Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the Manga or the Anime. To be honest, that's quite blatantly obvious. Wouldn't it be funny if Masashi Kishimoto was writing on this? Then he wouldn't have to bother with a disclaimer.
Chapter 4: Revelations
*Previously* (sorry a bit of a "Heroes" moment)
"I agree with Shikamaru".
"Yeah, well the thing about Shikamaru is-" she didn't finish her sentence, a piercing scream tore through the forest.
"I KILLED HIM!!!"
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Chouji looked over to Ino. She was white as a sheet.
"What the hell was that?" the blonde girl thought to herself as Chouji grabbed her arm.
"Huh?" Ino seemed to come out of the trance.
"That was the most awful thing I've ever heard" she said to herself, hardly noticing Chouji pulling her along.
"We need to see what's happened, something terrible has happened." He said as Ino seemed to be recovering.
"What if it's an attack? A trick?" she asked. Chouji appeared apprehensive, but only for a split second.
"If anyone can fake that kind of scream they deserve to get us. We need to help." Ino looked into his eyes, he had a resolved look.
"One thing you can never doubt in Chouji." she thought with a resolved smile.
"His kindness."
She nodded and began running "Right, let's go."
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The area was littered with kunai and shuriken and the crater from the exploding kunai was still smoking slightly. Tenten found herself frozen for a split second then she sprinted to Neji as fast as she could, throwing herself onto her knees and accidentally cutting herself on shuriken in her haste. She lifted up the fallen Neji in her arms and cradled him, sobbing as she did so. Blood had soaked his chest and was now dripping down onto her stomach and legs but she paid it no attention. Tears were dripping down her face.
"I didn't mean for this to happen, I'm so sorry." she sobbed.
"I've never hit you before, what changed? Please Neji, please wake up. Please…" she burst into a fresh flood of tears, stroking his face dislodging his forehead protector in the process causing it to fall on the floor. Tenten looked through blurry brown eyes at the bloody figure in her arms.
"He was always trapped by his family, that horrible caged bird seal." she closed her eyes, causing more tears to run down her face.
"Just when I…No, I can't think that now." she bent down.
"You're free now Neji" she told him pushing aside his hair to kiss his forehead, opening her eyes at the same time.
"Wait…" she roughly brushed the tears out of her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Looking back at her was the tool of the Hyuugas that kept the branch family in line. It was still there! The cursed seal had not disappeared… which meant…
"He's still alive! Oh my god, he needs help!" she threw her head into the air.
"HELP ME!!! SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAS HAPPENED!!!" she screamed. She took another look at Neji's body and broke down again.
"Don't die, just wait for help. Please…Please…" she begged.
"HELP ME!!!"
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Chouji and Ino looked at each other.
"You were right, well done Chouji" Ino thought as they burst forward into the clearing, and into the most horrible scene Chouji had ever seen. Tenten was bent over a bloody Neji, sobbing uncontrollably. It was clear to him she couldn't get any more screams out due to her distress.
"What the hell happened?" he inquired of himself, to his right Ino had gone from his side and was already by Neji.
"Tenten, put him down please. I need to take a look" Ino said as softly as possible. Tenten was still crying silently, her brown eyes red-rimmed.
"NO!! I won't let him go again!" she held him tighter.
"Please, I need to take a look." Ino repeated soothingly.
"She can help him." Chouji added in the same soothing tone. He took hold of Tenten's hands and led her away, though her eyes never left his face.
"Come here. Good." Ino heard Chouji talking to Tenten. She knelt down and took a deep breath. Even though she had become a medical ninja she had never attempted surgery on such a serious case, Shikamaru had always kept them out of situations like that.
"Not a helpful thought Ino." she scolded herself.
"You can do it Ino." she heard off to her right.
"Chouji. Thank you". "Right. Let's do this, people are depending on me." she told herself, pumping chakra to her hands and placing them over the wound, inspecting it while being careful not to disturb the kunai despite the impulse to pull it out. She thanked god that Tenten had been too upset to touch it.
"I take that out without thinking and he could be in a much worse situation." she concentrated. The kunai had gone through his chest…
"… and missed his heart by inches thank god."
However it had shattered a rib on its way through and there were fragments dangerously close to his heart. Ino congratulated Tenten silently.
"Even in this situation she had the sense not to move him, he could have died." she looked deeper; the kunai had gone so far!
"Oh shit! It's punctured his lung!" she turned quickly to where Chouji was comforting Tenten.
"Quick, make a signal, call for a full medical team!" Chouji looked shocked but Tenten's face was a mask of horror.
"NOW damn it" she turned back as Chouji nodded and threw an explosive kunai into the air.
"The most serious problem is probably the bone fragments around the heart, if they're not gone we'll never be able to move him without definitely killing him."
She knew that leaving the lung open with blood leaking in was a serious judgement call but she had to stick with her gut. She set to work, pumping chakra into her hands.
"Control! It's all about control! That's all very well for a FISH!" she drew the bone fragments upwards, along the path that they had taken through his chest.
"If his lung is filling with blood I have no time to reattach these bones to his ribs. Right." she pulled the bone fragments through the wound in his chest, and then placed them on her knee. She breathed out slowly, trying to ignore Tenten's stifled sobs in the background.
"Next…" she couldn't pull the blood out of his lung using chakra without doing his lung serious, irreparable damage. If she moved him he could choke on his own blood.
"If only I had a surgical vacuum to suck it out with…" she would have to leave it, if the medical team was on the way… she prayed. Then they would have the equipment she needed to at least move him.
"For now I have to seal this wound and remove this kunai." she set to work again, steadying her hands as she had been taught and applying chakra to the required areas.
"Wait for it…NOW!" she pulled out the kunai quickly but cleanly and then sent a quick burst of chakra inside to cauterise the wound. She sighed.
"Okay, now just to wait for-" she allowed herself a quick smile.
"Good, you're here." she turned to the medical team.
"I need a surgical vacuum now!" It was almost a law that the person who started treatment at the scene had seniority. It didn't quite go up to Hokage, but only because the current Hokage was a medical genius.
"Of course." the man replied, handing her one.
"What happened?" he moved beside her
"Kunai to the chest that thankfully missed the heart, chunks of bone near it though. They're gone" she inserted the vacuum into his lung.
"Biggest problem we had after that was the blood in his lungs" she patted the machine.
Suddenly Ino took a quick look down and checked his mouth.
"Shit! He's stopped breathing!"
"How many things…" she cursed inwardly as she started artificial breathing.
"Come on!" she screamed inside her head. She tried again.
"Come ON!" she heard a little cough and felt her face splatter with blood.
"YES!" the very worst was over.
"But this is no time to calm down." she reminded herself, healing the puncture as she removed the vacuum.
"Get him on a stretcher, now!" Ino looked over to Tenten and pointed.
"Her too, give her something to calm her down and then take her to the hospital" she watched as Tenten was given a drink then led to a stretcher, where she fell unconscious. Neji was already gone. She could relax. Ino looked at her hands; they were covered in blood.
"How long have they been like that?" she wondered. She realised she was shaking too; adrenalin had been coursing through her and it was finally taking its toll. How she had not killed Neji like this, she didn't know.
"God, I'm a wreck."
"I did it!"
"I really did it!" she finally breathed out.
"You were awesome Ino" Chouji was standing there with, yes, she thought, definitely an awestruck expression. Ino smiled.
"I feel so tired…" she fell forward, but Chouji was there to catch her.
"Thanks" she mumbled into his chest clutching him.
"Don't worry about it" he smiled, lifting her up
"No…" she paused.
"…for believing in me, I was so scared. Really. Thank you." she closed her eyes putting her arms around his neck.
"Er… Ino?" Chouji managed. He looked down, she was asleep
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Back in village Naruto realised that his only idea had gone completely out of the window. Of course when he was stuck over what to do it was off to Ichiraku's.
"You may not be any smarter, but you're definitely not hungry after you've eaten." He told himself.As he finished his meal he wondered if Hinata was doing better than him. He gestured to Teuchi
"Thanks for the meal old man, that was great!" he patted his stomach. The ramen bar owner smiled.
"No problem Naruto, see you soon."
"See ya!" he jumped off the seat and started walking back home.
"Well, I haven't got any more leads. I may as well go home, I'll meet Hinata tomorrow and apologise." he felt really bad that he hadn't been able to come through for her. He imagined the look of disappointment on her face.
"Damn it! But there's nothing I can do" he looked up at the Hokage Mountain, lost in thought.
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"Found him, that took longer than expected. Looks like he has become stronger." Shino dropped off the roof in front of Naruto.
"Whoa!" Naruto staggered backwards and fell over in the least dignified way possible, right on his ass. He looked up.
"I may not have recognised Hinata immediately but there is no way in hell you can mistake this guy for anyone else. If anything he looks even creepier with the whole hood thing, and those sunglasses…" his train of thought was broken by Shino saying something.
"Huh? Sorry, say again?"
Shino stopped.
"I hate repeating myself." he though in annoyance. There was something about Naruto that just clashed with his personality. Of course he would never let that show.
"Except that one time." he remembered threatening Naruto after revealing he actually had some sense of humour. He grimaced. Inwardly.
"I said we need to talk." he offered a hand to Naruto.
"We do?" Naruto took his hand and was pulled up. He brushed himself off.
"Yes"
"He's really not mincing his words, huh?"
"Here?" Naruto asked questioningly.
"It's about Hinata." Shino was sticking to what he knew, blunt. Or direct, it depended on who was analysing it.
Naruto's mind went into overdrive "What about Hinata? Is she ok? She is still entering the exam right?"
"If she pulls out I'm back to square one, I'd be screwed."
"I can confidently say that Hinata is definitely taking the exam." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.
"I believe you asked her why she was taking it though." Shino added. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah" he paused.
"But all she said was that she had her reasons" he frowned
"Yes, she does."
"I wish he wouldn't do that." Naruto thought.
"And they are…?" Naruto was getting quite exasperated
"You don't know how Hinata became a Chuunin do you?" Shino asked, folding his arms. He was well aware of the answer.
"No, I've been away for two and a half years. It's hard to keep up with everything when you're gone so long" he smiled but Shino stayed silent and the joke died in the air.
"Then listen to me." he indicated a café.
"Do you want to sit down? This needs explaining properly." Naruto found himself caught off-balance.
"Yeah, er… okay" he agreed tentatively.
As they both sat down Shino started explaining.
"What with various missions, errands and other things we all missed the Chuunin exam after you left. However a year, or two exams later, after you had left we, that is - my team, Neji's team, Chouji, Ino and Sakura - retook the Chuunin exam."
"Who did Sakura go with?" Naruto interrupted. Shino felt his patience was being tested on purpose.
"She joined Ino and Chouji" he repressed the urge to sigh.
"But that is not important. Anyway, we all retook the exam. Needless to say, we passed the first part. For the second part, I can only tell you about my team. But, since we are talking about Hinata that is fine." he paused for a second to order a drink from a passing waitress while Naruto wondered where he was going with this.
"What would you say Hinata's greatest weakness is?" Naruto looked up, surprised.
"Er… I dunno" he considered for a moment.
"She's strong enough, she can use Jyuuken and that other technique of hers. That's not it. Teamwork? No she listens to everyone. She's not stupid either, she had answers to the test during the last exam I took." he thought back to missions he had been on with her.
"She was always strong."
"I dunno, I give up." he leaned back in his chair.
"It's her confidence. After being considered weak by her father she has had confidence issues ever since I met her." Naruto looked surprised.
"You never really see it, when she is around you she gains something." Shino thought to himself.
"So she's a little unconfident sometimes, what does that have to do with the Chuunin exam?"
"We managed to get through the second exam as a team, any time Hinata felt she was not strong enough or was being a burden; she had friends around -us- to reassure her. That's why you never really saw it so much when you were on missions with her - you were there to reassure her."
"You are a source of her strength." Shino knew, though Naruto had been oblivious since day one.
"Like I said, we made it through the second exam and into the final exam, the knockout competition. We had nine leaf ninja that year after the preliminaries and twelve ninja total. Hinata's fight in the main exam was last, against a lightning country ninja that had proved to be a bit sadistic. My fight was near the middle and Kiba was just before her."
"Ok, but really, where is this going?" Naruto asked, impatience getting the better of him.
"Are you gonna tell me the entire story of how you became a Chuunin?" Shino ignored him, he remembered his fight like it was yesterday.
"I was up against Tenten but the fight took longer than I expected. Any time my bugs got near her she used a combination of replacements to get away or explosives to kill the bugs. I won in the end, but just to stop your questions, due to the foresight in keeping away from my attacks Tenten showed, she was given Chuunin rank also. The problem was that I had taken too many indirect hits from explosions; she got a number of attacks in that I honestly hadn't expected. The end result was that I was hospitalised due to extreme chakra exhaustion and a few broken bones." Naruto wondered where this was going and he was about to interrupt again when Shino held a hand up.
"Kiba's fight was against Ino." he baulked as Naruto began to laugh.
"What? How badly did Ino get pummelled?" he nearly started laughing again before he was interrupted.
"At first it did seem one-sided, but Kiba couldn't make a direct hit and Ino was managing to heal herself when she was glanced by his attacks. When he did finally get serious Ino managed to make Kiba think that Akamaru wasn't there, and vice versa. That made it a lot easier for her to dodge two sets of un-co-ordinated attacks and attack back" Naruto sat back as Shino continued.
"The judges were impressed by this fight, Ino had come up with a winning strategy which merited her becoming a Chuunin, her plan was to take each of them out separately as they would normally protect each other which they couldn't do."
"So what happened?"
"Kiba did manage to work out a way of co-ordinating himself with Akamaru, he almost discarded his other senses and relied entirely on smell, pumping chakra there and eliminating Ino's genjutsu hold over his nose." Naruto looked sceptical but Shino continued.
"Kiba told me afterwards, and I have no reason to disbelieve him, that he was able to smell where Akamaru was, even though he had normally got used to his scent, and predict his attacks. That allowed Kiba to time his attacks with Akamaru's. Ino wasn't expecting it and was defeated. Unfortunately due to the repeated effects of the techniques Ino had used he became confused about who he was and had to be hospitalised."
Naruto frowned "I'm confused; I thought we were talking about Hinata."
"We were. When it came to her fight, from the beginning she was worried about how we were. She admitted it afterwards. The lightning country-nin picked up on the fact that she was worried about us. Do you remember when Neji bullied her in the preliminaries when you were there?"
"Yeah, she looked ready to run. I told her that she had to fight." Naruto smiled slightly "And she gave it everything."
"This time there was no-one to cheer her, or reassure her. Worse, her father was watching her, which really did not help her nervousness." realisation slowly dawned on Naruto's face.
"She lost?"
"Yes, I'm told with very little of a fight, he used some sort of illusion to make her think that throughout the exam she had been a burden to us and that she couldn't win."
"Wait, so how did she become a Chuunin in the end then?" Naruto asked.
"She proved she wasn't a burden." Naruto raised his eyebrows.
"How?"
"A few months later we were all on a mission to take care of an A-classed ninja and his accomplices. Something went wrong and he outsmarted all of us, Kurenai included. Before we knew it we were all defeated. Except Hinata." Shino paused.
"This time she felt she must have felt could do something to help us, she was the only one left to protect us." Naruto looked shocked.
"She defeated all of them?" he asked. Shino nodded.
"When we woke up, there were bodies everywhere. We didn't find a scratch on them, she had killed each and every one of them with a Jyuuken strike to the heart, including the A-classed criminal himself." Naruto's eyes widened.
"They underestimated her. Anyway, when we got back Tsunade-sama awarded her the effective rank of Chuunin as recognition for completing the mission and saving three team mates."
"She was that powerful?" Naruto asked himself incredulously.
"Everyone is fooled by her innocent, caring nature. She could well have the ability to surpass Neji in terms of exhibition of the Byakugan, she only needs encouragement, and the will to fight."
"So why does she want to retake the Chuunin exam?"
"From what he's said she's powerful enough not to bother."
"To prove herself to her father and the entire village."
"Her father, yes. But why the village?" though Naruto was beginning to get suspicions.
"After the incident, word spread and there were dark rumours about how she had achieved it. She wanted to take the exam earlier, it's still technically allowed since she hasn't passed but she couldn't find any willing team mates. The rumours tainted her image." he watched as Naruto burst out of his seat, attracting the attention of the entire café.
"That's so unfair!" Naruto shouted.
"She protected some of her important people, and gets her reputation ruined as a reward!"
"She's just like me" Naruto thought.
"They don't understand our power and so they fear us…" he slumped back down, the fire still in his eyes.
"I understand Shino. This is very important to Hinata and I will make sure that she can prove herself. I will give her the support she needs. Thank you for letting me know." he stood up.
"I'm gonna go find her, see how things are going. Bye." he ran off.
Shino felt satisfied though Naruto didn't have a clue where he was going. "I was worried that he might see it the wrong way but he understands. Hinata needs this…"
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Y'know I was talking last time about how I was fleshing out each thought I had. This is a perfect example. You might have more of an idea of what to expect now from any battles involving Kiba. I always imagined Ino using psychological/illusion techniques to fight, it suits her. Notice I'm trying not to make Hinata god-like, with Jyuuken you can pretty much lay anyone low. They underestimated her and she got maaaaaad. Will she do it again? But Naruto understands Hinata better now. Hope you liked the surgery bit as well, I'm proud of it. Let me know what you're thinkin'
Later.