Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto. Topic closed.
Author's notes: Awe!!! Thanks a lot for the wonderful reviews! I appreciate it all! Hmm… it seems that I don't have that much explaining to do. Therefore, I have made a decision. Uchiha Hro is accepted but a few details will be changed. Oh wait. There might be more than a few details. Because for one: in this fic, Itachi NEVER had a wife, nor children. Gomen-nasai. You see… Hro is kinda too strong for a genin. I just made her a complete Hyuuga. Sorry for the change. Neways, just a simple warning. This chapter is all about the assassination team, okay? So expect a few Naruto and company scenes for this part. Expect a lot of scenes about Neji's daughter in this chapter too. Sorry. Okay then! Let the chapter start!
Chapter 8:
"Wake up everyone."
Kakashi called out the other sleeping shinobis. Currently, the people awake were Gaara, which was pretty obvious since he don't sleep at all, Sasuke, and Neji.
When they received no reply from the other sleeping genins, they decided to enter their rooms to wake them up.
Neji opened the tent. He smiled slightly at the sight of her sleeping daughter. "Reika, wake up." At the voice of her father, Reika woke up instantly. She looked at her father bluntly. "Ohayou otousan…"
"Ohayou. Now get up and eat breakfast. We're leaving."
Reika got up. "Hai. Hai. Hey… what's that noise?"
A couple of minutes later, they have already finished cleaning and arranging the tents. As they prepared to leave, however…
"Hmm… anyone feel something?" Mika asked. Everyone nodded. "On the count of three, jump as high as you can alight. Reika, I'll leave this to you." Kakashi said.
"Hn. Fine by me."
"One. Two. Three."
At that instant, the ground they were standing a while ago was filled with ninjas in black. Reika was in the middle of the group with a calm emotion fixed on her face. "Alright. Who will I exterminate first?"
Without a word, all of the ninjas in black attacked her at the same time. "Okay. One, Two, Three, Four, Five… Nine, and Ten. Fine."
Reika released chakra from her tenketsus that caused the other ninjas to be thrown back.
"Wee!!! Go Reika-chan!!!" Ring cheered from behind the bushes as Reika continued attacking the ninjas with the gentle fist.
Neji crossed his arms as he looked at his daughter from a tree branch. "Hmm… she improved a lot from the past weeks."
"To be the strongest female Hyuuga…no… to be the BEST Hyuuga is my dream. I will exceed my father and the main house and destroy the curse that my father have, that I have, that every branch hyuuga has. I dream to finish the main family and take that blasted Hanabi out in which I WILL do. But before that, I have to get stronger."
With that, she finished the last of the ninjas in black without a sweat and raised one of her hands as a sign that it's already okay to come out.
She had immediately been tackled by Ring. "You're incredible, Reika!!! You really are a genius of the hyuuga!" "Thanks Ring. But I'll appreciate it if you get off me."
Ring immediately got off her and scratched the back of his head. "Gomen." "Iie. It's alright. I'm used to your pouncy attitude Ring-neesan!" Reika smiled as the two of them laughed.
Mika now was currently gazing over at the female Hyuuga near her. A small smile was at her lips. "You prove to be more interesting than you are, Hyuuga Reika."
"Ring, Mika, come on." They heard Gaara call. The two sand genins faced their sensei as nodded. "Hai Gaara-sensei!"
Neji walked near Reika and nudged her to go. Reika nodded and jumped towards a tree without a word.
The minutes passed by quietly. No one spoke a word to maintain the peace and quiet surrounding the group. That was until…
"Wait!"
The group stopped by Neji and Sasuke. "You sensed that too, didn't you Sasuke." Neji said. Sasuke nodded. "And it seems that you did too, Neji."
The three genins cocked their heads in confusion. "What is it, Uncle Sasuke? Otousan?" Reika asked only to be hushed by Neji. "Concentrate everyone."
Everyone did and finally felt the tension in the air and the hard breathings.
"Not another floppy ambush attempt." Kakashi whispered. "It seems so. Byakugan." Neji scanned his surroundings. "Five at the east, five at the north, ten at the south, and three on the west, making us surrounded with twenty-three shinobis."
"Sound shinobis for sure." Mika said. "For once Mikaze-san, I agree." Reika mumbled as her byakugan activated. "I don't want to mess around these guys so let's get this over with. You three genins, target the shinobis at the south, Gaara will go to the north with Neji, Sasuke will go to the east, while I go to the west." Kakashi ordered.
Ring crossed her arms. "Why do we get to have the south part?" "It's fine. It's alright to warm up a bit." Mika said as she looked at the southern direction. Reika didn't speak a word.
"Spread out."
=With the three girls=
"Hyuuga-san, how much farther?" Mika asked. Reika's eyes widened for a bit since she never expected Mika to even rely on her byakugan for data. She shook the thought off and activated the byakugan.
"Three miles from here. They are scattered all over the place. There are three of them over there at a nearby tree and the others are scattered all over." She said.
Ring nodded. "Okay then. I guess that plan is to split up, ne?" Ring received a nod from the two girls as they continued their search.
=At Gaara's place=
"Who are you?!" One of the sound-nins demanded. Gaara stayed silent as the sand flowed freely from his gourd.
"Sabaku Kyuu!"
Screams from the sound-nins echoes throughout the forest.
"Sabaku Sousou!"
A rain of blood rained all around the area as some of the blood mixed with Gaara's sand. Gaara hned and turned away, extremely bored out of his mind.
=At Kakashi's place=
Slash! Crash! Clank!
Kakashi threw a kunai towards one of the sound shinobis, hitting the target right in the middle of the eyes.
Swoosh!
He evaded a rain of kunais towards him as he threw a couple of kunais towards the ninjas, hitting them in the process.
"I wonder how the others are doing now… I'm sure Gaara has already finished his job due to the screams a while back.'
Clank!
"I better concentrate now."
=At Neji's place=
"You fools won't win against me." Neji said as he attacked another of the shonobis.
"They are all fools. They cannot counter their own flow of destiny, which is to be defeated by my hands."
Swoosh!
Neji evaded a kunai coming towards his way. At the same time, one of the remaining shinobis tried to attack him from behind.
"Trying to attack me from behind huh? No use."
He blocked the attack with ease without even looking around. "How did…"
"As I said before, you won't win against me."
=At Sasuke's place=
Things were never better. The ninjas that were placed in his destined area were so weak that he didn't even need to use the sharingan to defeat them. It was like as if he is fighting against a genin level ninja.
He looked around at the defeated ninjas around him. He sighed.
"I expected better. These ninjas are a waste of my time."
Without another word, he left.
=Back at the girl's place=
Zoom!
"Everyone! Get back!" Reika exclaimed as a rain of kunais, shurikens, and senbon needles attacked them.
"What the heck?! It looks like the party's starting now." Ring said as she got a kunai out and prepared her stance. Mika was calmly standing up. Reika was already in her juuken stance with her byakugan activated.
"Hmm… now I shall see what you can really do, Hyuuga Reika."
"I shall see what you are really capable of Mikaze Mika. Let me see the blood flow by your hands."
"Guys! Incoming!" Ring exclaimed as another rain of kunais started attacking them. Ring threw her kunai and a few other shurikens which hit three of the sound-nins.
The three female ninjas (a/n: Err… female ninjas are also called kunonichi, right?) jumped directly out of the way.
Reika gasped as she saw a three kunais going directly at Ring's back. "Ring! Abunai!" She exclaimed. Ring transformed into a log. Reika sighed in relief.
"Reika-chan! You didn't think that I would easily be defeated by that lame attack, do you?" Ring asked as she jumped out of a tree.
Mika made a few hand seals and concentrated. "Sand hurricane no jutsu!" She exclaimed. A swift twist of her twin kodachis made a huge hurricane of sand that enveloped five of the ninjas.
The three of the ninjas dropped dead in a heap as the other two struggled to stand up. "What… power…" One of the ninjas whispered weakly.
Ring appeared behind the other two and slashed their backs with a katana that was sticking on the ground. It has the symbol of the sound so it must have belonged t one of the sound-nins.
Ring sighed. "Poor men. Killed by their own sword." Her face was filled with sympathy for the dead ninjas in front of them. Mika's face was blank. Reika narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Oui! We still have five other shinobis to finish!" Ring exclaimed.
Reika straightened up and jumped on top of a tree with her byakugan. "The five are coming our way. Hn. I'll take care of them."
Ring smiled and placed her hands inside her pockets. "Yeah! They won't know what hit them."
The Hyuuga patiently waited for the remaining five as she made swift hand seals. After that, she raised on of her palms towards the direction of the ninjas. "Gentle Fist! Chakra Expel!" [1]
Her byakugan disappeared as she jumped down on the tree. Calmly, she faced the other two ninjas staring at her.
"It's done."
Ring has the what-the-heck-do-you-mean look. "What?"
"Go to the direction I faced earlier and see what you can find." Reika said calmly. Ring nodded and went off. Mika stood in front of the hyuuga. "What was that, Hyuuga-san?" She asked. The hyuuga opened her eyes. "See for yourself. I don't want to waste my time explaining."
Mika decided to not reply. She just turned to follow Ring. Reika followed short after.
"Reika, what the heck?!" Ring exclaimed. Mika's eyes widened a bit as she saw the five other ninjas. Red spots covered their whole body from head to toe.
"All of their 361 tenketsus are closed. Their dead." Mika said calmly but was also shocked by what happened.
Ring turned towards Reika. "But how did you kill them from far away?" Reika sighed. "The gentle fist has the ability to release chakra from our hands, right? All I did was expel my chakra farther and wider. The chakra that hit them is much more than the average chakra that the gentle fist usually expels."
Reika turned to look at them if they were listening. Ring was listening attentively while Mika had her eyes closed but Reika knows well enough that she's listening.
"My chakra just happened to hit their whole body, closing all their tenketsus, thus killing them in the process." Reika looked down at the dead bodies of the sound-nins and sighed sympathetically. "Gomen. I didn't mean to kill them."
Mika opened her eyes. "Even though you killed them, your eyes show deep regret. What kind of shinobi are you? You should abandon your feeling during battle."
Reika glared at her. "Well excuse me. I'm not the kind of shinobi who have experienced killing people with their own hand numerous times. I am not a heartless being. I am not like a certain shinobi here who kills without hesitation. I am not a shinobi whose hands have been stained with blood."
Mika glared back. Ring started to panic. She waved her hands furiously as she tried to calm the two down. "Hey, hey, hey! We aren't supposed to kill each other! Calm down you two!"
Reika sighed. "Fine. Come on. The others are waiting for us."
The three of them jumped up a tree and went back as Reika and Mika exchanged glared from time to time. Ring sweatdropped at the two.
"Aha! There you are!" Kakashi called out as the three girls came. "We were worried!"
Reika crossed her arms. "Ahh… we got into a little trouble."
Kakashi sighed, knowing there's more to that. He looked at Gaara who was looking at the two female genin sand-nins calmly. It seems like he have already expected this to happen. Kakashi decided to let that pass. After all, the mission is currently their top priority.
"Kakashi-sensei, how far is it to Gatoh's hideout?" Sasuke asked. "We're already near. About an hour more if we keep up in our pace. After about forty minutes later, expect traps and other sound-nins."
"Hai."
After a good forty minutes of silence, they reached the gate at last. The shinobi team was suspicious. No way this place would be so quiet. After all, they know what their mission is already due to the small conflict earlier.
"Everyone, expect the unexpected once we open this gate." Kakashi said. Everyone nodded.
Creak!
Standing in front of them was a girl with white eyes and short black hair. Dark glasses covered her eyes but it was seen that their color is white. Neji and Reika gasped.
Another Hyuuga.
"Trespassers, I am ordered to protect Gatoh-sama at all costs. So if you want to assassinate him, you all have to get through me first." The girl said in a cold voice.
The girl looked at the shinobis. Her expression became serious as she saw the two Hyuuga's in the team.
"I never thought that there would be people from my clan in this group." The girl said. Reika took a step forward. "Who are you?"
"I am Hyuuga Hro of the Hyuuga clan."
"Well… Hro-san, I will fight you." Reika said as her byakugan appeared. "So be it." Hro's byakugan appeared too. "But I'm warning you. I am not yet defeated by others except my mother."
The two of them lowered their stances to the gentle fist. Sasuke and Kakashi looked at Neji in confusion for he didn't make a move to stop his daughter.
"How about you? Who are you?" Hro asked. "Hyuuga Reika."
"Well Reika-san, may I ask what branch you came from?" Hro asked. Reika hesitated to say where she came from.
"If she is a main branch member, she could defeat me easily by activating my seal. This is not good."
Hro smirked. "You're from the branch family, right?" Reika nodded. "What if I am? You're a branch member too." "So you noticed."
"You cannot hide anything from a byakugan of mine. I also know that you don't have the seal in you. Why?"
Hro tensed but calmed down. "I'll tell you if you defeat me. Deal?"
"Hn. I don't care. I'll fight you still even if you tell me or not."
"It's settled then. Prepare to lose! No one is ever worth my time anyway!" Hro said as she dashed towards Reika.
"We'll see about that!" Reika then dashed towards Hro as well with equal speed.
"Whoa! When did Reika-chan become that strong? I mean, I know she's really strong but I never expected her to be that strong." Ring said in disbelief.
"Neji, you know very well that Reika still lacks experience, do you? She never killed anyone before." Sasuke said as he looks at Neji's calm face. Neji nodded. "I know that. But I know she can do it. She's a genius of the hyuuga branch. I trained her extremely. She can't and wouldn't lose this match. It's true that she haven't killed anyone before but…"
Neji was cut off. "Iie. Reika-san has killed someone before." Mika said.
Neji, Sasuke, and Kakashi were shocked. "Reika have killed someone before? When?" Neji asked. Mika crossed her arms.
"When we fought those sound-nins a while back. She used a technique called 'Gentle Fist: Chakra Expel' and killed five of the sound-nins in an instant even at a far range. She called all her opponents tenketsus. And when I mean all, I mean all." Mika explained.
Neji's eyes went wide. "What does she mean 'Gentle Fist: Chakra Expel'? I never taught Reika a technique with that name. Moreover, that technique is not present in the hyuuga techniques. Don't tell me that is a hijutsu that my daughter made on her own?" Neji thought as he looked at Reika who was currently fighting with Hro.
Block! Smash! Block!
Reika and Hro were both panting heavily. Sweat was running down on their foreheads down to their backs.
"Reika-san, you impress me. No one has ever fought me like this. You're the only person that I could consider as a worthy opponent." Hro praised.
Reika smiled tiredly. "Thanks. But these guys behind me are even better than me." "So they are." "Want to continue?" "Yeah!"
The fight started again.
Smash!
"Reika!"
'Reika' has been hit on the chest hard. Hro smirked. "Are you down?"
Poof!
'Reika' transformed into a log.
"What a…?! Kawarimi technique?!" Hro thought, wide-eyed.
"Over here!" A voice called. Hro hurriedly turned around and saw Reika coming towards her. She had no time to react.
Crack!
Reika's palm hit Hro's dark glasses. It cracked and fell down to pieces.
"Drats! The glasses saved her!" Reika thought before smiling at Hro. "You're lucky Hro-san. Your glasses save you. If it didn't, that simple touch might have been very devastating. You're lucky." Hro smiled. "So it did. Let's continue this!"
Hro got out shurikens from her holster and threw them at Reika. She managed to evade them but one that hit her on the shoulder.
Reika winced. She took the shuriken out of her bleeding flesh and threw it back at Hro who evaded it effortlessly.
The fight continued on. They blocked, they striked, blocked, strike, get hit, yadda yadda yadda. The fight was so fair between the two that the fight was already lasting for a long time.
"Hmm… that shinobi is strong. She can match up to Hyuuga Reika's skill." Gaara mumbled. Ring looked at her sensei and cocked her head a bit.
"Gaara-sensei, you were saying something?"
Gaara shook his head. "Nothing. Concentrate on the match, Ring." Ring nodded. "Hai Gaara-sensei."
"Take this Reika!" Hro made a rain of shurikens and kunais. The numbers almost quadruple the number of weapons that the sound-nins used to them a while back.
"Drats! With a number of weapons this many, it will be impossible to evade even a single one. I guess I have to use this technique then."
Hro herself ran towards her to attack. "You're finished!"
"Kaiten!"
What a…?! Hro and the weapons were pushed back by the force.
Neji smiled to himself. "Kaiten… never knew you were already capable of using that, Reika. I hope you can handle the next attack that I think you would use next."
"You're incredible Hyuuga Reika. No one has ever defeated me. Left alone to even equal me. I acknowledge you for that." Hro said as she smiled weakly.
Reika smiled slightly. "I thank you. But let's leave the acknowledgement for later, shall we?" "Yeah."
"Well then Hyuuga Reika. I'll give all I got in this final attack. We'll see who's stronger."
"Hyuuga Hro. I acknowledge you as well for being an incredible opponent. But I'm afraid that this fight will end in this final attack. I'm going to give my all."
Both of them changed their stance. Neji gasped. "It can't be." He thought. "That's stance…"
The two female ninjas smirked at each other.
"It seems that we have the same idea up on our sleeve, eh Reika-san?" Hro said. "Yeah. We'll see who's better now."
Hro nodded. "You're right."
"Let's…"
"Attack…"
"NOW!!!"
The two dashed together in the same speed.
"Let us both give our all! To see the real winner in this! Let us give all our strength here and find fair and square!" The two thought the same thing at the same time.
"Rokujyuuyo shou no hakkeshou!"
"Nishou…"
"Yonshou…"
"Hashou…"
"Jyuurokushou…
"Sanjyuunishou..."
The two shinobi's attack were all made at the same speed, the same strength, the same accuracy… they were an equal match! The shinobis watching braced theirselves for the final attack. This final attack will determine the winner of this match.
"ROKUJYUUYONSHOU!"
BAM!!!
They gasped…………………………….
[1] Gentle Fist: Chakra Expel = It's kinda like the gentle fist but instead of doing this in short range, the do this in long range. Reika explained this a while back. No. This is just a made-up technique that I made. Only Reika can use that.
Hijutsu = original techniques that only a very few people could do
Author's notes: Bwahahahahah!!!!!!! 3152 words! I'm on a role! This is the longest chapter so far! n-n You know everyone, I really just wanted to end the assassination team's role in this chapter but I just felt that I needed to end it here! Actually, I wasn't really planning on making a cliffhanger but I made it. Personally, I really think that the ending of this chapter's like the ending of the first day of Hinata and Neji's fight. I used it because I liked it. I also half liked and half don't like the way this chapter flowed. It's because I didn't even put a single NaruHina scene in here! It was all focused on the assassination team. Gomen nasai. I really think that I might receive flames for this chapter. But it's alright though. Neways, I hope that you like it! Oh! And sorry for changing Hro a lot. I just find her a bit… too strong… you see. Gomen-nasai. Anyway, Reviews please!
