Ahoy there, me hearties. This is the first time I'm doing such a story so go easy on me. Parody isn't my strength so… hehehe. The story originates when a friend proudly says that he would fight Naruto for Hinata so I thought it was a good idea for a fan fiction. (No offense to this friend who wishes to remain anonymous, otherwise known as 'Shigeru' in the story, but that's what you wanted anyway). So just read, and then review!
Disclaimer: if I were to own Naruto, Orochimaru would have died a more horrible death than the current one, Kisame would be made into sushi, uh no, shark fins soup for the reunion dinner back in February, so don't sue…
Duel for the Lady
"Shizune!" Tsunade shouted across the room, fumbling around the table full of papers and scrolls. "Where's the weekly report about the ninjas of the village that I asked for?"
The attendant stood up abruptly in the midst of her work with an expression that warns of certain doom.
"It's, uh, on the table, to your left." Shizune plastered a bright smile and turned to face the Fifth. Tsunade cast a look to her left and saw a stack of paper that was nicely bundled up and recognized the first piece was written in the Copy Ninja's hand.
"I'll go get you something to eat then shall I?" Shizune laughed weakly as she backed out of the room in a hurry. Tsunade looked at her with a frown as her attendant opened the door to the room before lowering her head to read the report.
Shizune released the handle to the door after closing it just in time the sound of crashing and breaking of glass was heard. She sighed and shook her head.
"So, she took it rather badly…" a voice came from the other end of the corridor. Shizune looked up and saw Kakashi leaning against the wall with the green little book in his hand.
"Kakashi-sempai." Shizune said quietly and approached. "Yeah, you know how she hates internal fights…"
"Well, I don't know about that." Kakashi said, straightening. "If she was there at the scene, she won't be throwing things now…"
"What exactly happened?" Shizune asked. But before Kakashi could respond to the question…
"KAKASHI!!!!!!!!"
Tsunade's voice exploded out of the tiny office. The effect of her voice is equivalent to her physical strength, and so the floor, which Shizune and Kakashi was standing shook violently before the sound of furniture crashing and further breaking of glass was heard.
Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow while Shizune shielded herself from the impact.
"I'd better get going then." Kakashi said with a smile and 'poof', he was gone.
It all started on a fine day, when the world was at peace, people living in harmony, everything was perfect.
Naruto leaned back on the stool in Ichiraku as he finished his tenth bowl of ramen. Kakashi mused at his appetite, thinking he must have fully recovered from the previous mission. The power of the new jutsu turned out to be way out of expectations, especially the devastating effects on both the user and the victim. So under orders, Kakashi was told never to let Naruto use it again. In a way, Kakashi was promoted from team instructor to personal nanny. Naruto's nanny that is…
Even without looking at the amount of ramen that was swallowed, the fact that Naruto could hold his chopsticks in his right hand proved his recovery. Yamato looked at the stack of empty bowls in front of him and worried about his wallet. The previous time he had Kakashi talked him into paying for the meal, in a rather intimidating way. That time Naruto's appetite was only a quarter of what's now…
And there's a Sakura and Sai thrown in. So all in all, that's fourteen bowls of ramen, of which ten bowls are up-sized…
"Haha! Ramen is exceptionally nice only when eaten using your own hands!" Naruto said with an enormous grin. Sakura, Sai and Kakashi looked at him with relief, while Yamato looked as if a knife had just tore his heart.
"Glad to have you back." Yamato said bitterly as he put down the chopsticks.
Naruto spun around on the stool and hopped off. The others followed suit, leaving Yamato to foot the bill. Well, it's obvious what kind of expression he's wearing now.
"I'm going to the training grounds!" Naruto announced happily. The announcement came as a surprise.
"You've just recovered." Sakura reminded.
"I know, but I want to get back to training as soon as possible." Naruto said, heading for the direction of the training grounds. No need to ask, the reason is simple.
To bring Sasuke back.
After the failure last time, it's no wonder Naruto would want to train harder. The gap between him and Sasuke is just too big, and he knew it better than anyone else.
Sakura thought he was right, so she followed. Sai had promised them that he'll stay and help. Kakashi had to play nanny. Yamato had no choice but to follow, in case anything happens during training. If history were to repeat itself, at least there's someone who can control the situation.
The grounds just bring back memories. How they first became genins, how they tried to get the bells from Kakashi, how Sasuke and Sakura would risk Kakashi's 'wrath' to help Naruto, how the second time they came Sasuke wasn't there, how they improved and succeeded in snatching the bells…
Their ninja senses told them they weren't the only ones at the training grounds. Naruto turned his head in the direction of the presence of human and the others followed suit.
And there, standing not far was someone they had yet seen before. It was a guy, probably older than Naruto by two or three calendars, wearing a grey vest over a long sleeved green top and a pair of black pants. The vest bore a symbol that all except Naruto recognized to be the feudal lord of the land which Konoha sits on.
The chap turned around as soon as he sensed them. Kakashi raised the only visible eyebrow and Yamato mouthed an 'oh'.
"Ne," Naruto nudged his teachers. "Who's that?"
"That, my dear uninformed, not-up-to-date pal," Yamato started. "Is the son of the feudal lord of these lands, which includes Konoha."
"What's a feudal lord?" Naruto asked immediately without the slightest trace of indignity. The audience turned to look at the noisy ninja with a frown, a 'you are hopeless' look, a raised eyebrow, and in Sai's case, the usual vacant expression. Naruto retracted his head. "What?"
As Sakura shook her head, the chap-in-question turned around and headed for them. He wore a smile that makes you wonder if he had dropped a scorpion down your back. Even Sai blinked several times to register the chap-in-question.
Kakashi prayed silently to the previous Hokages that Naruto wouldn't start sprouting out things that might land him in prision or sold to slavery. As for Yamato, he just wished the Earth would just open up and swallow Naruto or a jutsu that can teleport Naruto away. Somehow each had the ominous feeling that Naruto is going to get into horrible trouble…
It might be silly for the two Jounins to get so worried just because Naruto didn't know what a feudal lord is, but for a personality like Naruto's, it's something that no amount of impressive jutsus or battle tactics is going to change the impression he left on others. They really wondered if the two and a half years he had spent away from the village were a complete waste of time…
And somehow, their premonition was right… very right… couldn't be more right…
The chap-in-question came to a halt about three paces away from Naruto and smiled again.
"Hello there." He started. "Is this your training grounds?"
"Yeah, who are you and what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, surveying the chap from head to toe through squinted eyes.
"I'm Shigeru." He dipped his head a little, as a sign of acknowledgement. "My father is the feudal lords of these lands. He's here to see the Hokage."
Somehow the words 'my father is the feudal lords of these lands' sounded like a thousand needles and nails hitting on Naruto's ear drums.
Kakashi's danger alert siren sounded once.
"Yamato." Yamato bowed a little as he introduced himself. "These are Kakashi, Naruto, Sai and Sakura."
His original plan was to introduce everyone to the boy and then find a reason to get them out of here as fast as possible. But the plan was ruined by something Naruto said.
"Just what is a feudal lord?"
Kakashi's danger alert siren sounded twice.
"What? You don't even know what a feudal lord is? What kind of a ninja are you?" Shigeru said sarcastically.
"So what if I don't know what a feudal lord is?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to be the next Hokage of this village and that time I'll see where the feudal lord would stand."
"My father happens to own this piece of land, the land which this little village sits on." Shigeru sneered. "Even the third and fourth Hokage had to listen to my father. I'll be the one seeing where you'll stand, if you were to become a Hokage, which I think is impossible…"
Sai looked at the situation now. Naruto, the loud-mouth, rough commoner vs. Shigeru, the calm, high-class aristocrat. In his mind raced a thousand questions in which he made a mental note to look them up in his book of 'Posturing Better Interpersonal Relationships'.
So from a wide shot, the scene is like this. In the training grounds there is a monkey jumping up and down brawling at a stoic raven with four audiences, of which two of the taller audience is trying to control the monkey.
And she just had to choose this moment to walk past the training grounds…
In the midst of the words war, everyone felt another presence. Sakura was the first to turn around.
"Hinata-san." She said and turned to face her. Naruto stopped his fighting and turned to face the approaching ninja.
"Hinata." Naruto addressed. And as usual, Hinata blushed hard when she has Naruto's eyes on her.
"Sakura-san, Kakashi-sensei." Then she avoided the pair of blue eyes before saying. "Naruto-kun."
"What are you doing here?" Sakura went forward and asked.
"I, um, was just walking back home." Hinata answered, unable to meet Naruto's eyes.
Yamato cast a look at the new comer and then in the direction which she was avoiding. Then from the corner of his eyes he saw a different expression Shigeru was wearing. Then without warning, the aristocrat strode forward in a rather swift manner, it is as if…
Kakashi's danger alert siren sounded thrice.
Shigeru took Hinata's hand and to the horror of the audience, in Sai's case, curiosity, Shigeru dipped his head lower than the bow before and kissed it. Then he snapped his fingers and produced a white rose.
"I wasn't able to find a rose more beautiful than you, but please accept this." Shigeru presented the flower to her. At this moment, Naruto's mouth hung loosely, Sakura staring with white big round eyes, Kakashi's eye was raised as high as possible and Yamato frowned, half confused by the happenings. Only Sai remained expressionless, totally clueless…
"Such a beautiful lady deserves more than a compliment of mere words." Shigeru continued, totally ignoring the weird sounds and expressions that are coming from the audience. "Shall we go have tea? It would be an honor to spend the afternoon with you."
"Um…" Hinata blushed harder than just now and a thunderstorm is brewing on her forehead.
"Oi!" Naruto shouted and slapped Shigeru's hand away from Hinata's and shielded her away from the stranger. "Who do you think you are?"
"I said I'm Shigeru." Shigeru said in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. "I'm someone who likes this beautiful lady and is going to ask for her hand."
"HAR?!" those in the audience who are more vocal exclaimed.
"Why?" Sakura uttered, half laughing, half shaking her head.
"Love at first sight." That was Shigeru's answer. And this phrase was caught by Team Gai, who appeared out of nowhere and stood frozen in their positions, with Lee and Gai striking the pose of a 100km sprinter who just stepped onto a piece of rat trap, Ten Ten falling and landing on her butt and lastly Neji who looked like he saw a gigantic hairy spider waving at him.
At this point, Hinata's head is just like a red tomato. First there's her crush looking at her and now protecting her, then there's a stranger who says he's going to ask for her hand, last is that her cousin's team just appeared out of nowhere. Now she got eight pairs of eyes looking at her, of which one is the most uncomfortable.
"Uh…" Hinata muttered. "…uh…"
But in her mind, she was rather happy that Naruto was protecting her, could it be he is jealous that someone wants to court him? Could it be he's concern about her? Could it be he likes her?
"Well…" Naruto stuttered. "If, if you want her…"
His eyes darted around as he tried to get the look on each of the others face.
Kakashi's danger alert siren sounded four times.
Then at that second, two things happened.
One, is that Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji appeared.
The other, is that Naruto shouted
"You'll have to defeat me!"
The new arrivals blinked several times to combine whatever they saw and heard to form something that's logical. So Shikamaru's has no point of view because it was too troublesome to think. Ino's point of view is that Naruto is challenging the stranger to a duel for the lady. Chouji's point of view is that Naruto is going to get revenge because the stranger ate his and Hinata's ramen, which is of course the most out of point…
"All right, it's a deal. Whoever wins gets the lady." Shigeru raised an eyebrow in acceptance of the challenge.
"I'll let you have a taste of the power of the future Hokage." Naruto shouted, getting ready his fighting position.
"If you think you're going to defeat me because you are a ninja then you are in for a big surprise." Shigeru said and smiled that ominous smile. Sakura looked at the raven-haired chap. From her studies with Tsunade she could tell that this stranger has good stamina, but not as well as Naruto's. But then again, Naruto has the nine-tailed creature in his body, even if he didn't use the power supplied by the monster his stamina is still the best among them. Then, Sakura looked further. The chap had a well-built body from training, proper fighting stance and pretty agile.
She turned to look at Hinata, who was still trying to recover from the shock just now. Then she shifted her gaze to Neji, who caught the signal and activated his Byakugan. He surveyed Naruto's opponent for a while before the veins connecting to his eyes faded. Sakura took the chance to go to Neji.
"So?" Sakura asked.
"He has never drawn Chakra before…" Neji informed. Those within hearing radius turned to him at his words. Has never drawn Chakra before? That would mean he's not a ninja, and then just what strategy does he have on defeating Naruto?
"Hiya!!!!" Shigeru leaped high into the air without warning and headed for Naruto. From the war cry, Gai and Lee could tell that he is versed in taijutsu mostly.
Naruto looked straight into the eyes of his attacker and raised his hands to form a familiar handseal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
POOF
Five Narutos leaped out of the cloud of smoke to avoid the incoming punch from Shigeru. Then while in the air, there was a gigantic explosion in the midst of the cloud of smoke. The Narutos' eyes widened in surprised as the smoke cleared to show a giant crater at where he stood one second ago. And in the middle of the crater, something shot upwards…
POOF
One of the Narutos disappeared as Shigeru punched the stomach of one. He let himself fall to the ground steadily and surveyed. One down, four to go. The formation of his opponent was two at the back, two in the front. Then in a flash, he zoomed towards one of the two that was standing in the front with a fist at the ready.
The Naruto beside the targeted responded at once and pulled the target out of the way and using him as a support, coupled with the direction and momentum of Shigeru he swung his leg.
There was a hint of smile on Shigeru's face as spun around and blocked the kick. The impact of the attack and defense was too great that each was repelled several paces away.
Kakashi's danger siren sounded five times.
The two Narutos dropped down and headed for the aristocrat immediately.
A punch here, blocked.
A kick there, nullified.
A swipe here, avoided.
A slash there, repelled.
Narutos' faces wore annoyance and impatience while Shigeru's wore calmness and pleasure, as if watching a ninja falter is his ultimate satisfaction.
Hinata and the others watched as they began fighting again. In her mind, she had never intended any of these to happen; especially she's a nature, peace-loving sweet little kunoichi…
And just at this moment, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru arrived.
"Hey where did you go, Hinata?" Kiba shouted as he approached with his hands tucked in his pockets. "I thought we'd agree that we would go to your house to train..."
His words trailed off as he saw the fight between Naruto and a stranger.
"Uh, what's going on there?" Kiba asked off-handedly. Shino took a look at the situation and understood.
"Duel for the lady." He said plainly.
"Huh?" Kiba frowned and Akamaru gave a bark as they turned back to the battle.
The two Narutos suddenly smiled to each other, as if the time is right.
Kakashi's danger siren sounded six times.
They each leaped towards Shigeru with a kick and punch, one after another. The one with the kick disappeared out of a sudden, leaving the punch to do the work. Though taken aback, Shigeru was able to block the attack and repel it off, sending the punching Naruto somersaulting in the air to reduce the impact of Shigeru's repulsion. But that left an opening…
Shigeru then felt something coming towards him, a strong gust of wind that doesn't seem like wind at all…
He turned to be faced to face with a beautiful sphere of blue…
WHAM!
Smoke filled the entire place as the bystanders shielded themselves from the explosion. Hinata was the first to recover and activated her Byakugan to see what happened. The others waved their hands in front of them to clear the smoke.
There, standing in the middle of another crater intersecting with the previous one was Shigeru with a stance of a full fledge punch at Naruto's palm.
His face no longer wore calm and satisfaction, but something that reads 'What the hell'.
Naruto's face, on the other hand was absolute horror. Horror, that someone up till now could nullify his Rasengan with a mere punch and a non-ninja at that…
Unsatisfied, the one holding the Rasengan moments ago disappeared in a 'poof'.
The audience stared at turn of events. Hinata was almost in tears as her hands clasped together, an action she was always caught doing whenever she was afraid.
For Naruto, his face turned red in anger, angry that his prized jutsu was so easily broken. Was all that time spent with Jiraiya a complete waste? The amount of effort he put into training to get stronger, to be able to defeat Akatsuki and Orochimaru, and perhaps Sasuke so that he could bring him back… Now he couldn't even defeat a high-and-mighty, non-ninja aristocrat…
And for Shigeru, his face turned slightly pale. In the past, all he had to do was to avoid the countless attacks and firing of weapons with his agility and finally find the weak spot of the opponent and attack it with his super strength. But today he met his match.
For their own reasons, the two fighters had forgotten their initial motive for fighting…
The three remaining Naruto smiled. If Shigeru had given all he got to nullify his previous perfect Rasengan, then his triumph card is bound to defeat him.
Kakashi's danger siren sounded, this time, not seven times, not eight, but continuously.
"Naruto! Don't!" Kakashi shouted across. Everyone turned to look at the copy ninja, but he had his eye fixed on the real Naruto.
Then all three Narutos turned their head or body to face Kakashi.
"Sensei. I know my body the best." He smiled. "I won't die before becoming the Hokage. I will not die."
There was something in his smile that made him shine despite the ragged state he's in. Somewhere, Jiraiya smiled at the kid's growth.
"Shigeru!" Naruto shouted. The boy turned to face him. "Let's finish this."
Shigeru narrowed his eyes at him as he prepared himself for the attack, expecting it to be the same one as before…
The three Narutos came together and held out their hands. Two for the formation of the basic Rasengan, and another one, for the wind element…
Kakashi wanted to stop him, in fear for this health and the wrath of the Fifth, but there was just something about the smile from Naruto that he couldn't bring himself to do his rightful duty.
The air around started shifting, the atmosphere changed totally…
Shigeru watched as the sphere of blue Chakra was enveloped in a veil of wind shaped like a triangle with its tips bended, just like a shuriken…
In the audience, Hinata panicked.
"…stop…" she kept muttering to herself. "Stop…"
The moment the two Narutos at the sides disappeared, Shigeru readied himself.
"Futon! Rasen-Shuriken!"
The two opponents charged, with the powered-up jutsu and the powered-up punch. Each warrior had put everything he had into this last attack and the outcome of it would determine who the ultimate winner is.
And just before the two collided…
"Shugohakke! Rokujūyon Shō!"
Hinata appeared right in the middle of the line in which the two would hit with her ultimate defense. Her hands moved at such speed that they were blurred to the ordinary eye, emitting a sharp and precise beam of Chakra to form a protective arc around her.
But even her determination was firm, the power of the Rasen-Shuriken and the full fledge of super punch combined was still too much for her to bear…
Then there was a rush of the ground under their feet. It seems as though the ground turned into a pool of quicksand and swallowed the lady. Two torrents of sand then repelled Naruto and Shigeru away in a symmetrical motion. The two were knocked away instantly by the upward thrust of the sand. The two torrents then crossed each other's path and rejoined the ground.
Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the fallen Naruto, while the others at the scene looked more confused than ever. Sakura broke out of her trance and ran towards Naruto with Ino behind her. She checked to see if her teammate is all right and bit her lips. Ino then went towards the stranger, who was struggling to sit up.
Then they heard a small commotion coming from the other side of the training grounds and stopped in their midst of either checking or discussion of the matter. As for Gai and Lee, they were too busy hugging each other for what Neji and Ten Ten faintly made out to be touching scene of the explosion of youth to notice it.
"Are you sure we should come here?"
"I don't know! That's where he went!"
"Just what had gotten to him, we didn't have to come here in the first place!"
"Could you stop complaining and hurry up?"
From the trees burst out two ninjas, of which majority knew who they are.
"Temari-san." Sakura exclaimed while Shikamaru sighed a 'troublesome'.
"Kankuro…" Shino said quietly.
The two Sand stopped dead in their tracks and surveyed the crowd and the surroundings.
"Uh…" Kankuro started, but was cut off by a stir in the ground near Naruto and Shigeru.
And from the spiral of sand, Gaara of the Desert emerged with Hinata safe and sound in his arm.
"Ah, there you are." Kankuro finished. He was about to say something when he noticed something different about the girl Gaara had in his arm.
Hinata hopped off Gaara's arm and took a step forward. On her face was an expression they had never seen before.
To most of them, they have seen Hinata happy, sad, determined and disappointed. But none of them had seen Hinata's angry face before, not even Neji…
There's something about the angry face of someone who seldom, or in this case never before, showed any signs of rage. The fact that it is never-before-seen makes it ominous. And that coming from a kind-hearted, sweet and peace-loving Hinata makes her more fearful than the worse Akatsuki member or Orochimaru…
Naruto and Shigeru smiled weakly at her, mentally preparing for an outburst of Chakra or her clan's powerful gentle fist.
But she didn't.
All she did was to glare at the two of them, one after another and turned to go to Gaara. She looped her arm around the famous Mr. Sandy Nightmare and the two made their through the crowd and off the training grounds…
I know you are probably screaming at the top of your lungs cursing and swearing at me for writing something like that. So why don't you type it out in a review for me to see? Pretty please? sorry for the mistakes. it seems inspiration strikes me only when the world, or at least my country is fast asleep... hehehe
And to 'Shigeru', thanks for the idea but also be thankful I didn't kill you in the story like I said I would and that 'your father is the feudal lord of these lands', and lastly your name isn't 'Bean'. Now let's see how your idea turns out, shall we?