Chapter 3.6 – Murderer(s) in the night! I (We) will fight on!!
Choji is running as fast as he can home. In another part of town, Naruto and Hinata are running towards Hinata's House in the direction of the Admin Building. Choji prays that he doesn't run into Soonaga outside. Just as he gets in range of seeing his house, however, a bunch of black-cloaked men surround him landing in a circle 7 feet from him. There are 4 altogether. Choji fumes, and then tenses. Just as he does, 3 of the men fly at him. He catches one of them in the face with his elbow and when the other two grab him, he chokes one and breaks the arms of the other. They fall, revealing regular wolf masks, and vanish. Choji looks at the last man, who starts to laugh. He says in an eerie voice that he beat the three normal ones, but how about the strongest one? He pulls his hood back to reveal a fanged, snarling wolf mask. Choji is shocked, but tightens up and yells that he will not be humiliated anymore, Capt. Soonaga! Soonaga laughs and tells him to put his strength where his mouth is. They then lunge at each other and start to throw the other down like it was a sumo contest. Soonaga starts to laugh and asks Choji if he is really trying, and shocks Choji as he slams him on his back by the arm and jumps back. Choji weakly gets up and gets in a fighting position. He charges, only to get knocked out by Capt. Soonaga by a roundhouse kick to head. Choji flies back and lands into a fence in a cloud of dust. Soonaga laughs and says that Choji is not much, just like his father. Choji is shocked at this, and Soonaga goes on to say his father was a good friend of his who used to always give up easily. This makes Choji get up struggling, and he then tells Soonaga to shut it. Both tense up, and then Choji charges at Capt. Soonaga. While running, he concentrates all the Chakra he can to his left arm. Capt. Soonaga gets in a defensive test. When he is about 20 feet from him, he leaps in the air. He then yells "Comet Impact Technique!!" and slams his left fist forward which shines with Chakra. Capt. Soonaga puts his own hand forward to stop the impact. The Impact is so great that the clone vanishes and there is a small crater impact around the area that is left where Choji's fist impacted. In the spot where the Capt. was, there is a red wolf mask and a note. Choji picks up the note. The note says that his father used to be a weak person when younger, but he got fed up with it and tried his best after that to change. Now, he is part of a powerful trio of shinobi, the Aka-Yama-Nara trio. This mask was his. See me an hour before practice from now on and we will do extra training. Keep Training! –Capt. Soonaga. Picking up the mask, Choji walks home with new pride and determination to succeed. He runs into Shikamaru at that point and asks why he is hurrying. Shikamaru says he can't say and with that, knocks Choji out with Genjutsu and uses his shadow technique to make Choji head to his house. Silently, Shikamaru tells Choji to persevere and be himself. With that, he heads off to the North gate...
Hinata and Naruto get in seeing range of the Hyuga household. They slow to a walk. Hinata starts walking forward and thanks Naruto for escorting her home, smiling. He smiles back and starts to say your wel...but then a trap out of nowhere from the ground flings him into the air into the opposite direction. Hinata watches, shocked, as he flies away, then she gasps as a black figure flies at him and they start to fight in midair. She then stops as a black-cloaked man comes at her from behind and tries to hit her with a gentle fist strike. She dodges and they back off, facing the other. Hinata, frightened, asks if Capt. Soonaga has Hyuga blood. He laughs and says no, pulling back the hood and revealing a cuckoo mask. He then says that the cuckoo is the imitator, putting its own eggs in other bird's nests, thus fooling the parent bird to caring for the chick. He has trained to be able to release high amounts of chakra from his hands, and he has memorized all of the points on the body where chakra is emitted, so, he can do a few Gentle-Fist techniques. Hinata is amazed at this, and says that he is an incredible person. He says thank you and then gets into a fighting stance. Hinata, nervous, does the same. They tense up, and run at each other, exchanging gentle fist blows. He knocks her back and then lands a normal blow to the head with an extended palm strike. Hinata flies backward and falls on the ground headfirst facedown. She groans. Capt. Soonaga laughs, saying that she isn't much and no one really did have much faith in her. So, you don't have anything to look toward or someone to stand up to, huh? Hinata, sadly, thinks back to all the practices her father made her do, the stern rebukes he gave her, the loneliness of not living up to her family and the coldness that Neji, her cousin, gave her. Then, in the middle of this, she comes across a scene from when she was eight. She is gazing upon a kid with blonde hair who is arguing with the elders and grownups. They tell him he will come to nothing. He yells back that one day, he will show them all. He will become the Hokage one day, and he will have everyone then acknowledge him. Shocked, she realizes that this was the time she first saw Naruto and noticed his faith in himself, despite being completely alone. Time flashes forward to the point where Naruto is painting the Hokage monument and facing down everyone, confirming his faith in himself with such an act. "But I can, I'm incredible!" That line had somehow struck with her. She then goes to when she got put under Kurenai's leadership. Kurenai extends an invitation to come live with her since the Hyuga House doesn't seem to approve of her much. She said then that she would still live in her own house, but thanked Kurenai for her concern with a little smile. She then goes forward more to the times where her teammates helped her train and offered pointers and faith. Then, finally she goes back over her fight with Neji during the Chunnin Exam and the feelings she had gone through when Naruto cheered her on and all the concern everyone showed for her. At this point, all the memories come together and Hinata realizes that she is not alone, that there are teammates and friends who look after her and support her, and that she can do things. The present returns and she hears Soonaga ask if she is giving up already. He starts to walk away when she starts to get up and says that she is indeed something, and that there are others who think so. She says that she will not run anymore, thinking back on Naruto's words and what she said to Neji during the match. Soonaga turns, laughing, saying to prove it and charges. Hinata puts her head down and her arms out, goes into the Byakugan, and starts to concentrate. The air around her starts to vibrate, and Soonaga stops, surprised and wondering if she knows the Flying Sparrow Technique. Then, the nerves around her eyes start to travel along her entire face and body. Soonaga then realizes that this is the body's nerves growing and this is the Advanced Byakugan. He lunges forward and she suddenly vanishes. She stops behind him, gets into the 64 point technique stance, and charges at Soonaga, knowing that this time, it will be mastered. Soonaga turns just as the first strike hits him. She goes through the 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and then the 64 points completely. After the 64 points hit, the clone vanishes in a puff of smoke and Hinata falls to her knees, panting. She is happy that she finally mastered the 64-fist technique with no help from the family with the exception of Neji, who gave her some pointers. She thinks back to that time. He would have given more except she insisted on doing it herself. He had smiled and told her good luck. She thought then that this was his true self and had changed since the Chunnin Exam. Who or what had changed him she didn't know, but she would ask later. Coming back to the present, she recalled when she became conscious of the Advanced Byakugan in her mind and thought of everyone's determination and the friendship of those she knew. She looks around for Capt. Soonaga, only to find the bird mask and a note from where Capt. Soonaga was. She picks up the note, reading that this mask was one that was worn by a Hyuga in the ANBU throughout their family history. You have now surpassed your father when he was your age. Be proud! And always stick up for yourself and be a friend to all, and you will get far. During the middle of practice from now on, see me and we will train is some more gentle fist techniques. Also, I will find someone to train you in Advanced Byakugan techniques. So, rest well! –Capt. Soonaga. Hinata looks at the mask in wonder, looks up to the star-filled sky, and thanks everyone from her team, Kurenai, to Naruto for always being friends and having faith in her. From her house, she is unaware of her father watching from a window. He turns and walks away from the window, smiling to himself and thinking he will have to thank -------- later for his work. Or Capt. Soonaga, however that man calls himself. He then runs into Neji, who says that he is leaving on his mission with the Gai team, and then asks why Hiyashi-dono is smiling? He says no reason; it's just a good night. Hiyashi walks away. Neji is confused for a moment, then remembers his promise to meet the others at the East Gate and hurries off.
Naruto is shocked at getting flung into the air by a trap. Briefly he thinks back to the first day training with Kakashi when he got trapped and flung up into a tree. Darn! It's still like then, he thinks. He doesn't have much time to think on that, however, since he notices a black-cloaked man flying at him from below. He immediate pulls out some kunai's and they start fighting. They land in a street 25 feet apart, and look at each other. Naruto then yells at him that he has already started, huh?! Capt. Soonaga laughs, pulling back his hood and says that he taught Kakashi that trap technique. He turns out to have a fox mask on, and Naruto is stunned. Naruto then asks what he knows about himself. Soonaga laughs, stating that he knows more than he thinks, and rushes at Naruto while splitting into three shadow clones. Naruto concentrates, and goes into hurries into the Flying Sparrow Technique. Everything slows down around him as he attacks the clones. He knocks three out, and then the fourth suddenly starts to move as fast as him. He is shocked as this happens, yet goes to par the man's attack. They fly apart from the force of each knocking the other back. As that happens, the technique stops and all around of them speed up. Naruto, panting and hurting from his muscles, stares at Capt. Soonaga. Capt. Soonaga laughs and asks if Naruto fully knows the importance of the Flying Sparrow Technique. Naruto says no, and Capt. Soonaga says that this was a technique that was by his family, shocking Naruto with this news. There are more, he says, laughing. With that, a ball of light flies out of his hands after he does some hand seals. Naruto manages to dodge, but as he watches it, it hits a metal pipe and electricity runs up and down the pole. Capt. Soonaga says that that is another technique that was left behind. Naruto turns to him and asks if he knew family. Capt. Soonaga says no, but they did leave these techniques to the Third Hokage. So, he says, you may never fully know these techniques or your family. Naruto yells at him to shut up and runs at him. Just when his fist makes contact, he is thrown back by a force of electricity and falls on the ground, twitching. Capt. Soonaga laughs, saying that this technique is another, called the Lightening Wall. Naruto gets up swearing, and then splits into 3. The clones get in front in a straight line and they charge. Capt. Soonaga does the Lightening Wall Technique again, only this time Naruto, at the back, had been working on a Rasengan and made it contact with the Capt. when his clones got destroyed. The Rasengan hits, and Capt. Soonaga vanishes in a cloud of smoke. Naruto coughs, and then full of pride, and starts to dance and cheer that he won. In the spot where Captain Soonaga was, however, are a red fox mask and a note. The note says that tonight is Naruto's, but tomorrow, watch out. Also, meet with the Capt. after practice from now on and receive training in the techniques left by his family and in some taijutsu styles. Also, this mask was one from your family. Cheers! Capt. Soonaga. Naruto picks up the mask in wonder, and with it in hand, heads up to his apartment. Before he falls asleep, he wonders if the others are okay and if the other parties are doing okay. His head in thought, he falls asleep, missing the sound of Kakashi's party moving out, heading with all speed to the West Gate to head for their mission...
This is the end Chapter 3.6. In 3.7, we will see where the three teams are heading and how they moved out. Laughs, plots, and danger to come! See you this or next week!!
First, an apology to anyone who was expecting a quicker release. I had a English Essay, Spanish Exam practice, and test study thrown on me this weekend, so I really didn't get much accomplished. I am sorry and will try better. However, I did get a new MP3 player and the Outlaw Star box set, and I think that added to my work. 0
Reviews are welcome and appreciated. Thank you everyone.