Disclaimer is on chapter 1.
"ONEECHAN!"
It was this scream that tore Hinata from her slumber. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep, but the moment she looked up, she sincerely hoped she was still dreaming and that this was merely a nightmare.
Right in the middle of the ship, the giant bat-like creature that had previously been dead was now very much alive. It had shot out some kind of long probe from its mouth and had hooked onto Isaac's corpse. She nearly puked when the creature latched onto the body with its small talons and stabbed the probe deep inside Isaac's forehead with a sickening squelch. It seemed to move side to side in order to move the probe a bit deeper, and whatever it was injecting into Isaac was causing a reaction that left her mouth open in a silent scream.
Isaac's skin started breaking apart, the arteries and veins underneath either molding together into a single mass or breaking as well and hanging limp. His lower jaw began to get dark and bloody, the skin ripping and showing his internal organs in all their glory. The back of his suit ripped open, allowing for two long arms to rip out from Isaac's back. The arms were slightly deformed, and on each of the palms there was a long blade sticking out, looking perfect for slashing anything to pieces. Isaac's original arms seemed to fuse to his torso, leaving only two small hands near where the stomach would normally be. Finally, his chest ripped open with a sickening crack, exposing his ribcage and an empty space where his inner organs would normally be.
The transformation took no more than a few seconds, but they were very long seconds to the two Hyuuga, who had never seen anything like this before. It was only when the creature that had changed Isaac and the creature Isaac had become turned to look at Hanabi and Hinata, respectively, that Hinata's throat opened up and she released a loud scream, one that was followed up by Hanabi's own scream. The two creatures, as if reacting to the noises, charged at both girls, the infector jumping at Hanabi while the infected lunged at Hinata, blades swinging wildly. Both girls closed their eyes, awaiting the inevitable.
However, instead of hearing (or feeling) either of them being cut or stabbed, what they heard were twin poofs of smoke before a number of small explosions rang out all around them, each explosion being followed by a squelch and a ripping sound. Both girls instantly opened their eyes and gasped at the scene.
The infector that had jumped towards Hanabi was now lying on the ground at her feet in a pool of yellow liquid. One of its wings had been ripped from its body in a clean cut, and its proboscis had been separated from the appendage with a similar cut.
The creature that had been charging at Hinata was in a similar state. The only thing left lying at Hinata's feet was a torso connected to a pair of legs. The head and arms had been completely cut off, all three lying in different places around Hinata.
Both girls stared at the broken bodies before noticing that each one had three small blue points hovering over them. Following the points up to the source led their eyes to a scene that had them gaping.
Standing tall and focused, with a Plasma Cutter in each hand pointed at both of the now truly dead monsters, was Naruto! His black and silver armor shone slightly in the little bit of light inside the ship, and the orange light coming from his helmet only served to increase his badass aura. It seemed he had awoken in all the commotion, and his first instinct had been to unseal the Plasma Cutters and open fire on the two creatures.
Naruto slowly lowered the weapons as the girls stood shakily. Hinata was the first to move, rushing forward and grabbing Naruto in a tight hug. In response, Naruto merely clipped both Plasma Cutters to each side of his suit and put both arms around her, hugging her back. He felt her start to sob against him and hugged her tighter. He understood the reason for her crying. He would normally have had the same reaction if faced with a bloody monster rushing towards him with the intent to slice him to pieces, and with Hinata being so shy and having never seen something like this before, her shock was prevalent.
Naruto then remembered their third group member and looked up to see Hanabi seemingly looking at them. While it was nigh impossible to discern her facial expression due to her helmet, the shaking of her body gave out all the info Naruto needed. He took his left arm off Hinata's shoulder and opened it wide, silently asking the unneeded question. Hanabi hesitated only for a moment before walking forward and tightly hugging Naruto as well. Naruto put his left arm around her shoulder and simply held her there.
After a few minutes, both girls seemed to have run out of steam and tears, and were now just hugging Naruto. The blonde reached down and pressed a button on both girls' right wrists, retracting their helmets. He then retracted his own, shocking Hinata and Hanabi with his countenance. The bright spark that was normally in the boy's eyes was very subdued. Instead, Naruto's eyes had a look in them similar to someone who's seen and lived through a lot. Now that they truly focused on him, they noticed that his stance was also more guarded and straight, and when he spoke, his voice sounded slightly deeper and with much more maturity than he had before.
"Hinata-chan, Hanabi-chan, listen to me," he spoke, "I understand that this was a shocking experience, but you need to put it aside for now. We need to get away from here and get more powerful. I can't explain why, but I have a serious sense of foreboding. Something big is coming, I know it." Both girls nodded and looked down. Naruto frowned at this and put a hand on their chins, lifting their faces so he could look at them properly. "This was something nobody should have ever experienced, but as ninja, we'll most likely have to do worse. I didn't mean for you to completely ignore this event, but don't allow it to rule your life. Remember, anything you need to talk about, I'll always be here, and we have three more weeks before we need to get back to the village. Let's put them to good use, alright?" Both girls nodded again, this time with more determination. Naruto smiled and straightened once again, turning to look at the two creatures. By a single glance, he suddenly knew what they were, but didn't understand how he knew. He had never seen these things in his life.
But he somehow knew... these were necromorphs.
Shaking his head, Naruto grabbed the sealing scroll meant for the tools and stored both bodies. He'd bring them to the Hokage and ask him to analyze them. He didn't know why, but he could feel, deep in his mind, that something serious was happening, and he had a bad feeling that he'd probably be in the middle of it all.
After picking up the rest of the sealing scrolls and putting them inside both Hinata's and Hanabi's bags, he picked up his own and took out an object he'd hoped not to have to use for a long time. He quickly turned and slapped the piece of paper onto the floor of the ship, filling it with a bit of chakra.
"What's that, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, surprisingly stutter free.
"A super strength explosive tag," Naruto replied. "I'd hoped to use it on something else, but I guess I can always save up and buy another one."
"Wait, what?!" Hanabi exclaimed, "You're planning to blow the ship up?!"
"Of course," Naruto said, standing back up, "It would take far too long to disassemble, and we have no way to carry the pieces. Besides, if we ever need one," He tapped the side of his head with a finger, "I can always build it."
"How?" Hanabi asked skeptically.
"To be honest, I have no clue how I know. I just do," Naruto said truthfully.
Hinata thought for a moment before saying, "Naruto-kun, do you think all of this might have been caused by that energy that hit you? The energy that came from Isaac?"
Naruto nodded and replied, "Yeah that was my first hypothesis. It seems to be the most likely option, since I didn't know squat about how to fight necromorphs, or about mathematics and engineering, or about how to build a spaceship before I touched Isaac."
"What's engineering?" both girls asked simultaneously.
Naruto chuckled and said, "I'll explain later."
With that, they picked up their bags and walked out of the ship. Naruto looked at the door that was laying on the floor and subconsciously extended his left hand. With a twitch of his fingers, an indigo blue camp of energy left his palm and surrounded the door, which rose from the ground and simply floated near Naruto, hovering about a foot in front of his outstretched palm. Experimentally, Naruto twisted his hand a bit and the door turned in that direction, moving as if it were in zero gravity. Nodding, Naruto moved the door to its rightful place and turned it so that it would hold there, at least until the tag exploded. He pressed his thumb against his palm and deactivated the Kinesis, which left the door just leaning against the frame.
Naruto turned back around so they could go and noticed that both girls were staring at him strangely. Chuckling a little, Naruto explained, "That's called Kinesis. It's a field of energy that's emitted from this thing *points to a rectangular object on his left wrist, which they also have* which is called a Kinesis module. The energy grabs whatever you're aiming for and holds it in an antigravity field, letting you move it back and forth easily. Simply, it turns off the gravity of whatever object you grab."
When the girls nodded, Naruto continued, "Now, I'll show you the first thing you're going to learn." Without a word, Naruto focused his chakra, shocking both girls when the thrusters on the boots of his suit activated and allowed him to hover in front of them.
"Naruto-kun, you're flying!" Hinata exclaimed.
"Not quite yet, Hinata-chan," Naruto chuckled, deactivating the thrusters and landing back on the ground. "Now, on the boots of every suit that we stored are thrusters. These are meant to help whoever is wearing it move around in a zero gravity area. When a regular setting, the power source of the suit gives the thrusters enough energy to allow someone to hover. For example, if someone were falling from a large height, he could activate the thrusters and slow down his descent enough to land safely on the ground. With me so far?" The girls nodded. "Good. Now, these suits weren't made with us ninja in mind. The thing about us is that we use chakra for nearly everything. Our bodies are always creating and using chakra. Because of this, we can focus chakra into the suit itself, more specifically the thrusters, and give it much more boost, which would theoretically allow us to fly."
The girls nodded, eager to try it out.
"Hinata, why don't you try it first?" Naruto said, "Focus your chakra into the suit and then direct it to your feet."
Hinata nodded resolutely and closed her eyes to focus. When she was ready, she nodded, so Naruto instructed her to activate the thrusters whenever she was ready. A few moments later, Hinata did so and began floating, slowly moving up.
Hinata felt the air moving around her, and figured it was working, so she continued to pour chakra into the thrusters, going farther up.
Naruto, however, noticed she wasn't stopping. She just kept going higher and higher!
"Hinata-chan, lower the energy output! You're flying too far up!"
This only made Hinata open her eyes immediately, and when she noticed she was floating near the treetops, she freaked out slightly and bent forward. Unfortunately, with the thrusters still being active, she quickly lost control of her flight and spun out of control, headed straight for the ground!
Hinata closed her eyes, bracing herself for the crash and not even thinking of reassembling her helmet. However, Naruto quickly jumped and activated his thrusters in midair, catching the heiress just in time. He floated down and landed softly before putting Hinata down. He then signaled for Hanabi to join them.
"Now, you saw how Hinata did it, Hanabi?" When the younger Hyuuga nodded, Naruto said, "I want both of you to work on that for now. Simply try to hover as evenly as you can. Once you have that down to pat, we'll move on."
Thus, Naruto and one of his shadow clones kept an eye over the two. Hinata actually got it minutes before Hanabi did, quickly understanding how much chakra she should expend to maintain a height of about three feet. Hanabi followed her sister's approach, adding a little more chakra every so often to reach her optimal height. Naruto was thankful that neither spun out of control (again, in Hinata's case).
"Alright," Naruto clapped his hands an hour later, "Now that you have that down, we need to move on to the next phase: moving in midair." Both girls looked excited to learn this, which brought a smile to Naruto's face. "This is relatively simple. To move at a slow pace, you simply need to lean forward a little while moving the thrusters back slightly as well. Make sure that you don't overdo it or you might end up flipping over or crashing headfirst into a tree."
This part actually took less time than the floating. Being daughters of the Hyuuga clan head, both girls had been taught how to exert maximum control over their bodies so as to not waste a movement during a battle. Thus, they were quickly able to find the point where they could safely move at a simple pace. In about half an hour, the girls were already doing lazy circles around the spaceship.
Naruto called them back for the final phase of the training. "You girls catch on quick," Naruto commented, making both girls beam in pride, "but now it's time for the final step: high-speed flying. And for this," the boy activated his thrusters, floating up to their level, "we're going farther up. Follow me!"
With that, he pumped more chakra and flew up and over the treetops. Hinata and Hanabi glanced at each other before quickly following. They found the blonde floating lazily several feet from the highest tree, which was already nearly a hundred feet in height. Both girls had to force themselves to not look down, lest they end up freaking out due to the height.
"Now, I believe a quick demonstration would be a good way to start this part. Watch me closely," Naruto said, turning so that he was facing sideways from their point of view. He brought his legs slightly up, as if crouching in midair, before pumping a large amount of chakra into the thrusters and simultaneously moving his torso forward so that he was nearly horizontal. The result was that he blasted away from the Hyuuga sisters at a fast pace, startling them. He got about half a mile away before stopping and coming back, this time slower so that they could have more time to study his movements and pose. When he did a third fly-by, the girls were already trying out their own versions. Hinata once again got it first, although Hanabi didn't seem put out by it considering she was literally flying circles around the two, making them laugh with her constant cries of joy.
By this time, the sun was starting to rise. When Naruto turned to regard it, however, a massive rumbling noise erupted from his stomach, drawing the attention of the girls. Naruto merely laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, drawing giggles from the girls.
"You think we should stop for a quick bite to eat, Naruto-kun?" Hanabi asked teasingly.
Naruto laughed and nodded, quickly floating down to the ground and setting up a small campfire next to the ship. When the girls joined him, he already had a few pieces of deer set up over it. And minutes later, three full-bellied kids were sitting around a dying fire, once again talking about this and that.
If there was one thing that both girls noticed instantly, it was the change in Naruto. He was now more knowledgeable and logical, thinking things through before saying them. He seemed to have an answer for nearly every question they had. And he still maintained his guarded posture. They noticed how he looked around every so often, as if searching for any enemies, and kept his right hand near the corresponding Plasma Cutter at all times.
When they had finished digesting the food, Naruto decided they should get moving. After checking over their supplies one last time, the three of them donned their helmets and took off, flying as far away as they could. Once they were far enough, Naruto activated the explosive tag.
With a loud boom, the tag detonated, sending smoke and shrapnel flying everywhere. Naruto had to move to the side so as to avoid getting clipped by a piece of debris. The force of the wind that was displaced by the explosion pushed all three kids back a bit, but they managed to remain airborne and in control.
After a few moments, Naruto checked over the explosion site and made sure nothing remained. Besides the scorched earth and the few pieces of small debris, nothing was left. Nodding in acceptance, Naruto flew back up to the girls and they flew away from the site, just missing a group of Konoha ninja that had arrived to investigate.
With Hanabi keeping an eye on the map, Naruto grabbed one of the Plasma Cutters from his belt and lifted it up so they could see it properly.
"Listen up, girls, because from now on, your training starts! We'll start of by teaching you on how to use Plasma Cutter..."
0o0o0o0o0o0 Time Skip – Three Weeks 0o0o0o0o0o0
It was finally the day for the Chunin Exam Finals!
The atmosphere in the stadium was one of excitement and wonder. Dignitaries of neighboring small villages, and both ninja and civilians from Konoha itself were more than curious about the new batch of Chunin-to-be.
In one part of the stadium, the few of the soon-to-be-known-as the Konoha 12 who didn't pass the preliminaries were sitting together with their sensei. Tenten, the female member of Team Gai, was merely watching the arena while keeping an open ear. Ino and Sakura, sitting on either side of Choji, were arguing loudly about none other than Sasuke. Poor Choji was caught in the crossfire and was simply glad he had his chips with him. A row in front of them, Kiba Inuzuka was talking in a low voice with his partner Akamaru. The shaggy haired boy was worried about the fact that Hinata hadn't arrived, despite the fact that she had assured him after the Preliminaries that she'd come to watch. She was never one to be late. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen her at all in the month between the Prelims and the Finals. Kurenai-sensei hadn't said anything on the matter, so he had put it to the side for now.
Speaking of his sensei, she was currently sitting a row behind the arguing pinkette and blonde, staring in disbelief at a certain silver-haired pervert. She wasn't alone in that regard, as her current love interest and sensei of Team 10 Asuma Sarutobi was also gaping at Kakashi.
"Kakashi…" Kurenai started, "Are you… actually on time for once?"
Kakashi brought his face out of his book and regarded them with an eye-smile. "Well, cute little Sasuke-kun down there had enough experience with my tardiness that he decided to take the reins of the time and insisted that we come now."
Asuma grunted and pulled out a cigarette, quickly lighting it with his favorite lighter in one smooth move. Kurenai shook her head at the two, disgusted at their obsessions. One to smoking, the other to porn. Without another word, she turned back to the arena, studying the upcoming Chunnin.
Down at the aforementioned arena, the Genin were standing in a straight line. Neji was the first at the right end, followed by Shikamaru, Shino, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and finally Sasuke. The only two missing were Dosu Kinuta of Kusagakure and Konoha's own Naruto Uzumaki.
Once the time came, the Hokage stood and called for silence, gaining it almost immediately. He went on to praise the contestants for their skills and their determination to have made it this far, then wasted no time and started the tournament, earning a large amount of cheers.
Down at the arena, the new proctor Genma Shiranui called for silence and explained, "There are rough battles ahead of you kids. Make sure to persevere and think fast but clearly. What I say goes, so if I call the match, you will stop, understood?" There were nods all around. "Good. Now, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga, stay here. The rest can go up to the contestants' balcony."
A few Shunshin jutsu and a shuffling of feet were the responses. Neji merely stood to one side of Genma, waiting for his opponent.
Half a minute passed, however, and there was still no sign of the blonde. Neji was now sneering and proclaiming that the dobe had realized that fate had already decreed him as the winner. Genma secretly wanted to slap the living daylights out of the arrogant Hyuuga, but restrained himself and merely kept counting down.
Just as he was about to declare Naruto as a forfeit, there was a resounding boom across the sky as something started falling towards the arena. Most people had looked and were now pointing at it, drawing everyone else's attention to it as well. The small dot quickly gained shape, and almost everyone noticed that it appeared human in shape and size.
Whatever it was, it suddenly began moving and twisted in midair so that it was right-side up again. Everyone watched in wonder and shock as two large flames blasted from its feet, slowing its descent significantly. The fires turned off a few feet from the ground, allowing the figure to land in a crouch with a loud slam and a small explosion of dust.
Everyone held their breath as the dust slowly disappeared. When it did, gasps rang out through the crowd. The figure was indeed humanoid, but rather short, as if it were a teenager. It was covered in black, silver, and white armor, which was worn over a full body black suit. It had several metal things attached to its feet, ankles, and wrists, and a half-conical protrusion on the chest. But the most interesting and most shocking was the head. It was round at the back but came to a point at the front, and had three long, horizontal slits that glowed with a dark orange light.
Just as the ANBU were getting ready to intercept the strange… thing... it spoke, and its voice sounded eerily familiar.
"Hey, I'm not late, am I?"
Genma, being one of the first to come down from his shock, kept a hand near one of his kunai and asked, "And… who... or what... are you, exactly?"
The figure seemed to look down for a bit before chuckling and pressing something on its wrist. Two metal hooks emerged from the front and back of the suit and began disassembling the helmet piece by piece while the figure said, "I figured no one would recognize me due to the suit, but my voice hasn't changed that much, has it?"
As the helmet came fully undone and sealed itself inside the suit, everyone around him had their systems forcefully rebooted at the sight of the familiar blonde hair, blue eyes, tanned complexion, and whisker birthmarks.
Naruto Uzumaki was back in Konoha.
0o0o0o0o0o0 a few hundred yards away… 0o0o0o0o0o0
A growling Hanabi Hyuuga was flying as fast as she could towards Konoha, being closely followed by her sister Hinata.
"I'm gonna kill that moron!" Hanabi exclaimed, "How could he just leave us behind like that?!"
Hinata sped up slightly so that she was right next to Hanabi and said, "Think about it, imouto. He is the one who has to participate in the Finals, not us. Besides, we already know how the match is going to end, so why bother getting so flustered?"
Hanabi turned to regard her older sister. In the three weeks that the three had spent wandering and training, Hinata's attitude and self-confidence had gained a huge boost, mainly from Naruto's help and praise. Hanabi herself was incredibly thankful toward the blonde for helping her sister out of the shell her father and the clan elders had forced her into, but still…
"That doesn't mean he had to leave us behind like that!"
Hinata sighed and merely looked on ahead at the approaching village. Grinning under her helmet, she turned to Hanabi and proclaimed, "Race you to the village?"
Hanabi looked at her older sister, practically feeling the smile radiating from under the white and red helmet, and smirked.
"You're on!"
With a strong surge of chakra, both girls sped up tremendously.
0o0o0o0o0o0 Back at the Arena 0o0o0o0o0o0
"No way…" Kiba breathed, "That's Naruto?!"
Sakura, Ino, Choji, and Tenten were at a loss and could not answer, as was most of the crowd. Hell, even the Kage couldn't say much due to their shock.
Naruto, getting annoyed at the gawking, called out to Genma, "Hey, is this a battle or a circus?! Start the match already!"
Inhaling sharply, Genma nodded and raised his hand, calling out, "The first match of the Chunnin Exam Finals, Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuuga. Begin!" before dropping his hand in a chop motion and jumping back.
Neither contestant moved just yet, sizing each other up. Naruto had learned quite a bit about Neji thanks to both Hinata and Hanabi, who had sparred with their cousin on occasion. He knew that Neji was an arrogant asshole and a firm believer in the notion that Fate defined all that you did; down to the very last log you dropped at the toilet. He could only shake his head at that paraphrased information.
Neji, meanwhile, had learned all he could about Naruto during the monthly break, despite believing that he was going to win anyways. He had learned that the blonde was hyperactive, had a very short attention span, loved to wear the color orange, and was also a large attention seeker, usually through pranks. The blonde was an avid user of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, something that he knew he'd have to watch out for. Other than that, his taijutsu sucked, his Genjutsu was nonexistent, and his Ninjutsu awfully low.
However, the person that stood before him was most certainly not the person he had learned about. This Naruto held himself in a guarded but calm pose, as if keeping his muscles tense for anything that might pop up to attack him. The blonde didn't rush at him headfirst like he had expected, instead merely standing there and studying the Hyuuga. And most of all… the armor. Just what was that? It wasn't like anything he had seen before. It looked more streamlined, more advanced, than any armor worn around Konoha.
However, not one to let show his emotions, he merely sneered and said, "So you did show up. Are you ready to show everyone why fighting against fate is a foolish endeavor?"
Naruto chuckled and said, "The only thing I'm ready to do is smear your ass all around the stadium, you pompous bastard."
This enraged Neji highly, something Naruto was counting on. The helmet once again assembled around Naruto's head, and the blonde held a hand to his hip. In a small poof of smoke, his trusty Plasma Cutter was in his hand. He pointed it at Neji, the three dots of the reticule shining against the pale-eyed boy's hitai-ate.
Neji once again sneered at Naruto. "So you have a new toy?"
Naruto didn't say a word and instead aimed down and fired a round of concentrated chakra against Neji's feet, sending dust flying and startling Neji so badly that the brunet fell back onto his butt.
Bringing the Plasma Cutter back up, he said, "You have no idea."
Growling in anger, Neji quickly stood and assumed the standard Gentle Fist stance but did not activate his kekkei genkai just yet. Without a word, he launched himself at the blonde at a quick speed and easily got inside his defenses. With a few thrusts of his hands, he shot chakra at Naruto, not bothering to check if the first hit had truly affected him before raining more blows down on him and finally pushing the boy back with a double palm thrust to his stomach, since he couldn't well attack the chest due to the protrusion there.
Naruto moved back several feet, his boots leaving trenches in the dirt. He remained leaning down, as if he were hurt. His body shook slightly, and Neji's sneer came back full force only to be replaced by an angry frown when laughter came out of Naruto's helmet. The armored boy raised his head, the helmet making it hard to discern his facial expression. The mocking tone that came from the helmet, however, didn't leave anything else open to interpretation.
"I'm sorry, did you hit me? I could have sworn I felt something, like something was touching me."
Neji's vision went red with anger, his Byakugan activating subconsciously. The Hyuuga was just about to run at the blonde again when he saw him lift the strange weapon up. With his Byakugan activated, he could now see that a constant stream of Naruto's chakra was moving towards the bottom of the weapon. For some odd reason, he couldn't actually see the inside of the weapon, but did notice that the chakra that was going into the weapon was coming back out from the front, but in a more compacted form. He couldn't study it any longer, however, because Naruto had pressed a trigger on the middle of the weapon and the chakra that was in the front of it had just shot at him at incredibly fast speeds. He probably wouldn't have been able to dodge had it not been for the fact that his Byakugan was activated.
The Hyuuga was forced into a game of "dodge the chakra bolts" by Naruto. He had to keep continuously moving in order to not get hit by the compacted chakra that Naruto was sending at him. Naruto, he noticed, was simply standing there, moving the weapon as necessary to hit him.
Unfortunately for Neji, since he was so busy dodging the bolts and thinking of a way to bypass them, he didn't notice the Kage Bunshin that Naruto had created a few yards away, which was wielding its own Plasma Cutter. He only noticed when he felt a severe burning on his left arm that made him cry out in pain before jumping into a tree and away from the armored blonde. Stopping at another tree a few yards away, he examined his left arm and noticed, to his horror, that it had a deep, cauterized cut on the upper part of the forearm, near his elbow. To his increasing horror, his Byakugan noticed that the chakra pathway there and the tenketsu near it, which was almost on the elbow itself, both seemed to be cut off from his chakra core! He couldn't channel chakra through there at all!
But that could only mean…
"His weapon has the same effect as the Jyuuken when it strikes…" Neji mumbled in shock.
His shock was increased when a voice whispered in his ear, "So you really are smart," before he felt a tremendous blow hit his back and send him flying back towards the center of the arena. The brunet landed harshly on the ground, creating a small crater. Naruto, meanwhile, merely walked out of the trees, his posture straight and serious.
"Give up, Neji," Naruto told the Hyuuga suddenly.
This made Neji pause. Him, a Hyuuga prodigy… to admit defeat to a dead-last loser one year his junior?! Inconceivable!
"N-never!" Neji growled out, forcefully standing up and facing Naruto, although everyone noticed that he allowed his left arm to hang limp at his side.
Naruto shook his head, feeling sorry for the brunet, before sealing his Plasma Cutter and reaching behind him. With a poof of smoke, another weapon appeared in his hand, this one much larger than the Cutter. It seemed long and heavy, considering Naruto was holding it with both hands. It was streamlined in design and had a red color scheme. What most people noticed, however, was the large hole in the front.
"Tell me, Neji," Naruto called out, snapping the Hyuuga from his inspection of the new weapon, "Just how good is the Hyuuga's Rotation defense?"
Neji's eyes widened to epic proportions when he heard this, and since his Byakugan was still active, he noticed that much of the blonde's chakra was gathering in the front of the weapon into a tightly compacted ball.
Without a second thought, Neji immediately began twisting on the spot while expelling chakra, causing a blue, rapidly spinning dome of chakra to form all around him. With a smirk that no one could see, Naruto set his shoulders and released the trigger.
The ball of massively compressed chakra blasted away from the weapon with a force so strong that it made Naruto take two steps back. And with the quick speeds it was traveling at, it only took a second to reach Neji's dome and make contact.
The resulting explosion rocked the entire arena. Most people had to look away at the bright flash of light that appeared for a while. When everyone focused once again, and the dust cloud disappeared, they could only look on in shock at the prone form of Neji that had been blasted into the arena's wall. The boy had been launched away with incredible force, and was now scratched from head to toe, a result of impacting against the ground several times before slamming against the wall. His head was hanging limp from his neck, but no one assumed he was dead as his chest could be seen heaving for air.
Naruto once again walked seriously up to Neji, looking at him critically before saying, "Once again, Neji, do you forfeit?"
Neji didn't respond for a few seconds. When he did look up, however, Naruto saw a glint in his eye.
"I… already said… that I would… never do so!" Neji forced out.
With a burst of chakra, the Hyuuga branch member pulled himself out of the wall, startling Naruto. With a practiced maneuver, he crouched in front of the armored boy and said, "You are within my field of divination!"
Even with only one functioning arm, Neji's speed was nothing to be scoffed at. He dashed quickly towards Naruto and hit him twice where he guessed the blonde's tenketsu were, shouting "Two palms!"
He followed up with four hits, yelling "Four palms!"
And so it went.
"Eight palms!"
"Sixteen palms!"
"Thirty-two palms!"
"Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four palms!"
At this last declaration, Neji pushed as much chakra as he could into his right hand and slammed it into Naruto's stomach. The resulting release of chakra sent Naruto flying away from Neji, making him slam into the ground twice before landing face-first against the ground and not moving again.
Everyone stared at the blonde in confusion. After the show he gave, he'd go down that easily?
Neji wasn't as cautious, but he was exhausted. The Hyuuga boy fell to his hands and knees and panted in exhaustion before looking meaningfully at Genma.
Genma, noticing the look and the armored blonde's inactivity, was about to call the match when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. With an almost invisible smirk, he dropped his hand. Neji noticed this and frowned at the man. He was about to ask what the hell he was waiting for when the cold feel of steel against the nape of his neck answered the question perfectly.
The fact that the armored blonde laying on the ground had just popped into smoke was merely extra credit on the question.
"H-how...?" Neji stuttered.
Naruto said nothing for a moment. When he did respond, his voice was unreadable. "You almost had me there, Neji. I guess they don't call you a genius for nothing. But unfortunately for you, I had made several Kage Bunshin at the beginning of the match, and quickly switched with one before you started your assault."
Neji and everyone else were amazed at this. Pulling off a seamless Kawarimi with a Kage Bunshin needed at least medium Chunnin-level chakra control, something most people didn't think Naruto was even close to.
"Do you give up now?" Naruto once again asked.
Neji remained silent for a moment before sighing and signaling with his good hand. "Go ahead, do it."
This sentence stopped the blonde in his tracks. Neji wanted Naruto to kill him?
"What are you waiting for? Do it already!" Neji said in an exasperated and tired tone.
Shaking his head, Naruto moved the Plasma Cutter... and bopped Neji over the head with it... hard.
"Ouch! What the hell?!" Neji exclaimed, holding his head.
"You dumbass," Naruto said shortly, "You really think I was going to kill you? As much as I detest your attitude, you're still a fellow Konoha ninja, and I'm not killing any of my comrades."
Neji looked up at him in shock as he continued, "Furthermore, both Hinata-chan and Hanabi-chan would be angry and disappointed with me if I killed their cousin just because he was a stubborn asshole."
"And finally... You really need to get the fate stick out of your ass," Naruto continued, further shocking his opponent, "Our life isn't defined by some higher power. There's no god out there that just writes out how you're going to live your life as if you were a book character. We have free will for a reason: to make the best of our lives and our decisions. And sometimes, with a bit of luck, you may end up surprising yourself."
Neji looked on in wonder at the blonde in front of him, one who had been and still was opponent. Was all of that true? Could he actually make a life for himself despite the shackles that had been put on him as a Hyuuga Branch member?
He would have more chances to think about this later, as he was now slipping into unconsciousness from the blow to the back of the neck Naruto had just given him.
As Neji flopped to the ground face first, Genma lifted his right hand and declared, "Winner by knockout, Naruto Uzumaki!"
The shocked silence in the stands was broken as a single ninja stood and began to clap loudly for the blonde. Several other ninja followed his lead, the other Genin included. Soon enough, nearly everyone in the stands was giving the blonde a standing ovation. The only ones who were not were some especially hard-headed civilians and council members. Naruto looked up and disassembled his helmet, letting everyone see the wan smile on his face. With a single wave of his hand, he picked up Neji in a fireman's carry and took him directly to the medics standing by. Once he was sure the arrogant asshole would be well taken care of, he slowly walked up the steps to the competitors' balcony, where several stunned and curious faces greeted him. Oh, and one bloodthirsty one from none other than Gaara, but we all expected this by now.
The thoughts of the competitors were as follows:
Sasuke: 'Seriously, what the hell is the dobe wearing? That armor looks really strong. And those weapons! I wonder if he'd be willing to let me train with them…'
Shikamaru: 'Man, Naruto's become really troublesome with that new upgrade. I really hope I don't have to fight him…'
Shino: '…'
Garra: 'Yes… Mother… He has become even more worthy… to become your meal…'
Temari: 'This is the brat that we met a few days before the first part of the exam?! This hunk of man-meat? Jeez, what a sudden change! It was only a month…'
Kankuro: 'Pfft, showoff. I'll show him when the invasion starts… I'll show them all!
"What?" Naruto questioned, breaking their connected trains of thought, "Do I have something on my face?"
Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru all sweatdropped while Gaara, Shino, and Sasuke merely kept staring at him. Shrugging, the blonde went to stand next to his teammate and leaned against the railing.
"Hey, Sasuke, ready for your match?" Naruto questioned.
"Hn, you already know I am, dobe," Sasuke responded lightly, "Kakashi was a good teacher in our training, though he was also pretty brutal."
"Yeah, I can imagine," Naruto said wistfully, watching as Shikamaru and Temari were called down to fight.
"By the way, dobe-," Sasuke began, but was quickly cut off by Naruto.
"You want to know about the armor and the weapons, correct?" Sasuke, slightly dumbfounded, merely nodded. "Don't worry, I plan to explain it to you and Sakura-chan, but not now. After the exams are over, then we can talk, since I don't want to repeat the same thing a number of times. One time will be unbelievable enough."
Sasuke nodded and faced the arena just as Shikamaru captured Temari with his Kagemane no Jutsu. He lifted his hand, forcing Temari to do the same, and… gave up.
Naruto chuckled, an action unknowingly emulated by both Choji and Asuma. "That Shika. For him, laziness will always win out in the end."
Sasuke nodded gruffly.
The match between Shino and Kankuro was called next, but Kankuro had declared forfeit mere seconds after the call. Amid the resultant boos, Genma acknowledged this and called out, "Final match of the first round, Gaara of the Sand vs Sasuke Uchiha!"
Sasuke easily jumped over the railing and landed in a crouch next to Genma, only a second after Gaara, who had used a Suna Shunshin.
"Fighters ready?" A slight tensing of Sasuke's muscles and a pop from the cork of Gaara's gourd were his answers. "Very well then… Hajime!"
Gaara wasted no time. With a single mental command, the sand now flowing around him solidified into shuriken and flew at the Uchiha, who had just activated his Sharingan.
With the capabilities of his kekkei genkai now at hand, Sasuke easily dodged the first volley. It was only when the second volley was fired and the first turned back towards the avenger that he began to have trouble. Pumping chakra all around his body, Sasuke began his first assault.
Just as the shuriken were about to reach him, Sasuke suddenly shot off in a blast of displaced air. This stunned Gaara enough that he was unable to block the roundhouse kick that connected with his jaw, sending him flying. His automatic defense had reacted a second too late, and that was all that the Uchiha had needed.
Not wasting any time, Sasuke shot off towards the redhead and began laying blows upon blows onto him. His movements were fast and precise. In fact…
"He emulated Lee's Goken style," Naruto commented lightly, a small smile appearing on his face.
After several blows and combos, Sasuke shot an axe kick toward Gaara's midsection that connected and sent the redhead crashing to the ground. The Uchiha landed a few meters away, his breathing slightly labored. When he checked into the crater for his opponent, however, he was thrown for a loop at the sight of the pile of sand at the epicenter. Quickly turning, he noticed Gaara standing some yards away, his sand armor resealing itself slowly and a manic grin on his face.
"Yes…" He rasped, "You… You shall feed mother… you shall make me feel alive!"
With a clap of his hands, an orb of sand materialized around him, covering him in a cocoon made of several layers of Gaara's special sand, making it stronger than steel. A small amount of sand moved some meters above the orb and created an eye, which quickly latched onto Sasuke's position and continued to stare at him.
Studying the orb and eye with his two-tomoed Sharingan, the last loyal Uchiha jumped back several feet and channeled his chakra as his sensei had taught him. After three precise hand seals, he held one hand palm-down and gripped the wrist with the other hand. A second later, a familiar sound to any Konoha shinobi appeared: the sound of chirping birds.
With a blast of speed, Sasuke blasted away from his position, lightning flying around his left hand and wrist. He dashed directly at Gaara's orb of sand, intending to punch a hole right through it. The sand eye followed his movements and, as if in response, several spikes shot out from the orb directly toward the Uchiha. Thanks to his Sharingan, Sasuke was able to avoid them and got close to the orb. With a single thrust at the sphere, he called out the original jutsu of his sensei…
"CHIDORI!"
With the sound of a small explosion, his arm drove directly through the sphere and Sasuke felt it pass through something else before he reached up to his shoulder. He maintained this position for a second before he heard a low voice ask, "What… is this feeling? This… liquid… is it…? BLOOD! IT'S MY BLOOD!"
A bloodcurdling scream came from the inside of the orb, and Sasuke suddenly felt the sand begin to constrict his arm. With a burst of chakra and a hard pull, he brought it out before the sand could crush it and quickly jumped away, now breathing much more heavily due to his chakra usage.
The sand surrounding Gaara contained the jinchūriki's scream for a few moments before it exploded. Once the airborne sand landed, everyone could see that Gaara had changed. The left side of his body had become covered in sand, which branched off in such a way that it seemed he was becoming the sand itself instead of the sand merely covering him. The sand seemed to have several blue lines crossing over it. And up to Gaara's face, the sand had covered about half of it, making it appear as if a strange metamorphosis was happening. The bloodthirsty grin on his face only made the visage all the more disturbing.
'Uh-oh,' Naruto thought, troubled at the change of events. He was about to pull out his Plasma Cutter when he felt a large influx of chakra and glowing feathers started falling from the sky. Recognizing the Genjutsu, he profusely thanked Hinata and Hanabi in their help with that field and quickly released his chakra in a sudden burst, ending the Genjutsu in time to see several spectators throw off their heavy cloaks to show Otogakure symbols and even more ninja jump over the wall of the arena to begin an attack on Konohagakure.
"An invasion?" Naruto questioned. He looked around and noticed that the other two Sand Siblings had left, grabbed their brother, and ran off into some nearby woods. Sasuke, having recognized and broken the illusion, chased after them. An explosion of smoke erupted in the Kage Booth, and several figures dashed out of it.
Naruto turned to Shino only to see him already up and ready. With a mutual nod, both ninja jumped out of the balcony, Naruto's helmet assembling around his head. Once they landed in the arena, Shino immediately sent his kikaichu at the nearest group of enemy ninja, who didn't see them on time and began screaming as they were surrounded by the bugs and drained of their chakra.
Naruto, meanwhile, stood a few feet away, using his Plasma Cutter and implanted experience in necromorph fighting to quickly disable or kill any enemies near him. After taking the arms off one enemy and the head off another's neck, he twisted and landed a heavy roundhouse kick at a ninja approaching from his left. He followed it up by firing several bolts at a group of ninja a few yards away, his pinpoint accuracy and compacted chakra destroying each of their necks.
With that taken care of, Naruto turned only to spot one Sunagakure ninja jumping right at Shino, who was unable to dodge or retaliate. Naruto used some chakra along with his thrusters to jump right at the man and tackle him in midair, sending them both to the ground. The blonde drew back his fist and landed a hook right to the man's jaw, rendering him unconscious. The blonde grabbed the man's arm and began spinning in place rapidly, releasing the arm second later and sending the Suna ninja in a collision course with another approaching ninja.
Naruto quickly stood back to back with Shino and said, "Shino, drain as many as you can! Let all of your kikaichu free! I'll cover you!"
"Arigato," was all the silent Aburame said, and promptly flared his sleeves, releasing a shitload of kikaichu which quickly began to attach themselves to any nearby enemy ninja. Naruto, meanwhile, was turning in place and hitting every single target he spotted around them.
As a two-man team, Shino and Naruto did admirably. They had managed to take down a total of thirty Suna and Oto ninja in the fifteen minutes that had passed since the invasion had started. This was duly noted by Kakashi, who was approaching their position while being flanked by Sakura, Ino, Kiba and Akamaru, Choji, and Shikamaru.
"Naruto, Shino!" The yell caught the attention of the two Genin, who finished up their current opponents through decapitation and chakra drainage, respectively, and turned to greet the quintet.
"What's up, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked calmly.
"Listen up. I need you two, along with these five- (bark!) ...six... to go after the three Sand Siblings and back up Sasuke. He can't take them on alone, not in the state he's in at the moment."
Naruto nodded resolutely and made his trademark hand sign. In a large explosion of smoke, fifty Kage Bunshin were suddenly standing around the group of startled and awed Konoha ninja, each one readying their own Plasma Cutters.
"These are all reinforced Kage Bunshin, Kakashi-sensei. Coupled with their armor, they're very hard to dispel. They're all yours to command."
Kakashi nodded in appreciation and said, "Great work, Naruto. Now go!"
Without another word, Naruto shot off in the same direction Sasuke had gone in. The other five Genin quickly followed after him.
Kakashi turned to the group of Kage Bunshin and reverted to his ANBU Captain mode. In a commanding voice, he called out, "Alright, listen up! We're doing this in groups of ten! I need five groups of you to back up several locations: the Academy, the Hospital, the North and West Entrances, and the Hokage Tower! If you pass by any Konoha ninja having trouble, don't hesitate to help! Once your intended positions are secure, move on to the village itself! Move out!"
"YES, SIR!" the Naruto Kage Bunshin called out, quickly separating into the intended groups and running out to do their missions. Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate, revealing his Sharingan, and pulled out a kunai, launching himself at the nearest enemy.
As Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino jumped from tree to tree in Sasuke's direction, the blonde slowed down in order to be next to Sakura and asked, "Sakura-chan?"
"Yes?" Sakura said, turning her head to regard her teammate.
"Did Kakashi-sensei explain the parameters of this mission?"
Sakura nodded. "Kakashi-sensei said that since Sasuke-kun already used the Chidori once, his chakra levels would be cut by half. He can only make one more before he has to rest for a long time. He also said that Gaara was especially dangerous and to be very careful of him and his sand."
Naruto nodded and filed the info away. The part about Gaara he already knew but not the part about the Chidori.
'Stay alive, teme.'
Said teme was currently kneeling on a tree branch and panting in exhaustion. He had tried his best against Gaara, but no matter what attacks he threw, the redhead survived like they were nothing. He had already reached his limit with the Chidori, and with Gaara advancing menacingly toward him, it seemed this was it for him.
A burning sensation appeared at his neck, making him wince in pain, and a slithery voice whispered in his head, saying promises of power if he only subjected to it...
"No," Sasuke said out loud, "I will not let you control me!"
Gaara, thinking that the Uchiha was talking to him, grinned even wider and launched himself with a yell towards Sasuke, who braced himself.
However, neither them nor Temari and Kankuro, who were watching from a distance, expected the blast of compressed chakra that suddenly flew in and slammed against Gaara, blasting him away from Sasuke and into a couple of trees, which toppled on top of him.
'What?!' was the thought of Temari and Kankuro.
'That can't have been the dobe. His attack isn't like that... Then who...?'
Sasuke's unspoken question was answered when two figures landed on each side of him., startling him. The one to his right had on armor that was identical to Naruto's, only with a different color scheme. Whoever it was was also wielding a large grey and yellow weapon in her right hand. Yes, her, since the round bumps on the figure's chest could only belong to a female. The one to his left had a suit on that had smoother armor and a more rounded helmet, both of which had a grey, checkerboard color palette. This figure also had breasts, only they were less noticeable, so definitely female. She was wielding a long weapon in her hands which had three cylinders in the front and a blue color scheme.
"Sasuke-san," the girl to his right spoke up, "Are you severely hurt?"
The voice sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't remember why. He proceeded the question and shook his head. "No, just some chakra exhaustion."
"Well, you better patch him up, oneechan. I can hold off this psycho for now," the second figure responded, her voice sounding only slightly younger than the other armored girl's.
"Who the heck are you?" Sasuke questioned as the right figure knelt to his side and pulled out a pill from a pocket of her suit.
After giving him the pill to swallow, the girl pressed a button on her wrist, which disassembled her helmet. The face that greeted him was not the one he expected.
"H-Hinata?!"
"Yes, it's me, Sasuke-san," the bluenette responded, "And my companion is my imouto Hanabi." The other armored girl merely nodded in his direction, not taking her eyes away from the spot where Gaara had flown to.
Sasuke was just starting to get up, his chakra returning slowly, when Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, and Team 10 burst from the foliage behind him, all prepared to do battle. Spotting them, Naruto quickly walked up to Sasuke... and promptly whacked him on the back of his head.
"Ow! The hell, dobe?!" Sasuke exclaimed.
"That's for chasing after an enemy that you had little Intel on, dumbass," Naruto responded. He turned to the two armored girls and said, "Hanabi-chan, Hinata-chan, glad you made it in time."
"Yeah, no thanks to you," Hanabi snorted, "The hell were you thinking, just leaving us behind like that?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his helmet sheepishly. "Well, I lost track of time! If I hadn't hurried, I'd have been disqualified!"
Hinata moved next to him and patted his shoulder, saying, "Well, now you know better, Naruto-kun. How was the match with Neji-niisan? I assume you wiped the floor with him."
To those who knew Hinata, mainly Kiba, Shino, and the girls, this bluenette in front of them was making their jaws drop with her stance and form of talking.
Naruto was about to answer, but a massive dose of killing intent blasted out from Gaara's crater, followed up by the trees that were covering him being flung away by pillars of sand. The blonde took the reins of the battle and called out, "Everyone, inventory report!"
"I've got some ointment for burns," Sakura said.
"I still have a few smoke bombs and one strong explosive tag. I also have several kunai and about a foot of wire," Sasuke followed up.
"I've got some kunai and shuriken on me, plus one smoke bomb," Kiba called out.
"Three kunai, ten shuriken," Shino said in his usual monotone.
"Troublesome... I've only got two kunai and some wire left," one guess as to who that was.
"I've got two kunai and two shuriken, plus my pills," Choji continued.
"I've... got nothing," Ino said sheepishly.
"Hinata-chan, Hanabi-chan?" Naruto prompted.
"One large, two medium, and one small med pack; Several packs of ammo for the Pulse Rifle; five kunai and seven shuriken; and my Plasma Cutter, Pulse Rifle, and Seeker Rifle; practically full on chakra too," Hanabi said.
"I have two Large Med Packs, three Medium ones, and five Small ones; my Plasma Cutter, a Javelin Gun, Force Gun, and a Line Gun; about three packs of Javelins; two soldier pills; and some kunai. My chakra is just about full as well," Hinata followed up.
Making several calculations in his head while watching the approaching Gaara, Naruto yelled, "Spread out!" and jumped, followed by everyone moving away not a moment before Gaara slammed the tree they were standing on with a lance of sand.
Landing on another tree branch, Naruto called out, "Hanabi-chan, Kiba, Shino, and Shikamaru, to me!"
The four of them approached his position, and he launched the first phase of his plan, "Listen up. We need to get Temari and Kankuro out of the way. I don't know if they plan to also fight, but I'd rather not give them the chance. Kiba, Shino, you guys go after Kankuro. You shouldn't have too much problem. Hanabi-chan, Shikamaru, you two go after Temari. You're already familiar with her fighting style, Shika, so you can help get this done quick!"
"Since when are you giving the orders?" Kiba asked incredulously.
The tree they were standing on rocked side to side as a wave of sand crashed against it, forcing them to relocate. Pushing down his annoyance, he yelled out, "Since no one else has a fucking plan! Look, I'll explain as I go!"
The four of them nodded and split off to find their respective targets. Meanwhile, Naruto turned to the rest of his comrades and said, "Alright, Sakura, Ino, I need you two on standby right now. I don't know what injuries will come out of this fight, so keep yourselves ready to help any of us. Sasuke, Hinata-chan, Choji, we're moving out against Gaara."
Everyone nodded. Together, the four Genin jumped toward their madly cackling opponent.
0o0o0o0o0o0 With Kiba and Shino 0o0o0o0o0o0
Using his nose and ears, Kiba quickly located Kankuro by the smell of oil and wood. Without a word, the two- (bark!) …three members of Team 8 landed right in front of the makeup-wearing boy, startling him.
"The hell?!" Kankuro questioned.
"You, puppet boy," Kiba called out, pointing at Kankuro, "are gonna be taken down!"
Kankuro sneered and brought out Karasu in one swift movement, the puppet's many limbs moving back and forth as the owner said, "As if you could, you stupid little boy."
This remark incensed Kiba, but a hand on his shoulder from Shino stopped him. "Calm yourself, Kiba. He is trying to anger you. Keep a cool head."
Kiba nodded and took a deep breath. With a determined look, he tossed Akamaru a pill, which the puppy caught between its teeth and chomped down on, and made a hand sign.
"Jūjin Bunshin! Shikyaku no Jutsu! Let's do this, Shino!"
"Hai," was all Shino said, releasing his kikaichū as his teammate and his teammate's clone prepared to battle.
0o0o0o0o0o0 With Hanabi and Shikamaru 0o0o0o0o0o0
Temari was severely startled when an armored girl and the lazy bum Shikamaru landed right in front of her.
"Well, let's get this over with," Shikamaru drawled.
"Come on, Shikamaru, be serious for once. You know what's at stake," the girl said.
"Mendosuke, fine, Hanabi," the Nara responded, pulling out a kunai as his eyes became focused and calculative.
"So, you two think you can stop me?" Temari called out, sounding more confident than she was. With a swift move, she pulled out her fan and opened it fully. "Well, let's just see!"
As Hanabi's helmet assembled around her head, Shikamaru tensed, and Temari began gathering chakra.
0o0o0o0o0o0 With Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Choji 0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Naruto and Hinata landed softly on a tree branch some paces away from Gaara, who merely stared at them maniacally. Sasuke and Choji landed not too far behind.
"Alright, I have a plan. Sasuke, we're gonna need two of those smoke bombs. Choji, I want you to begin gathering as much chakra as you can and get ready to slam a gigantic fist on top of short, red-haired, and creepy over there. Hinata-chan, you and I will be distraction. Hit him as hard as you can, but don't aim to kill, merely to disable. Sasuke, on my command!"
The last loyal Uchiha stared at his blonde teammate with wonder, but followed the order and jumped to a higher branch to keep a lookout. Choji was already working on the chakra, molding it in the perfect way for a large fist. Hinata merely nodded and reassembled her helmet, readying her Force Gun. Naruto readied his Plasma Cutter and jumped right for the bloodthirsty jinchūriki, followed closely by Hinata.
And that's the end of Chapter 2. Now, a reviewer mentioned that I sometimes say too much detail that isn't going to be brought to the spotlight at all. I apologize for that, but sometimes I just forget about certain things I write and I only remember when I re-read the chapter. I'll try to tone down on it.