The Shrike
I do not own Naruto.
Naruto pounded his fists over and over on the training dummy. He stopped to look at his hands. They were bleeding severely with splinters in them.
He scowled. Damn my human limits, the blonde teenager thought severely to himself. He hated having to rest. That meant wasted time that could be used for training. He had to get strong in time for his fight with Kiba. If he didn't…he would surely lose.
He started again, this time hitting the dummy harder and harder with each and every blow, getting angrier by the second. He didn't stop. He knew this was extremely bad for his hands, maybe causing lasting detrimental effects on his hands, but he didn't stop. He didn't stop until his hands broke.
He sat in the hospital, seething. He was angry at the hospital for keeping him here. He was angry at his hands for breaking. He was angry at himself. He wanted to leave. He felt fine. His hands would heal in a day, like before.
He didn't bother worrying about his hands. He was more worried about his fight. This is pathetic, he thought to himself, Kiba's probably out there training and I'm just sitting here like a sack of crap! I need help, but Kakashi-sensei probably wouldn't train me. He would probably hand me off to someone else.
He looked over to his window and saw a small bird, with a light navy blue covered body and a white patch under its beak, which was curved downwards slightly. It seemed to look at him with an intense curiosity. He disregarded it, as it seemed to be just a songbird; no harm, no foul. He rolled over in his bed, trying to get to sleep. When he finally did fall asleep, the small bird flew into his room.
He woke up feeling strangely well. Usually after recovering from a broken bone, he had to rest for an extra day. He shrugged and got out of bed. He walked to the front desk, requesting permission to leave, which after a quick check, was granted. He changed out of the hospital dress and into his clothes and went straight to the training ground.
He punched the training dummy over and over again. His punches seemed to come faster. He smirked. I guess this training really did pay off, he thought smugly. He decided that his throwing skills needed training. He pulled out a kunai and threw it, imbedding it right in the dummy's head. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped; he never was that good at throwing.
He then looked at the dummy's shadow, determining the time to be about 6:00, the time for his match with Kiba! He pulled the kunai out of the dummy surprisingly easily and ran off surprisingly fast. Today was just full of surprises, wasn't it?
He arrived at the arena in record time; Kiba stood there with Akamaru, looking overconfident. "So, you finally arrived, eh loser? Akamaru and I thought you would chicken out. The result will be the same, though, you losing!"
Deep rage came from Naruto, but he hid it completely. Instead he retaliated, "I lose, to a dog like you? Please! You don't even deserve to look at the ground I walk on." He smirked when he heard Kiba growl in anger. "Shut it idiot," Kiba snarled, "I'm going to make you suffer!"
The instructor started the match. Kiba immediately used his Gatsuuga. Naruto smirked and started running backwards. When he felt the wall against his back, he jumped up, making Kiba slam headfirst into the wall. Kiba got up, stumbled around for a bit, and looked around for him. "Up here," Naruto called down to him. Kiba looked up, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw Naruto perched on a rafter almost like a bird.
"Hey, you wimp," Kiba called angrily up to Naruto, "come down and fight me like a man!" Naruto's smile only grew wider. "Ok," he lazily called, "just wait." Huffing angrily, Kiba turned around to wait. Before he could make a comment to Akamaru, he felt a sandaled foot slam into the back of his head. He fell straight to the ground, causing another bolt of pain to bolt through his body, as the body attached to the foot followed him.
Taking his opponents confusion to his advantage, he threw a flurry of blows. One blow after the other, he didn't stop, just like in his training. Kiba was bleeding out of his nose and slightly out of his mouth. Naruto picked him up by his shirt and continued the beating. After one particularly vicious blow, Kiba's sweater ripped and Naruto was holding the missing piece in his hand. He threw the piece of fabric away and continued.
He looked around at the spectator's faces. He wasn't surprised to see looks of confusion, anger, and shock. Frankly not caring, he continued the pummeling with increased vigor. If this was a way to get attention, then he would do it. Once he saw that Kiba had fallen unconscious, he got off of Kiba's torso. He wiped Kiba's blood onto Kiba's sweater. He started to walk away, noticing the examiner checking Kiba's pulse to see if he was still alive.
As Naruto sat down in his seat in the stands, he felt a hand roughly clasp him on the shoulder. Turning around, he discovered that Sasuke had his hand on his shoulder. "What the hell was that, loser?" the Uchiha snarled angrily. Naruto shrugged. "Nice to see you too, douche bag." The Uchiha shoved him. "Don't avoid the damn question! How in God's name did you do that?!"
To be honest, he wondered that himself. Ever since he saw that bird… "I don't know," he replied honestly. Apparently, Sasuke thought that it wasn't so honest. He shoved him again, rougher this time. "Bull! I know you somehow got someone strong to train you! Who was it?!" Naruto was getting irritated with Sasuke's nosiness. He shoved the Uchiha back. "Nobody trained me. Now get off my damn back, Uchiha." Sasuke huffed and slammed his back onto the concrete chair.
Naruto caught the last of the fight; Hinata slammed against a wall, unconscious. He gasped, she looked severely injured. He looked over at her competitor and once more, gasped. It was Neji. He gripped the iron rail in a fury. How dare him! Attacking a relative in such a way! He looked over sadly to Hinata, being led out by a nurse. He would hurt Neji just like that if he fought him. He would need help, though…