Chapter Eight
Sasuke's bedrest gave him the advantage, not being as tired as his opponent he could think more clearly. Naruto and Sakura watch from the balcony waiting for the Hayate to begin the match.
Sasuke stares his opponent down in his typical confident manner. Naruto's glad for it, since Yoroi's ability was unknown and it was clear that Sasuke couldn't read him.
"Begin!"
In a flash Sasuke had drawn a set of kunai, throwing them as he dodges Yoroi's hands. Sasuke smirks already weaving the hand signs for the grand fireball jutsu.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu." Yoroi takes the fire ball head on, only to disappear in a puff of smoke.
'What?' the Uchiha goes on guard, his enemy could show up just about anywhere. Sasuke could feel the air behind him shift.
'Behind me!' he thinks jumping away and avoiding his opponent.
"Yoroi's technique is a strange one." Shino says to Naruto as they watch Sasuke and Yoroi move, Naruto furrows his brow in worry at his team mate. Yoroi's hands glow dangerously as he keeps reaching for Sasuke.
"I have faith in Sasuke." Naruto said with a determined nod. "But Yoroi's someone to watch out for."
Try as he might even with Sasuke's continuous dodging Yoroi catches up to him, the members of team seven and Shino watch as Sasuke is pinned to the ground by his opponent.
The Uchiha cries out in pain prompting Naruto and Sakura to worry.
Sasuke quickly flips their positions trapping Yoroi's hand between his thighs and wrapping his legs around the other man's neck, squeezing as hard as he could, trying to make his opponent let go of him.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cries almost leaping off the railing, Yoroi's hand on Sasuke's head glows dangerously as he tightens his grip. Sasuke screams. Naruto frowns.
Sasuke manages to dislodge Yoroi from himself, trying to catch his breath before the next attack came.
Yoroi does not give his opponent any room to breath, he's up and rushing towards Sasuke to trap him in a hold again. Sasuke is ill prepared for the attack and in his disoriented state is once more tackled to the ground.
'Get up.' Naruto thinks, a little worried about the match. He holds the railings of the balcony tightly watching for signs. Sasuke could still move, this was Sasuke's first match against a skilled opponent and it wasn't looking good. At this rate the Uchiha may lose more than just the match.
"M-My Chakra." Sasuke rasped as he's struck with the realization of whats happening to him.
"So you finally noticed, took you long enough." Yoroi said, they could tell he was grinning under his mask as he spoke. He was so sure of himself. Sasuke intended to prove him wrong.
Gritting his teeth the Uchiha harnesses what's left of his strength to channel into an attack, he jams his foot into Yoroi's face, successfully kicking the man off him. The masked man skids back rubbing his jaw currently hurting from the unexpected kick.
Sasuke scrambles off the ground rapidly thinking of another plan, he looks up at the balcony to see Naruto's worried face.
"You have time to be standing around here kid!" Yoroi yells, charging at Sasuke, Then Yoroi notices the change in Sasuke, especially his eyes, now red with spinning tomoe of the sharingan. He almost pauses but Sasuke had already delivered a devastating kick catching Yoroi in the jaw. The force of which sends the masked man flying above the arena.
Naruto and Lee pause at the sight of the familiar move. When had Sasuke had time to learn Lee's Taijutsu.
"Go Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheers.
While Yoroi hung in the air Sasuke slips under him, taking no chances he swiftly spin kicks delivering multiple blows to his opponent with one final kick to Yoroi's jaw the man is out like a light.
Sasuke lands stumbling a bit as he does, Kakashi shushins into the arena to catch him before he could fall.
"Winner Uchiha Sasuke."
Up in the stands, under his disguise Orochimaru frowns, something was very wrong. Sasuke hadn't relied on the curse seal at all, in fact cursed chakra wasn't seeping out of Sasuke like it should have. The Uchiha didn't even seem to be in pain.
It was almost like the seal had never activated.
Orochimaru watches Kakashi and Naruto help the boy up to the balcony with the rest of the Konoha teams, aside from the obvious battle worn appearance Sasuke remained unchanged
Orochimaru glares, could the seal have failed? He'd never had a dud before.
"Good job my adorable genin." Kakashi said being the first to congratulate Sasuke on his win.
"Congratulations Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said with a welcoming smile. The Uchiha smirks.
"Was there ever any doubt?"
Naruto puts a hand to his chin in a thinking pose.
"Well you did look you were having trouble there Sasuke." Naruto said, Sasuke sputters, making Naruto laugh. "I'm kidding, congratulations Sasuke, you really earned that victory." Sasuke's face heats up at Naruto's words.
"Thanks." Sasuke said, his good mood is ruined when he notices Shino standing beside Naruto.
"Well done Sasuke." Shino simply said not understanding the apparent hostility. Sasuke accepts the words of praise stiffly before saying.
"I won't lose to you."
Shino doesn't understand what he meant, simply brushing it off as Sasuke being competitive. Though he couldn't help but wonder if Sasuke meant something other than fighting. Whatever.
Naruto looks between the two of them not understanding what was going on between them.
Where had all this dislike come from? As far as Naruto knew, Sasuke and Shino hadn't really met.
"Try to get along will you Sasuke." Naruto said. Sasuke says nothing in reply, Naruto releases an exasperated sigh.
"Excuse me a moment, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, please make sure this doesn't escalate." Kakashi replies with a thumbs up. Naruto shakes his head, going off to the provided restrooms. Sasuke continues to glare at Shino while the Aburame ignores him. Sakura and Kakashi sigh.
Naruto washes his hands and heads out of the bathroom, as he walks he smells the familiar scent of snakes, he growls but doesn't know where it's coming from. Orochimaru was watching from somewhere, the man who tried to hurt his teammate was still around. He rushes back to team seven and Shino. Unbeknownst to him, a pair of calculating slit eyes watched him go.
"I wonder if Naruto-kun had anything to do with Sasuke-kun's curse seal." Orochimaru said to himself. "This is certainly an interesting development." He would get Kabuto to look into the blonde, Orochimaru intended to remedy this situation, he would not fail here.
Naruto returns to find Shino is no longer standing with them, but had instead gone back to his team. Naruto sighs, though he wanted Shino there with him, he understood he couldn't hog some other team's genin.
"Oh yeah Shino had to go back to his team." Sakura says to Naruto, she must have noticed him staring off at the distance.
"Yeah..." Naruto replies not really knowing what to say, he wanted to be a pillar for his team but here he was longing for someone else. He faces Sakura with a smile. "Enough of that, have the match announcements come up?"
Sakura shakes her head, Naruto could tell she was nervous, whether that was because she might have to fight her friends or because she might have to fight enemy ninja, he just didn't know.
"It'll be okay." Naruto says reassuringly. "What ever happens I'll be right here cheering you on."
Sakura gives him a smile of her own, more confident now.
"Thanks Naruto, I'll be cheering you on too." Sakura says. Sasuke says nothing as he watches them, there Sakura went again, bonding with Naruto. The two of them could really bring out the best in each other.
"Thinking hard Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi asks playfully, Sasuke locks eyes with him, noticing the undercurrent of seriousness. The Uchiha dismisses it.
"It's nothing." He says. Kakashi looks like he doesn't fully believe him.
"Oi Naruto, who do you think is going to be next?"
"I couldn't say Sasuke, the names are picked completely at random, for all I know it could be you again." Naruto jokes. Sakura pales.
"Hey they can't really do that can they?" She asks nervously. Naruto laughs, seeming so carefree even at such a dangerous place like this.
In truth he was trying no to let his worries show, random match ups meant that anyone of the people he cared about could end up fighting someone dangerous. Blue eyes glance over at the Otogakure ninja. They wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone they were matched up with, and since the Konoha ninja far outnumbered any foreigners the probability increased by a lot.
"It's starting!" Someone shouts, everyone's attention is suddenly on the board, watching intensely as it flickers though names.
After a moment two names finally register.
"Tsurugi Misumi v Kankuro "
"Isn't that Kabuto's other teammate?" Sakura asks, surprising the rest of her team that she knew who Kabuto's teammates were.
"Talk about bad luck." Sasuke says with a smirk.
Team seven watches the other masked candidate head down to the arena with Kankuro following a moment after.
They stand opposite each other while Hayate stands in the middle.
"I'm going to make this quick unlike Yoroi did with that other brat." Misumi said. Kankuro scoffs. He unwraps his puppet from his back and stands it.
"Then I too, will not hold back he said."
Up in the stands Baki, Temari and Gaara watch.
'Take this a bit more seriously.' Temari thought anxiously. Gaara says nothing only watching his brother with blank eyes.
"Begin!" Hayate calls. Misumi, before anyone could blink charges at Kankuro, skilfully wrapping himself around his opponent like a rope. The audience of genin and jounin instructors watch with morbid fascination as Misumi's body stretched and contorted itself around Kankuro.
"I'll keep squeezing, until your bones break, it would be wise to give up now." Misumi said continuing to put pressure on Kankuro's body.
Kankuro didn't seem fazed at all, half the audience thought he was crazy, to smile while being trapped in a hold like that. Others recognized it as having an ace up one's sleeve. Misumi squeezes until he hears a crack.
Suddenly Kankuro goes limp.
"You've made me kill you, this could have been avoided." Misumi sighed, picking up the head only to be met with a dangling eye comically popping out of the eye socket.
"What the-" before he could speak the thing stretched out wrapping it's wooden appendages around Misumi, trapping him in a hold similar to the one he put Kankuro in. The wrapped figure quickly reveals itself to be the real Kankuro, jumping out victoriously. Misumi flails in the puppet's hold, but the more he fought the tighter it became, he could not slither out as he had planned.
"What is that?" Sakura asks shivering at the thought of being wrapped up by the three eyed wooden doll.
"A puppet." Naruto replies.
"Ninja really use all kinds of tools." Suzumebachi says from within Naruto's mind. She wonders if Naruto's speed would be able to make short work of any puppet user they encounter.
"They're terrible short ranged fighters so I assume so." Kurama answers as if reading her mind. Suzumebachi pauses.
"How did you know what I was thinking?" she asks.
"You'r always thinking about training." Naruto and Kurama reply.
"Winner, Kankuro." Hayate announces. Kankuro wraps his puppet back up as Misumi glares his way out of the arena.
'Better luck next time.' Naruto thought. Suzumebachi snickers in his mind. She couldn't wait for Naruto's match, she hoped he wielded her against a strong opponent. Kankuro walks back up happily, Temari sighs in relief. Her brother had passed. Gaara says nothing, only turning his eyes to Kankuro in brief acknowledgement.
It chills him, but at least it was better than nothing.
On the Konoha side of the balcony Hinata finds herself anxious, pale eyes dart over to team Gai and back again, countless times. The source of her anxiety? Her cousin Neji. While she was happy he passed the forest of death, she didn't want to match up against him. Just the thought of being in the arena with him was enough to fold her stomach until she felt like she could puke.
"Are you alright Hinata?" Shino asked. Hinata gasps surprised at how perceptive her teammate was, she starts nervously playing with her fingers.
"Yeah, I-I'm just thinking." she said softly not wanting to bring even more attention to her crushing anxiety.
"It's Neji isn't it?" Shino says. Hinata has no choice buy to admit with a nod. Shino rests a hand on her head.
"Do you need me to get Naruto-kun?" he asks. Hinata shakes her head.
"No n-need for that Shino-kun." she says taking a deep breath. Shino nods focusing back on the arena.
"If you're sure."
The board reads
"Yamanaka Ino v Haruno Sakura."
From across the room the two girls look at each other with sad faces. Sakura didn't want to fight Ino but she wanted to make it to the finals. The pink haired girl gulps, Ino was already heading down. But Sakura found her knees weak. What if she lost here? Would she be able to take it? What if she disappointed Sasuke-kun or Naruto or even Kakashi-sensei? Thoughts of losing cripple her and she's unable to put even one foot forward.
Naruto catches hr attention with a hand on her shoulder.
"Whatever happens I'll be cheering you on." He said with his signature smile. Sakura takes comfort in that.
"Good luck." Sasuke said with a smirk meant to be encouraging. Her face reddens after his words. She heads down to face her friend. No matter who was declared the winner, she would be glad to have the experience of fighting Ino for real.
The two girl's stand face to face on the battle field while Hayate stands in the middle ready to officiate the match.
"Whatever happens here, promise we'll still be friends?" Sakura says. Ino's eyes widen in surprise at the naïve statement. It warms her heart, knowing that Sakura still wanted to be her friend even after all the times they fought.
"Of course Sakura, no matter what we'll still be friends."
Up in the stands many of the other ninja rolled their eyes, was this seriously what was being discussed on the precipice of a battle.
Naruto of course found it charming and so did a bunch of the other Konoha ninja.
"Now are you ready for this?" Ino asked.
"Are you?" Sakura shot back confidently.
Hayate begins the match and Sakura flies back throwing shuriken and kunai left and right, unfortunately for her Ino was a swift dodger.
"She's not going to win." Sasuke said a couple minutes into watching the match critically, head on attacks were not Sakura's strong suit and unlike the forest of death, there weren't a bunch of places she could set traps, her genjutsu wasn't up to stuff yet either.
Kakashi looks at him, sadly he felt the same way, Sakura just hadn't grown as fast as them but that didn't mean he didn't see a spark of potential.
"What matters is the experience and now she'll have a reason to grow stronger, To compete with her rival." Naruto said. Sure he didn't want to see Sakura sad but Ino had put extra effort into her training, the victor of the match would be obvious. And that was okay. Sakura would be okay.
Sakura falls hard with a thud skidding across the rough arena ground and tearing up dust as she did. Ino had won, the blonde girl stood breathing heavily, her once long hair now short just like Sakura's now. But this would be a new starting point for both of them.
"Winner Yamanaka Ino." Hayate calls. Ino gives Sakura a smile, helping her stand. She leans heavily on the blonde smiling to herself.
"Thanks Ino."
"Don't mention it Sakura."
Naruto was there to meet them at the top of the stairs when they finally got there.
"I'll take it from here." he says, allowing Sakura to rest on him. Ino nods, going back to her tam who was waiting to congratulate her. Shikamaru mutters words of congratulation while Chouji offers her a bag of chips which Ino accepts.
Naruto makes Sakura sit against the wall, resting her back on the sturdy surface.
"Thanks Naruto." She says before eventually passing out, He takes his kimono jacket off laying it over her.
"Sleep well."
"You're such a mother hen." Kakashi comments off handedly. Naruto snorts, leaning against the railing. "It's a good trait." Naruto was always taking care of the others, it reminded him a lot of someone else he used to know.
"She's my teammate after all." Naruto said flashing Kakashi one of his signature smiles. The tired jounin smiles back, glad to have someone who would at least cooperate with him.
Sasuke wonders what Naruto would have done if he lost, would he have carried him up the stairs too?
The Uchiha recalls the time Naruto spent with him in the infirmary.
"I was so worried about you." Naruto had said to him after repeatedly flicking his forehead, Sasuke's cheeks redden at the memory. The only other person he'd allowed that close had been Itachi. Sasuke is reminded of the forehead pokes the older boy would give him when ever he could. But Naruto was nothing like Itachi.
"You're a bit warm Sasuke." Kakashi said. Placing a hand on the Uchiha's forehead.
"I'm fine." Sasuke said, he notices Naruto staring too, worrying about him.
"Is he alright Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. Kakashi looks between the both of them, now understanding the redness on Sasuke's face.
"He's fine Naruto-kun." Kakashi said. He would leave this alone for now, hopefully it wouldn't end badly.
They wait for the next match to be selected, the board comes to life, cycling through names once more until it lands on a pair of names.
"Nara Shikamaru v Inuzuka Kiba."
"Yahoo!" Kiba cheers jumping into the arena followed by a bark from Akamaru. All the energy he'd been saving was ready to be released, the rest of team eight watch on in fondness. Naruto's just relieved to have another group of people he didn't have to worry about.
From where team ten is, Shikamaru groans loudly muttering about how troublesome it was to be there. The spiky haired boy descends the steps yawning.
"Kick his ass Shikamaru!" Ino yells from the top. Shikamaru glances at her with a look of pure annoyance, she sticks her tongue out at him.
He and Kiba stand across each other with Hayate ready to call the match.
"Begin."
Kiba goes for a full frontal attack, he and Akamaru synchronise their movements to match each other.
"Gatsuga!" the swirling mass heads for Shikamaru who spends his time dodging and studying the Inuzuka's fast paced moves.
Naruto watches the match, taking note on the strengths and weaknesses of each opponent. Shikamaru was a strategist at heart, someone like Sakura could learn a lot from him but the other boy would find it too troublesome to teach. Naruto had never witnessed the Nara genius in action as Shikamaru was prone to just sleeping in class while the teachers went on. Watching his mind work was truly something fascinating.
Kiba on the other hand relied on fast moves to disorient his enemies and force them into acting based on that primal fight or flight response. It would work with some opponents but Shikamaru wasn't just anybody.
"Who do you think is going to win?" Suzumebachi asks from within his mind.
"The Nara child." Kurama says placing his bet.
'Either could win right about now, Kiba will either force Shikamaru to act carelessly or Shikamaru's going to trick him.' Naruto replies. Suzumebachi seems pleased with Naruto's answer, she was always making sure that Naruto didn't just move fast, but that he thought fast as well.
"Oh he has a plan." Naruto says recognizing that look in Shikamaru's eyes.
'Kiba better watch out now.'
Within minutes both Kiba and Akamaru had been paralysed by the shadow possession jutsu, their flashy and obvious attack cast a large shadow over the arena and of course Shikamaru took advantage of it once he was able to find a place to consider his options. The shadow ninja smirks as Hayate declares him the winner.
Kiba growls sulking up the stair as he went, what a lame way to lose.
"Better luck next time." Shikamaru calls out to him as they head their separate ways. Kiba grumbles, growling like a an actual dog.
"There, there." Hinata said rubbing Kiba's back as he continues to pout. Shino and Kurenai are also by his side trying to console him, Kurenai more than Shino.
Kiba sticks his lip out rather sullenly as Hinata and Kurenai try to console him.
"I lost so quickly." Kiba said, even Akamaru whines sadly.
"It was a bad match up." Shino said. "In a contest between mind and strength. The mind always triumphs."
"Gee, thanks man." Kiba snaps. Shino shrugs, at least he tried, Naruto was better at this.
"I didn't expect Shikamaru to be that good." Sasuke mutters, more than just setting him up against strong opponents it really opened his eyes to the strengths and skill sets of the other Konoha genin. Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba and even Sakura.
How much was hiding under his nose this whole time. The Uchiha glances over at team Gai, specifically at Lee. Someone who he didn't even know existed had beat him within a moment of meeting him.
"You're doing it again." Naruto says from his side. Sasuke turns to him, blank expression on his face.
"Doing what?"
"Over evaluating. Over comparing stop it." Naruto says. Sasuke snorts, folding his arms.
"Easy for you to say, you're strong."
"And you're not?" Naruto retorts with a lifted eyebrow. Before Sasuke could retort Sakura stirs from her nap, coming over to the balcony to join them in leaning against the railing.
"What are we talking about?" she asks.
"Just waiting for the next series of matches to begin." Naruto says, tossing a look to Sasuke he asks. "Right Sasuke?"
Sasuke grunts in affirmation while Sakura returns Naruto's jacket.
"I didn't miss your match did I Naruto?" Sakura asks guiltily. Naruto shakes his head.
"You did miss Kiba losing to Shikamaru." Naruto replies.
"Hey I heard that!" Kiba yells jabbing a finger in Naruto's direction, Naruto brushes him off with a grin and a wave. Kiba grumbles and returns to sulking.
"You're surprisingly mature about this Naruto-kun." Suzumebachi said.
'It's how you raised me.' Naruto thought.
"Oh look it's starting." Ino says, the genin turn their eyes to the board, watching it cycle through the names of the remaining examinees. It was going well until Naruto saw the names it stopped on. He stands frozen, eye wide as if struck by Haku's hyouton jutsu.
It couldn't be.
"Abumi Zaku v Aburame Shino."
Kakashi watches Naruto's reaction with one eye, gone was the playful air around Naruto that had been there only seconds before. Kakashi wonders if he would have to restrain his favourite student, but as quickly as he thinks about it Naruto's back, albeit more sober.
Naruto's worry isn't that Shino is weak, far from it but the Otogakure ninja were not above killing him. They would use any underhanded tactic to gain victory but worst of all.
Naruto's eyes flicker to Dosu, once the bandaged boy notices the blonde's stare Naruto could feel him smirking. The girl, Kin, shoots Naruto a smirk letting him know they were happy with the match up. Naruto's hands tighten around the railings as he glares them down.
Shino himself didn't really know how to feel about the match up. From what he could tell they had been hoping to fight Naruto but got him instead, would that same resentment transfer over to Shino?
Zaku had already jumped into the arena, grinning maniacally.
"Oi, hurry up!" Zaku yelled, taking his place beside Hayate.
"G-Good luck Shino-kun, not that you're going to need it." Hinata said with a tiny fist pump. Kiba, despite still pouting about his loss gives him a look that says 'You better not lose.' And Naruto. The blonde looks worried for him, what were the odds that he'd be matched up with people who didn't like Naruto already?
"Ganbatte Shino-kun." Naruto said letting the tension bleed from his shoulders, he didn't want the bug ninja to know how worried he was, Naruto would trust his friend. "I know you'll do great."
Shino nods, taking the stairs down. He stands facing Zaku who's still grinning happily.
"Are you two ready?" Hayate asked looking between the both of them. Shino nods, Zaku nods. "Begin!"
Zaku doesn't wait for Hayate to leave before he's firing his air cannons, pressurized air blasts through the arena, Shino is only able to dodge dude to his quicker than average reflexes, a plan forms in th Aburame's mind. It would be risky but... He looks up into the crowd to find Naruto watching with worried eyes.
For Naruto's sake he would win.
Naruto watches with bated breath as they fight, he fought all impulses to simply start screaming instructions at Shino. His mind worked fast, much faster than Kyuubi and Suzumebachi could afford to keep up with, all worried thoughts about what was happening and what could possibly happen.
Naruto doesn't realise how hard he's gripping the metal bar of the railing until Sakura and Sasuke hear it creak. They notice the small dent in the metal but say nothing. Sakura looks to Kakashi, she doesn't know how to comfort Naruto right now. Kakashi notices the lengthening nails and the faint sense of feral chakra. He turns one eye to Naruto waiting.
"Naruto?" Sasuke calls, trying his luck.
"Hm?" Naruto replies, still unable to move his eyes from the battle. Shino had blasted Zaku with a spray of insects while the Oto ninja laughs maniacally as he sweeps them away with a blast of his hands. Sasuke rubs the back of his neck not fully knowing what to say.
"It'll be fine, I don't believe you'd be friends with someone weak." Sasuke says, he curses. The words sounded harsher than he'd intended but Naruto smiles nonetheless. The blonde calms down, loosening his grip on the metal.
"You're right, Shino-kun will be okay."
"Give up." Shino says, Kikaichu swarming all around him. Before Zaku knew it he was cornered on both sides, Shino stood to his left pouring out beetles that were feasting on Zaku's chakra while to his right a swarm had gathered ready to attack.
"You really think you got me figured out huh bug boy." Zaku smirks, he stretches both his arms out.
"Ultimate Zankuuha." he yells. Blasting away everything including Shino and his swarms. Zaku doesn't give the Aburame a break and ruthlessly attacks him with punches.
Before Shino could lay down an attack Zaku jumps in the air, blasting pressurized air at Shino laughing as he did.
"Taking my anger out on you feels so much better, hope you're watching bumble bee." In his distracted state, Shino gets a punch in, slamming his fist into Zaku's jaw, the Sound nin flies back crashing into the wall. Shino sends a swarm of Kikaichu after Zaku, who blows them away. Zaku smirks widely at Shino, showing him a full roll of teeth. He attacks again, using his air holes to propel himself forward. He punches Shino who blocks with his arms.
"Big mistake." Zaku opens his palm, firing pressurized air directly at Shino, who has no room to dodge.
"Shino!/Shino-kun!" Naruto, Kiba and Hinata call at the same time. Fearing the worst, Naruto had seen what those air holes could do up close. His heart nearly stops.
There's a sound of buzzing in the air as smoke clears, Shino is nowhere to be seen all that's left is an army of beetles heading straight for Zaku.
"It's over." Shino said holding a kunai to the Otogakure ninja's neck.
Naruto exhales, relief clear as day on his face. The rest of team eight are already thanking Shino's lucky stars.
Zaku scoffs, pointing his palms down he blasts up taking Shino with him, Zaku elbows the bug nin in the gut and twists around to deliver blow after blow with his Zankuuha until Shino coughs up blood. Unbeknownst to Zaku, Shino's plan had been set in motion since the beginning of the battle.
Naruto's eyes follow every move the battle makes, lacing his hands together hopefully. At this point he didn't even care who won. He just wanted Shino out of there.
'Come on Shino-kun.' He thinks.
Suddenly Zaku's arm begins to rattle loudly while he tries to follow up and attack. The boy grimaces as he's wracked with pain but tries to ignore it. Zaku is determined to win this fight and powers up for another attack despite all the warning signs.
"Take this!" He blasts, but nothing comes out. Instead there's a sickening crack. The audience watches with horror as Zaku's forearm pops off, landing gracelessly on the arena floor, beetles swarm them popping out of the air holes and out of the skin of the hand. It's then that the audience realises what happened.
Zaku screams, falling to his knees as blood pours out graphically from the hole created by his own mistake. Shino watches, holding his own injured body. But Zaku isn't done, stubbornly the Otogakure nin gets up, pointing his other hand at Shino.
"It would be unwise to do that." Shino says.
"Shut up! I don't care as long as I get to hurt you and prove myself." Zaku yell, as Shino suspected the attempt to launch another blast of air is disrupted by Zaku's other arm popping off. The boy's agonizing scream continues and soon Hayate figures that's enough.
"Since the opponent is unable to battle the winner is Aburame Shino." Hayate said.
Shino is barely able to stand at this point, he sways, fatigued with injuries of his own.
Before Kurenai could act, Naruto had propelled himself off the railing and dived right after Shino.
"I've got you Shino-kun!" Naruto yells wrapping his arms around the other boy.
"Naruto-kun?" Shino grunts in pain.
"I'm here." Naruto says helping him lay down until the medical team got there. Shino coughs into his hand, splattering a chunk of beetle filled blood into it.
Naruto tries to activate his fairies to heal his friend but Shino stops him.
"Save your chakra for your battle, I promise I'm alright Naruto-kun." Shino said, he coughs again spraying another splatter of blood.
"Shino-kun!" Naruto calls deeply worried.
Hinata, Kiba and Kurenai rush down the steps to attend to the other member of team eight.
"Come with me for immediate medical treatment Aburame Shino." the medic said. Shino shakes his head.
"I'm alright." he protests, stubbornly trying to sit up.
"No you're not, get on the stretcher." Naruto says sternly.
"Naruto-kun I promise you I'm fine." Shino says. "I just need to rest." they stare at each other for a long moment as Naruto debates whether to believe him or not.
Eventually Kurenai steps in.
"Shino-kun get on the stretcher before I knock you out." the Aburame genin has no choice but to agree.
"I don't want to miss your match." Shino said.
"Spoilers, I win." Naruto jokes. It gets a laugh out of Shino too.
"I guessed as much."
"Congratulations Shino-kun." Naruto said. Shino nods.
"Yeah congratulations man!" Kiba said, Akamaru barks in agreement. Hinata nods as well offering her congratulation softly.
Naruto exhales deeply, now that Shino was out of the ring , he could relax. Only one left was him and Hinata.
"Well done Shino." Kurenai said.
Naruto watches them carry his friend away, hopeful that Shino would be back just in time for the announcements of the winners to be made. Zaku is still screaming as they carry him off in a stretcher, his ninja career most likely ended at that point.
Dosu and Kin are not happy their teammate lost so brutally. Dosu chuckled, it seemed his suspicions were proved correct and he resolved to get team seven back for all the trouble they caused.
"His arms just popped off." Kin said frankly quite disturbed but the sight of two hands just coming off a joint.
"It seems he underestimated his opponent." Dosu said. "I'll expect you'll more careful Kin."
"Right." she said.
"That was pretty close wasn't it Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said, she thought Shino would be a goner the moment he stood against the Otogakure team that attacked them in the forest of death. The Aburame was surprisingly clever albeit a bit creepy to her, the pink haired girl shudders at the thought of all those insects. Watching Naruto walk up the stairs her heart goes out to him, it couldn't have been easy to watch his friend get hurt like that.
"I don't feel sorry for those Otogakure guys at all." Sakura said after a moment. After what they put team seven through, they deserved a little retribution, even if it had to come in the form of some missing arms.
Sasuke smirks.
"Finally thinking like a ninja eh Sakura." he said humorously.
As Naruto passes by the stairs he feels the eyes of the remaining Otogakure ninja on him. He turns to them glaring hard. Dosu still had an infuriating expression on his face, like he had somehow been the victor in the match between Zaku and Shino. Naruto finally loses his temper.
"Interesting match wasn't it?" Dosu said looking to Naruto with his one visible eye.
"Dosu was it." Naruto began, his voice cold and clipped, no one had ever heard him speak like that. "You better pray to all the gods you know that we don't match up." Naruto flares his killing intent punctuating his point with deadly seriousness. "Because I will kill you." blues eyes turn into red slits Dosu and Kin themselves sufficiently scared. In the blink of an eye Naruto was back, he gives them a smile, wide with slitted eyes.
"Consider that a threat." Naruto said.
Naruto comes back up to stand beside them, eyes downcast.
"You alright Naruto?" Sakura asks. Naruto gives a wan smile, shaking his head.
"It's not me you should be asking about Sakura."
"You're right how is he?" she corrects herself, knowing that Naruto was talking about Shino who was just carried away in a stretcher.
"He'll live, I suspect his beetles are already scrambling around to repair the damage." Naruto says. "Honestly I'm just glad he's safe."
"Good to know." Sakura says with a wink and a big thumb's up, Naruto giggles.
"I really wanted him to see my match, is that bad?"
"Don't worry Naruto-kun I'm sure you can tell him all about it." Kakashi chimes in from the back.
"I guess you're right." th blonde says, the teams once again face the board.
The electric screen once again lights up and everyone has their fingers crossed on who's next. The board comes up with a surprising match up
"Rock Lee v Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto's surprised by the suddenness of the choice, he was beginning to think this thing was rigged.
"I certainly did not expect to go next." Naruto says folding his arms.
The others hear Lee cheer from where he stood with the rest of his teammates. Only Gai looks as ecstatic as Lee does.
"I knew if said I wanted to go last the board would do this." he cheered.
"What an energetic fellow." Suzumebachi said.
'It's going to be a contest of speed.' Naruto thought. "I really didn't want to be next though." He said.
"Uh Naruto, good luck." Sasuke says quietly. "Not that you'll need it." the other says with a confident smirk.
"Thank you Sasuke." Naruto says hopping over the railing.
"Give him hell Naruto!" Sakura cheers, cupping her hands around her mouth to elevate her voice.
"I hope your student is ready to taste defeat Kakashi my eternal rival, Lee will not lose here." Gai said jabbing a finger in Kakashi's direction.
"Sorry Gai, did you say something." Kakashi replies flipping to another page in
"Ack! What a hip response, as expected from my eternal rival!"
"I see where Lee get's it from." Sakura and Sasuke thought.
"G-Ganbatte Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouts from the stands. Naruto graces her with a warm smile.
"Naruto-kun I'm sorry about your friend, this is quite unexpected, but don't expect me to go easy on you just because we're friends." Lee said already taking a stance.
"Likewise Lee." Naruto said, looking towards the proctor. Hayate seemed a little bit more stressed if his sickly pallor was any indication.
"Hayate-san are you alright?" Naruto asked.
"Perfectly healthy." the proctor replies.
"He should be worrying about himself." Neji said folding his arms.
"Agreed." Tenten said,
"Begin!"
"Konoha Senpū!" Lee rushes at Naruto flying at him with his signature kick, Naruto blocks but other wise makes no move to attack instead he stands observing.
'That kick should have taken him out.' Lee thinks getting ready to attack again, he jumps, attacking from another angle Naruto blocks once again. Lee jumps back. The blonde tilts his head seemingly done with his analysis. He vanishes.
Lee is barely able to block the swift kick that follows, Naruto attacks, throwing punch after punch with rapid precision. Lee is only able to block before Naruto's aggressive attacks cause him to retreat.
Lee back flips away landing on the shinobi statue in the middle of the arena panting, he tries to think up a plan, truthfully he hadn't expected Naruto to be so fast. After the blonde stopped his match with Sasuke he assumed it took everything in him to step in but now Lee was thinking that wasn't even a fraction of the blonde's strength.
He would have to be careful.
Neji and Tenten don't believe it, an opponent as fast as Lee. Naruto doesn't even seem worn out, instead the blonde looks to be reading Lee's movement. Eyes tracking him around the arena.
"Gai-sensei, Lee's attacks aren't working at all." Tenten said, she didn't want her teammate to lose here but that rookie was seriously something. She had only taken notice of him in the forest of death after she almost attacked him. Tenten wonders if she would have stood a chance against him if she'd tried.
Neji's eyes narrow in suspicion, he activates the byakugan scanning Naruto up and down.
'What strange chakra signatures.' Neji thinks.
"Do you need a break Lee?" Naruto teases. Lee hadn't really broken a sweat but the taijutsu specialist seemed a bit worried.
"You're unexpectedly fast Naruto-kun." Lee said.
"So I've been told." Naruto said with a laugh. Naruto gears up ready to move but just before he can Gai's voice cuts through them.
"Take them off Lee." Gai said. What ever 'It' was, Lee seemed to understand. Naruto pouts, why wasn't his sensei cheering him on like that.
Lee gives Gai a salute before unstrapping a series of training weights from his feet.
"Alright now I can move a bit easier." Lee said cheerfully, Naruto got the sneaking suspicion that from that point on he had to be careful. Lee dumps the weight, creating a crater which rocks the arena.
"Lee was really wearing all that?" Sasuke asked equally as surprised as the rest of the audience, would Naruto really be able to beat such a guy? He looks at Naruto who doesn't even seem bothered by the colossal weights Lee had just dropped in fact he looked happy for him.
"A bit much Gai don't you think?" Kakashi asked tiredly. Gai simply flashes him smile and the good guy pose.
Naruto looks to the balcony where his own sensei was standing, reading a book. He frowns.
"Gee Lee how come your sensei cheers you on?" Naruto pettily says. Sakura and Sasuke look to Kakashi who knows he's being called out by his own student. Chills race down Kakashi's neck as the feeling of several eyes on him grows. Looking up from his book most of the Konoha jounin are staring expectedly at him.
He sighs deeply.
"Do your thing Naruto-kun!" he calls.
Naruto brightens up, gasping.
"If you say so Kakashi-sensei." Naruto sighs, taking off his Kimono jacket and folding it, it was time to get serious he guessed.
"Konoha Shunko!" Naruto said activating his technique, blueish swirling chakra coats his entire body as he readies himself for Lee's new attacks. In the contest of speed Naruto was determined to be the winner, if he didn't Suzumebachi would double his training for weeks. Lee vanishes moving like a blur in the arena but Naruto could detect the change as he got closer.
Naruto dodges, punch after punch, kick after kick. His Shunko protects him and tells him where Lee moves. Naruto sends a blast of wind at Lee cutting through the other boy's attack. Naruto dives, sweeping Lee's feet out from under him in an instant. Before the other could fall, he flips away, furrowing his eyebrows.
Despite the increase in speed Naruto was keeping up and frankly Lee found it incredible.
"You're really good Naruto-kun."
"Thank you Lee."
Lee kicks Naruto again, but the pressurized chakra of the Shunko ends up ripping his leg warmers. Lee flips away panting again but Naruto doesn't give him a chance, the blonde attacks throwing a punch that misses Lee but smashes into the ground breaking the it apart. Naruto looks up trying to find his opponent only to feel the winds behind him change.
Naruto blocks a kick, grabbing Lee's leg in the process and flinging him into a wall. Lee crashes spectacularly but the taijutsu specialist is not giving up. Lee rises from the crater with a determined look on his face, he begins undoing the bandages on his arms.
'I have to watch out for that.' Naruto thinks.
"It's not over yet Naruto-kun!" Lee said, even without his weights the boy moves at a whole new level of speed unlike anything the audience had seen before. But it's still not fast enough. Naruto avoids it, grabbing the loose bandages Naruto drags Lee towards him again swinging him into a wall. This time Lee bounces off heading towards Naruto who dances out of his grasp.
Lee stops and Naruto notices he's breathing rather harshly.
'It's like the technique took a toll on him. I should probably end this.' Naruto thinks sadly, Lee was the type of guy would give his all in anything he did, whether it hurt him or not and Naruto didn't want Lee to hurt himself.
"If this keeps up, he will." Suzumebachi says within Naruto's mind. "You have to find a way to end this quickly."
Naruto unsheathes his sword ready to end this battle as quickly as he could not just for his sake but for the other boy who was wearing himself thin.
"He's going to fight Lee with a sword?" Tenten asked incredulously.
"There's something strange about his sword." Neji said. The girl turns to him, silently asking for his to explain himself. "I can't quite explain it, but that sword is...alive."
"A living sword?" Tenten whispers fascinated.
"Jinteki Shakusetsu Suzume-chan." Naruto said, just like in the forest of death Naruto's sword is replaced with a black and yellow stinger gauntlet. He smiles sadly. He'd wanted to keep this technique a secret but he supposed now was a good a time as any to show them what his beautiful sword could do. The combination of Shunko and Shikai would put greater stress on his body but if Lee was going all out then why shouldn't he do the same.
Naruto takes a strange stance, hands posed artfully, he slides his leg like a dancer and suddenly like before he's gone.
"Suzumebachi no mai"
Lee is attacked from every angle leaving him un able to use any more attacks, he simply could not get his bearings. Every inch of him was pierced by Naruto's stinger and by the time the blonde is done. Lee is on his knees panting, covered in strange butterfly crests.
"Lee, I think it would be best you give up here, Suzume-chan's poison is already running through you." Naruto said gently. "If at any point I sting you in the same spot you die."
He didn't want to see the other boy give up but unfortunately he didn't want to lose either.
Lee gets up knees shaking with every inch of him decorated in crests. Hayate calls the match.
"Winner Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto dismisses his shikai, picking his jacket off the floor, with the shikai gone, the butterfly crests on Lee vanish as well. The medics run in helping Lee unto the stretcher.
"In the end you were the better fighter Naruto-kun." Lee said.
"You were great too Lee." Naruto said. "Better luck next time." Lee rests his head on the stretcher smiling. At least he lost to someone he respected.
Naruto walks up th balcony back to his teammates, satisfied with his win, his only regret was that Shino wasn't there to see him. Hinata's there though and she walks up to him, embracing him.
"Shino-kun w-would have been proud." she says.
"Thank you Hinata-chan."
"Naruto why do you always take off your jacket when you use that move?" Sakura asked she'd seen him do it a couple times now.
"Shunko uses wind chakra which can be pretty dangerous, it shreds stuff to pieces and when you condense it, it's even worse." Naruto explained. "I wear a halter because of it." he shows her his bare back.
"I see." Sakura said. "Will Lee be alright?"
"He'll recover." Naruto said. "Lee would have found it pretty insulting if I went easy on him."
"Hell yeah!" Kiba said from where he's standing. "One of the most insulting things you can do to another shinobi is not take them seriously in a fight like this."
Kakashi and Sasuke are silent. Kakashi because he worried for Naruto, he was obviously very powerful, trained by people Kakashi didn't know. With intentions he didn't understand. Kakashi locks eyes with the Hokage who's just as pressed as he is on the issue.
He would have to ask Naruto about it, though he knew the boy would not tell him.
Sasuke is silent for another reason entirely. He had known Naruto was the strongest on the team since the bell exam but this, this was on a whole other level. With speed like that Naruto was obviously just playing genin, playing around with them. He was already at a level Sasuke couldn't reach.
"Sasuke-kun what's wrong?" Sakura asked, taking notice of his foul mood. Naruto stops talking to give Sasuke a look of concern. Naruto gives him a soft smile.
No matter how much Naruto kept his strength from them, Sasuke found he could not hate the blonde. From day one the other had looked out for them, making sure they were safe, always rescuing them. He would never catch up to Itachi at this point.
Sasuke's mind flashed back to the Nami no Kuni mission, how Naruto had saved him from Haku and the ice mirrors.
Naruto who protected them again in the forest of death.
"I'm fine Sakura." Sasuke said quietly. Naruto notices his mood, clearly the Uchiha wanted to talk about something but knowing Sasuke he would be tight lipped about it until Naruto or Kakashi pushed him.
"You alright Sasuke?" Naruto asked. Sasuke gives a slight nod in response looking back to arena. Naruto turns back to the balcony for the next match.
The board lights up, flipping through names until it comes to the next two
"Temari v Dosu."
"Interesting match up." Naruto said. He guessed she would fight with the giant folded fan she kept strapped to her back. It was such an interesting weapon. Naruto wanted to know which would win, wind or sound.
Through the match he feels a pair of eyes on him, turning to his side he finds Gaara staring. Pale eyes watch him expressionlessly.
"Maybe you should take this time to introduce yourself, if you really want to help him." Kurama said.
"Be careful Naruto-kun." Suzumebachi said still not completely on board with this, even if Naruto himself was a Jinchuuriki but not like Gaara.
'Of course Suzume-chan.' Naruto thinks.
"Excuse me for a moment." Naruto said to his friends.
"Hi Gaara." Naruto said making sure to flare his chakra in the friendly pattern he used for the bees, he didn't want to startle the other Jinchuuriki who knew how that would end.
"Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara said with a tilt of his head, he turns his body to face the blonde, the gourd sways a bit. Naruto wonders if it's heavy. Kankuro watches apprehensively wondering what the speedy blonde was up to and why his younger brother seemed okay with it.
Naruto offers Gaara a hand, held low for Gaara to take in a gesture of friendship. Slowly but surely Gaara slips his hand into Naruto's. A pulse of Kyuubi's chakra moves through Naruto and into Gaara, the redhead feels relaxed.
"Like brothers?" Gaara asked blinking in confusion at what he felt. A sense of kindred fills him to the brim. He stares at Naruto with new eyes.
"As you said before we are the same." Naruto said, Gaara looks like he can't quite believe he wasn't alone in his specific brand of burden. The voice constantly whispering violence in his head quiets and in it's place a gentle ease.
"Feel better?" Naruto asked. Gaara can only manage a dazed nod, he seemed rather childlike and Naruto can't help but want to protect him, similar to what he'd felt with Haku.
"That's good."
Temari comes up the stairs to be greeted with the sight of the strange blonde kid from earlier holding her little brother's hand. She's about to say something when Kankuro wordlessly stops her by shaking his head.
"Something's going on between them." Kankuro mouths at her. Temari takes a moment to stand back and observe. Gaara seemed relaxed, something he usually wasn't, unless after a fresh kill. Temari narrowed her eyes, so why was he calm now?
"We should meet up after the exams Gaara." Naruto suggests gently. It would give him and Kurama a chance to look at Gaara's seal and give Naruto a chance to bond with someone who could be a friend.
"I would like that." the redhead replies, he didn't want the blonde to go, what if the voices returned.
"I should probably go, sorry to intrude. Kankuro, Temari." Naruto said. Slowly he slips his grip out of Naruto's hand. Gaara seems sad about it but Naruto ruffles his hair. "I'll see you after the exams."
Temari and Kankuro watch their youngest brother smile at the blonde, they couldn't remember the last time Gaara had smiled genuinely at anything. It was always that blood thirsty grin, right after he'd killed someone. The kid had touched Gaara's hair and there were no negative consequences. None at all, Gaara even seemed pleased.
"Gaara, who was that?" Temari asked tentatively. She remembered him, just barely. His fight was honestly nothing to laugh at. That speed. She frowns, they would have to watch out for him when it came time for the invasion.
"Naruto." Gaara said still in that relaxed tone of voice. Kankuro and Temari share a glance. If Gaara was reluctant to fight someone, what would become of their plan? She would have to step back and observe for now.
"That guy's dangerous Naruto." Kiba said the moment Naruto returns.
"That guy and I are meeting up after the exams." Naruto retorts, he waits a moment before the voices come. Several at once, mostly Kiba, Sakura and Hinata.
"H-He's really scary Naruto-kun!" Hinata said grabbing Naruto and shaking him by the shoulders. Naruto laughs reassuring her that it was going to be all right. Hinata shook her head.
"I hope you k-know what y-you're getting into." Hinata huffed. Naruto smiles at her, the same mischievous smile she got when he was planning something.
"That's the guy from earlier." Sasuke said frowning at Naruto. Naruto nods.
"Yeah, Gaara." the blonde responds, Sasuke turns away from him fuming. Why was it so easy for Naruto to connect with strong people when the blonde never had to fight. Sasuke touches the place where the curse mark had been.
"You didn't need it to be strong Sasuke, you already are." Naruto says to him. The blonde gives him a smile, not a playful one but something genuine. Naruto believed in him and Sasuke didn't want to let him down.
Kakashi notices.
The board lights up again as they talk and soon two names have been chosen.
"Oi! Is that-" Kiba begins, Hinata turns to face the board, she pales, her heart stops, like all her breath had been vacuumed out of her lungs.
"Hyuuga Hinata v Hyuuga Neji."
'Oh no, oh no, oh' Hinata's mind continues to spiral, how was she going to do this? There was no way she could possibly win against her cousin, the genius of the Hyuuga clan. Maybe it would be best to forfeit now.
"Hinata-chan look at me." Naruto's voice says somewhere vaguely at the back of her mind, she turns her pale terrified eyes to him. Naruto has a stern expression on his face, eyebrows knitted in determination.
"N-Naruto-kun." Hinata says finding it very hard to breath or even swallow. Trails of sweat ran down her forehead as she shook. Naruto grabs her face.
"Do your best Hinata-chan, don't let him talk down to you." Naruto fixes her with a resolute stare. "I believe in you Hinata-chan, Kiba and Akamaru believe in you and if Shino-kun were here he'd say the same thing too!" Hinata's hands stop shaking, she turns to Kiba who also has a deeply unwavering expression.
"He's right Hinata I believe in you." Kiba says flashing her a toothy grin, Akamaru barks in agreement, wagging his tail.
"Do your best Hinata." Sakura said. Hinata remembers her thoughts, towards the beginning of the third exam. How long would she let her fear of her cousin rule her life. Fear from something she didn't even do. Hinata clenches her fists. No matter what happened here, backing down was not an option.
Even if it was Neji, she would give it her all and she certainly wasn't going down without a fight.
Hinata heads down the steps, each step bringing her closer and closer to her worst nightmare.
"I never thought I'd be fighting you Hinata-sama." Neji said smirking, she could tell he thought the match up was a good thing, a chance to get back at her for all the perceived wrongs she had committed.
"Before we begin the match I'd like to say something, Hinata-sama, it would be in your best interest to forfeit now, you just aren't meant to be a ninja." her eyes widened, she expect him to verbally attack her like this.
"You're too kind, you are simply put, weak." Neji said, continuing to smirk. Hinata shakes her head.
"No." she began, surprising Neji with her lack of stutter. "I came to the e-exams to change m-myself. I-I made it through the forest of d-death and I'm here now. I won't let you take that away f-from me."
Up in the balcony Naruto nods in approval. He wasn't expecting Hinata to say much but he was glad she did, if only to see the smirk disappear off Neji's smug face. It was obvious he didn't expect the timid girl to talk back to him.
'I'm so proud of her.' he thinks.
Neji glares hard at her gritting his teeth he grows angry at her words,
"Listen to yourself!" He spat, "People cannot change. You sound so naïve! Are you truly a part of the ninja world. Everything is decided the moment we are born! From the moment you open your eyes your place in the world is set." Hinata seeing her cousin has lost his composure feels a fire in her chest. She lefts her head defiantly.
"I-If you truly believe your circumstances c-cannot change then you are the one w-who naïve." Hinata said sadly. Neji activates his byakugan, angry beyond reason at his cousin.
"You're pathetic! And the outcome of this match was determined from the beginning." even though Neji was fuming a calm feeling washes over Hinata, finally finding the strength she says what she needs to say.
"No, I'm not pathetic Neji-niisan." Hinata says without the stutter, surprising everyone even more. "But do you want to know what is? Blaming a five year old for the mistakes of the elders." Hinata narrows her eyes, and in her eyes Neji finds an unshakable resolve, this was not the scared girl he knew. This was someone completely different.
"Proctor please, s-start the match." Hinata said. Hayate nods.
"Begin."
Hinata activates her byakugan going on the defensive, she had always been better there.
Neji attacks first, hoping to end it with a single blow, Hinata blocks him. Neji tries again but every strike he throws is countered, Hinata's expression is sombre as she counters him, he notices she's not throwing any strikes of her own. He smirks about to pull a feint when Hinata reacts, delivering and open palm strike filled with chakra to his chest. The first blow had been struck and it wasn't in Neji's favour.
"You go on about f-fate and how y-you suffered at the hands of it, but Neji-niisan I was suffering too." Hinata says.
Neji wipes the blood from his mouth glaring harshly.
"What do you know about suffering heir to main branch of the Hyuuga?! What do you know about how I've suffered?"
"I-I was five Neji!" Hinata yells clenching her fist and dropping the honorific from his name. "Five when a m-man came into my r-room in the middle of the night, f-five when I learned that as young as I was there are people who would want to steal the eyes right out of my head." Hinata doesn't back down taking another stance. "Five, when everyone including my own sister blamed my weaknesses, blamed me for a man's death, do you know what that does to a p-person? Do you know what that does to a c-child? Heir to the Hyuuga clan?" she laughs, too bitterly for someone as sweet as Hinata. "I think you mean disgrace."
Neji's eyes widen, the shock is almost too much for him to process. All this time, all this time he blamed her, he'd never even considered how she felt. Hinata was just a baby when she lost her mother and no sooner after that did she lose everyone. He had acted like everything was happening to him, when really it was happening to Hinata too.
Hinata notices this and takes the chance, delivering blow after blow, hitting Neji with the full force of her attacks. He barely has time to recover. Then Hinata does the most unexpected thing, she kicks him. Neji couldn't dodge.
Anyone who knew the Hyuuga style well, knew they didn't kick often, it was a style based purely on attacking the chakra points and Neji had mastered it. Or so he thought.
Neji lands hard, skidding away from his cousin who panting hard with the effort of the fight.
"Neji-niisan, I-I think it's best if you forfeit." the satisfaction on Hinata's face is tremendous, she's smiling so assuredly and it pisses Neji off. Was this truly Hinata?
Naruto could not contain the wide smile on his face as Neji falls.
Neji's eyes turn to Hinata in shock, disbelieving of the fact that this once timid girl, had just knocked him on his ass, twice now.
"Woohoo! Go Hinata!" Kiba yells from the top of the balcony.
"Yeah Hinata kick his ass!" Ino yells in support, even Akamaru is barking his support for the Hyuuga girl.
"We believe in you Hinata-chan!" Naruto and Sakura shout. The girl smiles, Neji takes a moment to observe her in his shock.
Then he gets up, stumbling as he did and nearly losing his footing. Byakugan activated, he comes at her again, enraged by her words. But Hinata isn't scared, she attacks again with her style that's so much like the Jyuuken and yet not quite. Footwork he didn't recognise, closed and open palm strikes reminiscent of it and yet still not quite.
Hinata doesn't give him a chance to breath and soon Neji receives a chakra coated palm strike to the face.
Hayate calls the match, in Hinata's favour.
Hinata turns to her cousin. Deactivating her dojutsu, she walks toward Neji who's trying to pick himself up.
"I-If you want to stay shackled to rules of the Hyuuga, r-rules meant to work against you. Then don't stop on my account." She offers him a hand. "But if you want t-to change the way things are and I mean truly change, it's never t-too late to start. I-I never hated you Neji-niisan. Never."
Neji accepts her hand and allows himself to be pulled up by his cousin. She smiled at him, a pure smile, Neji bows his head. Sad and angry that he lost but at the same time relieved. His eyes fill with tears, fists clenched he grits his teeth ready to yell again.
Hinata hugs him. It's then that he let's go.
"I did not expect it to end that way." Kiba said.
"The burden of genius I suppose." Naruto said. "I'm glad they worked it out." Kakashi nods but he can't help but wonder what would have happened if Hinata had not held her own against Neji, would he have had to restrain someone? Or even Naruto?
"She has guts I'll give her that, but what if it had ended badly?" Sasuke asked. Naruto turns to him, dead serious,
"I would have interfered."
Sasuke decides he'd never want to piss Naruto off.
Hinata walks up the stairs triumphant, head held high. She could already hear Kiba shouting his congratulations at the top of his lungs. She smiles.
"You kicked some serious ass Hinata!" Kiba said slapping her back, Akamaru barks too with all the excitement.
"T-Thank you everyone."
"Are you going to patch things up with your cousin now that things are over?" Sakura asked. "Things seemed pretty tense between you two." the pink haired girl remembered Hinata mentioning something about he strained family relations while they talked in the infirmary days ago.
"I-I hope to. And I h-hope you'd be able to do me a f-favour Naruto-kun."
"Anything Hinata-chan, whenever you need it." Naruto said without missing a beat. Sasuke frowns, there it was again, that closeness with two thirds of team eight.
It irritated him, made his skin itch.
Neji goes back to his team, sad he lost but glad he and Hinata would finally be able to talk things out. It had been such a weight on him carrying all that anger and while it wasn't fully gone. It was a start.
"Welcome back Neji." Tenten greets, saying nothing about the battle. Neji nods. Gai places a hand on Neji's shoulder, flashing him that signature smile.
"Win or lose, you always have a home with us." Gai-sensei says. Neji's hard pressed not to start crying again.
Temari watches the match with her own thoughts swirling about, if two people with relationships that strained could begin mending it, then...
The girl looks to Gaara who's had been just as invested in the match as she was and Kankuro who's picking his nose, then to Baki their sensei who shakes his head partly in exasperation and partly in fondness. Temari smiles to herself.
'Maybe there would be a way to fix us after all.' she thinks.
The board lights up preparing to arrange the next match
"Gaara V Tsuchi Kin."
"Good luck Gaara." Temari says, trying her own luck with her younger brother, Gaara faces her a little bit surprised.
"Thank you Temari." he replies gruffly. It shocks her, but she's glad for it. Kankuro stares at the two of them.
"Er, yeah have a good fight." Kankuro stammer out. Gaara nods at him as he heads down.
"What just happened?" Kankuro asks.
"I...don't know." Temari replies.
The Otogakure girl huffs, walking down to the arena to start her match. Gaara was already waiting for her.
"I almost feel sorry for her." Naruto said.
"Almost." Sakura said. Watching Kin go down. "I hope he crushes her." Sasuke trades looks with Naruto both surprised by her words. They say nothing but both are noticeably proud.
The match is pitifully short, Kin's genjutsu doesn't work on Gaara and she's wrapped up in sand. Kiba, Hinata and Akamaru as wells as Temari and Kankuro wait for him to tighten the sand, to crush her like they'd seen him do. The proctor calls the match and Gaara lets her go without a scratch. It's clear he only wanted to detain her.
Kin lands, scrambling to get up she spits up sand watching as Gaara walks away.
What an embarrassing loss.
"Congratulations Gaara." Naruto said on the redhead's way up. Pale eyes light up at the sight of the blonde.
Gaara nods at him before returning to his Sensei an Siblings.
"Well done Gaara." Baki says after a brief moment of silence. They all wait patiently for the redhead's response.
"Thank you Baki." Gaara says. They almost don't hear it but after they do it warms their hearts.
"There are only two people left." Sasuke said. "Lee's teammate and Chouji."
"I can't wait to see how that turns out." Sakura said.
True to their words, the board lights up with the names
"Tenten v Akimichi Chouji"
The two head to down to the arena with Tenten looking as happy as she could possibly be. Hayate begins the match and already it's clear who the winner is.
Chouji is trapped by a multitude of ninja wire and thus is unable to use baika no jutsu. Eventually he tires himself out allowing Tenten to rain weapons on him. Needless to say Chouji is knocked out.
Asuma sighs, heading down to the arena to carry his student away.
Tenten heads back to her team preening under Gai's praise. The only one of her team to make it through to the finals.
Neji congratulates her, and he knew Lee would too if he were there.
"With this the preliminary matches for the final exams have been concluded, congratulations to those of you who passed and to those who didn't do not be discouraged." as the Hokage's speech went on Orochimaru decides he's heard and seen enough.
Naruto and Sasuke.
He would have to watch out for them, they could be a hindrance to his plans. He would have to find a way to turn both their loyalties, Sasuke would be easy, his lust for power was obvious. Naruto on the other hand was unreadable. Why was the boy still loyal to Konoha?
No matter, even the most staunch believers in the will of fire can be broken.
Hayate asks the winner of the matches to come down the stairs and line up in front of the shinobi hands. He gives a light cough before he begins to speak.
"Once again, congratulations." Hayate said looking over the contestants, many of which he didn't expect to pass. There were several dark horses in this race but how would they fare in the finals.
The Hokage steps forward to inform them the rules of the finals.
"The finals will be held one month from now, remember that you are all fighting to represent your villages." Sarutobi surveys the scene, there was only one foreign team left, Sunagakure. The rest were all ninja from Konoha. The old man couldn't help but feel proud at the new generation of ninja.
"The final exam will be held publicly with many important guests coming to witness how strong you are and by proxy how strong your nation is."
The ninja take cursory glances at each other, some glaring, some assessing their opponents.
"Some of you have already shown your rivals everything you have to give and some of you were very injured, almost gravely so during these preliminary matches. To even things out one month will be given to you all to better prepare yourself as well as to rest."
Anko steps forward holding a small box.
"There are numbers in these boxes, pick one and call them out when I tell you to." She said.
Naruto picks first, then Shikamaru who's standing beside him, then Sasuke, then Hinata, it follows along until all the contestants have a piece of paper in their hand.
"Call out your numbers."
"One." Naruto said.
"Ten." Said Shikamaru with a bored yawn.
"Four." Sasuke said.
"T-Two." Hinata said.
"Nine." Temari Said.
"Five." Kankuro said.
"Three." Gaara said.
The rest call out their numbers, figuring out by now that it had something to do with their match ups. Ibiki steps forward as well, clipboard in hand to show them their opponents.
"These are the final match ups for the tournament." Ibiki said. He watches some of them look grimly in determination while others didn't seem bothered at all. Some glanced at each other warily, all to be expected among Shinobi.
"You are dismissed, till we meet again." The Hokage said.
'I can't believe I made it this far.' Naruto thought, looking over the relieved faces of his comrades, especially Hinata. She ran to Kurenai, who looked proud of her in a motherly manner. Kiba somehow manages to look happy while he pouts at not being one of the winners.
Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji all look ecstatic as Asuma traps them in a bear hug.
Gai and Neji pat Tenten on the shoulder while Konoha's green beast yells triumphantly.
Gaara's sensei doesn't look particularly impressed that all three of them had passed, in fact he looked like he expected it. It made Naruto roll his eyes.
"Yo, Naruto-kun." Kakashi calls walking towards his students, Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto raises his hand to wave when all of a sudden he's struck by a wave of weakness, he stumbles but before he can fall Kakashi catches him.
"Naruto!" Sasuke and Sakura call, this was the second time he'd felt this way. The first was after Orochimaru and now. Naruto winces, deciding he really needed to learn how to use two or more of his special skills at once. This faint feeling was going to catch up to him and bite him in the ass at the most unpleasant moment.
"I'm alright. Nice catch Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said. Kakashi lifts him up.
"Maa, I would expect you to be tired after all you did." Kakashi said giving Naruto one of his signature eye smiles. Naruto chuckles.
"I promise I'll be alright in a second." Kakashi doesn't listen instead he hefts Naruto up in a bridal carry.
"To the hospital we go."
"Kakashi-sensei please put me down." Naruto pleads feeling his face go hot with embarrassment.
"I don't think that's a good idea my adorable genin."
The blonde doesn't want to admit it but the hold is quite nice, providing a feeling of safety he didn't usually feel with anyone else except Shino and Hinata.
"Just don't drop me." Naruto said.
"Never." Kakashi replies
A/N: It's finally here, I had so many Idea for this chapter I had to rewrite everything. So yeah I love Neji but the fact that he blamed a child for death of his father, a very capable shinobi, just rubbed me the wrong way.
Also I wanted the rookies to cheer each other on, especially the girls.
Thanks for reading, next is another interlude, this chapter was really long.