Nindo: Way of the Twelve
A Naruto Fic
Preliminary Author's Spiel: Firstly, I'd like to thank all you readers for your response to the last chapter. I was not honestly expecting a more than doubled response to the second chapter's posting, all things considered. As for the style I patterned Naruto's taijutsu after, Lord Cynic and huntsvilletiger were dead on with Krav Maga. I might just have to run 'a guess that taijutsu' feature. Or maybe not, depending on response and how I feel. Anyway, on with the story!
Her breath burned in and out of her lungs as Hinata continued to push herself to her limit, trying to keep Shino in sight as she dashed through the trees towards Training Ground 17. The pale-eyed girl was resigned to the fact that she would be the last to reach the destination given to them by their new teacher, but she was determined to not show any less than her best in front of Naruto-kun…even if her best was rather pitiful. Why was she being assigned to a recon raider team?
She cut off that line of thought as she burst in the clearing that marked Training Ground 17. Shino, who had arrived maybe five seconds ahead of her, was panting just about as hard as she was, hunched over with his hands on his knees, slowly moving over to taking slow drawn-out deep breaths as he recovered. For the first time she could remember, the Aburame boy was sweating heavily, and flushed with exertion. Hinata's legs trembled as she stumbled over to a convenient rock, landing rather heavily.
Naruto though…Naruto was already recovered. Hinata looked down at the ground. Either he had beaten Shino and her times by that much, or he had not even needed to work hard at the run. Despondent, she raised her white eyes to see a confusing approving look in Kurenai's crimson gaze. "Very good, all of you. We'll need to work on both your speed and endurance, but you all followed the order to move her as fast as you could to the utmost. Now, after you recover, I'd like to see a demonstration of your skills at taijutsu."
Shino recovered before she did, and walked over to stand in front of Naruto. Hinata and Kurenai watched as the blonde grinned, then slid into his basic side-on stance, hands held curled but not fisted. The Aburame boy was impassive as he took stance, right leg bent under his body, left leg forward and bent. His upper body faced Naruto flat-on, arms held tight in front, bent with the left leading. The oddest thing was how he held his hands. The backs of his palms faced the sky and his first two fingers on each hand were extended together into what looked almost claws. "Begin!" ordered Kurenai, and Naruto sprang forward, leading with his right fist.
Shino held stance as the blonde shot at him, waiting until Naruto's fist was just passing into his guard before he made his move, rolling his left elbow upwards, his finger 'claw' hooking in around Naruto's right wrist and pulling Naruto's punch out of line as Shino's right hand pistoned forward in a strike towards the blonde's solar plexus. Only Naruto's quick grab with his left hand saved his from the strike. The blue eyed boy blinked. "You weren't kidding about being an infighter, too."
"Not at all," agreed Shino, maintaining the deadlock.
Naruto's grin was open, honest…and bared teeth. "Great!" Shino's eyebrows rose above his glasses in surprise as Naruto popped his right arm upwards along Shino's left before swinging it in as a hammerfist aimed for the side of Shino's head. Ducking his head, Shino lowered his stance and shifted over to the right, moving his head far enough that Naruto's hammerfist merely ruffled his hair.
Naruto grinned, yanking Shino's right arm forward and down, while bringing his knee up. The strike wasn't perfect, Shino's lower stance ensuring that it hit his chest rather than his gut, but it still hit…and hard too. Naruto let go of Shino's right wrist as he made contact, letting the strike carry the larger boy backwards. A smirk had just started to cross his lips when the back of Shino's left hand whipped in under his arm and tagged the tip of his jaw with the Aburame's knuckles.
Even as Naruto's head whipped to the side, he sprang back on instinct, opening the range. Shaking his head just a bit, he reset his stance, as Shino raised himself up on his back leg, almost seeming to chamber his left leg, but in an almost-horizontal manner that Naruto had never seen before. The blonde only paused for a second before stepping forward into kicking range, drawing his back leg up and rotating his hip to slash his foot down and over into the side of Shino's neck.
Shino, of course, was having none of this, dropping his weight, and unchambering his leg to plant it into the ground. He leaned back out of the kick's arc, then struck at the back of Naruto's leg as it swept down, pulling the limb towards him to upset the blonde's balance. It worked too, Naruto stumbling forwards, before he planted his hands on the grass and swung his other leg around at the full extension of his body, taking Shino's legs out from under him. Hands and feet struck in the confused jumble that was ground fighting before Kurenai's voice rang out. "Enough!"
The red-eyed jounin considered what she had seen. And in all honesty, she was impressed. Shino had a fine fighting knowledge of the Aburame family style, it seemed. An infighting style, at Shino's apparent level, it was extraordinarily useful in single fights. Looking at it in pure taijutsu terms, it had its weaknesses, of course. The Aburame family style, as she understood it, worked to keep the enemy in front of the practitioner at close range, shutting down their offense and using openings created to take the opponent down. Unfortunately, it was vulnerable to attacks from the sides, limiting its use against multiple enemies. It compensated for that, somewhat, with extremely complex footwork and sensitivity training, but Shino had not shown any indications of anything beyond basic levels of footwork, though his sensitivity was apparently quite good.
Naruto was the real surprise though. She knew that he had spent much of his Academy efforts on his taijutsu training. Umino Iruka had not been anything but honest in his files on his students, and had specifically noted that only the Academy's taijutsu instructor had given him a fair chance. In fact, it seemed that the man thought Naruto had potential, the only teacher other than Iruka to say so. She still hadn't expected to see a notorious loudmouth practicing a flexible, unadorned style. And his instincts were good. Very good. Kurenai had never found bare-hands taijutsu of much use for her, preferring to use misdirection and weapons to defeat her opponents. A slight frame and her chosen specialty had left her practicing Konoha's Blending Flame style, an art which was effective, but defensive in nature, and unsuited to dealing with multiple attackers.
It was also completely unlike Naruto's apparent style, and she knew that she was going to have to find someone to teach Naruto to develop his taijutsu further. Maito Gai, maybe. She resolved to look into that after she was done with this test. There was no question in her mind that she'd be taking on this team. That was a given. There was real potential in these three, and Konoha needed as many recon raider-trained ninja as they could get. In a time of war, the specialization that the peaceful era had bred could prove a real liability on the battlefield. "Excellent, you two. Hinata, if you would spar with Naruto? Feel free to use Jyuuken, but do not use the chakra bursts. I don't want to see any serious injuries at this stage."
Hinata nodded slightly, eyes looking at the ground. She stood, feeling very nervous indeed. She knew her taijutsu was sub-par, and it didn't help that she was going to demonstrate that in front of Naruto…in a spar with him, no less. Her fingers felt clumsy as she performed the hand seals for Byakugan. The veins at the corners of her eyes bulged and suddenly she 'saw' everything around her for fifty meters. The chakra systems of her new teammates stood out particularly strong. Their sensei had the characteristic system of a jounin, vibrant and full. Shino's was odd, almost fuzzy seeming. She supposed the fine subdivisions were for the feeding of the kikaichu that every Aburame carried in their body. And Naruto…his chakra system was incredibly thick, and despite its incredible thickness, seemingly fuller than their jounin sensei's. And, bluntly put…that was plain weird.
She didn't have time to think about that, though. She had been called to demonstrate her taijutsu…pitiful as it was. She had a small advantage, at least. She had been able to observe Naruto's style in the quick bout he and Shino had just gone through. And, she supposed, it hadn't hurt that she'd watched…at a distance of course, each of his many spars with Kiba over the years.
Technically, she knew, she should be able to easily defeat Naruto. He had little to no experience against Jyuuken, and there really wasn't much one could do other than avoid a Hyuuga's blows. At infighting range, that wasn't really possible. But Naruto came on with all the force of a tsunami. Yes, he would be hit. But he was going to hit her.
Taking a deep breath to fortify herself, she held her left arm out almost dead straight, hand slightly cupped and fingers inclined towards Naruto. Her right hand was held low, at her hip, in the same manner. Her body was twisted, left shoulder leading, left leg in front, with the right leg bent and out to the side. Jyuuken's opening stance, handed down through the ages from the founder of the Hyuuga clan. It was older than the Great Elemental Nations themselves, and to Hinata, at least, just felt wrong.
Naruto blinked, almost looking like he wanted to ask a question. But Kurenai called out for them to begin before he could say anything.
Hinata was amazed that the cloth of her hitai-ate hadn't caught fire, so hot did her face feel. Sure, she was flushed from having to spar against Naruto. No one could blame her for that. The boy was fast, strong, and had a gift for infighting. Still, the position they had ended the fight in didn't help, what with Naruto straddling the poor girl, right elbow against her hitai-ate, and his left hand holding her right arm by the wrist. Her left palm was frozen in a strike to a tenketsu under his floating ribs…the spar hadn't gone all Naruto's way, but he was the one who had ended up on top…her cheeks flamed a bit more.
Honestly, if she blushed any harder, she was going to bruise.
Kurenai clapped her hands once as Naruto climbed off Hinata and offered her a hand up. "Very good, you three. You'll be glad to hear that my opinion is, as your jounin instructor and final tester, that Team 8 is ready for active duty at the D-rank level, and has the potential to be a great asset to the forces of Konohagakure no Sato. From this point on, you are full Shinobi of the Leaf."
The three stared at her in varying levels of confusion. Shino didn't really look confused, but Kurenai would hate to play poker against him. Hinata seemed to be trying to remember some information she had forgotten. And Naruto…was at a total loss. "Ah…sensei…"
"What was that for?" she asked rhetorically, with a slight smile. At Naruto's nod, she went on. "Graduating from the Academy does not guarantee a place as an active duty shinobi, Naruto. The jounin who are assigned to lead genin teams do not have to take the teams assigned, and if they don't take the team, the genin are sent back to the academy for a year of remedial courses before they get a chance at active-duty again. A great deal of aspiring ninja drop out then and there. I won't lie to you, most ninja that go back for a year after graduation remain at the rank of genin for much longer that a team that's taken on. Such as you three." At this she gave them an unguarded smile. "It is my considered opinion that the three of you, judging by what I have seen, and by Iruka's reports, have enough potential that it would be stupid, verging on treasonous not to take you on."
Shino looked pleased, she thought, though his expression was easily lost alongside the very visible chord she had struck in Naruto and Hinata's psyches. Though, to her ruby eyes, there seemed to be an undertone of disbelief in it. Well, she should have expected that with Hinata…Naruto as well, she supposed. A flare of anger sparked in her breast at the thought, but she pushed it aside. The past was past, and starting tomorrow, she was going to help them start believing, really believing in themselves. Her mouth took a harder set. "Don't get me wrong, you've got a lot of training ahead of you before you're ready to be called a recon raider team, but I get the feeling you three are going to become legends, if you're willing to put in the work. Now, you three are to meet me here at noon tomorrow. Bring the ninja gear you have. We'll be doing an equipment check, along with setting your training routines. Equipping will probably follow, since I doubt that you've got a full recon raider loadout ready." Well, the Aburame boy might. His family provided a great deal of recon raider nin. "Got it? If so, dismissed!"
Team 8 dispersed, walking home to their various homes, wondering what the future might bring.
A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but writing a satisfactory fight while using the Jyuuken depicted in the manga and anime proved near impossible. Hence why there really isn't one. And matching Krav Maga against the style assigned Shino didn't go easily either. (It should be an easy one to guess this time.) On top of that, as I wrote the stuff around it, I felt like I was just parroting stuff I had seen before.
So. I'm thinking of taking all of the really good stuff that I had planned for this story and placing it in another plotline, one that's actually probably better suited to telling the story I wanted to. I'll be placing the first chapter of it up at much the same time as I post this, and I'd ask that you go and take a look at it, because I'm not sure I can get this story to quite act the way I want it to, not while maintaining a high standard of writing. Unless there's an absolutely overwhelmingly negative response to the second story, I'll probably be switching my attention over to it.
On another note, I am in the market for a Naruto-fandom beta reader. Anyway, yeah, that's the news.
