"": Spoken
'': Thoughts
"": Spirits
Summary: What if the sealing had gone as planned? What if Uzumaki Naruto was the sole keeper of the dead king Biju's chakra and had the memories of a long dead Kyuubi. What if this said boy was still treated as if he were the dead Kyuubi reborn, would he still be Konoha's Angel?
Disclaimer: For all those who want to know, I don't own Naruto or any other anime/manga series for that matter, but that doesn't stop me from writing.
Note: Please If I referred to Namikaze Minato as Arashi Kazama previously, I'm changing the name, so if you could please look over that small fact thank you.
Death of A Demon, Birth of A…
Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji
"This isn't good…," was the only thing Naruto could say before the two Hyuugas took the stage.
Chapter 14: Family Ties
Both combatants stood face to face, completely absorbed in the typical Hyuuga air of supremacy. Staring cockily at his, now confident cousin, Neji let a smirk slide on his face when Hayate signaled the start of the match.
"You should give up Hinata-sama, you know you are no match for me," Neji called out confidently as he slid into the Hakke stance. Hinata stood ramrod straight, provoking Neji to taunt her again.
"You should stop being a ninja altogether. It will only end badly for you, and besides could you live with yourself, if your ineptitude cost the clan its honor, or worse, our birthright?" Neji asked fully intent on cutting the girl down.
"No, I couldn't live with myself… that's why I'll make sure to prove right here and now that I am worthy of the title Heiress to the Hyuuga Clan," Hinata stated boldly, wiping the smug smile right off Neji's face. The pale boy charged recklessly, not even bothering to turn his Byakugan on as he closed in for the strike. Only when his arm was half way extended did he turn on the all-seeing eyes, only to find out that the Hinata he had been attacking was a simple Bunshin.
Driving his hand through the projection of chakra, Neji wondered when Hinata had the time to do the handseals for Bunshin right in front of him, or the several dozen that were now filling his eyesight.
"You look confused Neji-ni-san, maybe if you weren't so sure that I would crumble at a few harsh words and get so hotheaded when I tell you off, then you'd realize that my teacher is Konoha's genjutsu mistress," one of Hinata's Bunshin told Neji, causing an angry vein to pop up on the teen's forehead.
Driving his hand through yet another clone, Neji was slowly getting increasingly frustrated as he only hit clones repeatedly. Even his Byakugan, which normally could tell a Bunshin apart from the real thing, was starting to get confused by the layers of chakra projections constantly in its vision.
Neji let out a howl of frustration when his palm collided with yet another projection, when Hinata popped out from under the ground, scoring a tight hit on the boy's chin. Although none of the targets was for any tenketsu, the chakra behind it was more than enough to send Neji airborne, where he was then forced to use more of his chakra to regain his balance. Wiping the blood off his chin when he landed, Neji shot an angry glare at Hinata, who was just standing in place ready to continue.
Neji rushed forward again confident that she wasn't a Bunshin, but as his palm connected with Hinata his palm fell through her form yet again, only this time, the Hyuuga Heiress followed up with a straight punch to the face from the side. The blow knocked Neji, who had caught the whole thing in the peripherals of his Byakugan, sideways.
"How in the hell?!" the boy asked, for once losing his air of supremacy and looked completely confused.
"Simple, ever since I graduated from the academy, I have been working on genjutsu with Kurenai-sensei to better round myself out on the battlefield. As a result of this, I developed a whole new branch of Jyuuken which I like to call Hakke Shinkirou (Eight Trigrams Mirage)," Hinata stated before charging forward. Weaving through Neji's blows like a choreographed dance, Hinata's Bunshin took the blunt of the blows while the girl delivered a sound beating to her cousin while not once ever resorting to Jyuuken.
Ending her barrage with a low sweep, Hinata knocked Neji sideways before slamming all ten of her Jyuutesaki (Gentle Fingers) charged fingers into Neji's stomach, sealing off ten separate tenketsu at once. The boy bounced off the wall with a sick thud before lading on the solid concrete in a graceless form. Slowly, the boy dragged himself to his feet, and Neji threw all thoughts of slowly cutting his cousin down out of his mind and focused on utterly crushing her for pushing him this far.
Sinking low into the Hyuuga's famed stance of the Hakke, Neji initiated a deadly dance of advanced Jyuuken with the clan's heiress, pushing them both to the brink. Jabs, swipes, and thrusts went back and forth between both sides, neither scoring more than a glancing blow, and despite how impressive it looked, the destruction the bursts of chakra were having on the arena around dispelled any notion that either side was kidding.
Slamming her foot into her cousin's torso, Hinata sent Neji flying towards the arena walls, but the Hyuuga prodigy quickly recovered and managed to stick himself to the wall whilst firing off a Hakke Kusho burst as a counter attack. The beam of chakra reached Hinata before she could react and sent her flying into the arena walls as well. Sticking to the wall as gracefully as her cousin had, Hinata peered up at the boy while readying herself for the next round of combat.
Springing into the air at the exact same time as Neji, Hinata and her cousin clashed once in mid air before rebounding off the wall to start again. The game of touch and go lasted several rounds and slowly the battle in the air shifted into Hinata's favor. Her feminine grace and lithe build gave her incredible agility, which in the air was everything, so while Neji's was stronger, his blows were never more than a glancing swipe as the two played tit for tat in mid air.
Growing tired of the game, Neji filled all his tenketsu with chakra before releasing it all at once in a mid air Kaiten and in one fell swoop, Neji turned the tides of the battle to his favor. Now not only did a wall of spinning chakra protect Neji, but was now an imposing wall of destruction quickly closing in on Hinata's airborne form.
Acting instinctively, Hinata chose not to confront Neji head on with her own Kaiten, but instead used her own Hakke Kusho to propel herself to the side and out of the way of Neji's flying chakra fortress. Her plan worked, and Hinata was now in position for a huge counter attack. Rebounding off the wall once again, this time aided with a Hakke Kusho 'push', Hinata flew towards Neji's recovering form with twice her normal speed. Twisting her body into a Kaiten, Hinata's wall of defense quickly transformed into an orb of destruction when Hinata's built up inertia taking her on a path to Neji's defenseless form.
Crashing into the ground below her, Hinata's impact destroyed all the stone tiles under her as well as uplifted the entire tiles surround the epicenter of the crash within ten feet. Her peers looked on in awe as she stood in the center of the ring, panting slightly looking side to side with her Byakugan activated in hopes of keeping Neji out of her blind spot. Yes, she knew her cousin survived that last technique, because just before impact, she felt a strong push of chakra cushion her impact as well as another cylindrical force slid out from between her Kaiten and the ground below.
From those two forces she felt and from what she could see from her blurred Byakugan at the time was that Neji had somehow used the Hakke Kusho to slow her descent onto him by a split second. This gave him just enough to time to create another one with his free hand to propel him to the side while spinning his body into a Kaiten.
He effectively used three high level Jyuuken techniques all in rapid secession of one another, and quite possibly created a new technique all together. Neji is the strongest the Hyuuga has to offer that much is clear; however, I cannot lose here! Not in front of him…, Hinata concluded as the dust from her impact cleared and her cousin came into view.
His escape tactic, although not as subtle as the traditional Kawarimi, had done its job and then some, and left Neji completely unharmed from Hinata's fierce attack.
"That was a grave mistake Hinata-sama," Neji whispered just loud enough for the Heiress to hear.
"And why is that Neji?!"
"Because you have forced me to show you and all of those around us why the Branch house is superior to the Main House, and for once daddy isn't here to save you!" Neji shouted before falling into an unusually Hakke stance. Hinata was unfazed by the boy's stance but instead tried to assess what it could possibly be used for mentally.
Okay his feet are placed close together almost as if he is going to launch himself at me, instead of closing the distance with quick confusing movements like a normal Hakke technique. In addition, his arms are both fanned out behind him like a bird preparing to take flight! That's it! However, as soon as Hinata figured out what he was about to do, Neji was already announcing his new technique.
"Hakke: Furitori no Furaito (Free Bird's Flight)!"
Neji's shot off at Hinata like a bullet, using both of his hand to push off the ground with twin Hakke Kusho while twisting himself into a Kaiten. The normal spherical technique became more deadly since it turned Neji into a flying drill not unlike Kiba's Tsuga. However, unlike Kiba's technique, this technique was a giant flying Jyuuken strike as well.
"Hakke: Jinsoku Chouin Sho (Eight Trigrams: Swift Sealing Palm)!" Hinata yelled out, hoping to counter Neji's newest technique with her strongest technique. Firing attacking blasts of chakra at the arrow of destruction, Hinata felt her reserves dwindle as Neji got closer and despite her headway in slowing down his attack, there was no way she would be able to stop, it much less win the match if she didn't manage to hit Neji while he spun.
I have enough strength for one more shot, Hinata figured as her strength failed her. Taking aim, she saw that if she added a spin to her shot in the same direction as Neji was spinning it would be able to pierce through a hole in Neji's defenses. However, before she fired off her last shot, she noticed the hole created would land on top of his heart after spinning around in the Jyuuken arrow he had created.
A fatal place to hit with Jyuuken, Hinata noted to herself as she stayed her blow and took Neji's attack full force to the chest. The shock of the Jyuuken strike broke her ribs and forced blood from her punctured lung up into her mouth, before she fell to her knees lifeless. The crowd gave a horrified gasp at the sight, none of them believing that her own kin could be so heartless.
"See, I told you Hinata-sama you should have quit while you were ahead. The match was pre-destined to be in my favor, and although you showed skills I could not foresee; they were useless in the face of Fate," Neji stated cockily as he lay on one knee panting from overexertion. Forcing his exhausted body to stand, he returned to his usual smug self while looking down on his injured cousin. However, instead of breaking his cousin, his smile only provoked an aura of irritation and deep pity from her.
"You don't get it, do you? What do you think this hatred for the Main House will get you? Vengeance for your father's sacrifice?! He was my uncle too, I miss him so much, especially after losing mother as well, but you seem to have your head so far up your ass that you can't even see that others around you are hurting just as much!" Hinata said, rebuking her cousin's behavior. Unfortunately, her words although barely above a whisper due to her deflated lung, struck Neji harder than even the most well aimed Jyuuken blow.
"You say you're hurting?! I'll show you true pain!!" Neji retorted loudly, shocking all the Konoha residents around once again by charging at his defenseless cousin. The deadly Jyuuken blow was aimed for the crown of Hinata's head, the control point for all chakra, and if hit by a Jyuuken shot was guaranteed to cause, great pain and probably kill the victim.
Fortunately, Hinata's friends above had fast reaction times and were able to reach her before the prodigal Hyuuga below them. Standing imposingly in a plume of rising smoke, Kimimaro stood before Neji with a bone dagger gripped tightly in his right hand pointed eye level with the pale Hyuuga and left hand crackling madly with surging chakra.
"I would advise against that Hyuuga," Kimimaro stated coldly. Although his words were stated in the same monotone, they were frigid enough to freeze even the strongest of Sasuke's Katon jutsu. Neji, who was trained in the art of intimidation and dickheadedness, wasn't fazed in the slightest.
"And why is that? Is it because the Main Branch will have a fit? Better yet, is it because you think you can beat me? However, I would advise that you don't try and fight me, I am the greatest taijutsu specialist in my age division, and as you can see, this match only proves that point," Neji said, throwing back Kimimaro's words in his face while at the same time insulting his green wearing teammate.
"No, because I'm the only one stopping him from killing you," Kimimaro replied rather smugly before shifting his head to the side for Neji to catch an eyeful of Naruto's glowing form. The pressure from his chakra was crushing, and even though Neji's didn't have his Byakugan activated, he knew that there was far more chakra coming out of the boy than he had ever seen come out of any of the adults around him.
What the hell is he?! Neji asked himself and for once in his life, his ever-present confidence was starting to fade.
Naruto's barely restrained fury was only being quelled by two things: one being Haku's calming ocean like aura, and the other being the fact that he would get a chance to rip Neji a new one in the presence of hundreds, given that the finals weren't held immediately after this.
And even if that's true, tearing him a new one for all of our friends and enemies to see will be almost as satisfying, Naruto thought to himself. However, he did not know that he had tapped into his darker half's chakra and the white around his eyes began to bleed red as they tainted his irises turning the blonde cerulean blue orbs a deep maroon.
However, luck saved Neji from pissing his pants when a timid medic and Haku showed up behind him with a stretcher. Turning his shining purple eyes on the quivering man, Naruto lowered his chakra when he got a stern look from Haku and stepped back, but not before throwing Neji one last pain promising glare. Climbing back up the stairs in complete silence, Naruto ignored all the looks from his fellow genin and decided to blow things over by turning the attention to Kimimaro.
"Strange, I understand how I got down there so fast, but your actions confuse me Kimimaro. Hell, you even beat me down there," Naruto asked, successfully putting Kimimaro on the spot. Every Leaf ninja, including the jonin, were listening intently and wondering how the stoic boy was going to get out of this one.
"I was merely fulfilling my role as a Konoha shinobi," Kimimaro replied without batting an eyelash. Ending the conversation by completely ignoring Naruto's presence, Kimimaro turned his gaze down to his sister, who was rushing Hinata's unconscious body out of the arena.
Following his gaze, Naruto understood that even though he didn't say it, Kimimaro had grown to care for Konoha and its inhabitants, particularly one injured Hyuuga Heiress. Grasping the boy's shoulder, Naruto resisted Kimimaro's attempt to shrug him off, forcing the boy to look at him and Neji who was standing directly behind them.
"Don't worry he'll get what's coming to him, I'll make sure of it," Naruto announced just loud enough for Neji to hear. Sending a cocky smirk over his shoulder, Naruto turned back around to face the albino warrior and met the teen's gaze head on. For a second, Kimimaro held fast to his apathetic mask, but for a split second, he let a smirk break through when he found that Naruto's spirit matched perfectly with the statement he just made.
"Don't disappoint me blonde-baka," Kimimaro replied, quietly shocking Naruto with his sense of humor before turning his attention down to the electronic bulletin board.
Rock Lee vs. Subaku no Gaara
"Yosh!! It's finally time for Konoha's Azure Beast to shine!" shouted an ecstatic taijutsu master as he hopped over the railing and into the arena. On the other hand, his opponent hadn't said a word since the matches started and simply disappeared in a veil of sand before reappearing inside the ring ready for battle. Despite their opposite demeanors, both fighters had the same thought in mind.
I will prove my existence/nindo…
In addition, with that Hayate announced the beginning of the match. Lee darted forward like a green arrow, showing off his incredible agility by gracefully sidestepping every wave of sand sent toward him. Leaping over an attempt to capture his legs, Lee came crashing down on Gaara with a Konoha Senpu, but just as Lee was about to make contact, Gaara's automated defenses kicked in.
Damn this shield will be troublesome, but I need to push through! Lee roared while continuing the motion and firing his other leg towards Gaara's face only to be stopped once again. Kicking off the sand barrier before it totally engulfed his leg Lee let loose a hail of shuriken as he retreated only to find that they too where stopped by Gaara's sand defenses.
Ignoring Sakura, who asked why he didn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu from above, Lee focused on reading his opponent's chakra in hopes of finding a loophole in his defenses. Sadly, there was none and instead of waiting for Gai to finish explaining his handicap to the girl, he was smitten with, Lee charged ahead intent on making a hole in Gaara's defenses.
Lee pounded away relentlessly at the sandy barrier, all the while dodging the swipes of sand coming from all angles without breaking a sweat. However, when one of his blows reached slightly closer to Gaara's face than the others, the Suna shinobi grew tired of the game and sent a huge wall of sand to capture Lee. After a series of back flips and a near slip into Gaara's grasp, Lee landed onto the hand seal statue shadowing the battlefield.
"Lee you have my permission to take them off just this once," Gai yelled out from the stands garnering strange looks from everyone around him. Fortunately, for the crowd Lee wasn't taking off his clothes but instead a pair of weights on each of his legs. Smirking when the hot Suna kunoichi stated that a few 'measly' weights wouldn't make a difference, Lee soaked up the feeling of awe the crowd, especially Sakura, was showing him when the 'measly' 50k weights made large dents in the sold concrete below.
Dashing towards Gaara with blinding speed, Lee's fist connect with the sand like normal; however, this time his momentum allowed him to push through and almost land a blow on Gaara's startled face.
No, it's still not enough, I need to land a clean blow if I wish to finish this match, Lee uttered to himself as he danced around Gaara. He was systematically pushing farther and farther into Gaara's defense until in an impressive display of speed and technique, his foot came crashing down on Gaara's face forming a deep slash over the boy's cheek and it was at that moment that Gaara's killing intent spiked.
Watching tensely as Gaara's body became incased in sand, Lee knew from experience that this type of an opponent would indeed be able to overcome his Omote Renge and he would have to use the Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus) if he hoped to win. Sparing his beloved sensei a meaningful glance, Lee just smiled lightly when the man's features became hard with worry and grudging acceptance of his student's decision.
Thank you Gai-sensei…, Lee whispered to himself before beginning to tap deep within himself to pull upon the power of the Hidden Chakra Gates.
Opening… Rest… Life… Pain… and CLOSING!! Lee chanted to himself as he unlocked gate after gate, reaching his strongest form and shocking everyone in the room, including the once bloodthirsty Gaara. Taking off, Lee destroyed the very concrete beneath his feet with his strength and with little effort; he began dismantling Gaara's Suna no Yoroi (Armor of Sand) with ease.
His barrage of fists began to draw blood when his reserve of stamina, saved from skipping the Omote Renge ran out, and he moved on to his last legs of energy. Pounding away relentlessly at Gaara's prone airborne form, Lee spared Neji a passing glance as he moved in for the final attack. Enjoying his rival's look of shock and disbelief, Lee rushed in even faster, and because of it, fell into Gaara's trap.
Even though Lee was moving too fast for Gaara's sand to hope to defend against him, he hadn't counted on Gaara recalling his sandy armor with the sand from his Suna no Tate (Shield of Sand), and focusing it all on the area where Lee's fist connected with Gaara's body. The sand immediately wrapped around Lee's arm, canceling out all of the destructive power stored within it, and the crushing pressure of the Subaku Soso immediately followed and damaged the imprisoned limb.
Crying out loud, Lee's mind scrambled for a way to get out of this death grip, but when nothing came to mind and all his hope faded away, Lee felt something within him click and the pressure on his arm released for a moment. However, just as soon as it released, the pressure came back, but this time it didn't hurt.
Shocked, Lee looked down at his arm to see it was covered in a weird red and black pattern and for a moment, he felt chakra flow through his arm in a way he had thought was impossible for him.
The power behind the chakra push was more than enough to break through Gaara's miniature sand coffin and place a powerful punch on Gaara's thinly protected torso. However, as soon as Lee's fist connected with Gaara, the power from within him faded, and an unspeakable pain radiated from his once armored arm, which rendered him unconscious.
Both shinobi hit the ground with immeasurable force kicking up an explosion of dust. Resting only inches from one another, both combatants were bloody beyond belief. Gaara, from the onslaught of blows Lee inflicted on him and the blood he had coughed up from Lee's last punch, and Lee, from his left arm, which was little more than red and tattered.
Looking down on both unconscious Lee, Hayate merely shook his head from side to side before calling the match.
"Because the contestant Rock Lee was rendered unconscious from his last technique and contestant Subaku no Gaara managed to remain conscious during the duration of the match, I declare the winner of this match Subaku no Gaara!"
After hearing the decision, both Gai and Baki went to collect their wounded students from amidst the rumble below. Neither jonin said a word, seeing as both had thoughts of disbelief going through their heads. Gai, on how Lee could have subconsciously activated the ability to call upon the taijutsu ability that he had never seen before, despite his years of studying taijutsu, and Baki on how Gaara could have nearly lost. Returning to their respective sides, both senseis' set their students down before turning to the last match.
Akimichi Chouji vs Kinuta Dosu
Both contestants entered the arena ready for battle, Dosu anxious to finish the preliminaries while Chouji was forced in by an irate Ino, who was tired of hearing him bitch about her 'dieting plan' she made for all of Team Ten. However, what looked to be a good match quickly became a slaughter when Dosu called Chouji a fat ass for having to diet, and the rest was history.
Now eight of the nine contestants who passed were standing side by side, as they were each called up to draw lots for their placement in the next round. One by one, each of them went up and all got a number one through nine. After everyone had chosen, a ballot was drawn for Sasuke before the names appeared above the victors on the electronic bulletin board.
1 Uzumaki Naruto
2 Hyuuga Neji
3 Nara Shikamaru
4 Subaku no Temari
5 Subaku no Kankuro
6 Aburame Shino
7 Subaku no Gaara
8 Uchiha Sasuke
9 Akimichi Chouji
With the ballets cast each contestant looked toward their opponent, most of which were pleased with the results.
I get that bastard right of the bat!
I will show the Main House that true power lies within the Branch House!
Kami, why am I always destined to fight females?!
Finally, I can get that sexist bastard! I'll show him a kunoichi is worth just as much attention as any shinobi!
I just hope the invasion starts before I have to fight this bug freak!
Interesting, my opponent seems to be showing signs of anxiety… I will need to add that into my calculations,
… The Uchiha's blood will prove my existence!
Lucky me I got the by round!
However, before anyone could vocalize these thoughts, the Hokage cleared his throat before he gave his parting speech.
"I advise each and every one of you to take this month and remake yourself as shinobi. Therefore, when the time comes for you to show the people from each of the element countries your strength, you can prove to them that you are ready to become a Chunin," and with that the Hokage dismissed the finalist to their own devices.
Quickly finding the exit, Naruto made his way to the hospital, intent on seeing Hinata before starting his training.
At The Konohagakure Hospital
The periodic beeping of Hinata's EKG machine was the only thing reassuring Naruto that his first and closest friend was alive. Despite his numerous reassurances that she would be all right, Naruto knew first hand how devastating even a normal Jyuuken blow could be to the body, let alone Neji's newest technique.
Gripping the pale-eyed girl's hand harder, Naruto was in the midst of swearing vengeance for the petite girl when her hand tightened its grip around his. Startled by the action, Naruto looked down in disbelief as Hinata opened her eyes after merely an hours rest.
"H-How are you awake, Neji's blow should have been enough to kill you! Y-you should be…," however, Naruto never got to finish seeing as someone familiar had placed a hand on his shoulder, effectively cutting his rant short.
"Hinata-chan will be fine, and despite the fact that normally such an injury would indeed be fatal, my knowledge of acupuncture and study of the inner workers of Jyuuken made it a simple matter to reopen Hinata tenketsu with a few needles and undo the internal damage through normal means." A very professional sounding Haku said from behind him, having rehearsed her explanation yet again. Even though it was her fifth time explaining her methods, once to the on call medic who was about to call the case a lost cause, the girl's father, Kurenai and Shino, and yet again for Kiba, before finally explaining it to Naruto, and even then, Haku wasn't the least bit annoyed. In fact, she enjoyed the look of awe and appreciation that Naruto was giving her after she explained that his friend would be all right.
Jumping to his feet and engulfing Haku in a tight hug, Naruto ignored Haku's blush and showed the girl just how much he had appreciated what she did. Unfortunately, he forgot that a certain someone who was like a close sister to him was in the room, and would indeed stoop as low as to make fun of him while he fulfilled one of his unspoken desires.
"Ah-hum!" said Hinata after clearing her throat loudly to get the two's attention didn't work.
"Despite how touching this scene is Naruto, I need some sleep, and you glomping Haku over there isn't the last thing I want to see before I fall asleep so if you would…," Hinata said before pointing to the door. Releasing the icy princess from his arms, Naruto just turned and walked out of the room dragging a madly giggling Haku with him.
Once they were through the threshold, the two instantly jumped apart when they realized that Kimimaro was leaning on the wall right next to the doorway. Acting as if nothing was wrong, Naruto resisted turning a deep shade of red while asking Haku if she knew why he was here.
"Because he sort of escorted me here," Haku offered weakly, feeling bad that she completely forgot that her brother was here and worse because he caught her and Naruto holding hands.
'Oh' was all Naruto could mouth out before the bone-wielding warrior strode right up to him, and passed him without a single word. Relieved that the teen didn't say anything to him, or worse try to start a fight in the middle of a hospital hallway, Naruto couldn't help but wonder what could be so important to Kimimaro that he would just completely ignore the public display of affection between his sister and himself.
"Kimi-kun?!" Hinata's startled voice called from the room behind him, and from the shock and joy coming from the Heiress's voice, sleep was the last thing on her mind (no, they aren't doing that, so get your mind out of the gutter).
"Ha!! Kimi-kun?! Oh how the mighty have fallen!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. Neither Hinata's or Kimimaro's frigid gazes nor Haku's chastising could stop Naruto from laughing at the 'imposing Kimimaro's' nickname.
"I'm so sorry Kimimaro-kun, it just slipped," Hinata replied quickly as she was trying to mend the damage, but all it did was make Naruto laugh even harder. Kimimaro's gaze turned artic and Haku had to drag the hysterical blonde off before they were kicked out of the hospital for excessive noise.
After many annoyed looks and a threat to freeze his vocal cords, Naruto finally stopped laughing, just as they approached the nurse's changing room. Raising an eyebrow when he saw the door labeling, Naruto just chuckled when Haku punched his arm for his perverted thinking.
"What? I didn't say anything, and besides you had to have been thinking the same thing to justify hitting me," Naruto retorted suggestively, provoking a bright blush from the teenage girl beside him.
"Well Naruto-kun, if you don't mind, I need to change so how about you go visit your teammate Sasuke, while I change and I'll meet back up with you at the front desk." Haku asked, despite the fact that her words came out more as orders. Taking the hint, Naruto left to go see his teammate, who despite popular belief he didn't hate, for that implies murderous intent. No he just disliked Sasuke to an extreme, knowing that any deviation from Haku's plan may result in a shower of senbon.
Making his way up to his least favorite teammate's room, Naruto found a startling lack of fan-girls around and soon realized that Kakashi may be a better sleuth than he gave him credit for.
Wow, to fool Sasuke's hordes of followers without having to resort to deadly force, you may just be worthy of all the legends made for you Kakashi-sensei, Naruto thought jokingly before he ran straight into the man in question.
"Oh hello Naruto, didn't expect to see you hear," Kakashi greeted airily without once looking up from his novel.
"Hey why is it such a surprise for me to visit one of my teammates when they are in the hospital?" Naruto asked jokingly. Kakashi's glance up from his novel was all the response Naruto got.
"Well I'll make this quick then, seeing as Haku's probably already at the front desk waiting for me," Naruto started before getting a raised eyebrow and chuckle from Kakashi.
"What's so funny?" Naruto asked genuinely hackled that Kakashi could be making fun of Haku.
"Oh nothing, it was just a similarity I picked up between you and this book. The lead character, you in this case, manages to befriend his enemy and in a short time they are best of friends," Kakashi answered, and for the first time since the conversation started Naruto had his full attention.
"Well eventually after about six months time the two become more than friends, and…," but Kakashi never was able to finish, seeing as Naruto was giving him a rather threatening glare.
"You better stop while you're ahead Kakashi," Naruto stated angrily, completely dropping off the honorary 'sensei' to his name.
"Well, let's just say I find it humorous that you and this book have so many parallels, and I'm looking forward to seeing just how many you follow," Kakashi added before sidestepping Naruto's angry swipe at his book.
"Tsk tsk Naruto, and this is one of the reasons that I decided I couldn't train you in this upcoming month; you have no sense of humor," Kakashi added, not once looking up from his book during the whole ordeal.
"And Sasuke does," Naruto countered sarcastically, earning him a shocked look from Kakashi.
"Come on sensei; don't take me for a fool. I've known ever since the names were announced that you would be training Sasuke, and for once, I'm all right with it because like you said in the Wave, I am a self-reliant student and that's not something I would give away. Even for a chance to train exclusively with the great Sharingan Kakashi. Besides, there's not much else you can teach me without directly spoon feeding it to me and like we have both stated before; that's something neither of us want to do," said Naruto.
Kakashi just nodded approvingly, a bit off-guard on how well Naruto was taking it. He was half expecting him to storm off in some rage on how he had betrayed him.
"Kakashi, one thing though, make sure Sasuke is strong when you come back in a month, because if I beat him too easily in front of a audience from around the shinobi globe, he may just kill himself," Naruto added before leaving Kakashi with a bemused smile on his face.
"I'll tell him you said that Naruto and don't think I forgot about you, I called in some favors and I managed to get someone willing to teach you a few things while I'm gone," Kakashi called out to Naruto as the boy turned the corner towards the stairs before returning to his favorite book.
Now where was I?
Still in the Konohagakure Hospital (Specifically The Lobby)
Haku was getting worried, Naruto was five minutes late and her paranoia was starting to get the better of her.
What if he got lost and stumbled into the anesthesia closet? He could be drifting off into a sleep he'll never wake up from, or worse, what if he picked himself with an infected syringe, he could have contracted SARS, Ebola, AIDS!! What if…,' but before Haku could formulate another horrible fate for Naruto someone tapped her on her shoulder.
"Excuse me miss, you wouldn't have seen a short blonde around here? Goes by the name Naruto and can be incredibly annoying once you get to know him," the man asked, not knowing that he just sparked another semi-insane possibility in Haku's mind. However, before Haku could spew any of her molten crazy ideas on the innocent man, the boy in question arrived just in time.
"Sorry I'm late Haku-chan, I hope I didn't keep you too… Ebisu-sensei, what are you doing to Haku-chan!" Naruto yelled, completely turning everyone's attention to the scene in front of him. Even though Ebisu just had his hand on Haku's shoulder, but from a bystander's point of view, the scene looked undoubtedly wrong.
"Wait Naruto its not what it looks like," Ebisu said frantically, trying to convince the crowd around him that he was innocent. However, Naruto pulled Haku towards him and making even more of a scene, which convinced everyone he was a pervert.
"Ebisu… no Ero-sensei, don't touch Haku-chan! I can't believe you would even try hitting on someone so young!" Naruto stated loudly, causing everyone to look at poor Ebisu with contempt and disgust.
"Wait, it isn't what it looks like…," Ebisu tried, but no one was listening, so with much embarrassment, he just looked Naruto in the eye and sighed.
"You win Naruto," and with that said, the crowd poofed out of existence revealing themselves to be numerous shadow clones, leaving only one shocked nurse and one laughing idiot beside her.
"You actually had me convinced that time," Ebisu stated before straightening himself up. Through all the excitement, he forgot two major things: one, always look underneath the underneath, and two never make a bet with Uzumaki Naruto no matter how old.
"Well, I hadn't pulled a prank in years, at least not after the Old Man started taking care of me, so I had to make this one big especially for our bet," Naruto replied as they walked out of the Hospital and made their way into town.
"Wait, what bet," Haku asked confused and wondering why Naruto had such a weird grin on his face.
"Years ago right after the Third started taking direct care of Naruto, I was assigned as the boy's instructor while the Sandaime was away. Well, in order to stop him from pulling his constant pranks, I bet him that if he could prank me then I would teach him anything he wanted know," Ebisu explained to the bewildered girl.
"Hey, don't forget the second part Ebisu-sensei, or should I now say Ero-sensei," Naruto added with a smirk that only widened when he saw the spectacled man's discomfort.
"What second part?" Haku asked, edging away from Ebisu and right into Naruto's open arms.
"Naruto caught me reading the hit series, Icha Icha Paradise, prior to him knowing what it was about, so after I explained it to him; he insisted on calling me by 'that name'," Ebisu explained, shuttering at the thought of his new nickname.
"Therefore, as a prize for pranking him, I get to call him that whenever I want," Naruto remarked joyous as they reached their destination.
"So it's the usual place then," Ebisu stated before pushing his shades up, blocking the perverted gleam in his eyes from view.
"Yeah it's the hot springs again, so no funny ideas Ero-sensei," Naruto threatened before entering the coed spring with his two companions.
Later…
"Again!" Ebisu called out to Naruto who was currently compressing his Chakra Shokkou into one sphere to hone his chakra control. Apparently, it was preparation for a strong jutsu Ebisu had promised to teach him years ago.
"I'm trying, but it's harder than it looks Ero-sensei," Naruto retorted, sharply growing more and more frustrated ever since Haku went to the other side to take a dip in the springs.
Releasing the chakra molding, Naruto threw his eyes over towards the 'Ladies Only' spring when he saw a quivering mass of wooden boards. Ebisu realized what it was first and in an attempt to be chivalrous, attacked the mass before he was flying through the sky.
"That'll teach you to mess with the Great Toad Sage Jiraiya!!" the white haired Sanin yelled arrogantly complete with his own Sanin dance. Unfortunately, before he could finish, an orb of chakra shot past him and into the air scaring all woman in the spring Jiraiya was peeping in away.
Turning his attention to the offending figure, Jiraiya couldn't say a word once his eyes fell on the blonde boy, who was staring at him with an orb of chakra floating in his hand and a look that said 'bring it on' in his eyes.
Minato?! It can't be he's dead my…, but before Jiraiya could finish that thought, Haku's voice cut the silent tension.
"Naruto-kun, what happened?" the wet girl yelled, drawing the boy's attention sideways and giving Jiraiya a full view of the faded whisker marks on the side of his face.
My… my grandson is alive?! was all Jiraiya could think while a horde of naked women stampeded into the streets behind him, intent on sending him to the lower levels of hell.
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Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long to put up, but FR was like an itch I just couldn't scratch. Fortunately, I'm back and I'm gonna focus on this fic the most (it'll probably be the most frequently updated). Well until next time…
Jutsu Logue:
Hakke Shinkirou (Eight Trigrams Mirage): Hinata's own variation of the Hakke stance. Having mastered her chakra to a level where she can control it from all her pours without handseals, simple jutsu like the one Bunshin can be performed at will. Combining that ability with her speed and agility, Hinata can fool almost any enemy into believing they've landed a hit (even those with advanced doujutsu) thus leaving them open to her immediate counter attack.
Hakke: Furitori no Furaito (Free Bird's Flight): Neji's own variation of the Hakke stance. This technique uses two Hakke Kusho combined with a Kaiten to propel the user at their opponent in a similar manner to the Inuzuka's Tsuga. However, unlike the Tsuga, this technique also doubles as a magnified Jyuuken strike with enough power to kill an opponent if it makes a direct hit as well as close several tenketsu by just passing nearby a target.
Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus): This jutsu is an advanced and more destructive version of the Front Lotus (Omote Renge), which requires that at least three chakra gates be opened (in every instance in which it has been used, five gates are opened). Once enough gates are open, the user launches the target into the air and hits them with one arm, sending the target crashing into the ground. This is usually fatal due to the speed and power behind the attack. Because so many chakra gates are opened at once, it can only be used once, since the user will likely be unable to stand afterward. (wiki)
Black Saint