Welcome back, ladies and gents, to another thrilling installment. This chapter took me a long while to write, mainly because I had to trash my original idea. But once I thought it all through, I think I did a much better job with this version. Alot of parts of this chapter I was a bit iffy about but damn, did this ever turn out to be different than my first idea and I think it turned out for the better. I hope you enjoy it because it sure as hell ended up being a pain to write this, since I just didn't seem to know how to tackle certain situations. Once more, I must thank you all for your reviews, they have been excellent and did help me in writing this chapter and getting it out here. One little note, I hope that my last two chapters have not been seen as bashing on other characters. I have no issues with Sakura, Kiba, Shino, or Sasuke.
Chapter Nine - The True Strength of a Shinobi
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto was about to land his blow to the man's face, just a few mere inches away, until a shockwave of chakra knocked him off balance, where he was then left to be claimed victim to the monstrous strength and pent-up aggression of Garrett. Naruto was sent sailing through the air but was caught gently by a tree's foliage. He recognized the tree as the tree that Yamato had grown on their first day during their skill assessment. He looked towards his sensei and his eyes seemed to say "thank you." Yamato nodded and then looked in the direction of the chakra pulse. He saw Kurenai limp against a tree and then looked for where Vule could possibly be. Of all things, the man was approaching Garrett. 'You have got to be kidding me!'
"What the hell took you so long?" asked Garrett irritably, agitated from having his ass kicked by genin.
"I thought you could handle them all by yourself. You were doing well, but I guess I needed to step in after all." responded Vule, reaching out and touching Garrett's shoulder and sending out a wave of chakra that surrounded Garrett and started burning all the bugs on his skin. "Allow this chakra to go through your inner chakra system. It should destroy the bugs inside you as well." Garrett relaxed as much as he could, eager to have his chakra control back to normal. After a few moments, Vule pulled away and Garrett felt like he was back to normal. He didn't have his chakra replenished but what he did have would be enough for what was probably gonna happen. "Your men were pathetic, by the way."
"Yeah, well, we did not realize that we were going to be up against shinobi from a hidden village. That was not part of the original agreement." Garrett's words were back to being dangerous and malicious.
"Yeah, well, I did not ask for shinobi to escort me. The Yondaime so graciously offered them. Poor fool, he has no idea that he sent lambs to the slaughter." Naruto audibly gulped. He wanted to say many things, that this Vule-guy was such an asshole for misleading him, that he was a traitor, that he was a dick, a son of a bitch, oh many splendid, graphic, verbal blasts, but he also wanted to defend his father's judgment. However, in the face of these two men, he realized that they were probably outclassed...all of them. Yamato was injured, as was Sakura, Kurenai was unconscious, and that left a healthy Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, and Naruto. Things were definitely not going well for them. If a plan wasn't constructed then they were going to get defeated, or worse, killed.
Naruto had wanted nothing more, in his wildest fantasies, than to be in a situation similar to this one. The odds stacked against him, his opponents looking to be stronger than him, and his teammates in need of his assistance. The classic young boy fantasy of being the hero. Now, he was faced with that opportunity and he was scared out of his mind. This wasn't natural, who they were going up against. Garrett had been an incredible foe by himself - especially since his so-called 'skilled' rogues were nothing compared to him - and now add to the mix this guy, Lord Vule, who didn't even appear to be menacing, not in the least. However, something had changed between last night and right now, because this man, upon close inspection, looked as if he were glowing. The glow was unnerving too, for it seemed to be composed of nothing but chakra. 'But how is that possible? I mean, I may not have the Byakugan and I may not have the advanced ability to sense my opponent's power and strength, but even I knew that when we met this man yesterday he didn't have anywhere near this level of power.'
Yamato was busy trying to think of a strategy. Unlike Naruto, Yamato had a grasp of why this man could suddenly go from appearing normal to being borderline upper-rank Jounin level in power. But he needed to gather his thoughts on the task at hand. No longer did they have to protect Lord Vule but now it was very important that they get the Firaga Ruby away from him. While this thought was going through his mind, he remembered one of the things Kakashi always told him that was the copy-nin's greatest regret. 'My biggest regret was that I did not do more for my own team, back in the day.' Kakashi had always stressed, since that fateful day, that even though the shinobi code of conduct states that a mission's success must come first and foremost, the team of the shinobi must take all priority in the face of grim circumstances. Looking at their situation, Yamato realized that the success of this mission to bring the ruby back to Konoha would have an end result of the death of one or more of the young genin. They had to make a tactical retreat and then discuss how to approach this matter. That is, if these men would allow them to retreat. He needed to know their intentions and he needed to stall for time.
"Well, it appears that we were misled by you, Lord Vule." The man being spoken to turned in Yamato's direction. His face held no emotion, as if he seemed to be sad over this. "If I may ask, then why are you doing this? What could you possibly want?"
The man being interrogated then decided to smile, his confidence shining across his features. "I guess it is about time I dropped this guise." With that, he brought his right hand up to the front of his face, extending his index and middle fingers while keeping them together, giving the look of someone dividing their face into two segments. "Kai" spoke the man in a low voice. Suddenly, his body began to glow light blue and then shined in a bright white light, blinding those who tried to look at him.
When the brightness dimmed, the man who once stood there was gone. Now in his place was a younger looking male. He had the same style of hair, but it was shorter, only reaching his shoulders, but it seemed to hang all around the back of his head as the hair covered his ears and much of the sides of the man's face. The color was no longer salt-and-pepper but was a cherry-oak brownish color. His features were younger as well, no longer having weary wrinkles from age. The formal kimono was replaced by a cape, which exposed his chest. He wore a fishnet shirt over a black long-sleeve shirt which tucked into his pants, which were also black and went down to his ankles and the image was completed by the standard shinobi sandals. The most noticeable thing about him, despite the fact that he had just changed from an elderly, regal-looking man to a younger man who looked as if he were a shinobi, was his hitai-ite. It was tied around the collar of the cape and it was evident who he was. With a slash through the symbol of Konoha, this man was a rogue nin from Hidden Leaf.
"There, is that better? Now you can see the truth, that the man known as Lord Vule has been dead for quite a while now. It was surprisingly simple too. Those buffoons in that town had no idea. But then again, it did help that I had done my homework on the area and on the politics of the town. When the knowledge came to me that that idiot of a lord had the Firaga Ruby in his possession, I knew that there was only one option for me. And that was to take it. Two years of nothing but studying the politics and mannerisms of the lord in secrecy and when I felt the time was right, it was a simple matter for a shinobi of my level to infiltrate their building, slay Vule, hide the body, and then use a genjutsu to mimic his looks and voice."
Yamato was speechless. This man, who was once a nin of Konoha, had just confessed to doing a most heinous of crimes. Did he not regret his actions at all? Or was he as much a lost cause as others like the behemoth he seemed to be teamed with? "So you're saying that you murdered an innocent man just to get that ruby? What is your purpose for wanting the ruby? Do you want to sell it and then hope to go into hiding with a fortune of money?" The young shinobi just laughed, but it wasn't like Garrett's or any of his mens' laugh from earlier. This one was a whole-hearted, sincere laugh.
"You are truly naive, you know that? Think, my friend, think. Why would I want to sell this object to get a large sum of money when I had access to the bank account of a wealthy lord? Don't get me wrong, it's not that I wasn't concerned with my monetary situation but I have already taken that into account. I have already had a good portion of funds transferred into a discreet account of a bank in a small village in Rock Country. To ensure that no one became suspicious of the transfer of funds, I made sure to leave enough in the lord's account. It would seem suspicious for the lord, who had gone on his pilgrimage to Konoha to deliver the Firaga Ruby for the Festival of Fire, to have suddenly transferred out all of his money into an anonymous account like that." His gaze had gone back to being one of impassiveness, but he was still glowing with confidence. His eyes looked dangerous and Garrett, who had been quite patient so far, started to stretch and flex to get himself ready for action.
Yamato needed more time, he still didn't know whether or not this man would be opposed to the idea of letting them retreat. But instead of him having to ask a question, the man continued, as if he were proud of his elaborate plan. And it was elaborate. Yamato was, to say the least, impressed. Despite how he may not like what this man had done and how he went about doing it, the detail and effort that had gone into this plan of his was almost perfect. If not for the Yondaime's intuition then he might have gotten away with it.
"Your Hokage just had to send his own people though. That man truly doesn't know when to mind his own business. Just because he is the designated head of power in this country doesn't mean he should just throw his weight around and send out his own shinobi as assistance. So if you are going to be upset with anybody about this predicament, be upset with your Hokage. He is the one who sent you to your doom."
"So are you saying that you are so ruthless that you wouldn't allow these children to leave? They just do as they are told by their superiors. If you want to bring anyone to their 'doom' then let it be me, but I only ask that in return, you let the genin go." All the genin seemed to react to that. Naruto was shouting, as was Kiba, about how stupid that idea was. Hinata almost had tears in her eyes, as the feel of the situation finally seemed to settle in. Shino even tensed up, though he didn't show any sort of emotional reaction. Sasuke hung his head low, afraid to let anyone see how uncomfortable he was about this while Sakura was struggling to keep herself from shouting because her midsection still hurt like hell.
Garrett looked to his 'partner-in-crime' with an incredulous look on his face. "You aren't actually considering this, are you Vega? They'll report back to their Hokage and then they will send a task force of even stronger foes after us."
The man now known as Vega, just chuckled. "I gave it a good thought. The death of such young life seems like such a waste, but that is what they got themselves into when they decided to be shinobi. Besides, not many shinobi in that village frighten me in my current condition. As long as I have the Firaga Ruby, the only ones I would have to fear are that damn Hokage, his sensei, the copy-nin, or that prodigy from Uchiha, Itachi." Sasuke flinched upon hearing his brother's name mentioned in such high respects. Was he invisible to everyone?
Yamato looked upon the nin, who he now knew the name of, and was in shock. This was a missing nin from Konoha indeed, but he was not what the reports said of him. Vega was supposedly a high D-rank, possibly low C-rank, rebel nin. Then why did he only fear those four men that he mentioned? Did it have something to do with the reason of why this man didn't want to sell the ruby?
"You seem to think highly of yourself, despite your D-rank classification. What makes you think you are strong enough to fight us off?" Once again, Vega laughed at him, but this time it was derisively.
"You really are ignorant aren't you? Do you not understand? Do you not feel it? While you were spending your time with Garrett here, I was busy prepping the Firaga Ruby. What you obviously don't understand about this stone is that it holds power that can turn a genin into a formiddable jounin, a jounin into a kage, and a kage into a god. As long as one knows how to use it, this stone will give the user all the power they could ever ask for. As I was impersonating Lord Vule, I studied the ruby and the way it's power works and I came to a realization. This stone will give me more than enough power to make it out of Fire Country without too much difficulty and from there, I will go to Rock Country and wait patiently for the opportunity to arise for me to take their stone. With two of them in my possession, not even your precious Yondaime could stop me." As he listened to Vega's plan, he realized that if Vega did know how to call upon the almost demonic power dwelling inside the ruby then this was near impossible. Their only hope would be to try and get the ruby away from Vega. Yamato stood up, looked dangerously towards the two men, and made a decision.
"Shino, I am placing you in charge for now. You will guide the others away from this area. Naruto and Kiba, help Kurenai and get her out of here. Sasuke, you help Sakura. Hinata, I need you to be their lookout. Don't you all dare think about coming back." They all listened, digesting the information, and wanted to protest, but his face was of a stone-cold determination.
"As if I'd allow something like that to occur in my presence. You all could summon the Hokage and his forces before I could get out of Fire Country and I just can't let that happen." All the genin became worried at the words. These men had full intentions of killing them.
"You wouldn't...even if you have renounced your citizenship to Konoha, you wouldn't kill these children, would you?" Inwardly, the genin grimaced at the label Yamato was placing on them. It was true, they didn't want to die, but they didn't want to be treated like little kids either. Not sure of what they should do, they stood there, dumbfounded. Nothing of their training had planned them for an event like this. No one had told them (or maybe they did and the genin didn't really pay it much mind) that it might be possible for their client to betray them. Vule/Vega wasn't really their client, but they were assigned to protect him and now he had turned out to be an enemy in disguise.
Dumbfounded may be saying it lightly though. The young shinobi were just being dumb at this point. They hadn't made a move and were seemingly afraid to without the consent of their leader. Add to that was the fact that they had all tried and used just about everything they could to take down Garrett (and he still wasn't defeated), and now they had to deal with someone who acted as though he was the leader between the two. That was sending off awkward bells in their brains because the rule in teams is that it is usually either the wisest or the strongest who is assigned the leadership role. In the assigned teams of Konoha, three genin were paired with a jounin instructor who was skilled and strong. Taking that thought into account, a proper analysis of this situation could lead to two possible scenarios.
The scenarios that had been thought of had the little stipulation that Vega was indeed the leader between the two. The first option was that Vega was the leader because he was smarter and more intelligent than Garrett. That was probably the truth in this case because of the complex and well-thought-of plan; plus, the big guy just seemed to be nothing but hired muscle to be used as the brawn between them. But that was a stereo-type that shouldn't really exist in the shinobi world. Just because someone appeared to be big and muscular did not mean that they were an idiot with no intelligence whatsoever. So that led to the second option, which was the most likely (and frightening) of the two. Vega was the leader because he was the strongest. If that stone in his arm had the power that he bragged about then this would go double right now. He had tremendous power from an arcane artifact and that was quite intimidating.
"I'm sorry if this is upsetting to you, but quite frankly, they made their choice when they chose to become shinobi of the Leaf. Life and death situations occur on a regular basis, they should know this. They are not innocent by any standards." His cold gaze grazed across them as he took each of them into account. Garrett was becoming very agitated by now.
"Are we going to or not, because this is seriously boring me." Garrett and Vega looked at each other and the large man seemed to become calm under the gaze, as if forced.
"Impatient are we?" He then rubbed his chin thoughtfully before he continued. "Yes, go ahead. And make sure they are dead too." Garrett turned back and grinned sadistically at them. Licking his lips, he counted off which ones were left and who he was going to get. It appeared that Vega knew what Garrett was trying to think of and answered his silent question. "As long as we keep them here, any of them are fair game. But leave this one to me," he said looking at Yamato, "he is mine. Just be careful of the girl with white eyes." Garrett nodded and leapt towards the group of Genin, namely Shino.
Shino started to run away but was caught by a pulse of chakra that knocked him off balance. Sakura, who was still not able to stand yet, figured that this man must have been the one to teach his minions how to fire their chakra like that. Shino went skidding across the ground and became very aware that even though his bugs had sucked away a great deal of the man's chakra, he still had a large amount left. The problem with that was that his bugs were all full - every single one of them. If he made them feed anymore then they would either become engorged and useless or engorged and die. He was backed up against a tree with Garrett charging him but was saved by Kiba, who's garouga attack was a lot more effective this time. The attack hit him in his left side, and knocked him off balance and he started to favor that side of his body. The damage to his lungs from Hinata's earlier attacks left his breathing laboured but he would not be shown up. Not against these brats.
Kiba, who had just landed from his attack, turned to Garrett, ready to perform the technique again when all of a sudden, he realized that something wasn't right. Everyone felt it too, not just him. Garrett had had enough and he was taking a great deal of his remaining reserves in preparation for his ultimate attack. "Let's see how you all like this." Eight handseals later, the man started to charge his chakra in-between his hands. Hinata could see that the chakra was too malevolent and if nothing was done, then this attack would have catastrophic implications on their odds of winning the battle. She rushed in, aiming a palm strike straight for his heart, but he saw her coming and kicked out at her, striking her right in the chest. She went sailing but was caught by Naruto.
"You okay, Hinata?" She nodded weakly, wincing in pain. "Good. Don't worry Hinata, we'll get out of this somehow." He was doing it again without realizing it. To him, it sounded as if he were just saying something to not get down a friend's confidence. To Hinata, it was something completely different. She was reminded of her conversation with Sakura and Kurenai yesterday in the hot springs about how he always seemed to be looking out for her. 'I'm not a child, I'm a kunoichi. I need to stand up, not just against this man, but also for myself. Now!' She began to get up but her thoughts were ripped from her as she realized that they were all not doing a thing about Garrett and his attack. If Naruto had just not focused on protecting her, he might have been able to disrupt the process, but it was too late.
"Hah hah hah hah! You may be fine now, kiddies, but you won't be for long!" he bellowed as he took the chakra that had been forming in between his palms and forced them to re-merge with his hands. The power seemed to magnify in this process and he brought them up over his head together, in the position for how you would expect someone to strike you with a double handed hammer blow. "This is for earlier, bitch." His comment and death glare aimed at Hinata, she shuddered under his heavy presence full of murderous intent.
Yamato, who had felt the attack beginning and now hearing the cry issued before the attack was used, he made an attempt to stop Garrett. Vega, his opponent, had effortlessly blocked everything so far. Every attack just seemed to bounce off a shield made of chakra from the Firaga Ruby and every attack Vega made against him was not a taijutsu attack or a ninjutsu attack (taking into consideration that ninjutsu usually involves handseals). Instead, he would move his hand over the ruby and seem to grasp the chakra radiating from it and fire it at him in semi-concentrated blasts of fire-empowered chakra. The flames incinerated his roots and left Yamato severely outclassed. All of his strong, devastating attacks were of the wood element and if they would just be burned up by this man's chakra attacks and shield then he was utterly useless.
Focusing his attention now on Garrett, he tried to use a technique that would hopefully knock the man down or disrupt him enough to stop the attack from being completed but it was not to be. Vega just kept firing out the blasts of fire, keeping Yamato on his toes. 'Oh Kami, no.' he thought to himself in despair as Garrett's technique was about to be unleashed.
Garrett slid into a stance and brought his hands from above him to behind him and swinging his fists low to the ground (A/N: imagine a baseball player swinging the bat) and shouted his technique. "Doton: Hyper Gaia fracture!" Upon making impact with the ground, the chakra in his hands disappeared and a small crater formed where he struck. That wasn't the most curious thing though. The small crater now had a fault line that seemed to weave about on the ground and was aiming towards Hinata and Naruto. The crack in the ground seemed to have a light shining through it and Naruto realized that this thing was going to have major consequences. He turned around, grabbing Hinata and pulling her in front of him and away from the attack so that he would act as a shield. He then jumped away, Hinata doing the same, but Garrett's voice once again broke through and shattered his thought process.
"It's too late. That attack already has a predestined focal point. You can't hope to escape." Everyone looked on in dumb-struck awe, especially Sasuke. He had been caught off guard, watching Yamato's fight with Vega, trying to see if he could help, or that was what he would tell anyone who asked him why he wasn't assisting the others with Garrett. The truth was was that ever since he found out that his chakra favors the fire element, he had been pressuring his father to teach him more katon jutsus but he wouldn't. Now, seeing Vega using fire elemental attacks, he had his Sharingan activated and was watching the man in hopes of learning and memorizing the handseals for a wicked fire technique that he himself could use. Now he saw that that was not going to be the case since Vega seemed to do nothing but hurl flame-infused chakra at Yamato. Turning around, he watched in grim anticipation for the outcome of this technique.
Once the fault line had reached the focal point that Garrett had mentioned, the technique seemed to become magnificently horrible in standards of devastating effects. It caused the earth to erupt and a powerful wave of chakra to wash over the earth, making it come undone. The earthquake and tremors that ensued had effectively destroyed any hopes of using nearby trees as cover since they were being toppled down and all the genin were knocked off their feet with incredible force, the chakra surge hitting them feeling like they were being punched in the solar plexus. Hinata and Naruto, despite not being on the ground to receive the brunt of the attack's quake, felt the true power of the technique. The worst part about their predicament was that if they had stayed on the ground, they might have fared better but being suspended in the air, they were vulnerable. The wave of chakra that caused the earth to quake and come undone was also flowing, with incredible strength, through the air and the force would certainly make them regret their decision.
As the wave washed through the air, it caught up to Naruto and Hinata. They were still in the same position but Hinata knew about the wave of chakra behind them and what it might be capable of doing to them. She thought back to how Naruto always seemed to look out for her and she decided to do something about this. Right now. She pivoted, in mid-air, grabbing Naruto and switching their positions. She would now take the brunt of the force while Naruto would be shielded for the most part. Naruto, not being an idiot, noticed the change in positions and looked at Hinata in confusion mixed with fear. She had a look of pure determination, as if saying 'This time, I protect you.' "NO HINATA!" he shouted but before he could grab her to push her out of the way, the force of the surge hit them. Naruto went sailing straight for a tree that would probably break his back if he hit it at this speed. He summoned his chakra and gathered the winds from his 'siphon' technique and pushed the chakra towards his feet. From this point on, he knew it would take a miracle to save Hinata...but a miracle was not what he could muster.
As he waited to kick off the tree he was rapidly approaching, he watched, pained to the point he swore he could feel it, as Hinata was driven into the ground. She had landed on the ground with tremendous force as her head bounced off the ground with a sickening thud. It wasn't just her head that bounced, but her whole body, the force of her descent and the collision with the ground so great, it caused her to keep moving, even after the first impact. As she went to fall to the ground again, Naruto seized the opportunity and, finally reaching the tree, used his chakra to propel himself towards her body. Only with a great amount of luck was he able to get underneath her just before she impacted with the ground for a second time. Cradling the limp form of his best friend, Naruto showed a side of him that anybody rarely ever saw. His emotional side. And it was such a powerful feeling that probably even Shino felt the anguish coming from Naruto.
As he held her, he positioned himself so that her upper body was being supported. He rocked her with his body as silent tears fell from his face. With most other people in this situation - and even Naruto himself felt that he should be doing so - they would normally see a friend get injured and be spurred to be stronger and get up and attack the attacker with all their fury. But now, with his best friend, who could be dead, he did the one thing that was seemingly forbidden by all shinobi. It was considered a taboo of the code of conduct from a shinobi on a mission.
"Under no circumstances should a shinobi/kunoichi show their emotions. The mission is the most important thing to a ninja and it's success must outrank any feelings you have or may possess about the events that occur during the mission." It had been beaten into his brain from the first year at the academy and on, the rules from that handbook for all ninja-hopefuls. So why did it hurt so much? Why did this hurt so much if he was taught that emotions were the taboo? He was becoming distraught and his speech was showing the evidence too.
"Hi-Hinata...wake up...you're fine...you may be hurt but you're fine right? Please...wake up..." He looked at her through tear-filled eyes and saw the terrible shadow of truth that seemed to be dawning on him. "No...no, no, no, no, no...this can't be happening...you can't be...please...don't...don't tell me this is happening." He then buried his head into her shoulder and hair. Images of them flashed through his mind like a blur...but all were so recognizeable.
When he first saw her at the stream, the time he saw her when it was his ninth birthday, the way she put the healing medicine on his burned palms, hearing the news that she would attend the academy with him, their first day at the academy, their time together during her ninth birthday and all the birthdays up until now. He had sometimes thought of it as annoying how she would hang around with him all the time, they would sometimes argue like most friends do, they would even get mad at each other during their more childish arguments, but one thing always held true. They couldn't stand to be away from each other. She was his friend and he was her's, and even through all the clever masks, all the hidden emotion, all the disguised mannerisms, he was willing to admit to one thing at this moment. She had always made him happy just being there and being his friend through everything. He spoke to her, although it was inaudible to those around him, "You can't leave...you can't leave me."
Everything was becoming a blur to him, he noticed. His mind was becoming cloudy and fuzzy and all he knew anymore was that his friend was hurt.
Vega, whose fight was seemingly post-poned on the account that Yamato seemed to be malfunctioning in the face of the injured child that he could not help, was becoming increasingly more agitated by not only Yamato's sentimentality but also Garrett's inability to finish the job. He flicked his wrist over the ruby, charging the chakra, and fired a blast right at Naruto and Hinata. Yamato couldn't react quickly enough so he did the only thing he could do. "NARUTO, WATCH OUT!" He feared that Naruto wouldn't react in time and that he was going to have two lives on his hands.
Little did Yamato know was that his voice would only be muffled by the haziness in Naruto's head as he attacked his emotions and struggled to come to grips with his situation and Hinata's predicament. The muffled voice, however, did catch his attention and Naruto turned to look at the blast and time seemed to freeze at that moment. During this time, Naruto's mind went into overload and thousands of things came to his mind. As things were being organized, his thought process focused on one thing - a conversation that he had had with his father over six years ago. This conversation, which had seemingly been forgotten over the years, was brought forth, and shed a whole new light on Naruto.
(Flashback)
Naruto leaped once again to try and hit his father in the face but was knocked away. On the ground now, Naruto couldn't muster the energy to stand anymore. He laid on the ground, defeated, and gasping for air. The training session had been particularly rough and Naruto was more exhausted now than he had been his entire life. His father called it quits for that day and just sat down next to him, looking at the sky.
"Why can't I become strong, father? I try as hard as I can but I always seem to just stumble." His father just laughed before looking at him.
"Naruto, you can't expect to have drastic results like the ones you have invisioned. No one becomes strong without years of effort." Naruto grumbled as he heard his words but his childish curiosity had had his father pegged for the supreme ninja. So when his father said that, it made him curious.
"Even you, dad?"
"Why yes, even me." Naruto's jaw dropped.
"But you're the Hokage!"
"Yes, yes I am. But I wasn't always the Hokage, Naruto. I had to work for this position. It is a title given to only the ninja deemed worthy to protect his village. That ninja must be strong enough to defend his people when the time comes." Naruto smiled a bit arrogantly.
"Well then, I'm gonna be just like you and get strong so that I'll be Hokage."
Yamato looked at his son, a bit amused by the boy's enthusiasm. "Naruto, being Hokage is not such an easy job, you know? The demand on you is incredible. You must have wisdom to make the best decisions for your village and you must be able to stand in the face of adversity and protect the village as if they are your loved ones. All the people in this village, Naruto, are part of my family." He then thought to himself and decided to give his son a life lesson to remember. "Naruto, whatever you do, do not forget this, understand me?" Naruto looked at him, hearing the tone in his voice and listening intently. "If you desire to be Hokage, then you must ask yourself, where does your strength come from? Until they have found the answer to that question, most ninja never reach their potential."
Naruto digested all the information and attacked his father with one last question. "Um...dad?" His father looked to him. "Where do you get your strength?"
The man known as the Fourth Hokage just stared at the sky again before resigning himself to answering the question. "My strength, Naruto, is my family. Anytime I feel that my family may be endangered by something, I will use everything in my power to protect them. And not just you and your mother and Jiraiya, either. Everyone in this village is a part of my family. And I will always be strong for them." Seeing Naruto looking more thoughfully, he decided to tease his son. "So, Naruto, do you have someone who is special enough to you? Do you have someone to protect?"
(End Flashback)
As the vision ended, something within Naruto snapped. Something so tangible but that couldn't be seen. Inside of his mind, there were three personalities facing each other. There was the distraught teenager, the furious avenger, and the determined son of the Hokage...and they all seemed to merge, creating a clash of emotions that worked in perfect symmetry.
The blast that had been aimed for Naruto was on the verge of hitting him but before the powerful flames engulfed him and Hinata, he extended his right hand out and caught it. Yamato, Vega, Garrett and anyone else who was watching had their jaws dropped, damn close to hitting the floor with them.
"That brat just caught my blast! How the hell did he do that!" shouted an irate Vega.
To the untrained eye, that would be a damn good question, but Yamato was no novice. He could see what was happening and it left him dumbstruck. The flame was being blocked but not by Naruto's bare hand. It was being caught in a vortex of chakra made by Naruto. He had been spinning his chakra so fast that it had created a vortex effect, forcing the blast to be blocked and yet, held at the same time. The one thing that was going through his mind right now was how did Naruto know that would work? 'Wait, an even better question would be how would he know how to make a vortex with his chakra?' Yamato had no clue and would probably be laughing hysterically if he knew the truth of the matter. In fact, Naruto had no idea how he did that, but then again, Naruto wasn't really himself right then.
In the rush of emotions, a new persona had arrived to the forefront, one that was not the Naruto they had all known. And it was an eerie sight to behold.
If one were to inspect the theory of traits passing on through DNA, people would come to the most noticeable similarities between the offspring and the parent. Hair color, skin color, height, size, eye color, and even the capacity for being fast or strong. One of the more curious things that could be passed on is behavior. If say, a man with a mean streak were to have a child with a woman who was peaceful and did not desire confrontation. Now the child that is born seems to have more of the mother's qualities and therefore, as it grows, is a peaceful individual. That does not exclude the fact that their is a dormant trait. It is an opinion of some scientists that just because one parent is dominant does not mean that the child born between them does not possess some of the qualities of the other parent but those traits are actually dormant. That peaceful child could easily snap and become a violent, cold-blooded individual for a brief amount of time before their natural behavior is restored. Those scientists, right now, would view Naruto as the perfect example.
The regular Naruto, who had bumbled and shown weakness on more than one occasion, was seen not as that Naruto but for who he truly was, and the label was the one he had been desperately trying to escape. But that was who he appeared to be. The spitting image of the fabled 'Yellow Flash of Konoha.' The Hokage's son had a look in his eyes that made Garrett step back and falter in his pursuit to finish the job as Naruto turned his gaze to Vega. "Traitor...you can have this back." Naruto swung his arms and propelled the chakra back at Vega. Before Vega could react, the blast had slammed against the shield that the ruby gave him but the force had been impressive enough to knock the man off his feet and fall back.
Yamato, snapping out of his reverie, saw the opening but knew he wasn't fast enough. Making a quick decision, he chose Kiba. "Kiba, Vega is vulnerable. ATTACK!" Kiba leapt into action. He ran and performed his 'garouga' attack and before Vega could stand and get his balance, Kiba slammed into him, knocking the ruby from his grip. As the stone rolled on the ground, Vega called out to Garrett for assistance.
"Garrett! The ruby, get it!" Garrett turned to the stone and bounded his way to it. Suddenly, Sasuke flashed by and snatched it up, firing multiple little fire bullets at the man to catch him off guard. He shrugged them off and continued after Sasuke. He slammed a fist into the ground, causing another mini-quake and knocking Sasuke off his feet and he dropped the ruby. Vega made a mad dash for the stone but as his hand was about to grip the stone, small roots came out of the ground and pulled the stone underneath the ground. He looked and saw Yamato just grinning at him, the ruby in his hand. "I don't need that stone to beat you at this point. You're as good as finished."
"Nice comeback, too bad bravado doesn't get you any extra points in this situation. You will pay for what you have done this day." A snappy comeback was on the way from Vega before a loud thud was heard and he went plummeting face-first into the ground, coughing up bits of dirt. Yamato looked and was relieved by the fact that Kurenai was up and around now.
"That was for earlier, you scum of a man." Inside she was livid and she turned her rage towards Garrett, who was a bit in shock at the fact that he was now outnumbered and by much heavier odds. He no longer had Vega with the ruby for support and he now had to contend with the addition of the female jounin. He was beginning to fear what the jounin might do to him but his fears, he later realized, would've been better placed on a different target.
Kurenai had begun waking up when she heard the frantic cries from Naruto and saw the limp form of Hinata in his arms. Denial on a heavy level set in as she thought that Hinata could not be dead, but she couldn't feel the girl's chakra signature and became instantly furious until Naruto had stunned her by stopping the attack on them. That was why she was so angry. Not just because of Hinata but because this man, who used to be a Konoha nin, would attack Hinata and Naruto while they were in such a defenseless position. She wanted to do many horrific things to this man but she was directing her anger for now at the big man who had done the initial damage and was on the verge of just unleashing all of her anger and power in one powerful wave of attacks to destroy him, but someone else seemed to have other plans - the same person who had stunned her.
"Don't you dare turn your back to me! I'm the one who's going to make you pay!" Garrett turned and saw the blonde boy approaching him. He swung with his leg out to the boy but he only blocked it with his forearms. You would have thought that the sound of cracking bones would have followed but it didn't. That was because Naruto had donned his arm bracers that the ex-third had given him. Garrett, now bringing that leg back and gaining all of his balance, cocked his arm back and swung straight for Naruto. He had hoped that he would either be lucky enough for the boy to not move and get hit full force or that the boy would move away from him and give him room to breathe. Neither happened, however, as Naruto brought his left hand up to try and catch Garrett's right hand. Naruto, surprisingly, succeeded, but you could hear the sound of his bones splintering inside of the skin, and Garrett got a sick sense of satiisfaction plastered on his face. It quickly disappeared when he saw that the boy did not appear to be in pain. Instead, he was emotionless. Garrett tried to move away, but he was trapped. He wanted to move, but Naruto's presence had him caught. He was exuding an aura of complete dominance and Garrett was stuck in it. He was stuck, incapable of willing his legs to move.
"Why are you so strong all of a sudden? It's inconceivable." To Garrett, it was. But to anybody who knew the Yondaime, it wasn't.
"It's because there is someone that I must protect. Without her, I would be nothing. She was my first friend, and if I lose her, I'll be losing the best part of me. You have tried to take that away...and for that...YOU WILL PAY!" Naruto thrusted his right hand out to the side and chakra began to gather around it - spinning, twisting, and forming...into a sphere.
Yamato looked on in awe. 'Th-that's the Yondaime's...' he thought to himself as he saw the mass of blue chakra form into the sphere and watched it being thrusted into the giant of a man's midsection. The attack was precise and accurate, as the sphere kept drilling into the man's stomach and launched him towards a tree, where he stayed until the attack dissipated.
When the man had finally fallen to the ground, Yamato handed the ruby to Kurenai and walked towards Garrett and Vega, performing several handseals. He looked at them and saw Vega's eyes flash with fright, now that he did not have the ruby's power for protection. Slamming his hands to the ground, he looked at them both before uttering words that ran their blood cold. "Jail...hell, even the interrogation room is too good for you. You don't deserve that level of mercy. Mokuton: Wrath of the Demon Seed." Suddenly, four medium sized roots burst through the earth and wrapped around both men, the thorns protruding from the wood unmercifully ripping into their flesh and making them scream in agony as they were drug down underneath the ground, where Yamato knew they would meet a gruesome fate - their shouts and cries of pain and horror echoing for miles.
Naruto fell to the ground, panting heavily, as his vision seemed to uncloud and he came back to himself. He looked around and upon no longer seeing Garrett or Vega, he could only ask one question. "Did we win?" Yamato walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, and nodded. He was still surprised about what Naruto had accomplished. Naruto had violated every scrap of knowledge Yamato had on the behavior of a young genin. He allowed his emotions to overcome him and fought with those emotions guiding him. But instead of becoming a victim, Naruto had transformed. He had become a literal demon on the battlefield. It was almost frightening how an individual's emotions could turn some people into helpless shells that resembled a child and yet the exact opposite could occur, as it did in this case.
Naruto felt relieved but then his thoughts turned to Hinata. He went to her form, which he had left when his mind became so hazy that nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Kurenai followed suit, very quickly, and knelt down beside Hinata, using her chakra to perform a diagnostic check on the Hyuuga girl.
Her eyes bulged and then she hung her head. Naruto looked at her and hung his own head, not capable of believing it. "I-...Is she...d-dead, Kurenai-sensei?" Naruto managed to choke out, before succumbing to a fit of his own sobs. Through his teary eyes, he saw Kurenai look at him.
"Naruto...Hinata...she's alive."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So how did you like that ending? I figured that by the end of this chapter I had you guys actually wondering if she was alive or not. Don't worry, I'm not that cruel. But now you have to ask yourself this question. A nasty hit to her head, she has been unconscious for a while, is there any brain damage? Possible memory loss? Or, heaven forbid, is she in a coma? Not even I know, the next chapter will be a challenge for me since I have no clue what I'm gonna have it be about.
To anyone who thinks I ended it too quickly, please try and remember that this is my first story on this website. I tried to think of a proper way to end the fight and this ended up being the best thing I could think of. But hey, now that that arc of my story is complete, I can now focus more attention on the next arc, which I believe most of you are very interested in. (Care to take a guess?)
As I'm writing this conclusionary paragraph, I have determined what the main theme of the next chapter is gonna be about. So, before I move on with the preview, I wanna say that your comments are very welcome and appreciated (more so than ever). As for your preview:
Looking at each other, everyone there did not look the same as when they first began this mission. This had been a horrendous test to their abilities in this situation and it had pushed them all to the brink. They all knew they wouldn't be the same after this. Yamato and Kurenai both knew it too. They would never had thought of throwing their young pupils into a situation like this so early but it had happened. Now in the aftermath, questions lingered and needed to be asked. The answers...just didn't want to come.
"So you don't even remember what happened?" Kiba asked a weary and confused Naruto.
"No...I just remember Hinata being injured...then...a blur...all of it was a blur...why? What happened?"
