her soft snore indicated she was well beyond the reach of his answer.
“Naruto!” Sakura yelled, her voice excited as she ran through the apartment and into the bedroom only to ram head first into the blond shinobi, who was taken completely off guard.
“Oh!” she said, surprised while Naruto held on to his nose, the pain flooding his sleepy senses had shaken him awake.
“For god sake Sakura.” He complained, she ignored him and grabbed his arms, jumping up and down like a small girl of five who had found something lost.
“They found him!” she yelled again, her eyes twinkling in the dark. He smiled at her and pulled her into a hug and sighed in relief.
“Thank goodness.”
* * *
Sakura woke to the sounds of music playing, she sat up from the couch confused a moment as she watched Hinata’s long hair disappear into the kitchen. She stood up unsteadily, recalling she had crashed here after she had forced her way into the apartment, she gave a guilty glance to the shards of wood all over the floor.
“You should feel bad, my landlord is going to have a fit.” She turned to face Naruto, who was in the middle of rubbing his head with a towel. She blinked in surprise, realising he was standing next to her in a towel. He grinned at her before she looked away. He had definitely changed over the years.
“I’m really sorry about that.” She said, embarrassed.
“I would have done the same Sakura, don’t worry about it.” He threw the towel on the couch and stepped into his room, closing the door behind him. Sakura watched the closed door a moment before turning towards the kitchen, following the sound of Hinata’s voice as she sang in a language she had never heard before.
“Anything I can do to help?”
Hinata was startled a minute, not expecting the intrusion.
“Ah good morning Sakura!” she said happily before pointing to the second knife and red peppers. “I’m making some omelets, you’re welcome to help.” The pink haired kunoichi stepped up to the counter and began to cut the peppers, her eyes glancing over to Hinata.
“Naruto’s gotten really buff.” She said, quite randomly. Hinata stopped cutting her vegetable and gasped in surprise, blushing.
“Yes, he has.” She answered timidly. Sakura laughed at her reaction and popped a pepper in her mouth, enjoying torturing her friend.
“What’s so funny?” she heard Naruto’s confused deeper voice cut in.
“Nothing. Just girl talk.” Sakura returned to cutting her share and Hinata tried to get her blush under control. He sighed. Why did he have the feeling this was about him?
* * *
The air almost crackled with energy. Naruto could feel his skin tingle with the anticipation of battle. It had been a while since he’d been this excited. The village was swept up into it as he walked towards the battle arena for the exams, he could hear the buzz of people talking about the possible candidates for the wins. His name was brought up often but he tried to ignore them.
“Are you ready for this?” He looked over his shoulder at his girlfriend who was fidgeting as the crowd squeezed them together. She smiled and nodded, her eyes twinkling with anticipation as well. This was an important day on several levels. How could she not be ready?
Her eyes searched the crowd as they entered the building, she wasn’t looking for anyone in particular but it was not hard to miss the formal ninja wear of her family. They were lined up neatly as they walked into the arena, her father caught her eye and for a moment she thought she saw a look of worry on his face but she dismissed it. Naruto grasped her hand as he followed her gaze towards her family. Neji waved to them and Naruto grinned, waving back in return while Hanabi only gave them an interested look, leaning over to her cousin and seemed to ask him a question to which he nodded in response. Tenten was there as well, following her teammate. He didn’t see Lee but he was sure the bushy brow ninja wouldn’t miss this.
“Yosh! Naruto! Good luck!” he heard the distinct cry of Lee come from above him, he was already inside the building.
“Too bad Kakashi’s not here.” He heard Chouji behind him, the crinkle of his bag of chips made the blond-haired ninja laugh.
“Hai.” He answered him, glad to see the rotund ninja. “Who else is here?” he asked.
“Pretty much everyone except Shikamaru and Sasuke.”
Naruto frowned, Shikamaru was gone? “Where did that lazy-ass take off to?” he puzzled out loud. Chouji shrugged, forcing his way past Naruto and deep into the crowd.
“Dunno, something about a mission with Asuma. See you in there. Excuse me...” Naruto watched Choji disappear into the crowds.
Ino and Sakura appeared at the entrance. The two girls waved at him and Ino seemed to look him up and down, making him uncomfortable. Sakura laughed at something Ino said before they turned in towards the building and disappeared as well.
“Let’s go inside sweetheart, we have to meet with the other teams.” Hinata said turning towards him, smiling.
“Ok.”
* * *
Kurenai stood before the group and looked for Hinata. She pushed down a smile as she spotted the kunoichi in deep conversation with her partner. They had just entered the rink and had yet to notice her. Naruto was looking around, listening intently as he guided her through the crowd and Kurenai had to admit that the boy seemed sweet.
“Welcome” she spoke loudly, quieting the buzz of the shinobi gathered, Her eyes met with Hinata and warmed as her student smiled at her. Naruto’s eyes lit up in recognition but as Tsunade and Gaara walked by above, he said nothing else in fear of the busty blonde’s reaction.
Satisfied with the silence, Kurenai continued. “As you know, this is the final part of the exam. You are to battle until your opponent is unable to continue either by forfeit, knock out or death.” She emphasized the last word, her eyes lingering momentarily on Hinata and as if Naruto was reading her mind, he unconsciously put a reassuring arm around the smaller kunoichi.
“You can still walk away.” she added. “No shame in that.” She meant it for her student but it seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. She held in a sigh and turned from the group.
“The first teams to go against each other are the Water Team and the Sand Team.” And with that, she dismissed them leaving the two groups of three in the center as the deafening roar of the crowd outside the meeting room greeted them.
* * *
Naruto winced as the Sand ninja impaled the smaller Water Ninja in the leg, the scream she let out wasn’t very flattering. It wasn’t going very well for them. Naruto quickly glanced up towards the Kage seating area and wondered about what Gaara thought of his shinobi’s display. They were very good, he had to admit but nothing like Gaara and his siblings three years ago.
“I told you it was going to be intense.” The familiar voice grated his ears.
‘That shinobi again...’ Naruto thought as he looked to his left, giving the boy a distrustful look. A second person was trailing behind him and nodded to the blond in greeting. Saotaori sat down next to Naruto while the other bowed lightly to Hinata and sat down next to her. She gave him a quizzical look before returning the same respect.
“Yeah, it is pretty intense.” Naruto answered.
“Seems like our teams will be going against each other.” The red-head announced, grinning. That had Naruto smiling in return. If that was true, he couldn’t wait to kick that guy’s ass.
“Why do you say that?”
“They’re pairing up the teams with the same amount of people in it; we’re the only ones with two.” Saotaori added logically. Naruto shrugged and made a “ah” sound.
A splash of water resonated in the arena as the crowd made impressed shouting sounds. Gaara remained stoic as ever while Tsunade roared in laughter, the sand shinobi had just been washed up against a wall and knocked unconscious. The other two gathered and seem to briefly make a new plan. Naruto looked down to the battle and smirked. He could almost sense the frustration radiating off the teams. They were well matched.
“I hope you guys don’t go too rough on us.” The red head jokingly said, Hinata only smiled and Naruto huffed.
“This is an exam. I’ll dish it out as hard as you dish it out. You’ll be setting the bar.” The blond said without moving his eyes off the remaining two shinobi in the rink. They were resorting to taijutsu since it seemed that the flashy jutsu had eaten up most of their chakra reserves.
“Ah, you seem pretty confident you can beat us.” The red-head’s partner spoke, startling both Naruto and Saotaori who had almost forgotten he was there.
“Well, if I didn’t have confidence, I would have no business being here.” He spoke without thinking. Hinata gave him a hard look and he mentally had to smack himself.
“Shinobi of the Sand – Winner” Kurenai shouted out as the medics swarmed the arena, picking up the injured. “Leaf Team and Rock Team, please come to the arena.” Naruto grinned and stood up, extended an arm out to Saotaori and winked.
“After you.”
* * *
Hinata removed her thick jacket and stood before Naruto in a black body suit with the Hyuuga symbol stitched on her back, her hair was quickly piled up into a bun to which she inserted two orange hair sticks securely to keep it out of her face. Naruto grinned at the colour and removed his own orange jacket, using his mesh undershirt only. He pulled at his arms in a quick stretching exercise to loosen up his muscles, while Hinata practiced some breathing exercises to calm her nerves.
“We’ll be fine.” He said to her quietly, trying to ease her nerves. He knew once she was in the thick of battle she would be relaxed. The waiting was the worst part. She smiled and nodded, not wanting to speak, feeling her throat was far too shaky to sound confident. He looked down on her worried face and whispered to her words he uttered several years ago that brought back her confidence.
“Let’s get wild.”
* * *
“You may begin.” Kurenai announced.
Naruto locked on to his target, the annoying redhead. His teammate was Hinata’s target but they had decided to try to team up against them as much as possible to avoid being caught defenseless.
A flurry of kunai rushed towards the leaf team thrown by the redhead. Hinata activated her Byakugan and leaped out of the way, Naruto leaped up as well and produced four kage bunshin, utilising two to change his direction in mid-air, towards the two across the arena. Three more bunshin were created as he soared through the air. Grinning, Naruto formed a quick succession of seals that his clones copied and let loose hundreds of objects flying towards his target.
“Doro Gaeshi” the redhead slammed his hands down to the ground and a slab of earth lifted itself in front of him, successfully blocking the attack.
“Shit.” Naruto swore under his breath.
“Got to work harder than that Uzumaki.” Naruto's opponent shouted. Naruto grumbled and began to rethink his strategy.
“He’s mainly an earth user Naruto, weak against wind.” Hinata shouted in western, causing Saotaori to raise a curious eyebrow at the foreign sounds. Naruto nodded in understanding.
‘Wind techniques... Think Naruto think!’ he thought to himself as he continued to rush the shinobi, the gap getting increasingly smaller.
Hinata broke out of her run behind Naruto and leaped up in the air, heading straight for the second shinobi. Naruto followed her movement from the corner of his eye and grinned as she let out a sound he would later affectionately dub as her warrior call and slammed her fists hard into the ground where he had been standing moments before. The ground let a groan out as it split but she didn’t miss a beat, she immediately began to cut down her opponent with her hits.
Saotaori was solely focused on Naruto, who had again created several copies of himself.
“That’s getting kinda old.” He shouted out as the clones piled up on themselves.
“Maybe. Bunshin Taitari!” Naruto responded as one clone was thrown at incredible speeds toward the Rock nin with another clone following close behind the first one, hidden. Saotaori clenched his teeth as he produced spears made of rock from the ground and shot out to the oncoming clone. He hit the one in front successfully but missed the second, his eyes grew a fraction before he felt the fist of the clone hit him square in the face, knocking him back several feet.
Saotaori was stunned a moment as he watched the remaining Narutos scramble to him, leaping in the air with weapons. This could potentially be painful.
“Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu” Saotaori disappeared into the ground as the clones descended, missing him. They collectively swore before disappearing. Naruto frowned as he felt a spike in chakra by Hinata, something was off.
Hinata gasped as her Byakugan was momentarily blinded by a flash of chakra, her opponent merely grinned as he dropped his genjutsu. His eyes had gone from a silver-blue to a milky-blue, like that of a Byakugan. She was shocked; the chakra signature became instantly recognizable.
“Naruto!” she shouted ‘this was a trap!’ she thought but had no time to warn him. This man was no ordinary ninja. Naruto quickly leaped to her but was pushed back several feet by the man’s wind attack. Hinata was also knocked off her feet.
“Shuyoki! What are you doing?” Saotaori yelled at his partner as he crawled out of the ground. Why was his hair changing color?
“Your partner has been exchanged.” The man answered, dismissing the redhead. Saotaori blinked in shock and looked over to the two people he had begun to think on as friends, Naruto glared at both of them, unimpressed.
“What have you done with Shuyoki?” he shouted, worried. “Where is he? Who are you?” The other shinobi only snorted in response.
“I doubt you’ll live long enough to find out.” The man spat out coldly to the redhead shinobi. Saotaori glared at him.
“Naruto, that man is a branch member, the one that’s been following me around.” She spoke barely above a whisper. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man whose hair was now changing from a light grey to black. By Saotaori’s reaction, it looks like this man had duped him as well but he couldn’t be sure.
“We need to take him out.” She was the first to say it out loud. Naruto nodded. Saotaori was confused at best and wasn’t about to lose the exam so he continued to stand by his teammate. Naruto snorted at his stupidity.
“Ready?” he asked her, her eyes narrowed and without a word he disappeared leaving Hinata to watch as he threw himself into a battle she wasn’t sure they could win.
* * *
Gaara watched as the two teams seemed to stop in their tracks, he couldn’t hear what was happening below but the second Rock ninja's henge release had him concerned.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes.
“What the hell is going on?” she shouted at the examiners below. Kurenai gave her a confused look and shrugged. There was no danger yet so they couldn’t do anything until one of them called to end the fight.
* * *
Hiashi watched on as Neji shot his uncle a knowing glare.
“How could you do this to them.” He shouted. Hiashi ignored him but could feel his daughter’s eyes on him, Hanabi’s confusion was obvious but he said nothing. This was for the good of the clan.
* * *
The branch member sneered at Naruto’s fast approaching form. Naruto quickly dodged the kunai thrown his way, he leaped up into the air and within seconds he began to form the Rasengan in one hand, pushing the chakra together as tightly as possible. The dark haired ninja jumped out of the way as Naruto attacked, missing him by mere milliseconds. The ground exploded under him and he swore, his eyes never leaving the ninja. He saw Hinata move in quickly from behind and engage the man in a Gentle Fist battle.
She was successfully keeping his attacks at bay with her increased speed but she could sense a few of his hits make contact with her own points. She ducked down as a fist came barreling towards her and spun to the ground, missing his feet as he jumped up but he didn’t plan on Naruto leaping over Hinata and caught the Uzumaki's foot with his face.
The crunch sound it made echoed against the walls and a hush came over the crowed. This had gotten very serious very quickly. Naruto landed in front of Hinata, his back to her. He looked over her shoulder and winked. Before the other ninja had even managed to fall to the ground Naruto was already on the move again. Hinata felt his chakra focus and sharpen, his body relaxed. She prepared her next move as her partner let the chakra ripple from his body and heard him distinctly whisper “Deluge.” She blanched.
She watched as Naruto suddenly became a beast, his chakra flared and he let out a sound that was mixed with rage and fear. She couldn’t hear a single sound from the crowd as Naruto ran towards the falling shinobi. His first set of attacks connected with brutal accuracy as the falling ninja grunted with each connecting hit. Hinata analyzed the shinobi with her Byakugan thinking of a way to stop the man without having to kill him but she was suddenly aware of kunai being thrown her way, she spun in response pushing her chakra outwards like her cousin had done to Naruto so many years ago and pushed away the kunai, her fingers grasping a few that had managed to slip by. She stopped and stared at Saotaori, confused a moment and decided that he needed to go as well, he was a distraction they couldn’t afford.
As Naruto overwhelmed his opponent with powerful quick attacks, she couldn’t help but wince at the sound of bones snapping under his heavy fists.
“Take care of him Hinata, I need you.” Naruto shouted at her and she took off like a shot toward Saotaori who was watching Naruto with a strange fascination. She gathered chakra to her fists and took in a deep breath. She had to get him out of the way.
She pushed more chakra into her fists, concentrating on its purity as she reached the redhead. Her eyes held a fierce determination. Her fingers caressed his points between each hit, unaware that she was shutting him down. She slammed more chakra into him as she punched and pushed against him, she hit him in the ribs and felt them snap. Saotaori doubled over from the sudden blow and grunted. Taking advantage of his position she slammed her knee square into his face breaking the nose. Blood squirted out and hit her in the face, stinging as it hit her right eye. It wasn’t enough she surmised as the redhead countered by doing a spinning kick and knocking her down to her ass. She yelped in surprise as the ground below her turned to mud and swallowed her.
“One down.” The rock ninja muttered out, clutching his side. His chakra coils were nearly useless. Saotaori was at the point where he didn’t care who that other guy was, these two were going down. He stood up a moment and contemplated how he was going to beat Naruto when the blond whirled around in a kick that knocked his partner to the ground and looked at him, grinning and seemingly unconcerned about the kunoichi, before returning to his target.
The ground below the rock ninja glowed an eerie green before it exploded, sending him flying across the arena. Hinata climbed out from the small crater she'd created, panting.
“You h-have to do b-better than t-that!” she stuttered out, feeling tired from the huge amount of chakra she produced to force the Heavenly Spin to get her out of that trap. Saotaori decided at that moment that he hated Naruto’s grin.
She positioned herself in a fighting stance he didn’t recognize and she flicked her wrist towards him, demanding he attack her. He smirked and was happy to oblige.
Hinata moved like the wind in battle. Her agility made her very difficult to hit as she utilised every trick in Shina-To-Be. He could feel the gentle taps against his body as she attacked.
“Hit me!” he shouted, getting wary of her bouncing and flips, he wanted a real battle with her, one where blood would spray and bones would break but she ignored him and continued her soft assault. He could sense his chakra dissipating no thanks to her gentle fist and it was pissing him off.
He managed to nail her once when his anger had reached a boiling point and his moves had become erratic. She had been unable to read him at that moment and felt his fist connect with her jaw, rattling the teeth. She yelped out in pain and staggered back, holding her ground. She narrowed her eyes and spat out the blood collecting in her mouth, wiping it behind her fist. He smiled, satisfied he had made her bleed.
She pushed forward in a run, Saotaori threw rock-formed kunai at her but she spun out of the way, Naruto watched her from the corner of his eye and had a dreadful sense of déjà-vu. Time slowed down a moment as he saw the flash of chakra pushed out from her fists, her feet slamming to a stop in front of Saotaori and the dreadful words were shouted from her mouth. It made him pause as his fear escalated.
‘No no no don’t tell me you learned that already’ he frantically thought.
“Juuho Soushiken!” she shouted, more like a scream. Two lion heads formed as she pushed the chakra away from her and it pushed past him in a deafening roar, his hair blew back from the force and he grunted before falling unconscious to the ground. All his points had shut down at the exact same time, including the one closest to the brain, rendering him useless for a few hours.
Naruto had stopped dead in his tracks, the other shinobi found his opportunity to attack in the split second before planning his escape. Naruto let out a surprise yelp as he felt his right side sliced open by a blade from his opponent and the sudden kick in the wound made him stagger to the ground, stars of pain exploded behind his eyes. Immediately he began to feel something numbing him and he swore under his breath as the other ninja leaped away from the distracted boy.
The branch member was in severe pain and he needed to gather his wits to figure out how to get past the raw power of the blond. The boy had managed to break several ribs, all the fingers in one hand, his nose and knock a few of his teeth loose. The kunoichi had blocked some vital chakra points but to a gentle fist user, it was nothing he couldn’t re-open.
‘Hiashi never mentioned this, I may actually die.’ He thought as he watched Naruto double over on the ground from the wound. ‘I’m going to have to use that special jutsu to get rid of him.’ He pushed the last few closed points open and swore at the pain raking his body, his broken fingers didn’t want to work but he forced them into the needed seals and pulled on his low reserves of chakra.
‘Here goes nothing.’
“Naruto watch out!” she shouted, her voice having a desperation Naruto had never heard before and he looked up towards the shinobi he had been fighting. A burst of chakra overwhelmed Hinata, momentarily blinding her with the echoes as a sudden wall of mud came down from nowhere. Seconds after she felt a flash of heat burn her skin.
‘Fire?’ she thought in confusion. She felt Naruto’s hands on her, pulling her up into the air and threw her up towards the crowd. She blinked in horror as she saw Naruto below still on the ground staring at the shinobi and the oncoming wave of mud mixed with fire.
“Naruto!” she shouted again but he merely looked up at her and gave her a sad smile before he disappeared under the strange mixture jutsu. She felt sick and barely registered the fact that her body slammed against the clone, it grunted at the impact, her eyes meeting his as it dispersed. He had protected her from the wave successfully. The crowd around her scrambled as she stood up quickly, tears in her eyes spilled as she concluded that the mud had filled nearly half the depth of the arena.
‘He’s hardening the mud with the flame, trapping him under there!’ she frantically thought ‘He’s going to die!’ and with that thought, something inside her snapped.
She bit her thumbs and pushed down, screaming in desperation as she summoned her friend in aid. Seiryu appeared much larger than before, he blinked in confusion at the sudden burst of chakra running through him and stared down at his master.
“Mistress?” he worriedly asked as tears streamed down her face.
“Get me down there! GET ME THERE NOW!” she shouted, pointing at the shinobi who might have already killed her boyfriend and without a second to lose he spread his wings and grabbed her by the shoulders, she ignored the feel of his talons digging into her flesh, and took off with the wind.
The branch member watched the flames cook the mud with satisfaction nursing the numerous wounds that the brat had inflicted on him. Hinata watched him, hiding herself from his senses but the closer she got to him, the more she was having trouble control the urge to kill his man.
He felt a sudden rise in killing intent as Hinata dropped from the sky, screaming with rage as she pushed chakra down into the soles of her feet, Seiryu followed behind her searching the flames for his master’s partner.
Her foot made a solid connection with his face and the sound was unreal, a sickening crunch. She felt the vibrations of his bones cracking through her legs, his face turned at a weird angle in result and dropped to the ground soundlessly as Hinata rolled into the drop on the ground, nearly tumbling out of control. He was dead.
Hinata scrambled up from the body and made a whimpering sound as she mustered up the rest of her chakra and called on the moisture in the air, forming the seals quickly she grunted at the effort as it pulled on her low reserves of chakra. The water fell from the sky over the flames and doused them in a single swoop.
‘Please please please please’ she whispered as she activated her Byakugan, seeking his chakra under the harden mud. Her stomach dropped, It was so thick she couldn’t read anything. She didn't have enough chakra left to boost her sight and she let out a yell in frustration. Tears threatened to cloud her view but she pushed them back, frantic in her panic. The crowd hadn’t uttered a single sound in five minutes; they watched as the girl and her falcon searched for Naruto.
She felt the ground rumble a moment, cracking under her feet. Her eyes searched for the source and followed the cracks forming.
“There!” she pointed at an unseen light, it was faded but still there. She looked up to Seiryu with a small spark of hope and he nodded.
“Lend me your eyes Hinata, I will get him out.” She didn’t understand what he meant but she felt his chakra slip inside her as he grabbed her shoulders again, falling into some kind of stupor he took over their link and watched in wonder at the Byakugan eyes.
He could see the reddening chakra, could sense the demon lurking below as Naruto fought to survive. He had to get him out quick before the Kyuubi decided it was time to save him for its own survival's sake.
He let go of Hinata and flew up high into the air, circling once before he began a free fall dive into towards the earth, his beak glowed with gathered chakra as he fell towards the red glow. Hinata shook herself out of the stupor just in time to see Seiryu slam into the ground, shattering the ground as though Sakura had been angry at something Naruto said.
She saw a poof of smoke dissipate as Seiryu disappeared, his job done. She ran to the crater, her eyes searching for him. She was relieved for a split moment when she saw his orange pants but it soon was replaced with horror as she noticed his body was twisted in an odd way she never imagined possible. She let out a whimper, jumping down as the medics rushed the scene.
She reached out for him but was stopped by Sakura, leading the medic team to him. Hinata felt a burst of rage inside her, still brimming with adrenaline, she shoved Sakura with her last bit of strength, her eyes glaring. How dare they keep her from him!
“We got him Hinata, we got him.” She heard the pink haired kunoichi whisper to her as she forcibly held her back in a fierce hug meant to snap her out of her enraged state.
Kurenai watched in disbelief as they carried off the dead shinobi her student had killed and the other one she had knocked unconscious. Her heart went out to Hinata as she struggled in her friend’s embrace.
“Winner – Shinobi of the Leaf” She yelled out. The crowd exploded into a rousing cheer. They were trying to show their own that they were supporting Naruto, they were hoping he had survived.
Hinata laughed bitterly at the sound of her teacher’s voice and the village’s shouts of praise. A single thought crossed her mind before darkness took over and she lost her battle with consciousness.
‘We’re still too weak.’
* * *
o.o RR oh the magic of the review button, it shines!
* * *
References for this chapter:
Doro Gaeshi is a defensive Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. After striking the ground with their hands, a large wall of earth will rise into place as defense. The defense is not perfect though, a hard or drilling impact can puncture the wall.
Bunshin Taiatari (Suicide Clone Technique) is a taijutsu technique used by Uzumaki Naruto against Gaara in his mini-Shukaku form. Naruto uses the Kage Bunshin by throwing himself to his target, using the clones ahead of himself as a form of shield as he speeds towards the target.
Moguragakure no Jutsu is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. This technique allows the ninja to burrow into the ground and hide out of sight. This allows them to avoid attack or travel underground. Tobi used this jutsu to place Deidara's C2 Doragon spheres underground.
Juuho Soushiken is a Taijutsu technique utilized by Hyuuga Hinata. After gathering chakra to her fists, Hinata will skillfully spin towards her target to avoid attack and strike them. Spectral lion heads will then form around her fists. (I’m not actually clear on what it does so I embellished it a little to suit my needs until Kishi clarifies it in Data books)
Hakkeshou Kaiten is a Taijutsu technique unique to the Hyuuga bloodline using the Jyuuken. Kaiten is a special technique passed down through the main family line. Kaiten takes advantage of several of the unique abilities of the Byakugan eye. Byakugan gives the clan member an almost complete 360 degree view of their surroundings. This allows the member to see all angles of attack. If an attack is near, the clan member will release a large of amount of chakra from their tenketsu. The member then begins to spin like a top, creating a whirling vortex that can nullify almost any attack.
The Deluge Principle: An overwhelming number or amount, a torrent of abuse. To overwhelm, to cover, to overspread, to overpower, to submerge, to destroy. Letting loose, Naruto overwhelms the opponent with a flurry of attacks.
Chapter 25 – DameWren’s Two Halves for the area Naruto says “Let’s get wild.”