This fight came to my head too fast, and got down even faster. Another 'two chapters in a row' event, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'll think of something witty to say later.
Word of Honor
Chapter 12: Battle and Blood
Kiba laughed out loud as he vaulted over the railing. "Lucky! This'll be a cinch to win!"
Naruto had a completely different point of view. "Alright, it's my turn! Finally, it's about time!"
Turning to take the stairs, he stopped as his path was blocked by Sasuke. "Naruto…you remember what I said, right?"
Naruto nodded, grinning past his sudden nervousness. "Yep! I'll totally win this match!"
Sasuke smirked, giving Naruto a nod. "You'd better. Just remember, Kiba's no pushover. Go all out from the beginning, or you'll lose."
Naruto scoffed at him, walking past him as he went down the stairs. "I'm no pushover either!"
As they faced off on the floor, Hayate smirked unnoticeably. "The seventh match…Uzumaki Naruto verse Inuzuka Kiba."
Kiba's grin became more feral as he spoke. "It's like we've already won! Man, we got so lucky! Eh, Akamaru?"
Naruto twitched, jabbing a finger at Kiba. "Hey! You haven't seen me fight yet! Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you!" He then noticed Akamaru, who had been riding in Kiba's jacket and had popped his head out when Kiba had spoken. "Hey, don't bring a puppy here! It'll get in the way!"
Kiba scoffed at him, setting Akamaru down. "You idiot. Akamaru's fighting with me!"
Naruto looked between Kiba and Akamaru with a curious look. "You mean like Shino and his bugs?"
Up in the stands, Kakashi raised an eyebrow. 'He actually made the connection? Huh, I guess he is getting better…smarter…whatever you want to call it.'
'It sounds kinda like that Kusa guy and his snakes!' Naruto thought, remembering the snake that had eaten him in the forest before he'd forced it to throw him up by creating too many shadow clones for it to handle. Nodding as he figured that it was all good, he crossed his arms confidently. "Good then! You'll need all the help you can get."
"Talking tough huh?" Kiba asked. He glanced down at Akamaru, giving his partner a nod. "Stay out of it for now Akamaru. I'm able to take him down no sweat by myself."
Kiba reminisced on just how bad Naruto had been at the Academy. He remembered watching him make a fool of himself in front of the entire class as he'd poorly transformed into the Hokage; too short, with lips that were way out of proportion.
"You know what, I feel bad for you," Kiba said, raising his fist. "So I'm going to end this with one punch."
"That so?" Naruto raised his own fist. "Then me too…"
"Stop acting tough baka."
Hayate looked between the two, noting the tension and prepared to move himself out of the way. At least this match should be more interesting. "Begin."
Not wasting a second, Kiba quickly formed a hand seal to perform the basic Inuzuka hijutsu. "Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four-Legged Technique)!" Kiba shouted, channeling his chakra through his legs and arms as he dropped to all fours. His nails became sharper and his legs spread into a wider stance. "Here I come!"
Naruto looked at the strange stance, not quite sure what Kiba was thinking. 'What's he gonna do like that? He looks like he's – '
Before he could complete his thought, Kiba had bolted forwards, covering the short distance between them and slamming his elbow into his gut. Naruto rolled backwards, almost slamming into the wall behind him. Kiba looked to Hayate. "He wouldn't be opening his eyes for a while, referee."
There were various thoughts about the young blonde; mainly focusing on how 'weak' he was to be knocked out by one hit. Only four people thought differently; Hinata, and the other three members of Team 7.
Hinata didn't think Naruto was weak. However, she was worried that he was hurt. She wanted to cheer for him, but he was fighting her teammate, so she felt conflicted. Her confliction got the better of her, which frustrated her as she clutched the railing. Unable to say anything without drawing her sensei's attention and Kiba's ire, she silently prayed for Naruto, begging for him to stand up.
Sasuke smirked, staring down at Naruto as Sakura and Kakashi gave each other a look. After Zabuza and Haku, Kiba was a pushover. His speed was admittedly impressive for his age, but after fighting someone who could move from one place to another so fast only the Sharingan could almost catch it compared to his normal vision, it was slow. Plus, with Sakura's constant poundings, they knew that this was practically a love tap in comparison.
Naruto pushed himself up as a small trail of blood came from his mouth, regaining Kiba's –and everyone else's- attention. "Don't underestimate me."
Kiba scowled at him. "You're gonna say that while you bleed? I told you to stop acting like your tough."
Naruto smirked. "I blinked."
"What?"
"I blinked," Naruto said, shifting his feet into a more strengthened stance. "And when I opened my eyes you were still there. You're slow Kiba. Plus, I wanted to know how strong you hit. You're gonna want your dog to help you out here, cause you hit like a girl."
"You'll regret that." Kiba said, motioning to Akamaru. "Let's go Akamaru!"
As they ran forward, Naruto noticed something in Kiba's hand. 'A smoke bomb?' He thought a second before Kiba threw it forwards, obstructing Naruto's view as he began his assault. Naruto flinched as the blows hit him. 'Crap, I gotta get out of here or I'm done!'
Escaping from the smoke, he was caught off guard as Akamaru ambushed him and knocked him back into the smoke. Kiba smirked as he heard the little dog knocking Naruto around. As the smoke cleared, he saw Naruto holding Akamaru by the scruff of his neck. "What the - ?"
Akamaru whimpered as Naruto growled at the little dog. "Keep your teeth away from there! That was so not cool! I mean seriously, hasn't Kiba trained you better?"
"What the…Akamaru?" Kiba growled as he took a step forward. "I'll get you for –"
"No, I got you!"
Kiba's eyes widened as a fist suddenly caught him upside his head, knocking him away from where he'd been standing. Quickly rolling back to all fours, he shook his head at the two Naruto's that were standing in front of him. One still had Akamaru by the scruff of his neck, while the other had his fist out. "What…a clone?"
"Not just a clone…Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)." Naruto replied.
"Feh, like that'll help you. Akamaru!" Kiba shouted, throwing a small pill to the little dog. Despite his position, the little dog snapped the pill from the air and quickly swallowed it. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as he suddenly realized that Akamaru was changing from the pill. The normally docile white dog was becoming more aggressive and its fur had turned red. Shaking itself, it managed to dislodge itself from the Naruto-clone's hands and fall to the floor. Kiba himself popped a pill into his mouth. "That's why he's Akamaru. (Aka, meaning 'red')"
Naruto looked between the now red dog and Kiba with a perplexed look. "What the heck did you feed him?"
"Soldier pill." Kiba responded, crouching over as Akamaru leapt onto his back. "Now we can do this! Juujin Bunshin no Jutsu (Beast-Man Clone)!"
Smoke covered Akamaru as he took on Kiba's appearance. Naruto looked somewhat startled, but was nothing the less confident. "Hey, did you just dope the dog? I thought that was unhealthy?"
"Boss, I think we might be in trouble." Naruto's clone said, alerting Naruto to the charging duo.
"Take this Naruto!" Kiba shouted as he and Akamaru slammed into the arena with a surprising amount of force behind their attack.
Naruto flipped backwards, wincing as he was clipped by the blitz attack. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that Kiba wasn't kidding when he said he was faster. Or rather, he was too slow. Channeling chakra to his feet, he attempted to get far enough behind them to get a breath. He remembered the 'benefits' of his bloodline, but suddenly realized something that he really should have realized before; he didn't know the 'keyword' and couldn't really start randomly saying random words in the middle of battle. People already thought he was stupid; he didn't want to make them think he was insane too.
Yelping in surprise as the dog duo charged at him again, he leapt into the air in an attempt to jump over them and get a quick breath. Unfortunately, he had nowhere to go as he hung practically suspended for a moment in the air. "Chance! Inuzuka taijutsu, Gatsuuga (Fang Over Fang)!"
Naruto winced as Kiba and Akamaru's charge added a spin, turning them into a whirlwind of claws. With no way to move, he braced himself as he prepared for the inevitable attack to hit him.
"Boss!"
Naruto looked down, his eyes widening as the clone he'd made from earlier leapt beneath him. Realizing that this was his chance, he placed his feet on his clone's chest and used him as a springboard to launch himself over the oncoming attack. In the process, his clone was destroyed as he was unable to catch himself before he dispelled himself on the ground.
As they passed beneath him, Kiba managed to curse under his breath once they landed and saw that they'd missed. "Again! Gatsuuga (Fang Over Fang)!"
Naruto had nowhere to go this time as he'd just landed and took the brunt of their attack head on. Crying out in pain, and feeling Kiba and Akamaru's claws digging into his jacket, he was pushed back, landing on his face before coming to a stop. Coughing in pain, he checked himself for injuries as he coughed up a small bit of blood.
Kiba smirked at Naruto's state. "Ha! This is the difference between our abilities!"
Naruto slowly pushed himself up. "Can't…lose here. I'm…gonna…Hokage."
"You, Hokage? While your still so much weaker than me? You can't become Hokage!" Kiba jeered, thumbing his nose at Naruto. "A Hokage is strong, which you aren't! Since you obviously won't become Hokage any time soon, you might as well let me be Hokage instead!"
Naruto twitched, his movements still slow as he pushed himself to his feet. Blood ran down his face from the different impacts to his head. He felt fine though, as the blood in his head seemed to mellow out despite his thrumming heart. "You know…I promised my team that I wouldn't run away…that I would fight my battles head on. If you're going to say stuff like that, you better be ready to rumble, 'cause I'm going to take you down! I don't go back on my word…that is my nindo (ninja way)!"
Kiba laughed mockingly, "You really don't get it yet? Alright then, let's take him down Akamaru!"
Naruto watched the two of them as they ran forward, standing confidently against them. As they got closer, his eyes widened slightly and he rushed forwards. He had an idea, and if it worked it would look totally awesome.
Instead of running into them, he used his chakra to push past them. Although the yin chakra he was using to push himself faster was noticeably slower than it would normally be, he found that he was actually fast enough to take advantage of the momentary gap in their attack. Continuing his rush forwards, he focused on the giant hands statue that stood on the other side of the room in the 'ram' sign. Leaping to the top of the fingers, he looked down on Kiba from his aerial view. 'Yup, I totally look awesome right now. Take that teme!'
Kiba skid to a stop, noticing Naruto's rush in confusion. "What are you doing Naruto? I thought you said you face your fights head on! Get down here and fight like a man!"
Naruto stuck out his tongue mockingly. "I'm taking a quick breather. You stink, and it's making it hard to think."
Kiba paused, unable to understand what Naruto had said. "Wait, think? You, the 'dead last'…are thinking?"
Naruto ignored the jab and focused on the task at hand, unconsciously allowing more chakra to flow into his head. Despite having the higher ground, Kiba probably knew how to walk on walls like he did, which made it pretty much pointless. Not only that, but there was something funky going on with his chakra. Clenching and unclenching his fist, he figured that he felt a lot stronger than normal, but his yin chakra was now slower by comparison. As he thought further back, he realized that his chakra had felt weird since he'd woken up after the encounter with the snake guy. 'Aw man! He did something to screw with my chakra when he hit my gut! Maybe that's what Sakura meant when she mentioned him doing something to Sasuke.'
::Focus on the match::
Naruto jumped slightly, his eyes wide as he recognized the voice. 'Han'ishiki?'
::Yes Naruto ::
'What are you doing in my head right now?'
::Hm, it seems you're progressing faster than normally expected. I guess Kushina will have to explain more soon ::
'Don't change the subject! What –"
::Incoming dog-breath ::
Naruto jerked his head up as he saw that Kiba had gotten bored of just watching him and had taken to a wall with Akamaru on the opposite wall charging towards him. 'Holy crap! What do I do?'
Instead of answering, Han'ishiki sent a mental picture of Naruto punching Kiba as he spun towards him. Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he crouched down. Now was not the time for jokes like that. Kiba was spinning really fast, and it looked like he had actually become a drill of pure physical energy.
'He's only using the one technique, so I know what he's going to do. But since I can't dodge it forever, I have to attack! …how the heck am I supposed to do that?' he thought as he watched them close in on him. Han'ishiki sent the image again, slowing Kiba down enough for Naruto to notice something. Looking closer at Kiba's attack, he blinked. "Wait, they're just spinning with claws. So how would I get hit if I just went straight in?"
"Gatsuuga!"
Naruto pushed all of his chakra to his feet, leaping over the two typhoon-like attackers. As he looked back, he realized he'd actually gone a lot further than he'd expected and was now almost back in the center of the arena. "Wow, that was so awesome!"
Kiba growled at the way Naruto seemed to not be taking him seriously. Somehow, he'd managed to avoid being injured enough to pass out, and now he was mocking him again. Feeling anger overcoming him, he turned to Akamaru. "We're finishing him, now!"
Akamaru nodded, noting Kiba's bad mood and feeling it mirrored in himself. Naruto had not looked like he was nearly this confident when he'd started out, and actually looked like he'd gotten stronger as the fight had progressed. It was somewhat frightening to watch from within the fight.
Naruto watched them charge towards him again, his face scrunched up in focused thought. As they were nearly on him, it changed to a look of victory. "Got it!"
Returning their rush forward, he focused on the one he thought was Kiba. Kiba and Akamaru twisted themselves as they threw themselves at Naruto in their whirling fashion. "Gatsuuga!"
Naruto's grin widened as he drew back his fist and he shot his fist forward in a twisting fashion to propel it faster as well. "Uzumaki Chacha Panchi (Whirlpool Disruption Punch)!"
Spontaneous and over the top as the technique's name may have been, Naruto's fist shot straight and true. Despite the odds, his fist managed to plow past the claws and slam into his face. The rest of Kiba's body continued on its previous path with his face seeming to remain as it was until 'Kiba' dispelled to reveal that he'd hit Akamaru.
"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled. Further enraged, he rushed towards Naruto again. "You'll pay for that!"
Naruto stumbled back, caught off guard by the sudden attack. His mind raced as Kiba closed the distance, trying to figure out something to do. One particular memory passed through his head and he pounced on the idea.
Just as Kiba attempted to plow into him, Naruto leaned back. Catching himself on his hands as he formed an arch like Shikamaru had, he watched Kiba continue to travel over him. "Huh, I should've done that near the wall." He muttered as he pushed himself back to his feet. Despite the fact that he'd never done that before, he found that he didn't feel any pain from bending over backwards like that.
Behind him, Kiba panted, his mind still unfocused by rage. "You hit Akamaru, and you keep making me look like an idiot! Just stay down!"
Naruto turned to him, a cheeky grin on his face. "Nope." He put his hands together into a familiar cross-shaped hand seal. "Get ready! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"
Four copies of Naruto appeared beside him, each looking as confident as the next. Kiba's eyes darted between the five of them, suddenly outnumbered. While he'd already figured out that the clones could only take one hit, finding the original Naruto was going to be a pain unless he thought of something.
Each Naruto rolled their shoulders as they too watched Kiba. Finally, Naruto got tired of waiting. "Well, are you coming?"
Another quickly piped in. "'Cause if you're not –"
"We'll come at you!" A third finished.
They charged together, blitzing Kiba in an attempt to take him out before he could retaliate. Unfortunately, they'd given Kiba enough time to calm down enough that he could come up with a plan. "You think that this will stop me, think again!" he pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it into the midst of the charging Naruto's. "Tsuuga (Piercing Fang)!"
"I'm not falling for that!" One of the Naruto's declared, as three dove out of the smoke. The other two clones weren't nearly as lucky as they were hit and dispelled by Kiba's attack.
Growling in frustration, Kiba skid to a stop outside the smoke as it began to spread away. "Will you hold still and go down already?"
"No way loser!" Naruto shouted. He turned to the nearest clone, motioning behind him. "Stay on me, we're going in!"
The clone nodded, his own grin splitting across his face. Naruto charged forwards with the clones following, the third clone splitting off from them and circling around him. Kiba noticed the third clone first and grimaced. "Oh no you don't!"
Kiba dropped back to all fours, pushing himself as fast as he could to intercept the third Naruto. He slammed into that Naruto with his shoulder, feeling himself land a solid blow only for said shoulder to pass through said Naruto. His eyes widened as he realized that he'd hit one of Naruto's clones. Gripping the floor with his chakra, he twisted around to attack again.
The other two Naruto's didn't hesitate as they changed direction towards Kiba. As Kiba twisted around, the first Naruto rushed into him with his fist catching him in the chin. Kiba was knocked slightly into the air, completely off balanced as the second Naruto propelled himself into a front flip above Kiba. Said Naruto grinned widely. "I win Kiba!"
Naruto's feet came together before slamming into his face in a spear-like motion, making any response from Kiba incomprehensible. Kiba's head launched back and met the ground abruptly. A small glob of blood came from his mouth as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Hayate slowly walked over to Kiba, checking to make sure he was still alive. Finding him to just be unconscious, he nodded to Naruto. "Winner, Naruto!"
Unlike all of the other matches, there was a lot of cheering on Naruto's behalf. Naruto looked at all of the Konoha shinobi, his peers, cheering for him and couldn't help but whoop enthusiastically. He'd fought Kiba, in a fight that was practically stacked against him, and won.
::Kushina says congrats ::
'Tell her I said thanks!' Naruto thought, walking back up the stairs. Halfway up, he paused in thought. 'Hey, how can I hear you right now?'
::We'll tell you later. I can't talk for long, so…later ::
Whatever connection he'd made with Han'ishiki seemed to fade after he said that, and left Naruto suddenly feeling pain all over his body. He panted heavily, looking at his hands. His eyes widened as he noticed several cuts on his knuckles and the back of his hand as well as along the sleeve of the hand that had taken Akamaru out. Almost as if responding to his acknowledgement, pain spiked up his arm from the multiple wounds he'd gotten all over his body.
Glaring down at his arm, he thought back to the fight. He'd thought that he'd hit Akamaru and come out without a scratch. It really should've been more obvious that he wouldn't do what he did without getting his arm scratched up even a little bit, but what he was seeing was like he'd tried holding Tora with one hand and it had latched onto his arm. He should have been in pain, and it should have thrown off his punch. Instead, he'd felt…numb.
He silently scowled at his lack of focus, realizing that he wasn't going to find out what was going on until later. Kushina and Han'ishiki had a lot of explaining to do.
As he passed by Hinata on his way to his team, she worked up the courage to speak. "N-Naruto-kun."
Naruto paused, looking at Hinata as she tried to say more. Actually standing in front of him, and attempting to speak was now out of the question as she fiddled with the medical cream in her hands. With a hesitant motion, she finally managed to hold out the medical cream to Naruto, hoping that he would understand. She really didn't want to talk too much right now; the image of Naruto in spandex running through her mind and causing her to blush a vivid red.
Naruto stared at the little jar in her hands, confused. "What's that?"
Behind him Hinata's sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai, answered. "Medical cream."
Naruto looked back at Kurenai before turning back to Hinata. "Uh…is that supposed to be for me?"
Kurenai rolled her eyes at his obliviousness while Hinata blushed. "Just take it Naruto."
Naruto nodded, taking the cream from Hinata and looking it over. His mind slowly rolled over what Hinata was doing, and felt himself brighten. "Sure… thanks, you're really nice Hinata!"
Naruto continued on his way to his team, rolling the jar in his hands. It was really nice, nicer than the other two girls he knew. He glanced back at Hinata who had made her way down to her teammate. 'Huh…she's really, really nice.'
He smiled as rubbed a bit of the cream on some of his wounds. To his surprise it took on a misty form as it began to seal up his wound. "Wow, this stuff is really good!" Turning to his teammates, he motioned to the cream. "You guys want to use some?"
Sasuke shrugged, dipping his finger into the cream and rubbed it onto one of his injuries. It didn't become misty, but it did look like it sealed up pretty well. "Huh, this stuff works pretty good."
Naruto blinked at the lack of mist, his mind slowly taking in the information. 'Oh yeah, I'm supposed to heal faster than normal people.' He looked at the cream again and grinned widely. 'Man, this stuff makes me heal even faster! Sweet~!'
He turned his attention to the screen. On it, the next match was displayed.
Hyuuga Hinata verse Hyuuga Neji
Neji smirked as he walked down the stairs, feeling assured of his victory. Naruto watched Hinata, noticing that she looked mildly on the verge of a panic attack when she saw the names on the screen. They had the same last name, so it didn't make sense to him for her to react like to his name like that. 'Maybe she knows he's strong?'
They made their way to the arena, everyone watching them with great interest. As they looked at each other, Neji finally broke the silence. "I never thought that I'd be fighting you, Hinata-sama.
Hinata shrunk in on herself. "N-Neji-nii-san."
Naruto leaned forwards, not sure if he'd heard her right. "Wait, they're siblings?"
Kakashi quickly deterred the thought as he explained that they were from the same clan. Lee then took the explanation to the next level as he explained the dynamic of the 'Main House' and the 'Branch House'. He mentioned their bloodline and techniques in passing, though Naruto only caught bits and pieces.
Naruto felt his entire body tense up when he heard that they were basically a broken up family who hated each other. Naruto, who really hadn't had a traditional family, had built up a strong image of what a family should be. To him this…this went against everything that he believed that a family should be.
When the fight 'began', Neji should have stayed quiet. Naruto understood what Neji was doing as he began to verbally attack Hinata, stating that her past proved that she was 'a loser' and a failure to the clan. With every degrading word after Neji declaring that people couldn't change themselves, Naruto ground his teeth together. It only got worse when he activated his Byakugan and began to increase his attack on Hinata, noting her reactions and what they meant about what she was thinking, to the point that Hinata was nearly in tears. When Naruto noticed this, he snapped. He shouted at Hinata, knowing that she could change if she wanted to and wanting her to know that she could show Neji that he was wrong.
To his surprise, she actually seemed to listen to what he said. From where he was standing, he swore he saw her eyes change to a far more determined look as she stared down her cousin. Naruto leaned back from the railing as they began their taijutsu battle, noting that it looked more like a dance than two people trying to beat each other up. Lee, Kakashi, and Gai explained their taijutsu style, how it inwardly attacked the person by closing of something call tenketsu (Chakra points), and how the style and bloodline were the reason the Hyuuga clan was as powerful it was. Lee mentioned that he believed that Neji was the 'strongest Konoha genin' there, and that his own style was pretty much the complete opposite, causing them to clash violently.
The trading of blows continued, and for a little bit, Naruto thought that Hinata was winning. In fact, everyone figured that Hinata was winning. That changed when Neji struck Hinata in the chest and she began to cough up blood. Everyone's eyes widened as they tried to figure out what had happened, having not seen how Neji had managed to get through the fight unharmed. Neji himself explained that he'd been shutting her down from the very beginning as he shoved Hinata away. Naruto twitched in rage; he'd been playing with her from the start, and was continuing to rub salt into her wounds.
When Hinata picked herself back up, and declared that her nindo was to never go back on her word, Naruto felt himself tense up. 'That's what I said to Kiba! But…why would she say that? Is she…mimicking me? Why, why would she do that?'
Sakura noted his confusion and did her best to explain. But what she said didn't make sense to him. She'd been watching him? But they'd really only met when they'd entered the Chunin Exams. Did that mean that she simply heard what he'd said to Kiba and think it was appropriate for her fight. He felt so confused.
The fight continued on, with Hinata trying desperately to prove herself to everyone, despite the fact she'd obviously lost. Inevitably, it came down to her being laid out on the floor with barely any strength left. Only Naruto noticing her struggling to get back up kept Hayate from declaring the match over, and Naruto felt a small amount of relief and fear from that. He could see that Hinata had something she wanted to say, but even he knew when someone was on their last leg. Yet she fought through it, and spoke what she needed too.
In return for her words, Neji attempted to kill her. Naruto didn't have to see his eyes to know it was true, he could feel the killing intent from where he stood and knew what he was planning. Luckily for Hinata, Kakashi and the other sensei's intercepted Neji before he could land the blow. Unfortunately, the damage that Neji had previously done had finally taken its toll on Hinata's body and she collapsed.
When she fell, Naruto leapt to her. He'd kept his eyes open through the fight, and had seen just how strong Hinata was. Even though it was pointless in the end, he felt that his words had done some good. He hoped that they'd done some good. Otherwise, he'd just encouraged a girl he barely knew to rush to her death.
Naruto winced as he was pushed aside by her sensei who quickly began to attempt to revive her. Despite all that had happened, Neji still had to throw in another barb. "Heh, in the end a loser is still as loser…they cannot change."
Naruto's gaze hardened, "You wanna start something?"
The only thing that held him back was a firm hand on his shoulder, courtesy of Lee. "Naruto-kun, I understand your feelings so much that it hurts. But…the fighting should remain in the matches." Lee turned to Neji, resolve burning in his gaze. "Whether a loser can defeat a genius through the power of hard work, is something to look forward to in the main test. Although…his opponent may be me." Lee patted Naruto's shoulder, giving him a smile and thumbs up. "There would be no hard feelings if it were you instead. You are truly as hard working as I am."
Naruto nodded, his eyes never leaving Neji's. Lee and him had talked while they'd 'trained' and he'd gotten quite a bit of Lee's and Gai's personal history from their tales. Naruto had developed a profound respect for the spandex-clad shinobi's, though he still hoped that he would get lucky and get Neji as his opponent.
Behind him, Hinata coughed up more blood as Kurenai shouted for the medics. Naruto only looked away from Hinata after the medics had finally done their job and carried Hinata out to get her to somewhere where they could do more to save her life. As he watched, he noticed the anger in Kurenai's eyes as she gave a look at Neji before the medics walked over, and turned to the others around him. Most of the Konoha genin looked uncomfortable, while a few others seemed to be in shock. Naruto bit into his hand until he bleed, forcing himself to calm down. His head cleared, he thought of something. He knew that he was an idiot for what he was about to do, but it had to be done. Because this was no longer about just him.
Leaning over a small pool of Hinata's blood, he ran his fingers through it before forming a fist. The world felt like it slowed down for that moment, as though Fate knew the change that would come. Fire burned in his eyes, and the words came clearer than they'd ever come before.
"I vow to win."
When Naruto spoke those words, he expected the shiver down his spine, and the gut or head rush that came with it. He was not expecting it to be the way it was.
It started as a tremor that felt stronger than normal, and then gradually grew until it felt like his whole spine was shaking. It quickly spread throughout his body, from his head to his toes. He felt hot, and was almost certain that his blood was practically boiling beneath his skin; screaming out for Neji's head, and for his own victory over him. And he would win.
Naruto turned from Neji and walked away. He'd made his promise; now all he needed to know to keep it.
AN: I didn't rush the Hinata vs. Neji fight…it was like the previous fights; unchanged. The only real change was Naruto's reaction and the reaction to the promise.
The fight, somewhat important as Naruto realizes the first flaw; it's useless in battle if you don't have the 'keyword'. Plus, it gave him a few more things to think about and ask Kushina and Han'ishiki. Plus, Kiba only uses three techniques...more than Naruto, but I digress. Naruto using the Henge no Jutsu (Tranformation Technique) in the manga/anime -in my opinion- was just Kishi's way of saying 'this can be used in battle!', and I was having none of it. It was fun to write too.
Next time on Word of Honor; Wisdom for Fools. Four fools see and are told things that will help them grow, though only one will actually understand what to do with the knowledge.
