A/N:
The Heavens Curse
Chapter 9: Legends Arise
Sakura yawned slightly as he mind came back into the waking world. She had had an odd nights rest, her dreams consisting of an angry Naruto for some reason, though she knew he wasn't angry at her. She sat up slowly and stretched her arms over her head, her eyes still closed until she finished stretching.
When she was done she opened her eyes and nearly panicked for a second. The room she had woken up in wasn't her own, but it took her only a few brief moments before she realized that she was in the hospital and the previous days activities came back to her.
She turned then upon those thoughts and saw something she didn't expect. Naruto was on his bed, the covers pooled at his feet as if he had been thrashing in his sleep, and was curled in a fetal position and she could hear what sounded like whimpering coming from him.
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Briefly she looked over to where Ino had slept and noticed that the blond was starring wide eyed at Naruto as well.
"How long has he been like this?" Sakura asked cause it was slightly obvious Ino was quite more awake than Sakura was.
Ino seemed to snap out her reverie to look at her pink haired friend, and after seeing her concerned face said, "Since I woke up about fifteen minutes ago. He was louder then 'cause that's what woke me up."
It was then the two looked back to the boy as they heard his bed creak and saw him curled into a tighter ball and started to shake. His body was glistening in a slight sheen of sweat and Sakura figured he had been doing this since before he had awoken Ino.
And her body acted of its own accord then as her heart became pained at seeing Naruto like that. She quickly got out of her cot and padded over to Naruto's bed before sitting down beside him. She had sat down on the side that had his back turned to her and gently she reached out and touched the blonds arm.
She jerked it back slightly upon touching him. His skin was burning up, but after her initial shock she placed her hand on his shoulder once more. Gingerly, she shook him, and said, "Naruto, Wake up."
Oddly, after she had spoken her words and touched his arm, the shaking stopped as did the whimpering. His tensely curled body relaxed and stretched slightly.
And then Sakura got the shock of her life when suddenly Naruto sprang up from the bed and with inhuman speed was crouched on the floor on all fours.
He was starring directly at Sakura, and she noted with a sudden amount of fear, that his eyes were blood red and slitted.
"Naruto..." she tried to call, but her voice failed her after his name. Her body was screaming for her to run but her mind had locked up in fear and had shut down all functions of moving her body.
Then, in a blur of motion, Naruto's body suddenly changed as he suddenly leaped at her. It went from that of a humans to something more canine in a flash, before her world went dark.
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Sakura sat bolt upright breathing heavily. Her heart was racing, her body slightly sweating, and the air in her lungs scarce. She looked around wildly, trying to get her bearings. Everything seemed a blur at first until her heart slowed down and her breath leveled back to normal.
She was still in the hospital, she noted, and she was still in the same cot that Kanami had brought her to sleep in. With a sudden overwhelming sense of foreboding she turned around slowly to look at where Naruto lay. What she found was an empty bed, and a little of her anxiousness ebbed away.
Releasing a held breath she turned to where Ino lay, to find the blond starting to stir as well. Sakura felt a little peeved at the seemingly normal way Ino was waking up as opposed to her rather sudden awakening. Although it was slightly amussing to Sakura as for a moment Ino seemed to forget where she was and looked around frantically before looking at Sakura and a look of understanding suddenly crossed her face. Her neck turned briefly to where Naruto should be laying before looking back to the pink haired girl.
"How long has he been gone?" Ino asked, a little miffed that the blond male had vanished so suddenly.
"I don't know. I only just woke up myself," Sakura said as she climbed out of bed. Once out she readjusted her outfit to be more comfortable, as did Ino.
Both girls jumped slightly though when they heard the door open and spun quickly to face who was coming in. What they were greeted with was the small smile of Naruto as he lightly scratched the back of his head.
"No need to be so jumpy ladies. It's just me bringing you some breakfast," Naruto said as he held up his other hand which held a tray with several pieces of toast, fruit, as well as two bowls with a small carton of milk and box cereal in each of them, "Sorry it isn't much but the cafeteria didn't have a wide selection this early in the morning."
"Even though it was Kanami who had to get this since they wouldn't let me in there," Naruto thought afterwards.
Both Sakura and Ino were flabbergasted at Naruto as he walked over to the small table and set the tray down. They were too shocked to speak. But it was only as Naruto started to make his way to the exit that one of them, Ino, found her voice.
"Naruto..." she called, said blond stopping in his tracks and looking over his shoulder at the other blond with a questioning look.
"What's with having a bunch of girls name's as well as other peoples names tattooed on you?"
Naruto's entire body tensed visible at the question as well as having a sad expression suddenly coming across his face as he turned back to face the door.
"You weren't supposed to see those..." he whispered, the two girls barely even hearing him. They both could also note the depressed tone that accompanied his words.
"Why weren't we supposed to see them, because for one I am more than a little irritated that you have my name included among those on your body," Ino demanded, her anger clearly present. After all, it was just plain weird that Naruto, of all people, had her name tattooed on him.
However her anger ebbed slightly as she saw the blond flinch greatly at her words, as well as an overwhelming sense of sadness filled the room as well.
"I... I'm sorry but I can't tell you... not yet... maybe sometime... but not now... please forgive me," Naruto said, his voice even quieter than before, as well as strained and sounding utterly defeated.
And in a simple puff of smoke, he was gone, leaving two very shocked and even more confused kunoichi behind in the room.
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Hyuuga Hiashi was a man who knew there was little information within the village that could be held from him. Being the head of the largest clan within Konoha had its benefits, but it was on this morning that he wished he was not as... prudent with information.
His... talk, if you could call it that with the great fox demons had opened his eyes to a great deal of things. Most of which had, upon hearing them, set his anger to rise, others he was already partial aware of, but there were a few that upon learning... he was both shocked and furious to learn of.
But even still, the foxes words... he could not pull his thoughts away from that conversation.
FLASHBACK
"Tell me Hyuuga, how much do you know of your the boy you so clearly wish to have exterminated?" the dark overwhelming voice of Kyuubi echoed throughout the room. They had found an unoccupied room a decent ways away from Naruto's room to have their... conversation.
"Very little..." the Hyuuga patriarch replied, keeping his voice even.
"Then I am going to assume from your reaction you know who his father is then?"
"Minato...." Hiashi said, his voice suddenly become solemn and quiet as he looked to the ground.
"So I'm assuming you know of those eyes of his then?" the Kyuubi asked, his voice genuinely curious.
"No... well not entirely I think. I know of the one marking in them... it was something Minato had come up with but I thought had discarded," Hiashi answered, then stayed silent awaiting for a possible explanation to the question he had been asked.
But none came.
"What do you know of the Greater Beings then Hyuuga?"
Here Hiashi stiffened, showing Kyuubi that he did know something about them, making the fox level a deadpanned look telling him he better start explaining this instant.
"I know there are those that are considered the four divine ones, while there is also the those of the Damned Nine, also known as the Biju. Aside from that, not much else..."
Kyuubi just starred at the man silently after he went quiet.
"So you know of Byakkuu...."
The reaction Kyuubi got was not what was expecting of Hiashi.
The elder Hyuuga's eyes narrowed as his muscles tensed. His anger became palpable and his Byakkugan activated from his surge of anger and chakra.
".. it would seem you do know."
"Not of my own choosing was my daughter made to be the container of Byakkuu's essence. At least not on the intent to perfect the Byakkugan itself," Hiashi stated, his demeanor set in a scowl and glarring at a wall as if looking through it. He, obviously, had forgotten with whom he was speaking too right then as his anger had clouded over any fear he had for the Kyuubi.
"So you know of your own clans actions?" Kyuubi asked, his voice genuinely shocked, even for his demon nature. From what he remembered of this man prior was nothing more than a cold hearted bastard to the very end of his days. But he could smell something that hadn't been noticeable before from him. Mixed in with all the anger and hatred, and air of arrogance and sense of self pride, he smelt fear. Not the typical fear that usually comes from being in a life or death situation, but the fear for another's saftey.
Hiashi seemed to snap his resolve back together then as the words echoed in his head. When he looked back to the Kyuubi, his face was set in a neutral expression, but both Haku and Kyuubi could see a deep regret in his eyes.
"Of my clan's actions, there is very little that I do not know," he stated firmly but then his shoulders slumped as his head hang forward, "But of the Elder Council's actions, I know very little. What things I know most is from what I learned from one of them just after his wife had passed away and he had had too much sake for his own good."
"He was drunk and sad enough to the point where if he had been left in anyones hands, many a secret of not only the Hyuuga, but of this village would have passed from his lips. Two such secrets, have made me regret many a course which I have chosen since I was deemed to be the head of my clan. The first is that of my daughter Hinata, who upon birth had Byakkuu sealed within her, in hopes of the Byakuugan become more powerful. The second was them convincing me that, even though I knew Naruto to not be the demon that many believe he is, that he was still a threat that could possibly under your influence at any moment."
At this Haku couldn't help try and hold in a laugh, though failed horribly in the process making it come out as a snort. Kyuubi gave her a narrow eyed glare as Hiashi looked at her confused.
She sighed from their reactions before saying, "Naruto-kun as been 'under the influence' as you so say, of Kyuubi since the day Kyuubi-san was sealed within him. I think possessed would be a more correct term with which your elders meant."
Kyuubi only had an annoyed grin at her answer as Hiashi gave a small one, realizing the foolhardy of his own choice of words.
"Well, it looks like you know most of what I had wanted to talk with you about Hyuuga," Kyuubi stated as Hiashi's attention came back to him, "However there are things that you must know before you leave this place. Your clan is planning to overthrown you, or rather your elder's are planning on assassinating you so they can place someone of like mind within your position so they can 'restore their honnor' so to speak. If you do not wish to believe me instantly for what I have told you, in two day's time the elder's will call an emergency meeting to discuss several things, but seemingly forget to notify yourself. If you wish to know more, find whatever you can from them, as I have already provided you with the paths of which way your clan can go."
ENDFLASHBACK
The two days had come and gone, and he done as the fox suggested. Mostly out of sheer curiosity, but that day when he went searching for the elders they were no where to be found. He did not know fully what they were planning but by the sheer innocence they tried to radiate the next day, he knew something was in motion, and it was probably something he most definitely would not like.
He sighed for the what seemed the thousandth time in the past few days as he sipped a cup of tea. His office was mostly dark, the only light being the small candle that burned on his desk, casting dancing shadows across his face, somehow mirroring his emotions as they changed while he mulled over the thoughts in his head.
But as he sipped the last of his tea and set the cup upon its plate, he came to choose a course of action, but to do so, he needed to make certain amends. He stood silently and cracked his neck to remove the stiffness in it before snuffing his candle and striding to his door then through it with a purpose. He had one particular person in mind that must see...
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Time flew by quickly after that week. Many a traveler and civilian, businessmen and nobility, came into the the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Chuunin exams had drawn a large crowd this year with many people showing up, and Konoha's security had been put to the utmost test as it had screened, checked, double checked, triple screened, and then checked again, each person who entered the village. With what Sarutobi knew from what Naruto had told him, this tedious and frustrating task, as much as he did not wish to subject his shinobi to such precautions, was a necessity that he must take. After all, an invasion in the works, even just the rumor of one, was not something to take lightly in any village, especially one of such prestige as Konohagakure.
It was on this day though that Rock Lee was also finally allowed out of the hospital. His injuries from his fight with Sabaku no Gaara had been healed over, for the most part, and he was able to be released, though on strict orders to not over exert himself with any of his activities. Gai-sensei was there with him, though very shocked at the moment. Mission orders had kept him away from the village for the better part of the down time between the second part and the finals of the Chuunin exams so it was a massive shock to him to see Lee when he did.
The reason for such was that Lee's entire personality seemed to have changed. Granted he still had his energetic personality as well, he was just more... laid back at the same time. If one were to describe him upon first appearance, they would say he seemed contently at peace with the soft smile on his face and the aura of contentment he seemed to radiate. On top of that his appearance had changed as well.
Gone was the green jump suit that Gai had given him, replaced by the white Chinese style shirt and black pants he wore when he was in the academy. His hair had grown back out again as well, though Kanami, who was the one to braid his hair, stated that it was more like a weed considering it grew to his mid back, even when braided, in about a week. The eyebrows that he used to have as well seemed to have vanished, though no one could really see them behind the long, thick bangs that shadowed his eyes. His physique was still the same if not just a touch more bulkier, but the interesting part was that his height had increased to be just barely above Gai's shoulders now.
Gai for his part could only stare slack jawed at his pupil as he checked out of the hospital. He was amazed at how calm Lee seemed, while at the same time seemed to be brimming with energy.
"Arigato Lee-san, remember to take care of yourself and no strenuous activities until we can fully heal you," the receptionist said to Lee as he handed her back his check out form.
"Mah, mah, I won't forget," Lee said with his soft smile, making the receptionist blush a bit, "Arigato for your care. Ja ne."
With that Lee walked over to the still gapping Gai, the smile never leaving his face.
"Ohayo, Gai-sensei. Ready to go?"
"Lee... what... how... are you sure you're feeling alright?" Gai asked, his mind still trying to process this new Lee.
"I feel great Gai-sensei," Lee said with a wide toothy grin, "I've never felt better!"
"Are yo..." Gai started but was suddenly interrupted by a shout from across the lobby.
"Lee-kun, wait a second!" a feminine voice called, forcing both Gai and Lee to look where the voice had come from. When they turned they saw Kanami pushing a woman in a wheel chair. Gai, for his part, had to do a double take at the woman in the chair when he saw her.
Her purple hair was tied in a ponytail that hung over her shoulder and went about a foot past that. The soft, delicate, but at the same time playful face and sea green eyes, for a second Gai thought he was seeing the only other purple haired person he knew.
"Ohayo Kanami-san. What can I do for you?" Lee greeted as Kanami wheeled up the smiling woman.
"Ohayo Lee-kun. Could I ask a favor from you? Could you escort and keep Kushina-chan here company at the Finals today?" Kanami asked.
"Ah, so that is your name miss. Of course Kanami-chan, and a pleasure to meet you Kushina-san," Lee said, offering his hand.
"Ohayo, Lee-san. A pleasure to meet you as well," Kushina said, her smile never leaving her face as she bower her head slightly to Lee.
Lee's own grin got just a touch larger at the pleasant woman's voice before he move behind the wheel chair and started to push her out of the building. Gai, still agape, followed silently after them as he watched in silence. This woman was not Anko, but he had never seen her before... yet at the same time he felt as if he had seen her before.
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"Hmmm. This... is bigger than I expected," Shikamaru thought as he looked around from the arena floor. People lined the viewing seats encompasing the arena him and the other finalists were in.
Well... almost all the other finalists.
Naruto and Sasuke still had yet to be seen within the village.
"Mendokuse... where the hell are those two idiots?" Shikimaru thought as he looked around briefly. The proctor for these matches had already stated that if neither Sasuke or Naruto were on time for their matches, they would be disqualified. As it was already, the matches had be altered slightly from the end of the preliminary ones. The first match was still Naruto against Hyuuga Neji. Shikimaru scoffed at the thought of the older genin. He had had to deal with the emo Sasuke all throughout the academy, but this guy took emo-ness, as well as arrogance, to a level that made Sasuke look like a social butterfly.
The next match was Shino against the Sabaku no Kankuro, third was himself versus Sybil, his original opponent being Sabaku no Temari. He groaned slightly at that, he didn't want to fight a woman, one that had not only ended another shinobi's ability to have kids. Then there was that weird sound guy against the mysterious Katsuhito. After that was the equally mysterious Gracien versus Sabaku no Temari, and then finally Sabaku no Gaara against Uchiha Sasuke.
"Will all combatants please make their way to the viewing deck, and the first matches shinobi please stay in the arena," the proctor, whose name was Genma, stated loudly.
The stands were buzzing with anticipation as the gennin made their way to the viewing deck, though Neji didn't move since this was his match after all.
Once the last gennin had made it through the passageway that led to the deck, Neji looked over at the proctor and asked, "Proctor-san, isn't Uzumaki Naruto disqualified since he is not present for this match?"
"Who isn't present Hyuuuga-teme?" a voice sounded in front of the young prodigy as his sight snapped forward and his eyes narrowed.
For there standing before him was none other than Uzumaki Naruto... the pest who had cheered on his dear cousin. His eyebrows furrowed though for he noticed the blond seemed to have come prepared as his attire seemed to have change yet again.
On his head, covering his bright sun kissed blond hair, was a black hatsuburi, the only difference being the plate that covered his forehead. Instead of it being the standard black encasing, it had been modified to hold his hitai-ate.
Gone too was the ANBU style body armor to be replaced with something Neji thought would better fit a samurai in the Daimyo's service. There was a black material that resembled that of a kimono tucked beneath a red sash. Neji had a feeling though that material was well reinforced with shinobi grade chainmail underneath the silky looking exterior. On the shoulders were armor plates that had alternating, polished black and dull silver metal. These plates also hung down slight in patches from underneath the sash at the bottom that covered both of the blond's hips as well as the base of his spine and rear.
His leggings had only been altered slightly from the ANBU style cargo pants. They were a bit bulkier than what most ANBU were seen wearing, and had a bit of orange trim, as well as several well placed, an well as well covered patches, that no doubt had some form of protection underneath. If Neji would say it looked like anything, he would have said it, again, looked like the haidate Samurai wore.
On his hands were still the standard ANBU fingerless gloves and forearm combination armor. However, there were several kanji and symbols upon it that Neji had not seen before.
His boots and shin guards seemed to have been the only things that didn't change, well nothing extravagantly anyways. He still had the black boots in which his pants tucked into, and the shin guards over top. The only difference being that shinguard and boots seemed to be more meshed together as Neji couldn't see where the boot ended and the knee high shinguard started.
The most interesting part of Naruto's new ensemble though were two distinct things. The first was the fact that there was no visible weapons pouch, and the second being that there were only, or at least seemed to only be, three weapons upon the blonds person.
At his hips were two kunai, though each were as long as a ninja-to. They also had an intricate golden design where the handle met the foot and half long black blade. Then on his back was a sword, of what type and make Neji could not be sure of since he coudln't see the sheath, but from the design of the handle alone, he guessed it was probably a Katana of some sort.
"Well, well, well. The pest desides to show his face," Neji goaded as he stared into the glaring intense blue eyes of Naruto.
"And you still seem to lack the filter on the brain mouth thing," Naruto stated casually.
Neji's anger spiked at the small jab, the veins on the side of his face already bulging as the Byakkugan was ready to activate at a moments notice. "It does not matter how much you change your outfit, the fates have already deemed me the victor of this match today," he growled out as his slid into the standard Jyuuken stance.
Naruto stood stock still, his arms crossed over his chest, still glaring at the Hyuuga in front of him.
The proctur Genma looked between the two briefly, waiting to see if they would say anything else before raising his hand into the air.
"The first match of the final stage of the Chuunin Selection Exam, Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Neji, HAJIME!" he yelled, slicing his hand through the air signaling the fight to start.
Neither combatants moved for several seconds, both waiting for the other to make their move. It was the Hyuuga who attacked first, his stance moving slightly, before he broke into a dead sprint towards Naruto.
He made to be about three feet in front of the blond before he stopped dead in his tracks. The young Hyuuga would have continued through with his attack, but at the moment, his heart was pounding in his chest as his eyes were open wide with anger and fear.
For Naruto hadn't moved any piece of his body other than his hand, which was now in front of his chest in a half seal. It was this particular seal though that had stopped Neji in his tracks.
"How.... How do you know that seal!?" Neji shouted in a panic.
"I told you before Hyuuga-teme to not underestimate me," Naruto spoke, his words cold and full of hatred.
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Up in the stands Hyuuga Hiashi gripped the cloth covering his knees tightly as his brow furrowed.
"How could he possibly know how to use that seal?" he thought slightly miffed as well as confused.
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"Eh?! What the hell just happened?" Kiba shouted from his seat amongst the mass of people. He was sitting with the rest of the gennin from the Rookie Nine that had not made it to this stage in the exam.
To his right was Hinata, back in her standard clothing that she always wore, though her hair was slightly longer now. She had not seen hide nor hair of Naruto since the day he had been released, and the only thing stopping her from dropping into the arena and giving the blond the worst beating of his life was the fact that he had left her a small letter saying he would be training alone and would make up for this sudden absence later.
She smiled slightly though for the letter had also contained a key to his appartment and she had well... attacked it with a remodeling frenzy so to speak. Not to mention she had also been living there ever since as well, fully intending on following through with everything she had said to her father in the hospital.
Just to her right though were Chouji, Ino, Sakura, and her cousin's teamate Ten-Ten.
All of them had something similar on their minds though to Kiba's outburst. Even the great many of Chuunin and Jounin scattered throughout the stadium had similar thoughts. Hyuuga were not know to be swayed by a simple seal...
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In the arena, Neji was all but foaming at the mouth in anger and fear. Seeing someone, especially someone who was not even a Hyuuga, standing before him with a seal that could kill him, was something he wished to never see.
"How... How do you know..." Neji all but growled through clenched teeth, though he dared not move an inch.
"You mean about the whole Caged Bird Seal placed upon your forehead? About the faulty reasoning behind why the Hyuuga are split into two houses? About the incident involving your father? Or are you referring to how, at this very moment, regardless of what your so called fate dictated, I quite literally have your life in the palm of my hand?" Naruto asked, his face kept in a very neutral expression.
Neji's eyes grew bigger and bigger as Naruto spat out many things that he thought the blond knew nothing about. His voice seemed to fail him too, as it opened slightly the closed, making him do a very good impersonation of a fish.
Naruto chuckled darkly at the Hyuuga's reaction. If he just had a camera right now, he would take a picture and make print outs of it for everyone he knew. After all, how often is a Hyuuga left slack jawed?
"Tell ya what Neji. This whole Caged Bird Seal thing is a very cowardly way to win a fight. So, I have a proposition for you," Naruto started as he dropped the seal but kept his arms still crossed across his chest.
This snapped Neji out of his stupor as he glared slightly at the blond, though not as intensely as before. "And what of this proposition?" he asked.
"If I win this match, you cut it with the fate crap, and stop the 'Holier than thou' bull."
"And should you fail?" Neji asked, his body more relaxed now that Naruto no longer had his hand in the seal, though still tense since at a moments notice he could activate it.
"I remove that Caged Bird Seal from your head and admit to your 'fate cannot be altered' preachings," Naruto stated bluntly.
The stadium fell deathly silent.
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"That is a most interesting claim that gennin is making Sarutobi-san," the Kazekage stated as he peered down at the two combatants from the Kage box.
"It is indeed," Sarutobi mumbled grimly, his thoughts turning to how this could start something amongst the Hyuuga that he really did not want to have to deal with.
"Do you think that child can actually follow through with such a feat as removing such a seal?" the Kazekage questioned as he turned to look at the old shinobi.
"I do not know. I would assume it to be a false declaration, because even my predecessor, the Yondaime Hokage, could not find a way to remove such a seal," Sarutobi replied as he leaned a bit forward to get a better view of the arena.
"But maybe he can actually pull it off. With everything that has happened as of late with Naruto-kun, he very well may be able to back up such a claim. Especially if the armor he is wearing now is that armor.."
"Well then this will end up being quite the show won't it?" the Kazekage said, his voice dripping with an unnerving amount of glee.
Sarutobi leaned back then, looking out of the corned of his eye at the Kazekage. If what Naruto said was true, this was Orochimaru, his corrupted and vile student, and the real Kazekage had long since been dead.
"Indeed it shall."
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"Impossible..." Neji said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Well the choice is your's now Neji. No fate, no Main House member starring you down. It's now a fight between you... and me. And you can either try and free yourself from said 'cage of fate' that you like to shout to any and everyone, or you can be like a good little servant and stay in your place," Naruto stated fiercly as he got into a readied stance.
It was silent for a few moments more as Neji mulled things over in his head. His mind was made up though, long before he even started to think of a decision. He would be free of his seal... no matter what the cost.
In a blinding display of speed, he charged at Naruto, his hands already brimming with the power of Jyuuken. Naruto's smile only seemed to widen as his muscles tensed.
And thus the fight began...
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"Ah has the match started yet Ten-ten-chan?" a voice suddenly said from Ten-ten's right, startling her slightly since she wasn't expecting anyone to be there.
The bun haired weapons mistress turned to the voice and had her eye's nearly buldge out of their sockets, as did the rest of the rookie nine whose attention had been diverted to the loud, but calm, voice.
"Lee-kun?! Is that you?" Ten-ten asked incredulously. His appearance, his posture... everything about him aside from the fact he still seemed to be brimming with energy had changed about the taijutsu specialist.
"Indeed it is Ten-ten-chan, has the first match started yet?" he asked, trying to stand on his tippy toes to look over the railing from where he stood. It was a little difficult though considering he had someone in a wheel chair in front of him.
It was then that Ten-ten noticed the purple haired woman sitting in said wheel chair, and the fact that Lee had his hands resting on the handles, indicating he was the one escorting the woman around.
"Ah, gomen ma'am, I'm Ten-ten, one of Lee-kun's teammates," Ten-ten greeted with a small bow of her head from her seat. The woman just smiled at her pleasantly, though it looked like she had a calculating eye for a second.
"Hello Ten-ten-san, my name is Namikaze Kushina, a pleasure to meet such a young beautiful girl," she greeted, her voice just as pleasant as her smile.
At the other end of the row, Hinata's head snapped to Kushina and her eye's widened.
"Naruto-kun's Kaa-san is awake!? And here?!?! Oh no..." she throught frantically, memories of her talk with Naruto about the invasion he had dealt with in the past rushing through her mind.
"A pleasure to meet you too Namikaze-san," Ten-ten greeted with a blush on her face.
"Please, call me Kushina, I'm not fond of all those unwritten formalities. Lee-kun, could you take me closer to the edge please, I'd like to see my son's match," Kushina stated.
It was an odd sound Ten-ten figured, because the comment was so simple, but at the same time it held the tone of a command when dealing with what to call her.
"Wait a second... did she say son? But Neji's mother has been dead for years...." Unbeknown to Ten-ten, similar thoughts were going the the rest of the rookie nine's heads, well minus Hinata's who had her eyes locked on the purple haired woman, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Of course Kushina-san, I'm rather anxious to see how Naruto-kun is doing as well," Lee stated in his usually bubbly tone and wheeled her close enough to the rail that she could look over to see the match as he himself moved to stand beside her and look over as well.
Both were oblivious to the completely dumbfounded looks the rest of the rookie nine gave them.
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In the arena, Naruto quickly side stepped a palm thrust to his chest as he sent an elbow crashing into Neji's solar plexus, making the 'older' gennin go sailing backwards only to flip backwards and land in a kneeling position.
So far, they had only been using taijutsu. Well... Naruto had only been using taijutsu, since it was considered a 'crime against the clan to use their hands for any attack other than Jyuuken'.
Neji was a bit worse for ware, his breaths coming in a bit labored gasps, mostly from the hit he had just taken though. Up until that point, him and the blond had been even. Each blow either evaded or parried with expert precision, and he had even seen the blow coming, had even tried to dodge, but the blond had moved faster than he had anticipated.
"You know, I'd say that made for a good warm up. How about we start fighting for real now?" Naruto said with his foxy grin as he cracked his knuckles and neck as Neji regained the air in his lungs.
The Hyuuga said nothing as a smirk crossed his face. He then bent low, his left arm out stretched out in front of him, his right up and behind him, his weight being placed upon his back foot.
"Big gun's already eh? Well let's have fun with this" Naruto thought as he readied his own stance, the same one he had used against Kiba in the preliminary matches.
It was still for a second or two, and then by an unspoken signal, Neji launched his attack, his speed drastically increased as he pumped his muscles with chakra for his next attack.
His body span, trying to confuse Naruto ever so slightly, just enough so he could get the first strikes off. He knew that calling out the name of this attack was useless. Well, with how Naruto was fighting it was useless. Most people he had fought had always announced their attacks as they went, helping them focus their chakra on the action that they wanted it to mold into. He had learned early on, calling out the name of an attack after you mastered it, did little else outside of letting your enemy know what was coming. The only time that he still did it was either when he lost control of his emotions, which happened rarely, or he needed to focus more power into his strikes, which was an even rarer occurrence.
Right as his first strike of his attack should have hit though, his finger tips felt nothing but air. And that's when his world was rocked with pain.
Naruto had moved just barely out of danger of the Hakke: Rokujyu-Yonshou, and had initiated a blinding attack of his own.
For Neji, with his Byakkugan active, he could see every hit as they came, and almost in slow motion he figured since each hit felt like he was getting hit by Gai-sensei's hardest punches.
First came the left jab to his face, making his head real back. Next was the lightning quick left hook that snapped his head to the side. A millisecond later was a right uppercut to his stomach that lifted him off his feet slightly and removed any wind left in his lungs. Down came a left cross hook a split second later, the hit connecting with his shoulder forcing his knees to almost buckle as if his body had suddenly been put under a great weight. Next was another elbow to his chest that pushed him a bit farther back and removed any chance of getting any air into his lungs in the next couple of seconds. Then came the right snap hook across his face that snapped his head this time in the opposite direction, but was shortly followed this time by a left uppercut that raised him off the ground easily this time by almost half a foot.
And even as he floated in the air for that brief second from that last hit to the one he could watch, he was amazed at how much chakra suddenly formed in the blonds right fist, before it snapped out straight into his stomach and sent him flying backwards at an incredible rate. Fast and hard enough to put him through one of the trees and leave a decent sized indentation of Neji's body in the stone wall of the arena.
Once again, the arena fell into a dead silence. Not only had a no-name, by shinobi standards just evaded and countered one of the prestigious Hyuuga's clans most powerful attacks, he had unleashed one of his own, that, to many people, probably had just won him the match.
The proctor in the arena whistled in awe as he looked at the place Neji had ended up. He had barely been able to keep up with the movements of Naruto's fists, but he was impressed by the sheer power the hits held.
He was about to walk over and see if the Hyuuga was unconscious but stopped went he felt a slight chakra pulse. Apparently the blond had felt it too and whirled around, his hands already moving to block something, but apparently not fast enough.
"Hakke: Hyakku Ni Jyu-Hashou!" Neji's voice echoed throughout the stadium.
If Naruto's strikes had been blindingly fast, Neji's were damn near invisible to the naked eye. In less than two seconds, Neji had struck Nartuo one hundred and twenty eight times, and then, to add more power to his attack, on his very last blow, his body glowed and intense blue before spinning violently.
"DAI KAITEN!!"
The blue glow errupted into a hurrican force storm around the spinning Hyuuga, and at the edge of the attack, Naruto was sent flying backwards, faster than he had sent Neji and slammed into the wall, right next to a still unconscious looking Neji. As he slammed into the wall though, the one that was embedded into the wall next to him exploded into a cloud of smoke and was replaced with a log.
"Uuuuggghhhhh, okay, I forgot how much those moves sting," Naruto though as he fell out of his crater in the wall and landed on his hands and knees.
"Yes, but check out your control now kit... that attack did more help than harm for once," Kyuubi's voice echoed in his head
Naruto blinked in confusion as he coughed up a bit of blood from the last attack. But then something clicked. Normally when he had been hit with that attack before, his chakra was closed off, period. On top of that, it was extremely difficult to move any part of his body.
Yet, he could still feel chakra flowing through his system. In fact... it was flowing faster and faster as the seconds passed, and his muscles only ached from the sting of the hits, not from the lock up the Jyuuken normally inflicted. Hell, his reserves, which were large to begin with, started to fill back up at an incredible rate... the fastest he'd felt since he had gone back in time.
"What's going on?"
"My guess is that those strikes closed your tenketsu down to normal levels so you are no longer 'bleeding' so to speak, excess chakra. As it stands at the moment as well, my own reserves seem to be replenishing faster now as well,"
If it wasn't for the fact that he was in a match currently, he would of stood up and cheered in joy.
"Proctor... this match... is over..."
The voice and statement cut through Naruto's thoughts instantly as his head lifted to look at the Hyuuga. It seemed he hadn't escaped the hits from his last attack and had only preformed the replacement jutsu at the last second before he hit the wall.
His clothes were tattered, he had a split lip, a black eye, a cut on his forehead that was bleeding badly, a swollen cheek, and was panting heavily from the exertion of his last attack.
"Who said the match was over teme," Naruto said as he stood back up, shocking not only Neji and the proctor, but many in the auidience as well. After all, very few ever retained consciousness after being hit by two of the Hyuuga's strongest attacks, and fewer still were able to stand and talk afterwards.
And even as he said his words though, Naruto reached behind him and pulled out the sword from its sheath on his back. Discretly, Naruto looked from where Neji was standing, to above the Hyuuga. He was in perfect alignment with the seat of the Kazekage.
"What the... hell... are you?" Neji gasped out as he got into a weak defense. It was clear that he was running out of chakra, as well as injured, but Naruto looked to be right as rain, as if he hadn't just been fighting for the past ten minutes or had taken two very powerful strikes.
Naruto chuckled darkly at the question as he moved his left foot forward spreading it an equal distance from his right foot behind them and balancing on them both evenly. The sword, which truly was just a simple katana from the looks of it, the hilt resting in his right hand, the tip of the blade resting in his outstretched left hand.
"You once spoke of not knowing what it was like to be cursed, of how terrible and painful it was to be marked with a seal that was beyond your control, and that it controlled your fate," Naruto started, and to Neji's horror, chakra started to poor out of the blond. Not the standard blue, or the dazzling eleven colors he had seen in the preliminaries. This had no color, least no to the naked eye, but the Byakkugan could see it.
And it was a maelstrom. It lashed this way and that, a rhythmic chaotic fire of chakra. It danced around Naruto like a flame, a raging inferno that grew bigger by the second. Sheer terror gripped at Neji as he starred at the blonde in front of him. And as suddenly as it had started, it vanished back inside Naruto. So caught off by the release of pressure, Neji's let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and deactivated his Byakkugan.
But… to his sheer horror, the chakra suddenly exploded out of Naruto more violent then ever, and this time visible. Everyone in the arena was shocked into silence at the sight.
Blood red chakra was spiraling around the blond, flares lashing out and into the ground, tearing it up as it spun.
Many of the older shinobi could scarcely breath at the sight and feel of the chakra. They knew it far too well, for it was that of the nine tailed fox.
"You talk about fate as if you even understand what it means," Naruto said, his voice coming out deep and throaty, as if he was growling, "But you know nothing of what you preach."
He changed his stance then, spreading his feet a shoulder's width apart, both squarely underneath him as he faced completely forward. The sword was still held in his right hand, held horizontally to the ground while he pressed two fingers against the flat of the blade next to the hilt. Slowly he started to move his fingers down the blade, and to everyone's fascination and to Neji's horror, the space on the blade that Naruto's fingers passed over, started to glow as deep a red as the chakra swirling around him.
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In the stands Tenten's eyes grew wide as she gripped a locket around her neck. Her heart raced as timed seemed to slow down watching Naruto's fingers slide along the blade.
"How is this possible? No one is supposed to know of that technique…" she screamed internally,
FLASHBACKTenten panted as she rested her hands on her knees. She had been training with Neji for the past two weeks since the end of the preliminary matches. The Hyuuga prodigy had been getting her help to perfect his kaiten, her resourcefulness at attacking from every angle being needed the most.
And today the Hyuuga had for the most part perfected the technique but was still having issues controlling the correct output of chakra. He was panting slightly as well but still standing in he small crater like circle the Kaiten created.
"You're getting better," Tenten said through gasp of air as she stood up on slightly wobbly legs.
Neji like wise stood to his full height, his breath only slightly ragged. "It's not perfect yet," Neji stated while turning and taking a step towards where their water bottles were. He stopped after his first step though as something was under his foot.
When he moved his foot aside, he saw a simple golden locket now embedded in the dirt where his foot had stepped. Stiffly he bent down and picked the piece of jewelry up. Upon closer inspection he realized it to be his teammates. Originally he had scoffed at the idea of her having a piece of jewelry on her person at all times, but after being told of why she kept it, he let it drop. After all, the only thing left to you from your parents is a special thing to anyone.
"This must have fallen off," he stated calmly as he turned towards Tenten and held out his hand towards her.
The bun haired girl grasped her chest where the necklace should have been, and her eyes widened slightly.
"Thanks," she said with a soft smile after she had taken the locket back and place it back around her necklace.
There was several moments of silence between the two then as they went over to their drinks to take a break from their training.
"What exactly is in that locket?" Neji asked after a while, causing his teammate to look at him incredulously for a moment before collecting her self. After all, it wasn't often Hyuuga Neji talked in a non scathing, stoic, or arrogant manor.
"I don't know exactly," Tenten said as she fumbled with the locket in her hands, "I've never been able to open it. And neither can any of the jewelers in the village."
Neji said nothing to her comment, understanding that there were probably something that would open it if done correctly. After all, it had passed through through his Kaiten unscathed and had not been expulsed from the force of the chakra.
Silence lapped back over the two as they both took another sip of their water. It was several minutes before either of them spoke again.
"We should get back to training," Neji stated as he stood and stretched slightly to get some blood flowing through his limbs.
"Yeah…" Tenten said while fingering the locket. As she ran her finger over the edge though, something pricked her slightly that made her yelp in surprise.
Neji, hearing her yelp, turned around to see what was wrong only to see her looking befuddled at her finer and the locket.
"Something wrong?"
"No…. something ju…" she started to reply but stopped as the locket suddenly opened with a soft click. Her eyes widened greatly as she peered inside the two halves of the locket. Neji, in a rare spout of curiosity had moved over to her side to gaze inside as well.
Both recognized on the left the distinct pattern of a seal of some sort, while on the right there was a simple of a picture of a woman holding a child.
"That's me…" Tenten stated looking at the picture. She knew right off that this woman had to have been her mother, though she had to wonder exactly how she was considering the woman who held her had deep auburn hair.
"So this is your Okaa-san," Neji stated rhetorically, seeing minute similarities between Tenten and the woman.
After a while of starring at the picture, Tenten turned her attention towards the seal. It was an odd sort of thing to have on a locket, but, being a shinobi herself, knew that the art of seals was a useful one and that could be used for many purposes. Herself having used them extensively for her weapons for her techniques.
She channeled some chakra into the left side of the locket, a very common practice for seals, and was rewarded with a soft pop as a scroll popping into existence above the locket. With reactions befitting a weapons expert, she snatched it out of the air, dropping the necklace to lay back against her chest while unraveling the scroll. Inside was a technique, something she hadn't really been expecting, or hopping for….
After several seconds of glancing over the technique though, her brow furrowed in annoyance. The instructions for it were written by both a male and a female, and while the female's notes where neat and worded well, the males where scattered, and fragmented.
"An odd thing to have storred in a locket…" Neji stated, his own confusion at scroll's existence setting in.
"Yeah… But let's not worry about this now and get back to training," Tenten stated and pocketed the scroll while closing the locket, blocking them both out of her mind for the time be to help her teammate.
Later that night Tenten was back out at that exact spot again, the scroll laid out before her so she could read it, a simple Muramasa sitting next to her. The technique was hard from what she read, but at the same time powerful. For the next week she practiced It on her own before testing in a training session with Neji.
Thankfully it was one of the day's Gai had actually taken the time to oversee their sparring, for when she had tried the technique, something had gone wrong. She didn't remember much but apparently had nearly bisected Neji through his Kaiten but had passed out from chakra exhaustion the second she had released the attack.
She came to later find out that Neji had still been hit by the attack, and had it not been for her inexperience with it, he had only been badly gashed along the stomach, instead of bisected.
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Neji recognized the stance and attack the second Naruto had started it, and if he felt fearful before, he was petrified to it's greatest definition now. When Tenten had tried this technique against him, her blade had barely even showed a shimmer of chakra…
But Naruto's was burning bright with it, mixed with the raging inferno of chakra swirling around the blond as well that simply reeked bloodlust.
All thoughts stopped though as about halfway down the blade Naruto started to speak..
"Mumiyu Jinpuriyu…" he called as his fingers slid down the last half of the blade. Then suddenly he snapped his hand holding the sword above his head and brought it down quick, striking the ground hard and calling out, "Retusgen!"
The earth before him exploded as a tremendously powerful blast erupted from where his sword had hit the dirt. It rushed towards Neji and inhuman speeds, even for a ninja, and tore up the ground as it went.
Panicing, Neji did the only thing he could think of and started to spin violently while expelling chakra from his body.
"Dai Kaiten!"
Naruto smirked as he saw the Hyuuga activate his supposed perfect defense erratically, knowing full well it could not stop his own attack. But at the same time, Naruto suddenly spun on his right heel, stepping forward with his left foot as he snapped the right side of his body around bringing the sword to bear in front of him.
Chakra flared brightly around the still red blade as he moved and as he swept it horizontally in front of him with his spin, chakra surged as another blast of power erupted from the blade. This one though sounded like that of a hurricane as three distinct flares rocketed towards the spinning Hyuuga, catching up to and passing his previous attack in the blink of an eye.
In a split second the second attack connected with the spinning dome of the Kaiten and to the crowds amazement and the shinobi's horror, it merged with the defensive move, forcing the Kaiten to spin indeffinetly, while at the same time suddenly creating a literal tornado of chakra around the Hyuuga.
Neji was panicking inside the tornado though while those outside watched. He had already spent more chakra than was needed to use his technique, but he was still spinning rapidly. With his Byakkugan active he watched in horror as the initial attack slammed against the mixture of his Kaiten and what ever the second attack was that Naruto had used. Amazingly it seemed to have bounced off of the tornado, but after a brief moment, followed shortly after by sheer terror yet again, Neji saw that first attack had still passed through the vortex, but had also lifted him into the air.
His vision focused on Naruto again, his feral appearance inside the violent chakra and his now crouching position while starring at him nearly freezing his heart. The blond sprang towards him then, blazing at a speed that could easily rival his sensei's, bringing his sword to bear in front of him.
Neji wasn't sure if it was pure luck or a miscalculation that made the sword barely scrape the edge of his side, still cutting a deep wound, but nothing fatal as the blond barreled past him. He heard the distinct sound of metal against stone a second later over the howling wind of his tornado prision before starting to fall back to the earth the tornado somehow still spinning, keeping him in motion as well.
Naruto however had landed right in front of the two Kages in the Kage's box. More specifically, he was crouched on the ledge directly in front of the Kazekage, his sword buried deep within the stone he perched upon. His eyes however were locked with the Kazekages and all he could feel at that moment was a rage unlike any other.
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Being a sannin, there were very few things in life that could induce a paralyzing fear in Orochimaru. Even less than that were things that could actually come close to even reaching that point. One such thing being his old teammate Tsunade's punches.
But here… now… with the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune crouched before him, eyes locked with him, he couldn't help but feel fear.
Blood red slit eyes stared back into his amber snake like ones. Time seemed to stop for him as the pair of eyes gazed into each other. Naruto's eyes narrowed as his chakra and killing intent spiked higher and higher. The vile red chakra seeping out Naruto as if it were blood. A low guttural growl started to escape Naruto's lips as he lifted the hand that still gripped his sword.
The sword itself had pierced the stone all the way up to the hilt, and as Naruto slowly stood, the sword sliced up through the stone. The screeching sound of metal against stone filled the stadium, almost as loud as the howling winds from the tornado still active in the arena. As Naruto stood to his full height, the sword stayed perpendicular to him, his knuckles white as he gripped the hilt tightly.
Then, in a dark, raspy voice, Naruto whispered, "Can you feel it?"
His voice was quiet but echoed within the ear drums of Orochimaru, as well as Sarutobi, who was starring at Naruto in confusion, his body tense to step in incase the blond did something he shouldn't.
Orochimaru, still in his disguise, tilted his head a minuscule amount to the side to indicate his confusion at the blonds words.
This indication brought a cruel smirk to Naruto's lips. The chakra surrounding him then seemed to condense and thicken around both him and the sword in his head. Then, that same deep voice whispered out, "The breath of the Phoenix."
And in a flash, the chakra cocooned Naruto sprang into the air, his height greatly surpassing that of the stadium, and further still the Hokage Monument.
The chakra seemed to stop and swirl in the air for several seconds once it reached its apex, its form twisting into that of a bird of fire. An
unholy screech erupted from the chakra birds mouth before it started hurtling back to the earth at break neck speeds. It entered in at the top of the tornado, casting the winds into a flame spout as it went further down. Then, as it reached the bottom, the flame spout burst, the winds and heat from the flames heating the entire arena up to a blistering heat briefly. As the winds and heat vanished though the arena participants stared in shock at what they saw.
Naruto stood above Neji's body, his breath ragged, his shoulders shaking as his arms held his sword. The sword itself was embedded into the dirt, a small trickle of blood trailing down it's blade and staining the ground. That life giving fluid was flowing from a small cut along the side of Neji's neck, his body flat on the ground, paralyzed with fear.
The young Hyuuga could do nothing but stare at Naruto, his visage unlike anything he had ever seen. The whiskers on his face had darkened, as if they had cut their way deeper into his face. His golden unruly hair had turned into what could only be called a mane, but there was now tinges of red spread throughout, as if it had been dyed. The slightly elongated canines that had once been there were now razor sharp fangs, his nails now inch long claws as well.
His eyes though.... they were what was the most frightening. The blood red tint, the slanted black iris, and the three symbols spiraling around said iris.
"What are you?" Neji breathed out, his voice barely above a whisper.
It was silent for a moment as Naruto's and Neji's eyes were locked on each other. The arena was dead silent, and the only thing that could be heard was Naruto's ragged breathing.
But for Naruto, his outward ragged appearance betrayed what ravished his mind.He had nearly killed Neji in his rage. His hatred for Orochimaru had fueled his attack, and if the intense heat genereated from his own attacks hadn't burned him back to reality, Neji's head would be severed from his body.
Slowly but surely, his breathing calmed back down to reasonable level, but he never stood up straight. Eyes still locked with Neji, Naruto decided to speak to the prone Hyuuga.
"I am simply a shinobi in control of my own destiny. I am not bound by a false fate due to something out of my control. I choose my own path, and I will fight for that path's outcome with all my heart, regardless of what may stand in my way," he said, his voice not much louder than a whisper, but still a bit ragged. He stood up then slowly to his full height, "And you, Neji, have the power to be free of your cage as well."
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma shouted after Naruto's little speech to Neji. The stadium erupted into cheers at the announcement, and more than a few people where left in awe of the fight that had just taken place.
With the announcement made, Medic-nin came rushing out to tend to the Hyuuga. He was taken quickly away, for while his wounds were not fatal, they could become so if not treated quickly. And while they left in a rush to take Neji to the hospital, Naruto made his way back up to the stands where the rest of the contestants were.
He was greeted with applause as he entered from his fellow Konoha shinobi. Well… almost all of them. Shikamaru was still resting against the railing and just inclined his head to the side, not finding the energy to really say anything at all.
"Typical Shika," Naruto though with a grin right as he heard the call for the next match. " I just hope everything goes through as I hope…"