After a week and then another week passed since the team had returned from the land of the wave, things were mostly getting back to normal as Naruto adjusted to living with Haku. In this omake, we find Naruto and Haku sitting side by side at a Japanese style table pouring over some of Zabuza's old scrolls, looking for good kenjutsu forms for Naruto to practice with.
"How about this one Naruto-kun?" Haku asked pointing to one scroll in front of her.
Naruto was only half listening. The only thing he could think about was Haku's slender shoulder brushing casually against his. Naturally, since he was never around girls, excluding Tenten, close contact with others made him a little nervous.
"Is something wrong Naruto-sama, your expression is odd." Haku asked, concerned.
Naruto, startled jumped at the question "Nothing, I was born this way!"
Haku laughed, a laugh as haunting and mysterious as the dark haired beauty " Is that so? That must be hard for you..."
Tenten opened Naruto's front door and stepped inside, taking off her heavy coat and scarf "What are you doing sitting next to Naruto, eh noodle head?"
"Oh nothing! We're just looking at some scrolls, just some scrolls!" Naruto said, waving his hands in front of his face.
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking, pork buns?" Haku shot back at the weapon's mistress.
The two blossoming young women glared at each other with eyes full of killing intent. Naruto moved in between the two deadly kunoichi, pulling the two away from each other "Now, now, its almost time, no fighting..."
As he did this Neji and Lee entered through the apartment entrance, sending snow and ice into the warm apartment.
"Fighting again?" Neji asked, smirking.
"Neji, they are only expressing their flames of youth!" Lee yelled.
"Come on Tenten-chan, Haku-chan stop fighting!" Naruto pleaded.
"Shut up Naruto!" the two yelled.
"ooh, Naruto-kun you had better call the firefighters, because you my freind have just been burned!" Lee pointed out.
"At least I have a girl to yell at me, ooh backburned!"
"Wahh..." Lee cried onto a reluctant Neji's shoulder.
"There there..." Neji said, then to the others "can someone please get this idiot off me?"
"I'm sorry Lee I'm sure Sakura will come around sometime, truce?" Naruto asked, holding out his hand to the spandex clad shinobi.
"truce" Lee agreed, wiping his eyes with the bandages on his arms.
"Done" Naruto agreed, shaking Lee's hand.
"What a bunch of idiots" Neji commented, smiling wryly.
"Yah, but they're our idiots!" Tenten said, putting her arm around Naruto.
Seeing Tenten put her arm around Naruto, Haku put her arm around Naruto as well, behind his back the two rivals glared daggers at the other. As the hours counted down people came and went. Tsunade, Jiraiya, Ayame, and even old man Teuchi, as well as many others passed by. The white haired toad sage had even conjured up some frog summons, wearing santa hats. The whole house was full of laughter, merriment, and possibly alchohal spiked eggnog(by a certain busty blonde sannin).
Tenten, putting down her fifth glass of the thick yellow drink, half-sang as she "Its beggining to look a lot like christmas..."
--
Author's Notes: Hey guys, its Hiro here and I'm back with another update! Thanks to everyone who told me about the Gogyo Fuin(Five Prong Seal) I would have done this chapter earlier but I had a lot of junk to do recently. I had a long rant here about the kinds of things that make fics bad in this section, but in the spirit of christmas I decided to remove it, cause really who wants to deal with that kind of stuff what with the holidays. If you're not a christian, if you're a Jew, Muslim, of any other religious affiliation, or even Atheist I still wish you the best of tidings and happy holidays.
On a positive note: There are a couple good fics coming out right now. Two stories that caught my eye were ones about the Yondaime and his future wife growing up, etc. I really aplaud their efforts, that took guts to try something like that. I wont say their real names cause I don't want to spoil it for those that don't know, but I encourage people to read them, they're fairly decent so far.
Also, Naruto's mom looked different than I thought she would. I guess when they said red headed I just thought of an older Shakugan no Shana.
Oh well, go figure...
And I'm still looking for a beta (not very hard) basically, he or she would have to read the unpublished chapters I send them, review them, correct grammer and possibly spelling, offer suggestions, etc. Anyone who's interested, (though I doubt anyone will be), to be qualified, should have at least some small experience in writing as well as reading fanfiction and of course the Naruto universe, and a cursory knowledge of Japanese would be a good bonus too. They'd have to be dedicated to the task(I can't have my beta taking a month to get back to me on a chapter) If you think you're up to it, send me an email, pm, or review...
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Summary: In the last chapter the second exam started. Each team was given one scroll, either heaven or earth. They have five days to reach the center of the forest with a pair of scrolls. Naruto's team encountered the snake sannin Orochimaru, and was promptly defeated, inadvertinly buying enough time for Sasuke and Sakura to escape. However their efforts proved to be in vain as Sasuke received the cursed seal. Upon awaking, our blond haired orange ninja soon encountered the blood thirsty Gaara.
Now on to the much awaited next chapter of Descending Heaven!
--
The exam had started and Tenten was worried over Naruto, in a protective big sister sort of way. It was no secret that the two were close, but in fact since they had met, rarely a day had gone by in these seven years were they were not side by side, they were both alone in the world, so why not be alone together? Even during Naruto's first big mission, Tenten was given the chance to accompany and watch over Naruto.
Now seperated, Tenten wondered how the blond genin would fare by himself, taking into account he didn't have very realible teammates. A feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that he was getting into some sort of predicament as she thought these very words.
"We'll split up and in an hour meet back here, understood?" Neji asked, his face etched in a permenant frown.
"Yokai(roger)" Lee said, saluting.
"huh? Yah let's go." Tenten said, snapping out of her worrying.
The three ninja lept into the trees, each heading a different direction, Neji west, Tenten north, and Lee south.
--
"Okiro(Awaken) Clare!" Naruto's cerulean blue eyes turned gold and slitted. His katana was surrounded by a harsh wind, obscuring the sand trio's vision. When it cleared, the rather plain katana was gone and in its place was a thin double edged claymore. It was about 4 feet long (remember Naruto's not much taller than that right now. As he gets taller it'll adjust to fit his size).
It's metal had a silvery white sheen to it and a fuller (basically a hole the same shape as the general blade made to make it lighter, if you're confused or interested just look up swords or fuller on wikipedia) ran through from the base of the blade three quarters down to the tip. There was no crossguard and the hilt was wrapped with a leather-ish brown material. Attached to the hilt at the end by a small metal chain was a metal coin. It's metal was the same color as the blade and embedded on both sides was the symbol Clare wore on her neck(the number 47 symbol) in bright red. Overall it was a lighter, more elegant version of the sword Clare herself carried.(Just imagine Clare's claymore, but with a long elongated diamond shaped hole from near the hilt to near the point and without the crossguard) and on Naruto's left hand was a black glove with metallic fingers and a metallic crest, that looked like Clare's symbol inside a metal circular border.
"This is Clare's real form." Naruto said, gathering chakra to his legs. Naruto leapt into the air, dodging the wave of sand. Holding his sword above his head, he brought it down with all the strength in his body to cleave the boy in two.
To Naruto's suprise a wall of sand had formed and blocked his sword at the last moment. The orange ninja struggled to cut through the sand, but was forced back by the iron strength of Gaara's sand. The red haired ninja just stood, in the same spot, not even blinking at Naruto's attack.
The fox jinchiruki ran towards him sword raised, when large spikes of sand suddenly formed from the sand wall. The blond ninja stopped his charge and changed directions at the last moment, narrowly avoiding impailment on the sharp spikes.. Dashing to the right, he found the sand followed him nomatter where he went, sheilding and attacking for Gaara in every conceivable direction.
"This is my shikai(initial release), along with a small increase in strength and speed equivelent to opening the one or two gates, and minor regeneration, it also lets me do some other cool stuff with this sword of mine."
"Die" he said impassively "Sabaku Kyu(Sand Coffin)"
Slowly sand gathered around Naruto forming a sphere around him. Eyes darting, the leaf's number one unpredictable ninja held out the claymore behind him, the point in the opposite direction from Gaara.
"You're not very talkative are you?" Naruto asked as the sand surrounded him.
"Sabaku Soso(Sand Funeral)" the red haired sand shinobi made a crushing motion with his hand, and the sand compacted with monsterous force.
The sand rushed in towards Naruto at a high speed enveloping the genin in all directions, an attack that left no blind spots.
"Now Naruto!" Clare roared at the top of her lungs from within the tundra of Naruto's mind.
Just as it was just about to crush the blond genin, Naruto channeled all his chakra into his left arm and released it all at once.
"Kōsokuken!"Naruto cried "Flash Sword!" as his hand and blade cut faster than the eye could track reducing the sand coffin to dust.
Clare compared her personal technique, the flash sword, to awakening one's arm into a beserker state, while the entire rest of the body and soul struggled to control it with all its might. Using this technique one's cutting speed increases tremendously, enabling them to reduce most targets into mincemeat, however it consumes a large amount of energy and is strenuous to one's arm.
Gaara stepped backwards as if he had received a blow to the chest, "How, this isn't possible... My sand coffin... Mother..."
The red head sand ninja clutched his head as he fell to one knee, breathing in deep jagged gasps
"Mother, please it wasn't my fault..." Gaara clutched his right eye doubling over with pain, then suddenly the psycotic red head stood straight up as if nothing had happened.
"I understand mother, I will spill all his blood for you."
Naruto, panting ran forward his sword trailing behind him, the orange ninja jumped and attacked Gaara once again. He swung horizontally at Gaara's midsection, only to be repelled once more by sand. The sand struck like a spear at Naruto's head. The blond ninja ducked underneath and delivered an uppercut with his sword, which was also blocked by an impenatrable wall of sand.
"I can't keep this up, even with my shikai... I'm not fast enough... Kuso, Kyuubi help me out!" Naruto mentally yelled, but no red chakra leeked out from the blond ninja's navel...
That's right, the Kyuubi's not here anymore... Naruto thought as he dodged another wave of sand.
Suddenly, the sand moved with suprising agility, mirroring Gaara's hand. Then with a vicious squeeze, the tanuki container tossed the blond boy like a rag doll into a tree, backfirst. Naruto's head snapped back from the impact and the silver claymore fell from his useless fingers onto the forest floor, his arm dislocated and fractured.
The blond ninja gritted his teeth his vision blurred by white spots from the pain. Slowly, he stood up again and picked up his sword, this time with his left hand. Naruto moved his throbbing left arm up and placed the hilt into his mouth (think Zolo from One Piece) and using his still movable left hand, reset his right arm back into its socket. Even with the sword in his mouth, the blond boy cried out from the pain.
Once again switching back to his right arm, Naruto looked back over to where Gaara was. The tanuki jinchiruki stood as always, completely still, waiting for Naruto to come to him.
"Kuso, this guy's insanely strong, but I got to think of something... and fast..."
--
Each member of team Gai had gone their seperate ways, promising to meet in an hour's time. Racing through the trees at a breakneck speed, Lee spied 20 leaves falling from the forest canopy to the floor below.
"Yosh! If I can catch all 20 of these leaves Sakura will fall in love with me, and I'll be able to prove to Neji I'm just as splendid a ninja as he is.
Lee, his eyes on fire from his burning will, caught leaf after leaf in his bandaged hand.
As he neared the twentieth leaf, something strange in the corner of his vision caught his eye...
And the last leaf fell whistfully to the harsh ground.
--
Sakura was scared. Sasuke had passed out from the effects of the cursed seal, leaving Sakura to guard him.
It was obvious to anyone that this was the worst situation. She was the weakest of the entire team, probobly even the weakest in the whole rookie nine. She had no special skills nor abilities and was generally unsuited to doing any task other than swooning over her broody teammate and abusing her other one.
All night she had stayed up, guarding Sasuke and worrying over Naruto, thinking What if he was dead? or worse yet... What if her lack of ability as a ninja was the cause?
Bags had developed around her eyes, and she became so tightly wound, she had almost skewered a passing squirrel with a kunai as dawn arrived. All in all, she was close to complete mental breakdown.
"Well well, what have we here?" a familiar voice taunted.
"It looks like someone's been setting traps... Its obvious from the freshly turned soil and rocks..." another said.
"This is so ameturish. Underestimating us like this..." yet another voice taunted, this one female.
Appearing out of nowhere were the three sound ninjas they had met before, dressed in gray camaflouge gear.
"We're here for Sasuke little girl, hand him over to us..." Zaku arrogently ordered the pink haired genin.
"What does this mark mean, what does that snake man want with Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, her voice betraying her exhaustion.
"A mark... the cursed seal! I can't wait after hearing that!" Dosu said, and the three ninja lept into the air.
Sakura cut a wire next to her and a huge log swung straight towards the three airborne ninja. The ninja with the shaggy white mane, Dosu promptly placed his palm onto the log and exploded it to bits using the device attached to his right arm.
"So weak, I hate being underestimated like this... No talents like you shouldn't even be allowed to wear a headband" he sneered, rearing back for a punch.
Just as the three were about to come within reach of the pink haired kunoichi, the three heard a loud shout Ai to Kariuto Kecku(Love hunter Kick)! and all three of the oto ninja were blown away by a feirce kick. Standing in front of Sakura with a squirrel on his shoulder was Rock Lee.
"My name is Rock Lee, the handsome blue beast of the leaf!" Lee said, striking his trademark battle stance "and I will defend Sakura with my life!"
Dosu snickered,"Your life huh? Well it can't be helped then. Zaku, I'll leave Sasuke to you. This one's mine..."
The sound ninja dashed towards the taijutsu specialist. Lee reached deep into the earth and pulled out a huge tree root, blocking Zaku's fist. Then disappearing, Lee reappeared underneath Dosu and kicked the ninja's chin launching him into the sky, "konoha senpu(Leaf Whirlwind)"
Gai-sensei, the time to use the forbidden technique is surely here, I'm defending the life of one I hold dear!
Lee unwrapped the bandages bound to his arms, and appeared behind his opponent. Wrapping them around both of their bodies, the bowl cut ninja reversed their spin in the air, sending them spiraling head first into the ground.
"Too bad... I landed on soft soil, but it looks like you weren't that lucky... Thanks Zaku" Dosu said, brushing the dirt off his clothes.
"Your moves our fast, but our's are faster, and not all the taijutsu in the world can peirce our wall of sound!" Dosu continued, through his bandages.
With lightning quick speed, the oto ninja disappeared and appeared above Lee. The taijutsu specialist attempted to kick Dosu, only to have his kick evaded. The sound ninja punched Lee, the sound waves rupturing his left eardrum.
"See this machine on my arm? It allows me to use sound to hit your eardrums, effectively disrupting your senses." he continued "You three are as good as dead..."
Lee winced, from both the insult and the pain resulting from the move he just finished, totally whiped out I've got nothing left... Gai-sensei, what do I do know?
--Back with Naruto--
Naruto was battered, mutiple bruises and cuts checkered his body. His jumpsuit was bloody and its right sleeve was torn off. His right arm hung limp, next to useless Blood and sweat ran down his face, there was no doubt in his mind he was fighting a battle he couldn't possibly win.
Gaara on the other hand had not been scratched once, his sand shield and armor protecting him from any blow. Slowly but surely, he was tearing the blond ninja limb from limb.
This is hard fighting like this... I can't run like I was taught in the academy (think arms behind body, leaning forward, the normal goofy way shinobi run in the Naruto series), while still carrying Clare, it throws me off balance, and not being able to move my right arm doesn't help. To make things worse, I've already gone past twice the time I've ever had my shikai active. I have to end this, and the only way to do that is with the flash sword, but can I pull of another? Naruto thought to himself.
--Back with Lee and Sakura--
Beaten withing an inch of his life, Lee sunk down onto his knees crying silent tears "Neither Sakura nor I have much fight left. Why, did it turn out this way, even though I've worked so hard, for so long, to be able to protect someone dear to me, and when it finally counted, I failed..." Lee thought to himself, "Neji must be right... It's my destiny to always be a loser... I'll never be as splendid a ninja as him..."
"Don't give up Lee! We can still win!"
"Who's that?" Zaku asked, looking around, suddenly a kunai planted itself near his feet "huh?"
"Dainamikku Entorī(Dynamic Entry)" suddenly a certain bunhaired kunoichi burst out of the trees and flew towards the sound nin, kicking Zaku in the face with all her might, knocking him off his feet
"That move... Tenten..." Lee whispered, even more tears falling down his cheeks.
"Come on Lee, crying won't help you become the best taijutsu specialist in the world." Tenten said, making a fist and stomping her leg to emphasize this.
"Ow! Your foot is still on my face!" Zaku's muffled voice whined from underneath Tenten's shoe.
"Oops sorry" Tenten said removing her foot from his head.
"That's going to leave a mark. Oh my face, what the hell you bitch" the black haired sound genin said, a foot imprint on his head.
"Well well, who was it a minute ago who was chastising that pink haired bitch for caring too much about her looks?" Kin said, laughing.
"Shut up! Both of you!" Zaku yelled.
"Hey, I said I was sorry" Tenten responded, shrugging "Anyways Lee never-"
"You, you amateurs, how dare you mess with the sound village!" Zaku yelled, shaking his fist at the pair of leaf genin.
"Yes, you will rue the day you crossed our paths!" Dosu agreed, nodding.
"Shut up, you damn baldy!" Tenten yelled back "I'm in the middle of a heartwarming pep talk so zip it"
"B...Baldy..."
"Don't worry Dosu, you've got tons of hair." Kin said comforting his teammate.
"And... Umm, what was I saying? Oh right, never give up Lee. I know a certain person who couldn't throw a kunai or make a bunshin or even write his own name in kanji, but he kept at it and now I can pick up every third or fourth character he writes. With hard work, I'm sure you'll surpass Neji and show the world just how great a ninja you can be, using only taijutsu!"
"Tenten... Thank you... You've reignited my burning flame of youth... You truely are a great kunoichi" Lee said, standing up straight.
Tenten scratched the back of her head, embarressed "Of course, I'm going to surpass Tsunade-sama one day..."
"Hey you two don't ignore us!" a frustrated Zaku shouted.
A vein in Tenten's head bulged, "Let's kick their asses Lee!"
"Yosh!"
--
Naruto shuddered "I feel a disturbance in the force..."
The blond ninja disappeared with a flash and reappeared in front of Gaara, who defended with another wall of sand, which turned into an clawed hand, reaching for the blond genin. Dodging the arm of sand, Naruto agily lept over the Suna no Tate, stabbing Gaara in the chest.
"Yes I got him!" Naruto said, "Nani!"
Gaara's body began to crack and lose color, revealing a sand doppleganger in his place. The bunshin laughed maniacally as its body held on to Naruto's sword with a steel like grip.
Behind him, the tanuki container prepared a wave of sand. Naruto pulled his sword free from its prison, and with a burst of speed dodged the wave of sand and meet the real Gaara face to face.
"I got you now! Kōsokuken(Flash Sword)!" Naruto yelled, his sword and arm only a blur of motion, cutting Gaara's Suna no Tate only to have it reform again and again as he lept forward to impale Gaara.
--
"Zankuha(sound slicing the air)" Zaku yelled blowing back the shuriken that Tenten had thrown towards him.
The deadly projectiles flew back towards Tenten, lacerating the poor kunoichi, "Damn, this can't be for real... He blows a freaking wave of wind in my direction and suddenly I'm as helpless as that excuse for a kunoichi? That's fucking unfair! I want a recount!"
Tenten surveyed the situation. She had been fighting the three sound nin with minor assistance from Sakura and Lee; however Lee was injured and all Sakura could do was throw weapons, which Tenten was much better at anyway. Taking them on one on one she might have been able to beat their individual skills, but as how to fight all three at once, the bun haired kunoichi was stummped.
When fighting long range, the Zaku could easily blow back any weapons she used. Close range taijutsu and kenjutsu were also out of question. The appliance on Dosu had seriously injured Lee just by making contact. She couldn't even evade or avoid their attacks. Lee, Sakura, and of course Sasuke were in no condition to take a head on attack from anyone, meaning Tenten had to sheild the wounded ninja, causing further harm to the bun haired girl.
Dosu suddenly broke into a sprint, heading for Sakura. Reading his movements, the pink haired girl threw a kunai, which was easily dodged by the agile sound ninja.
Tenten's eyes widened as she realized the shaggy ninja's intention. Pulling out her summoning scroll, she fired a wave of weapons while summoning a rather battered katana, that looked as if had seen many battles, the same one she had beat Naruto with just days before.
Dosu easily dodged the weapons and lept of the tree towards Sakura, his arm outstretched. Tenten focused chakra to her legs, applying her tree running skills, to give her a burst of speed. The bunhaired girl shoved the other girl out of the way, raising her sword up to block Dosu's arm. Locking their respective weapons together, the two entered a battle of strength, each attempting to force the other back.
"Heh heh... Didn't you learn from your green buddy? I can control sound and rupture your eardrums just by making contact" Dosu forcing Tenten's katana down with his superior strength. Using chakra, Dosu redirected the clash of metal into her eardrums, amplifying it a thousand fold.
To his suprise, Tenten smiled, forcing Dosu's arm back with another burst of chakra.
"N-Nani?" Dosu began.
"I did the only thing I could think of, I plugged my ears with chakra" Tenten said, once again bringing her sword down against Dosu's arm.
Suddenly, Dosu smiled back at Tenten"You think you're smart eh?"
Tenten's eyes widened as her katana, shattered into a hundred peices, leaving only the hilt intact.
Dosu smiled "You think I'm a one trick pony? Its childs play to allign the frequency of my amplifier to resonate with your sword till it shatters. You were so intent on saving your freind, you didn't even notice the change in the sound's frequency. Inferior shinobi like you shouldn't underestimate a ninja of my caliber."
Tenten's eyes glared at the sound shinobi full of hate "That was the only memento I had from my parent! You asshole, how dare you!"
"What are you going to do about it? Against the three of us, you're done for." Dosu said.
"Zankuha(sound slicing the air)!" Just as he yelled, another wave of sound hurtled in Tenten's direction. The leaf kunoichi dodged just in the nick of time, feeling the sound miss her by an inch. Sensing another attack, Tenten lept forward, turning her jump into a roll when she hit the ground. Above her, Dosu came down like a ton of bricks, annihilating the spot where Tenten was just standing. Bruised and battered, the bunhaired kunoichi faced off against the three once again.
Dammit, Naruto, where are you?
--
"One more time! Kōsokuken(Flash Sword)!" Naruto yelled, his sword whipped around hundreds of time, cutting through the massive sand wall. Just as he was about to make contact, the suna ninja jumped backwards.
"This is it!" Naruto yelled leaping after him.
The sword weilding genin jumped after the rapidly reatreating sand genin, hurridly he thrust out his sword with all the strength left in his hand.
Just as the sword was about to make contact with Gaara, a centimeter away, Naruto gasped. Gaara had used his sand like a platform and floating in midair.
"That's cheating! Kuso, I'm out of time..." Naruto said, his eyes turning back from their gold color to pure blue. His sword hissed steam, turning back into its original katana form.
Suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened "Tenten-chan!"
"Do not lose focus or you will find yourself dead..." Gaara's sand becoming a blanket floating over the entire clearing.
"Sorry, but I got to cut this short. Tenten needs me..." The blond ninja sheathed his sword and disappeared with a gust of wind.
Gaara's eyes widened "Shunshin? No, his technique is something entirely different..."
--
"Sakura who did this to you?" a curse seal covered Sasuke stood up from his resting place. An evil purple aura wrapped around his dark frame.
Without waiting for the answer answer the resident Uchiha proceeded to lay waste to the sound ninja, breaking Zaku's arms and pummeling Dosu. Sakura and Lee could only watch as Sasuke decimated the ninja they were so easily defeated by.
"Sasuke-kun please stop..." Sakura pleaded hugging the black haired genin.
"get off of me Sakura, I'll kill them all..." Sasuke prying the pink haired kunoichi's arms off him.
"Please..." Sakura begged, stepping in front of Sasuke
"I understand now Sakura, I'm an avenger... I only exist to kill him, now move out of my way." Sasuke commanded.
Sakura, tears pouring down her eyes, hugged him one more time,"I love you"
"I couldn't care less you pitiful excuse for a kunoichi, I don't have any use for dead last weaklings..." Sasuke pushed her to the ground roughly.
"Sasuke-teme stop it!" Tenten said, stepping between the two. A look of perilous determination in her eye, the weapons mistress pulled two kunai out of her sleeves with a flick of her wrists.
"Move!" Sasuke ordered.
"Damn teme... You, and your high and mighty ass can take a hike!" Tenten said, clenching her kunai.
"How dare you! You insolent, clanless bitch. I'll kill you" Sasuke said, grabbing her arm roughly.
"Get off!" the bunhaired kunoichi yelled.
"Teme... Don't touch her..."
Sasuke's blood red sharingan widened. Under his chin was a very sharp katana attached to a orange covered sleeve and in front of him holding a battered Tenten was an equally battered blond haired ninja.
"Naruto no baka..." Sasuke said, his face turning into a mask of hatred as he let Tenten's arm go free.
"Naruto-kun you're injured, what happened?" Tenten asked, seeing the state Naruto was in.
"Don't lay another finger on any of them teme," Naruto whispered "The only reason I'm not wiping the floor with your gay ass right now is that you saved my freinds from those sound ninja."
Naruto turned back towards Tenten "Oh this, well you see I got into a fight with this guy you see..."
"Baka... I was worried about you" the girl said, giving the blond ninja a hug. Her face hidden from the blond genin, tears welled up and fell down her cheeks "Baka... Seperated for the first time in more than a year and the first thing you do is get yourself almost killed. Baka... I'm the older one, I'm supposed to take care of you..."
Naruto seeing how worried his childhood friend and crush was returned the hug "Arigato Tenten-chan, but I can't have you protect me forever. The only reason I'm in this exam is so I can protect you and the others when you need me. And if I can't do that what's the point?"
"Baka Naruto... Always thinking of others... Always trying so hard... Always so clueless..." Tenten said, pulling away from the blond genin, whiping her tears from her face with her sleeve.
"I'm sorry for making you guys worry. I just got into a little bit of trouble is all, see Tenten-chan, I'm already healing." Naruto said flexing his injured arm "Owww!"
"I'd hate to ruin this codac moment, so me and my comrades will be taking our leave... In exchange for your kindness please take our earth scroll" Dosu said, picking up his teammates and disapearing into the thick foilage, leaving behind his earth scroll.
With the sound ninja gone, Sasuke with his one track mind instantly, demanded Naruto fight him, his curse mark flaring everywhere.
"Forget it, Sasuke-teme. As much as I want to beat your ass,Tenten-chan and the others are way more important right now." Naruto said, sheathing his sword and walking away "Let's go Tenten."
"Don't turn your back on me baka!" Sasuke shouted, grabbing the blond's shoulder.
"You really want to fight, fine. After we get out of here, we'll have a match" the blond haired ninja said casually as he walked back towards the others.
"Oh and teme..." Naruto said, his voice even.
"What, baka?" Sasuke asked.
"I won't lose..." Naruto said, his eyes turning gold for a split second.
Sasuke smirked, his curse mark fading.
--
Elsewhere in the forest a badger masked Anbu appeared in front of team ten.
"Who are you?" Kiba asked, startled.
"I have orders from Hokage-sama to bring back the hyuuga heir and her teammates, I'm sorry, but the exam is over for you three."
"Ano... Ano... A-Anbu-san, may I ask why?" the lavendar eyed princess asked.
"Hiashi-sama himself requested it Oujo-sama(title for a girl of high status), apparently a former student of the Hokage is up to some mischief" the Anbu said, mirth leaking through his mask. As mist rose around the clearing, the four vanished.
--
"Yatta!(Yaa!), we finally have enough scrolls for all of us to pass!" Lee said, making a whooping noise after the six ninja had received their fourth scroll, netting them both a spot in the next exam.
"Heaven" Naruto said.
"And earth!" Tenten finished for the blond.
The two teams had relucatantly cooperated in order to make it safely across the forest of death towards the tower at the center. The word reluctantly is used because the two top rookies Sasuke and Neji, refused help from others, each genius having a stick up their ass. Still, with Naruto recovering from his injuries he received in the fight against Gaara, and Lee, Sakura, and Tenten's injuries from the fight against the sound ninja, the two genuises were forced by popular vote to cooperate.
Three days later a crowd of genin including team 7, team 8, and team Gai, the sound team, and the sand trio stood before a multitude of leaf jonin as well as the fire shadow himself.
"Congratulations on making it this far into the chunin exams. It is wonderful to see so many talented shinobi present this year." The Hokage said. He continued on talking about intershinobi village politics and the reasons for the chunin exams. As he finished his speech, another rather sickly looking ninja took his place.
"(cough, cough) My name is Hayate Gekko your proctor for the third exam. The third exam will consist of one on one matches between the rest of you. There's just one problem there are still too many participants." the sickly jonin said.
"Too many, what do you mean?" Temari asked.
"Well(cough), normally there would be ten or so of you here after the second exam, however this year we have a large number of promising canidets. Hmm...let's see there are Team Seven and Eight of konoha, Team Maito Gai, one sand ninja team, and one sound team. That makes for a total of fifteen, three too many. So...(cough cough), starting right now(cough cough) is the preliminary exam for the third exam and chunin finals!"
--
Special christmas, end of chapter jutsu!
The christmas party was over, and all the ninja had left except for Naruto, Haku, and Tenten. At last, Tenten stood up to leave
"(hic) snow lady, I'll just going outside now, but I could easily find my way back inside, you know what I mean?" the slightly tipsy kunoichi asked.
"I have a name, its Mizukage Momoichi Haku." the black hair kunochi responded cooly, not batting an eyelash.
"Oh yah well I have a name too, asskicker!" Tenten yelled back.
"I bet people rarely use the 'kicker' part" Haku snapped back, crossing her arms over her chest.
"NNNaruttttooo-kun (hic) can you help me whichever way to the door" Tenten asked, using Naruto's shoulder as a crutch
"someone can't hold their eggnog very well, eh pork buns?" Haku noted, sarcastically of course.
Naruto helped Tenten to the door, oblivious to the two kunoichi's antics "You sure you'll be ok in your apartment by yourself?"
Tenten removed herself from Naruto's arm, grabbing the door frame to support herself "Daijobou(It's alright) (hic)"
"If you say so" Naruto said, skeptical.
"Hey look at that" Tenten said glancing up "Misletoe..."
Naruto looked up, embarressed to find out she was telling the truth. The blond jinchiruki's cheeks turned crimson.
Suddenly, the blond hokage-in-training noticed the bun haired girl was much closer than usual, close enough to feel the warmth coming off of her body, close enough to feel the beating of her heart against his. The two locked eyes with each other, their bodies were drawn together as if by magnetism and slowly Naruto and Tenten's lips inched closer and closer until finally they met in a chaste, but passionate kiss.
"I love you Naruto-kun"
"Tenshi-chan, I love you too..." Naruto whispered.
As soon as the kiss had happened, it was over and the two broke away from each other, as if shocked by static, both breathing hard, faces flushed.
"What am I saying?" Tenten said, blushing furiously.
Tenten, realising what she had done turned an even brighter shade of red and opened the door to the apartment in a rush. Just as she was about to walk out Naruto grabbed onto her coat sleeve. Tenten turned only to have Naruto wrap his arms around her and pull her into another kiss. Naruto reached around Tenten's slim waist, pulling her into a hug. Blushing even more, the bunhaired girl returned the hug, resting her head against Naruto. Then into her ear, the ninetail jinchiruki whispered
"Merry Chistmas, Watashi no Tenshi(My Angel) Tenten-chan..."
--
Yare yare, what did you guys think? I hope you liked the extra christmas scenes and whatnot. It took me forever to work on this chapter and I changed it right before I posted it, but I think it was halfway decent and I wanted to get it out by Christmas. By the way, I want to clarify, that last part, is in no way related to the story right now. That juicy stuff comes later, look forward to it, I know I am.
Read and Review, all flames, comments, plot ideas, jutsu, zanpakuto, pairing ideas, etc. are welcome, I'll give you credit when I use your idea in a chapter.
I was thinking about giving Naruto a sensei, a good one. Not someone who's going to give him the key to all the power in the world, but someone who can still help him advance, not just as a shinobi but as a person, a mentor of sorts. Im already giving him one training mission, but I think that a permenent sensei might be benificial, on the other hand it might make him too overpowered when you add in both Clar, and the last thing I want is a superpowered Naruto story. Also that means I'd have to invent an OC character, which I'm not sure I'm up for. Besides I kindea detest most stories with too many OC's in them because I tend to lost track of who they are. Tell me what you think and if you have a good OC for me to use, then submit it to me. If I like the character, then I'll probably use him or her, if not in this role, then at some point during this story.
--Character Profile Part 2--
Clare's shikai form: In this form, the zanpakuto turns from a standard katana into a guardless Claymore with an elongated diamond shaped hole with a coin shaped trinket at the end of it. Naruto also gains a glove on his left hand. The glove is primarily black with metalic looking fingers and strap. On the back of the hand is Clare's symbol in the same metallic color around a silver border and, in the center of Naruto's other palm appears a small blood red spiral. The glove is based off of Tsuna Sawada's X-glove, one of the coolest weapons to date.
This form allows Naruto a small increase in strength and speed, equivelent to one or two open gates, and increased regeneration, though not as much as the Kyuubi's chakra had previously given him. It also allows him a small degree of extrasensory perception and limited foresight, through the acute ability to sense chakra, in the same way that Clare could sense Yokai, though not as much as the Sharingan or Byakugan.
Hiro's New Jutsu Corner
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Sabaku Kyu(Sand Coffin)- basically, Gaara uses sand to encompass and surround his prey, making a coffin around them so they cannot escape.
Sabaku Soso(Sand Funeral)-After using the sand coffin to restrict movement, Gaara compacts all the sand, crushing the victim.
Dainamikku Entorī(Dynamic Entry)-the user throws a kunai at the feet of the unaware opponent. Distracted by the kunai, the user does a flying kick to the opponent's face, not very effective in most situations
Kōsokuken(Flash Sword)-Clare's personal technique learned in her liftetime taught to Naruto. It focuses all the user's chakra into the sword weilding arm. The arm then goes beserk, increasing cutting speed a hundred fold, creating a hundred afterimages of the blade as it attacks, because of the strain it has on one's arm, Naruto can only safely use this one or two times. (if you want to know what this really looks like just read or watch Claymore after Clare meets with Illena. If you need a episode guide, then as with all things, look it up on wikipedia)
--
Well then... To be continued.
Ja Mata