Naruto
Fury Guilt and Love
Wow... Either you guys really hated my last chapter, or I'm losing my touch. The incredibly low amount of reviews I have gotten really fucked me up. I mean, I come back from work expecting my usual heafty serving of at LEAST ten reviews in the last six hours. No... I got four... Four... Do you have any idea how much my pride suffered because of that? Now I have to know... If there was anything that turned you guys off about my last chapter, PLEASE let me know so I don't repeat it again...
Chapter 14
At the lush Konoha training grounds, Hinata Hyuuga, wearing a casual light blue, long shirt (honestly if you guys what I'm talkin' about, then I won't go any further) and black, shin-high pants, had just finished a small warm-up excersise to get herself loosened after being released form the hospital. With the memories of her catastophic fight with Neji, however, she was still filled with great uneasiness.
She had a lot more work to do, and she knew it...
But that wouldn't stop her... She never went back on her word... It was her Nindo and she'd be damned if she were to give it all up because of a loss. It was pretty safe to say that her inspiration for even lifting herself up from the hospital bed was the though of her beloved Naruto; the strongest and bravest shinobi that she had ever had the pleasure of meeting and was ultimately her source of strength and grace.
However, the thought of the pine-apple haired boy didn't put a smile on Hinata's face like it did every other day. This time, she was worried about two things; first, how Naruto would fair in his match against Neji. Second, her worth as a shinobi. She couldn't begin to recall how many times she had questioned her worth before she saw what Naruto was made of. He completed her. A sudden blush found it's way to Hinata's cheeks as her thoughts drifted more to the man of her dreams, when all of the sudden, she heard rushed and quickly paced foot steps heading her way.
When the violet haired Hyuuga turned around to see what was what, she was greeted with the very object of her affections with VERY different clothing and a beaming smile on his face. Despite the new look an the shaggier hair, Hinata could definately tell that the man running RIGHT towards her... was the Naruto she grew to love.
"N... Naruto-kun...", she dreamily murmered while staring at how unbeleivably HOT he was looking right now.
A red jacket, black undershirt with bandages wrapped around the abdomen, black pants with red streeks, and dark shinobi sandals... Never in the twelve years of her under rated exsistence had Hinata seem Naruto look so attractive and silently intense before. Her blush deepened without her permission.
As Naruto ran with no clear signs of stopping, his smile never died.
"Finally! Finally! I'm so pumped! I can't wait to see what I can do now! I'm gonna show everyone a new light for the future and the skills of the next Hokage! Wait for me everyone!", Naruto inwardly exclaimed to himself; feeling a battle rush take him over.
He snapped out of the brilliant white flash of excitement lon enough to see that he was only a few feet frm Hinata...
But that didn't stop him...
Before the young Hyuuga girl could even think about reacting, Naruto's body collided into her's with open arms before gripping her in a spontaneous embrace that thouroghy shocked the pale skinned female. Immediately lifting Hinata's light body with absolutely no effort what so ever, the black clad boy spun her around in one full circle before tossing her in the air. The amount of startlement on Hinata's face would have been fucking hilarious to anyone else but her as Naruto caught her with her torso hung over his shoulder; excitedly chordding, while hugging her thighs and swinging back and forth without realizing it.
Within only two seconds, Naruto flipped Hinata in the air again and caught her by both of her upper arms; holding her high in the air with a strength that Hinata never knew that he owned. With the look of startlement becoming even more vivid, the Hyuuga stared into Naruto's deep blue eyes before he spoke.
"I LOVE-"
Boom!!!
Hearing those to words, in fear and anticapation of the next one, an ocean of tension, the likes of which she had never been subjected to before, convulged unto the center of her very being; inwardly crushing her soul in the best possible way. The world aroun her became nothing but a blur and the only object she focused on...
was Naruto...
"-THIS DAY!!!!", Naruto yelled with youthful joy before he easily set Hinata down on her feet, turned on a dime and made a full sprint in the direction of the Chuunin Stadium, "See ya at the Exams, Hinata!"
There she stood... staring with widened off in the distance after the blonde boy who metaphorically and literally swept her off her feet. She wasn't even worried about the fact that Naruto's last word wasn't 'You'. She just stood there... remembering the feeling Naruto's strong arms hugged RIGHT beneith her rump. The man whom she thought could not get ANY hotter just touched her in a way that she had only dreamed of. All sounds around her were blocked out by the weakening sound of her heart beat; completey oblivious to Kiba, who was wearing a white sweater with the hood down and black shine-high pants like Hinata, walking up behind her...
"Hey Hinata. Sorry I'm late, but I-", he stopped when he noticed a super blown away look on her face, "Um... Hinata... Yo!"
Kiba's response... was her body slowly plummeting to the ground; landing with a comical thud. The young Hyuuga's legs lifted into the air, due to the force of the fall, before they landed flat on the ground. Kiba stared blankly at her, before Akamaru poked his head from out of his shirt; staring at the fallen Hinata, before barking to his friend and master.
"What...? Well, Ma' always told me to poke 'em with a stick to find out for sure...", he said before lowering to a crouched position, picking a random stick and poked the Huuyga's face with it.
A sweat bead dropped from Akamaru's forehead before he barked twice.
"Yeah I'm serious... (bark) (bark) (bark)... I don't think that's any of you're business! Mom might be smokin' the happy crack, but it sure dont run in the familiy", Kiba protested, before his little nin dog leaped out of his hoody and put his ear to Hinata's neck.
As the silence passed by... Akamaru shot his head up and began barking frantically; catching Kiba's attention.
"...Oh... Huh, well thats awesome", he dimwittingly commented, as though nothing was wrong before walking off in the direction of the Chuunin Stadium, "Cool... Well just wake her up and tell her to meet me at the Stadium so we can-SWEET MOTHER OF ALL THAT MADE JESUS THE HOLY GHOST!!!! NO PULSE?!?!?!?!"
With that last outburst, Kiba spun immediately around and sprinted to his friend, before he tripped and fell on all fours and frantically crawled to her side; placing his hands over her chest and pumping upon them.
"Breath, dammit! BREATH!!!!!"
------
Meanwhile, at the, now, bustlin' town of Konoha, Naruto arrived at the bussiest part at the bussiest time; gawking at the ridiculous number of people that crowded the streets, while curling his fingers in his hair.
"GWAAAAA!!!!! Too many PEOPLE!!!", he shouted, before whipping his head in several direction, until he pointed his finger skward, " TO THE ROOOOFS!!!!!"
With that idiotic battle cry, Naruto jumped to the air; somersaulting like mad, before landing promptly upon the village roof. Using some o' that good ol' Ninja speed, the blonde haired boy raced to the Chuunin exams without hinderence of any kind; allowing him to further bask in the anticipation building in his heart, while taking a huge wif of the air.
"AHHHH!! I can't wait! Everyone will be there! I can't wait to see what I'll really be up against! The best of the best are waiting for me!", he happily shouted while effortlessly scaling the rooftops of Konoha; edging ever closer to the Chuunin Stadium.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Meanwhile in Kyuubi's dark cage.
The great fox was watching his host hop from roof to roof, whilste feeling a grand lust for battle emmiting from him. Kyuubi subconsciously smiled at it all.
"Hmm... No wonder the boy had shown such divine leadership... He's become... almost... 'Me'-like. Heh! That really takes me back"
Kyuubi's memories were suddenly bombarded with the events of the glorious Bijuu Tournament held centuries ago; long before his cursed imprisonment. The tailed beasts of legend; pullin' out all the stops in the magnificent brawl for the title of "King of the Bijuu". The thrill... The excitement... The competition... All that the Kyuubi no Kitsune lived for in one place. His insatiable drive to fight and win earned him the respectable and the detestable title of King... and he held it with pride.
Snapping Kyuubi out of his thoughts was another great wave of excitement comming from Naruto as he drew SO close to the Stadium. The Youkou sighed contently before resting his head on the ground.
"Ahhhh... Good times..."
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Chuunin Stadium...
The entrance ceremony was about to start and the genin combatants who have trained hard over the one month's intermission, were all following their new Chuunin Proctor, Genma to the entrance of the Stadium. Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Neji Hyuuga and the Sand Siblings were all raring to go, despite the few faces that were missing. HOWEVER(!), haulting all of their steps was the feeling of a strong chakra signal from behind them all. In curiousity as to who owned this power, they all looked back just in time to see a blonde boy garbed in black clothing and a blood-red jacket burst from the trees guiding the path to the entrance before running at them all with nearly frantic speed; a beaming smile ever-present on his.
Not that anyone recognized him right away...
As soon as the shaggy haired blonde made a screeching hault in fron t of everyone, he bend over; resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Looking him over for a second, Genma's eyebrow raised up before he smiled with realization.
"Good to see that you made it right on time, Naruto Uzumaki...", he said, causing everyone else in the group to flinch with surprise, before they shot curious stares at the boy.
Naruto quickly caught his breath, before straightening himself and taking a deep breath to center himself. Letting out a refreshing exhale, Naruto smiled intensely at the competition. He, too, could feel the level of improvement emmiting from everyone. Out of everyone who shown surprise on their faces at the new Naruto (Gaara not included), Shikamaru was the one who looked like he was blown away the most.
"Naruto??? No way... Is that where I'm feeling this massive battle lust? This... power?", the pony tailed shadow weilder thought to himself.
Neji simply turned back around, Temari smiled, Gaara gave him his little dead-man stare, Kankuro scoffed, and Shino... well... Shino just stared at him with that prepetual scowl on his face (honestly I think he goes to sleep like that).
"Well then, shall we get the entrance ceremony underway?", Genma said, while chewing on that long peice of hey that always seems to be there.
All of the other genin turned back to look at the Proctor.
"As you probably guessed, hundreds of people from many diffrent countries will be watching this annual event. So give it your all and show them what you're made of", he said with a certain confidence.
All of the genin nodded once, before they followed Genma through the entrance. Once they all exited the long hallway they were greeted with the sight that wasn't exactly what they were expecting...
The place was fucking PACKED!!!
Just as Genma described, people from many different countries and villages went wild with cheers when the genin stepped into the open. For Naruto, the insane amount of people that would be watching him didn't bother him at all. Truth is, he was much more preoccupied with the sized and shape of the battle arena itself.
The place was fucking HUGE!!!
Three major platforms; two holding the massive crowds of people and one where only two seats could be seen. Naruto studied his surroundings carefully, without waining his firey smile. The tension was really exciting him.
-
Within one of the crowded platforms, Sakura and Ino sat next to each other while looking down at the genin combatants. Ino intently checked out all of the competition, but when she saw Naruto, she was blown out of the water when she saw the fire in his face.
"Whoa... Naruto... I can feel the drive... the battle lust. Look at his eyes...", the bloned female swooned (no, not that kind of swoon).
Turning a small peice of her attention to Sakura, Ino saw that she still had the same look on her face from three hours ago. She was undoubtably looking at Naruto, but only to have her mind and heart plagued with the same memories. Ino was obviously getting sick of all of this mope that her pink haired friend was carrying around with her; it was getting contagious and she couldn't take it anymore.
"Sakura... Stop worrying so much... Naruto has already forgiven you, but I don't think he'll do so good in the fights unless you wish him the best, do you think?", she asked with a confident smile.
Sakura turned her head to Ino with a lighter expression before she fell into an understanding smile. Without even hearing the words come out of the blonde female's mouth, Sakura could almost hear Ino saying that she understood why she was upset and why she ran away from Ichiraku, but everything would eventually work out for the best. The jade eyed genin nodded before turning her attention back to the combatants below; mostly the battle-crazed Naruto.
------
Elsewhere; at the Konoha Hospital...
In a secluded room; large and organized, resided the troubled Anko Mitarashi, who sat upon one of the cutioned seats with darkened bags under her eyes, whilste flipping threw a specific autopsy with undying vigor, but much doubt as well.
"Dammit... No matter how many times I read it all over, I still don't beleive it...", she thought to herself with much fatigue, "A severe drainage of blood... right when she entered the hospital? An empty pill found in her intestine? That only leads to one possible answer, but..."
"Anko...", a familiar voice of a man sounded from the entrance of the room; grudgingly catching the attention of the fatigued Jounin, "Still at it, huh?"
Anko stashed the autopsy reports away before looking up at the man who owned the voice ans sighed, "Why are you here Ibiki? Shouldn't you be on gaurd duty?". she asked tiredly
The Interrigation Specialist shoved his gloved hands in his pocket, "Oh, spare me. I've been on duty since 2:00AM this morning. Someone else is filling in for the next twenty minutes. I just came by to confirm a very important detail", he informed.
Anko's eyes darkened slightly.
"Is it true, Anko? Did you really see... him?", Ibiki asked with much concerne.
The brunette Jounin rose to her feet and huffed, "Dammit! The possibility of that... DEMON is still living just doens't seem plausible to me! But I SAW HIM!! I saw him with my own two eyes", she shouted before lowering her head with dread, " He's alive... The forest, the autopsy reports... it all peices together... I still can't beleive we made it out of that forest, even to this day"
Well... if that wasn't one Hell of an answer than what the fuck was? Ibiki could definately tell that Anko had been under a lot stress; what with the bags under the eyes and all. He could even understand why Anko didn't inform Sandaime Hokage of this developement... He would have canceled the Chuunin Exams in a heart-beat. But if what his fellow Jounin said was true, than there were a few things that needed to be cleared up.
"Anko...", Ibiki said.
"What?", she responded flattly.
"Come with me... There's something I've got to show you..."
Anko looked at Ibiki before nodding lathargically and followed the black clad Jounin out of the room
------
(For this scene, just picture the absolute EVILEST calm music you can possibly think of and play it as you read, it's fun)
Back upon the Hokage Monument, the figures of Nekoshi and Kitsune stood in the EXACT same spot as three hours ago; growing excited now that the fireworks signifying the start of the Chuunin Exams went off.
"Hmhmhmmm... So it finally begins", Nekoshi smiled to himself.
Kitsune whipped her head to her left side, "We have a visitor...", she said wearily.
As Nekoshi slowly shifted his head to the left direction, an eerie, grey mist of death slowly formed beneith the two shinobi. Seeing the mist and feeling the foreboding presence of a familiar person, Nekoshi and Kitsune relaxed completely.
Kitsune smirked, "Hn. Welcome back, Sensei... I trust that your meal was bountiful", she suggested.
From out of nowhere... From out of positively NOWHERE, a familiar and tall shaded man appeared from behind the two and slowly marched to the foot of the Monument to share the veiw of his pupils.
"Yeeesssss... I have not had a meal that satisying in decades; much of my power has returned to me in ernest", the dominant murderer hissed with sadistic delight and a no longer weakened demeanor.
"Always good to hear... So, did you come to watch the show too?", Nekoshi asked while staring at the distant Chuunin Stadium with a smile on his face.
"Hmm... No. I have come to ask you two... how much of Konoha's population has increased... since I was away?", the dark leader ask; licking his lips with his inhuman and slimey tongue, "Give me a guestimate..."
"... Thirty percent increase...", Nekoshi and Kitsune said in perfect unison.
Hearing these DELIGHTFUL words, the large blood guzzling feind smiled demonically as his eyes flashed a shade of ravenous red.
"Hmmmhhhe-heh-hhheeeeehehehehehehehehehehehehehe..."
------
Chuunin Stadium...
Fives minutes have passed by and the main event has yet to get started. All of the genin, who were lined up side by side behind Genma at the center of the battle arena, had been patiently waiting for things to get underway... Well, all except one. Naruto had crossed his arms impatiently as he wait for two things, actually. The shaggy haired genin repeatedly tapped his index finger upon his bicep as his ambitious smile fell into a penetrating scowl. His deep blue pupils slowly shifted from left to right.
"Where the Hell is Sasuke... I was looking forward to seeing him before my match against Neji", Naruto irrtantly thought to himself.
After only half a minute, the blonde genin couldn't take it anymore; he walked right up to the Chuunin proctor from behind, "Mr. Gemna", he asked.
The hay chewing Jounin turned his head to the side to look at Naruto, "Whattya 'Mr.' Genma? It's just Genma...", he correted.
Naruto raised his hand to the back of his head and smiled, "Right. So, Genma?"
"Hn."
Naruto's face grew serious, "Do you have any idea where Sasuke is?", he asked; gaining the full attention from the brown haired Leaf Ninja.
"...If I knew that, than I'd probably drag him here myself so we can get started. The only reason the matches haven't started yet is because we're missing some people", Genma informed.
Naruto scowled again before falling back into his previous spot. Hearing everything Shikamaru stared to look around the arena.
"True... That Dosu-guy I'm suppose to be facin' isn't here either, huh?", he thought to himself.
All thoughts were cast aside when the voice od Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi echoed the announcements... (AN: Umm, yeah... gonna skip those...) After the announcements were complete, Naruto became very uneasy.
"Genma... Sasuke isn't here yet? What do we do?", he asked with much concern.
The Chuunin Proctor turned completely around to face the genin before him, "Well for starters, you can look at this", he said before pulling out a peice of paper from out of his shinobi vest.
Genma flapped the paper once to straighten it out for all to see, "There have been a few changes in the matche-setups, this last month. Take a look at who will be facing who", he informed.
Naruto grimaced. Sure he wanted Sasuke to be here and he was surrounded by fighters who were strong, but if that meant that Neji wasn't his opponent... that would piss him off... big time. That wasn't the case, however; Naruto was still in the first match against the Hyuuga. At realizing this, the black clad genin's battle-cravin' smile returned.
"Wherever the Hell Sasuke is... he'd better not weasel his way out of this", Naruto thought.
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed at the new match-ups, "Well, what the Hell? Did Mega-man-I mean, Dosu retire?", he thought
After deciding that the genin had enough time to look at the new match-ups, Genma stuffed the paper back in this vest, "Alright... we can't delay this any longer. If Sasuke Uchiha doesn't show when his match begins... then he'll lose by default", he said.
The genin were silent...
"Now, we'll get this show on the road. The first match... Naruto Uzumaki... ... and Neji Hyuuga..."
There... I can only hope that this chapter doesn't suffer the same fate as my last one did, so please; unless all of my readers just disappeared off of the face of the Earth, than pleas leave me your feed-back to tell me whether the chapter was boring or anything. I must know. Thanks.
Peace...