Naruto: Shadow Legion
Naruto: Shadow Legion – Chapter 17 [ Preliminaries Part 3! Clash of the Titans ]
Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto or its Characters
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
The genin of Konoha stood in interest as the matchup between the Hyuuga clansman was announced. This was not a sentiment shared by Hinata as she quietly made her way past her peers, walking down to the steps to face her cousin.
"Don't worry Hinata! Your gonna do great!" A voice called from behind. Recognizing the voice was her teammate Kiba's she slowly turned in in attempt to force a smile, but by the nervous attempt from him to keep his enthusiasm up, she could tell she had failed.
"Don't worry about it! Just go down and beat him so we can all celebrate after this!" Naruto added, forcing the nerves of the Hyuuga heiress to become more nervous.
"Don't think we're done with you!" Ino chastised as she, Sasuke and Satsuki cornered him. "What's the big idea selling away all your secrets! I may as well…" their voices faded away as Hinata disappeared down the staircase, swiftly arriving at the ground floor as she made her way to the center. Neji was already waiting confidently as he stood before her.
"You may begin." Hayate said quietly as he took a few steps back.
"Lady Hinata, before we begin, I must request that you withdraw." Neji spoke seriously as he stared down the genin.
"W-What?" Hinata asked in confusion.
"People like you can never change. It is your destiny to remain a failure." He explained, maintaining his tone as he flared his Byakugan.
"Oi! What's that trash!" The voice of Kiba yelled from the stands, causing both Hyuuga to look up at the Inuzuka. Neji, slightly irritated, and Hinata, still very anxious. "Who's to decide you can't change huh? That seems like a pretty lame way to think. I saw firsthand how Hinata did change!" The boy yelled down as Akamaru gave a supportive bark from atop his head.
Neji, ignoring the provocation returned his gaze at Hinata, who was still looking up at her teammate. "The words of a mutt can and will not convince me you are nothing more than a waste. If you will not see reason, then I suppose we should begin." Neji uttered in a confident manner as he readied his stance, palms outstretched.
"Come on Hinata! Show him what you're made of!" Kiba shouted with a smile before he turned his head behind him. "Will you guys can it and come watch Hinata beat the crap out of this creep!?" He asked ruggedly as he yelled at the three teaming up on Naruto behind him.
"Kiba is so… confident." Hinata thought as she remembered back at how rash and arrogant, he was. "In me?" Hinata returned her attention to the fight at hand as she closed her eyes, beginning to focus herself.
"What are you doing?" Neji asked as he watched the main family child continue to ignore him. "If your going to just sit there I suppose I can make this quick!" Neji shouted as he moved to strike Hinata in the heart. As his palm was in motion he was quickly taken aback when Hinata simply countered the aggressive strike, quickly shoving her own palm into his wrist, intercepting the strike, allowing her to follow up with her own strike to the shoulder, forcing Neji to recover. "What the hell?"
Hinata opened her eyes as her flared Byakugan stared back at the branch member, however there was seemingly no emotion behind them, nor was there any nerve whatsoever as Hinata readied herself for the bout.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"What was that!?" Kin exclaimed in shock as she watched what she had thought to be a scared and timid girl, expertly react to a would-be devastating attack, let alone reduce her emotions to such a degree.
Kiba had burst into laughter at the comment, causing most of the spectators around him outside of Asuma and Kurenai to react. "Lets just say Hinata isn't all she looks." Kiba said with a snicker.
Hearing this, Satsuki took a break from lecturing Naruto to look down at the battle, seeing what Kin was talking about. "He's right. Hinata seems, different."
"Not different, disciplined." Kurenai responded as she watched over her student, currently in a stare down with her supposed senior.
"I'm frankly surprised her training has come this far." Asuma added as he stood beside the red eyed jonin.
"So this is what you were talking about." Kakashi said playfully as he glanced at the two. "Clever." He added as the genin were left in the dark.
"Can somebody please explain?" Naruto said as he was not currently at the railings.
"Whatever, go and take a look idiot." Sasuke chastised as he made his own way the railing, followed by both Ino and Naruto as the observed the fight about to unfold.
"How is she able to do that?" Shikamaru asked, repeating Naruto's question to Asuma this time.
"Sorry, but its not my place to say." He responded as he looked over at Kurenai, who matched his with her own.
"I would love to go onto detail but…" Kurenai glanced towards Kin. "Again, its not our place to say."
"Yeah, plus theirs an enemy shinobi standing right next to us." Kiba added instinctually as Kurenai facepalmed, wanting to avoid saying it out loud. That didn't matter however as Kin had understood based off the look, she gave her.
"I suppose that makes sense. Naruto may be generous with his… methods. But the rest of his group seem much more cautious, even the feral looking one." Kin thought as she began noticing the various glances, she would get from most of the shinobi next to her. "I guess I'm on my own to figure this one out." She thought as her eyes returned to the battle.
Following Kin's attention returning to the field, a few more moments passed before someone made their move. Surprising most, Hinata charged Neji, throwing palms left and right. Neji, while on the back foot, was parrying, countering, and matching the ability that the younger Hyuuga was demonstrating as bursts of chakra permeated from every strike.
Attempting to make a move, Neji halted his retreat, as he progressively fought for control of the push, both taijutsu experts pushing then retreating as a match of seemingly equal talent was taking place in the arena with no words, only fists.
"This is incredible…" Choji said awestruck as was of his closest friends was keeping up with someone both older and more experienced.
"I know right!?" Kiba said excitedly as he stared proudly at the fight, remembering the training that he and Hinata endured. "This should be a piece of—" Kiba paused as both combatants simultaneously struck each other where the heart resided, causing them to stagger backwards respectively. "Hinata!" Kiba yelled as the combatants caught their breath.
"You must have trained quite a bit." Neji exclaimed calmly as a streak of blood came down from the corner of his lip. Hinata still panting was about to reenter her fighting stance, "But…" Neji continued as she coughed out a large amount of blood as she was dropped to her knees, struggling to stand. "You will always be a failure." Neji explained as he began walking over to the girl, now reverted to before she began the fight as she anxiously looked back at Neji.
"FOCUS!" Hinata hear from the stands as Kiba stood stoically, and serious as he looked down at his teammate. "You can win, just focus!" he roared once more followed by another affirmative bark from Akamaru.
"You got this Hinata!" Naruto added as he, and the rest of the graduation genin were similarly joining into the chant.
Kin looked at the group with a level of surprise, but also a feeling of inspiration as she watched not only their confidence, but their unified approach to it as most of the group were cheering on their comrade. "What is this? This type of relationship between shinobi, let alone team members or non-team members shouldn't work!" Kin thought once more as she remembered her time in the sound village, her training, and all the people that had died that she had known. All of those that were now so far away…
"Kin… Be careful alright?" A kind voice spoke in the back of her mind as she remembered someone from this past.
"Look!" Kiba exclaimed, shaking her concentration as she collected her thoughts, returning to the match at hand. Hinata was once again closing her eyes, breathing heavily, and in a peculiar manner as she slowly stood up, seemingly no sign of trembling in her legs.
"Oh? So you seem to have a second wind. Let us end this then." Neji acknowledged as he wasted no time initiating his attack, being stopped only barely by the sightless Hyuuga. Neji was more prepared, and less reckless than his first blow as he followed up with a strike towards Hinata's head, and her eyes. As if it were mere instinct, Hinata ducked under the strike, quickly crouching down, and sweeping the leg of Neji. This caught him completely off guard as she reopened her flared Byakugan, landing a palm strike onto Neji's lower body, before he managed to retreat once more, holding his stomach.
"That was no gentle fist!" Neji exclaimed angrily, before as he looked at Hinata with a scowl. "You have forsaken your heritage Lady Hinata." He added. "You have truly embraced your destiny it seems."
"No," Hinata simply responded. "I improved it." She said as Neij's left leg gave out for a moment.
"What did you…" Neji stopped as he realized what had just happened. "I see." He said returning to his serious tone, staggering back to his feet. "an interesting ploy, but it is unrefined." Neji responded as he began moving his leg again.
The Hyuuga were now back in their fighting stances as they were about to begin their third joust of the gentle fist. As the two charged one another it was a showing of pure technique as while Neji had better overall control and talent, Hinata's diversity of abilities, along with her unnaturally calm state were keeping her in the bout as she would land the occasional hit on a non-vital area.
"Come on Hinata!" Kiba yelled again as the battle started heating up further.
Each combatant was landing hits, and each opponent was recovering, however this would not last. Following a powerful kick from Hinata, Neji was able to regain some distance as she once again charged him. "Enough!" he cried as he assumed a new position. As she was about to make contact Neji began to spin at an incredible rate as the attack was thrown back, Hinata hitting the floor. "Kaiten!" Neji exclaimed as the blue sphere of chakra energy rescinded.
"What was that!" Kiba yelled as he watched the energy dissipate.
"That was one of the Hyuuga techniques that only a select few know." Kakashi explained vaguely from behind them as he watched the boy take advantage of his momentum, charging the young Hyuuga as she was recovering.
Before Hinata was in a proper defensive position, she was blitzed by Neji as he began making several quick strikes with his palms. "16 palms!" He exclaimed as he landed the consecutive hits, setting up his attack, before continuing his assault. "32 Palms!" He cried as Hinata began to clearly waiver in her ability to stand.
"HINATA!" Kiba roared as he saw what was about to happen.
"64 Palms!" Neji finished as he sent Hinata flying backwards, landing a good distance away, nearing unconsciousness.
Hayate moved to check on the girl as he stood a few meters away. "I should have seen that coming. Moral support and bonds can only go so far." Kin thought as the looks of the excited comrades turned to sadness in a few moments. Hayate was about to speak.
"Hinata is no longer able to battle, the bout goes to Neji—"
"Don't stop it!" Naruto yelled from the stands, catching Kin off guard. "Look!" he said as he pointed towards Hinata, who was slowly, but surely inching her way up.
"Lady Hinata, it is over, stay down." He said with no reaction as she continued on.
Finally standing on her feet, Hinata began to speak. "N-No." She stammered, signifying the end of her concentrated state. "I-I can't give up now. I won't give up. It's my Ninja way." She said with a smile as she looked at Both Naruto, and Kiba.
"Very well." Neji replied as he began charging the girl.
"Neji the bout has been called, stop." Hayate stated calmly as the boy didn't stop. With one final strike Neji was about to put Hinata down, however he was quickly stopped in his tracks.
Kin was confused as she saw four jonin standing around Neji, restraining him completely. What concerned her was that two of the four jonin were Kakashi and Kurenai, both of whom made it there within seconds with no signs of trouble. Not only that but the boys bowl cut jonin and the proctor were their as well as he quickly began relaxing himself. "So this is the power of a jonin… It's so… imposing, but." Kin thought before remembering the pure feats that she had witnessed at the hands of her own "Jonin Instructor".
As Kin watched on, Hinata coughed up yet another spurt of blood as she fell to the ground unconscious. Kiba and Naruto quickly ran to Hinata's side, and Kurenai quickly ordered for a medical team.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"This could have been avoided, yet that failure decided she wanted to play fate. This is exactly what she deserved." Neji stated coldly as he began walking away as a medical team quickly took Hinata off to the infirmary.
As Kiba looked on as his teammate was carried off in a stretcher, unconscious, he saw his sister with Sakura round the corner to see the commotion. He locked eyes with his sister. He didn't know what she saw in them, but she was startled, and that was before the body passed her. Upon recognizing the girl she understood, and without a word she adjusted her course, following the Hyuuga to the operating rooms, Sakura following not too far behind.
"Hey…Neji was it…" Kiba began as he dropped his head to see the pool of Hinata's blood.
"Yes, what of it." Neji replied neutrally as he turned to face the Inuzuka, causing Akamaru to begin growling as he leaped off Kiba's head.
"Kiba, you need to calm down for now—" Naruto started, but was quickly silenced.
Kiba interrupted Naruto as his feral heritage had already taken over. His fangs looked sharper, his nails looked as if they were claws, and his eyes were squarely focused on his target. "What would you consider my destiny?" He asked coldly.
"Your destiny is of a servant from the looks of it." Neji answered. "Destined to follow those who are above you, myself included. But most importantly." Neji paused as he glanced at Naruto.
Kiba noticed this as he himself let his eyes fall to Naruto. "You two huh? That's a mighty big statement. Arrogant too." Kiba said with his eyes returning to Neji.
"Hey don't get me involved in this! I'm on his side!" Naruto tried to explain, pointing to Kiba
"Oh of course you are. But He is destined to be one of the weakest among you. I can see it from here. But to be fair, he isn't the absolute weakest." Neji finished as he began walking away. "But that hardly matters."
Kiba was about to pursue but a hand gripped his shoulder. About to lash out he turned to see his sensei standing above him. "Now's not the time." She responded as she pointed toward the randomizer.
"Kiba Inuzuka VS. Misumi Tsurugi"
"After that, you should probably go check on Hinata. I'll wait for you. I already got the report that Shino is conscious, we'll pick him up after you kick this guys butt." Kurenai said with authority, at least until she tried to sound tough at the end.
Breaking from his sensei's grip, Kiba responded. "Fine, but don't get comfortable." He said quietly as he eyeballed Naruto, causing him to jump a bit. Kurenai then left alongside Naruto, and the rest of the Jonin, returning to their respective teams, and looking down at the event before them. The man with glasses known as Misumi was standing before Kiba as he waited with anticipation.
"You may now begi—" Was all Hayate got out before Kiba was on top of Misumi, throwing wild, yet technical attacks at the man, causing him to quickly stagger.
"What the hell?!" the masked man exclaimed as he slipped a punch, disengaging the feral genin. This was futile however as Kiba quickly pounced on the man once again, scratching his underarm with a serrated claw.
"AHH!" the man cried out as blood began dripping from his arm. "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" He roared as he sent his arms at him, hitting him with two punches from where he was as he stretched his arms passed their limits. It was clear to Kiba at this point that this was the shinobi's elastic tactics as the arms quickly wrapped themselves around his body, starting to squeeze. Even in a more feral state of mind, Kiba's instincts guided him to the answer as he bit one of the arms, sinking his fangs into it, forcing the man to withdraw as he recoiled in pain.
"You're pretty weak!" Kiba exclaimed as he began flashing through hand signs. "Man Beast Clone!" He roared again as Akamaru turned into another copy of himself. "It's over now."
"OH YEAH!" the easily agitated genin replied as he sent an arm each at his opponents, wrapping them so their mouths were angled upward. "Get out of this once!"
As Kiba was getting choked out alongside his recently transformed companion, he simply smiled. "Gatsuga!" Kiba cried as he and his companion both began viciously rotating, easily shaking off the man's arms, but also shredding them in the process. As the man cried out in agony, retracting his severely bloodied arms, he watched as the Kiba's walked slowly towards him, a purely predatory look in his eye.
Standing, the man tried to regain his composure as he raised his arms in defiance. "I will defeat you dog!" he yelled.
"Oh? Interesting, but can I ask you a question?" Kiba said in a surprisingly calm, yet beast like tone. "You wouldn't happen to need those glasses to see, would you?" he asked in a patronizing manner as he reached into his pocket, revealing a few pellets.
"What do you mean? Like I'd let you just take—" the man was cut of as Kiba threw the balls. As they made impact, the arena was quickly filled with thick smoke, making vision near impossible. Kiba watched as the man's nerves quickly failed him as he began flailing around in the lack of sight.
"Show yourself!" he cried as he extended his arms, helicoptering around in a circle trying to hit the Inuzuka.
Kiba easily dodged the arms every time the moved past him as he dashed around , making himself ever so slightly visible for mere seconds as to create as much fear as possible. Kiba stopped right behind the man as he tired himself out, retracting his arms, before he said. "You know, now that they can't see, I could do all kinds of things to you!" He said as he left a huge gash of his back as he escaped back into the smoke.
Misumi was left in a state of pure horror as Kiba was still basting him in fear. As the smoke began to fade just enough for him to be able to see a few feet in front of him, he saw the feral mutt charging at him full speed, fangs bared, and claws sharp. "I CONCEDE!" He shouted as Kiba stopped inches from him, his face returning to how it was before the fight, cold, and serious as he stood upright. Kiba simply walked out of the smoke as it dissipated, making his way to the entrance to the medical area where Kurenai was already waiting.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Kin watched as yet another Shinobi was carted off into the medical center. Observing Misumi's body, she was reminded quite vividly of the brutality that occurred during the forest of death. While she didn't know him too well, she knew that he was close to Orochimaru's second in command, or at least she thought he was. "These genin are… Their so confusing!" She thought as she looked towards the Naruto, the calm warrior who defeated her comrades, but was also a rash and easygoing kid. She then looked at where the Inuzuka was moments ago when she thought about how simple minded yet sociable, he was, comparing him to the feral and savage shinobi that just eviscerated a moderately ranked sound shinobi.
"Hey Naruto." Kin asked quietly, prompting him to turn and face her.
"Yeah?" He asked as the others chatted behind him.
"Is he… Kiba always like that?" She asked, knowing full well that Naruto was the only one that would answer her.
"Well, kinda. Usually he's the arrogant troublemaker you saw before…" Naruto paused as he looked behind him. "Before Hinata was… Beaten." He said quietly.
"What do you mean? He doesn't usually fight like that?" Kin asked confused.
"Well he does but… I've never seen him be so brutal." Naruto admitted as he watched several nurses mopping the floor below from all of the previous bouts. "My guess is after what happened to Hinata, he just kinda snapped a bit. Let a little too much of his instincts take over." Naruto admitted as he thought it over.
"So him and this Hinata, they're close?" Kin asked seemingly understanding, yet not at the same time.
"Of course they are, they're teammates after all. If they weren't close, they wouldn't be as good at what they do." Naruto explained. "Unless you mean like… reaaaally close. They aren't like that though." Naruto said with a laugh.
"What do you mean more efficient?" Kin asked as Naruto met her with a confused look. Feeling the need to explain, Kin continued. "I was always taught that unnecessary connections on the battlefield quickly lead to failure, death, or both. In other words, a liability. Based on my experience, I would have to say if it weren't for my connection Dosu, he may not have hesitated to complete his mission, but now he's dead." Kin explained as she stared at her distorted reflection in the metal railing.
"Whoever taught you that is a terrible teacher." Naruto countered as Kin looked up in shock considering Naruto had so easily dismissed her life teaching.
"But, if Dosu—"
"If he had a connection with you, I'm certain that you would have worked to better utilize your abilities. He simply ordered your companion to attack me with no plan or strategy." Naruto explained as Kin stood in confusion. "Your fighting at your fullest when your defending someone you care about. If you don't care about those you fight with, then their expendable. That line of thought leads to more unnecessary deaths, at the price of possibly more successes, but you can also just as easily fail as often as you have clearly experienced." Naruto finished as Kin was left stunned.
"What he says makes so much sense! But… Lord Orochimaru is the strongest shinobi I know. He taught us these things, not some run of the mill shinobi." Kin thought as she began really thinking about everything.
"You were merely fodder for my ambition…" Kin heard in the back of her mind.
"Not to mention the fact that chemistry in the field is better when you have a good relationship with your allies." Naruto added as he gave Sasuke a glare.
"Now you could be a piece on my board…"
"…You get used to it…" Naruto's voice started to become less clear as Kin's thoughts grew louder.
"I can do it…" Kin mumbled under her breath, nobody noticing.
"No, you cannot, nor could you ever have…"
"…Honestly, I…" Naruto continued as he was still barely understandable.
"The outcome would have been the same…" Kin thought as she remembered the voice of the snake lord.
"Naruto!" A voice broke Kin out of her trance as she jerked back into facing Naruto, who was now looking back to Sasuke. "What are you doing?" he asked in an aggravated fashion.
"Oh, just talking about philosophies." Naruto explained, causing Sasuke to look at Kin with contempt.
"I'm surprised you even know that word, regardless stop conversating with her, don't forget she is a foreign shinobi, taught by foreign teachers, with foreign ideals." Sasuke explained as he tried to drive home to Naruto how stupid he's been acting.
"Maybe." Naruto answered as he looked down at the now clean arena, where the two final combatants stood. "But there's a few things I know about philosophy, and I learned it from a wise source." Naruto said as a smile crept onto his face. "There are no such things as bad students, only bad teachers." Naruto turned to see Sasuke's face contort to first anger, then to annoyance as he quickly calmed himself.
"Wait, he calmed down? He's heard that before, hasn't he…" Kin thought as she let the proverb soak into her thoughts.
"You keep clinging onto that when you meet some more of his students." Sasuke said through his teeth as he walked away.
"Did I intrude on something?" Kin asked in a genuine manner as Naruto remembered she was still there.
"Oh just talk about relatives is all." Naruto admitted in an embarrassed fashion before the next announcement was made.
"The Final bout between Gaara and Rock Lee will now commence."
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Hana walked out of the operating room with Sakura tailing closely behind. As soon as she opened the door, she was faced with the three people she expected, but was dreading seeing.
"Is she going to be okay? What's the damage? I'm sure you can—" Kiba was nailed in the side by Shino as they stood behind their sensei.
Taking the reins, Kurenai continued. "What's the damage?" She asked quietly, bracing for the worst.
Hana stood before them as she remembered the face of the girl currently going through intense treatment. "Well… at this point there is a chance she may die, however—"
"WHAT!?" Kiba cried as he tried to break past the pair and run into the room, being easily stopped by his sister.
"However we have the best possible team in there. We knew that this was a possibility with Hyuuga, so we have a Hyuuga medical nin, along with highly experienced medical personnel used to working on these specific victims on this patient." Hana continued as she lightly pushed onto her brother, maneuvering him back to his team.
"Why aren't you in there?! You're the best I know! You have to be doing something?!" Kiba continued.
"Kiba, that's quite enou—" Kurenai tried to intervene.
"It's fine." Hana cut off the sensei as she squatted down to just Kiba's level. "This is beyond my expertise. The internal damage is very precise, and very deadly. My style is not suited for this kind of situation." Hana explained calmly before Kiba's agitation continued.
"But what if—"
"NO!" Hana quickly yelled, forcing the young Inuzuka into silence. "You don't think I want to be in there?" Kiba remained silent as Hana recomposed herself. "Sakura, could you take Shino and Kiba back to the arena?"
"Yes sensei." Sakura quickly said as she motioned for them to follow.
"What!? We just got here!" Kiba said angrily, his spirit returning.
"There's nothing for you to do right now, all you can do is wait." Hana explained.
"Then I'll wait here!" He responded holding his ground.
"Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised…" Hana thought as she looked into the eyes of her little brother.
"Fine, you can wait with me, but if Sakura comes back with another patient, I'm sending you back to your sensei." Hana agreed giving Kurenai a gesture to leave. Kurenai, understanding, took Shino and Sakura both back towards the arena. Hana then took a seat in one of the few chairs that were positioned across from the ER as she gestured for Kiba to sit next to her.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"Begin." Hayate announced as the battle between Rock Lee and Gaara commenced. Quickly testing where things stood, Lee charged the sand nin in an attempt to land a flurry of blows. The attempt was quickly thwarted however as sand shot out of the gourd the red head was carrying, deflecting, and absorbing every strike.
"That's some defense." Naruto said from the stands as he observed the match from above.
"It's only been a few seconds; it probably isn't that good." Sasuke retorted as he stood beside his teammate.
"I don't know, Bowl cut seems to be struggling quite a bit." Satsuki joined in as the three continued to observe the bout. Waves of sand became more offensive as the green clad nin was forced to make swift dodges to avoid the attacks.
"He should probably switch up his tactics if he wants to be successful." Sasuke commented as he grew frustrated with the lack of progress in proving Naruto wrong.
"I doubt he really can." Kakashi stated from behind them.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, taking his attention away from the fight.
"Well if he's anything like his sensei." Kakashi started as he glanced over at the similar looking man. "I would guess that he's restricted to taijutsu."
"Why? That seems extremely idiotic." Sasuke said confused as he looked back at the intense display.
"He probably has his reasons." Naruto stated as he began turned to Satsuki to ask a question. "Hey Satsuki, since this is mainly taijutsu, and not really a kekkei genkai, could you…" He whispered as Satsuki was clued in on the situation.
"Oh yeah! Sure I can help out." Satsuki replied as she made a few hand seals. "Henge." She said quietly as Seemingly nothing happened.
"Thanks!" Naruto said as he discretely activated his Sharingan, observing the technique of the nin. "I wonder if—" Naruto began to think as He turned to Sasuke, who was quite blatantly observing with his sharingan. Satsuki had chosen to take a similar route to him as she had used a henge to disguise her eyes. "I guess I should have guessed that." He continued in thought as he looked back at his teacher, noticing he still had his eye covered. "Guess he's seen this before." Naruto thought as he eyes returned to the battlefield.
Naruto returned to see Gaara fling the taijutsu specialist around like a ragdoll, using a tendril made of sand to encase his leg, eventually releasing it so send the genin flying. Attempting a quick recovery, Lee used his momentum to control his landing, minimizing his damage. Panting, Lee stared down the intimidating foe as Gaara stared back with an emotionless gaze. Without warning a wave of slam was sent towards the fighter, slamming into the ground before him, causing him to leap backwards, landing on a statue that resembled a ram hand seal.
"LEE!" a voice called from the sidelines. Tracing the voice, Naruto saw that it came from the boy's mentor. "You have my permission to step things up a notch!" He said with a smile, causing a similar face to appear on Lee's.
"You mean that! I was told only to resort to this is someone extremely important was in danger!" Lee replied, awaiting an additional confirmation.
Giving a powerful thumbs up, guy continued. "This is a special case! Go for it!" Gai encouraged, followed by an excited Lee obliging, rolling down his orange leg sleeves to reveal training weights.
"Training weights?" Sasuke asked with a scoff.
"How is that supposed to change much?" Naruto asked in confusion as he looked back at Lee's smiling sensei.
"Surely that can't be it right?" Satsuki asked as she engaged with several other team 10 shinobi.
"There has to be something else." Naruto thought as he watched as Lee dropped the weights. With his sharingan, Naruto saw the weights plummet in relatively slow pace, however once they impacted, it was like watching an explosion. The room silenced with awe as every remaining shinobi watched on as the debris nearly returned to the same height the weights were dropped at.
"Your too intense Gai." Kakashi said nonchalantly as he glanced over at Lee's sensei.
"You expected this?!" Naruto rightfully asked.
"I had a hunch." Kakashi replied playfully, seemingly emoting a smile through his eyes.
Turning back to the fight he was surprised to see Lee disappear, only to see him reappear before Gaara, his fist extended fully as Gaara's sand defense barely stopped the attack.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Temari stood, mouth agape as she saw the dust plumes reach their zenith, towering over her because of the bowl cuts weights. "What the hell was that! How much did those things way!?" She thought in a panic as she looked back down at Gaara.
"That's… unreal…" the boy from the cloud announced as he felt the whiplash of reality that just hit him.
"That is quiet impressive." The cloud jonin admitted as she showed a rare set of emotions that Temari had not observed. Legitimate surprise.
Turning to Baki, she was especially concerned when she saw a similar look of surprise coming from her sensei. Moreover she was more concerned when his surprise, peeled away, was rooted in fear, rather than recognition.
"This is nothing. Surely Gaara can—" Temari's thoughts were silenced as she looked back down at her little brother who now had a fist inches from his face, his absolute defense in tatters, just barely stopping the momentum of the strike.
"Wha—" Before Temari could get another word out, Lee had disappeared and reappeared behind Gaara, his foot being similarly stopped just barely. Within a matter of seconds Lee began overwhelming the defense little by little as his speed caught up with the sand. Temari watched as even Gaara was struggling to keep up with the leaf shinobi, displaying an emotion that concerned Temari. Panic.
Temari looked down the line of teams, looking for something, anything. Yet when she saw the other Konoha teams, "They all look just as lost as I do outside of the boy's own team, a white haired jonin, and…" Temari paused as she watched the three genin they had run into when they had first arrived, seemingly following the bout. Doing a double take, looking from fight to genin, she was certain that the could see the boy's speed, at least a little bit.
"This is madness…" She said to herself as she looked back just in time to see Gaara take a kick to the top of the head, leaving a massive impact. His sand armor began to crack as it began falling from his face, revealing an unnatural smile. "Shit! This can't be happening!" Temari thought as she understood the ramifications of that smile.
The sand around Gaara quickly reformed his sand armor, hiding away the sadistic look the genin had adopted, however Temari knew better as her hands tightly gripped the railing. Watching the bout continue, Lee began circling Gaara at such a high speed, the wind behind him formed a circle around him.
"Come at me already." Gaara said in a monotone voice as he awaited an attack anxiously.
"You asked for it!" The Konoha nin announced as he simply appeared below Gaara, nailing him under the chin, sending him flying upwards. It didn't stop there however, as Lee continued to kick, and kick, until he was also traveling with Gaara, defying physics as he continued his assault. As the two were in mid-air, Lee began wrapping the sand nin in the bandages he wore around his wrists, effectively putting the boy into a cocoon.
"Primary Lotus!" the boy roared as he piledrived Gaara into the ground, leaving a giant dust cloud in his wake.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Hana sat beside her brother in silence as the two awaited the end of the procedure. Hana new that this girl and her brother were close, but not much outside of that. She new they were teammates, and they got along well. Even before they graduated, she often saw him with the young Hyuuga, going almost everywhere together. "Surely that must be the reason…" Hana thought as she turned to Kiba. "You really care for her huh?" Hana prodded as she turned with a smile towards her brother.
"Of course I do…" Kiba responded anxiously as he rapidly tapped his foot.
"I don't blame you. She's pretty." Hana said slyly, however her smile soon turned into a slight frown as Kiba looked back at her with an annoyed confusion.
"What does that have anything to do with it?" Kiba asked in a accusatory fashion.
"What? You seem really close, and your always around her. I just assumed—"
"Its not like that!" Kiba said in a huff as he crossed his arms in a pouting manner.
"Oh? Then what is it?" Hana asked with a genuine tone as she clearly misread the relationship.
"Its nothing… don't worry about it." Kiba tried to say to avoid the question, however Hana wasn't going to let that slide.
With a mischievous grin, Hana replied. "So you do like her huh." She said as she pet the sad Akamaru sat atop his head.
"Wha… No!" Kiba said in a serious tone. Normally when her brother was lying Hana could sense it, but now, either he'd finally been able to lie to her, he wasn't lying, or he didn't know himself.
Dropping the teasing quickly, Hana pursued. "Then what is it? Its clear you were drawn to her when you were really young." Hana asked as she remembered the first time she had noticed Kiba alongside Hinata.
Kiba sighed as he released his arms, turning towards his sister. "Back when we first started the academy, it was tough making friends. Yeah, I was the guy making everyone laugh, even had a group of guys that I used to hang around but, I was never that close to any of them. At least not at the time." Kiba explained as he remembered how his friendships grew with the other guys of his class. "Oddly enough, Hinata was the first person I ended up really connecting with."
"Really? But she's so…" Hana thought to choose her next words carefully. "So much different from you." She finished, seemingly succeeding in not angering her brother.
"Honestly, that's what drew me to her." Kiba admitted as Hana looked at him with both shock, and some sort of pride. "I just remember some of the twerps that bullied her because of her name and personality one day, and after I kicked their asses, we kinda just… became friends." Kiba tried to explain, not exactly being able to put his emotions into words.
"I get that…" Hana said as she remembered the times from her youth.
"After that, I started sitting next to her, eating lunch with her, eventually spending a lot of time with her." Kiba continued as he reminisced on old times. "Hell of course I used to have a crush on her, but…" Kiba stopped as he thought about the next thing he was about to say. "Frankly, I struggle trying to see myself with her."
"Wait what?! Of course you could—"
"I'm not saying I couldn't, just that It would be too… weird." Kiba tried to explain, however not convincing Hana.
"How is it weird? It sounds just like what happened with Naruto and Ino." Hana pointed out as Kiba sighed again.
"That's what I thought too, but in all reality. Being close for so long when we were so young…" Kiba finally admitted as Hana's surprise grew even more.
With pride in her voice, Hana wrapped her arm around Kiba's shoulder as she smiled in his direction. "I think I get what you mean, your clearly protective of her. She's lucky." She said as she embarrassingly hugged Kiba. "But I think your still wrong."
"What do you—"
"Give it time. I feel like you'll understand." Hana said as the light for the emergency room turned off, causing both the Inuzuka's to shoot up from their seats. A young Hyuuga nurse exited as two other nurses began wheeling the unconscious Hinata away down a hallway. While Kiba's eyes were fixated on the girl, Hana asked the question. "So Natsu, what's the situation?"
"Well Lady Hinata will properly recover; however she may be unconscious for a while. It would be wise to let her rest. She will still be weakened for a week or so after she wakes up, but aside from that, no major long-term injuries." The Hyuuga assured as Hana let out a sigh of relief.
"It's a good thing lord Hiashi let you help out." Hana expressed gratefully.
"Well he did select me to be the girl's caretaker for a reason. My expertise in gentle palm injuries was defiantly a plus." The Hyuuga maid responded as she chuckled a bit.
"Could I go stay with her?" Kiba asked in a surprisingly suppressed, yet anxious tone as the Hyuuga met his gaze. While he didn't recognize the woman, she recognized him.
"Well normally we wouldn't let visitors outside of family into a patient's room in that condition…" she began as Kiba's adrenaline was flowing over into his emotion. "But I guess we can make an exception for you." She said with a smile.
"Tha—" Kiba was cut off as the hallway began to shake slightly, as if a tremor had occurred miles away.
"Hana, could you go—" Natsu began before she was cut off by the elder Inuzuka.
"I'm on it." She said with a smile as she left the two to head for Hinata's room.
"He's still young, I suppose I should give him more time to see what happens." Hana thought as she made her way towards the arena. As she continued her journey the vibrations became more violent, causing concern to return to her. "What the hell's going—" She was cut of as a large pulse nearly knocked her over. She began running as the pulses were rapidly hitting her, causing her balance to be all over the place. As she finally arrived in the designated viewing area for the medical staff, she could see Kurenai, Shino, Sakura, and a plethora of other nurses, and a few other shinobi she didn't recognize holding on for dear life as shockwaves were seen in midair above the arena, a red headed boy being rag dolled in the midst of it.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Lee was panting as he stared down Gaara once again. Naruto could clearly see that he was gassed, nearing his limit as Gaara was able to turn the tides on him, hitting him with blow after blow of sand waves.
"There's no way he's winning this fight." Sasuke said solemnly as he accessed the situation.
"I wouldn't say that." Kakashi said seriously as his sharingan was fully revealed. "If that stunt with the weights, and his ability to use the hidden lotus are anything to go off of, then I'd say there's still one last trick up his sleeve." Kakashi said, once again shifting his attention to who he referred to as Might Gai.
"Lee!" Gai yelled soon after the declaration made by Kakashi. "Its time!" He said still smiling, brimming with confidence.
Down on the ground, the tired Lee heard his master's words as he simply nodded.
"He does have more!?" Satsuki gasped as she looked back at the fight.
A strange energy began to surround Lee as the room began to rumble at the pressure. "What's happening?!" Ino exclaimed as she started grabbing onto a railing.
"Third Gate of Life…OPEN!" Lee announced as his skin turned a light shade of red, illuminated in a green light. His eyes were now pure white, and he looked overall strained.
"The eight gates!" Kakashi exclaimed in explanation.
"The eight gates!? We read about them in school but… we were always told that this technique was forbidden. So dangerous that it could easily kill the user unless they were…" Naruto understood the power of this shinobi as he remembered the requirements necessary for mastering the gates.
"Fourth Gate of Pain…" Lee began to continue.
"HE'S GOING FURTHER!?"
"OPEN!" Lee cried as he powered up yet again. Without hesitation he blitzed Gaara once more, leaving only a cloud of dust from the shear force of his steps, and speed of his movements.
"What the—" Naruto began as not even he could pick up on these new movements. "Where did—" he was cut off as he saw Gaara floating up into the sky. The sand from the ground flew up to him, beginning the reforming process of his armor. This was quickly quelled as Lee appeared into the air, beginning to juggle the sand warrior around in mid-air. The shockwaves of every blow echoed through the room as each shinobi felt the air hitting them. Gaara looked as if he were being tossed around by a massive tornado.
"This is insane!" Satsuki expressed as she watched the showing in awe.
"It's time to end this!" Lee exclaimed as he appeared above Gaara, his bandages attached to Gaara's belt. Pulling him closer towards him with one arm, he accelerated downwards to meet his target. "Fifth Gate of Limit! OPEN!" He exclaimed as he made contact with the genin, sending him plummeting into the ground in yet another plume of dust, landing a decent distance from the assumed crater. As Lee powered down to his base, it was clear that his stamina had depleted.
"He's… incredible!" Naruto said with a smile as everyone around him looked at him like he was mental.
"He seems unstoppable!" Shikamaru complained to Naruto.
"Exactly! That's what makes it exciting!" Naruto explained.
"I wouldn't get too excited." Sasuke responded as he was pointing back towards the arena, where Gaara was laying in a pillow of sand, still conscious.
"Your kidding!" Naruto exclaimed as he looked down at the two depleted fighters.
Gaara motioned his hand into the direction of Lee. As the sand began to pursue lee, his exhausted effort was in vain as Gaara expressed. "Sand Coffin!" Latching his sand onto Lee's left arm and leg. "Sand Burial!" he added as Lee cried out in pain, falling to the ground.
"LEE!" Gai shouted from the stands as Gaara's sand was poised to engulf the shinobi.
As Naruto watched in horror, he was met with a sight he had not expected. The san simply dissipated, falling lifelessly to the ground as Gai stood in front of his student. Naruto could tell that this feat was very similar to Lee's only more refined as he made no sound, or any detectable sense in his movements. Compared to lee's seemingly earth-shattering earthquake, he was like a concentrated slice of wind, cutting through the air.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Kin watched the aftermath of the final bout as Lee was carried off the arena unconscious. The nurse that tended to her, Hana, was right next to the stretcher alongside the mentor of the monstrously powerful Lee.
"What are you people…" she said out loud; however she was still too quiet for anyone to notice
Several of the shinobi ignored her as they simply walked passed her. The sand, the cloud, and most of the Konoha shinobi left in the stands. All but one. It wasn't Naruto either.
"You looked surprised to see the skill these genin possess." The man stated in an inquisitive tone.
Kin looked up as she saw the jonin that Sakura was asked to retrieve. A man with white hair, a mask, and his headband covering a single eye.
"Your… your not wrong." Kin admitted.
"I suppose that just means that you have a lot of thinking to do." He said as he calmly walked past the sound nin, leaving her to her thoughts.
"What have I been doing all this time… I'm so… useless."
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Authors Notes: And thus ends the Chunin Preliminary Exams! Couple notes before I head out. The Hyuuga fight was meant to show that Hinata was leagues better than she was in cannon, while also sprinkling in little hints about some of the training she's been doing with her team. Neji is around the same, if not slightly stronger to give you a good reference point. The Kiba fight was meant to show you not only is the Inuzuka style of fighting much more ferocious in this fic, but also show you the instinctual attributes Kiba hold. While he may be underwhelming intelligence wise, his instinct for battle makes up for that. I kept the Gaara VS Rock Lee fight Essentially the same because not only was in perfect in canon, but I wanted to rather explore some of the character interactions that exist now that some of the personalities have shifted, and some of the shinobi watching on were gone. In terms of the hospital scenes, again, Hana is very instinctual, which doesn't connect well with Hyuuga like injuries. I find it unlikely that a setting like this with Hyuuga's involved wouldn't have some Hyuuga specialist, so I added Natsu (Hanabi's caretaker) Making her specialize in that type of medical ninjutsu. In terms of the relationship between Kiba and Hinata. I'm honestly torn. I have pairings for them outside of them together, but I just can't shake their pairing from my mind. What do you guys think? I left it up in the air this chapter so I could get your thoughts on the topic, but eventually it will be locked in. I hope you enjoyed the last action-packed chapters, but next time I'm gonna slow it down with [ Preliminaries Complete! One Month of Preparations! ]