Author's Notes: This entire chapter was originally the lion's share of the first chapter, but when the story went into rewrite, I was able to make an entire new chapter out of the introduction. Clearly it needed the extra time reading it over. It didn't need the broken hand that much. I've changed up a few things, but it won't change the general pattern of the chapter, just build upon what was added.
One fix that was done was making it more vague about what Neji actually did to Naruto, since some people pointed out that the seal should be very difficult to disrupt.
Chapter 2: The Perfect Storm
Tenten knew something was up. First, she'd been briefed by Mizuki that they'd be working with some people brought in as part of a pilot program. When Iruka came in, he initially showed signs he was aware of the fact that people had been brought in for this exercise, then he took her aside for an interview. He first showed her a random cross section of the people who were in the room, both her class and those Mizuki had brought in.
"Tell me honestly, Are you fully aware of who all of these people are?" Iruka asked, and she shook her head, "On the back of anyone you cannot trust, please sign your name,"
Later, she mused, she was thankful she'd not been given a picture of Neji Hyuga to sign. Even if she had, until then, thought she knew him, she had doubts about him due to the things he muttered about. After that day, she realised that she'd not actually known the real Neji Hyuga at all, just the facade he'd put up after the Hyuga affair.
When she got into the other room, she noticed something odd. One of the students, who she recognised as Uzumaki Naruto, a notorious prankster, didn't have anyone with him. She went to Mizuki to ask about the reasoning.
"Don't worry. All the team assignments were drawn up beforehand, based on the standard criteria," Mizuki told her, an almost rehearsed statement. She went to Iruka next, hoping he'd be able to show her the list, allaying her fears.
"Mizuki, Can I have a look at the team assignments?" Iruka stated, Mizuki looking worried. If it hadn't have been for the message earlier, he'd just think it was due to a paperwork error.
"I'll be finalizing them with the Jounin shortly," Mizuki stated, "Leave me alone. I get enough from the students. This whole idea of yours is a logistical nightmare..."
"Tenten, go talk with the other students, see if anyone else has approached Mizuki about Naruto..." Iruka hissed, "I think that you can guess what's really going on..."
Tenten then knew. Naruto didn't have a team assigned at all, and was intended to be beaten like a drum as he discovered 'no one' would team with him, and he shouldn't have ever tried to be a ninja. Looking round for any signs someone else got the same response, She saw Hinata Hyuga sat looking disappointed and sat with her.
"Let me guess… 'All the team assignments were drawn up beforehand...'" She began, Hinata nodding, "Mizuki's stonewalling anyone who wants to team with Naruto, which is suspicious as hell. Look, I'm projected to be Neji's teammate as well as Lee's. Tell you what. You and me go to the Jounin with Naruto, he can sub for Gai today, while you sub for Neji. If it works out, the Jounin would definitely put you with Naruto if you were to ask,"
Her expression lit up like a New Year's firework. The Jounin approved the team immediately, thankful someone finally was asking the right questions.
"Naruto is projected to be working with Sasuke and Sakura. Unfortunately, they decided to join up with Kiba without telling me beforehand," Mizuki tried, "It was an unfortunate mistake..."
"This exercise was organized specifically since the assignment of both Naruto and Hinata were diplomatically unwise..." Asuma drawled, "Are you telling me you decided to keep that team assignment active, when it was specifically called out about in the discussion?! That would be a drag..."
"We have already approved this unconventional team," Kurenai stated, looking towards Gai, "Would you mind if we poached one of yours..."
"Lee! I have a challenge for you. Prove to me that you can fight everyone in this room with no backup!" Gai called, for Lee to respond with a rambunctious, "Yes, Sensei!", Gai declaring, "This team will be indeed unconventional. For this exercise only, I vote we permit teams of any gender mix! We have gone boy-boy-girl for years. These two have shown exactly what we should be thinking of!"
Tenten chuckled. He had, in his own way said 'Stuff the regulations, Let's do what's right for once!'. If she could help out Naruto and Hinata at the same time, it would be even more interesting. As Naruto began his warm-up exercises, she frowned. He was using heavily outdated, and easily countered, taijutsu.
"Naruto, The way I was being trained, It was designed to work with Lee only able to use taijutsu, so I am pretty good with knowing those forms… Now, What I need you to do is this..." She began, as she outlined how she planned to lead their team through this exercise. She had a lot to prove, and only one day to prove it...
Iruka and the Jounin watched the proceedings with hidden mirth as he stepped aside and let Mizuki and his allies within the teaching staff do what the hell they liked, as he discussed the moving in and out of members of teams within the groups with them. What had been labelled on the scoreboards as Team 10 was becoming the source of indignation within the other side of the room.
The reason for that? They were demolishing the opposition... without fail.
Early on, Tenten and Hinata acted as a screen through which very few people got through, Naruto's sloppy and outdated taijutsu only coming into use when someone slipped past them. At first, Naruto was itching for those few moments, but he soon was accepting Tenten's judgements, and both Naruto and Hinata were nodding and accepting her instructions, as well as being tested on weapons to supplement their strikes, Naruto ending up with fist daggers, while Hinata accepted a bo staff.
Iruka looked thoughtful, as did Neji, who actually was heard to mutter about the fact the staff kept her to strictly melee, but effectively doubled her effective range.
One telling moment was when one of the 'ringers' was about to use a blatantly illegal manoeuvre intended to at least bench Hinata, he body checked them, citing that he had a 'bad encounter' with what he'd been doing, and not all of them had really good healing. Iruka had managed to overrule the judges who declared Naruto's blocking technique was not approved taijutsu, pointing out that the other fighter had already done a technical foul.
The most telling thing was that, according to Sakura Haruno, Naruto had initially been pretty much ready to form up as part of the typical 'weak-strong-strong' team, and she could tell, but now…
He was celebrating alongside Hinata and Tenten, as they won another of their matches. Even better, Naruto's team had, discreetly, helped him with the weaknesses in his combat style, and Iruka promptly made a note in his report that, if this team did happen, he expected them to eclipse the three sannin by the time they reached Chunin, and if it didn't, he wanted to know why.
"Gai, I need to meet with you..." He stated, waving towards Team 10, "I think we have found the solution to the problems we were having,"
Tenten walked over, thumbing through the pile of missions, picking out clearing out the training areas, for them to stop her.
"Tenten, you did a very good thing. You sol..." Gai began, then cursed as the inevitable happened while Tenten was distracted. Mizuki had lined Neji up against Hinata, and the red mist had clearly descended. He was striking to harm. Tenten hurried away from them to join Naruto in stepping in to break up the match, Hinata being walked towards the medic, coughing up blood and clearly near death, Tenten's look thunderous.
Neji wasn't one of Mizuki's ringers. A demand to demote her for stepping in without permission was heard, and a whispered comment from Gai, the quietest he'd ever spoke, suggested that they do demote her, but not for that reason. They had already been planning to slip her into Naruto's team. If they were this solid a team unit in the Academy, once they graduated, they'd be soaring through the ranks, the jounin listing Tenten as a ranged specialist, Hinata as the close range fighter and scout, and Naruto's pranks turning him into a devastating trap specialist.
"Iruka, I wish to open a single person cell, using Lee. I have a feeling my original team plans are about to get ruined by something most unyouthful..." Gai muttered, as ranks began to close, not against Naruto, but Neji...
"Kiba, I have a question for you… If that was Hana, would you be still beating her up when clearly she needs medic nin attention?" Naruto was asking slowly, while holding Neji's hand in a vice grip. A few of the less radical judges were muttering about the fact he wasn't even winded doing so. A few of the more radical ones were also noting that Naruto was ready to kill for what had happened in that fight, and a few handed messages to Mizuki before getting up, and he looked very pale.
They'd pulled the fox's tail and none of them wanted to deal with the results. Naruto had endeared himself to a lot of people when he acted the role of 'concerned citizen', and most of them knew that this wasn't a demon talking, this was a ninja of the leaf. This was someone who would fight for them, and all they needed to do was support him… so every single one of the hand-picked judges were backing Naruto.
"Are you nuts?!" Kiba snapped, "Never mind that she's family, I'd be cleaning out the kennels for weeks if she told me I caused one of her nin-dogs to be in the vet for the next month, and I'd not get as far as that baka did without getting one of them attempting to rip out my throat. I'd probably lose Akamaru if she or one of her dogs died because of me, and that would be the second-worst thing possible!"
"And I know what the first would be… Neji Hyuga, You were going to be recommended for my team, with Tenten and Lee as your teammates..." Gai stated, his tone losing the jovial exuberance he was known for, Tenten looking up at the mention of her name, "Due to circumstances, I will not be making that team recommendation. One of them is Tenten would be heart-broken. The other… She may not be a dog, but Kiba's point stands. May I have Neji's permanent academy records?"
After a brief search, one of the teachers gave it him, for Gai to not even open it, simply lighting up a simple flame jutsu, before dropping it in the bin. The message was obvious. Neji had broke a cardinal rule of the village. He'd engaged in an attempt at cold blooded murder of a fellow ninja of the Leaf. He wasn't just getting sent back a year or more. He was permanently expelled from the Academy.
A folder was taken out, and a standard academy file sheet filled out, purely for clerical reasons, a red ink bottle being taken out, as Gai wrote a comment… 'High risk to allies. NOT recommended for further training,'
"Be thankful it's just expulsion and your grades being annulled… We do not go round assassinating our allies..." Gai stated firmly, one of the judges putting up a hand, for him to add, almost sheepishly, "Except where a mission requires it, like when they go nuke-nin, but both of you are on the same side… This was a friendly training exercise. If she does die… Well, I wouldn't want to be you..."
"You have no business interfering with clan business..." Neji growled at both Naruto and Gai, not really noticing over half the room was giving him looks that could kill. His callous attitude meant, even if he hadn't been expelled, no-one would team with him. He wasn't even showing remorse. Naruto had been right. If it was their family who they had got picked against, it would be a friendly spar, not that decimation.
If it had been something like the Chunin Exams, it wouldn't be a problem, Team members fought Team members to be the winner of the exhibitional tournament, but now...
"Oh, Clan business? In that case, After this is over, you, me and the Hokage will be marching up to Hiashi, and asking him if you were hired by a clan member to assassinate Hinata..." Iruka stated, pausing before adding, "If you did it off your own back, well… I doubt you will be seen again, while if you were hired... You might become a ninja in a few years..."
"Naruto, since you're fit to spar, and Team 10's leader is busy with the other member, You will spar with Neji… If Hinata is cleared by the medic-nin, the winner will be given the option of doing a match with her before we break to give time for Iruka to deal with this… little incident..." Mizuki abruptly stated, and Iruka knew what Mizuki was doing, even as Gai reluctantly agreed. He discussed with Gai that Tenten would be assigned to Naruto's team, even as he considered what would likely happen.
"He is not a ninja of the leaf!" Gai snapped, "By what right does he have to be given this spar?"
"Gai, He hurt one of my precious people..." Naruto stated, "I once heard one of my guards say that he who abandons their team mates is trash… Well, I guess I have two really good reasons to give Neji one last fight... No kid gloves. I have a nuke-nin to put down..."
Kakashi's eyebrow retreated into his hairline. Naruto had quoted one of his life lessons. Even if he wasn't likely to be Team 10's Jounin instructor, Naruto had learned the lesson of Team Minato's fall. Meanwhile, Iruka looked towards Mizuki. He could see him talking with Neji. Likely Mizuki hoped both Naruto and Hinata ended up in a pine box. Neji had nothing to lose but his life, and he'd die satisfied whatever required him to kill her had been fulfilled, so he was right now the second most dangerous thing in the room.
However, if Naruto did win, He'd throw the match with Hinata after Neji was taken off to be likely encouraged to commit seppuku by a very angry father, and both Hinata and Tenten would be positively glued to Naruto's sides for the rest of his career, maybe even longer if he judged things right. Naruto did have both the Uzumaki and the Namikaze bloodlines to continue, and two very nice girls who would stick by him.
When Neji went in with the same techniques as earlier, he became even more convinced this was the culimination of Mizuki's entire quickly thought out plan. What, however, surprised them was that Naruto had clearly watched the earlier fight, since he was holding his own, the jyuken strikes falling off target and causing a few winces from Naruto as a less important part of his chakra pathways was disrupted. Even when it did hit right, Naruto made a wild strike to force Neji to move back and fail to capitalize.
Hinata was even watching every miss or scrape, as Naruto made it look easy to deal with Neji, Tenten looking smug from the sidelines. Their man was doing exactly what they wanted from him. The former self-proclaimed Hyuga Genius was being dismantled before his inevitable and ignominious death. No-one was sure what happened next.
After a strike went wild, Naruto began screaming, clawing at his stomach as chakra began erupting from him, Neji shaking his hand in pain. Hinata got up, studying Naruto's chakra pathways to try to stabilize it, pausing doing several jyuken strikes, frowning, before doing another set, then everyone heard a loud crack, before there was an odd smell, similar to after a lightning jutsu, and Naruto and Hinata were flung into opposing walls, both sliding down and leaving a bloody streak.
"Get them to the hospital NOW," Iruka snapped, "Neji Hyuga, you just earned yourself the one meeting with the Hokage that you don't leave. Get me Ibiki, and tell him and Hiashi to meet me upstairs... I don't fucking care if you had an accomplice right now..."
He didn't need to look to know why they left a bloody streak. She'd managed to fix the disruption, undoubtedly to part of what kept the seal for the Kyuubi stable, and that much chakra involved in something like that...
If she was immensely lucky, she'd have not flash blinded herself, and had only reopened the wounds she'd got from Neji in the first place. But he doubted it. More likely, she'd killed herself when the unstable chakra went off like a bomb right next to her.
