A/N - Firstly, I'd just like to point out that yes, as one of the reviewers said, this is fanfiction, and in fanfiction we authors can do as we'd like. So if, for instance, I say Mikoto is clan head, then she's clan head. End of story. Don't like it, then tough.
Anyways, just wanted to say that I'm glad last chapter was so well received. I'm also glad that Hinata's changing personality was met with such a positive response. She's certainly turning into an interesting character and I rather like what she's turning into in this story.
Alright, this chapter we finish up the last of the battles in the Chunin Exams and move on with the invasion. Hopefully you all enjoy it. See ya again down at the end of ze chapter!
Chapter 11 - Naruto vs. Gaara & Yure's Wrath!
Temari was frightened when she heard those words come out of Hinata's mouth. The smile on her face wasn't helping matters any. So, she tried to quickly swing her fan in front of her to block the Hyuga girl's attack, but she wasn't able to maneuver it around in time. Hinata knocked her fan aside with the palm of her hand and shouted out, "Two palms! Four palms! Eight Palms!" and continued to count out her attack as she struck Temari until finally, "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Hinata exclaimed as she finished striking Temari, causing her to go falling backwards roughly onto the ground.
The blonde kunoichi groaned as she tried to push herself to her feet, wanting to continue fighting, but she found that she just couldn't muster up the strength to do so. It was at this point that Hinata appeared again in her field of vision and smiled sweetly at her, reaching out to gently brush a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "Don't try to move. I closed off your tenketsu. You won't be able to mold your chakra for a while and you're going to feel a lot of pain for quite some time as well. Just try and get some rest, okay?" Hinata said before stepping away, not surprised by the look of shock in Temari's eyes.
Temari couldn't believe it. Hinata...was being kind to her! She could have killed her if she wanted! She was completely at the Hyuga's mercy both during Hinata's earlier attack and right now, and yet she wasn't taking the opportunities presented to her to finish her off! Looking at the bluenette, Temari saw her simply smiling kindly at her and realized that she was actually a very sweet girl. Something about Neji must have brought out her vicious side or something, because this seemed like the real Hinata to her.
Genma walked closer to them and pointed his hand towards Hinata. "Temari is unable to battle. The victor is Hinata!" he announced, much to the cheer of the audience. He and Hinata watched as a couple of medics rushed out and carried Temari away on a stretcher before the young Hyuga left to return to the competitors' booth. As soon as Hinata was gone, Genma looked up and announced, "Next match: Sakura Haruno vs. Kurotsuchi! Please join me on the field!"
Competitors' Booth
Naruko, Kurotsuchi, and Sakura had not been happy when Hinata had kissed their man. They weren't upset with their Naru-kun, and therefore hadn't taken it out on him. Oh no, instead they took the opportunity to each kiss him as passionately as they could so they could show him that he belonged to them and not some freaking hussy of a Hyuga! Needless to say, they were feeling rather possessive at the moment and were clinging to him rather tightly both in an effort just to be close to him and to show the others there that he was theirs.
As they watched Hinata's match with Temari, they could easily tell that Temari was fighting scared. None of them knew why that was, having each missed Hinata's match against her cousin Neji in the preliminaries. However, the others in the competitors' booth all knew exactly why Temari was so fearful of Hinata and could not blame her for her fear. Gaara, on the other hand, was disappointed in his sister. Still, he was looking forward to the opportunity to shed the Hyuga girl's blood if given the chance. First though, he'd have to make it past the Uzumaki boy. Glancing at Naruto, he smirked for just a moment before turning back to watch the match down below.
When Hinata unleashed her Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms attack, they each had to admit that they were impressed with her abilities, albeit reluctantly on Naruto's fiances' part. Hinata was indeed a formidable young woman. But, when she spoke to Temari afterwards and offered her kind words instead of putting her down or mocking her, they had to admit to themselves that Hinata really was a nice person. Still though, Naruto was theirs damn it!
When Kurotsuchi and Sakura were called down, the two of them planted deep kisses on their boyfriend, one at a time, and told him to watch their fight closely as they'd be going all out to give off one hell of a show. And when they walked away, they were sashaying, swaying their hips and drawing his eyes to their hips and perky butts. What could he say? He was very into his girls and Kuro-chan and Sakura-chan had nice, tight butts!
As they were walking down the stairs, they saw Hinata on her way back up to the competitors' booth. Narrowing their eyes, they gave her a look that said they would be having words with her later. All Hinata did was simply smirk at them and wave goodbye as she walked right past them and made her way up the stairs. Snarling at this, both of Naruto's fiances looked into each other's eyes and nodded once. Hinata would definitely require watching so she wouldn't go sinking her claws into their precious Naru-kun without their permission!
Back up in the competitors' booth, Naruto and Naruko watched as Hinata appeared at the top of the stairs and made her way over to them. Without a word, she grabbed onto Naruto's hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, leaning into him and resting her head on his shoulder. Closing her eyes, she smiled happily and released a soft sigh. "What did you think of my match Naruto-kun? Was it everything you hoped it would be?" she asked without a single stutter.
Naruto blinked at this sudden bold maneuver, but before he could say anything, Naruko, in all her righteous feminine fury appeared in front of Hinata and glared at her. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Release Naru-kun at once! He's not your boyfriend you skank!"
Hinata's eyebrow twitched at this and she opened her eyes a crack, narrowing them dangerously at Naruko. "Be careful what you say to me you big-breasted bimbo, lest you find yourself paralyzed from the neck down, even if only temporarily." she warned dangerously. "As for me, Naruto is in the CRA, is he not? He's allowed multiple wives, therefore, I'm making my claim on him now. Whether you like it or not, Naruto will be with me." she said, grinning at Naruko a moment before she reached up with her free hand and grasped Naruto's face, turning him to face her before she leaned in and kissed Naruto passionately, once again, and shoved her tongue into his mouth, probing it around and getting a real taste for him.
Once she was done, Hinata released him and pulled back before smirking once again at Naruko. "Naru-kun is mine. I don't mind having to share him, but he will be mine. Nothing will keep me from him. Not you, not his other fiances, not your mother, nothing. I'm finally feeling free to be myself and I know what I want now. I finally have the confidence to do what I should have done all along and I'm going for it! And guess what Naruko! You can't stop me! Nobody can!" she declared almost maniacally.
Naruto began to sweat nervously as he tried to slowly inch away from the clearly deranged girl, but she had something of an iron grip on him by now. Naruko, on the other hand, was practically frothing at the mouth she was so furious with this Hyuga skank! However, at the same time, she was shaking. Something about Hinata was sending a primal level of fear throughout her being and she couldn't shake it. Still, she had to speak up and so she forced herself to say something. "You, me, and the rest of the girls will be having a talk about this later Hinata. This isn't over. Naru-kun isn't some object you can just take for yourself! He's a living, breathing person and we won't just hand him over to you without a fight. You...may be willing to share, like you said, but we clearly need to talk about this. So later, after the exams and when we all have some time to just sit down and discuss things, we'll talk. Is that understood?"
Hinata smiled sweetly, a bit too sweetly for Naruko's taste, and nodded once at Naruko. "Why of course. I wouldn't have it any other way. Of course, I hope it's a civil conversation and we all come to a wonderful agreement. And if we don't...well...who knows what may happen, hm?" Hinata said before giggling. However, this particular giggle sent chills down Naruto and Naruko's spines.
It was at this point that the proctor shouted for the match to begin, and the brother/sister duo were very thankful for the distraction. So, ignoring the fact that Hinata had a vice grip on his arm and Naruko was now clinging to his other arm, Naruto began to watch as Sakura and Kurotsuchi, two of his fiances, began to fight.
Sakura Haruno vs. Kurotsuchi
As soon as Genma announced for them to begin, Sakura quickly went through three hand seals before she disappeared in a flurry of cherry blossoms. Kurotsuchi was immediately on guard. Suddenly she saw the same flurry of cherry blossoms began to strike out at her. Before she could react, they cut into her arm, drawing blood and causing her to scream out from the pain. When they came back around for another attack, she brought up a kunai to deflect them, only for them to snake around the blade and strike her further up her arm, drawing yet more blood.
It continued on like this for a time before she came to the realization that she was caught in a genjutsu. Growling to herself, Kurotsuchi flared her chakra and shouted, "Release!", dispelling it just in time to see Sakura mid swing with her kunai, aiming for her midsection. Quickly bringing up her own kunai to block, the black-haired Iwa kunoichi growled slightly at Sakura before smiling proudly at her. "Well done Sakura-chan. That was a clever move on your part. I didn't even know I was caught in a genjutsu at first." she complimented, clearly impressed with her friend's attack. "However, why didn't you just disable me or hold a kunai to my throat to force me to quit?"
Sakura smirked at her friend and shook her head. "Because I wanted to give you the chance to show the judges and Hokage-sama what you could do. I want us both to become Chunin, not just me." the pinkette explained, much to Kurotsuchi's shock if her widening eyes were any indication. "Now, why don't we kick things up a notch, hm?" Sakura suggested before she leapt back and went through a series of rapid hand seals. Once she was finished, Sakura smiled at her friend and slammed her hands to the ground with a shout. "Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
Kurotsuchi was shocked at this. She thought her friend's element was lightning based on her using that Chidori attack in the preliminaries! Quickly she brought her hand to her mouth and exclaimed, "Lava Release: Lava Bullets!" she exclaimed, spitting out numerous fist-sized bullets of lava that quickly broke through the earthen spears that shot her way, destroying them in the process.
Once the attack had been halted, Kurotsuchi just had to pose the question on her mind. "Sakura, I thought your nature was lightning? Now you're using earth release techniques? Which is it?" she asked curiously.
Sakura smirked at her friend and shrugged her shoulders. "When Kakashi-sensei tested my chakra nature, we found out that I have an equal affinity for both earth and lightning natures. I'm sure you can guess what this means Kuro-chan." Sakura said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.
Kurotsuchi's eyes widened to a considerable level and she shook her head in disbelief. "No. How have you kept such a thing hidden for so long? Not even Naru-kun or Ino-chan know about it! Why haven't you told any of us yet?"
Sakura giggled a bit and simply smirked. "I wanted it to be a surprise juuust in case I ended up having to fight one of you guys in the Chunin Exams one day. Kinda like right now. So...surprise!" Sakura exclaimed right before lunging forward and swinging her fist at Kurotsuchi's face. Right before it could connect, she grinned and said, "Explosion Release: Explosive Fist."
Kurotsuchi screamed out both from the shock and the pain as an explosion went off right in her face, sending her flying backwards a short distance before crashing onto the ground, skidding for a couple of feet on her back. After a moment, she rose to her feet and clutched at her face, groaning in pain. She could tell that Sakura held back on that attack by a lot so as not to permanently injure her or scar her in any way, but damn that still hurt.
Removing her hands from her face, she scowled at Sakura and shook her head. All she could hear right now was this loud ringing in her ears. A point-blank explosion would definitely do that to a person, and right now she was annoyed as hell that she was having to deal with such an annoying thing. Reaching up a hand, she pressed her index and middle fingers of her left hand to her ear and pulled them away to stare at them, frowning when she saw blood on them. Great. That's just wonderful. She thought to herself in aggravation.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Kurotsuchi saw Sakura going through more hand seals for another jutsu, but she had no idea what it was going to be. Instead, she decided it was high time she start fighting back and show that she had what it took to be a Chunin.
Quickly going through hand seals of her own, Kurotsuchi brought a hand up to her mouth and spat out a veritable wave of lava towards her opponent at the same time her opponent sent out a sparking web of lightning towards her. Needless to say, her lava won out over the lightning and Sakura was forced to leap back a few feet and was forced to think on her feet as the wave approached.
Sakura, frowning in thought for a moment, decided to simply go with the flow and reared back her fist. Thrusting it forward with one mighty punch, she shouted out, "Explosion Release: Mighty Explosion!" right before a large explosion erupted in front of her, deafening most of the crowd, and sent the lava flying everywhere. Thankfully, as with the previous match, the barrier protected the people and nobody was harmed.
Sakura frowned when she didn't see her opponent. Panting a bit from the large expenditure of chakra, she knew she shouldn't do something like that again anytime soon. Sure she had expanded her reserves quite a bit since meeting Naruto, but she wasn't some stamina freak like some people were!
As she was thinking these thoughts, she heard something from behind, but before she could turn to investigate, she heard a shout of, "Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique!" right before she was hit with a large quantity of what was obviously quicklime if the name of the technique was anything to go by.
Before Sakura could free herself, Kurotsuchi brought a hand up to her mouth and shouted out, "Water Release: Water Trumpet!" and proceeded to spew a large quantity of water from her mouth at Sakura, thus hardening the quicklime and thoroughly soaking Sakura's head in the process, much to her irritation.
When she was finished, Kurotsuchi walked around in front of Sakura and smiled triumphantly at her, the hearing finally returning to her. Quickly, she took out a kunai and pressed it to Sakura's throat. "I'm quite sure you could use your Explosion Release to break yourself free from that, so I'm doing this to ensure you forfeit Sakura-chan. You put up an amazing fight, but enough is enough. Please, forfeit?" Kurotsuchi pleaded with her dear friend.
Sakura glanced over to Genma and sighed. "Proctor, I forfeit. Kuro-chan wins this fight." she said with a smile on her face before looking at Kurotsuchi. "That was a great fight Kuro-chan. Think we both did a good enough job to become Chunin?" she asked, genuinely curious about their chances.
Kurotsuchi shrugged in response as she pulled back her kunai and used another Lava Release technique to free Sakura from the quicklime. Once she was free, she took Sakura's hand and pulled her into a hug. Before she could say anything however, Genma spoke up. "I'd say you both pretty much earned your promotions easily enough. Sakura, you could've won early on in the match, but I heard what you said. You wanted Kurotsuchi to have her chance to move on, which, while admirable, could have gotten you killed out in the field. Still, throughout your fight you proved yourself more than capable of being a wonderful Chunin. Kurotsuchi? I believe you did enough to warrant a promotion as well. So I wouldn't worry too much about it." he said, smiling warmly at the both of them.
Kurotsuchi smiled in thanks to the man and both she and Sakura said a quick, "Thank you." to him before they both made their way off the field. Sakura made her way to go join the others in Yure's private booth while Kurotsuchi went to rejoin Naruto and Naruko in the competitors' booth.
Once they were both gone, Genma looked up at his Hokage for a moment before looking around at the various members of the audience. "We will now take a short, ten minute intermission before we begin the next round of matches. Take this time to do what you will. Go to the bathroom, get refreshments, or just get up and stretch your legs for a while. Just remember to return for the next round after the ten minutes is up." he declared before walking off the field.
Yure's private booth
After Shino had joined them earlier, they had each congratulated him on performing so well in his match against Naruko. Yure though, she simply looked at him stonily for a moment before offering him a small smile as she offered him a seat beside her. "If they don't promote you to Chunin after a performance like that, I will be having words with them. Of that, you can be assured." she said to him.
Kushina went wide-eyed at this before looking at Shino and giving him a thumbs up. Shino knew who, or rather more importantly, what Yure was by now; how could he not? After all, she was connected to his teammate, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze! So when she said that she would be having words with the ones responsible for the promotion of Genin to Chunin, namely the Hokage and the Council, he was stunned. The Shinigami was willing to go so far for him of all people?! Shino was beyond touched by this generous offer.
Bowing his head to her, Shino could feel a single tear rolling down his cheek as he spoke. "Thank you Yure-sama. You are most kind and generous. I truly don't feel worthy of such benevolence."
Yure blinked a couple of times before she placed her hand under Shino's chin and brought his head up from his bow. Looking into his eyes through his sunglasses, she smiled softly at the boy. "Don't be like that Shino-kun. You're a very talented young man, and you've been a good friend and teammate to my darling Naruto-kun. If I say you've more than earned a promotion, then you have. Surely you agree with me, don't you Shino-kun?" Receiving a brief nod in return, she smiled beautifically at him and nodded once in turn. "Good. Now, let's return to watching the next match."
Soon after this is when Naruto's fiances had their little outburst. While confusing, Yure couldn't help but smirk as she knew exactly what caused it. However, she wasn't about to tell them what it was, as she found this new Hinata to be quite amusing and wanted to see more of what she would do if given the opportunity. If, however, she proved to be a threat to those that were dear to her precious Naruto-kun, well...it wouldn't turn out well for her.
As she was thinking about this, Kushina looked to Yure and frowned slightly at her. "'Darling' Naruto-kun? What's that about Yure-chan?" she questioned somewhat sternly.
Yure, torn from her thoughts, looked at Kushina with a frown on her face. "What? If you have a problem with me calling Naruto-kun 'darling', then come out and say it Kushina-chan."
Kushina looked a little frightened at the tone Yure was using with her, not to mention the killing intent she was unleashing, but quickly shook her head. "It-It's not that Yure-chan, it's just...I'm wondering how you really feel about my son now. What is it exactly that you want with him? Do you just want him to be your champion or...are you after something...y'know, more?"
Yure sighed and reigned in her killing intent that she was releasing unconsciously. Shaking her head, the Shinigami brought a hand to her face and shook her head. "Ugh. If I told you it was none of your business, would you leave it alone?" Bringing her hand away from her face, she saw Kushina was grinning at her, which was answer enough for the beautiful silver-haired woman. "Eventually...once he's matured some more...I want him to be my husband. Is that so wrong Kushina-chan?" she admitted somewhat shyly.
Kushina blinked at this before a small grin appeared on her face. After a moment, she threw her arms around Yure and giggled happily. "Imagine if we both get with him! We'd be like sisters for real Yure-chan! Wouldn't that be awesome?!" It was then that what she said really hit her and her entire face went red as a tomato. "Wait...I'm really being serious right now. I'm really thinking about getting into a serious relationship with my son. And I don't feel the least bit ashamed by it? Damn. Oh well! Still though, sisters! Think about it Yure-chan!" she exclaimed excitedly.
Yure blinked and then blinked some more in stupefaction. She had completely missed the fight between Temari and Hinata, though from the cheering and the shouts of "Alright Hinata!" from the others in her private booth, she could only assume that Hinata had won. Right now she was more focused on her confusion. Sisters? With Kushina? That was an interesting concept and one that she found herself strangely happy about. Smiling softly at her friend, she nodded once in acceptance and gave her a brief hug. "That...does sound rather nice, I will admit." Yure said politely.
Kushina smiled happily and nodded. "Doesn't it though?" she agreed. It was at this point that the next match was called and they looked down below to see Sakura and Kurotsuchi about to fight. As the group watched on, they were all very surprised to see the pinkette use the Explosion Release of all things! Sure she may have lost in the end, but holy crap it was an amazing fight!
Ino looked around at the others and voiced her thoughts. "I'm not going crazy right? Sakura really just used the Explosion Release?" she questioned, still unable to believe her eyes.
Mikoto nodded, quite stunned herself. "She did. The question is though, how does she have such a kekkei genkai when it's unique to Iwagakure?"
As they pondered over this tidbit of information, Sakura entered the booth and took a seat beside Ino, smiling widely at everyone. She looked exhausted, but she looked proud of how she did. "Hey everybody! How do you think I did? Enough to make Chunin I hope?"
Ino looked at Sakura and pointed a finger in her face. "Yeah, whatever. Why the hell didn't you reveal that you had the Explosion Release of all things in your fight with me?! Did you think I couldn't handle it or something?! I can't help but feel like you've completely surpassed me here Sakura-chan. It hurts knowing I'm being left behind by everybody."
Sakura frowned at this and looked down at her feet, shuffling them a little. "I'm sorry Ino-chan. I wanted to keep it a surprise for whoever I ended up facing in the finals. That's all. It wasn't because I felt you couldn't handle it. Honest! I just felt it wouldn't be smart to reveal all of my tricks in the preliminaries. Know what I mean?"
Ino sighed and shook her head. "I understand that Sakura. I just...I hate this feeling. I love you like a sister, and yet I was beaten so easily by you, even when you weren't fighting to the fullest of your ability. Then I find out that you were hiding your trump card the entire time and could have used it to flat out crush me from the very beginning? I feel so weak compared to you and everybody else and I just...I don't know anymore Sakura. It hurts."
Sakura watched with sympathy as tears began to roll down Ino's cheeks. She could feel her own tears begin to roll down her cheeks as well, feeling an immense feeling of guilt welling up in her chest. Getting out of her seat, she walked in front of Ino and hugged her close.
Before either of them could say anything, Kushina walked over to them and hugged them close. "Then I'll train you. If you don't feel like you're learning enough from your parents and your sensei, then I'll take whatever time you have left and train you into the ground to make you stronger. If need be, I'll even ask to make you my apprentice. That way I can really take the time to turn you into one hell of a kunoichi. You'll never feel like this again Ino-chan, I promise."
Reaching up and rubbing at her eyes to try and stem the flow of tears, Ino looked into Kushina's eyes and blinked a couple of times before giving her a watery smile. "R-Really? You'd do that for me Kushina-sama?"
Nodding a few times, Kushina grinned at her and ruffled her hair a little affectionately. "Of course Ino-chan. And you don't need to call me -sama. Just call me Kushina, alright? Now, let's go get some snacks or something while we have the time. Kami knows I'm hungry after watching all those fights." she said with a giggle.
The others nodded in agreement with her and soon proceeded to vacate the booth with her, leaving only Yure alone in the booth. Once she was alone, she glanced up to the Kage Booth and narrowed her eyes at Orochimaru disguised as the Kazekage. Soon little snake. Very soon.
Kage Booth - Earlier
Up in the Kage booth, Hiruzen couldn't help but let out a sigh as he was forced to listen to his old student talk. Orochimaru was so transparent it was laughable. If only he didn't have to pretend that he was falling for his act, he could strike the idiot down right here, right now. In fact, he was very tempted to kill the blind idiot right now, if only to shut him up for five goddamned seconds! What was the topic of discussion you might ask? Here, let's tune in.
"...may be my daughter, but wasn't this originally meant to be Sasuke-kun's fight? Truly, Sharingan vs. Byakugan would have made for a much better fight in my personal opinion. Temari just doesn't have that same kind of…'flair' to her that Sasuke-kun does. You know, you do still have time. You can bring Sasuke-kun here and let him fight in this match like he was supposed to originally. I'm sure the audience will wait patiently for their beloved Uchiha." the 'Kazekage' suggested.
Hiruzen and Jiraiya looked into each other's eyes with matching smirks before they began to laugh uproariously. Once they had calmed down, they both looked at Orochimaru and adopted dead serious looks and said simultaneously, "No."
When the fake Kazekage was about to ask why not, Jiraiya decided to explain. "As I'm sure sensei already explained to you earlier 'Kazekage-dono', Sasuke is 'indisposed' at the moment and is therefore unable to compete in the Chunin Exam. We are not at liberty to explain to a foreigner, even one of authority such as yourself, the exact details of what has befallen him. Do try to understand." Jiraiya explained with a small smirk on his face. "So in essence, Sasuke is not going to be competing in this match or any other matches you so clearly want him to participate in. So sorry, I'm not sorry."
Orochimaru snarled under his veil, and it was clearly heard by all in the booth. Hiruzen's ANBU bodyguards tensed and reached for their weapons while Jiraiya prepared to act just in case the fake Kazekage attempted anything earlier than planned. However, Orochimaru managed to calm himself and simply turned to look down below, barely managing to compose himself again. "Fine then." was all he said as he watched and waited, just keeping an eye on the events unfolding below.
After the last two battles of the first round had ended, Hiruzen smiled and looked at Jiraiya once again. "Well, I'd say those matches were quite well fought, wouldn't you Jiraiya-kun? Who do you think is good for a promotion after witnessing those fights?"
Jiraiya hmm'd and rubbed at his chin for a moment as he thought about it. After a moment, he finally spoke up. "Both Sakura Haruno and Kurotsuchi showed remarkable talent and promise as kunoichi. Sakura could have easily ended it with her first attack, but she clearly chose not to, most likely due to the fact that she and Kurotsuchi are friends. My best guess is that she wanted to give Kurotsuchi the chance to prove herself capable of becoming a Chunin as well."
Hiruzen nodded in agreement with this assessment. "Quite astute of you Jiraiya-kun. I noticed the same thing. Regardless of this, the both of them showed the planning skills required of Chunin and the raw talent and power necessary of a Chunin. And Sakura-chan's Explosion Release was quite the surprise as well! She hid that quite well! I'd say they've both more than earned their promotion to Chunin."
Jiraiya nodded and then looked down to the competitors' booth where Hinata and the others were. "As for Hinata...she played on her opponent's fear of her. She could sense it right off the bat and used that to her advantage. It was a good plan and, when her opponent was caught not looking, she moved in for the kill strike and used that time to strike. If that moment was out in the field, her opponent would be dead in a heartbeat. She's a scary one sensei. Deadly efficient in combat and clearly smart as well. I'll leave that one up to you, but my personal recommendation is promote the girl."
The Sandaime Hokage nodded once and decided to take his student's advice to heart. He could tell that Hinata was undergoing some kind of change, but whether it was good or bad was still up in the air at this point. Jiraiya was right though, she was damned efficient in combat and she'd be one scary person to cross for anyone caught in her path.
Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Gaara
After the ten minutes had passed and everyone was back in their seats and the nobles in their booths and whatnot, Naruto and Gaara were called to enter the arena. Once there, the two of them stared passively at one another, neither one really showing any care about what was to come. At least until a manic grin spread across Gaara's face and he spoke. "Mother wants your blood Uzumaki. So make me feel alive!" he exclaimed right before shooting the cork of his gourd at Naruto right as Genma announced for the match to begin.
Naruto casually backhanded the cork, causing the sand to disperse and go flying to the side. The young Uzumaki-Namikaze understood Gaara better than anyone else could. He was a jinchuriki, just like Gaara was. The pain, the suffering...everything that came with being a jinchuriki was felt by both of them. Only...it was so much worse for Gaara. He had to go through all that pain all on his own with nobody there to support him through it all. He had family, sure, but Naruto just knew instinctively that they hadn't been there for him like his had been there for him.
Frowning at this line of thought, Naruto withdrew his Akuryouno Ame blades from their sheathes and took a ready stance with them. This would be a truly trying battle and he needed to go at Gaara with his very best if he wanted to have any chance at victory here, let alone survival. His best bet was to try and get through to Gaara, to show him that he felt the same pain he did and that he wasn't alone in his suffering. That there were others like him out there and he didn't have to be alone anymore. The question was thusly: how to get through to Gaara without getting himself killed in the process?
He didn't have much time to think on that as Gaara sent a wave of sand flying his way. Deciding to test the waters a bit, so to speak, Naruto dashed forward and swung one of his blades at the wave of sand, putting a bit of chakra behind the swing. Out shot a wave of red chakra that split the wave in two, causing the sand to fall apart and splash to the ground harmlessly, much to the shock of Gaara, Kankuro, and Orochimaru as well. Temari would have been stunned as well, naturally, if she wasn't cooped up in the medical wing right now.
Naruto was pleasantly surprised by the effect his swords' converted chakra had on Gaara's chakra and decided to use it to his advantage in this fight. So, charging forward once again, the young Uzumaki-Namikaze prepared to attack once more before a dome of sand surrounded Gaara in a defensive shell. When spikes of sand shot out in Naruto's direction, he smirked and let them pierce him, much to the shock of everyone present in the audience.
Before anyone could say anything, the Naruto that they had all been watching disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing that it had been nothing but a shadow clone all along. The swords disappeared in a puff of smoke as well, quickly returning to where they belonged. They did this all by means of a seal Naruto had placed on his swords. That way, if he were ever to be separated from his blades, all he needed to do was activate a seal and they would be returned to their sheath (or sheathes).
What happened next caused many a person in the audience to cringe. Naruto plummeted down from directly above the barrier and plunged his nodachi, enhanced with wind-nature chakra, through the top of the dome and pierced through Gaara's layer of sand armor, cutting into his left shoulder and straight down his left arm, leaving a deep gash that, if left untreated, may be a disabling wound.
What really caused people to cringe however, was the fact that Gaara screamed out and began to slew curses, screaming about his blood and crying to his mother before an inhuman roar sounded out from within the barrier of sand. They weren't quite sure what was going on, but they certainly saw what happened when Naruto was thrown backwards into the stadium wall where it cracked from the pressure of his body hitting it, his nodachi falling from his hand.
When the sand dome fell, there stood Gaara, fully transformed into a miniature one-tailed sand demon, his wounded arm encased in sand and fully maneuverable for the time being. "You will pay Uzumaki! I will have your blood!" he declared venomously.
However, before he could begin to have his retribution, feathers began to rain down and people in the audience began to fall asleep one by one. Glancing around, Gaara snarled as he recognized this as the signal for the invasion to begin. He didn't care though, he wanted revenge on the Uzumaki and revenge he would have! However, before he could continue, Kankuro leapt down in front of him and took him by his uninjured arm. "C'mon Gaara, let's get you somewhere a little safer so you can transform properly. This invasion's success depends on you after all. Now, come along. Who knows? You might even kill this guy along the way." he said with a nervous chuckle, hoping Gaara would come along peacefully without killing him for interfering. Grumbling, Gaara reluctantly nodded before allowing Kankuro to help him escape.
Naruto, hearing what they said about an invasion and realizing that Gaara was too dangerous to be left alone, looked towards Genma and nodded his head towards where they just took off. "Genma-san, I'm going after Gaara. He's a jinchuriki like me. Somebody has to stop him before he unleashes the Ichibi on Konoha. Might as well be me, right?" Naruto said with a chuckle.
Genma nodded and looked towards the location they left in before turning back to Naruto. "Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, your orders are simple. Track down Gaara and eliminate him if you must. Restrain him if you can and bring both he and his brother Kankuro back for interrogation. We're going to get whatever useful information we can out of the both of them. Now go!" Nodding once, Naruto took off after Gaara, hoping to catch up with them as quickly as possible.
Competitors' Booth
Naruko and Hinata both looked at one another as soon as the invasion began. A bunch of Oto kunoichi had quickly found them and attacked, but together they had put them down before they decided to speak. "Look Hinata. I don't like you right now, but we need to put aside our differences and work together here. Our top priority in invasions such as this is to ensure the safety of the civilians and escort them to the shelters. Priority number two is to protect key targets, such as the hospital, academy, etc. Priority number three, eliminate the enemy by any means necessary. Now, there are plenty of ninja here in the stadium to keep the civilians here safe. Which means we need to head out into the village. Which of those three things are you willing to help me do?"
Hinata smiled and said, "Let's begin with priority number one. We can't allow the civilians to be harmed. Once we've saved all the civilians we can, I say we protect the hospital. Agreed?" she suggested. Receiving a nod in return, Hinata grinned. "Then let's go. I'm looking forward to destroying our enemies." she said with a slightly maniacal giggle following afterwards.
Yure's private booth
As Oto ninja and Suna ninja both began to storm her booth, Yure sighed boredly and watched as her friends began to destroy them in waves. Sure, she could have done something herself, but there was simply no need with powerful ninja being at her side. No, what was really on her mind was what was coming next. She just knew Orochimaru was planning something, and she was ready to act at a moment's notice.
As soon as she felt it, Yure rose from her seat and looked to her friends. "Get out and help your people. I've got a little 'snake' to pay a visit to." she said with a devilish smirk on her face right before she disappeared.
Once she was gone, Kushina looked to her companions and decided to issue some orders. "You heard the woman. Shino, Fu, I want you two to go defend the academy. Sakura, Ino, get to work escorting civilians to safety in the village. Mikoto, you and I are going to protect the civilians here. Now go!" she ordered, watching as everyone split off to go do as they were commanded.
Once they were gone, Mikoto smirked at her friend. "I bet that felt good, getting to order around a bunch of Genin again." she joked as she and Kushina made their way out to defend the unconscious audience members. "You sure looked like you were having fun at least."
Kushina rubbed at the back of her head. "You caught me. I just couldn't resist myself. Still though, this is serious and I simply had to put everyone to work where I thought they'd be best suited for the situation. Now, let's kick some ass Miko-chan!" she shouted as she charged towards a couple of Suna shinobi, leaving Mikoto to shake her head in exasperation before she turned and decapitated an Oto kunoichi that had been trying to sneak up behind her.
"Such a foolish woman. You never stood a chance." Mikoto said with a grin. "This is going to be fun." she said, her grin turning into a devilish smirk.
Rooftop - Hiruzen vs. Orochimaru
As soon as the genjutsu began, Orochimaru had tried to grab Hiruzen and carry him away, but the old man had whacked him over the head with a cane that he pulled out from who the hell knows where and leapt up atop the roof, brandishing the cane like a weapon as he pointed his finger dramatically at his ex-student. "C'mon Orochimaru, quit with the act already and get rid of that lousy disguise! I've known it was you all along. You really make for a lousy actor. Kami, I swear, all you talk about is 'Sasuke-kun' this and 'Sharingan' that. Pft, what a lousy excuse for a student you turned out to be. How you could have failed me so much I will never understand." Hiruzen said, rubbing his chin as if in thought.
Orochimaru snarled as he threw off his kage robes and leapt up onto the roof across from Hiruzen before his bodyguards threw off their cloaks and leapt up as well, erecting a deadly barrier to keep out the riff raff while another barrier was used to keep Hiruzen and Orochimaru in. They didn't even notice that Jiraiya had purposely stayed back, allowing his sensei to challenge Orochimaru by his lonesome. Obviously he had something planned, but what was anyone's guess.
Before his deranged student could even say anything like a taunt or simply to start a boring conversation with him, Hiruzen dropped his cane (again, where the hell'd he get it from anyways?!) and formed a hand seal. "Earth Release: Earth Flow River!" he declared before a river of mud appear underneath Orochimaru, causing him to begin flowing down the river of mud towards his sensei, who had retrieved his cane and was grinning wickedly at Orochimaru with a gleam in his eye.
Not wanting to be whacked by that damn thing again, the snake Sannin performed a quick Substitution Technique and replaced himself with a tile on the rooftop some distance away, much to Hiruzen's disappointment. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Orochimaru had to release a quick yelp of surprise when he saw a bunch of mud bullets flying his way that were ignited on fire! Quickly, he went through hand seals and slammed his hands to the ground, shouting out, "Earth Release: Rock Dome!" right before a dome formed of rocks appeared around him, shielding him from his sensei's attacks, though the heat from the bullets was certainly not helping him inside his little prison.
Once the attack was finished, Orochimaru dispersed his jutsu and glared at the Sandaime Hokage. "That's it. I'm done playing nice. It's high time I bring out my trump card. Best prepare yourself 'sensei'." he said before going through the hand seals required for his next technique. "Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!" he declared before slamming his hands to the ground and watching with glee as three coffins rose from the ground, though Hiruzen managed to stop the coffin marked with a IV from rising.
Right when the coffins were opening, Orochimaru noticed that, instead of the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages being revealed, there were just a couple of no name Suna Genin, both looking incredibly confused at what was transpiring. Before Orochimaru could question what was going on, he felt the chill of death breathing down his neck and slowly, almost robotically, turned his head slightly to look behind him.
There, glaring at him, was a woman with long, flowing silver hair that covered one half of her face. She had a beautiful sapphire-colored eye that was currently piercing his very soul, or at least it felt that way to him. This woman stood at a height of 6' 2", making her quite tall. She had a fairly large chest, her breasts being DD-cup, though they looked completely natural on her. If he could see her back, he'd notice that she had a round, wonderful looking butt as well. This woman had nice, long legs and great child-bearing hips as well. All-in-all, she was one hell of a looker of a woman. Of course, that was all if he was even into women. And...Orochimaru, sadly...wasn't.
The only thing Orochimaru was currently concerned with when it came to this woman was the level of fear she struck in him just by looking at her. He found that he couldn't even move, let alone look away from her piercing gaze. Yet...she didn't do anything to him. Instead, she walked around him and over towards the two Suna Genin. Once she had reached them, Yure smiled kindly at them and spoke. "You two are safe now. Orochimaru killed your Kazekage and attempted to use you as sacrificial pawns in his plan, but I assure you that you will not be harmed." she assured them before she ushered them over to join the Hokage.
Once they were out of harm's way, she disappeared and reappeared in front of Orochimaru, a glare on her face. Reaching up, she gripped the snake Sannin by the throat. "You tried to delve into the realm of the dead Orochimaru. That is my territory. Nobody, and I mean nobody steals from me. Besides that, you've been using a forbidden technique to cheat death for far, far too long. I think it's high time I 'remedy' that situation, don't you?" Yure said with a wicked grin on her face as she began to use her Death's Touch technique to drain the life right out of Orochimaru.
The fearful snake Sannin attempted to use his ability to shed his skin to escape her wrath, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't escape his own body. She had him dead to rights and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it! At this point, by means of a last ditch effort, he screamed out, "Sou-Sound Four! To me! Help me!"
Releasing the barriers, the Sound Four rushed forward to try and help their master, but they were quickly stopped by Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and the ANBU, each of them being more than a match for the Sound Four, even as they activated their curse seals.
Sadly, for them and for Orochimaru, he soon passed away in Yure's grip. As soon as he was dead and she had devoured his soul so that it may forever rot in her belly where it belonged, she turned to the Sound Four and smirked at them. "You can either turn yourselves in or you can share the fate of your deceased master. Choose." she commanded.
Needless to say, each of the Sound Four relented, especially now that their curse seals were gone with Orochimaru's death. They would, naturally, be taken to T&I for interrogation later, but for now they had more pressing matters to deal with. After all, the village was still under attack and so the invasion needed quelling!
Naruko & Hinata
Hinata was feeling absolutely giddy as she struck down enemy after enemy that attempted to do harm to her precious home and its people. That simply wouldn't do. Oh no, not at all! Anything that threatened to harm her precious people or something precious to her would just have to go away by any means necessary, and if she happened to enjoy it along the way, well...what would that hurt, hm?
Naruko, meanwhile, was cutting down anyone that attempted to attack a civilian that rushed to safety. As soon as the last civilian had made it into the shelter, Naruko turned to Hinata and smiled. "That's all of them. Ready to head to the hospital?" she asked. Receiving a nod in response, the busty redhead nodded in turn and they rushed off down the streets towards the Konoha Hospital.
Sadly though, they were stopped by a bunch of Oto and Suna shinobi, each of them sporting disgusting leers as they licked their lips in anticipation. "Mmm-mmm. What do we have here?" one of the men asked as he stepped forward. "What are a couple of beautiful young ladies like you doing running around out here, hm?"
Already knowing where this was going, Hinata sighed and, before the man could move, she formed a chakra dagger at the tip of her middle finger and lunged forward, severing the man's penis from his body. As he screamed to the heavens above, she looked to the other four men around and held up her middle finger, flipping them off. "Anyone else want some?" she asked dangerously.
Naruko actually smirked at this and chuckled a bit. "Y'know Hinata, I may actually come to like you given enough time." she said before she quickly killed two of the others.
Taking down the other two and cutting off their dicks for good measure, Hinata smiled back at Naruko and nodded. "Despite our earlier 'conversation', I really do hope we can become good friends Naruko-chan." she admitted before the two of them resumed their trek to the hospital.
Naruto vs. Gaara
It hadn't taken very long for Naruto to catch up to Kankuro and Gaara, managing to avoid a group of Suna ninjas along the way. As soon as he had them within his sights, Naruto went through a series of hand seals and quietly whispered out, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
Naruto watched as his jutsu rushed forth and sent the both of them crashing through a series of branches until they went crashing to the ground below. Grinning at this, he leapt down towards them until he was mere feet from them. Withdrawing his Akuryouno Ame blades once again, he grinned at them and pointed one of them at Kankuro. "If you don't want to die Clown, I suggest you distance yourself from us immediately. This is between Gaara and myself. You can't understand the two of us. Only a jinchuriki can understand a jinchuriki." he said in a dead serious tone of voice.
Kankuro blinked a couple of times before it dawned on him what Naruto meant and he quickly hightailed it out of there until he felt he was far enough away. Hiding behind a tree, he turned to watch the fight that would no doubt be starting up again very soon.
Gaara turned to face the Uzumaki-Namikaze boy and frowned at him. "I'll show you Uzumaki. I'll show you that I'm stronger than you! That I earned this strength on my own. I don't care how strong you think you are. Your bonds have made you weak!"
Naruto frowned at this and shook his head sadly at his jinchuriki brother. "No Gaara. It's only when you're fighting to protect someone or something precious to you that you become truly strong. I'll prove that to you today. I just hope that my heart reaches you before our fight is through." he said with a sad smile directed at Gaara right before he was forced to dodge a large hail of sand shuriken.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear it! I thought I had love before, but the people I loved betrayed me! They tried to hurt me!" Gaara exclaimed angrily as he clutched at his head and began to thrash around. "They said they loved me...but they lied...nobody could ever love me. Mother though, Mother loves me. She keeps me safe. She helps me kill. She helps me prove my existence. She helps me live. She's all I need. She...she says you need to die Uzumaki. So die for me!"
Naruto frowned at this information and digested it all as he continued to dodge all of Gaara's attacks, cutting through the attacks he couldn't avoid. As he was doing this, he was surprised by a sudden voice echoing in his head. "Hmph. It would seem my little brother's a tad more insane than I remember. I'd say something's happened to him. Might I suggest having a look at his seal when you get the chance? That might have something to do with it. But I also get the feeling something is wrong with my brother. If you don't mind, I'd like you to allow me the chance to pay a visit to him so we can find out what exactly is wrong with him." Kurama said.
Blinking at this, Naruto replied back. "Hey Kurama. You haven't talked to me in a while. I thought for sure you were ignoring me or something. What gives?"
Kurama chuckled and let out a loud yawn. "Nothing like that brat. I was just tired and decided a nap was in order. Besides, you had things under control. Now, kick this kid's ass already and restore his sanity." the large fox ordered.
Chuckling softly, Naruto nodded once and rushed forward, quickly swinging his swords in a sweeping X formation as he passed by Gaara. As soon as he had landed on the other side of Gaara, he sheathed his blades and glanced behind him to see Gaara collapsing backwards, blood shooting into the air from the deep gashes upon Gaara's chest as the sand fell away.
However, what happened next threw him off guard. Gaara began to snarl and, despite being severely wounded, he began to gather up all the sand he could muster. Soon enough, a large cloud of smoke covered the area and when it dispersed, standing before them in all its splendor was the mighty Ichibi, looking down upon Naruto with a maniacal grin on its face. And, atop its head, was Gaara, holding up a single hand seal. "Feigning Sleep Technique." he said before slumping forward, having fallen asleep.
The Ichibi, Shukaku, screamed loudly before chuckling darkly. "I'm free baby! Oooh man this feels good!" he exclaimed before looking down at Naruto with a grin. "And you're my first victim little guy! You were quite vicious to my container. I think it's high time I pay you back for all the damage you dealt to the little guy. So c'mon, let's play!"
As Naruto stared up at the Ichibi, a few thoughts were running through his head, not the least of which was, Well...this went from 'I've won, this is over.' to 'Oh shit, what the hell do I do now?' real fast. All I have to say is… "Well...shit."
A/N - Well, quite a bit happened this chapter, didn't it? First we have Hinata going all yandere and yet at other points she's sweet as can be. She's turning out to be a really interesting character, wouldn't you agree?
Second we have the death of Orochimaru! That should show that you don't fuck with Yure, huh? lol.
Third, there's the reveal of Sakura's kekkei genkai! What do you all think of that, huh?! Do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Tell me what you think in the reviews or PMs or whatever!
There's also Naruto vs. Gaara, which is always fun. And of course there's other, minor skirmishes and whatnot. :P
Aaaaanywho, I'm still wondering what you think about adding Hinata to the harem. In fact, I've added a poll about it on my profile, so be sure to check that out and vote! Again, feel free to leave reviews and post your thoughts about it. I'm very curious to see what you think about that and to see your reasons on why you either want her to be part of the harem or why you don't want her to be part of it. So again, feel free to tell me. :)
Finally, I wanted to inform you all that I'll be working on the first chapter of a new crossover fic next before I get to another chapter of this story. Sooo...hope you're looking forward to that. :D
Okay, I think that's everything. Have a good day/night everybody!