Chapter 7
Her Realization p50-55
Naruto was led away by the obvious leader of his 'greeting' party. They had jumped across the road and were heading almost directly into the estate. The leader had bypassed the wall surrounding the courtyard to land on a branch of an old tree, before continuing his quick pace. Naruto, however, had chosen to land on the wall. He hesitated for a second, just enough for the two rear guarding ninja to catch up with him before following the team leader. What the guards following him failed to realize was that his slight hesitation was caused by the creation of a shadow clone. Naruto felt more at ease as the clone fell out of view enroute to Hinata's position. He also knew she would be reassured to know that he had left one on 'Hinata guard duty' as his clones had teasingly christened it.
The ninja surrounding him came to a stop on the other side of the castle. From the looks of the room just inside the balconies overhead, this would be the closest guard spot to where the party would be held. Naruto knew what these three wanted before the leader said anything. He was to be part of their group in guarding this area of the party perimeter. Of course there would be others guarding the perimeter of the estate, but they were easily avoided, after all, the perimeter was large and there weren't enough ninja to effectively guard it and the party at once.
The leader informed Naruto that one of his teammates would be joining them for guard duty, brining their section up to a strength of five. Naruto had half heartedly hoped it would be Hinata just so that he could be closer to her, but he knew he shouldn't show anything but a teammate's care on a mission. The sun set about an hour later, every one of the guards was a little tense during 'magic hour'. Twilight was always the best time to go unseen. The night was great with its cover of darkness, but twilight messed with people's eyes and made it harder to see. The sun set and darkness came without any incident. Most of the ninja that permanently guarded the palace visibly relaxed.
A small time later Hinata landed next to Naruto's concealed look out position. She had a slight smell of the room she just left still lingering on her. It was the party room, a scent which Naruto had noted earlier when the balcony doors had been opened for sunset. Naruto didn't have time to enjoy the presence of the small girl before their team leader for the night showed up and ordered her to the edge of their assigned area. The team's guarding positions were tighter now that they had another member, but the palace guards seemed to be relaxing. Hinata made a slight frown at this. If an attack came while they were like this most of them would die before they even realized what was going on. A few hours later she was proven right.
Hinata had her Byakuugan activated to watch her assigned area, but she had the added bonus of always having Naruto in sight. His presence alone gave her a strength and a confidence that she couldn't duplicate when he wasn't there. She watched Naruto the entire time. She always focused on her assigned area to cover, but with her blood limit she could easily keep the often loud blond in her sight. She noted his jealous look and slight sneer as the youngest member of their new guard team moved closer to talk to her. He was obviously infatuated with her, it was almost a disgrace to Konoha that this boy, only a few years their senior, was showing so much favor for her while on duty. Hinata was polite though, she knew better than to make enemies with a ninja from a group of shinobi not officially allied with the Leaf. Even if that ninja and the group were almost all former Leaf-nin anyway.
Hinata made sure she was polite as she was trained to be from birth. But she was also taught to be quiet and barely said more than a soft "yes" or "no" the entire time the ninja was talking. She hadn't once looked directly at him, she didn't need to with her Byakuugan. She did however pay attention to detail, that was information and information often proved the difference between death and success. She also kept an eye on Naruto, he was getting more and more annoyed the longer the former Leaf-nin stayed near her. Though many would say he wasn't showing anything, Hinata knew him and saw the subtle signs most people would miss. She almost cracked a slight smile at his control. But she knew that would only encourage the boy crouching next to her. She was in love with the man she was focused on, not the boy trying to hide his intentions.
About a half hour later the red haired, brown eyed, tall, weapons user seemed to think he had made enough small talk to start with his real purpose. "Has your father promised your hand to anyone yet?"
It was almost completely tactless. But Hinata knew that the Hyuuga were known to be a 'noble' clan and acted to keep that image. It would be natural for a noble to arrange his daughter's marriage. Hinata could also tell that this boy was most interested in her for her family and her bloodline. He had only seen her maybe twice in the last few days and only been talking to her, not listening or doing his job, for the last half hour. The boy might also be 'stricken by her looks' as Naruto had once worded it, but she doubted it. She never could believe Naruto when he told her that she was beautiful, even when he said it so naturally that she didn't think he even really registered the word. Ino's opinion was that she dressed 'very' modestly, especially when on a mission. So Hinata didn't think that was what brought this boy to her.
"No." It was louder and more forceful than her previous acknowledges to his presence. Hinata also held to the idea that her position was to be concealed and noise could give it way. Hinata did note that this was the second time this mission that she had been indirectly 'threatened', as she thought of it, with an arranged marriage. She knew a shinobi's missions were often dangerous and one could die unexpectedly, so most ninja didn't get involved in relationships or got married very quickly by the rest of the world's standards. She still didn't like the idea that someone else was choosing her husband. And She didn't like the idea that a man would force her into marrying him. Hinata didn't doubt that this boy was a 'ladies' man' to normal girls on his time off. But as Naruto often said it, Hinata was not normal.
The ninja to her right didn't seem to think that about her though. He saw a girl with little confidence in the soft and short answers she had been giving him. He saw no significance even in the more forceful answer she had just given. Any idiot should have been able to hear the force and annoyance in her tone even though it was only audible from the boy's position and no further. "Well I will write to your father in the morning asking for your hand. I will be able to pay any dowry he requires. We get paid much better as palace guards than regular Leaf ninja. And you'll be able to work in my house cooking and cleaning rather than doing a man's wor—"
The boy was never able to finish his sentence. Hinata had allowed herself to be momentarily shocked by the disregard for her will in the matter, but more so by the sudden and simultaneous disappearance of Naruto from view.
Hinata saw the kunai and shuriken just in time. She barely had time to react; starting her clan's chakra spin instinctively in her defense was just barely able to block the incoming messengers of death. The first kunai, which flew straighter and faster than the following shuriken, traced a thin red path in her forearm before she was able to get her chakra out in a defense. She blew her 'teammate' back with the displaced air and chakra in the spin but she didn't have time to think about his comfort. After finishing the defensive technique, she noticed the would be suitor wasn't moving, he was dead. Her next instinct was to focus on the last place she had seen Naruto. His previous position was riddled with kunai and shuriken and there was a Sound shinobi standing a short distance away inspecting the spot. There was no body however.
She looked around and saw many Sound-nin coming over the wall. It looked to be about 25 in total. She couldn't make a perfect count because she was immediately besieged by a trio of the attacking Sound-nin. It looked like all of the inner guard had been killed in the one coordinated attack. All of the former Leaf-nin were dead. There had been sixteen ninja guards outside before the attack. One shinobi was unaccounted for.
Hinata pumped more chakra into her eyes to improve her visibility and subsequently her survivability as well. The strongest of the three jounin attacking her attacked head-on in an attempt to divert the attention from his partners attacking from the sides and behind. One attacked from the closest tree and one from ground level. This time she decided not to use her clan's 'ultimate defense'. Instead she used her grace and finesse in the battle. Her movements were fluid and flowing from one to the next without giving away her next intended attack or dodge. All three of these ninja seemed to prefer taijutsu rather than ninjutsu.
Hinata was kept on the defensive from the trio's coordinated offense though. She was only dodging their attacks by a narrow margin, but that was part of her specific style. Even Gai had admitted that her clan's form of taijutsu was superior to the Lotus style that he and Rock Lee used. Neji had mastered the Jyuuken but his style was still more forceful. Hinata's style was a little bit more flowing and graceful. Neji deflected or dodged an attack by a much greater margin than Hinata ever did. Many inexperienced ninja would think that Neji was the better fighter because of that. Hinata, and Neji for that matter, understood that less movement meant less energy spent and often an opening to attack was to find and exploit when an opponent was close than farther away.
Hinata recognized the smile of over confidence in all three jounins' eyes as she deflected and wove just beyond their reach of their attacks. Then she saw her opening. One quick kick to the side of the knee sending chakra out of her foot as the foot connected. It only takes eight pounds of force to break a knee from the side. When one added the affects of forced chakra on the inner coils system there, the valuable joint was affectively useless for about a year.
Again Hinata was forced to dodge as the stronger jounins finally stopped playing with her. They had been careless and were having fun with the last standing member of the perimeter guard. Hinata, seeing the attack from behind, dipped her left shoulder just enough for the arm holding the kunai to pass her shoulder and neck unhindered by her clothing or flesh. In the same movement she stepped forward and extended her left palm to lightly hit the injured Sound jounin's forehead. The actual impact was like a soft caress. The affects of the chakra were much more devastating. The man died instantly without any pain.
The rest of the attacking ninja were now fuming. A simple chuunin missing-nin had killed one of their strongest taijutsu fighters during their own surprise attack. They had all stopped for some entertainment in watching the little Hyuuga girl die being toyed with. They were randomly placed throughout the inner courtyard after having just entered from killing the rest of the guard teams.
Hinata still had not seen any signs of orange since the attack started. She also knew that he was the only one of the guard not inside at the time of the attack that wasn't lying on the ground…other than her. But the odds did not look good. She twisted slightly again to allow the thrust to miss her side as she lightly pressed a palm to her attacker's bicep. Immediately his arm fell limp and the kunai fell from his hand. She was denied the killing blow as his partner forced her away with his attack. The other ninja were getting incensed now at her ability to avoid death.
Sudnenly she felt the wind from something moving by her body faster than even her enhanced vision could track. The now crippled jounin to her left shot back and away from her into the solid palace wall with an audible crack caused b the marriage of masonry and flesh. His body impacted with the solid wall of the palace. The impact caused the loudest sound created by the fight yet, a dull thud that was just enough to alert the ninja inside of a problem.
The sudden unlikely movement of the injured Sound-nin distracted Hinata's opponent more than it did her and she quickly slipped inside his defenses to place two hand strikes. Her right hand landed against his chest and her left lifted in a slight uppercut hitting just below and behind his chin. The chest shredded all the inner coils surrounding the heart and lungs while the other cut through all of the chakra pathways in his head destroying his brain and nerves there.
Hinata allowed herself to relax just slightly after confirming the shinobi lying at her feet was dead. She had seen an orange clad man with spiky yellow hair standing where the Sound-nin she had just disabled had been less than two seconds before. She now gave a more critical eye to him.
Naruto, though easily dispatching of the injured jounin that was about to attack Hinata in spite of the pain in his arm, had some cuts and scrapes along his arms and shoulders. There was again a slash along his back, but that looked more like it hit his jacket and only barely cut into his flesh. She wondered where he got those injuries if he had disappeared just before the attack. But then she remembered that he had moved slightly forward before he had used the body-flicker technique.
He had seen the attack coming and tried to head some of it off. Apparently he had acquired some injuries for his hasty actions. Naruto turned blood red slitted eyes towards Hinata. She saw he was still in control but the Kyuubi's effects on his body were more pronounced. His canines were longer, his nails on his hands and feet were longer and sharper, and his 'whiskers' were more prominent. "Heh, I'm sorry I'm a little late Hinata-chan. I had to take care of the guy who got me during our trip here."
Hinata visibly relaxed at this. That ninja had been strong, he had told them so. But if he won the young prodigy of Orochimaru was no longer a threat. Sasuke and Kabuto would be the Sound's strongest next to Orochimaru now.
Hinata's raction was a stark contrast to that of the remaining Sound-nin. Apparently that boy had been one of their strongest and they were shocked a mere genin of Konoha could take him down. They were affronted that a chuunin had affectively beaten three of their jounin with little help from a genin, but now they were outraged and slightly apprehensive.
Up until the point of Naruto's appearance, the battle's loudest noise had been the older and heavier jounins' sandals sliding on the hard dirt of the courtyard. Ninja were not soldiers best used in open combat. Their skill and techniques were designed for silent battle and assassination. Stealth was their greatest weapon. They were trained to fight silently. If one made a mistake and was seen or their path was blocked by a guard; they were to take out the obstacle silently and quickly so more couldn't be alerted to their position. To this end almost all shinobi were trained to fight silently and control their reactions to pain. The pain in the arm of the now fallen jounin hadn't even caused more than a slight gasp and silent wince.
Now though, about ten to twelve ninja came pouring out of the room the party was being held in. The nearly inaudible thud caused by Naruto's attack had alerted the ninja inside to an attack. The partiers were still unaware because they were not trained to filter out sounds and hear the slight noise just above the music of the quartet playing for the dancing noblemen.
Hinata noticed the last two out into the courtyard were Sakura and Shikamaru. The former Leaf and current Sound were already starting to engage in battle as the two remaining current Leaf ninja entered the comforting and frightening darkness. There were about two Sound to every one palace ninja. Shikamaru immediately directed Sakura to start helping out medically. Shikamaru also silently directed Hinata to help when she could and keep a lookout for the pink haired medic. They both knew that Sakura often focused solely on her medical duties even in battle and didn't notice attacks being aimed at her.
Hinata sped off towards where Sakura was working and immediately took directions and then started working on the injured ninja. Sakura took an almost dead palace ninja while Hinata tried to heal one that had stab wounds to his chest and arms. There were many already dead and lost causes lying around and many more falling every minute. Hinata kept her Byakugan activated because it helped her see the chakra of her patient and kept an eye out for attacks coming at her or her teammate. She was watching the battle with her extended peripheral vision. The missing Leaf ninja were doing as well as could be expected with the disadvantage of only half the ninja as the attackers. The palace ninja were still going to loose by a lot though..
Shikamaru had already caught three Sound and killed them by closing off their throats with the technique his father had taught him right after he became a chuunin. Immediately thereafter Shikamaru was forced from his offensive by the attacks of three more Sound chuunin and a jounin.
The Sound seemed to work in teams of three, one less than the Leaf preferred. Shikamaru had just barely dodged a frontal attack when he noticed one had held back. Shikamaru had previously noticed that many of the Sound on this mission were weapons and taijutsu specialists. Probably so they could more efficiently and quietly kill the guards without making more than necessary noise. Ninjutsu tended to be a little bit more flashy and loud while genjutsu was slower than ninjutsu and took some time for the illusion to take affect. Shikamaru heard a soft tune just as he defended against another set of thrown shuriken.
Immediately his surroundings changed into a sunny clearing that he recognized as his old genin team's preferred training ground. But instead of Ino and Chouji; Sakura and Naruto were there. It was a genjutsu and the castor must have thought they had been his teammates. Such a blatant but simple mistake. Shikamaru quickly cut off the flow of chakra to his brain for an isntant, dispelling the technique and bringing him back to the real world. Again he was forced to dodge an attack quickly but he was able to catch the attacker in his favorite attack, Shadow Limitation. With a smirk on his face Shikamaru then understood how to beat these three.
Instead of killing the captured one and dealing the the next two, he decided to use him. Shikamaru launched at the genjutsu user while the captured Sound-nin moved off in a different direction going after his own partner. The Sound were caught off guard, they thought once caught, one did the same exact actions as the person who caught them in the technique. Shikamaru wasn't a normal chuunin though, and his clan's best technique was not one that a genin could easily master.
It took a strong mind to affectively use a captured ninja in this way. His clan technique, while not a strong bloodline like Sasuke or Hinata's eyes were, was not passed to anyone outside the clan. Much like Chouji, Ino, Kiba, or Shino's clans weren't bloodlines but clans that specialized and preferred a type of technique. Theoretically anyone could learn those techniques, but without help from inside the clan, or as in Shino's case implantation of bugs in the body during infancy, it was nearly impossible to duplicate.
Naruto had been fairing better than the palace ninja had been, but he was still taking hits. He had created a large number of shadow clones and engaged as many Sound as he could. He had received a few direct hits and more than a few glancing blows from a sword or a kunai though. This alerted the ninja he was fighting as to which one was the real Naruto. During the fighting his opponents had dropped down to about five as he killed or rendered them unconscious. Though his clones had also been reduced to two meaning there were only three Narutos left. There were only one or two other ninja from the palace who had not yet fallen, Naruto noticed both were the ninja he had met the previous night.
Naruto took notice of how skilled Sakura and Hinata were at their trade. A couple of the fallen former Leaf ninja were once again able to join in the fighting. But the few they were able to save and return to fighting capability were not enough. The casualties had happened faster than they could keep up with and many had died without a chance to be saved. Their success was not unnoticed by the Sound-nin though. The original twent-five or so that had attacked were now reduced to about 10, much better than Hinata's original assessment of their chances.
Shikamaru and Naruto, though very protective of their teammates, did not feel the need to stay unnecessarily close to the medical specialists. Hinata's Byakugan could see all around her so she could watch for incoming enemies and both girls could hold their own in any fight. As it was though, the few Sound that thought the medics were more of a threat than the fighting ninja were surprised by the speed at which Hinata shifted just enough for the attack to miss her while she placed a palm to their chest or head. Her strike was very gentle, barely impacting, but the pain and instant death it caused were a sharp contrast to the force of the blows. Sakura on the other hand, usually had little warning more than Hinata's order to look behind her. Sakura's counter to an attacking ninja implemented less grace and finesse.
Sakura turned around at Hinata's warning to see two Sound coming at them. Both were brandishing swords and were about to strike. With speed most wouldn't have suspected of the kunoichi she removed two kunai from her leg holster sending one flying into the chest of one of her attackers. She threw it with such speed and force that the blade penetrated the flack jacket and pierced the man's heart, killing him. The other kunai she used to block the sword coming down at her head. The man was shocked, he was twice her size and yet she blocked the powerful strike with apparent ease. Sakura took advantage of the man's momentary shock to punch him with the strength Tsunade taught her to use. The man was sent flying, almost hitting Naruto as he crossed the courtyard.
That was when the tables turned. There were now six of the Leaf ninja still standing. The Palace leader, Naruto's former opponent though he was tired, Shikamaru, Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata were the only ones still able to fight. There were still about ten of the Sound able to fight. But Kabuto, who had been sitting back and watching from the shadows unnoticed, decided to enter the fight. He took out the two palace ninja quickly by attacking them from behind. He had been watching and had learned their style so it was easy, especially since they didn't expect the attack. Naruto noticed Kabuto just as he killed the last of the remaining Palace ninja.
Naruto got enraged as he saw them fall. Kyuubi's chakra started to wrap around him and from a fox with one tail. Instantly he launched an attack at two of the remaining Sound. His speed, a clawed left hand and a resnengan in his right killed them quickly but not painlessly.
He turned to face Kabuto as the medic ninja smiled and faced him. The other Sound ninja seemed to take that as a hint to back off from the snarling opponent their leader was facing. The seven remaining Sound hesitated and then looked at their mission commander. "Good evening Naruto-kun, Its been a while since we last met. You've gotten stronger, but you have increased your weaknesses. Or at least you consolidated them making them an easier target." Naruto didn't have a clue what Kabuto was talking about.
Then the medic ninja proved he was as good as Kakashi by moving insanely fast towards where the two female ninja had been working on a severly injured missing Leaf nin. Naruto realized he was attacking the girls and they wouldn't be able to react in time. Shikamaru had come to the same conclusion just before Naruto had and sent his shadow to stop Kabuto. Kabuto had expected that though and dodged. Shikamaru was only able to capture three of the Sound-nin who had been close to Kabuto. The ones Shikamaru did not capture moved in front of Naruto, stopping him from using his speed to stop Kabuto.
Naruto immediately launched into the four Sound jounin who had crossed his path. The first one used a sword attack while the other three moved to get into better positions. Naruto automatically formed a resengan in each hand. He dodged the first sword swipe and sent one of his resengans at the chest of the attacker. He was forced to cut the follow up attack short because of the assault from one of the jounin on his right. If Naruto hadn't been in as much of a hurry he would have noticed that the last attack had been a simple hand chop. Kabuto had obviously taught some of these ninja how to create chakra scalpels and how to use them effectively in combat.
Shikamaru killed the three Sound chuunin he had captured with his shadow and moved to help Naruto. He was able to capture two of the surrounding ninja which allowed Naruto to quickly kill them with the resengans he was holding in each hand. Naruto did not release the technique. The small explosion like effect created by that would cause more damage to the opponent as he sunk the ball of chakra into the man's chest, but it would also mean he couldn't use it on the two remaining active jounin. Shikamaru did his best to support Naruto but they proved to take more time than either could spare.
Naruto heard Sakura scream and turned around to see that Kabuto's chakra scalpel had carved an angry red line across Hinata's chest. She was down. Kabuto immediately withdrew from battle but did not retreat completely. He just moved so he could easily disappear while still being able to watch. The other two Sound ninja, all that was left of the attacking forces, joined him standing to either side of him.
Shikamaru and Naruto immediately broke off their attack and moved to their fallen teammate. Naruto was in shock. Shikamaru saw a mixture of rage, fear, and shame on his face. Sakura was already working on the wound, but it looked like afutile attempt even to Shikamaru's inferior medical training. Blood was flowing way too fast. Her ribcage had been cut completely open and some of the internal organs had been damaged. Shikamaru watched silently as Naruto, now with a face that showed fear and unrivaled anger, grip Hinata's hand.
Naruto's eyes were now blood red with slits in them. The chakra that had surrounded him had receded but the animalistic affects of it on his body had not lessened one bit. Naruto's claw like hands were still razor sharp, his teeth and whiskers were still longer and more pronounced. Though Naruto's eyes burned with rage, his face showed fear and shame.
Shikamaru noticed how softly Naruto was still able to hold the quiet girl's hand even with hands that seemed specifically designed to do anything but give a soft carress. Shikamaru quickly looked into Sakura's face and understood. The medic specialist did not think Hinata was going to survive. Shikamaru looked up and then around in a vain hope he could find someone, something to help. What he did notice were the three remaining Sound standing on the estate wall watching with what looked like amusement. He looked back at the palace and noticed something he hadn't expected.
There were five or six Cloud shinobi standing on the balconies or on the roof watching the fight. Their job was to protect their country's officials, not guard anything else. This was a battle between Sound and Leaf. Cloud was not involved. That being said, they were also very interested in the outcome of this battle. Knowing your allies' and enemies' abilities were often key to politics and battle.
Shikamaru also noticed that they had moved the partiers back inside to keep them out of danger. They had done that courtesy at least. Naruto's voice called the shadow user back to the situation that was lying right in front of him.
"You can't die. I can't live without you. I need you to keep me, me. You are what keeps me from letting the monster out. You can't leave me. I need you." Naruto's voice was cracking and soft. There were distinct tones of deep sadness and fury. Though as to whether the barely controlled rage was directed more at Kabuto or himself was uncertain even to Naruto.
Shikamaru had barely heard what Naruto had said it was so soft. But he could definitely tell a tumultuous battle was being waged inside of Naruto. It seemed like that rage, the rage Shikamaru guessed was the Kyuubi was barely being held back. Naruto obviously wanted to attack Kabuto, but he was conflicted with his desire to stay by his love.
Naruto was looking at Hinata's face. But he was also concentrating on the wound Sakura was working on. Even though he paid no attention to Sakura said, the panic and worry tingeing her frantic speech and movements spoke just as clearly. Just then the wound stopped bleeding. With a cut that deep, it did not mean the wound was fixed, it meant the heart had stopped beating.
Immediately Naruto let out a guttural scream of rage and sadness. It was loud and quiet at the same time. For a brief second the world seemed to stop. Then what began as a deep growl erupted into a guttural scream as Narutos wrath and sorrow exploded into a semi physical form. Blood red Chakra seemed to immediately engulf him and form the snarling shape of a fox around him. The furious manifestation started out with two tails and quickly formed a third before Naruto attacked.
Author's Note
This story is coming to a close. The next chapter will be the last for this story, baring some unforeseen event. It has been about a month since I last updated this story, but the holidays were a little busy for me and my last few weeks have been hard. Two weeks ago I separated my AC joint in my right shoulder while snowboarding and last firday my car decided to die. Probably the alternator, but I'll have to wait until my next paycheck before I can pay for a new one and it'll be about another week before I can actually do the work because of my shoulder. All well, life goes on with God's direction. Have fun reading and I'll get the next chapter up when it gets written and betaed by Crystlshake.