Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. *Teardrop… Sniff* Don't look at me!

Chapter 36: The Sounds of Battle

Naruto and Neji walked away from Sasuke, Hinata and the children so that they could have their conversation. Eventually amid the trees and far out of sight and hearing, Naruto leaned against one of the trees with his arms crossed and a frown on his face, "So Neji… are you going to tell me what your big problem with me is? Or are you just going to use your private school words and try to get me upset?"

Neji stood ten feet away from Naruto, "My problem? My problem isn't very complicated Uzumaki, it's you. I don't like you." He narrowed his eyes at the blonde mercenary, "I don't like Hinata-sama consorting with a criminal. You're someone below our station, and yet you treat her so familiarly. I will not allow you to besmirch the name of our clan by tainting Hinata-sama's standing with your association with her."

Naruto's frown grew further, "That's not your choice."

Neji scoffed, "It isn't a matter of choice. It is my job, my single most important mission in life to keep Hinata-sama protected from enemies that mean to do her physical harm, or harm our clan through her."

"Again…" Naruto said, feeling his ire rise at hearing Neji speak, "It isn't your choice. You're saying that I can't hang out with Princess because of who I am. That's basically saying that I'm just some punk kid that doesn't have anything. That will actually have to work to make a living unlike your family. I'd like to think I'm more important than you actually. You're just some rich kid that never did anything for anyone. I actually help people, I'm not a dick like you are. If I died tomorrow not many would care, but the ones who did would love me and remember me for being a decent person, and what about you?"

"What about me?" Neji asked, rather perturbed by Naruto's tone and topic.

Naruto heard the growing anger in his voice and figured he was starting to win this little battle of words, "I'm just saying, what have you ever done besides sit in that cushy mansion of yours and spend up that money that you never did anything to earn? I work, and no, it might not be glamorous but I love my job, and I like who I am. And unlike you I'm going to earn my riches, as a matter of fact I already am." Naruto pulled out his wallet that was full of bills and flipped through it before pocketing it, "Now stick that in your trust fund. You don't like me, that's fine because I don't respect you."

Neji grit his teeth and moved into his Jyuuken stance, "You don't respect me? You will after we're done here."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "So other than the one time I did it, have you even been punched in the face?"

"Why does that matter?" Neji asked impatiently. His answer was a fast right hand that he barely saw coming hitting him right in the nose and sending him stumbling back, tears of shock filling his eyes.

"That's why it matters." Naruto said, cracking his knuckles, "You can't make me do anything, and even if you win that's not going to make me respect you because you still didn't do anything to get it." He then formed a cross seal with his fingers, "But you're not going to win. Check out my bread-and-butter jutsu, Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu)!"

The area filled with dozens of Naruto clones that were all smirking at Neji who wiped the blood from his nose and activated his Byakugan, "Do not assume that I'm weak Uzumaki. I'm stronger than Hinata-sama, I'm the most skilled of my generation at the Hyuuga style taijutsu."

Naruto chuckled, "And that just makes you a dojo hero. But how much can you possibly know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?" Naruto made a hand gesture as his clones moved in to attack Neji, "Say the word when you've had enough."

XxX

Hanabi gasped as the little girl had her Byakugan on and could see Naruto and Neji fighting, but knew well enough to not say anything about what she could see. Sasuke figured what she had gasped about and sighed, "Oh hell… Hinata we need to get these kids away from here while Naruto and Neji duke it out. They don't need to see them fight."

Hinata nodded, having activated her doujutsu and seen the two begin to fight as well, "It's starting to get cloudy too. I don't think we should be outside for too much longer or the children will get caught in the rain." Sasuke looked at her oddly, prompting her to pout, "Well as long as Neji-niisan and Naruto-kun are fighting Hanabi-chan and I can't simply leave, and as long as I'm here I'm responsible for these children."

Sasuke held his hands up defensively, "Okay, okay. No need to get upset, I understand. So where to?"

Hinata's smile came back and she pointed at a series of gazebos nearby in the distance, "Over there should be just fine in case it begins to rain. I would rather not get drenched, you understand."

Sasuke smirked and stood up, offering a hand to help Hinata stand, "I guess so. Naruto and Neji are going to look like drenched rats by the time they get back. I can't wait to see that."

She looked in the direction she knew that her relative and her first friend outside of her family were fighting, "Do you think they'll be okay Sasuke-kun? I don't want them to hurt each other."

Sasuke nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, "Yeah, they'll be fine. At least Naruto will be, I don't know about Neji. Can he take a punch to the face?"

Hinata stopped moving after Sasuke helped her to her feet as she thought about his question, "I don't know. When we spar as one entire clan we never focus on things like that, mostly just speed and making contact. A mere touch can injure our opponent if not kill them outright. That's why I'm worried."

"Why?" Sasuke wondered, "You use Naruto as a training dummy on a regular basis. He had to have built up a natural immunity to taking too much damage by now."

Hinata shook her head, "You can't train your internal organs Sasuke-kun. And I've never hit Naruto-kun anywhere like that on purpose. I am afraid that Neji-niisan won't share my restraint."

Sasuke nodded, "Well if we step in we'll just prolong this and make it worse. We might as well let it happen now and be done with it. It's going to be fine. I'm sure of it." He pointed to the side, "Right now you might want to watch your sister though."

Hinata looked over and gasped at Hanabi who was standing over a beaten down Konohamaru being surrounded by his friends, "Hanabi-chan what have I told you about fighting?"

Hanabi looked over at her sister owlishly and answered, "Um… don't? B-But he was coming right for me!" She took note of the stern look on Hinata's face, "Aw… Naruto-oniichan told me that would work when defending myself about fighting…" She ambled over to Hinata and Sasuke in a dejected manner.

Sasuke shook his head and looked at all of the kids, "You all are coming too. Naruto would destroy me and everything I held dear if I let one of you get hurt while he was gone."

Konohamaru seemingly made a miraculous recovery and jumped to his feet pointing at Hanabi, "I feel fine now! I want a rematch!"

Hanabi turned back to him and smirked, "No. The only reason you feel good is because I unsealed your tenketsu so that you could get up. I can just put your right back on the ground again if I had to." She was pulled by her wrist and given a chiding look from Hinata instructing her to behave, "Hinata-oneesama!"

"Just let them go at it." Sasuke said, a small smile finding its way to his face, "If they're anything like me and Naruto then them fighting will make them friends. They'll be fine. We're right here so we can stop it if we have to. Besides, I like watching the brat Naruto is supposed to be watching get beat up by a girl." Hanabi smiled at Sasuke once she heard that.

Hinata sighed and let go of her little sister, "Do not go overboard. You know what you're not allowed to do." Hanabi nodded eagerly and ran off to go play (see: fight) with Konohamaru again.

XxX

Naruto sat back and watched Neji battle against his clones. He had to admit, after taking the first punch Neji got himself into gear quickly and started disposing of Naruto's clones who swarmed at him in an attempt to beat him down. Neji hadn't even been touched since Naruto first cracked him in the face, and Neji seemed to simply flow around his attacking force and get rid of the clones with mere taps of his fingertips.

Naruto of course knew that this was the hallmark of the Hyuuga Clan style of combat, having had his tenketsu sealed and unsealed repeatedly ever since he had met and befriended Hinata and Hanabi. He also knew that simply getting hit with even one of those shots would suck, thus he really wasn't looking forward to Neji exterminating the last of his Kage Bunshin hoard, which occurred mere seconds later.

Neji stood up out of his stance breathing slightly hard, "Is that all you've got peasant? I'm trained to handle brute force of barbarians like you."

"Maybe." Naruto conceded, "But the thing is, I'm not going to disappear after just one hit like the clones did." Naruto dropped into his own ready stance, "Let's see how you handle me." Naruto ran forward and activated his defensive jutsu, Kitsune no Hifu Koka (Fox Skin Hardening) to assist him in the close-up battle.

Naruto got close and swept low with a spinning front kick to the legs that Neji moved fleetly out of the way of. Naruto contorted his body into a rising spin kick that Neji once again dodged, and once he had regained his footing, Naruto launched four punches in succession that Neji blocked with his hands before dropping a finger strike to the back of one of Naruto's wrists and retaliating by striking the same arm repeatedly all the way to the elbow before Naruto managed to get away.

Naruto shook out the arm as he could no longer feel anything in it from the elbow down, "That's really good. You're definitely faster than Princess and more accurate." It didn't matter to Naruto. If he could drag the fight on long enough his arm would heal itself. Hinata and Hanabi commented that he naturally healed his tenketsu faster than anyone else they had ever seen, ten times faster than anyone else.

"Hinata-sama is very talented, this is true, but I'm the best of my generation to take up the art of Jyuuken in years." Neji said, his Byakugan eyes glaring intently at Naruto, "You cannot win here."

"I'm not just going to let you beat me though." Naruto said determinedly, "I swore to someone precious to me that I would never lose again. I can't get beaten just two weeks after I made that promise."

Neji smirked, "It's your destiny to lose here, just as it was to exist in a lower station of life than me. Don't fight it."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Well I'm sorry if spending the rest of my life clawing my way out of the gutters doesn't really sound so appealing to me. Destiny or not, it doesn't matter. I'm in control of my own life." He made one hand-seal and formed more Kage Bunshin that assisted him in rushing Neji, however the Hyuuga wasn't concerned.

Naruto's clones had the same problem he had. Their right arms were useless, so he was essentially fighting three handicapped men at once. As he ducked a high kick from one Naruto he realized that they were very good at fighting without using their hands, but they were still handicapped. He dispelled one clone with a Jyuuken strike and dodged a left-handed punch from what would have been his blind spot if he hadn't been able to see in 360 degrees.

Naruto wasn't missing a beat either as he slid under Neji and attempted a rising kick, a kick that Neji blocked before lashing out to the side with a kick that dispelled the second of Naruto's three clones. Neji then kicked the original Naruto who was still on the ground in the small of his back and attempted to finish him with a Jyuuken strike to the chest before Naruto's clone dove in and took the hit.

Taking advantage of his Kage Bunshin's sacrifice, Naruto fired a right hand through the smoke it created upon its destruction and caught Neji in the face again, sending him stumbling back and allowing the young mercenary to retake his feet. Naruto ran forward and threw a punch that Neji dodged with a head fake, however Naruto latched on to the back of his shoulder with that hand and forcefully pulled him into a knee directed at his body.

As Neji was doubled over from the knee, Naruto tried following through with a powerful downward elbow strike to the back of the head that Neji took in the upper back before hitting Naruto in the side with his palm, pushing Naruto away like he was burned. Neji stumbled to the side and Naruto dropped to one knee, coughing blood.

Neji was able to stop his head from swimming and smirked at the kneeling Naruto as he saw the blood that had come from him, "Whoops. I think I hit something important."

Naruto glared over at him, "Yeah… whoops. I'll be sure to say that when I finish breaking my foot off in your ass." He coughed up more blood after trying and failing to stand up, 'That might have actually beaten me if I wasn't so damn durable. I think he hit a kidney… oh well, it could be worse. And obviously Kitsune no Hifu Koka (Fox Skin Hardening) does jack shit against the Jyuuken. Good to know.'

Naruto finally found that he was able to make a fist again with his right hand and realized that his more widespread arsenal of ninjutsu were once again available to him… however no matter how hard his gut urged him to fight with no strategy in mind, just to punch Neji in the face repeatedly until he got an apology from him, his brain won out and told him to use some strategy.

"Your tenketsu in your hand have all reopened." Neji commented as his Byakugan was clearly able to see them, "You have a very impressive healing speed. That's good to know. It means I can stop holding back on you."

Naruto grinned at him with his elongated canines, "If you're going to stop holding back on me I'll stop holding back on you too." Naruto began to tap into his youki and took delight in seeing the somewhat stunned look on Neji's face.

"What is that strange chakra?" He asked. Neji had never seen anything like this in his life. Instead of the normal blue color he had been seeing, a purple color began circulating from Naruto's heart around his entire body. It seemed more solid and somewhat thicker in appearance to Neji, "How can you have two different chakras? What are you?"

Naruto's whisker marks grew darker and thicker and his canines grew larger. His eyes also grew slitted and his nails turned to claws, "I done told you once you son of a bitch! I'm the best there's ever been!"

Neji narrowed his eyes at the half-demon, not that he knew what he was looking at, and set himself back in his stance, "We'll see about that." The sound of a sudden summer thunderstorm beginning sounded out as the two had themselves a standoff once more. The second the rain began pouring, they ran at each other intent on clashing once more in a hand-to-hand struggle when a large dome of earth emerged and surrounded them both, trapping them inside.

Naruto said it best for both himself and his aristocratic companion at the moment, "What in the hell?"

XxX

(With Sasuke)

"Man…" Sasuke said as he, Hinata, and the kids sat inside of the gazebo as the rain started pouring down, "Where the hell are Naruto and Neji? I expected them to just beat each other up a bit and come right back here."

Hinata sighed as her little sister sat on her lap watching the rain as well, "Do you think something is wrong? They're out of my range with the Byakugan. I can only see up to 50 meters." She said regretfully, "Neji-niisan's is stronger than mine. He's actually stronger than me with his taijutsu as well, even with all of Naruto-kun's help."

Sasuke shook his head, "I'm sure it's nothing. Naruto's not stupid enough to do anything that would really hurt Neji and I'm sure he isn't either. They'll just rough each other up a bit."

"If you say so Sasuke-kun…" Hinata said as she looked back out at the inclement weather with a frown, "The weather forecast said that there was a low chance of rain today. It was supposed to be perfect to bring Hanabi-chan to the park today and now it's all ruined."

"No it wasn't Hinata-oneesama." Hanabi argued from where the nine year old was still sitting on her older sister's lap, "Today was actually fun. I saw Naruto-oniichan while he was at work and I even made a friend." She pointed over to where Konohamaru was laying on his stomach watching the rain fall outside with his two other companions.

A smile pulled at Hinata's lips as she looked down at her younger sibling, "Well in that case I'm glad you enjoyed yourself Hanabi-chan."

Sasuke watched the two siblings have their moment, 'Huh, you know maybe if Itachi was my sister instead of brother we would have a more mellow relationship?' He frowned and squashed that thought, 'No… then I would just feel worse about getting beaten up on a regular basis because Itachi would be a girl.' His phone then rang, "Hello, Sasuke Uchiha speaking." He answered without checking the caller ID.

"It's me again Uchiha. I think it's time for our game. It seems perfect. With this storm no one in their right mind would be in the park right now. You're all alone… minus that hottie and those kids of course, but I can take care of them."

Sasuke unconsciously activated his Sharingan out of anger, "You lay a single hand on one of them and I'll burn you alive. Whatever it is that you want is between you and me. Leave others out of it." He spoke lowly so as not to be heard by the others and dangerously so that the assailant got the point.

From the other line, Kidomaru laughed at Sasuke rage, "You're not really in a position to be telling me what to do. It's just like a trash character like you to think you can help those people, but you know what? I'm feeling generous. Why don't you step out from that gazebo there so I don't hit them by… 'mistake'? Yeah, by mistake."

Sasuke hung up the phone and looked around. The entire area surrounding the place they found with gazebos had trees covering it. It was a veritable mini-forest of sorts. Plenty of places for the guy to hide and ambush him from, and he could obviously see where he and the others were based on the call he just received. Clearly he wasn't planning on asking him to just surrender like Sakon had before this. That was good because Sasuke wasn't just going to roll over and allow himself to be captured by a criminal's underling.

"Hinata." He said, getting the girl's attention, "Could you stay here for a moment with the kids. Like, right here. Don't even leave the cover of the gazebo."

She looked at him oddly, "Why not? I mean, it's raining, but I didn't plan on getting up anyway. Are you going somewhere?"

"Kind of." He said, stretching out his inactive muscles for what was obviously going to be a fight, "Just promise me that no matter what you won't do anything." He looked back at her with his Sharingan active, "Please." He didn't wait for an answer as he walked out into the rain to the confusion of everyone watching him.

Sasuke didn't mind the rain hitting him as he looked around, his eyes ready to take notice of any subtle movement that would let him know where his attacker was coming from. His cellphone rang again and he answered it, "What?"

"No, no… you're going to have to come a little further out if you don't want me to hurt your pretty friend and the brats." Kidomaru informed him, "The forest about 800 meters out should be more than good enough for us to conduct our little game. That should be far enough where no one will get in the way."

Sasuke quickly hung up on him and kept walking forward until he began passing trees, 'Come on now… He can't sneak up on me. I can see everything with these eyes. Some idiot trying to ambush me should be easy to deal with.'

Three rough, golden, bladed weapons flew through the rainy forest that Sasuke saw coming a mile away and missed when he leapt up onto the side of a tree, sticking with chakra as his eyes scanned the area the weapons came from. He climbed to a higher area of the tree and began moving along the branches, 'He's obviously up here somewhere. No kind of marksman would try to stay on the ground and take me out, there's too much stuff in the way.'

Sasuke, while jumping from one branch to another was attacked by a wave of white webbing that came from the trees to the side of his person. With the Sharingan he was able to predict the trajectory of the attack and prepare his next move for when he landed, which was to stay on the branch and contort his body through the openings the attack provided.

"Aw man. Of course you're going to be using those hacker eyes of yours aren't you?"

Sasuke identified the voice as Kidomaru, "I'll give you the same option I gave Sakon when I fought him. Tell me what you know of Orochimaru now and leave us alone. You'll live longer that way."

Kidomaru laughed from his concealed location as his voice echoed about, "I'm not like Sakon or Ukon. I'm not willing to just die off so early in the game, I'm no idiot stage boss."

"I don't know what that means." Sasuke said as he kept himself ready to dodge again, "But I don't really care. You can speak anyway you want, but getting your face kicked in sounds the same in any language" Sasuke however, was thinking of how he was going to flush Kidomaru out, 'I could just be a dick about it and set the woods on fire, but I'm supposed to protect the city, not destroy it because it's convenient… besides, Director Tenzo would be pissed off if I burned down park trees.'

Another set of web nets flew at Sasuke who quickly made hand-seals, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu)!" Sasuke spat a series of small fireballs at the webs, destroying them in mid flight. After firing the fireballs and hitting the webs, a blur appeared underneath Sasuke.

"Kumo Nento (Spider Sticking Spit)!" A web shot from the figure and grabbed Sasuke by the front of his arms when he tried to block it. The web was incredibly strong and dragged Sasuke from his higher branch, pulling him into the trunk of a tree and dropping him to the ground, "It was a feint you fool! What does Orochimaru-sama see in you?"

"The same thing you're going to see." Sasuke said as he pulled himself back to his feet, "I'm not going to chase you anymore. I can dodge your attacks all day, so all I have to do is wait for Naruto to show up and we'll start tearing you apart."

Kidomaru's laughter rang out once more, "You mean that blonde kid that killed Ukon? Yeah, he's not going to be showing up." He taunted, confusing Sasuke, "He and that other guy with him are going to be a little indisposed."

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto was tired of pounding on the side of the dome he and Neji were trapped in and he took to sitting down in the center of it, bored out of his mind, "This is so fucking boring. What the hell is this?"

Neji was slightly sweating, "We need to get out of here Uzumaki. This thing is draining our chakra." Neji could see the walls of the dome absorbing their energy, although Naruto still seemed to be teeming with the stuff, and his chakra color was back to normal blue.

"Oh really?" Naruto said with a twitching eyebrow, "Allow me to demonstrate just how that's worked out so far." Naruto stood up and drew his hand back, "Fungeki Kiritsukeru (Fury Slash)!" Naruto launched one of the wicked ranged gouging attacks at the wall and sliced off a significant portion of rock before it immediately repaired itself, "The only thing I have with enough knockout power to break this is Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion), and my clones dispel before they can finish channeling the chakra to take this dome out."

"What a great meal you pieces of trash are turning out to be!" A burly voice called from outside the dome, "I expected to finish you two off in a matter of minutes, yet you're still hanging in there!"

Neji raised an eyebrow, "He's taking our chakra into himself?" He activated his Byakugan and looked at the man standing outside with his hands on the dome, "He is."

Naruto blinked and then smirked cruelly, "So all of our chakra is going right into him is it?" Neji nodded, "Good to know." Naruto started channeling tons of unnecessary youki into the atmosphere to the point that Neji had to deactivate his Byakugan to avoid being blinded.

"What are you doing?" Neji asked him, rubbing his eyes to get the optimal level of sight back into them, "You're wasting more chakra this way. He'll suck you dry in seconds at this rate.

Naruto shook his head as he could begin to feel the pull of flaring his youki, "No, this chakra of mine is very, very poisonous to regular people in huge helpings." Naruto turned off all of the power he had been generating, "Now check and see."

Neji turned his Byakugan back on and saw outside of the dome to see that there was no more drain on their chakra, also that their enemy that had attacked them was on his hands and knees vomiting on the ground, "Now's our chance. Can you get us out? The back was structurally supposed to be the weakest point." He said while pointing in the appropriate direction.

"On it." Naruto said as a Kage Bunshin formed and rushed towards the back of the dome while the original Naruto made a single half-tiger hand-seal, "You rule Itachi… Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion)! Boom!"

The explosion crumbled the foundation of that side of the dome enough for Naruto to use his body as a battering ram and push his way through, with Neji quick to follow. Naruto picked himself up off of the ground and dusted himself off as he and Neji were able to get a look at the person who had interrupted their little spat.

He was a rather large man, bigger than them both, but looked around their age. He had an orange Mohawk haircut, a sleeveless grey shirt, and camouflage pants with brown boots. He also had that strange purple rope belt around his waist that Sakon had, "What did you do to me?"

Naruto grinned, "Oh, did you not like the chef's special? I made it just for you. That extra hint of chakra poisoning I threw at you was a little something special from me to you. It would have felt a little more personal if I knew your name but it doesn't matter."

"My name is Jirobo you two pieces of trash." The large teen said as he wiped his mouth, "It doesn't matter because it's going to be the last name either of you ever hear."

Naruto and Neji looked at each other and back at Jirobo, "That's some very tough talk." Neji said to him, not very concerned as they had the numbers advantage and as far as he was concerned they had the skills advantage as well.

Jirobo smirked, "It may be tough, but if you two little cockroaches are all I have to worry about I'll have this wrapped up in five minutes." He made a snake hand-seal and smashed his palm against the ground, kicking up rocks and dust that obscured him from view and forced Naruto and Neji to cover their eyes, most important for Neji due to his eye-based kekkei. This allowed Jirobo to rush through the debris and smash Naruto in the belly with a knee that lifted him off of the ground and a palm strike that sent him sliding across the ground.

Neji saw Naruto take the hit and saw Jirobo switch his attention to him, too close for him to start dodging punches and kicks, thus he switched to his ace in the hole, "Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin)!" Neji released a huge amount of chakra and spun rapidly, creating a shield of chakra that knocked Jirobo away forcefully.

Cursing that he let himself get hit so hard and checking to see if anything was broken, Naruto got up in time to see Neji's counter on Jirobo and found himself very grateful that Neji didn't try using that on him, because it would have pissed him off to get blocked like that. Naruto stood up and charged back towards Jirobo, passing Neji as he sprinted at the large teen as he started pulling himself back up and kneed him in the face sending him rolling backwards, holding his face where Naruto struck him.

Naruto turned back to Neji and pointed his thumb at Jirobo, "You see, that guy can take a hit. If I did that to you, you would be dreaming about your clan's mountains of money right now." Neji rolled his eyes before focusing on Jirobo as a strange chakra started coming from him.

"What exactly is happening to him?" Neji asked Naruto.

Naruto visibly frowned as he saw the black markings spreading across Jirobo's body, "Shit… This just got harder to do. We should really start fighting to kill right about now."

"Why?" Neji asked. He had never had to kill anyone before and he wasn't really looking forward to actually doing it to say the very least. Naruto simply pointed at Jirobo with a deadpan look on his face.

Jirobo had lifted up a massive chunk of earth and lifted it over his head. The size of the earthen ball was at least ten times the size of the man himself, "Doton: Doryou Dango (Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling)!"

"Of course you named it that." Naruto said dryly just as Jirobo launched it at both him and Neji, "This is bullshit!" Naruto yelled as it began sliding across the ground towards them flattening everything in its path. Both Neji and Naruto were fleeing from the path of destruction, "Can't your spinning thing stop that?"

Neji wanted to just seal off the tenketsu in Naruto's legs right then and there for such a stupid comment, but he needed his help. Being stuck in Jirobo's chakra-sucking dome really drained him more than he let on. Too many uses of the Kaiten and he would find himself in dire straits, "Just keep running damn it."

Naruto smirked at hearing the noble curse, but chose not to tease him because he would need his help. The guy was a juggernaut. If he got close, Naruto couldn't brute force him. He probably couldn't even if he chose to activate his ascended form, because Jirobo would just go to level two of his weird seal thing and start overpowering him again. He needed Neji's finesse to give him some openings to launch attacks at their opponent, because as tough as he was, if he wound up getting squashed he wasn't going to get back up from that no matter what.

Naruto grabbed Neji's shoulder after they had escaped the jutsu, "I'm going to give you an opening. If I let you get close can you put him down?"

"What are you going to do?" Neji asked him. He could see Jirobo coming towards them in a straight line, not even trying to hide how he was advancing.

"Whatever I have to." Naruto said with a frown before slapping himself. He ran back towards Jirobo and jumped up on top of the chunk of earth that was hurled at him and Neji to finally get sight of Jirobo once more. Forming a blue fireball in both hands he jumped into the air and began bombarding the large enemy with repeated throws of the technique, "Kitsune-bi Danmaku (Fox Fire Barrage)!"

Jirobo glared at Naruto and punched the ground, raising a large wall to defend and take the fireballs in his place, "Doton: Doroku Gaeshi (Earth Release: Earth Shore Return)!" Two clones of Naruto ran around both sides of the wall as another jumped over the top of it to attack the large man who simply smirked, "So stupid! You can't beat me like this, just give up and I'll kill you quickly!" He gleefully dispelled Naruto's clones, hoping that the real one was among them.

"Really?" He heard a cool voice say from behind him, turning to see Neji standing in a strange stance, "Because I think the way we're fighting is working just fine. You are in range of my field of divination." He moved forward and began striking Jirobo, "Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms! Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms)!"

Neji finished his Jyuuken combination on Jirobo with a forceful palm strike to the chest that sent him flying back first into the wall he made as he slumped to the ground lifelessly. The real Naruto came around the wall and saw Jirobo unresponsive against the wall.

Neji smirked at Naruto, slightly shaken up by the kill, but the distinct lack of any kind of blood on him desensitized him to it somewhat, "And that's how you do that; quick, clean, and technical. You could take a lesson from it."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair as Neji deactivated his Byakugan, "Yeah, blah. Whatever." He pulled his goggles over his eyes to check Jirobo's vitals with the x-ray mode Tenten had installed, "Um, Neji. He's not-."

Naruto was cut off when both he and Neji were grabbed by the throat by a revived Jirobo who had murder in his eyes. His appearance began to change to one with red skin, a mane going down his back, and warts on his forehead and shoulders, "You two are very, very annoying. It's time this came to an end." He said to the two teens he was choking in his grasp.

XxX

(With Sasuke)

Sasuke grit his teeth in anger. He had finally gotten a good look at his attacker while he had been dodging and discovered him to be a rather tan boy his age with spiky black hair put in a ponytail. He wore a dark green t-shirt and blue shorts with a black jacket tied around his waist to go with a purple rope belt that all of the people being sent after him seemed to have. However the most glaring trait about this person was the fact that he had four extra arms.

Arms that he used to pelt Sasuke with a myriad of weaponry that he seemed to form from stuff he chewed up in his mouth and manipulated into shapes. It's strange that he was able to chew it, because he threw a kunai at Sasuke that cut his cheek… that shit certainly didn't feel very chewable to him.

'I'm so sick of this.' Sasuke thought to himself, 'The next time I see that son of a bitch I'm taking him down. Just let him try to hide from me again.'

"Sasuke-kun! 35 degrees to your right!"

Sasuke didn't even bother wondering about the voice, he simply turned in the indicated direction and saw a series of gold colored boomerangs coming towards him that he had to dodge. After avoiding the attack he turned towards the origin of the warning voice and widened his eyes, "What in the hell are you doing here?" His eyes locked with Hinata's who blinked at him in confusion.

"Well…" She said sheepishly, "It looked like you needed help. Could you even see him?" Sasuke frowned at the fact that she pinpointed his trouble with the battle, "I can see him right now." She pointed in a direction and moved her finger as she noted Kidomaru moving to try and lose her, "He can't hide from me."

Sasuke palmed his face, "What about your sister and the kids?"

Hinata smiled, "I gave Hanabi-chan my phone and told her to call Otou-sama and Hizashi-ojisan. They should be here very soon for them." She looked back up into the trees with a serious face, "Until then I'm here to help you out."

Sasuke sighed and kept his eyes peeled around the general area, "Fine. Tell me where he is so I can go find him and kick his ass. I'm sick of standing out in the damn rain."

From his hiding place, Kidomaru sneered at Hinata entering the battle that he had firmly in his control up until this point, "Damn bitch… a support character. How cheap." He made more weapons to deal with Sasuke and the new arrival, however when he lifted his head to look for them again he couldn't see Sasuke, "Where did he go?"

"Right here!" From behind, Sasuke kicked him out from the elevated branches and followed him out, seemingly behind him as they flew through the air like a shadow, "I may have copied this part from someone but it's all original from here on out." Sasuke attempted a kick to one of Kidomaru's sides that he blocked, however Sasuke floated over to his other side and kicked him there, following through with a spinning backfist and as they hit the ground he finished with a spinning heel drop to the body, "Shishi Rendan (Lion's Barrage)!"

As Sasuke rolled away from Kidomaru he saw that a strange gold substance was covering his body. Made of the same material that the weapons he had been pelted with were made of, "What the-?"

Kidomaru's armor around his face cracked and he took aim at Sasuke, "Kumo Mayu (Spider Web Cocoon)!" He shot out spider thread from his mouth that caught Sasuke off-balance and began encasing him completely. After finishing the technique, he stood up with a smirk on his face, "A tough level for sure, but you were just out of your league Uchiha kid. We have more power than you."

"You're in my range!" Hinata appeared from behind Kidomaru and began striking at him with a fast Jyuuken combination, "Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Hakke Sanjuuni Shou (Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms)!" Ignoring Kidomaru after knocking him away, she immediately rushed over to Sasuke and cut him free with her clan taijutsu before he could potentially suffocate.

Sasuke clawed himself free after the cocoon was cut open and he took a deep breath, "Thanks a lot. You can break this stuff? I thought I was going to have to risk setting myself on fire to get out."

Hinata nodded, "I can see the chakra flowing through the webbing making it so strong. I can disrupt it as well with my taijutsu so I can break it." She frowned once she realized that Kidomaru took to hiding again, "He left the area again. He's not far."

Sasuke got himself back up to his feet, "That's okay. With you we can find him again and the next time I see him he won't be getting away again. We need to put an end to this."

Kidomaru had taken refuge in the high branches of the rainy woods once more, his armor entirely chipped away after having used it to block Hinata's attack. He let his strange seal spread across his body, "Well I guess I've been playing for long enough." He bit his finger and made a set of hand-seals, "I hope you fools like this one! Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

In a puff of smoke in the branches high above Sasuke and Hinata, a large spider sat in a web. Hinata's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the creature, "Sasuke-kun what on earth is that? It came from out of nowhere!"

Sasuke was in a defensive stance, ready for anything and everything, "It's a summoned creature. Some people have the ability to summon animals and things that they have blood contracts with. They help the summoners in battle… and I don't know what this one will do." His family had a hawk contract that he wasn't allowed to sign yet much to his chagrin.

A large egg sac began emerging from the back of the spider and one of Kidomaru's created blades cut it open, revealing a mass of spiders that dropped down on top of Sasuke and Hinata, with webbing out.

"Damn it!" Sasuke shouted. His goal was to capture him, well if Sasuke found himself ensnared in that webbing he wasn't going anywhere, this he knew already. He couldn't cut through it, he could burn it, but in large quantities like this eventually he would be pinned down. Hinata stepped in front of Sasuke in her Jyuuken stance, "What are you doing?"

Hinata locked onto all of the little spiders dropping around them, "Just stand still Sasuke-kun. Allow me to handle this please." Hinata began emitting a constant stream of chakra from her palms and began moving so fast her movements needed to be recorded by Sasuke's Sharingan to be seen, "Shugohakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!"

The spiders that came close to attack Hinata and Sasuke would up being cut to shreds by beams of chakra that formed a protective grid around herself and Sasuke. When the spiders were destroyed they would burst into webbing, but Hinata was able to cut through that as well, rendering the spider summons useless.

As Hinata dropped her protective jutsu, Sasuke jumped onto the side of a tree and ran up the trunk before jumping at the giant spider, "Suck it you ugly bastard! Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!" Sasuke took a deep breath and launched a huge fireball at the spider that hit it dead on. It let out a pained cry and disappeared in a puff of smoke, "And that's how you solve a problem! With gratuitous violence, the way nature intended!"

Hinata looked out into the forest once again, "He's still out there Sasuke-kun. Why is this person after you anyway?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I'm apparently on the radar of a powerful criminal. This is the second guy to try something like this on me today. And if that was any indication of what's about to happen, things are about to get way worse."

A gasp came from Hinata as she was able to see Kidomaru from a distance, "His chakra. It's getting so much stronger… and darker. What is he?"

Sasuke sighed, "I totally knew it."

XxX

Kidomaru sat in the trees in his transformed state. His hair grew long and white, his skin turned dark red, he gained horns on his forehead and shoulders, and a third eye opened up on his forehead, "I can't believe these two trash characters made me go this far. Heh, it's kind of fun actually, but it's game over now." From his mouth he formed more of his special webbing and molded it into a large bow and arrow with multiple smaller webs about for added tension to the attack, "Kumo Senkyuu: Suzaku (Spider War Bow: Terrible Split)!" With his third eye he took aim at both Sasuke and Hinata from where they were, "Sorry, but the bitch with the eyes that can see me has to go. It's a shame though." He drew his arrow back as far as it could go, using all eight of his limbs to create extraordinary tension, "The weakest one in the game always goes down first!" He let fly with one of the arrows with crushing force.

XxX

The arrow came too fast for Hinata to be able to track, however Sasuke saw it as clear as day, that it had targeted her to finish her off. Still, the arrow was faster than him, and seeing it did little to no good since he wouldn't have been able to drag her out of the way in time, thus Sasuke did the only thing he could do in that scenario. He threw himself in front of the arrow. If he could at least spoil the plans of their attacker by dying instead of being captured while simultaneously keeping Hinata from being him, maybe something decent could come of this.

The arrow hit Sasuke hard enough to drill straight through his left shoulder and come out the other side, eliciting a loud shout of pain and anguish from the raven haired police trainee as he held his now useless left arm.

"Sasuke-kun!" Hinata shouted as he dropped to his knees holding his wound, "Why did you do that? He wasn't aiming at you!"

"So you saw that did you?" Sasuke grunted out through the pain of his injury, "Sorry, but it's kind of in my job description to protect you… civilian." He finished before letting out another shout.

XxX

Kidomaru broke out into a cold sweat the moment he saw the arrow hit Sasuke, until he realized that the target would survive with that wound, "Stupid hero-cop complex. If I had killed him with that one Orochimaru-sama would have skinned me alive." He formed another arrow and queued it up, "Block or dodge this one if you can." He pulled back his bow to prepare for another shot.

XxX

Hinata slung Sasuke's good arm over her shoulder and tried leaving the area, "We need to leave Sasuke-kun, you can't fight with that wound." She began walking with him, keeping the trees between herself and the spot she knew Kidomaru was shooting from, "You can't do anything if you got close, and I'm not fast enough to get close without getting hit myself."

"He's just going to chase us until he gets me." Sasuke tried to reason, his shoulder keeping him from being too forceful about it, "You can drop me and leave. I can beat this guy, I know I can."

"How?" Hinata snapped at him as they continued to move, "You have one good arm, what hand-seal could you possibly make like that? What jutsu could you use? How could you even get close without him picking you off?"

Sasuke grit his teeth to bite back the pain, "I'm not dead yet. And he won't kill me to win. He needs me alive."

Hinata gasped and dragged Sasuke behind a tree, "He's going to try and shoot again. We need cover."

Sasuke leaned against the tree at Hinata's behest and looked at his wound as they hid. There was a drilling hole going through, 'Son of a bitch.' He suddenly shoved Hinata hard out from behind the tree just an arrow burrowed through and hit him through his other shoulder. Sasuke gasped in pain as his other arm was rendered useless by Kidomaru's attack.

XxX

"Fuck!" Kidomaru cursed loudly at Sasuke saving Hinata again, "Fine, if that's the way you want to play it she won't dodge the next one no matter what!" Kidomaru formed another arrow, connected to his mouth by a strand of web, "I can't possibly miss with this shot." He pulled the arrow back in his bow, "Sweet dreams love. It's game over for you once and for all." He grinned darkly as he let fly his next arrow.

The projectile hurtled through the woods, turning and averting trees due to the string on the back of it guiding it around the foliage before it finally honed in on Hinata who was still on the ground from being shoved by Sasuke. However just as it would have hit her, Sasuke dove in the way, taking the attack right into the upper right side of his back. It didn't drill all the way through due to it losing momentum because of the guiding web, but it hit deep enough to finally cause Sasuke to collapse from his injuries.

"Such an idiot…" Kidomaru mumbled as he watched Hinata fret over Sasuke's wounds from his hidden position, "None of those shots were meant for him."

XxX

Hinata was immediately at Sasuke side as he hit the ground and was beside herself as he began to bleed profusely from all of his wounds, "This is all my fault! I'm too slow to be of any use to anyone in a fight like this!" She heard Sasuke mumble weakly, but she couldn't make out what it was that he had said, "What?"

Sasuke repeated himself slightly louder, "Can you find him again?" Hinata was confused by the question, "It's too late to run. He'll shoot you down before you can even see him." He explained weakly, "The only thing you can do at this point is stay by me. He won't kill me and if you keep me in your way he won't hit you."

Hinata shook her head about to dispute using him like a human shield until she noticed the web attached to the arrow stuck in his back and how it ran a line right back to Kidomaru, and chakra was still coursing through it. She quickly grabbed the line and sent a burst of chakra through the web before taking off towards Kidomaru's direction.

XxX

"So stupid…" Kidomaru said to himself as he saw Hinata rush towards him from Sasuke's position. He prepared to take aim at her, but before he could form another arrow he found a rather destructive jolt coursing through his system that froze him up and forced him to fall from the tree, dropping his bow and arrow. As he hit the forest floor he realized that he could taste blood. His organs had been damaged by whatever had just happened, 'What the hell? What just happened?' He wondered as the feeling in his body came back enough for him to stand up, however just as he did Hinata rushed through the brush and hit him right in the center of the chest with a palm strike.

"Please just die…" Hinata said regretfully as she saw the blood start to flow from Kidomaru's mouth, "You should never have come here, I'm sorry." She waited there until Kidomaru dropped to the ground and passed on with one final death rattle before turning and running back to where she left Sasuke.

XxX

(With Naruto)

Jirobo was choking the life out of Naruto and Neji who were slowly losing their grip on consciousness. Naruto grabbed the sturdy arm of Jirobo tight and began channeling youki to his hands to form claws that he dug into the arm deeply with, drawing blood from the deep gashes he left. Neji gripped the arm choking him tight in order to relieve some pressure and jabbed at certain points on the arm to render it unusable, forcing Jirobo to drop him to the ground.

Neji fell on his backside, holding his throat and blinking back tears drawn from the lack of oxygen for so long. He regained his footing as soon as he could and smashed Jirobo under the chin with a palm strike that freed Naruto from the mammoth enemy's clutches.

Naruto was quicker to recover from being choked than Neji and formed a blue fireball in his hand, "Kitsune-bi (Fox Fire)!" A fireball that he used to blast Jirobo right in the face, sending him stumbling back and yelling in pain from his burns.

Neji moved in to finish him with a palm strike to the chest, but Jirobo saw him coming and with murder in his eyes, overpowered Neji's attempted attack with a straight punch that broke his hand, disrupted his attack, and followed through to hit Neji right in the jaw and knock him away, sending him flying off and bouncing his frame sickeningly off of a tree trunk.

Naruto growled and used his sharpened claws to take one single swipe at Jirobo, winding up catching him in the throat, cutting deeply.

He stumbled back, gasping as blood swiftly poured from the wound, his large hand that had not been paralyzed by Neji grasping at it in vain to keep the vital fluid inside. Naruto watched him back against the tree, his eyes frantically looking around for anyone, anything to save him from such a death, but it was for naught. After a moment he fell to the ground, after another he lay there lifelessly. His transformed state having receded to show his normal form.

Naruto caught his breath and slowly stilled his breathing, bringing it back to a normal rate after the battle. He turned to Neji who was conscious and trying to stand up with the help of a tree, the look of his face clearly one of a person who had suffered a head injury of some sort.

Naruto got up and walked over to Neji, holding up three fingers, "Okay calm down Neji. How many fingers am I holding up? What's your name? What's today's date?"

Neji pushed Naruto's hand away, "Three fingers, my name is Neji Hyuuga, and today's June 11th. I know how to check for head injuries Uzumaki. It's not that serious." He swayed slightly on his feet before righting himself, "What can I say about this enemy, except of course good riddance. But seriously he lived a good life…and now that he's dead our lives are pretty good too. Who the hell was that person?"

"I think he was after Sasuke." Naruto said with a frown before widening his eyes, "Or he was here to distract me while someone else went after Sasuke! Damn it, Princess and the brats are with him! He's a sitting duck!" Naruto quickly formed a fireball and threw it at Jirobo's body, in an effort to burn the body on the spot. He and Neji then took off to where they left the others.

XxX

(Moments Later)

Naruto and Neji found Hinata and Sasuke back under the gazebo with the children standing off to the side watching in horror. Naruto slid to his knees by Sasuke's side, "Damn it, what happened to him?" He asked Hinata who was sitting by Sasuke's side trying to keep him comfortable.

"We were attacked." She said, "Sasuke-kun went out to fight him and got wounded when I tried to help. The attacker was a long-range fighter too good for me to get close to. We were able to kill him though. He's still in the woods." She looked at Naruto and Neji, "What are we going to do? I had Hanabi-chan call our father before I went to go try to help."

Naruto pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number, "Shizune-neechan please tell me that you or Rin-neechan are working a hospital shift right now." He waited for a moment to get a response, "No I'm not hurt… well, I'm kind of beat up but that's not the point. This isn't for me. Are one of you working or not?"

"Yes Naruto-kun. Can you get whoever it is here quickly? Where are you?"

Before he answered, Naruto looked up to see Hiashi Hyuuga and a man looking just like him walking with guards towards the gazebo, "Give me a moment and I'll see." He looked over at Hinata, "Do you think that Sasuke and I can get a ride to the hospital. Or would having Sasuke bleed in whatever expensive car your family took to get here be out of the question?"

Hinata looked up as her father made it over to them and began speaking, "What happened here? Why did you have Hanabi call me Hinata?"

She bowed slightly before speaking frantically, "I'm sorry Otou-sama, but there was trouble. This boy, Sasuke Uchiha, he was hurt trying to keep us out of harm's way. Can we take him to the hospital?"

Hiashi looked down at Sasuke who was still conscious and met his gaze weakly, but still with determination. He then looked over at Naruto who was giving him a similar look, only with more strength behind it, "Very well. We will assist Uzumaki and the young Uchiha boy to the hospital." Naruto didn't have to be told twice and took off his vest to wrap around Sasuke in order to keep him from staining the car they would ride in with blood.

"Come on Deputy, we're going to get you all patched up." Naruto said as he hoisted Sasuke up and turned to the kids, "Come on everyone, you're coming with us. I can't leave Konohamaru like this and I can't leave any of you either." The kids all followed Naruto as he rushed away towards the direction the Hyuuga adults came from to find their car.

Hiashi's brother Hizashi looked at Neji as Hiashi, Hinata, and Hanabi began heading to the vehicle as well, "Neji, what happened here? You look rather injured yourself."

Neji shook his head and began walking alongside him, "I am fine father. Uzumaki and I won our battle without too much issue." He held his head and had to have Hizashi keep him level, "I am fine… I just need to rest for a moment."

XxX

(Undisclosed Location)

"Motherfucker!" Tayuya shouted as she punched a wall and kicked over a laptop that had been keeping a tab on her teammates' vitals, "Those useless cocksuckers all got wasted by those two! How could they all have lost?"

"It seems that I was right to come after all." A calm voice said that made Tayuya's blood run cold, "The deadline for your mission has passed. You have failed Tayuya."

She turned around to see a young man with pale skin, green eyes, and shoulder length white hair with two dots on his forehead. He wore loose-fitting long-sleeved zip-up shirt, black pants, sandals, and had a circular patterned marking of three curved lines on his throat.

Tayuya backed away from him with fear in her eyes, "I can get the Uchiha kid by myself! The others were just stupid about how they tried it! I don't need the help from the others Kimimaro, just give me more time!"

"It's too late." Kimimaro said as he pulled a knife-shaped bone from his own body, "Trash such as you that cannot complete simple tasks cannot be allowed to serve Orochimaru-sama. Goodbye Tayuya. It seems I will have to handle this myself."

XxX

(Konoha General Hospital)

Shizune shut the door to the hospital room she had prepped for Naruto's friend upon his arrival. It was child's play for her to isolate a room for Naruto to stay in or use. It was a trick she and Rin had developed during their careers and the use of hospital work as a cover ID. If someone died that day they would keep their name on the ledger and allow an injured mercenary the rights to that room while keeping tabs on it themselves and keeping other doctors away. Was it somewhat distasteful? Yes, but it had to be done from time to time. Less nowadays with Tsunade working at Kaisha Hien HQ once more, still it was a practice that was still useful.

"Do you need anything Shizune-san?"

Shizune, at the sound of the voice gave a smile to the person who spoke, "Oh, that's okay, I just got through checking on Tenryuu-san. He asked to not be disturbed for the remainder of the day, but I'll check in on him later just to make sure. Thank you anyway, you're a very lively intern Kabuto."

A young man with silver hair in a ponytail wearing purple scrubs and glasses smiled as he tilted his glassed up onto his face appropriately, "Oh it's no problem at all Shizune-san. Everyone that knows me says that I'm a helpful kind of guy." Kabuto said with a smile.

Character Profile 13

Name: Hinata Hyuuga

Nickname: Princess (by Naruto), Hinata-oneesama (by Hanabi)

Age: 15

Height/Weight: 5'2/101 lbs.

Special Skills/Traits: Byakugan kekkei genkai, gentle and sweet normal demeanor, Hyuuga Clan heiress, perceptive, Jyuuken taijutsu style proficiency, incredible chakra control for very precise techniques, rudimentary medical skills.

Likes: Pressing flowers, improving her Jyuuken combat skills, red bean soup, cinnamon rolls, the Hyuuga Clan, her little sister Hanabi, tea ceremonies, being able to help others, travelling.

Dislikes: Violence, seafood, arrogant people, fighting, Neji-niisan's poor attitude, being compared to a princess (generally by just Naruto), being accused of taking advantage of her family's name and status.

Theme Song: "Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo

Notes: Hinata is the kind-hearted heiress of the affluent Hyuuga Clan, set to take over the duties of leading once her father steps down. Upon being introduced she has a rather cold, detached demeanor, but after earning her trust one will find no girl kinder, especially for her standing in society. She is far from defenseless and is quite talented with her family combat style, being among the best of her generation to take up the practice, however the lack of desire to harm those around her holds her back from going further in her skills. In response to this she has formed a more defensive fighting tactic in combat that the more offensive style generally seen from Jyuuken practitioners, as she would rather aim to disable than to kill. She and her younger sister Hanabi have formed a close relationship with Naruto Uzumaki due to their interaction on his mission to protect her.

Quote: "We must be the change we want to see."

"Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts."

"Yes… I'm certain that you're very, very unique… Just like everyone else."

"I do not like fighting, but I will not allow you to harm the people I consider close to me. Prepare yourself."

"Yes I suppose that technically I am a princess all things considered. However if that just so happens to be the case then this princess orders you to be quiet on the matter."

"The quickest way to a man's heart is with my Jyuuken."

Character Profile 14

Name: Neji Hyuuga

Nickname: Neji-teme (by Naruto), Neji-niisan (by Hinata and Hanabi)

Age: 16

Height/Weight: 5'9/164 lbs.

Special Skills/Traits: Byakugan kekkei genkai (more powerful than most in his clan), cool and realistic personality, very difficult to fluster, excels at close-range combat with his Jyuuken style of taijutsu, prodigical skill in combat, condescending attitude to enemies and those he has deemed as being beneath him.

Likes: Victory, training his Byakugan, meditation, the Hyuuga Clan, herring, his duty to his clan, training his Jyuuken, testing his abilities.

Dislikes: Weak people, pumpkin-flavored anything, spicy foods, eccentric personalities, quitters, those who would stand against the Hyuuga Clan and their allies, anyone who would harm Hinata-sama or Hanabi-sama, outsiders of the clan.

Theme Song: "All Apologies" by Nirvana

Notes: Neji is the son of Hizashi Hyuuga, the younger brother of Hyuuga Clan head Hiashi Hyuuga and the lead protector of the Hyuuga Clan Jyuuken style. This position will be filled by Neji upon his father's retirement and has required Neji to prepare himself on all fronts; socially, politically, and gave him a need to excel at the clan taijutsu style. This eventually led to him developing an innate talent that had not been seen in the clan for generations. He is incredibly protective of the clan heiresses Hinata and Hanabi, though that could also be accredited to them being his direct relation blood cousins. He is very loyal to his clan and is quite defensive to outsiders who attempt to forge relationships into it, especially with the clan head's daughters… leading to his initial mistrust and dislike of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha.

Quote: "I don't need a weapon. My hands are my weapons."

"See, that's how you fight. Face your enemy man-to-man, or in your case, woefully inadequate man-to-woman because you fighting me just isn't fair."

"That was the single worst excuse for taijutsu ever… of all time."

"Do you understand now? You have no way of defeating me."

"No one makes me bleed my own blood… No one!"

Character Profile 15

Name: Shizune

Nickname: Shizune-neechan (by Naruto)

Age: 25

Height/Weight: 5'5/110 lbs.

Special Skills/Traits: Dark neck-length hair, black eyes, lithe frame, high medical skills, speedy fighting style, use of medical tools as weaponry, liberal use of poisons in battle, accomplished senbon user, usually meek and disarming demeanor that turns harsh in high-pressure situations.

Likes: Tsunade-sama, her work as both an active Kaisha Hien medic and an attending doctor at Konohagakure General Hospital, improving her medical skills, working with new poisons, taking care of Naruto-kun, spending time with Rin.

Dislikes: Alcoholic beverages (both drinking them herself and allowing others to do so), gambling, taking care of Naruto-kun, messy battles or conflicts, being underestimated in combat, perverts, swimming, commuting to work.

Theme Song: "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve

Notes: Shizune is a trained medic and fully certified MD on par with the greatest healers on the continent due to her time training from a young age with Tsunade Senju. 15 years ago she was the first person to see a newly born Naruto Uzumaki and confirm that he was an orphan. After forgetting this incident she came upon Naruto years later after a run-in with a kidnapper who had also taken Sasuke Uchiha and tormented the two boys. Believing it to be fate of some sort, Shizune began a sort of sisterly relationship with Naruto, helping him whenever he needed medical assistance and just overall looking out for his well being. While her master Tsunade was away from Konoha, Shizune kept her up to date on the happenings of Kaisha Hien as an operative in the PMC from afar due to her friendship with Rin, finally actively joining the company upon Tsunade's return to Konoha. She specializes in one-hit combat with poisons and sedatives to quickly subdue or kill her enemies.

Quote: "Doctor Shizune says take two poisoned senbon to the throat and call me when you're dead. 'Ring, ring.' Hello? Is it you? Yup… you're dead."

"Oh, I'm just so depressed. I can't even threaten your life for being such a jackass… Jackass… I'll kill you." (to Naruto)

"It's quiet… Too quiet." *explosion rings out* "Suddenly it's too loud! I liked it better when it was quiet!"

"You may think you're all healed, you may even look all healed, but you're NOT all healed… now shut up and get back into bed."

"Alright that's it. If you end up dying for being stupid and come back to haunt me for failing to save you I'll just slap your dumb ghost ass and tell you it was your own dumb fault for not listening to me… the trained and licensed practitioner of physical medicine… you fucking idiot."

Chapter done. I have not a lot to say. Review for your pimptastic pope, I'm going to go do Saturday night stuff. Later world, Kenchi out.