Naruto led Hinata to the top of the Hokage Monument, and out on to the craving of the Yondaime's head, where they sat down. "It's so beautiful Naruto."
"I couldn't agree more. This is where I would come to when I needed a place to get away from everything. When I'm up here nothing else seems to matter."
They watched the sun sink lower in the skin as they ate they ramen and sat in comfortable silence for some time afterwards, until Hinata broke it. "Hey Naruto, what was it you wanted to talk about?"
"Do you trust me?"
She was taken aback by his question, but answered without hesitation. "Absolutely."
He smiled and held out his hand and she took it. "Don't let go." Their vision went black and the sounds of the world went quiet before being replaced with a brick tunnel and the sound of dripping. Naruto looked at Hinata and saw she was glowing with a white light. Without warning, the light shot from her body and down the tunnel before vanishing from sight. "That was strange, even for here."
"Where is here, and what was that?"
"Honestly, I don't know what that was, it's never happened before. Of course I've never brought anyone else into my head before." She looked at him as though he was crazy. "I know that sounds crazy, but it's the truth. During my mission to Nami, I found myself here where I met Kyuubi face to face, sort of. Since then I've been able to come and go as I please, and at one point was able to bring a scroll he gave me into the outside world, so I figured I'd be able to bring something, or in this case someone, in."
"Why didn't you just tell me that?"
"What would you have done if I had? I highly doubt you'd be all for it. Hell, if we were in opposite positions, I'd knock you out and take you to Ojii-san for a psychiatric evaluation, and believe me they're not fun. I've had one once every two years since I was five, never understood why till I found out about Kyuubi, then it kind of made sense."
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Well, like I said earlier, I learned some really interesting things today, most of which I don't want other people to hear, cause they'll think I'm either crazy, or they'll say it's proof I'm a demon. But before all that, I'll introduce you to Kyuubi and see if he knows what that light was." Through out it all, he had yet to let go of her hand and started leading her down the memorize path to Kyuubi's cell.
He stopped about half way into the room before the gate. "You brought me a snack, how nice of you Kit."
Hinata squeezed his hand and he turned to her with a reassuring smile before looking back at the fox. "You eat her and we're all dead. She's the one who also received power from the fallen angels."
Kyuubi's eyes suddenly appeared behind the bars. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the king of all idiots for doing the single most idiotic thing in the history of idiocy! The power that was in her is now here. If she returns to her body before taking it back into herself, you will be ripped apart. There is a reason that she has the power to kill you and visa versa, they are at odds with each other, no one person can control both."
"That explains the light from before I guess. So Kyuubi, do you know where it went?"
"More than likely, it went searching for yours so they can destroy each other." He saw Naruto open his mouth again and sighed. "Out the door to the right, take a left, two rights, another left, and it straight ahead. You know you should come here for more than when you need something from me, if you did, you would know these things already Kit."
"What other reason do I have to come here?" He turns to Hinata with a smile. "I guess we'll have to talk after we deal with those two."
They quickly made their way to the room Kyuubi had spoke of, all the while the sounds of fighting grew louder. When they entered the room, they found two humanoid beings, one of pure light and the other of darkness. Naruto raised his hand as the two charged each other, and a barrier of blue light appeared between them. They both turned to them as he slowly closed his hand and then quickly opened it completely. Both beings were thrown to opposite side of the room from him and held against the wall by an unseen force. "Was that really necessary Naruto?"
"If I had just dropped the wall, they would have just started fighting again, but I guess I may have over done it a bit." He turned his full attention to the two against the wall. "I'm going to let you both down, and you will not attack one another, or you will again find yourselves where you are now." He lowered his hand to his side, the two dropped to the ground, landing on their feet, and started towards Naruto and Hinata. When they reached Naruto and Hinata, both beings stopped, and stayed silent. After a few minutes Naruto sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry about how I reacted, it's a problem of mine to act without really thinking." He stuck out his hand. "Will you accept my apology?" The dark being nodded and grasped his hand. Almost as soon as it had, it became a dark mist that flowed into Naruto's eyes.
He rubbed his eyes furiously several times before opening them, the sight caused Hinata to gasp. His eyes were the same deep blue they had always been, but the scleras were now black. Hinata figured out what needed to be done and she turned to the light being. "Will you help me protect those I love?" The being gave a curt nod and wrapped Hinata in a hug. Both were enveloped in a bright light, so bright Naruto had to shield his eyes. When the light dim and then disappeared, only Hinata remained and Naruto saw that the once hidden pupil of the Byakugan was now pure white. She turned to him with a smile. "Well, I guess we should head back and get to what we came here for." Naruto couldn't help but smile back and wrapped his arm around her, causing her to blush, before starting the walk back. 'This would be romantic if we weren't in a sewer.' She had a look of confusion when she thought that. "Naruto, why is your mind a sewer?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. It was like this the first time I came here. I plan on changing it, but since I'm not the one who has to be here twenty-four seven, I'm going to let Kyuubi decide how it looks. I figured it's the least I can do, I mean it's because of him I got to meet my parents, even if it was only for a short time."
"You met them? When? Where? What are they like? When can I meet them?" Naruto had an amused smile as she continued asked questions and then her cheeks turn a light pink. "Sorry, I guess I got carried away."
"It's fine Hinata, it was one of the thing I wanted to tell you. Though it would be easier to show you if could I find where my memories are kept." As soon as the words left his mouth, a door popped into existence in the wall in front of them with the word 'Memories' craved into it. "That was convenient." He opened the door and found it to be another long tunnel with its walls lined with shelves upon which rested palm-sized orbs that glowed a color shade between white and black. "I going to guess that the lighter orbs are pleasant and the darker they get the more unpleasant they become."
Hinata stood a little ways down the hall staring at a single orb. "What's this memory? The orbs solid gray."
Naruto walked over and placed his hand against it as if he were going to pick it up, but stop, his eyes glazed over. When he removed his hand, his eyes went back to normal. "It's the final battle from my mission in Nami no Kuni. That day I fought a boy named Haku, who was a lot like me, left alone at a young age and hated for something out of his control. Zabuza found him and became dear to him, and Haku would do anything for him. Zabuza was hired to kill our client. In the end Haku gave his life to protect his precious person, who slaughtered his employer and most of his army of thugs for insulting Haku. After he died, I couldn't help but think that if he and I had met under different circumstances we might have become friends." He walked back towards the door, touching a few orbs here and there till after five tries, he moved back towards her and smiled have touching another orb. "I found it. It shows how, where, and why I met them. Just so you're not surprised, you'll hear my thoughts at the time and be seeing through point of view. You'll also feel what I did, but to a much smaller extent. You may be a little confused at first, but it mostly explains itself as it continues, anything else you can ask me afterwards."
Hinata walked over to him and looked at the orb, it was lighter than the first orb she was entranced by, but still gray in color. She looked over at him and he hadn't taken his eyes off the orb. "Are you sure you want me to see this one, and not the one back there that's glowing white?" He looked deeper into the hall and saw a brightly glowing orb a few down from the battle on the bridge. "It seems kind of dark for a meeting with your parents."
"I'm sure. The reason it's not pure white is because it's not one of my prouder moments and everything else it contains, but don't worry I'll be sure to let you see what that one is later." She looked nervous as she slowly reached out her hand. Just before she made contact, she glanced over at Naruto, who had a reassuring smile on his face, and then placed her hand against it. (I'm not writing it again, so if you want to reread it go to chapter 8.) After her eyes glazed over he turned back to the orb she pointed out. 'I wonder if that's what I think it is.' He touch it and pulled back a few seconds later with a slight blush on his cheeks. 'Yep.' He went back to Hinata's side when he saw that her hand was still connected to the orb and that she had tears running down her cheeks. 'I wonder how far she's gotten.' She suddenly ripped her hand away and would have fallen over if he had not been there to catch her. Her tears redoubled as she looked up into his concerned face.
"You really thought they abandoned you?"
"The night I found out about Kyuubi, I asked Ojii-san why he never told me, he said it was to protect me. That night I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about every question he had ever told me he didn't know the answer to and if there was a reason he had said that. When I came to my most asked question after why everyone hated me, who were my parents, I couldn't think of any reason why he wouldn't tell me about them. At least until I remember the reason he gave about Kyuubi and that got me to thinking 'How could he be protecting me by not telling me who they are?' That was when it hit me, as with Kyuubi, he wasn't protecting me from an outside threat, but from emotional pain, meaning either they died during Kyuubi's attack, or they were like everyone else and saw me as Kyuubi. Being only hours after learning the truth about Kyuubi, I thought that if it had been that they died, he would have told me when I first took the graduation test, when I could understand and accept their deaths, so that lead me to believe they saw me as a demon and left me once they knew what I contained. At one point I actually found myself hoping they were dead because it hurt less to think about." He placed his hand against her cheek as her tears continued full force and used his thumb to wipe them away. "Please don't cry Tenshi, you're always beautiful, but you're prettier when you smile."
She smiled, blushed dark red, and stood up from his arms. "You told them I was your girlfriend."
He chuckled. "Well it was actually Kyuubi, but I agreed with him, so kind of. But putting that aside for the moment, that memory showed almost everything I wanted to talk to you about, my summon animals, and my parents, the bit about my life was extra. One of the other things is something I learned while lying in a hospital bed, apparently, my bone structure has changed to something similar to a bird's, except they're almost as strong as steel, making it so I could probably fly using my wings. It's more than likely that this has also happened to you, but to know for sure you'd have to reveal your wings as well. The final thing I'd like to talk to you about before we go back to the subject of relationships, I'd like to know if you'd help me prepare to fight Neji and train with me to learn how to use our new abilities. I've already have some idea we could both use if they work, and I could probably think of some things for each of our different powers once I see what they're like."
She looked downtrodden as he continued to talk, especially when he mentioned Neji. "I won't be much help, Neji's better than I am at fighting. Me helping you train would only get in the way of your training with Jiraiya-sama."
"I don't know about that." She turned to his voice, which was a little ways down the hall. In his hand was the orb of white she had noticed. "Catch." He tossed it and it fell into her hands. Hinata froze for a moment, then her face turned a new shade of red and she dropped the orb. "Neji may beat you in speed, but flexibility can make up for it, the only things holding you back during the preliminaries, were lack of confidence, a problem you've already solved, and the other I'm guessing is because he's family, so you didn't want to hurt him."
Hinata didn't look as though she was listening, as her eyes had a vacant look and her face had yet to return to it normal color. "Naruto, that night, was that all you really saw?"
He picked up the orb and returned it to the shelf. "Yeah, I left shortly after because of the pain I felt in my back from my wings growing. Why?"
Hinata's face started to lighten. "No reason." 'If he had picked any other angle, he would have seen me naked!'
He turned back to her with a big knowing smile. "Uh huh, so will you help me?"
"Are you sure you'll be able to both train with me and Jiraiya-sama?"
"That's the great thing about Kage Bunshin, I can leave them with either of you if I have to, and still learn from both of you. Though I do prefer learning to do things myself over that method because it's too similar to what Sasuke does with his Sharingan for my tastes."
"Well since you're sure, I will. When and where?
"He didn't really say, so I'd guess the same as this morning, which was eight at Training Grounds 7. Just to warn you through, don't drop the genjutsu around him very often, because he may try to get you to model for his next book."
"What wrong with that?"
"He writes the Icha Icha series." A light shade red found its way on to Hinata's face, along with a small smile. "He even calls himself a super pervert. Even though I'm almost positive of the answer, Hinata will you be my girlfriend?"
Her smile grew. "The way you said that made it sound like you were going to ask something else."
"Well, I heard somebody ask a similar question like that so I figured it'd work for this to. I can't help but notice though, that you haven't answer my ques…" His statement was cut short due to Hinata's lips pressing against his as her arms wrapped around his neck. He was surprised at first, but soon started kissing back and wrapped his arms around her waist. When she pulled away they were both breathless, but had smiles on their faces. "Is that a yes?"
"That's a pretty stupid question, but yes. I don't know how my father will react though, he's never shown any outward hatred for you, but neither do the branch members towards the main branch."
Naruto's smile never faded. "You didn't watch the whole memory did you?" Hinata shook her head no and he chuckled lightly. "Our fathers were best friends, and if he thought I was Kyuubi it would only take one look at my chakra coils to know different. The only reason I think he'd have a problem with it is because he doesn't like the fact his little girl wants to date." He lightly kissed her before pulling back. "We should get going, it was getting dark when we came here, and I wouldn't want you to get in trouble because of me." She nodded and their surroundings were shrouded in darkness, before he found themselves back on top of the Yondaime's head, standing as they had been in the mindscape, and each noticed that the other's eyes hadn't returned to how they originally looked.
Hinata looked out across Konoha and saw that the sun had yet to completely sink behind the trees on the horizon. "We had to have been gone for a half hour at least, but everything looks like we were only gone a few minutes."
"I was confused when I first noticed too. According to Kyuubi it's because the mind thinks faster than the body can move, who knows if that's true or not, but I think I'll take his word for it." They let go of each other, and started down the monument. "Want me to walk you home?"
"I'd like that." She leaned closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder, he smiled and put his arm around her waist as they continued to walk. When they reached the Hyuga compound, they found Neji standing there once again. "Good evening Neji-nii-san. Did Tou-san send you because I'm late returning again?"
"No, you've returned early, however he did ask me to escort both of you to his study should you be accompanied by Uzumaki again. This way." Neji lead the couple through the wind hallways to the Clan House, and neither had moved from the positions they had while walking, which gained them several curious glances from the Hyuga they passed. Neji finally stopped in front of a dark wooden door. "Hiashi-sama is inside. I bid you good night Hinata-sama." Without waiting for a reply, Neji walked away, and the couple walked into the study.
Inside, Hiashi sat behind his desk looking over some piece of paper. Hinata bowed her head towards him, unwilling to let go of Naruto. "Good evening Tou-san. Neji-nii-san said you wanted t see us?"
He didn't look away from the paper. "Indeed. I'm glad to see you've return on time tonight, though I can forgive last night as the foreign genin attacked your teammate." He finally looked away fro the paper and his eyes narrowed when he saw how they were standing. "When were you going to tell me you were dating Otome?"
"Our first date was last night, but it got interrupted when Kiba was attacked Hiashi-sama."
"You seem quite comfortable with each other for only one, possibly two dates Uzumaki-san."
"Tou-san, the reason we are comfortable with each other is because we don't keep secrets from each other."
Hiashi's eyes didn't leave Naruto, who was fidgeting under his gaze. "I doubt that."
"I told her of Kyuubi before I asked her out. I also told her who my parents were after I found out who they were, and I know you were the best man at their wedding."
"You weren't suppose to know till you turned eighteen, or became a jonin. So which one was it that told you, Jiraiya-sama or Sandaime-sama?"
"Neither actually, I got to meet them." Hiashi had a pissed off look on his face and opened his mouth, but was cut off by Naruto. "I know it sounds impossible since thy are dead, but I signed a contract with Kyuubi to summon kitsune. However for them to listen to me, I had to show them my strength by fighting the strongest summon, Kyuubi himself. Now as you can imagine, fighting him here would have been a very stupid thing to do, so he took me to hell, and before you ask, I don't know how he did it. Anyway, we fought. I got a good hit in, but ultimately lost, not that I had a chance of winning, after fighting, Kyuubi said his kin had a surprise for me. Turns out they made a deal with the Shinigami that if Kyuubi returned to hell before my name appeared on his list he'd release Tou-san for as long as Kyuubi remained there. Somehow, they also tracked down Kaa-san and brought her along. I tried to crush Tou-san because of what he did, and probably would have had she not stopped me. After introductions, Kyuubi said something about their scents and told them to tell me or he would. They told me they were my parents and I would have walked away if Kaa-san hadn't stopped me again. She convinced me to stay and we talked for a few hours before I had to come back."
"Does the Hokage know of this? Is the demon still sealed? Have you touched my daughter?"
"Yes to the first, yes to the second, and yes to the third, but only as much as we are now."
"Otome, I would like to speak with him alone for a moment." She looked at Naruto, who smiled, before letting go of him and leaving the room. Hiashi waited till the door was closed before talking again. "First off I would like to say thank you for protecting my daughter during the preliminaries, I may not always show it, but I do care about the well beings of my daughters. That being said, if you hurt her or do anything inappropriate, I will make sure that neither the Byakugan, nor the Inuzuka clan's dogs ever find your body. That's all, I'm sure Hinata will show you out."
"I would never dream of it. Have a nice evening Hiashi-sama." Outside the study, he found Hinata standing against the wall beside the door, staring off down the hall. "See anything interesting?"
A small graced her lips, but she didn't turn her head towards him. "Not really. So, what was so important he couldn't say it in of me?"
He just shrugged. "What every father would say to their daughter's new boyfriend I imagine, don't do anything inappropriate or hurt her or I'll kill you. Personally, if I ever have a daughter, I have something that I think will be much more effective."
Hinata gave him a curious glance with a smile. "Care to share so Tou-san can use it for Hanabi?"
"She's what, six maybe seven? Maybe when she's a bit older."
Her smile grew wider. "You haven't got a clue what you'd say if some boy asked your daughter out do you?"
A sweat drop rolled down Naruto's head. "Not really no, but I'll think of something, I always do."
Hinata couldn't help but giggle. "Want me to walk you out?"
"That be great, I don't remember how to get out." He started rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile. Hinata just shook her head, her smile still in place, and grabbed hold of his hand before leading him down the hall.
Back in his office, Hiashi had a smile on his face as he watched the couple with his Byakugan. 'Minato, Kushina, it's hard to believe how much like the both of you your son is.' His smile widened as he reached in to his desk draw to pull out a small orange book. 'Now back to my reading.'
--
The next morning found Naruto and Hinata sitting against the middle training post of Training Grounds 7, his arm around her shoulders, while her head rested on his. "Way to go Gaki, you sure picked a cutie! But what's she dong here, and why's she using genjutsu?"
"Jiraiya, this is Hinata. Hinata, Jiraiya." Jiraiya stiffened, and Naruto noticed it. "What your problem?"
"Look, I know what I did yesterday was stupid, but you're cannot still be angry at me about that."
"What are you talking about? I'm not angry."
"Never mind." 'I'll take it over being called Ero-sennin any day.'
"Whatever. Anyway, I asked her to help me prepare me to fight Neji."
"That's a lot to cover, even with the month you have before the finals. However sensei's told me that you're capable of creating Kage Bunshin at a unheard of level, which makes me wonder if you know the secret of them."
"They pass information to the original when they disappear."
"That's right, now before we begin, I think we should move to a more secluded spot, I happen to know of one a little ways into the woods."
"Fine, but you should know, I told her everything, so you don't have to dance around certain subjects."
"Well that makes things easier, now come on, we have training to do." Jiraiya led them to a clearing big enough to fit a small house in it, and they could hear a waterfall not far off. "Okay Gakis this is the place, but before we start, I have some things to ask. First, why is Hinata using genjutsu?"
Hinata dropped the genjutsu, and Jiraiya would have been drooling at the sight of her, if his attention weren't on the two snow-white wings that appeared on her back. " You remember what that doctor said yesterday about this being a new Kekkei Genkai, well it's not. At least I don't think so, I guess we won't know till one of us have a child, or both of us." Hinata blushed, but smiled. "We were given power by two being that kill both angels ad demons, Kyuubi called the fallen angels. Why they did is a mystery, but I do know that last night, we made it a part of ourselves completely. The wings are just the most noticeable change, but our eyes have change slightly also. She had a easier time hiding them because she has a talent with genjutsu, me… I'm lucky I can get Henge to work."
"Okay, my next question is why do you want to learn sealing Naruto?"
"Aside from the fact that if used correctly, it could be as useful as any other skill, I made a promise to Kyuubi to give him a bit more freedom."
"How so?"
"Letting him use my sense to experience the outside world, through I have to learn to cook because he doesn't like ramen as much as I do."
Hinata giggled. "Naruto, not even Choji likes ramen as much as you do."
"Okay than, that's all I wanted to know, so let's get started. Naruto I want you to make 25 clones." Naruto nodded and performed the jutsu, while Jiraiya made two of his own. "Good, now ten of them will work on anything that you want them to. Three will go with one of my clones to learn about sealing. One will read the scroll your father left you, and ten more will stay with me to work on a few jutsu."
"And what are the two of them going to do?" Naruto pointed at his last clone and Jiraiya's.
"Oh them, well sensei told me about a jutsu you know, he called it a Kage Killer, so I was going to have your clone show it to mine."
Naruto rolled his eyes as he and Hinata turned to leave with ten of the clones. "Whatever Ero-sennin" Jiraiya grumbled something as he threw a scroll to one of the clones and his two left with their charges.
--
Naruto stood in the center of the large arena, five of the other finalists stood in a line beside him, the two missing were Sasuke and Gaara. He noticed that Temari looked worried and slight anxious, but wasn't sure if it was because of Gaara's absence, or just from the exam. He shrugged it off and glanced around the arena in a way that anyone watching would think it was a curious look at the field, but he was looking to see if everything was in place and smiled when he saw it was. 'Now all he has to do is show up.' He looked up into the crowd and saw the other four of the Rookie Nine and both of Neji's teammates sitting together with their senseis not far off, except Kakashi. 'Course not, why would he be here? He'll show up last minute with Sasuke in some big flashy entrance.'
A man wearing a jonin vest, with his headband in a bandana over his brown hair and a senbon in his mouth walked up to them. "My name's Genma, I'm the proctor. Now listen, the rules are the same as the preliminaries, so if I say stop, you stop understand?" They all nodded. "Good, then let's get this show on the road. First match Naruto Uzumaki vs. Neji Hyuga. All non-combatants please head to the viewing box." Neji and Naruto stood across from each other, Neji glaring and Naruto smiling. "First match begin!"
Neither moved, but Neji glare increased. "I would give you a chance to give up now, seeing as how it's your destiny to lose to me, but I know you will not."
"Damn right." Naruto threw off his cloak, revealing a black muscle shirt with a piece cut out on the back, and no wings. The cloak itself never hit the ground, instead it was lifted up to the stands, where Hinata grabbed it while shaking her head.
'He just couldn't resist showing off could he?'
Flashback: Three days into training:
"Naruto, Hinata come over here for a second."
"What's up Jiraiya-sensei?"
Jiraiya didn't answer right away as he looked at Naruto, before he mentally shook himself. 'That brings back a lot of memories.' He took out two square pieces of paper and handed one to each of them. "Focus chakra into these, they'll tell you what affinity you have."
"Um Jiraiya-sama, why am I doing this? I'm just helping Naruto get a feel for fight against Juken."
"Well Hinata, since Naruto taught you Kage Bunshin, I thought I could teach you a few jutsu as well. Now hurry up so I know what kind of jutsu to teach." They both took the cards and pushed chakra into them. Naruto's cut into four pieces and one piece crumpled, while Hinata's only got wet. "Well, Naruto, you've got a strong affinity for wind, and a budding one for lightning. Hinata, you have a strong affinity for water. Now that I know, I going to let you know right now that I only have a few for water and wind, and absolutely none for lightning. I use mainly fire and earth jutsu, but I'll teach you what I can, which includes how to manipulate your elemental chakra in its natural form, so make some clones and we'll get started."
Flashback End:
The veins around Neji's eyes bulged out, showing the activation of his doujutsu. Soon after Neji snarled. "I don't understand why you would use genjutsu in you previous fight to make it appear you have wings, but…"
Naruto laughing cut him off. "You can ask anyone, I don't have the chakra control to use genjutsu. No, what I did with my sensei's help was much more complicated than that." He turned his torso so Neji could see what looked like a tattoo at the base of the neck of two out-stretched wings making a ninety-degree angle, with the kanji for fallen in the gap between the wings.
--
Up in the stands, Ino looked over at her pink haired former friend. "Hey Forehead, I thought you said your sensei was training Sasuke."
"He was, I haven't seen either of them all month."
"Then who is he talking about?"
"Jiraiya the Toad Sannin." The answer came from three seats down where Hinata sat between Kiba and her father.
Sakura snorted. "Yeah right, like someone like Jiraiya-sama would waste his time on that idiot when he could train someone like Sasuke."
"I want nothing to do with the Uchiha." Almost every head in hearing range turned to look at the Sannin in shock. "In fact when this is over I plan on taking Naruto on as my apprentice." He turned to the Hyuga clan head and his expression turned comical. "Hiashi, it been a while! Is this your other daughter, uh Hanabi right?"
"Yes it has Jiraiya-sama. How may I ask did you know my daughter's name?"
"I heard Hinata telling Naruto about her. I must say you have two beautiful daughters, especially Hinata."
A tick mark appeared on Hiashi head and his eyebrow started to twitch. "I swear, if I find out you put her in your book…"
"There's nothing you could threaten to do that Naruto already hasn't, and as most people will tell you, he never goes back on his word."
--
Naruto was back to facing Neji completely. "So are we going to start, or just jabber all day, because I think the people watching are getting impatient." Naruto's wings appear on his back, but there was no puff of smoke like most of the shinobi had expected. One second there was nothing and the next two fully out-stretched black wings extended from Naruto's shoulder blades.
"Fine if you're in such a hurry to be shown as the pathetic loser you are, I'll end this now!" Neji ran forward and Naruto smirked as he held his arms out to the sides as far as they could reach.
In his hands two black orbs appeared, he put both of his hands in front of him so his waists were touching and the two combined into a large one. "Kage Heiki: Shuriken Renda!" From the orb shot hundreds of shuriken, and it was getting smaller with every one launched, forming a wall as far as his arms reached of the spinning blades.
Neji skid to a halt and started pushing chakra out of his whole body as he started to spin. "Hakkesho Kaiten!" While he was able to disperse most of the projectiles, as they went up in black smoke after they hit, he wasn't able to start spinning fast enough, allowing for the first few to hit him. "You cannot fight your fate, and it is futile to try! You might as well give up now, once a loser always a loser!"
"When the hell are you going to open your eyes Neji?! The only thing that is predestined is that sooner or later, we are going to die, that's it. What happens up until then is for us to decide. Hell more often than not, we can even choose the manner in which we die."
"You have no idea what it's like to have a seal upon you that marks you as less than human! You couldn't possibly understand!"
" I couldn't understand huh? You think you've got it so damn hard?! Try growing up alone, at least you knew your father before he died." As Naruto spoke he started walking closer to Neji.
When he got with fifteen feet to the Hyuga prodigy, Neji smirked. "You're within my range of divination. Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!"
As Neji closed the distance between them, Naruto slammed his hands together in the Hebi sign. "Hagane Uyoku no Yougo." His wings took on a metallic sheen as they wrapped around his sides and crossed over each other, forming a feathery barricade in front of him, leaving him only visible from the eyes up. Neji called out his strikes, and jumped back after finishing the move, his fingers sore as the wings hadn't only taken on the look of steel, but the hardness as well. Naruto's wings opened as the hand sign was released , and by extension the jutsu, returning them to their original luster. "I promised Hinata that I wouldn't hurt you too badly, but I would make you pay from what you did to her. I'll fulfill that promise now." A large amount of dust was kicked up as his wings flapped, launching him up into the air.
When he stopped going higher, he was able to look the Sandaime straight in the eyes and he slowly flapped his wings to keep him at that attitude. He couldn't keep the smile off his face and looked back on his first attempt to fly.
Flashback:
Naruto was standing on a tree branch fifteen feet up, over looking a clearing where Jiraiya stood looking up at him. "Uh sensei, are you sure about this?"
"Of course I'm sure, if you bothered to read once and a while, you would know that adult birds push their young out of the nest when they're old enough so they can learn to fly, it will work for you too. Just remember to keep flapping your wings when you jump."
"Okay." He was hesitant, but took a deep breath and took a running jump. It looked more like a dive than a jump, and it looked like he was going to face plant for a second before he spread his wings to full length and the wind caught him, slowing his decent. He smiled at what he accomplished, but it was soon gone as he realized the ground was still coming up fast and started to panic. 'I'm going to die! Why did I let Ero-sennin talk me into this?!'
"Flap your wings Gaki!" Naruto mind started working again and he threw his wings downward, pulling him out of the nosedive he had been in, but sending him soaring towards the tree line. On pure instinct, he turned his body and changed his course back the way he came. He heard clapping and laughter from Jiraiya, and started to smile again. "Way to go Gaki, you actually did it I was expecting to have to dig you out a few times at least. Now get down here so we can get on with training."
"Sensei, we have a problem."
"What's that?"
"I don't know how to get down."
"That's simple, you land."
"And how do I land?"
"Ohhh." Jiraiya got a contemplative look on his face and looked up at a nearby blue jay. "That's a good question."
Flashback End:
In the end he crashed, getting a mouth full of dirt and being laughed at by both Kyuubi and Jiraiya. After a few weeks worth of practice, thanks to Kage Bunshin two days, he was finally able to land safely and taught Hinata to do the same. Shaking his head out of his memories, he looked down at Neji and smirked. A small black orb formed at his navel and he curled in on himself, even bring his wings close to his body which caused him to started dropping like a rock.
--
In the stands, Hinata and Jiraiya shared a look when they saw Naruto flying upwards and Hinata turned to her father. "Tou-san, Imouto, you should turn off your Byakugan for this."
"Why Nee-san, what's he going to do?"
"A jutsu he created that leaves even the Byakugan blind."
Hiashi's eyes widened and he looked to Jiraiya. "Is that true?"
"Mostly. It leaves almost everyone blind, Naruto can see as clear as day. Hinata can as well as long as her Byakugan is active. As I'm sure you are aware, with the Byakugan, you see chakra as something close to lights, and the more used the brighter it is, well what he uses a massive amount of chakra and envelops both himself and his opponent."
"I see, but that doesn't explain why Hinata can see through it."
"Well, I'm not sure how to explain it myself, during training Naruto used it on both of us. Since he figured he'd have to use it in this match he asked Hinata to use her Byakugan. She agreed and used it knowing what she was supposed to see, but when she didn't she asked if he had used the jutsu yet. He had and they came to find me. After hearing what happened, I set up a test using flash tags." He got a heated glare from Hiashi. "Only enough to blind for a few seconds a minute tops, but when the went off she could see fine despite the light they produced. She described what one of Naruto's clones was doing from two hundred yards just after the flash." Jiraiya heard a few gasps and even a few screams and turned back to see Naruto falling. "Here it comes."
--
When Naruto got to be five feet from the ground, he threw all of his limbs outwards, and the orb expanded greatly. Once it touch the ground, it expanded at an increased, until it most of the arena floor. As it expanded, Genma jumped up on to the wall and Neji, whose Byakugan was on, put his hands over his eyes as his Doujutsu turned off out of reflex and screamed in pain. A soon as the dark dome stopped spreading, Naruto voice rang out from seemingly everywhere at once at a conversational volume. "Yami no Senkusha." There was the sound of an impact and Neji grunted in pain. "You should surrender, I have the advantage here, I can see you cannot."
"And what of the promise to make me pay? You barely touched me."
"This jutsu alone is how I intend you to pay, to be at the mercy of someone else, like she was at the end of the preliminaries. I however do not want to hurt you, but I will if you do not admit defeat."
"So even you admit she is weak to have been at my mercy. Fate decided I would win that match, just like it has this match."
"I never said she was weak. You are faster, I'll give you that, however she isn't the same shy girl she was then, and she doesn't want to hurt you because you are family. She is a kind, caring person and for some reason, you seem to think that makes her weak. It is because of those things that I told you she is strong in a way you could never understand. I'll give you one last chance to surrender, and then I'll finish it."
--
Right after Naruto started talking, Sakura shuddered, and Ino looked over at the pink haired girl. "What's wrong with you Forehead? Your teammate's doing great."
"The way he's talking, with his voice coming from everywhere like that, it reminds me of when our team run into Zabuza."
"It should, he got the idea from it." Both girls turned to look at Hinata again, and saw she had her Byakugan on. "Since he couldn't learn the jutsu Zabuza used, he replicated it using clones."
"Gaki may not be a genius in the classroom, but when it comes to thinking on the fly not many can compare. It's people like him that you want by your side when the shit hits the fan." At that moment both head Hiashi thought the same thing. 'Probably runs in the family… on both sides.'
--
"I will not surrender to some loser like you!"
Naruto sighed. "Then I'll end it now. Kage Buki: Katana." There was the sound of running and then silence as the dome began to fade out. When it did, there were five Narutos around Neji. One was in front of Neji, with a pitch black Katana pointed at his throat, while two other held Neji's arms, and anther two were half way out of he ground each holding a leg.
Genma dropped down from the wall and raised his arm into the air. "Winner Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto's katana vanished in black smoke and the four clones released Neji before dismissing themselves as Naruto stood there looking at the Hyuga prodigy. "What do you want Uzumaki? You want to gloat? "
"No, I want to say that just because you have that seal on your forehead doesn't make you any less human. It will take time, but with enough support, Hinata can change the Hyuga Clan.'
"You put a lot of faith in her."
Naruto smiled wide. "Of course I do, she has the ability and she's gaining the confidence to use it in leaps and bounds."
"I think I'm beginning to see why." Neji motioned to the crowd and Naruto took notice for the first time, they were all cheering and clapping. They headed for the stairs together and Neji stopped at the bottom. "I don't have to go to the infirmary correct?"
"I wouldn't think so, the cuts were all pretty shallow, so the most you have to worry about is infection." Neji nodded and they started up the stairs heading for the stands.
Jutsu List:
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- Shadow Clones
Kage Heiki: Shuriken Renda- Shadow Weapons :Shuriken Barrage
Hakkesho Kaiten- Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin
Hakke Rokujuyon Sho- Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms
Hagane Uyoku no Yougo- Protection of Steel Wings
Yami no Senkusha- Harbinger of Darkness
Kage Buki: Katana- Shadow Weapon: Katana