A/N: I survived finals, my friends. I now have a few days to do whatever I want, so let's get the ball rolling.
Time for chapter 26
Enjoy!
Naruto spat blood out of his mouth and cursed under his breath as he struggled to his feet to face Lee. The Jinchuuriki had sought out the recently-recovered genin earlier that day in order to ask for advice in facing Gaara, as Lee had nearly beaten the Sand ninja during the preliminary round. Instead of simply explaining his process, Lee had opted to spar with Naruto. The matches had been strictly taijutsu, and the jumpsuit-wearing ninja had dominated them.
'He's so much faster than me. No wonder he was tuning Gaara up' Naruto thought to himself as he readied himself for another engagement. As he stepped to go on the attack, he was buckled to his knees by a hard bunch between the eyes from Lee. As he fell to his rear-end, Naruto braced himself for the inevitable follow-up. To his surprise, it never came.
"That's enough for today, Naruto-san. I have seen what I need to see" Lee said as he offered a hand to the fallen Jinchuuriki. Naruto took the hand and rose to his feet.
"You're quick as hell. I feel bad for Gaara now" he joked. Lee laughed a bit and stepped back a few feet to give the blonde space to regain his bearings.
"You shouldn't. Whoever he is, Gaara is very dangerous, and he appears to be unstable" he said as he recalled his brutal encounter with the redhead. The excitable genin nodded and stretched out his joints and limbs.
"What do you think of my chances against him?" he asked curiously. The jumpsuit-wearing genin winced at the question.
"You are a fine practitioner of taijutsu. You take small, measured steps to slide in genuinely nice counters, and you aren't terrible defensively. If you were to be locked in a small box with Gaara, you would easily dominate the exchanges and likely knock him out fairly quickly, but in open space, you aren't likely to win this fight. You simply aren't fast enough" he said honestly. Naruto sighed.
"That's kind of what I was thinking too. You were able to get to him by just shocking him out of the gate. I don't have that kind of raw speed. Do you have any suggestions for how I could close the distance?" he asked. Lee nodded.
"My speed began to leave me as I tired against Gaara, so I had to find ways inside his defenses that didn't rely on my ability to simple out-run the sand. His sand is semi-sentient. It almost appears to have its own field of vision. It anticipates where you're going to go, and it adjusts its trajectory accordingly. As such, it can be confused by feints and misdirection. My ability to use the gates certainly helped, though" he explained.
"So in other words, I need to freak out his sand with weird trickery. That sounds...kinda hard to do" Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. Lee sighed.
"It took every bit of my mental fortitude to not lay down and quit once I started to tire. Adjusting to Gaara on the fly is both difficult and excessively dangerous. The moment he smells blood, he attacks relentlessly. That sand also seems to be seperate from his chakra supply, so he himself does not lose energy for using it" he said. Naruto then thought for a moment.
"Would it be possible for you to teach me how to use at least the first gate? I'm naturally a harder hitter than you are, so the boost in speed would be all I would need. Could that work?" he asked. The jumpsuit-wearing ninja raised an eyebrow.
"I mean no offense to you, Naruto-san, but it took years of specialized conditioning for my body to be able to handle even the first gate. We don't have the time" he said. Naruto shook his head and closed his eyes. He soon re-opened them, revealing a pair of red irises.
"That won't apply to me. I can cheat my way around it" he said as Lee stared at him wide-eyed. After several moments of silence, the boy with the bowl cut nodded.
"If those eyes signify what I think they do, then your ability to allegedly walk through Hinata-san's strikes without any ill effects makes perfect sense. Let's get working then. We have much to do" he said. Naruto took a deep breath and prepared himself.
'This is probably going to suck'
Kakashi winced as he swallowed his too-hot tea. For all of his many experiences and skills, the judging of temperatures had never been a strong-suit of the jonin. As he forcefully downed the liquid, he returned his attention to Might Guy, who was sitting across from him at the cafe table, a look of amusement on his face.
"Perhaps we should compete to see who has a greater tolerance for heat. I may still defeat you yet, Kakashi" he joked as he sipped his far more reasonably heated tea. The silver haired ninja sighed and set his cup down.
"Save till after the exams are wrapped up and in the past. The final round is in about a month, and I hate the feeling I'm getting in the interim" he said. Guy nodded and glanced out the window.
"As do I. Maybe I'm a bit biased, but watching Lee lose at the height of his power to that Gaara boy was more than a little jarring. No genin should have been able to survive that technique. Most chunin would have died on impact. I just don't understand it. The sand only did so much to cushion the force of the collision. That was a feat of sheer durability" he said with a shake of his head. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"You mean you really haven't pieced it all together yet?" he asked vaguely. The taijutsu specialist gave his comrade a confused look.
"What do you mean? Something you know that I don't?" he replied skeptically. Kakashi nodded and leaned across the table a few inches.
"Like Naruto, Gaara is a Jinchuuriki. Specifically, he harbors the One-Tailed Tanuki, Shukaku. Suna has had control of the One-Tail for the past few decades, but they've always kept the identities of their current, past, and future Jinchuuriki quiet. The ability to wield sand, the unnatural physical durability, and an underlying degree of insanity. All traits of a host of Shukaku. Lee never had a chance. I'm sorry, Guy, but no matter how hard and how often Lee was able to hit him, he was never on his way to a victory" he explained.
Guy clenched his jaw for a moment, but allowed himself to relax and leaned back in his chair. He then chuckled a bit.
"I'm still proud of him, Kakashi. He still put the fear of god into that boy. Gaara felt fear. He dislikes being hit, and he dislikes the feeling of helplessness. Even if he was never close to being beaten in the big picture, he was beaten pillar to post" he said proudly. Kakashi smiled at his friend's optimistic demeanor. The pair then lapsed into silence for several moments before Kakashi asked the question that had been burning in his mind.
"As a person who was greatly invested in the fight between Gaara and Lee and also watched Naruto and Hinata fight, what do you think Naruto's chances are? Before you answer that, you should probably know that Naruto was operating at around forty percent of his maximum against Hinata" he asked. Guy stroked his chin for a few seconds as he analyzed the information being presented to him.
"Should we take your estimate of Naruto's power at face value, he's still less than a fifth as powerful as Lee past the fourth gate. The one massive advantage that Naruto has that Lee doesn't is endurance. He can sustain his maximum for much longer. He's weaker than Gaara even at full strength, but he may be able to wear him down. Gaara appeared to tire from constantly forced to defend" he replied. The silver haired ninja nodded.
"That was my assumption as well. Naruto likes to prepare specific things for his opponents. He had no way to know he would be facing Hinata in the prelims, but he knew he could just out-horsepower everybody but Neji, although he wasn't aware of Lee at the time. So, to make sure he would win his match, he prepared a variety of pre-determined counters and maneuvers. Most of what you saw against Hinata was him running on auto-pilot. It was all muscle-memory for him by then" he said. Guy grinned.
"A game-planner, eh? A good trait to have. I wouldn't have expected that from Naruto" he said with an approving nod. Kakashi chuckled.
"He's smarter than he gets credit for. He just happens to be teammates with the two most purely intelligent people in his class" he said. The taijutsu specialist shook his head.
"Hinata may be a quicker study, but she isn't a smarter fighter. Naruto may have been simply firing off pre-programmed triggers, but he also adjusted them to Hinata's slight differences from Neji. He routinely changed subtle aspects of his positioning and altered his timing to poke holes in her defenses. Hinata failed to make any major adjustments at all. Though, some of that could be attributed to her complete lack of emotional stability during that match" he said. Kakashi winced and nodded.
"She was more than a little unstable. For all of her differences from Neji, and the difference in proficiency between she and her cousin, she was a much more imposing physical force once she fully gave into the curse mark. It required quite a bit of self-control for Naruto not to just blast her right then and there. I still think he should have just suppressed the seal immediately instead of drawing it out" he said.
Guy downed the rest of his tea and glanced out the window again before standing up to leave.
"I agree. He took more damage than was necessary. There's probably more to his reasoning than we know of, but at face value, it was a foolish choice. Come, Kakashi. I hereby challenge you to a race" he said. The silver haired ninja sighed and stood up from his seat as well.
"Abrupt as ever, Guy"
Hinata smiled with satisfaction as she observed the eighth and final dining hall of the Hyuga estate. Everything was immaculate, from the dining cloth to the floorboards. The Hyuga girl removed her maid's apron and set it aside as she glanced up at the clock.
'Ten forty-five. Quite a late start, but It matters not. I have some...observation to do' she thought to herself as she made her way to the front door and threw on her coat. As she exited the main house, a cold breeze blew through the night, prompting Hinata to put up her hood and jam her hand into her pockets.
'October is always the beginning of unpleasant weather. I won't my alter my schedule for it, though. Naruto-kun requires guardianship, after all' she thought to herself with a giggle. She then set out through the gates of the estate into the cold night of October 2nd. As she walked through the streets, the wind began to die. Eventually, the air went completely dead. Still as a corpse, silent as a mime.
'This...doesn't feel natural. The temperature is exactly the same. Wind chill dictates that the absence of any wind would cause the temperature to increase' Hinata thought skeptically as she approached the district in which Naruto's apartment complex stood. The closer she came to the building, the more and more uneasy she became. Soon after entering the district, she caught sight of the source of the dead winds and unnerving sense of dread.
Sitting on the bench that Hinata herself had occupied on countless quiet nights was Gaara of the Desert. He wore a dark, amused grin that suggested that he had been expecting her.
"Imagine meeting you here" he greeted in a tone of faux joviality. Hinata clenched her jaw and slowly stepped forward as a separate emotion overtook her unease.
"What are you doing out here?" she demanded. The redhead raised an eyebrow and stood up, prompting Hinata to step back several feet.
"Right ot the point, hm? Such impatience. Can't I take in the urban scenery? I am a tourist, after all" he replied. The Hyuga girl narrowed her eyes.
"Care explaining why you're outside of this building? Don't be coy, it won't serve you well if you do" she asked as she forced herself to calm. Gaara glanced back at the apartment complex and began to chuckle. The chuckle soon evolved into a sanguinary laugh that echoed through the streets and alleyways.
"Serve me well? Is that a threat? Please tell me that it is. I'm just starved for some excitement" he asked. Hinata suddenly felt compelled to run in the opposite direction. As she lapsed into silence, Gaara's surge of excitement shifted back into stoicism.
"That's what I thought. If you have nothing to threaten someone with, keep your mouth shut and your head down. Weaklings have no place at the metaphorical table" he said coldly. The heiress felt her anger surge at the comment, but pushed it down, as she knew that the entity before her was far beyond her capabilities.
"You still haven't answered my question. Why are you sitting idly before Naruto-kun's-" she began, opting not to finish the sentence once she realized that she had answered her own question. The sand shinobi sat back down on the bench and studied the Hyuga girl.
"My reasoning is quite simple. I simply wanted to see where my opponent lives. I like to be well studied when facing a new person. Especially an enemy" he replied. Hinata felt her stomach twist at the eerie similarity between Gaara's speech and something she had once told Naruto regarding her then-new habit of following him home.
"I mean no harm to him as of now. I have no reason whatsoever to kill him. No, his blood won't be spilled for another twenty-nine days, eight hours, and thirty-seven minutes. Worry not, little girl" the redhead assured darkly. Hinata took a step forward once more.
"And why should I believe a word from your wretched mouth?" she snapped. Gaara gave her an amused look before responding.
"Let me answer your question with another question. Are you really any more trustworthy than I am? Should you be given the benefit of the doubt? Given what I recently discovered, I don't think you should be allowed to come to this building. Especially at night" he asked. Hinata scrunched up her eyebrows at the question.
"What on earth are you talking about? You don't know a thing about me, and even if you did, you would find that I'm perfectly trustworthy" she said. The redhead chuckled.
"As surprising as it was that you gave into that seal on your neck, it made for excellent entertainment. Your match became much more violent, and better yet, your emotions became raw and uncensored. Readable is an understatement" he said. Hinata's eyes widened as the redhead spoke.
"I don't know if it's a universal ability of people like myself, but I've always had the ability to detect negative or sinful emotion. When you gave into that seal, the entirety of the arena became flooded in your pathetic teen angst. Out of curiosity, I decided to delve into them and take them apart. And let me tell you, what I found was fascinating" he said as he began to file his nails with a kunai. Hinata opened her mouth to respond, but found that it was dry and paralyzed.
"I knew what to expect, generally speaking. Plenty of anger, multiple different forms of jealousy, and an ocean of self-loathing. What I didn't expect was the underlying flavor of lust that permeated it all. Even for a person like myself, that's a bit extreme" he said. Hinata felt her breathing become labored as she tried and failed to control her demeanor.
"You don't know what you're talking about" she said shakily. Gaara grinned at her fading confidence and began to speak again.
"Your tone of voice is a dead giveaway. Back to the point, the fact that one of your primary emotions when battering Naruto was lust points to a dark underbelly to that queenly demeanor you maintain. Given that your eyes have the ability to see through solid objects, it would stand to reason that one of your reasons for coming here is more than a bit perverse" he said. The Hyuga girl burned red as a contrastingly icy sweat trickled down her face.
"Now, even if you weren't planning on going beyond simple peeping, there are no guarantees that you wouldn't lose your patience and...imprint yourself on him. Sexual assault is a felony, you know" Gaara mocked. Hinata gritted her teeth and through a punch towards the Jinchuuriki's face, but missed by a mile as her arm was redirected by a tendril of sand.
"You're digging your own hole. All I've done is give you a shovel" Gaara said as he stood up and began to walk past Hinata, who was shaking. After several moments of walking, the redhead glanced back over his shoulder at the heiress.
"You and I are quite similar. Whether you choose to acknowledge it or not is entirely up to you" he said before vanishing into the black night. After several moments of silent solitude, a quiet sob escaped Hinata's lips as she curled into the fetal position at the base of the apartment building. A mixture of fear and shame had been overwhelming her throughout Gaara's speech, and her dam had finally broken.
'What in god's good name is wrong with me?' she wondered bitterly as she moved into an upright sitting position. She then looked up to the window that she knew looked into Naruto's dwelling.
'I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. You'll never know of what happened here tonight, but even still. I'm so, so sorry'
The Hyuga heiress then stood up, lowered her eyes to the ground, and began her slow trek home.
A/N: Some of you may be confused by the meaning of the closing scene, but try to read a few times. It'll come to you pretty quick. Hope you all enjoyed it anyways!
See you next chapter! Read and Review!