Heart of Darkness

Chapter 11:

Turmoil

Shino watched the whirling sphere of chakra appear in Naruto's hand while Kiba rushed at him, blind with rage. Even from his vantage point, Shino could see that Kiba's movement was sluggish and predictable, the effects of Kiba's wounds glaringly apparent. 'Kiba you fool!' Shino started running at full speed, intending to intercept Kiba and Naruto before the worst happened.

"No...stop..." Hinata whispered, her eyes filled with dread and a dark, sickening ball forming in the pit of her stomach. With all her strength, Hinata cried out, "STOOOOP!"

But the cry was muffled by the heat of the battle and only the enemy in front of them mattered. Kiba lunged at Naruto with a wild swing, but he ducked under Kiba's arm in a smooth motion, placing himself in a perfect pocket within his defenses. Kiba froze in fear and anticipation of the blow to come but it never came. Instead, he saw Naruto strafe right past him, straight into a surprised Shino's face. Before Shino had any time to react, Naruto shoved the raging sphere of chakra straight into Shino's stomach, forcing out a scream of pain. The ball tore into Shino for the most agonizing, painful three seconds he had ever experienced before vaulting him several meters into the air and finally crashing him into the ground.

Kiba's stared at Shino's motionless body in horror. "No, Shino!"

"SHINO-KUN!" Hinata, tears in her eyes, quickly rushed over to the fallen ANBU captain and glanced at the shallow indent in his stomach. The large gash was dark red and, oddly, half of the blood seemed to be black, mixed with swirls of crimson. Cautiously, she picked at the odd substance that she knew was foreign to Shino's body and examined it closely. Two and two came together in her head. Her eyes went back to the wound and something that had missed her eye earlier caught her attention. Further from the contact point of the jutsu were numerous bugs, smashed and burned, but recognizable. Her hand went to Shino's neck, checking his vital signs. They were faint, but there.

A relieved look crossed her features and she let out her breath. 'It looks like Shino's bugs formed some sort of armor around him right before it hit. Thank goodness...'

Naruto stared down at his hand that was shaking viciously. 'I can only handle one more...' He closed his eyes in concentration and gathered his chakra in his palm once more. "RASENGAN!"

Kiba, amazed at the incredible power of the rasengan, stood fearfully in a defensive stance as he awaited Naruto's second coming. Naruto began stalking toward him slowly, rasengan in hand.

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto halted momentarily, casting a glance sidelong at Hinata.

Her eyes flinched slightly from his cold eyes at first, but she steeled herself and acquired a determined gaze.

"You once told me that I should never give up. That I should always believe in myself," she said, her voice even and steady for once, none of the timidness apparent from earlier. "Naruto-kun, I won't give up on you. Won't you stop, please?"

After a brief pause, Naruto shifted back to Kiba. "...I'm sorry," he murmured.

"...I-I can't let you hurt Shino-kun or Kiba-kun anymore," Hinata said in a low tone. "I w-won't let you..."

'Don't look at her Naruto,' he commanded to himself. 'Don't listen. Remember what they did. Remember their words. Remember your mission.' His speed increased. "...Get out of my way Hinata."

The words stung at her heart, cutting into her resolve temporarily, but she shook her head. 'I have to stop him. For Kiba-kun and Shino-kun...'

The rasengan dragging behind, Naruto burst into a full out sprint at Kiba while Hinata moved herself in front of her partner defensively. She stared back at Naruto with a fierce determination.

"Move!" he shouted at her.

Hinata got into the Jyuken stance and shouted back, "I won't! I won't give up on you Naruto! Because..."

The distance closed and he was within feet of her. His arm shot forward...

"...this is my way of the ninja!"

Anko awoke. Her breathing was calmer now, more stable, and the worst of her fever had parted. As her vision cleared and focused gradually, she sat up to check her surroundings. Her eyes whipped behind her abruptly, locking onto an unknown figure behind her. The figure held up his hands defensively, smiling.

"Hello, Anko-san," he said. "Glad to see you're alright. How are you feeling?"

Anko stared at the man for a few seconds before deciding to ignore him and focus on her new predicament. She held up her hand slowly. She could feel it. It was already coursing through her body.

'Odd...I thought she was cursed with the Heaven Seal, but her seal is now shaped differently. What did Orochimaru-sama do I wonder?' Kabuto looked at her curiously. "Anko-san?"

"Take me to him." Anko's voice was unusually steady, but an underlying tension could be sensed. "Now."

Kabuto's usual fox like smile returned and he nodded. "Follow me."

They did not speak during their trip. Anko appeared to be in deep throughout most of the travel and Kabuto did not offer up any words than was necessary.

Inside Anko's mind, her thoughts went to memories from long ago. Why was it she was still afraid of the past? All that resided in her consciousness were the regrets and failures of times that she couldn't take back.

Four ninjas rested on the ground of the battlefield, tired after a long excursion of training.

The silver haired ninja wiped his brow of sweat. "Phew."

"That was quite impressive ladies! More than once my eternal rival and I were forced to the brink of defeat."

"Thanks Gai," replied a crimson-eyed konoichi. Her eyes turned to glare at his companion. "You can thank the great sexist pig ninja, Kakashi, for giving us the motivation."

"Damn straight!" added her spiky haired partner. "I swear, if you read that damn Icha Icha Paradise while fighting us again..." A crack of the knuckles emphasized her point.

Kakashi held up his hands defensively, fending off the female glares. "Now, now, Anko, Kurenai. It couldn't be helped. Do you have any idea how rare this volume is? And I was just lucky enough to get it today."

Kurenai was forced to hold back Anko from starting round two.

"That new jutsu you used was amazing," Kakashi said, at least hoping to change the subject. "Why don't you use it more often Anko?"

Anko looked away and shrugged. Kakashi and Gai shared a knowing glance at her reaction though Kurenai didn't seem to catch it.

"By the way Anko-san, Kakashi and myself are going out to Wind Country for an S-Class mission. We could use someone of your expertise," Gai said. "Would you care to join us?"

"...nah."

"When are you going to move forward Anko?"

Gai immediately put his hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "Oi, Kakashi, that was..."

Anko turned her back on them and started to walk away. "Whatever. I don't care."

Kurenai looked baffled at the sudden tension that had arisen. "What was that about?"

Kakashi shook his head slightly, saying nothing. Gai and Kakashi knew about Anko's past because they were comrades during "The Third Secret World War". Because Kurenai was not ranked high enough her participation in the war was not as extensive. On the other hand, Anko, who was younger than all three of them, was considered a genius ninja during that time; the prodigy of the great Sannin Orochimaru. Quite often she tagged along with her jounin sensei on his missions. They knew why Anko always acted the way she did, always holding herself back.

"We'll be there shortly," Kabuto announced.

They continued deeper into the forest to their destination: Orochimaru's base camp.

"Temari!" Gaara shouted out. He and Temari had set up a trap to stop the sixth team from passing. It almost worked but the Waterfall chuunins had trick up their sleeve by using Holy Water from their village which increased their chakra by tenfold.

"Get off!" Temari struggled in the grasp of her captor.

The Waterfall ninja grinned at Gaara while his kunai was pressed up against Temari's throat. "The Holy Water we smuggled out of the village really came in handy."

His partner grinned back. "Yeah." Pointing his short sword at Gaara, he demanded, "Now give me back the emerald or she dies!"

Gaara growled at him and thought, 'Damn it, I was careless.'

"Are all Waterfall ninja a bunch of spineless bandits? Pathetic."

"What! Who said that!"

They looked up into the forest canopy and could make out the shadow of figure. "There!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Temari kicked her way out of her captor's grasp with a strong thrust.

The unknown ninja smirked at them from above. "Below you fools." With a flick of his wrist, two human sized puppets rose up from beneath the Waterfall ninja and seized both of them into their wooden torsos.

"Shit!"

"You're dead now...Kurohigi Kiki Nihatsu!" He shut both of his palms closed and the Waterfall ninjas became nothing more than heaps of meat inside the spiked cages.

Gaara and Temari stared up at their savior in surprise.

"Kankuro? You came back?" Temari said.

Kankuro glanced at Gaara, who looked back questioningly, before the puppet master gazed away, appearing to be almost embarrassed. Kankuro tried to play it off and only shrugged his shoulders. "I don't like running away."

Temari snorted. "Yeah right."

"Well someone's got to keep an eye out for my reckless sister! I was gone for barely an hour look at the mess you wound up in," Kankuro quipped.

"Oh shut up."

Gaara let out a small smile at their antics.

Kankuro turned back to Gaara hesitantly. "Uh, Gaara...I..."

"Good to see you've returned," Gaara said.

Surprised at the lack of a verbal backlash, Kankuro scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh, yeah."

"It's time," Gaara said. "We're returning to Konoha."

"What? But what about that Naruto guy and your team's emerald?" Temari asked.

Gaara shook his head. "Naruto will have to meet us at the battle stadium. I need to be there when second part of the exam starts. If we don't hurry, none of us will qualify. Let's go."

"...this is my way of the ninja!" Hinata cried out. In a fluid, swift motion she struck at Naruto's forearm and aimed specifically at the chakra points connecting to the hand. With amazing precision capable only with the Byakugan, she connected. Instantly the sphere of chakra dissipated and just in time as Naruto's palm connected with Kiba's forehead. Kiba was launched into a tree, knocking him out.

Before Naruto could do anything more, Hinata wrapped her arms Naruto as fiercely as she could and cried out, "Please...no more."

"..." Naruto was silent for he was shook up internally. He had been inches from killing Kiba, someone who he has known for a good part of his life. What would have happened if Hinata hadn't stopped him? Even with all the years of pent up anger, is this vengeance what he truly desired? Deep down he was reminded of a certain raven haired ninja who's revenge drove him to edge once. How was Naruto any different now?

'No! This is what I wanted...right?' Naruto questioned himself. 'I...I don't know...' came his own uncertain answer. "Damn it!"

Hinata released Naruto, startled. "Naruto-kun...?" she started cautiously.

The young blonde avoided her gaze. He glanced at the unconscious Kiba and the fallen ANBU, Shino. Finally his eyes rested on the anxious Hinata. "Hinata...you may have stopped me from doing something that I could of regretted...thank you."

Hinata blushed slightly, nodding, but was uncertain of how to handle this Naruto. 'Wh-What should I say...? He almost killed Kiba, b-but...' Then it came to her. "You don't need to thank me. I...I only did what I knew you would of wanted me to do."

"This is my way of the ninja!"

"..." He didn't reply.

"Naruto-kun," she started, "You've taught me, and everyone around you, many things even if you didn't realize it. We were all inspired by your courage and honesty. That was your way of the ninja."

"...Hinata, I..." Naruto stopped himself, shaking his head. "...I have to go. And I'm going to borrow your emerald, sorry." Naruto cast one more sad glance at Hinata before starting away.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called out as he retreated into the forest. She stared after his departing form. "Oh Naruto..."

Kurohigi Kiki Nihatsu - Black Secret Technique Machine Two Shot

A/N: Whaaaa...an update? Impossible! Heheh, sorry for the long hiatus but I'm back. In the end, it was your encouraging comments that gave me the motivation to return. Thanks. So, the end of the first part of the jounin exam is nearing. Things are going to get very interesting to say the least as certain characters are finally going to become a part of the main story.