I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Finals
Ryuu sighed, smirking as he counted down. Naruto was late, but he could sense him coming. Finally, he burst through the gates to the arena the Chunin Exams finals were being held in and skidded to a stop in the center where the other competitors, minus Sasuke and Dosu, were all gathered. Ryuu grinned, kneeling in front of Naruto, giving him a knowing grin.
"Konohamaru have a shortcut?" Ryuu asked.
"Yes," Naruto grumbled, Ryuu helping him stand.
"This is why you shouldn't trust small children who act like you," Ryuu said, turning back to the new proctor, Genma.
"Hey, knock it off," Genma said. "Stand up straight and present yourself proudly to the spectators."
Naruto looked up at the stands as the spectators began to cheer. More competitors meant more action, Ryuu supposed. The Hokage stood, finally, and greeted the spectators, welcoming them to the Chunin Exams final round. Then, Genma turned to them, reaching into his flak.
"Oh, there's one more thing before we get started," Genma said, pulling out a piece of paper. "Look it over, it's the new line ups for the matches."
Ryuu rolled his eyes. He and Fu would both be fighting an extra match. First, he would have to fight Shino. Then, Fu would have to fight Kankuro. After that, the normal brackets would go, starting with Naruto and Neji, then Sasuke and Gaara, then Temari and Shikamaru, then the winner of Naruto and Shino's match against Fu, unless Kankuro knew how to make his puppet move faster than his eyes could track.
"There's been a slight change in the match ups, but now it's set," Genma said. "Take one last chance to see who you'll be fighting."
"Question, I have a question!" Naruto said, raising his hand.
"What is it?" Genma asked.
"I was wondering, what'll happen to Sasuke, if he doesn't show up, I mean," Naruto said.
"If a candidate doesn't appear by the time his name is called, he forfeits the match," Genma said.
"He'll be here Naruto," Ryuu said. "He probably lost track of time while training. After all, Fu's been a dozen times faster than he and I since we met her. And he knows he'll probably have to fight her at some point."
Naruto nodded and Genma cleared his throat.
"The rules for this round are the same as before," Genma said. "That is that there are no rules. You either fight until one candidate either acknowledges defeat, or dies. That being said, if I determine that a match is over I can step in and stop it at any time. And no arguments permitted. Understood?"
Ryuu glanced at Gaara out of the corner of his eye, seeing the sadistic grin he wore.
If you think you can just stop Gaara with a word, you've got a very painful awakening on your way, Ryuu thought.
"These are the opponents for the first match," Genma said. "Ryuu Uchiha and Shino Aburame. Those two stay. The rest of you can go to the waiting area."
The others began to walk away silently, Ryuu turning to face Shino, seeing Fu glance at him, grinning, as she walked away.
"Don't hold back against me," Shino said.
"Don't knock me out too soon," Ryuu said. "Let me have at least a little pride left after this."
Shino pushed his glasses up his nose. "It's funny, I was about to say the same thing."
"Begin," Genma said before jumping back.
Shino held his arms out, a swarm of insects flying out of his sleeves. At the same time, Ryuu formed the Seal of Confrontation, crows swarming away from him, beginning to eat the insects. After several minutes of this, Shino lowered his arms, the remaining insects retreating to his coat as a cloud of black feathers drifted down between Ryuu and Shino. Ryuu held his hand out, a single Parasitic Insect landing on his palm, beginning to drain his chakra at an alarming rate.
"Well well, you upgraded," Ryuu grinned, crushing it. "Selective breeding truly is impressive."
"I prepared these insects for a battle with Fu," Shino said. "I'm not sure if it'll be enough, but it won't matter if I don't defeat you."
"You know, I'm jealous," Ryuu said, dodging to the side as insects burst out of the ground where he had been standing. "You have all of these beautiful creatures living inside of you, each capable of flying free. And yet you haven't once tried to see if you can use them to fly yourself. What a waste."
Ryuu landed, forming hand seals and slamming his hands into the ground, stone spikes shooting out of the ground in a trail aimed at Shino, who dodged out of the way, sending more insects at Ryuu. Ryuu grinned, flipping over the cloud and forming hand seals, launching a stream of flame at Shino, only for Shino to scatter into insects.
"Shit, insect clone," Ryuu growled, landing on his feet and dropping, a cloud of insects flying over him.
He jumped over a punch from Shino and landed behind him, stopping as he heard a deafening buzzing behind him. He turned, seeing the wall of insects suddenly surrounding him. He chuckled, rubbing his temples.
"You really are a clever one," Ryuu sighed. "This is exactly why I never wanted to fight you. You're too smart for it to be an easy battle."
"And you're too persistent to understand when you're beaten," Shino said.
"Oh, I'm not beaten," Ryuu smiled. "Not quite yet. I've got one last trick to deal with your insects."
He began to make hand seals as Shino's insects shot toward him. Then, he stopped, grinning as he began to expand. Shino turned, fleeing seconds before Ryuu exploded into a ball of fire, killing all of the insects as the real one appeared in front of Shino, slamming a palm into his gut and launching him backward into the crater the explosion had made. The moment Shino hit the ground, he cratered it further, lying there with ten times his body weight holding him down.
"And that's game," Ryuu grinned.
Shino struggled to stand but couldn't move an inch. "I surrender. I can't move."
Genma called the match and Ryuu released his seal, allowing Shino to stand and walking over, shaking his hand.
"You did well," Ryuu said. "For a second I thought I might have to resort to Genjutsu already."
Shino nodded. "You did well also. I didn't expect to lose half of my insects. I'm glad I kept the rest in reserve."
"Half huh?" Ryuu asked. "Not bad. Smart. You're going to need them."
"Why?" Shino asked.
"I can sense Orochimaru, but his chakra's too thick for me to pinpoint," Ryuu said.
"Understood," Shino said. "I'll start breeding my insects again. Can't focus on power this time. I'll focus on numbers. I'll be ready if anything happens."
Ryuu nodded as they reached the stands, Fu dropping into the arena, looking up at Kankuro.
"Proctor, I withdraw!" Kankuro called out, Ryuu freezing.
He withdrew? Without even trying? No. Something was off. More than him knowing he couldn't win. Almost like he was saving himself for something that didn't involve winning the Chunin Exams.
Ryuu glanced around the arena, spotting ANBU lining the stands, all of them wearing either white or black trench coats, depending on their rank. And there was Yugao. He drew his tanto, flashing a light at her with the blade, pretending to be inspecting it. He activated his Sharingan, catching the barest of nods. He put his tanto away, deactivating his Sharingan and looking to the arena as Naruto and Neji dropped into it.
The fight started off as Ryuu expected. Naruto charged in, Neji easily blocked all of Naruto's strikes, then Neji threw a strike at Naruto's chakra points. Naruto caught a lucky break here, and Neji missed the point he was aiming for. Naruto stood, grinning and creating four Shadow Clones. The clones charged, Neji once again evading everything, ending with just barely flipping out of the way of a high kick.
"Not bad," Naruto grinned, "but let's see you do that again!"
His clones charged again, Neji jumping over the first two, spinning, then slammed a kick into one of the next two's heads, and another into the other's chin, destroying one and launching the other. He landed on his feet as the first two clones stabbed at him from behind.
Shame he can see all the way around, Ryuu thought.
Sure enough, Neji deflected the stabs, destroying the clones before picking up and destroying the remaining clone as well. Naruto stared at him in shock.
"You thought you could be Hokage?" Neji sneered. "It's impossible. These eyes of mine have shown me a great many things. One thing is that a person's limitations are set, fixed, and unchangeable. One can never be something they are not destined to be."
"You are you to judge who people can or can't be?" Naruto growled, fists clenching in rage. "Who are you to say that Hinata can't be strong!?"
In the stands, Ryuu's eyes widened as he could see Naruto's muscles tensing in rage. He had never seen this side of Naruto before. Naruto was ready to snap. And he knew Naruto had been putting in a lot of training recently. He had had clones training him when he could, but Naruto had been training with one of the three Legendary Sannin, if Ryuu had been right about the old man in the hot spring's identity as Jiraiya the Toad Sage.
"Who are you to say that Hinata is weak!?" Naruto spat, feet spreading apart and he crouched, Neji's face betraying his surprise and confusion. "You can't judge anyone! You don't understand anything! People like you who are born lucky! You make me sick! So just shut up!"
He shot forward, leaping at Neji, throwing a punch. Neji moved to deflect the punch upward but Naruto caught his wrist, landing and flipping Neji over himself, slamming him head first into the ground before slamming a kick into him, sending him flying. Neji landed in a roll as several Naruto's leapt at him from all sides. In an instant, Neji was on his feet, spinning. Chakra appeared in a dome around Neji, launching Naruto away, destroying his clones. Naruto groaned as he began to stand slowly, chakra burns on his hands and the side of his face. They weren't bad, but they hurt.
"You think you can defy destiny?" Neji asked. "You surprised me with that little outburst. You made me slip up. But in the end, you are destined to lose here. I'm the better fighter. I'm stronger than you. And you are a loser. You've always been a loser. As I said before, once a loser always a loser. You can't change what you are. You're an outcast. A nobody."
"Destiny is a load of crap!" Naruto spat. "You choose who you are!"
"Is that right?" Neji asked, reaching up and pulling his forehead protector off, revealing a green Curse Mark spread across his forehead, Ryuu staring at it in surprise with his Sharingan from the stands. "This Curse Mark was placed on me by the Main House of the Hyuga Clan. It's purpose is to seal the wearer's Byakugan, either by force or when they die. It's a punishment, a way to control the Branch Families. It's the symbol of a bird locked in its cage. And do you know why I have it?"
"Why?" Naruto asked, staring at the mark.
"Because my father was born a few minutes too late," Neji said. "My father was the twin brother of the current clan head, but he was born a few minutes after Lord Hiashi." He spat the name as though it made him sick to say. "He was made a part of the Branch Family, and he was branded with the Curse Mark. Then, I was also branded with it. On the day I was branded with it, there was a celebration in the Hidden Leaf Village. A peace treaty had been signed with the Land of Lightning. The leaders of the Hidden Cloud Village were sent to sign a peace treaty. Everyone in the village was there, everyone. Every genin, chunin, and jonin showed up to welcome our former enemies. Except one clan. The Hyuga clan. On that day, the daughter of the head of the Main Branch turned three. It was Lady Hinata's third birthday. Lord Hiashi is sitting up there." Neji turned to look up into the stands, glaring angrily at who Naruto assumed was Lord Hiashi. "It was that day, the day the heir to the Main Branch turned three, that the Curse Mark was placed on me and I was made a bird in a cage. By my own uncle. When activated, the seal causes excruciating pain. Something he proved to me by using it on my father."
"You keep saying your father was this and he was that," Naruto noticed. "What happened to him?"
"I'm glad you asked," Neji said. "Remember the Land of Lightning representatives I told you about? They had a second mission, aside from signing the peace treaty. One night, not long after signing, the head Cloud Ninja snuck into the Main House and abducted Lady Hinata. Lord Hiashi quickly caught and killed the man. But once word spread to the Hidden Cloud that he had been killed in the Hidden Leaf Village, the Hidden Cloud wanted revenge, claiming it was murder. Things escalated until it looked as though there would be war. Finally, the Leaf Village made a deal. A life for a life. The Hidden Cloud wanted the life of the man who slew their shinobi. In order to avoid war, Lord Hiashi had to die. And so a man was killed. But not Lord Hiashi! My father was murdered in his place to protect the Main Household!" Neji clutched his forehead protector in a death grip. "Only in death was my father finally free of this wretched Curse Mark! They were so much alike, but their destinies had been determined long ago. So you see, no one can escape their destinies. It will always be my destiny to protect the Main House." He put his forehead protector back on. "And in the same way, losers will always be losers. Hinata is destined to be weak. And you are destined to lose to me."
He was off like a shot instantly, two jabs drilling into Naruto's torso.
"Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!" Neji shouted. "Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty two palms!"
As he shouted each set, a matching number of strikes drilled into Naruto, each strike harder and faster than the last. Then, a seemingly endless string of agonizing stabs of pain began to shoot through Naruto's body.
"Sixty four palms!"
He accented the last statement with a full palm strike to the gut, launching Naruto away. Naruto crashed down hard, rolling to a stop as blood leaked out of his mouth.
"Looks like that's it," Genma sighed, beginning to walk forward.
"I'll admit that you gave it a valiant try," Neji said. "But you've changed nothing. You were destined to lose. Hinata was destined to lose. And you will never change it. Despite all your big words, and all your cheering back then, Hinata was still a weak, pathetic coward, right up until I stopped her heart."
"Shut up!" Naruto snarled, pushing himself up, fury flooding from his red, slitted eyes. "Just shut up! You don't get to judge her! You don't get to judge anyone!"
He swiped his arm to accent his point just as thick red chakra began to fly off of his body, a burst of it lashing out to the side with the swipe of his arm, blasting a portion of the ground into a smoking crater. Neji staggered backward, Ryuu and Fu both gripping the railing tight as they realized what was happening, Ryuu only from Fu's description. Ryuu looked around the stadium, seeing the Jonin, ANBU, and adults all tensing and silent. They all knew, Ryuu realized. Finally Ryuu understood fully exactly why Naruto was so hated, and was alone. The parents saw him as the Tailed Beast inside of him. They saw him as the Nine-tails itself. And they told their children not to associate with him out of fear of what he might do to them.
"That's impossible!" Neji said. "You can't have more chakra! I shut off your entire chakra flow!"
"I said shut up!" Naruto shouted, streaking forward and drilling a fist into Neji's face before he could react. "You think you know so much!? Yes, I'm an outcast! I've been an outcast since I was born! I pull pranks because it's the only way to get anyone to acknowledge my existence! But if you were right, I'd still only be an outcast! But you're wrong! I have people I care about! I have friends! Iruka Sensei, Kakashi Sensei, Sasuke, Sakura, Ryuu, Hinata. They're my friends, my family! And I'm not going to sit around and let you badmouth them!"
He appeared in front of Neji, slamming a knee into his gut, lifting him, then flipping and slamming a kick into him, launching him to the side. Neji flipped, landing on his feet.
"For as much as you claim to see with those eyes, you're still blind!" Naruto snarled. "Big deal you have a tattoo on your head. Did you ever stop to think that maybe you're not the only one suffering? Didn't you ever think maybe Hinata was suffering just as much as you were? It's not her fault her father was born ahead of yours, but you resent her for it. And you tried to kill her. All she wanted was your respect, and she fought her hardest for it, even though it almost killed her! And what was that even about anyway!? I thought it was your duty to protect the Main Household, not beat it to a bloody pulp!"
He shot toward Neji again, but Neji had gotten over his surprise now. he dodged Naruto's punch, blocked the kick, then slammed a kick of his own into Naruto's head, making him stumble. Naruto growled in annoyance.
"How are you using chakra!?" Neji demanded. "I blocked your chakra points!"
"Quit telling me things I already know!" Naruto shouted, sprinting forward again, throwing a punch at Neji, who sidestepped it, slamming a double palm strike into Naruto's diaphragm, throwing him backward, only for Naruto to land on his feet. "What's wrong? Afraid? I thought you loved close combat!"
He shot forward again, Neji gritting his teeth and meeting his charge. They met in a blistering series of strikes, their punches and kicks slamming into each other one after another and another, neither able to fully block or dodge the other's any longer. For a moment, both simply traded blow after blow. Then, Neji dropped under a punch, slamming a kick into Naruto's chin, throwing him away. naruto flipped, landing on his feet and shooting forward yet again.
"Enough of this!" Neji shouted, throwing a punch, chakra shooting off of his fist as he did.
Ryuu grit his teeth. That punch had the potential to kill. But it seemed like Naruto's chakra instinctively knew that, because it seemed to focus itself around his own fist. Their punches met and exploded instantly, blasting a massive crater into the ground. Neji skidded along the ground out of the smoke before flipping to his feet, looking up at Naruto, who was falling rapidly. He crashed down hard, forming his own crater, his body practically filling it. Then, he stayed there, the dust cloud he had kicked up settling.
"It's over," Neji growled. "Proctor, call the match."
"The winner is-"
Before he could finished, the ground below Neji exploded upward, Naruto shooting up from a newly formed hole and drilling a fist into the underside of Neji's jaw, launching him backward. Neji crashed to the ground hard, groaning and looking at the Naruto in the crater, which exploded into smoke.
"Of course," Neji said, smiling ruefully. "Your best jutsu."
"You're wrong," Naruto growled, blood dripping from his right hand, the fingernails shattered and ripped to pieces from tunneling without enough chakra. "It's not my best jutsu. A little while ago, I couldn't even produce one clone. Now it's almost the only jutsu I know. How's that for destiny? You arrogant prick!"
Neji began to stand but his arms and legs gave out, dropping him back to the ground, groaning. Genma walked forward, nodding to himself.
"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki!" Genma announced.
The crowd erupted into cheers instantly, all of them seemingly forgetting the chakra Naruto had used to win. Ryuu sighed, smiling.
"That kid," Ryuu sighed. "He's going to be a pain."
Fu nodded smiling, before slowly going silent as she stared across at the other waiting area.
"What?"
"He's a..." Fu fell silent, a hand clutching the beetle necklace Ryuu had given her.
Ryuu turned to look, seeing that she was staring at Gaara. "You're sure?"
"Yes," Fu nodded. "Chomei says he's number one. Shukaku."
"Okay," Ryuu said. "I'll make sure to warn Sasuke. And Fu, if you have to fight him, take the Gravity Seal off first. And be careful. Don't assume anything. And don't hold still."
"I won't," Fu nodded. "I'll fight from the air."
Ryuu nodded as Genma called Sasuke and Gaara to the arena. Gaara went there instantly, but Sasuke was still nowhere to be found. Ryuu waited silently. If Sasuke wasn't here, but Orochimaru was, that meant Orochimaru didn't have him. Ryuu silently prayed that Sasuke would be disqualified. Suddenly, a second Konoha Shinobi arrived behind Genma, whispering to him before vanishing again.
"As Sasuke Uchiha is not here, his match has been postponed," Genma announced, receiving boos. "We'll move on to the next match instead. Shikamaru, Temari, you're up!"
Shikamaru sighed, heading down to the arena. As he did, Ryuu felt a tap on his shoulder and turned, finding an ANBU standing there. The ANBU motioned for him to follow and he nodded, walking away from the waiting area, following the ANBU to a secluded area, away from everyone else. Ryuu kept a hand beside his kunai pouch and the ANBU turned to him, reaching up to his mask.
"Oh please, there's no need for that," Kabuto said as he lowered his mask. "I just wanted to tell you that I've reached a decision."
"I see," Ryuu nodded. "And what is it?"
Kabuto remained silent for a moment, staring at the ground. "I can't turn against Orochimaru."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Ryuu sighed.
Then, he drew his trench knife, streaking forward and slashing at Kabuto only for Kabuto to catch his forearm, spinning him and putting his own blade to his throat.
"Relax," Kabuto said. "I'm not saying that I'm still loyal to Orochimaru. You were right. I remember who I am. And once again, I find that I have to sacrifice myself for my home. The Hidden Leaf needs a man on the inside in Orochimaru's organization. They need someone to give them the location of hideouts. And of certain experiments that might be useful if captured. But beyond that, I also can't leave because there are several people Orochimaru has in his...care, that I have to look after. Several of Orochimaru's plans are in motion even now. I need to be there to hep stop them. If I turn on him, he'll simply kill me and the Hidden Leaf will lose their most valuable asset."
He released Ryuu and Ryuu stepped away, putting his trench knife away. "So, what, you're going to play your part?"
"Yes," Kabuto said. "I'm going to pretend to be a good little servant. While I'm still working for him, I'll be able to keep several people alive that would die otherwise. They may also be able to be saved from Orochimaru later. There's an Uzumaki survivor, a shinobi from the Hidden Mist with remarkable Water Style abilities, a boy with the ability to control Tailed Beasts, an entire village in the Land of Rice Paddies. And, of course, Sasuke himself. Orochimaru plans to possess Sasuke's body. If that can be delayed long enough, Orochimaru will be forced to possess another. That will buy an extra three years."
"Okay," Ryuu nodded. "What do you know about the Uchiha Massacre?"
"Only what we already discussed," Kabuto said.
"Alright," Ryuu nodded. "Signal me before whatever Orochimaru's planning begins."
"I will," Kabuto nodded. "It'll have a Genjutsu, white feathers falling from the sky and putting everyone to sleep. He means to execute Lord Hokage. I'm sorry. That's all I can say."
Ryuu nodded and returned to the others, leaning in to whisper to Fu, telling her what Kabuto told him about the feathers and Orochimaru's plan.
"We have to warn him," Fu said, turning only for Ryuu to catch her arm.
"If he knows we know, Kabuto's cover's blown," Ryuu whispered. "We'll react the moment it happens. Gaara's going to be a part of it. I'll help Naruto and Sasuke handle Gaara when it starts. You handle Orochimaru with Lord Hokage."
Fu nodded and Ryuu looked to the arena just as Shikamaru caught Temari with his shadow, having used the shadows in Naruto's tunnel to extend it. Then, Shikamaru raised his hand, and quit. Ryuu blinked twice before his jaw dropped. Then, he laughed.
"Oh Shikamaru," Ryuu sighed. "You'll never change."
"Sasuke Uchiha, Gaara," Genma called. "Come down."
Finally, just as Gaara reached Genma, there was a spiral of leaves as Kakashi and Sasuke finally arrived.
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