As Hunter leaped at Hinata, Naruto, and Shino he continued to scream in an attempt to throw off the three. None of the three where prepared for the suddenness at the current turn of events. That included their sensei's appearance, comments, screams for blood, and sudden attack on them. They were excepting to be yelled at for Naruto's actions, not for the test to start. Now they were completely thrown off an unprepared.
As Hunter neared the three Hinata and Shino jumped to the side an avoided being caught by Hunter, unfortunately Naruto wasn't able to being as he was in between his teammates. Hunter grabbed his jacket at the shoulders as he entered grabbing distance. As a result Naruto was shoved to the ground with his sensei in a position of control over him and knew this would not work out well. Oddly, Hunter continued his forward movement with no attempt to stop himself and remain on top of Naruto where he could control any fighting between them. After he passed Naruto he rolled forward several feet before standing up and turning around to face Naruto and the other two genin.
When he finished turning around he saw Hinata and Shino had taken the few brief seconds to disappear from the scene. Hunter smirked at this, they had made a smart move if they capitalized on it. With Naruto by himself he simply waited for the hyperactive genin to nearly get back to his feet. Before Naruto had the chance Hunter ran up grabbed his jacket at his right shoulder and a fistful at his stomach. While Naruto was still surprised Hunter turned on his right foot and tossed his student down the long length of the training ground clearing.
Naruto hit the ground causing him to skid and tumbled before he managed to stop himself. After he did he quickly got back to his feet this time to avoid another attack. When he got to his feet and faced his attacker he moved into the academy taijutsu stance that was full of errors and glared at his sensei.
"That was dirty an underhanded! I wasn't ready! You should have gave me some warning," Naruto screamed at Hunter as he balled up his fist. Hunter gave him a look of confusion, surprise, and disbelieve. It took a second before he replied.
"You're right! I should have given you a warning before I attacked you after you broke the rules I gave you. My deepest and most sincere apologize," Hunter replied with the statement dripping of sarcasm and malice. Naruto was shocked at the reply and believed it to be true not picking up of the sarcasm.
"Really? I am?" Again Hunter was surprised at the genin's reply.
"You'r-r-e a stranger to sarcasm, arn't you," Hunter asked drawing out the first word as he put his hands in his pockets.
"What," Naruto asked as he dropped his stance with a confused look and tone.
"Never mind, I'm not to worried about it. You're not really a threat any way really," Hunter informed Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders and bored, apathetic tone. At this remark Naruto pointed his finger at him before he started to scream.
"I AM! I'M GOING TO BE HOKAGE ONE DAY," Naruto yelled in his defense, "YOU BETTER SEE ME AS A THREAT OR YOU'LL REGRET IT!" Again Hunter gave a shrug as he half closed his eye and as he tilted his head to the side.
"No... no, not really. I've had harder and longer fights with hangovers then this pathetic, lame ass, sorry excuse of a fight. You, are, nothing," Hunter informed his loud mouth student with a level voice with tones of iciness and contempt. He could see that the words had the effect he wanted. Naruto was clearly angry and not thinking straight. His face while partial hidden by his hair and his balled up fist were shaking. Naruto suddenly charged at the source of his anger with a scream with his right hand drawn back ready to strike out.
As Naruto closed in Hunter made no attempt to move or defend himself as he left his hands in his pockets. When in punching reach Naruto threw a punch at Hunter's stomach. Hunter simply turned and slid his body out of the way to his left resulting in Naruto missing. With the missed punch Naruto kept moving believing the punch would hit and stop his movement. As he moved past his target he turned and twisted his body to land a left back hand to Hunter. Again Hunter moved as he had earlier placing himself standing behind Naruto.
Naruto stopped his movement and stared at Hunter narrowing his eyes before leaping to attack again. As he was nearing the range to hit Hunter, he reacted. Hunter's right hand flew from its pocket and grabbed his attacking by the throat. Naruto's hands reached up to try and remove the fingers form his throat. As he started to try and pry the hand off Hunter's arm started to move to the right. Soon Hunter moved his body to add more speed to his movement. After moving a hundred and eighty degrees Hunter released Naruto and let him fly. Naruto continued to fly until he twisted his body and used his legs to absorbed landing on the side of a tree. His knees told him that this wasn't something to try again any time soon. Naruto then promptly fell to the ground landing on his face and chest.
When he looked up he saw Hunter had an open scroll in one hand an a large opened beer bottle in his right. As he stood up he saw Hunter take a swig from the bottle.
"Come on, really? Is this all you got? If it is I might as well fail everyone right now," Hunter told Naruto with an uncaring and aloft voice along with anyone else that might be in hearing distance. Naruto let out a scream of anger and frustration as he brought his hands together in the hand sign to complete the kage bushin.
"Kage Bushin," he yelled out and two dozen clones of smoke appeared surrounding him. As Naruto dropped his hands he gave a smirk.
"Now I'll make you see me as a threat Sensei... GET HIM," Naruto told Hunter with confidence as he point at his target.
"You think a couple fake copies of a sorry, pathetic genin hopeful are going to be a challenge for me," Hunter asked as the clones ran towards him and tossed the scroll into the on coming clones. As the first clone passed the scroll, the scroll exploded destroying three of the clones. With the smoke from the clones and explosion blocking the rest of the clones view from Hunter, he reached into his kunai pouch and grabbed three. Then as he took a step backwards and taking a drink from his bottle he flung the kunai into the smoke cloud. He was rewarded with the sound of two more pops from clones being hit.
When Hunter heard the pops he was quickly confused by it. The academy version of clones didn't do this when they were hit, the object just passed through them, but now something else had happened. As he was thinking about this the rest of the clones were now in striking range. Believing the noise to be a simply trick from the known prankster Hunter didn't attempt to move from the knee now aimed at his stomach.
When he felt the knee actually make contact, he was stunned and shocked. Naruto had actually led the attack with the clones. Hunter was angry the loud genin had actually managed to hit him. Hunter then delivered a quick jab to the forehead of his student. When his fist made contact his student popped and became a cloud of smoke. Thinking it was a kasawmi he jumped backwards from the small cloud and searched for the follow up attack. When the smoke cleared Hunter was completely shocked, there was no log.
"What the hell is going on," Hunter asked himself as he finally put all the pieces together. Naruto had actually used kage bushin and not yelled it out as a bluff and he had reaped the rewards. The hyperactive kid had just managed to complete one of the parts of the test. Hunter gave a small smile before he moved. Reaching for a single kunai with his left hand as he charged at the clones as they charged him. When they reached each other Hunter quickly, efficiently, and with precise blows tore through the shadow clones. With in several seconds Hunter had cleared the area of the clones to his knowledge. He then calmly walked out of the cloud as he drank his beer towards where he knew Naruto was currently standing.
"You got this round loud one, I'll give you that," Hunter informed Naruto before he flicked the kunai at Naruto. Before he could react Naruto felt the kunai leave a small cut on his right check and before he could move his stomach exploded in pain.
When he looked down he saw his sensei had buried his left fist into his stomach. As he let all the air rush from his lungs he felt his knees give out as he brought his arms to cross his stomach as by now the culprit was now gone.
"We'll play again later. I'm going to go hunt down one of the other two now. Later," Hunter told Naruto as he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder before they left in a swirl of leaves. All Naruto could do was try and catch his breath.
As Hunter was in the process of knocking Naruto to the ground Shino and Hinata jumped away from the two in order to put distance between themselves and their Sensei. As Hunter was rolling off Naruto the two landed in the trees near the tree line to observe any interaction between Hunter and Naruto. They both watch and observed everything that happened between the two. While to Naruto the interaction lasted several minutes it actually lasted less then two before Hunter finished with Naruto.
After disappearing the two untouched genin did a quick scan around the area with their individual bloodlines. After believing the area cleared they moved back into the clearing. Shino dropped to the ground directly underneath the tree he was in while Hinata leaped several feet into the clearing. Soon the two began to walk towards each other.
"My sentries failed to sense either Naruto or our Sensei, can you see either one of them," Shino asked as he moved his hand down to the kunai pouch on his side. Hinata simply gave a shake of her head to answer.
"It seems that a plan is required in order to face Sensei," Shino added as he removed a kunai and placed it in a reversed grip.
"I-I-I agree," Hinata replied as she turned her head to look at the scroll they had to retrieve to pass this test. "I be-be-believe we should be safe as long as we don't attempt to move the scroll. Shino nodded his head as he stood next to his team mate.
"W-what about Naruto," Hinata asked as she looked around the tree line looking for the boy's orange jumpsuit.
"For the moment we should act under the believe he is out of the test, currently still engaged with Sensei, or unable to render aid at the current time," Shino told Hinata which seemed to upset the girl.
"B-but, if he shows up it will change the plan right?"
"Yes, that is true. On the other hand I believe it is better to have a limited plan then no plan, given our present situation," Shino stated with a cool and calm voice as he pushed up his sunglasses with his free hand. Before Hinata could reply both Genin heard something from behind them.
"Either one of you got a refill for this," was the voice of their Sensei from behind them. The two jumped in surprise before they leaped away from the voice. As they landed they turned around and saw Hunter in a similar position as he was on top of the training log before leaping at Naruto. They saw that other then an empty beer bottle in his right hand the man seemed not to have any other weapons in his hands at the moment.
As the surprised passed the two genin settled into their preferred battle stances. Hinata into her family's gentle fist style and Shino with his arms extended to let his allies fly at Hunter. Hunter stood up as he dropped the empty bottle to the ground.
"I'll take that as a no," Hunter stated with a small shrug and lift of his eyebrows. Before the two genin moved Hunter took a deep breath as he took a step towards the genin. Hinata took a hesitant step towards her attacker that moved her slightly in front of Shino. Shino himself moved to place himself out of his attackers reach. Soon Hunter was on top of Hinata.
The young genin let a small eep out as a closed fist flew past her face letting her feel the wind from it on her face. As her eyes darted to the still extended arm she felt a blow land on her right thigh. She saw her sensei had landed a strike with his knee, but knew he had pulled the blow greatly since she was still standing. Next she felt a glancing blow to her left shoulder that did nothing more then push the joint back slightly. Hinata then moved to strike the arm that had just hit her. As she brought her right hand to strike the elbow joint her blow was suddenly stopped. It felt like her wrist was trapped in a vise, the reason being Hunter's right hand was wrapped around it. As she tried to pull her hand free her world went white for a second before it cleared an a headache appeared before she felt herself being thrown to the ground.
Shino watched as Hinata was quickly and effortlessly fought Hunter. After Hunter had grabbed Hinata's wrist Shino watched as his sensei's still extended and free left arm move. Hunter simply moved his forearm and punched Hinata in the back of the head before grabbing the girl's hair with the same hand and pushing and pulling the girl with force to the ground. After Hinata was on the ground he gave a quick heel kick to the girl's left calf, before turning to face Shino.
Hunter simply started to walked towards him without any worry. Shino decided to act by releasing nearly a third of his hive to his would be attacker. As the cloud of insects flew towards Hunter Shino released more to cover the ground around his feet to attack if Hunter got close enough. Just as the swarm was about to land on their target Shino felt a brief flash of pure undiluted hate and anger wash over him an out of shock he dropped his kunai. Before anything else happened the feeling past, however the swarm he sent to attack had collapsed. The once organized cloud was nothing but a memory. While the insects themselves where still alive they had lost the will to follow their host instructions. Now they flew away from Hunter as individuals randomly in any direction that lead back to their host. Shino also felt the swarm on the ground around him start to return to him.
Shino suddenly felt very lost, confused, an afraid. What had just happened? He had never heard of something like this happening before. This was not the normal killer intent he had faced in sparring against his clansman. He knew his sensei had been behind it. Before he could complete another thought Hunter was on top of him and grabbing his jacket at his shoulders. Hunter then pushed down on Shino's shoulder's as he hooked his right foot behind the boy's feet and yanked them out from under him. As Shino hit the ground harshly Hunter placed a foot across the young genin's throat and pressed downed. Soon Shino was fighting to to breath.
Shino was using a single hand to try and move the boot off him while his right hand moved to his kunai pouch to arm himself. As he moved to slash at Hunter's calf the boot removed itself as Hunter spun to strike out at Hinata who had stood back up. Hinata had attempted to sneak up at land a blow from behind but Hunter had sensed the girl as she moved towards him. Using his longer reach Hunter landed a closed back handed hit to Hinata's ribs knocking the breath out of her and resulting in her slumping to the ground. Continuing the spin Hunter landed a kick to Shino's thigh before jumping away from the two genin.
"That was nearly as bad as my encounter with the loud male earlier," Hunter stated with boredom in his voice. "The quiet female's taijustu sucked something fierce, worse I've ever seen from that bunch of stickup, arrogant morons," he added with contempt and disappointment as he placed his hands in his pants pockets.
"As for you quiet male, what good are you without your little buggies? You're nothing but a soon to be insect ridden corpse," Hunter commented on Shino as he turned to walk away. "Maybe I should do your buggies a favor by removing your head so they can rid themselves of your worthless hide," he added as he walked into the tree line disappearing from sight as a small dark chuckle escaped from him.
Hinata has on the verge of completely breaking down and crying her eyes let out a few tears that were running down her face and in between her fingers as they were covering her face in shame in her mind as she sat on her ankles. Shino quickly pushed the words told to him out of his mind as he was raised to ignore things like this in order to control his emotions. As he lay on the ground rubbing were Hunter had kicked him he placed his kunai back into its pouch.
As Shino thought about how to best get Hinata out of her current state he looked at the tree line to ensure that his sensei wasn't still around. Shino believed that trying to explain what had happened with logic to the crying girl would not work so well as she was an such an emotional state and decided it best to do nothing at the moment. After several minutes of silence other then the crying a voice started to come through the trees. Slowly the voice got louder and both genin knew who it was, the voice sounded as though it was Naruto.
As Naruto became clearly visibly Shino tensed as Naruto moved closing to him while mumbling to himself. Slowly Shino moved his hand to his kunai pouch in case he needed to arm himself quickly.
"Hey, Shino you seen Hunter Sensei? I ahhh... uummm... lost track of him as a fought him," Naruto offered as he rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile and weak chuckle. He then saw Hinata was starting to cry and he quickly moved his hands to his sides and balled them up.
"What happened to Hinata," Naruto yelled as he started to wave his arms around as he looked around the clearing trying to find out what had happened.
"How do we know you're the real Naruto and not Hunter sensei," Shino coolly asked as he pulled a out a kunai.
"What do you mean?! Of course I'm the real Naruto, why would I be sensei? What would that get done!? What happened to Hinata and you?!" Naruto asked in quick order not giving either of his teammates a chance to respond. Shino raised an eyebrow as as he examined Naruto. Naruto himself had started to walk over to his team mates.
"Stop. You still haven't proved that you are the real Naruto and not an impostor," Shino said as he slowly shifted into a defensive stance. Naruto face soon showed his confusion at the reaction his team mate was displaying.
"How can I prove that I'm Naruto! I don't know how to do that," Naruto yelled at Shino as he balled up his fist at his side and stared at his teammate. No one moved as they tried to think of a way to prove if this was in fact Naruto. Suddenly, Hinata spoke up as she rubbed her jacket sleeve under her nose.
"What did Naruto say after sensei left us at the ramen stand," Hinata squeaked out as she slowly stood up and turned to face Naruto. Naruto opened his hands up and place them in a thinking pose as he tried to remember what was said.
"I don't remember everything but he shouldn't of wasted perfectly good ramen," Naruto supplied pointing a finger at Shino. He in returned dropped his guard and removed his hand from his weapon pouch. Naruto then started to walk over to his two teammates.
"So, any ideas on how to beat this stupid test," Naruto asked as he sat down and leaned back on his hands and looked at his two team mates. After minute Shino spoke.
"It is apparent that none of us can fight one on one with our Sensei and I believe that all three of us together would not be able to take him in direct conflict," Shino said as he looked around the clearing looking for any signs of attack.
"That's not true! I got a solid hit on him when I fought he earlier," Naruto yelled out as he pointed in the direction he had walked from. "I know I can do it again."
"That my be true, however I believe that it has purely by chance and by Sensei underestimating you in combat Naruto," Shino replied which didn't sit well with Naruto who in response jumped to his feet.
"You're just upset you can't do it," Naruto yelled at Shino as he pointed a finger at him.
"We shouldn't fight with each other," Hinata squeaked out from the ground.
"Hinata is right this does nothing to further our goals for this test," Shino replied as he looked at the girl then back to his male teammate.
"Well what are we supposed to do if you don't want to fight in again? I mean he told us we had to fight him to pass this test," Naruto told Shino as he put his hands behind his head.
"No we do not. All he said we had to do to pass was retrieve the scroll you attempted to take and defend it as we moved it and after placing it at the required location. So I think it what be best if we somehow got the scroll and moved it avoiding conflict," Shino reminded Naruto as he started to walk around as he thought.
"You just said that we had to defend our selfs, so that mean we have to fight him right," Naruto asked with a look of confusion on his face as he watched Shino.
"No it's not. Defending against Sensei means that we will simply try and stop him from taking the scroll or removing us from the test, Naruto. Fighting means we go out to try and remove Sensei from the test so we can pass the test," Hinata spoke up as she looked at the ground and played with her fingers avoiding looking directly at either of her team mates.
"Hinata is right Naruto. It appears that at the moment it would be improbably that alone or acting together that we could do anything to remove Sensei from this test. That leaves us the option of simply surviving long enough to complete the last two of the requirements of this test," Shino added as he stopped walking and stared at Naruto.
Naruto himself was thinking over what both his team mates had said trying to get a clearing picture on what they had just said. What Hinata had said made sense to him. Not that he thought about it while he wanted to fight Hunter and take him out he believed that his team mates wouldn't go along with anything along that line of thought. He still believed he could do more damage to Hunter even if he was now prepared. However, he had no idea on how he could fight Sensei to a simply stand still, by himself or with help. Before Naruto could think on the subject any longer Shino spoke up again.
"We've stayed in this place to long we need to try and lose Sensei while we make a plan for our next course of action in regards to this test," Shino suddenly stated as he again looked around for signs of a in coming attack. Hinata simply gave a nod of her head as she slowly walked over to Shino's side. Naruto jogged over to the opposite side of Shino. After forming a lose line the three ran for the trees in an attempt to lose their Sensei completely unaware of the single eye watching them.
Hunter himself had watched and over heard everything the three fresh genin had done. He sat in a nearby tree overlooking the three. While they talked with each other he simply took mental notes on the three and how they were reacting to the situation he had place them in. Hunter let a small smile filled with mischief and a promise of pain so on his face as he watched the three disappear in the trees before standing up and jumping off the tree branch and chase down his prey. This day my just have been worth waking up for, just maybe.