Holy explosion. I didn't think that the follower and review count would explode so much in under a week. This is new.
i am ok wit dis
dis is a-ok
Anyways, inspiration for this chapter came easy, so I thought why not post now? I had a four day weekend to finish this and contemplate this story's future. Some of your reviews made parts of the resolution more solid, but because of it more warnings have come.
so
NEW WARNINGS: fake!MinaKushi, Kaguya/Minato, NaruHina, stronger!heroine!Hinata, strong!smarter!Tenseigan!Naruto, half-Hyūga!Minato, LGBTQA characters, CONFUSING SCIENCE, blood, violence, some OOCness, language, surrogacy (y'all are gonna understand later) and lots of PLOT FORESHADOWING.
I've answered all of your reviews over PMing, but there are some who brought up good points that I think should be answered publicly :^) it'd take too long to answer every single review publicly like I normally do, and I'm bummed out about it.
AJGuardian: Naruto's chakra cloak will be brought in a little bit later. As of now, it will remain as an unknown since the Tenseigan is a complete mystery to the current shinobi world. As for Naruto being Ashura's reincarnation: That will also be addressed later on. Rethinking over some things, though. Naruto might now even be Ashura's reincarnation, seeing as to how things are going. Thanks for your review. :3
Ryuujin96: I was kind of bummed out, too, since the Chūnin exams arc was one of the better arcs in my opinion. But I will be making up for it, I believe, with the oncoming events. Thanks for your review :^)
Original chapter word count: 4k~
Enjoy! :3
Chapter 3: Tumult
The next morning after Naruto eavesdropped on Iruka and Kakashi, he got up earlier than usual in order to finish the last touches to the pictures, editing pencil lines and outlining them with ease.
He heard Iruka wake up. The shuffles of a human getting out of bed in order to get dressed made him turn his head towards the hall that lead to the bedrooms of the apartment. It was only about a minute or two later that Iruka stepped out of his room and into the main living area of the apartment. The man instantly went to the coffee machine, getting a cup in anticipation of caffine.
Naruto rolled his eyes.
"You're up early," Iruka commented.
"Yup," the blonde mumbled. He switched from a thin pen to a slightly thicker one, refining some lines before signing his name on the back and setting the pen aside.
"…You draw?"
"Nah, sensei just assigned the homework to me," Naruto replied. He pouted. "I hate homework…"
Iruka smiled nostalgically. "What was it for?"
"Visual memory," the blonde explained. He flopped onto his back, yawning loudly. The obvious fatigue replaced his focus, and he ended up looking like a tired baby. "I'm pooped now…I haven't looked away from the page for nearly an hour 'ttebayo…"
The Umino chuckled, pressing some buttons before the machine worked its magic to make some refreshing coffee. "Speaking of your sensei…" he started, "he stopped by yesterday and spoke with me. He wants me to ask you if you have any throbbing headaches or pinches that come from your eyes."
"Why?"
"I don't know the full story, and I don't really understand it, but it has to do with whether or not your eyes can be categorized as a dōjutsu," he explained.
Naruto slowly sat up, staring at the drawing he finished only simple minutes ago. If he told the truth, then he could be pushed somewhat forward a little bit faster and get that field promotion.
But if it was, perhaps, a dōjutsu that were within his sockets, then it would be both a danger and a benefit. Danger meant restriction, while benefit meant freedom. He hated paradoxes. There really was no point in lying, though. Telling the truth would get him further from his current standing. "…Well, I always feel it," Naruto stated. "It never goes away. It only gets stronger or weaker."
Iruka blinked in surprise. "Seriously?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I didn't know why, though, and I just assumed that it was because of the surgery, but then when it wouldn't go away I had no idea what to do about it."
"You could've said something…" the older shinobi murmured.
The Uzumaki didn't reply at first. He just started cleaning up his work space, putting the drawings in a file and the pens to the side a little. "No thank you," he said. He stood, turning away towards the door. He slipped his shoes on, glancing at his guardian with an apathetic look. "I'm going to meet up with Kakashi-sensei. I'll be attending to the finales with Sasuke and Sakura later today, so I don't think I'll be back until dinner dattebayo. Bye."
Iruka could only watch as the blonde opened the door, stepping out and abruptly closing the door behind his heels with an air of irritation that could be sensed strongly even as he ventured towards the grounds were Kakashi always awaited for his students.
"You look upset."
The comment from Kakashi made Naruto's eye twitch. The day was leaping from a good foot, and then it just went bad the instant Iruka pushed the conversation from earlier a little too far. He rolled his eyes. "I'm not. I'm just tired dattebayo," he grumbled.
"Oh? Did you cram your work?" Kakashi teased. His eye crinkled as he offered his signature nicknamed eye smile. He grabbed the file that was tucked under Naruto's arm exceptionally fast, making the blonde stutter and try to snatch back the file. It was opened, and the first drawings was examined.
Naruto leaped at his teacher with his fist aiming for the silver haired mans head. "Hey—"
Kakashi caught the blondes fist, ducking as a roundhouse kick was served. He kept hold of Naruto's fist, slamming the jinchūriki onto his back before stepping on his chest. "Quiet, minion," he ordered. The verbal and physical struggle demonstrated by the blonde was real, and was quite amusing. But the amusement disappeared unnoticeably as he went on going through the drawings.
They were the perfect copies.
His eye narrowed. No matter how many times he looked over the drawings, there wasn't a splotch of ink or an extra unnecessary thick line. The kanji, katakana and hiragana were all on point, matching exact placements, line and thickness.
It was amazing.
Kakashi took his foot off of Naruto, slapping the file shut. He gave another eye smile. "Well, now that your homework has been checked off, I have a quick question for you," he said.
Naruto sat up, wiping the dirt off. His sensei crouched down to his level, the file tucked under his arm. The blonde frowned and looked into the indifferent eye of Kakashi with a frown. "What 'ttebayo?"
"Do you feel a pinch in your eyes?" he questioned, leaning in to the point of where Naruto could feel the comfortable body heat the man was emitting.
He grimaced, backing his head away. "Why?"
"Just answer the question."
Naruto huffed, readjusting his sitting position. He crossed his legs and arms, an annoyed look plastering his face. "I feel it all the time," he grumbled. "It never goes away. It's either here with a headache or barely noticeable."
Kakashi's eye narrowed. "How come you never said anything?"
The Uzumaki stared ahead at the floor. There was a certain level of trust in between him and the Hatake. The duo could keep their secrets, Kakashi as an individual jōnin and Naruto as a loner. They mutually knew this, picking it up over time. The relationship Naruto shared with Iruka was more restricted. The blonde never liked sharing things that could hold him back. Telling Iruka would result in what he feared most.
"Are you going to answer?" Kakashi asked impatiently.
Naruto narrowed his strange eyes, his brow furrowing as his mind gears started flowing. "I don't like telling anyone about it," he responded. "It'd hold me back, right 'ttebayo? I mean, you all decided that you would hold me back from the exams because of the surgery. That's obviously not the reason dattebayo."
The Hatake stared. "True," he murmured. He patted Naruto's mop of bright hair, offering (yet again) another stupid eye smile. "Maa, maa…it'll get better. The real reason why we held you back was because of those eyes. They're strong and mysterious, which makes it dangerous. But it's most definitely a dōjutsu. By answering the question, we can roughly rule out its raw power."
Naruto blinked, looking at his sensei with a deeper frown. "Okay…how strong is my dōjutsu, then?"
Kakashi unpredictably let a chuckle go. He stood up, grabbing his underling's shirt collar and pulling him up to his feet. "Most definitely stronger than the Sharingan. That much I can say."
Naruto blinked in surprise and stared up at his sensei. The irritating throbbing turned into a dull feeling, and suddenly his entire being felt a little bit more at peace than usual.
(But a tiny voice in the back of his head went against it.)
It was around noon when Naruto was sent to find Sasuke and Sakura. The blonde found Sasuke in the Uchiha compound reading some history scrolls, and Sakura at her house. They caught up, ate, and finally made their way through the busy streets, not stopping to buy any merchandise that people were trying to sell. Various visotopes and residents were heading in the same direction, their origin country rather obvious to the trio.
The stands were half full when the team arrived. Kakashi was already there, sitting next to some other jōnin and genin. When they joined the group, Sakura and Ino were quick to start catching up to talk. Meanwhile Sasuke stayed a lone wolf, and Naruto simply sat by his sensei.
Naruto could hear so many sounds and see even the birds fly overhead in alarming detail. He couldn't say if it was normal or not, but being able to see the every line on a feather from the native Hi no Kuni bird didn't seem like it.
He looked down at the genin below in the fighting ring. He saw Hyūga Neji, Hyūga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru, Kankuro, Tenten and Sabaku no Gaara. Behind them was the finals overseer, Hayate.
He was a tokubetsu jōnin, if the blonde remembered correctly.
Naruto blinked, scanning the crowd around him. He got some rude glares from native residents, but they were blatantly ignored as he continued to look. He spotted many familiar chakras, both civilian and shinobi. (A civilian's chakra signature was significantly weaker, but it could still be detected.) There was also a scarily familiar chakra he's felt before. It wasn't exactly what he clearly remembered feeling, but it was very similar.
He would've gotten up to investigate if he wasn't interrupted.
"Hey, look! It's Naruto, my Youthful Rival! Nice to see you—it's been quite some time, has it not!?"
The respectful voice pulled the blonde back to the irritating reality. He turned his head towards Rock Lee, who had been put into crutches thanks to Gaara. Gai had told Kakashi of the event, and Kakashi had told his "vilely cute genin team" about it. He blinked. "Yup," he agreed. "How are you feeling, by the way? You seem to be doing much better."
Lee gave a thumbs up with a loud, sparkly grin. But the depression was rather obvious to the questioner. "I'm feeling youthfully better! Thanks for asking!"
Naruto could only blink again. He didn't respond right away, since he was thinking of a road that Lee could go down without crutches. Only an advanced medic could do that, and the most advance of the current living was Senju Tsunade. He turned his head back to the flat land where the fights would take place. "Who're you cheerin' for 'ttebayo?"
"My good Youthful Rival, I cheer for all of them!" Lee proclaimed. "However, both of my team mates made it, so I shall cheer for them youthfully."
The blonde couldn't stop cringing. No matter what the conversation was spoken of in between Rock Lee and another, or Maito Gai and another, there was always to be a "youthful" comment.
"Wanna go to the very front, then? I'm betting that Hinata's gonna get to the final round, and we can get a front seat to watch it happen dattebayo," Naruto stated. He kept his voice relatively loud so then the surrounding shinobi and civilian's could hear. It was comical to listen volumes hitch or completely stop when he said it, and from here even a half blind dog could see Hinata's face go beat red.
Lee grinned brightly, ridiculously white teeth making white spots dance across Naruto's line of vision. "Very well! Quite a bet, my Youthful Rival! We shall see how it goes!"
By the time they reached the front of the stands, Hayate started telling the procedures of rules that Naruto ignored. The crowd saw this, and it all became bearable in volume. All of the genin, excluding Hinata and Neji, took their leave to a door that lead to a place Naruto did not know of.
Hayate raised his arm, calling for silence that was obeyed within seconds. "First match, round one, fought by Hyūga Hinata and Hyūga Neji! Killing is prohibited for the entirety of the finale, and shall not be tolerated or encouraged by the crowd!" he announced. "Battle limit is fifteen minutes!" His dark eyes scanned the area, and his arm went straight down. "Start!"
The proctor backed away, and the crowd started anticipating.
Naruto leaned forward slightly, his eyes becoming focused. He watched as chakra flooded into their eyes, pulsing out power in waves. Their veins popped up, and they instantly got into a Hyūga taijutsu fight. They matched power foot to foot, chin to chin and face to face.
Lee seemed impressed. "She's gotten stronger," he commented. "I'm glad to see that she's raced past her limits…"
Naruto noticed it, too. Her movements were more fluid and tight, showing elegance in her every strike. She was very focused, and the way her shoulders were squared showed that she had gained a little bit more confidence, and that she had a goal to accomplish.
The blonde Uzumaki tipped his head with a frown. One who lacks confidence needs a booster. So who was Hinata's booster…?
Naruto watched in surprise as both Hyūga's clashed in a final punch, each catching it. But Neji, having superior muscles, pushed the heir back a little, head butting her mercilessly. Hinata stumbled away in a dizzy mess of surprise, not processing the kick that was aimed at her chest fast enough in time to dodge it.
She lost her breath and rolled away, quickly getting up. She got into another defensive stance, panting heavily to regain the breath she lost.
Neji didn't, though. He simply glared into the eyes of his cousin, pulling out a kunai. His knuckled wrapped around it, quick to turn white with rage. "How could such a weakling like you get so strong in such a short period of time?" he seethed. "Did you find some sort of hack in your special main branch library to oppress me, a branch member of the Hyūga, again?"
Lee frowned in disapproval. "Here he goes again. This is not very youthful of Neji at all."
Hinata's shoulder's dropped, eyes wide with hurt. It was obvious that the mention of the oppression of branch members hit a sensitive spot, and it allowed a hole in her defenses. "I-I would—"
Neji rolled his clear lavender eyes. "Don't try to lie to me, Hinata-sama. This seal on my forehead…you're probably going to use it just like your father," he snarled. His eyes narrowed ferociously. "Do you wish to kill me, you failure…? To oppress me…to make me withdraw into myself? To make me die as a catalyst for your frustration?"
Hinata winced. Her hands were trembling, and her eyes were becoming glassy.
Naruto felt rage boil over. His teeth scraped together. "Your team mate is a bastard dattebayo," he teemed.
The anger Naruto felt made his voice quiet, a quaking fear instilling itself into Lee. The older genin straightened up, realizing that Neji probably was going to get a verbal beating. Lee blinked nervously. "U-uh…N-Naruto—"
Naruto ignored Lee.
He glared down at Neji, the throbbing in his eyes becoming a painful headache that made him more irritated by the second. "Hey—you!" he shouted. "Neji!" The eld Hyūga didn't bat an eyelash at the call of his name. But the Uzumaki could feel the watch of the Byakugan stare him down. The former gritted his teeth together even harder. "Just shut up! Or you'll never get a chūnin promotion if you keep beating your comrade down because you feel so weak! Hinata isn't a failure dattebayo!"
Neji's head snapped up to the Uzumaki. He glared up at him, burning anger making his hands shake. "What would you know about being weak?" he retorted.
Naruto sneered. "Plenty."
"Jūken!"
Neji was quick to react, but he couldn't fully dodge Hinata's attack. The technique hit his arm, but that was all. However, it will prove to be a hindrance later on; that was a known fact.
It was obvious that Naruto blinded him enough with anger to make it so that there would be a brief opening in his line of sight. Smarter people could see this, and they honestly were shocked. Most people knew Hyūga Neji, a genius, to be cool-headed and foolproof.
Never had he been seen so compelled to lose all things adequate.
The fight continued, and dragged on for another few restless minutes. Naruto managed to cool himself down, but his headache remained.
Eventually the duo backed away from one another. Hinata was drenched in sweat, battered and exhausted. Neji was simply battered, but that was it. His arm was loosely hanging, though. Naruto couldn't sense any chakra flowing in it, either, and decided to question just what Hinata's technique did later.
At that point of time in the battle, one vital hit was needed, and one of them would be the winner.
The clock was ticking, too. Eight minutes had already passed, and they only had seven minutes left over in order to complete the match.
Naruto watched closely, cheering on Hinata when she was knocked to the ground by a kick or clumsy dodge. The routine lasted for a full minute before Hinata finally jabbed at Neji using Jūken once more.
However, Neji ducked. He pulled his remaining arm back, using Jūken for the first time during the fight. His arm jabbed forward, and Naruto felt his blood go cold as he connected the dots as to where Neji was aiming.
Hinata was so very lucky that her strike pulled her body to a more diagonal position, making it so that Neji's Jūken hit the general area of her heart instead of the vital organ itself.
Naruto's eyes widened, his mouth drying up as the attack connected completely. "That's…"
Lee was honestly surprised, too. He never thought that his team mate could pull such an fatal move on family.
Hinata coughed up blood, her Byakugan deactivating. The crowd was dead silent, unsure of what was to happen. Hayate showed himself quickly, grabbing Hinata and rushing her to the medical room. He arrived back only seconds later, coughing a few times before turning to face the crowd.
"Winner is Hyūga Neji!" he announced.
Naruto didn't hesitate to cheer like the others or to think clearly about his wild surroundings. He just turned and ran up the stairs.
"Wait—Naruto! Where are you going?!" Sakura shouted after him.
"To Hinata dattebayo!" he snapped back. He felt two more chakra signatures (easily figured out to be Sakura and Sasuke) follow him as he made his way down through the back ways towards the mini hospital in the lower quarters of the stadium.
Naruto felt something within him move. It made his heart jump up to his throat with fear, since he could just feel the maliciousness it produced between every movement. It was actually really scary, but even then he felt at peace with it. How dare he treat his family like that…
The Uzumaki rushed into the infirmary. He saw Neji being tended to, but Hinata was nowhere to be seen.
However, a nurse was quick to approach him. She put her hands up, smiling nervously. "Young man—"
"Where's Hinata dattebayo?!" he asked rather loudly.
The nurse blinked, and instantly understood the situation. She also recognized who she was speaking to, and couldn't stop the boulder of duty slam her chest. "She's fine, sir, she's is OK. Right now our assistant shinobi is taking her to the hospital for a proper chakra and physical surgery. It's not fatal, though, so you may calm down," she assured. She put her arms on his shaking shoulders, bending down to his level to look in his frantic eyes. "She's going to live, alright? You can calm down and rest easy. Konoha's doctors and surgeons are skilled in this area."
Naruto looked back into her light grey eyes, closing his mouth and swallowing to help dry his throat. When he got a good look at her, he noticed that her grey eyes were framed by thick lashes, her pale skin giving her a creamy doll-like look. She had long, pale blue hair that was cut perfectly in a straight line at the bottom, giving her an elegant, royal look.
She smiled and straightened up, her shoulder squared proudly and her movements worthy of a queen. "My name is Momo."
He nodded. "Naruto," he simply replied. He spared a glance at Neji, who was watching at that point with a straight face. Naruto saw that his arm was in a sling, and the dirt and grit he had on his skin was gone. The blonde looked back at Momo. "Can I talk to him—alone—for a bit 'ttebayo?"
The sharp looks of warning stabbed his back, obviously coming from Sakura and Sasuke. But he ignored it. They wouldn't change his mind. He had some things to say to Neji.
Momo glanced back at the older ninja, and nodded. "Of course. But please let him get his rest, and keep your voice down. Some coworkers of mine are working hard in the back office," she said. She looked at Naruto's companions. "Why don't you come and help me carry some medicine? It'll be major help for future injuries."
Sasuke was hesitant, and Sakura looked like she was about the reject, but the Uchiha nodded. "Hn."
Momo smiled brightly, guiding them out of the room. "Thank you very much. You two are very kind…"
Naruto watched them leave, their voices fading away behind the closed doors. He turned his head back to the Hyūga, approaching the thirteen year old with a calmed look. There was a stretched silence, only the sounds of cheering and the feeling of chakra flaring being the factor to indicate that the world wasn't frozen.
Neji finally blinked, eyes shifting as he examined Naruto's irises and pupils. "…You have strange eyes."
Naruto blinked back, looking at Neji's injured arm. "Your ill-will towards Hinata was obvious during the fight," he said. "Why do you hate her so much?"
"Her father—my uncle, is the reason why my father is dead," he growled. "They were twins, but my father was the younger one. Thus, my side of the family was placed into the branch, and we were given seals. Should we do something wrong, whether it be speak to a main branch without permission, or break a plate, the seals would activate and harm us. Some have even died because of it…and my father sacrificed himself for the sake of Hiashi-sama…"
Naruto looked up at Neji, watching as the Hyūga pulled off his headband to show a mint green seal. He saw and felt chakra lace within the tattoo, digging into the mind of Neji.
The blondes eyes widened when he studied it a little bit more, his jaw slacking with a horrified reaction. He reached out, touching it. He felt the vivid vibrations of the foreign chakra underneath his finger tips. At certain spots, he could feel a stronger vibration, where more chakra was obviously at.
"…What are you doing?" Neji inquired.
Naruto ignored the question, staring harder and harder at the faded chakra within the seal. When he finally processed it all, he put his arm down and looked at the Hyūga. He regained composure, and nodded a little. "You do have every right at be angry as the main house," Naruto agreed. He tipped his head a little. "But surely Hiashi would be in despair—even now, as you speak ill of him. Your father was his brother dattebayo. His twin, even. They were probably closer than molecules of a solid, right?"
Neji glared. "And what would you know about having a sibling?"
"Nothing," Naruto snapped. "But I do know that family relation, whether they be hand-in-hand or in blood, shouldn't be underestimated. It's gonna be painful, and even if siblings run at each other with killing intentions, surely it must infinitely hurt."
The Hyūga blinked in surprise, all of his dark looks disappearing. He looked down at the floor, a frown creasing his brows.
"How about you ask Hiashi about it and stop assuming," the Uzumaki advised. "You made this reality up, so now it's time to fix it and make it a truth dattebayo."
The only response Neji could reply with was brief eye contact. Naruto left, and it basically forced the Hyūga to reevaluate his morale of how his father, Hyūga Hizashi, died.
"Jūken": "Gentle Fist"
I couldn't stop myself from adding in Hyūga feelz. I mean, they play an important part in this story, and if they weren't fixed then that would actually ruin a lot of my plans lol
I hope y'all read the new warnings. If you don't think you can handle confusing science, then PM me a question when it comes around. That'll be a little ways away, so you don't have to do it right away.
Anyways, Happy Valentine's Day :^)
Heres an omake planned on the fly.
The ramen stand of Ichiraku, as per usual, wasn't extremely busy. However, there were four occupants eating some ramen. Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto were enjoying their time eating in silence. The only sounds was the boiling of water and the slurp of ramen noodles.
Ayame, however, broke this silence. "Hey Naruto, do you have a crush on Hinata?"
Instantly, the blonde reacted by coughing on noodles and water. The ruckus was added to when he managed to make a gross mess of a sneeze towards Sasuke's direction. In turn, Naruto gained a punch to the cheek from Sakura and a cut on his nose from it being broken thanks to the Uchiha.
Kakashi could only sigh, crossing his arms with a closed eye.
"N-n-n-n-no!" Naruto spluttered with a beat red face.
Sakura huffed in anger as she crossed his arms, and Sasuke looked rather green picking noodle chunks off of his arm.
Ayame laughed. "Bummer! Today would've been a good day to confess your love!"
(Meanwhile, Hinata sneezed).
Peace! :3