::Hehe, well, now you're going to get to see what these special seals are that I came up with on impulse and must now find some creative and interesting way to present... Yeah, go me::
Hyuuga Tae opened her eyes and smiled at the ceiling. She could feel it, her son was coming. The love she felt for the boy sprang primarily from Hinata's obvious adoration. Tae only wished her daughter was strong enough to confess her feelings. There was very little in Naruto's manner to suggest exactly how he felt about Hinata, but she'd only seen them together a few times.
The door slid open and a panting Naruto stood leaning on the frame. She felt a wave of anxiousness at the determined expression in his eyes. "Naruto?" she asked, trying to sit up.
Naruto dropped to her side and supported her back with cushions as he'd seen Hinata do so many times. Sitting down to face her he said, "Hinata is trapped along with most of Konoha's children in the caves." Tae closed her eyes and bowed her head, sending a silent prayer to her daughter. "I need to know anything you can teach me to help her." A smile teased his mother's lips as she looked up at him. He'd just told her all she needed to know. Now they just have to realize it.
"I can teach you many things, Naruto. I believe I know what it is you want though, but the Seals of Metal aren't used like normal jutsus. There are only a few, and each one can be used by itself as a technique." She picked up the cooled cup of tea by her bed and held a hand over it. "Gold..." Her left hand came up and down a bit and when she let it fall back into her lap steam rose from the tea. After taking a sip she held it out to Naruto.
He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do. "Umm..."
"Hold your hand flat over the cup and listen to what I say very carefully." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Silently she wished for the strength of her youth, but she resisted sleep and forced her eyes open again. "The seals are gold, silver, platinum, copper, aluminum, and iron. Each is associated with somewhat abstract qualities that can be switched around depending on the will of the user. One hand must be positioned exactly perpendicular to the ground beneath you."
Naruto looked at his own hand over the tea and at then the floor. "What if I can't see the ground?"
She smiled. "Then it is less likely to work. Alone, the seals will cause limited effects like heating, cooling, or strengthening. The degree to which the effects are felt depends on the amount of chakra you use. Do you understand this much?" He nodded. "Then explain it back to me."
"The seals all use the same hand movement and depend on saying them aloud to distinguish which..." She was shaking her head. "Then what?"
"I hadn't gotten to that yet. Your hand starts in that position, but for each element it's a different gesture. Gold is up and down, silver is turning your hand palm up. Repeat."
Naruto looked at his own hand. "Gold is up and down, silver is switching my hand so the palm is up."
"Platinum cuts along the slope of the ground however far you feel is necessary to make the motion clear, copper is bringing your hand straight down towards the ground. Repeat them all now."
Naruto sighed. This was beginning to feel remarkably like learning his first seals at the Academy. "Gold up and down. Silver goes palm up. Platinum goes across ground. Copper is down."
Tae could tell he was getting antsy. "Calm down, Naruto. These will help you. This battle for Konoha isn't going to end as long as the enemy holds the caves. Aluminum has you sweep your arm away from you pivoting at your elbow and shoulder—however far you need. Iron..." her voice tapered off and her eyes drifted closed before opening with a start. "Um, that is, Iron is very much a decisive seal that must be the last performed for any jutsu if not by itself. Iron is turning your hand into a fist and punching towards the ground. This jutsu will probably be the most useful to you in that it's associated with strength.
"I'll warn you now not to over-use it to make yourself stronger all the time. Doing so will tax your body and spirit in ways you can avoid by using the seal with discretion." She closed her eyes and leaned back, taking a few deep breaths. "Repeat."
Neji tossed the body away from him and glared into the tunnel. He and a few jounin were trying to keep other enemies from entering the caves. Most of the fighting was taking place all over the city, with only a minor concentration here. When a loan genin had stumbled out and fallen at the feet of the chuunin in charge of guarding the entrance, word had spread like wildfire. The Hokage, Kakashi, had shown up briefly before being called away to try and handle a troublesome Sand chuunin who had an unholy alliance with the sand in a gourd on his back.
A few shuriken flew towards his back and he dodged. Flipping backwards he threw his own back and showed a satisfied smirk as a Sound nin fell from the cliff above and landed with a sickening thud. Yeah, he could handle this end. What he couldn't understand was what the genin had reported.
"My team and two others! With the way he split us up, Hinata-san was the first one taken out since the attack originated from the deepest cavern..."
But Hinata was at the test in the forest, and Naruto didn't have anything to do with the exam.
Hinata woke up slowly, her head and appendages ached. Closing her eyes again she took a closer look. Nothing seriously wrong, just cramps. She used a little chakra to ease the pains and then sat up to look around. The man who'd attacked her was nowhere in sight, and the adults in the cave were all sleeping along one wall. Sleeping children were everywhere. She might have jumped to the conclusion that they were dead, except as surely as she'd noticed they were all down, she also noticed they were all breathing. Getting to her feet, Hinata wondered why any nin would want them all asleep.
She went over to the entrance to the cavern and looked out into the hall. The lighting had been blown out. Where's Shikamaru when you need him? He'd be able to catch this guy in no time...I'm all alone here. What can I do?
You can take out the bad guy and DO something. Her inner voice stayed silent, as timid as it was, but she had new strengths in more than just ninja techniques. She clenched her hands into fists and peered into the darkness. Her arms shot up and she performed the seals for her byakugan, and then she raced into the darkness as if running on feathers. She could see relatively clearly, but her eyes still squinted. Slowing down, she tried to feel out anybody moving nearby. Nothing. She came across another cavern full of townspeople—all asleep—and moved on.
As she drew close to half way out, she heard the sounds of fighting. Creeping up until she was just around the corner, she stuck her head around and smiled. As she'd thought, there were more lights on here and a couple leaf ninjas were fighting with the man who'd put her to sleep. She lost her smile as she noticed that the traitor or spy was winning. Hiding back in the dark tunnel she tapped her fingers together. What to do...
Then she knew. Remaining mostly behind the rock wall, she looked at the attacked and then looked at him. His chakra was very well controlled and was aiding his muscles and hands to deal with the defenders. Hinata concentrated and watched the chakra ebb away from the man's extremities and concentrate in his abdomen, a much less useful place. He staggered and broke away from his opponents with a frown. Hinata felt elated. Then he turned to stare directly at her and her control vanished with the first wave of fear.
As he ran for her, she stepped back and raised her hands to try and fend him off as she thought, Narutooo!
Naruto navigated among the different battle areas with unusual speed. He felt like he was being pulled forward on a rope that took most of the load of running off his legs so all he could do was move them as fast as possible. He stopped when he reached the entrance to the caves. Neji and a couple jounin were fending off the waves of Sound and Sand ninjas that kept appearing. From here, Naruto could see there were many waiting all around. They were trying to wear the Leaf nins down. He wanted to help, but the rope was still pulling. His enemy lay beyond this battlefield, under the cliff.
He jumped out and raced for the entrance. As he approached, he caught Neji's eyes and ran right for him. An almost imperceptible nod was Naruto's only sign that his adoptive cousin understood. Naruto rushed the Sound nin Neji was fighting, kicking him in the head as he passed, then brushed by Neji and into the caves.
Naruto ran along the tunnel until he heard a cry that froze his blood. Hinako... His feet pounded the stone, his mind bent on speed rather than secrecy. When he noticed some of the lights were out he stopped. Two chuunin were facing a mussed-up Kabuto. Naruto felt pain of two kinds. The first was the sight of an unconscious Hinata hanging against the wall with Kabuto's hand on her neck, the second was betrayal at Kabuto for turning to Orochimaru and hurting Hinata. Kabuto noticed Naruto's arrival immediately and sighed, then gave the chuunin a mocking grin.
"Naruto-kun, how especially unfortunate that you had to see this..." He squeezed and Hinata's head turned to an odd angle before he let her body slump to the ground. No crack, no reaction from Hinata, she just fell. Naruto heard his blood roar in his ears as he struggled to watch her chest rise. It didn't. One of the chuunin ran at Kabuto with a shout and tried slicing him open with a kunai. Kabuto moved like a snake, the hand that had held Hinata glowed blue with chakra as he slammed it into the chuunin's chest. As the Leaf nin stumbled on past he coughed up blood and fell to his knees, wheezing, before collapsing.
The other chuunin prepared for a go, but Naruto grabbed his shoulder with a clawed hand. "Hang back, I'll take over here." He was a scary sight, with claws and clear indentations from growing fangs on his lower lip, as he stepped forward and performed a simple seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten clones crouched on either side of him. As one they all ran at Kabuto, trying to get around him and surround him.
Kabuto smirked as he punched the first clone. "A valiant effort, Naruto-kun, but you can't beat me with the same old tricks." The next body he hit was Naruto himself, who fell back instead of disappearing. The other clones attacked then, abandoning the plan, and only to turn into puffs of smoke. This gave Naruto a chance to get to his feet and bring out a kunai. His eyes had begun to bleed red in fury.
"I will skin you alive and send your hide to Orochimaru!" Naruto growled. His control was slipping. He attacked in a fury, the Ninetails' chakra making him slightly faster and stronger, but not enough. Kabuto was in excellent form and managed to easily avoid the kunai. When the frustrated Naruto lashed out with his opposite hand, the claws made it into Kabuto's arm and tore through the skin as if it were delicate silk.
A swift kick sent Naruto flying into the stone wall. Kabuto held a hand over his upper arm and chakra gathered there to heal some of the damage. "Not bad, but you can't expect to beat me using such mindless attacks."
Naruto pushed himself up off the floor and forced his body to relax. You won't get anywhere hacking at him. Kabuto is too smart for that, and he can heal himself more conveniently than you can. The red left his eyes and the claws retracted. He stood still a moment, then studied the ground. It's perfectly flat...
Kabuto watched Naruto get back to his feet and wished the other chuunin had remained instead. It seemed killing the Hyuuga girl had not been much of a time-saver. He was really just waiting for the ninjas gathered outside to break through and help him secure the caves, but if staying alive that long meant killing Naruto... Well, he had no choice. He waited to see Naruto's next move when he noticed the boy had subdued the Ninetails' chakra. What is he doing? "You think you can defeat me without any help?" he said.
Naruto's flaming blue eyes met his. "Yes." Naruto held out his hand and started making a series of motions relative to the floor. Kabuto felt a little confused. A concentration technique? Perhaps something from a new fighting style? Then he had to jump out of the way and Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him and almost punched him in the chest. How did he get so— The thought wasn't completed because he was trying to avoid Naruto's other fist, which was surrounded by blue flames. Glancing at the fist Naruto had first tried to hit him with, he noticed the gleam of metal. Just what kind of jutsu was this?
Kabuto tried cutting Naruto's muscles with his chakra scalpels, but it was like trying to cut stone. The kicks Naruto managed to get in were hard and firm, and then he landed a punch with that metallic right hand. Kabuto's eyes went wide as his ribs cracked and then snapped, digging into his lungs. He immediately tried to gather chakra and repair the damage and found he couldn't. His chakra had been redirected sometime to his groin, a place Naruto wouldn't strike at, but a woman wouldn't hesitate to attack. As he fell, Kabuto looked at the wall where he'd snapped Hinata's neck and found her eyes staring at him. A smile touched his lips.
These kids are full of surprises...Take care of Naruto-kun for me...
