Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any properties in this work that I did not make myself.

Before the redemption

Chapter three: The Chunnin Tournament part two- The dog, feral

Pirate Inuzuka was is a somber mood as she walked down a street one evening in the village of Konohagakure. Just thirty minutes previous, Pirate had to inform her niece and nephew, Hana and Kiba respectively, that their fellow Inuzuka clan member Gaku had died earlier today, due to a mix of sickness and starvation.

Pirate recalled her nephew Kiba looking especially heartbroken by this news; as he and Gaku were the only two ninja in the Inuzuka clan who weren't kunoichi, Kiba looked up to Gaku quite a bit. As Kiba never really got to know his father Banyo due to Tsume chasing him off (as in she divorced Banyo) back when Kiba was so young, Kiba sort-of saw Gaku as his father. Gaku died about two or so hours before Kiba came home.

And the timing could not have been worse in Pirate's opinion; Konoha was currently hosting a combat tournament, called the Chunnin Tournament, where Kiba and all of his friends who were still chunnin would square off against each other in one-on-one matches. The round one matches took place earlier today; Kiba, with his Ninkin partner Akamaru at his side, won his round one match against Lady Tsunade's apprentice Sakura Haruno.

Hearing about Gaku's death, just after coming home from his round one victory, really brought down Kiba's mood.

As the somber business of managing Gaku's estate, as well as making final arrangements for Gaku's remains, was being handled, Pirate was looking for someone. According to Kiba, the match-ups for the round two matches haven't even been decided yet; due to damage caused to the Chunnin Tournament's arena by Haruno's chakra-enhanced strength and Akimichi's Human Juggernaut, it will be a while before the second-round matches are held.

That gave Pirate all the time she needed to find the person who was in charge of deciding the match-ups for round two.

As she walked past Ichiraku Ramen, the Inuzuka kunoichi heard a customer who was dining there talking to Teuchi the ramen guy. "The round one matches in the Chunnin Tournament today sure were amazing!" the customer, clearly a male that Pirate estimated to be a few years younger than herself, could be heard saying to the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, "Leave it to Lady Fifth to have a great mind when it comes to deciding match-ups!"

"I'm glad to hear that Naruto won his match in round one," a female voice replied to the customer; Pirate believed this voice to be that of Teuchi's daughter Ayame, who worked at her father's ramen place.

"You know, I haven't seen Naruto come in for quite a while," Teuchi's voice could be heard saying, "It must be due to all of the missions he's been doing ever since he went up in rank. He's a real go-getter, that Naruto. His victory in his round one match in the Chunnin Tournament is further proof of that, if you ask me."

"Do you know who else won in round one?" Ayame's voice could be heard asking.

"Inuzuka, Akimichi, Hyuga, and Gai's kunoichi student," the customer's voice replied.

"Ah, so Choji won as well!" Teuchi's voice said, "I've seen him come by here quite a lot as well. In fact, Choji's been a more frequent customer than Naruto as of late."

"I don't suppose you know the match-ups Lady Tsunade decided upon for round two, do you?" Ayame's voice could be heard asking.

"Oh, Lady Tsunade left the business of deciding the round-two match-ups to me," the customer's voice replied, "I think Lady Tsunade was more concerned about personally seeing to her apprentice's recovery. Inuzuka did give that girl one hell of a beating in their match, after all."

"…You don't say," Pirate thought as she turned to face Ichiraku Ramen, figuring she had enough ryo on-hand to buy the least expensive bowl of ramen on the menu. (1) Entering the popular ramen establishment, Pirate saw that there were only three people inside; Teuchi, his daughter Ayame, and a random Konoha shinobi in his mid to late thirties. He wore a flask jacket, so he had to at the very least be a chunnin. Looking to the establishment's owner, Pirate greeted him with a friendly-sounding, "Word up with thee?"

"Can I help you, ma'am?" Teuchi asked in a kind, professional manner befitting a man who has been in the ramen business for a good number of years.

Taking a quick look at the menu on the wall, or more specifically the prices, Pirate realized that she would actually have a bit more money to work with than she had originally anticipated. Shifting her gaze back to Teuchi, Pirate replied, "I heard a lot of people, mostly kids in their teens, speak nothing but praise for this place. I figured I'd give dining here a shot." As she gave her explanation, Pirate walked over to the bar, sat in the stool on the left of the Konoha shinobi, and ordered the least expensive bowl of ramen on the menu.

As Teuchi went about making up Pirate's order while Ayame went into the back to check on how much ingredients for making ramen were left, Pirate turned to regard the Konoha shinobi on her right. "So, tell me, young man," Pirate said to the Konoha shinobi, "What brings a shinobi like yourself over here?"

"I was just looking to grab some dinner," the Konoha shinobi replied as the conversation that Pirate was hoping for started up, "You know, eat out while going over who to pair up with who in the Chunnin Tournament's second round matches."

"You don't say," Pirate remarked as she asked for a thing of sake and two sake cups; Pirate can afford it, though it would leave her current on-hand funds looking rather anemic as a result. But Pirate figured that if she can get secrets out of her older twin sister Tsume by plying her with alcohol (Tsume was a sucker for Pape Konoha's Brand Lager), Pirate figured that the same can be done with the kid sitting next to her. (2)

As the Inuzuka kunoichi poured both herself and the Konoha shinobi one cup of sake each, Pirate asked as she slid one of the cups over to her impromptu drinking partner, "I don't suppose you'd care to tell me who's going to be in round two of the Chunnin Tournament, do you?"

"Let me pull my list out," the Konoha shinobi replied as he reached into his back-right pocket on his pants to pull out a folded-up sheet of paper. When the Konoha shinobi unfolded the sheet of paper, Pirate saw various possible pairings written out. "The real pain in the rear is that, with five chunnin competing in round two, the odd one out will have to fight the winner of one of the matches in round two," the Konoha shinobi remarked, "I'm not quite sure who to make the odd chunnin out, though." The Konoha shinobi drained the cup of sake that Pirate offered him, then asked for more. Pirate was all too happy to oblige the young man, as she wanted him as loosened by drink as possible. Loose lips sink ships and all that jazz.

"I don't think that Uzumaki should be the odd chunnin out, if you want my opinion," Pirate remarked. Hearing Pirate mention Naruto's name caught Ayame's attention; Ayame had taken over for her father in preparing food since Teuchi had left to make a delivery in the time Pirate and the Konoha shinobi had been talking to each other thus far.

"You don't think Naruto should be the odd one out?" Ayame asked loud enough to be heard; as she was facing away from the customers, not wanting to take her eyes off of the food she was preparing, Ayame had to speak a bit louder.

"That kid's a frigg'en beast from what I've been hearing," Pirate remarked, having heard enough of Naruto's reputation to be able to give a reasonable (and believable) spiel to Ayame and the Konoha shinobi, "Hell, I'm surprised that the boy's still a chunnin. Uzumaki should be a jonin by now, if what I've been hearing about him is correct!"

"You got a point," the Konoha shinobi remarked to the Inuzuka kunoichi, "In fact, Naruto's probably going to win his first round-two match, regardless of who he's paired to face, so pairing the winner of that match against the odd chunnin out later in round two may be the best course of action, in the interest of fairness."

"If anyone can win two matches in round two of the Chunnin Tournament, it's Naruto," Ayame said in a confident tone.

Seeing that her impromptu drinking partner's sake cup was once again empty, Pirate offered to fill it up again. As the Konoha shinobi gratefully accepted more sake, Pirate said to him in a somewhat sly manner, "I don't suppose you'd be interested in letting me help you brainstorm some ideas for match-ups in round two, do you?"


The next day, Naruto Uzumaki was grabbing lunch somewhere in Konoha. The blonde chunnin was glad for the break between rounds in the Chunnin Tournament; Naruto was confident in his skills as a shinobi, not to mention the fact that he's got Kurama in his corner. But seeing as how this is not war, Naruto saw no reason for there to be multiple days of back-to-back combat. It's nice to take a breather every once and a while, ya know?

Thus, Naruto was grabbing lunch (okay, Naruto was just drinking a soda; but it was a large one) at some establishment somewhere in Konoha. Naruto wasn't alone in his dining either; Udon, one of the three genin who looks up to Naruto as a big brother figure, spotted Naruto as he entered the establishment, ran up to him, and asked to join him, saying that he needed to talk something over with him. Seeing that Udon wore a concerned look on his face, Naruto let the bespectacled genin join him.

"…A stalker?" Naruto said in a tone that was three parts confused, seven parts worried as Udon was telling a story. (3)

Staring down at his chicken sandwich, Udon replied, "Y-yeah, Big Bro. Konohamaru, Moegi and I have been getting the feeling that there's a stalker following us around. It's usually at one of the training grounds, mostly the one to practice aim with throwing weapons."

"I'll let Granny Tsunade know as soon as I can," Naruto said before taking a sip of his drink, "She can set up a watch, and maybe catch this stalker red-handed."

"You really think so, Big Bro?" Udon asked.

Nodding assuredly, Naruto replied, "Udon, when have I ever-"

"I still can't believe how brutal your teammate is, Hinata," Sakura's voice said, loud enough for Naruto to hear. Shifting his gaze slightly, Naruto saw his friend and teammate, Sakura Haruno, getting lunch with the other girls of the Konoha eleven; Hinata Hyuga, Ino Yamanaka and Tenten. Naruto silently signaled Udon to be quiet; although Naruto knew the girls were here, the girls didn't know Naruto was here.

"Seriously, Hinata," Sakura said to the Hyuga chunnin, "Kiba seemed less like the brash, prideful guy we all have always known him to be, and more like a man possessed."

"I'm going to have to agree with Sakura on this one," Tenten remarked, "What the hell has gotten into Kiba?"

"I…I have no clue what to tell you girls," Hinata admitted worriedly, "I've never seen Kiba like this before. I have no clue what's making him act so hostile. What's worse is that Akamaru is acting in the same manner towards everyone other than Kiba and everyone else in their clan."

"Well hopefully whoever is paired to fight him in the second round of the Chunnin Tournament will knock some sense into the beast," Ino said firmly. When Hinata gave her a look that was three parts appalled and seven parts confused, Ino continued, "Oh come on, Hinata! Did you not see how badly Kiba beat Sakura? Did you not notice how coolly he dismissed what little praise he got for winning yesterday?" Leaning somewhat closer to Hinata (they sat across from each other and at opposite corners), Ino said, "Do you not remember how cruelly he snapped at you?"

"…" Hinata did not reply to Ino's questioning, instead looking down sadly at her meal.

"Well girls, just let me handle it," Tenten said in a confident tone.

"You, Tenten?" Sakura asked, looking mildly lost.

"You girls forget that I've been in the ninja business for a year more than you," Tenten pointed out. Leaning back in her seat, Tenten continued in a self-amused tone as she jerked a thumb as her chest, "Just let your good ol' Tenten-sempai clean up your mess for you. I'm going to be winning the Chunnin Tournament, after all."

"You aren't going to win," Hinata said, drawing the attention of the other girls.

"…What do you mean I'm not going to win?" Tenten asked in a suspicious tone, "What, you think you can beat me? Girl, I've been training with a member of your clan for years. I know just how to-"

"I'm not going to win either," Hinata interrupted in a casual tone as she picked up a fry, dipped in in a small pile of ketchup that was on her burger wrapper, and popped it into her mouth.

Her suspicious tone replaced with one of confusion, Tenten asked, "What are you talking about, Hinata?"

"Hinata, I thought that you've finally gotten over your past insecurity and built up some confidence," Ino remarked in a mildly concerned tone, "Don't tell me that you're relapsing."

Smiling in a knowing manner, Sakura said to the Yamanaka chunnin, "Relax, Ino. That's not the case at all." Turning her head to regard Hinata, Sakura continued, "You think Naruto's going to win, don't you, Hinata?"

"Not think, know," Hinata replied, "I know Naruto-kun's going to win."

Giggling in a mildly mischievous manner, Tenten remarked, "You seriously got it bad for Naruto, don't you Hinata?" Clapping the Hyuga chunnin on the back, Tenten said in an amused tone, "Sorry to burst your bubble, hon, but I'm going to be wrecking your little boyfriend in the Chunnin Tournament. Assuming, of course, I get to fight him."

"H-h-h-he's not m-my boyfriend!" Hinata stammered in embarrassment. Scrunching up somewhat, Hinata looked down at her lunch, blushing spreading across her face. "Although that would be really, really nice, now that you mention it," Hinata added shyly.

Back over at the counter where Naruto and Udon were having lunch, Naruto whispered, "Hey Udon, you wanna go?"

"Yeah sure, but why?" Udon asked, "I mean, my hearing isn't as good as yours, Big Bro, so I couldn't hear anything those girls were talking about. Did one of them say something that made you feel uncomfortable?"

"Not really," Naruto replied, draining the last of his soda (there weren't any ice cubes) and tossing it in a trash can next to the door as he and Udon exited the establishment. "Quite the opposite, actually," Naruto thought as a small smile appeared on his face.


If a shinobi in his clan dying was the only way that he'd finally get something to eat, then Kiba Inuzuka would much rather starve to death.

The estate of the late Gaku Inuzuka had been liquidated, and as such there was finally a bit of money to go around in the Inuzuka clan. Tearing a bite out of a melon-flavored melon bread that his older sister Hana had gotten for him when she did a quick run to a convenience store, Kiba could not help but scowl. If it wasn't for the fact that tears were slowly running down the sides of his face, one would think that nothing but angry thoughts were running through Kiba's mind at the moment.

There were still plenty of angry thoughts, though.

Kiba was sitting at the dining room table in his family's home in the Inuzuka clan compound. He turned the chair he was sitting in to the right before sitting down; this resulted in Kiba facing the living room area. Kiba was somewhat hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees, as he brought the melon bread he was eating (it was in his right hand) up to his mouth so he could take another bite.

Never did something so sweet taste so bitter to the Inuzuka chunnin.

As he chewed his latest bite, Kiba looked down to his right; Akamaru, Kiba's loyal Ninkin, was laying on the floor on Kiba's right. Kiba, his expression softening upon looking to his Ninkin, tore a bit of his melon bread off and tossed it to the large ninja dog, who quickly snapped it up. With a small but sad smile, Kiba reached down to ruffle the top of his loyal ninja dog's head.

Kiba's and Akamaru's attention was brought over to the front door when they both heard it open; walking into the house was Kiba's sister Hana, along with their Aunt Pirate. Both women were carrying a number of grocery bags. Akamaru had gotten up and walked over to greet the two Inuzuka kunoichi, sniffing at the grocery bags in a curious manner as he wagged his tail.

"Kiba, call your dog off, would you?" Pirate said, more asking than telling. At Kiba's command, Akamaru immediately trotted back over to his side. "I bet you weren't expecting this, dear nephew of mine," Pirate said with a slightly mischievous grin as she held up the grocery bags she was carrying, "But the three of us are going to get to do something tonight that we haven't done yet this week. Have dinner!"

"Our clan's Ninkin got food too, right?" Kiba asked, a concerned look on his face.

"What do you think the kunoichi working at our clan's kennel took care of when I handed them some of the money from Gaku's liquidated estate?" Pirate replied, "Don't worry, Kiba. They got enough bags of dog food to make sure all of the Ninkin are fed."

His shoulders sagging somewhat in a sign of relief, Kiba said, "Good." Leaning back in the chair that he sat in, Kiba sighed and said, "That's good." Turning the chair that he sat in back around so that he was properly sitting at the table, Kiba laid his arms across each on the surface in front of him, then laid his head down on his arms so that his forehead was pressing against the arms. "…Why did this have to happen?" Kiba said sadly.

"Why did we have to get food?" Hana asked in a confused tone.

"Not getting the food in and of itself, I mean how we were able to get it," Kiba corrected.

"It's just the Inuzuka clan's lot in life, Kiba," Pirate replied, "Even though we did not chose it, even though we cannot escape it, no matter how many mission our clan's shinobi complete to try and do something about our funding problem, not to mention our debt."

Setting the bags that she was carrying down on the table at the end opposite of where Kiba was sitting, Pirate said, "You know, dear nephew of mine, who's to blame for this."

"…Hyuga…" Kiba muttered bitterly.

"Aunt Pirate, will you please quit trying to fill Kiba's head with that nonsense?" Hana asked, "The Hyuga clan is nowhere near as bad as you and most of the other women in our clan are painting them out to be!"

"She's got a point, Aunt Pirate," Kiba remarked as he stood up, "The Hyuga clan isn't as bad as they're being painted out to be." Hana looked happy that her younger brother seemed to have finally stopped believing the anti-Hyuga spiel that their aunt and most of the Inuzuka clan's other kunoichi have been going on about. However, Hana's smile was dashed when Kiba, his brow furrowed, said, "You and the other women of our clan have been far too generous. The Hyuga clan's loads worse than what has actually been said about them."

Pirate gave an uproarious bark of laughter. "Ah man, Kiba, that is too true," Pirate said as she wiped a tear from her eye. Unable to stand being in the vicinity, Hana sat the groceries she was carrying down and ran off to her bedroom. "Ah, don't mind her," Pirate said, "She'll be forced to come out when dinner is ready. That girl may be able to fool herself, but Hana cannot fool her stomach. She's just as hungry as the rest of the Inuzuka clan."

As she went about putting groceries away, Pirate continued, "But you especially have to eat tonight. The second round of the Chunnin Tournament is tomorrow, isn't it? You'll be needing as much strength as you can muster."

"Yeah, the Chunnin Tournament's next round is tomorrow," Kiba replied as he sat back down in the chair he was using. Somberly, Kiba remarked, "I wish Gaku was still alive, though. I bet that he would have loved to see Akamaru and I win the whole shebang."

As she was facing away from her nephew (she was putting some cans of food in a cabinet), Pirate's knowing smirk was not seen. "…Something tells me that you'll be doing Gaku proud tomorrow, Kiba," Pirate remarked, her smirk growing slightly.


The next day, everyone had gathered over at the arena where the first-round matches of the Chunnin Tournament took place. The representatives from Suna, Iwa and Kiri were back in their viewing boxes, and the Konoha eleven, with Kurenai Yuhi and Might Gai watching them, were waiting around on the walkway that overlooked the arena. Even though Sakura, Shikamaru, Ino, Shino and Rock Lee were all knocked out, they still came to watch and cheer on their friends who were still in the Chunnin Tournament.

"Okay, Choji," Ino said to her teammate as she and Shikamaru were giving the Akimichi chunnin a pep-talk, "You're the only one out of Team Asuma to have made it past the first round. It's up to you to do Asuma-sensei proud, alright?"

"I don't intend to lose," Choji replied in a confident tone, "And even if I do go down, it won't be without a fight."

Patting his best friend's right shoulder, Shikamaru said, "We have the utmost confidence in you, Choji. When you get out there, make sure you wow the audience."

"Of course," Choji remarked with a nod.

A different kind of conversation was going down over where Gai and his students were waiting around. For starters, Gai and Rock Lee, with tears streaming down their respective faces, were giving Tenten a group hug.

"Oh Tenten!" Gai exclaimed tearfully, "As your teacher, I have done wrong by you! By putting more focus onto Neji due to him being a jonin, as well as putting more focus onto Rock Lee due to his steadfast dedication to his dream of becoming a splendid ninja with only Taijitsu, I have left you in the dark! But you have proven, by your own merits, that you have what it takes to stand with the boys! Please forgive me!"

"Please forgive me as well!" Rock Lee exclaimed, "I knew that you were skilled, but I did not expect that skill to be equal to that of my own, or that of others who I have chosen as rivals! I did not give you the credit that you so rightfully deserve!"

"Umm," Tenten said as she tried to wiggle out of the group hug, "That's, ehh…alright." With Neji's help in prying the Taijitsu masters off of her, Tenten was finally freed of the group hug. Facing the guys on her team, Tenten said with a confident smirk, "Lee, Gai-sensei, the two of you can make it up to me by cheering me on as win all of my matches, not to mention when I win the Chunnin Tournament as a whole."

"I like that confidence of yours, Tenten," Gai said as he did his trademarked nice-guy pose, "You're going to be a shining star in Konoha, that's for sure!"

"Excuse me, everyone!" Shizune's voice called down from the arena. All eyes turned to where Shizune, who is acting as a proctor for the Chunnin Tournament, stood in the arena. "We're about to begin the second round of the Chunnin Tournament," Shizune announced, "The first match of round two will be between Naruto and Choji!"

"Oh man, good luck with that," Shikamaru said to his best friend as he patted the Akimichi chunnin on the back.

"Grr," Tenten muttered up where she waited with her team, "Naruto better not lose to Choji. I've already called dibs on being the person to knock Naruto out!"

Down in the arena, as Naruto and Choji stood before each other, Choji said, "Hey Naruto, just so you know, I'm afraid that I can't allow myself to lose to you." Jerking a thumb up to the viewing box for Konoha natives, Choji said, "I've got someone special watching, so I can't afford to look uncool in front of her." Naruto shifted his gaze somewhat to the Konoha viewing box; he saw Karui sitting next to three Akimichi clan men.

Shifting his gaze back to his opponent, Naruto remarked, "Then you better focus on not looking uncool, because I'm going to win this one."

Smirking in an amused manner, Choji said, "I'm glad to see that you're going to take this seriously. I'd hate for you to sandbag me."

Raising her right hand, Shizune announced, "This round two match will be between Naruto Uzumaki and Choji Akimichi! Now then…BEGIN!"

Both chunnin leapt back to get some distance from each other. Choji immediately used Human Juggernaut to turn into a large ball, then proceeded to roll right at Naruto. The blonde chunnin made a sideward leap to his left to avoid being flattened. When the rolling sphere of Choji made a turn to try and continue running down Naruto, Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh yeah," Naruto thought as Choji continued to roll at him, "Choji can do that."

Naruto acted quickly, bringing his hands together to make a hand sign. Right as Naruto did so, Choji rolled up and seemingly struck him. Coming out of his Human Juggernaut, Choji pumped a fist into the air and said, "Alright! I Finally hit-" Choji was cut off, however, when he was struck from the side by surprise; Naruto had created a Shadow Clone to distract Choji, who was rolling too fast to see what the blonde chunnin was up to. With Choji caught off guard because he thought he hit Naruto, the real Naruto struck him on his left with a Rasengan, which threw him into the wall to the Akimichi's right.

As Choji picked himself back up, he said to Naruto, "…I was worried you'd be underestimating me, but it seems I've underestimated you. Sorry about that, man." Bringing his hands together, Choji said, "Looks like I've got to make it up to you by going all out. Expansion Jitsu!" Naruto's eyes widened somewhat in surprise as Choji suddenly grew more and more, eventually becoming as big of a giant as what the space in the indoor arena would allow.

As Choji walked closer to Naruto, the arena quaking slightly with each of Choji's steps, Naruto leapt up into the air. Choji swung his right hand at Naruto, intending to swat him. Choji missed, and his right hand ended up smacking onto the floor. Acting quickly, Naruto wove some hands signs before saying, "Earth Style: Dark Swamp!"

Suddenly, a swamp of dark mud appeared around Choji, capturing his right hand and both of his feet. With the enlarged Akimichi trapped, Naruto landed outside of the edge of the Dark Swamp so that he was facing Choji, created a Rasengan, then leapt up and smacked the Rasengan right into the middle of Choji's forehead. The blonde chunnin hit Choji with enough force to knock him back, making him fall over onto his back; as he fell, Choji shrunk back down to his original size. When Choji finally landed flat on his back, the look on his face showed that he had been knocked out.

After taking a quick look at Choji, Shizune raised her right hand and announced, "Choji Akimichi has been defeated! The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" There was cheering all around, although those who were banking on Choji winning were mildly upset.

"Choji…lost?" Karui said in a mildly shocked tone as she leaned back in the chair she sat in up in the Konoha viewing box.

Turning to his left so that he can face Choji's girlfriend, one of the Akimichi men remarked, "Now Karui, I know that you were hoping that Choji would win. I mean, I myself was hoping that Choza's son would win his match." With a gentle shake of his head, the Akimichi man added in a gentle and understanding tone, "But there is no shame in losing to a skilled and worthy opponent like that. We'll just have to make sure there's extra servings for Choji at dinner tonight. Nothing helps with recovering better than good food."

Back down in the arena, Naruto walked over to Choji and held out a hand. "Need a hand up?" Naruto offered Choji as the Akimichi chunnin came to.

Seeing the offered hand, Choji gratefully accepted it, and said as Naruto pulled him up, "Thanks for taking our match seriously, Naruto. That was one hell of a fight." (4)

"I think there's a nurse's office or something like that located next to the restrooms here," Naruto said, "You want I should take you over?"

"Why not?" Choji replied with a smile, "I'd be glad for the company."

As Naruto and Choji reached the top of the stairs to the walkway, they were greeted by Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura and Hinata. "That was one hell of a fight, you guys," Shikamaru remarked in an impressed tone, "I'm kind of glad that Naruto didn't pull that swamp jitsu of his on me during our match. It looks vicious."

"I was kind of hoping that Choji would win, given he's the only person on Team Asuma who didn't get knocked out in round one," Ino said in a mock annoyed tone. Changing to a genuine impressed tone, Ino added, "But I guess I can't fault you guys for a match well fought, can I?"

"Good job, you guys," Sakura said, "Especially you, Naruto. Congratulations on the win!"

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun," Hinata stammered mildly in a flustered manner, "Congratulations!"

Acknowledging the congratulations that he was being given, Naruto said, "Thanks, everyone. Now if you'll all excuse us, I have to take Choji over to that nurse's office so he can get patched up a bit."

"I wonder if they have snacks there?" Choji remarked as he held a hand to his stomach, "I could really use something to eat right about now."

Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Shikamaru all laughed in good nature, as this was something that just goes to prove that Choji is Choji. After Naruto and Choji left for the nurse's office, everyone went back over to where they were waiting; Shikamaru and Ino over with Team Gai, and Sakura and Hinata over with Kurenai. "Naruto's certainly come a long way, hasn't he?" Sakura remarked to the Hyuga chunnin, "I mean, Naruto's defeated both Shikamaru and Choji! Who knew that he'd do so well?"

Blushing somewhat profusely, Hinata said, "W-well, that's N-Naruto-kun for you." Hinata ended it with a small smile and a cute giggle.

After the last remains of the Dark Swamp vanished, Shizune held up a hand and announced, "The second match of round two will be between Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka!" After this announcement was made, concerned mummering started going around the arena, particularly along the walkway.

Kiba said nothing, however; with a monotonous 'Hmph', the Inuzuka chunnin leapt over the rail of the walkway and landed on the arena floor, with Akamaru following after him in a likewise manner. The way Kiba entered like this was not unlike that of how he entered the arena in his last match of the Chunnin Tournament.

"You…you've got to be kidding me," Sakura muttered as she stood up on the walkway with Hinata, "You have to fight Kiba?"

"I g-guess so," Hinata replied, stammering a bit out of nervousness. Right as Hinata turned to walk down the steps to enter the arena, she was stopped by Neji.

"…Lady Hinata," Neji began in a concerned tone, "If I were you, I would surrender the match to Kiba right now. He's…I don't think he's not in a right state of mind right now."

Hands on her waist, Sakura said to the Hyuga prodigy, "You know, Neji, it wasn't all that long ago when Kiba was advising Hinata to surrender a match to you." (5) Giving Neji a knowing look, Sakura said, "You do know what I'm talking about, right?" Caught by what Sakura was trying to get at, Neji could not reply properly.

"Relax, Neji," Sakura said, "You do have a point about Kiba not being in a right state of mind right now. But who better to knock some sense into him that one of his own teammates?"

"…" Neji turned to regard his cousin before saying in the same concerned tone, "Do you believe you can stand up to what Kiba can throw at you, Lady Hinata?"

"We've been on the same team for years, Neji-niisan," Hinata replied, still somewhat nervous, "I have a pretty good idea of what Kiba's capable of."

"…Well alright then," Neji relented, "Just be careful, alright? Your father is among those in the Konoha viewing box watching the Chunnin Tournament, and I'm certain he'd hate to see Kiba do to you what Kiba did to Sakura." It was true; over in the Konoha viewing box, seated behind the three Akimichi men and Karui, was Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata's father. On Hiashi's right sat Ko Hyuga, a member of the Hyuga clan's cadet branch, same as Neji. On Hiashi's left was Hanabi, his other daughter and Hinata's little sister.

Nodding in acknowledgement to her older cousin, Hinata proceeded to make her way over to the stairs to head down into the arena. Right as she reached the stairs, Hinata was stopped by Kurenai. A look of concern on her face, Kurenai said, "Hinata…please be okay." Shaking her head gently, Kurenai added, "I'd…I'd hate it if you got seriously hurt."

Smiling gently, Hinata replied, "I'm going to be fine, Kurenai-sensei. This is just a match, so Kiba isn't going to seriously hurt me."

Nodding once, Kurenai said, "Alright. Just don't push yourself."

Down on the arena floor, Kiba, with his patience growing ever so slightly shorter, never once took his eyes off of his opponent. The Inuzuka chunnin's sharpened hearing allowed him to catch everything that was said between Hinata and the people who spoke to her. His arms hanging by his side, Kiba merely curled his hands into fists before relaxing them.

The only sign that Kiba was giving that showed how annoyed he was.

After a few seconds, Hinata finally made her way down to the arena floor, taking a position where she stood in front of Kiba. Raising her right hand, Shizune announced, "This round two match will be between Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka. Now then…BEGIN!"

With such speed that Hinata was mildly startled, Kiba and Akamaru leapt back, with Kiba reaching into his weapons pouch and tossing some smoke bombs that he pulled out. When the giant cloud of smoke filled the arena, Hinata, deep in the center of the smoke, activated her Byakugan to try and see through it. However, Hinata discovered to her shock that her eyes couldn't penetrate it.

"H-how come I can't see through this smoke?" Hinata said in a tone that was three-parts shocked, seven-parts worried.

"It's a special formula for making smoke bombs that only my clan knows," Kiba's voice could be heard saying from somewhere in the smoke cloud. As Akamaru's deep-throated growling sounded from somewhere else in the smoke cloud, Kiba's voice continued, "Regardless of whatever ocular powers they possess, no one can see through this smoke. NO ONE." To her fright, Hinata saw a pair of eyes, their brows furrowed in anger, seemingly glowing through the thick cloud of smoke.

"…Of course," Kiba's voice added coolly, "That doesn't mean that someone can't smell their way through the smoke. Human-beast mimicry!" Hinata then heard the sound of a transformation jitsu going off, followed by her teammate shouting, "FANG OVER FANG!" Faster than she could have hoped to block, Hinata was struck by both Kiba and the transformed Akamaru.

Up on the walkway, as everyone was watching, they heard Hinata cry out in pain. "Ah man, why won't this smoke clear up already?!" Sakura said as she started to panic for Hinata's sake, "And how come Kiba was able to hit Hinata with his Fang Over Fang technique? I thought that he had to have his dog mark someone first before he can pull that off without missing!"

"…Hinata, Shino and I have been working with Kiba for years," Kurenai remarked, getting the attention of Sakura and most of the other chunnin, "He's familiar enough with how we all smell so that he can track any of us through such a cloud of smoke without having to put any sort of scent on us beforehand." Looking down to the floor of the walkway, Kurenai continued in a mildly sad tone, "Having incredibly sharpened senses is a perk of being born into the Inuzuka clan, I suppose."

Back down in the arena, as the smoke started to clear, Hinata heard both Kiba and the transformed Akamaru spinning at her, but from opposite directions. Acting quickly, the Hyuga chunnin used her Rotation technique, spinning around in place at an incredible speed while creating a dome-shaped shield that could block any assault. The two spinning fangs struck the dome on opposite ends, pushing against it momentarily before ultimately bouncing off.

Coming out of his ultra-fast spinning, Kiba landed on all fours about ten or so feet from Hinata. Glaring up at the Hyuga chunnin with a savage, bloodthirsty gaze, Kiba snarled, "Don't think you can block Akamaru's and my attacks forever." If Hinata was frightened before, she was downright terrified now; she had never seen anyone so angry, so brutal, so willing to kill.

And it was all aimed at her.

Shaking somewhat in terror, Hinata tried raising her left hand as she said, "I s-AHHHHH!" Kiba cut Hinata off by quickly taking some shuriken out and throwing them at Hinata, with one of them getting lodged in the middle of Hinata's left hand palm. Blood trickled down the bottom of Hinata's forearm and down into the sleeve of her lavender and cream jacket.

"Like hell I'll let you use any jitsu!" Kiba barked savagely as he charged at his injured opponent, his nostrils flaring due to having caught the scent of blood.

His prey's blood.

With his nails, elongated by the effects of his Human-beast mimicry, Kiba made a swiping motion at Hinata's neck with his right hand. Scratching the left side of Hinata's neck, Kiba's nails cut just hard enough to draw blood. And only just.

Panicking, and while covering the scratched and bleeding side of her neck with her good hand, Hinata raised her right foot up and shot it forward, striking the Inuzuka chunnin in the stomach hard enough to make him back off a bit. Regaining his balance about ten to twelve feet back, Kiba looked Hinata in the eyes, his pupils becoming more vertical slits than round. Growling like a feral canine, Kiba said, "Akamaru!"

Understanding the cue, Kiba's loyal Ninkin, having transformed back to normal, ran up to Hinata, lunged up at her right arm, and bit down on the forearm to pull it down; with Hinata's right hand taken away, her scratched and bleeding neck was once again exposed. Rushing at the Hyuga chunnin once again, Kiba, his brow furrowed in savage rage, snarled, "Let's give this another go!"

Up on the walkway, as everyone was watching the match with equal measures of worry and fear, Sakura and the other female chunnin turned to face Kurenai. "Kurenai-sensei, you've got to do something to stop this!" Sakura half exclaimed half begged as tears started rolling down the sides of her face, "Kiba is going to kill Hinata at this rate!"

"H-he wouldn't," Kurenai said in a shocked tone, her eyes widening in shock and worry as she slowly shook her head, "There's no way that Kiba would seriously do something like-"

*SHUK*

The next few seconds after she fell to the floor and laid prone seemed to be blurred for Hinata; she could see both Kiba and Akamaru, the latter having let go of her right forearm, make one last attempt to lunge at her. However, two figures, Kurenai and Neji, leapt in to grab Kiba and Akamaru respectively to push them away. The last thing that the Hyuga chunnin saw before she lost consciousness was Sakura and a random Konoha medic ninja rush over to her, their hands already glowing with the chakra of the Mystical Palm technique.


In the nurse's office of the arena building, Naruto and Choji sat around, with Naruto in a chair and Choji on the bed. Choji was shoveling handful after handful of chips into his mouth while Naruto, watching Choji with some degree of amazement, quietly sipped a can of soda. "Hey *munch* *munch* Naruto," Choji said to his friend between mouthfuls, "Sound to me like it's *munch* *munch* really getting wild out *munch* *munch* there."

"I'll agree to that," Naruto remarked before taking another sip of his drink.

"If I were a guessing man," Choji continued as he got up to toss out his empty bag of chips, "I'd say that either Tenten's going wild out there with her weapons, or Kiba and Akamaru are tearing things up out there with Fang Over Fang." Sitting back down on the nurse's office's bed, Choji took out another bag of chips, opened it, and took some chips from it to shove into his mouth. "Maybe a *munch* *munch* generous mix of both," the Akimichi chunnin remarked.

"If that last one is the case, then that means Hinata will have to fight either me, or whoever wins the Kiba-Tenten fight," Naruto replied, "I think that'll be up to miss Shizune, since she's the proctor for the Chunnin Tournament."

As Naruto and Choji continued their conversation, Shikamaru and Ino appeared in the doorway of the nurse's office. Shikamaru looked entirely freaked out, and Ino seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Hey guys, what's wrong?" Choji began, "The two of you look like you've both-"

"Hinata's just been rushed to the hospital!" Ino blurted out as the tears that were threatening to come out suddenly gushed forth without restraint, "Kiba tried to rip her throat out during their match!"

Both Choji and Naruto went wide-eyed with shock, with both boys dropping whatever they were eating or drinking. "W-what?" Naruto said, looking too shocked to form a coherent sentence.

Sighing, Shikamaru explained, "Kiba didn't literally try to rip Hinata's throat out. But he did claw deep enough to slit it. Hinata also got a shuriken embedded deep in the palm of her left hand, and Akamaru bit down on her right forearm hard enough to pierce her flesh." Shaking his head in a manner that was equal parts disappointed and confused, Shikamaru said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Kiba actually wanted to kill Hinata."

"N-no way…" Choji said quietly, too shocked by what he was told to show any actual emotion.

Turning to face Naruto, Shikamaru said, "Well anywho Naruto, miss Shizune said that you're going to be fighting Tenten in the extra match this round, so you better get out there."

"…Right," the blonde chunnin replied as he got up and walked out of the nurse's office, his expression equal parts angry and grim.


"As much as I hate to reopen this wound," Neji said in a pained tone to his teammates as they waited up on the walkway, "I wasn't disqualified from the Chunnin exams for nearly killing Lady Hinata. Going along that logic, it's no surprise that not only was Kiba not disqualified, but was also allowed to advance, as he did technically win his match."

"You're actually defending that monster?!" Tenten exclaimed at the Hyuga prodigy, "You have the sharpest eyes out of everyone in your clan, Neji, so you should have easily been able to see that Kiba was clearly trying to kill your cousin! The fact that Kiba had tried to kill anyone should have gotten him the boot!"

"Actually, Tenten," Rock Lee said somewhat meekly as he opened a small rulebook, "There's nothing in the rules for the Chunnin Tournament that expressly forbids killing your opponent. It's just strongly suggested." Looking around the walkway to see the concerned looks of the others, not to mention taking a quick glance at some of the viewing boxes, Rock Lee added, "Although if I were a betting man, I'd say that an actual 'no killing' rule might be added soon."

"I'd take that bet as well, Lee," Neji remarked as he took a quick glance at the Konoha viewing box; the members of the Hyuga clan that were in the Konoha viewing box were gone, having left to go to Konoha General to be there for Hinata.

As the students of Team Gai talked, Naruto and the students of Team Asuma came walking out of the hallway and met up with the other chunnin. "I'm ready when you are," Naruto said to Tenten before turning to walk down to the arena floor.

"Don't worry, Neji," Tenten said in a confident tone as she patted the Hyuga prodigy on the shoulder, "After I beat Naruto, I'll go on to beat Kiba too, thereby avenging your cousin." Walking down the stairs to get to the arena floor, Tenten saw Naruto already waiting in place for their match to start. As Tenten walked over to stand in front of him to wait for their match to begin, Naruto's gaze shifted around the arena quickly until it fell upon the sight of something on the arena floor that should have been cleaned up before this match started; blood.

Hinata's blood.

"You can totally get away with killing Tenten right now, seeing as how killing won't result in disqualification," Kurama said to Naruto from within the realm of the seal, "I'm just saying."

A second after Tenten took her place in front of Naruto, Shizune raised her hand and announced, "This round two match will be between Naruto Uzumaki, who had won a previous match in round two, and Tenten. Now then…BEGIN!"

Leaping back to get some distance from Naruto, Tenten pulled out two kunai from weapons pouches on the back of her belt. "With this fearsome technique," Tenten began, "I shall-"

Tenten never got to finish what she was saying as Naruto, with incredible speed, rushed forward and slugged Tenten so hard in the stomach that he actually hoisted her off the floor. The sudden shock of the impact made Tenten lose the grip on the handles of her kunai, letting them clatter to the floor. Lowering Tenten back down onto her feet, Naruto jerked his fist out of her stomach, allowing her to fall over onto the arena floor. The weapons master was very clearly knocked out, and very clearly still alive.

"How many times do I have to say it, Kurama?" Naruto thought inwardly to the realm of the seal, his tone sad and somewhat lame, "I'm not going to kill Tenten."

Running up quickly, Shizune quickly checked Tenten, sighed in relief that the girl was simply fainted, then raised her right hand. "Tenten has been knocked out!" Shizune announced, "The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!"

Everyone was shocked by how quickly the match ended. Over in the Suna viewing box, Kankuro said nervously, "Uhh…heh, I guess I was wise to put my money on Naruto, huh?"

"He beat that girl faster than I did back when I fought her during the Chunnin exams," Temari remarked, her face paling in shock and mild fear.

"…Naruto…" Gaara muttered quietly to himself, his tone purely concern.


Kurenai and Shino walked up to one of the houses in the Inuzuka clan compound later that evening. Kurenai had beforehand hired Sophia Fisher to babysit Mirai for her; Kurenai did not want to bring her child along for this. There was no need to expose a child who wasn't even two years old yet to the talk that was about to go down. Kurenai also did not want to risk having her child see her break down in tears.

Reaching the front door, Kurenai knocked on it quickly a few times before lowering her arm and waiting with Shino for someone to answer. Kiba's older sister Hana had answered the door. "Oh, miss Kurenai, Shino," Hana greeted in a tone that was a mix of friendly, worried and confused, "This is certainly a surprise." The worry in her tone growing a bit, Hana asked, "Did something happen to Kiba?"

"If by 'something' you mean Kiba losing his mind and going berserk, then yes," Shino replied, his tone equal parts disappointed and grim, "I suppose you've heard that Kiba won his match in the Chunnin Tournament today, yes?"

Alarm growing due to what Shino said about Kiba going berserk, Hana said, "What happened? What did Kiba do?"

"Kiba tried to kill Hinata in their match," Shino said bitterly, "THAT'S what he did."

"H-his own teammate?" Hana said in a quiet tone of shock, covering her mouth with her hand.

Her eyes lowering their gaze to the ground, Kurenai said, "Yes. Kiba was paired up to fight Hinata in the second round of the Chunnin Tournament." Shaking her head softly before she went on, Kurenai continued, "I have no idea why Kiba would do this. Kiba, he…sure he was a little rough back when he, Shino and Hinata were first assigned to me, but he was still such a sweet kid all around." Unable to hold back her tears any longer, Kurenai started to sob softly. "What happened to him?" Kurenai said as she looked down at the ground, "What could have taken a kid like Kiba and turn him into…into what he's become?"

"…I don't suppose you two know about what's been happening with the Inuzuka clan as of late, do you?" Hana asked as she invited Kurenai and Shino inside for some tea, "I think what I have to share may help you help Kiba."

TO BE CONTINUED…

END, BEFORE THE REDEMPTION CHAPTER THREE

Author's Notes:

(1) She needed an excuse to talk to the guy deciding the round two match-ups, so Pirate figured what better way to strike up a conversation than by sitting down next to him under the pretense of being just a random customer?

(2) Pirate has a habit of referring to everyone who is reasonably younger than her as 'kid', even if the age difference isn't really all that great.

(3) This will actually come up in a future chapter.

(4) I've always liked Choji as a character. He's got a good heart, that guy.

(5) She's right, you know.

Of all of the scenes I have ever written, one of my favorites has got to be the very beginning of this chapter, where Pirate plays the part of a friendly person coming into Ichiraku Ramen to dine in order to build up a rapport with the Konoha Shinobi deciding the round two match-ups. Well anywho, the next chapter will be taking a break from the Chunnin Tournament in order to build up some background for Kiba.

Also, in case it wasn't all that clear; yes, Hinata was trying to surrender. No, Kiba did not realize this, he legitimately thought that Hinata was trying to initiate a jitsu of some kind.