Chapter Six

Chunin Exams

The Forest of Death, the name sounded ominous, and not a place to be taken lightly or so it seemed from the reports. He was rooting for Hinata and her team the most, hoping she would not just survive, but arrive at the tower, in one piece. His main purpose for being in said tower was to offer his services. To repair and sell supplies to all the ninjas participating in the exams and also to perform maintenance on special weapons, such as Hinata's bows. Sure it made him somewhat anxious to see those who had graduated when he hadn't; Naruto told himself that he would have come across them anyways at some point in the future. So he decided to get over with it. That and nothing could have kept him from cheering on Hinata. Not that he told that to anyone, but she was his only friend after all.

He was in a room close to the arena so the participants could have their weapons repaired or replaced if needed. Who knew what would happen in the forest after all? Forcing down the worries for Hinata, he left the workshop and walked down the halls towards the entrance of the tower. Many others also stood there, waiting for someone to arrive. One of them was Kurenai and a man who had the same hairstyle as the ANBU with the dog mask that sometimes came to pick up the armors. Always two hours late.

Anyhow, Naruto stood besides Kurenai, who looked very nervous for once.

Hinata wasn't here yet. Naruto sighed loud enough for Kurenai to notice him.

"Ah, Naruto. You're here already! I suppose you're all set up then?"

He nodded in response. "Have any others arrived already?"

A small frown found its way into Kurenai's features. "Yes, but no team from Konoha yet."

"I see." Afraid he'd worry even more, Naruto returned to the small workshop. He knew that Hinata was a capable ninja, but the fact that killing was allowed in this part of the exams worried him greatly.

Once he turned into the hallway, Naruto nearly crashed into a ninja clad in a black outfit complete with what looked to be cat ears atop his head. And makeup? There was also a wrapped shape as big as the teen himself on his back. Mumbling an apology, Naruto passed by without waiting for a response. A blonde girl carrying a big fan on her back, stood behind the other ninja, examined him up and down before she apparently decided that he wasn't worth talking to. But the boy with the blood red hair and the gourd on his back didn't seem to feel like letting him pass.

"You," he said, his voice flat and cold, "Mother wants your blood."

Naruto frowned. The presence of this boy made his stomach twist, he could feel the seal burning on his skin. Whoever that was, he was bad news. According to the headband of makeup-boy, he also was a ninja from Suna. They traded fine steel and rare gems, Muso and Naruto often went out of their way to find a merchant that sold them.

"Unless you have weapons that need be taken care of, I have nothing else to give you." Deeming his words were enough, Naruto brushed past the red head. Intending to enter the room at the end of the hallway, where his current workshop was, he kept walking despite the feeling of a pair of eyes burning a hole into the back of his skull. The farther away from the boy he got, the less he could feel the damn seal, so Naruto increased his pace.

"I will have your blood! Mother will have it!" the boy shouted, but made no attempt to follow him and the three Suna Nin kept walking down the hallway in the opposite direction.

Inside of his workshop, he found a familiar face, well, what he could see of it anyways. The guy who had waited in the entrance hall with Kurenai stood at the counter, nose buried in a book, one eye and lower face hidden behind headband and mask. Wondering how he got in here so fast, but then chalking it up to ninja stuff, Naruto took a seat behind the counter and waited for the man to say something. But the man said nothing. After a while, Naruto sighed. "Can I help you?" he asked.

Without looking up from the book he answered, "No. I'm quite fine." and continued reading.

Naruto just gaped at him. 'What the hell was this guy doing here?' Before he could shout at the man to bugger off, the door opened. A girl Naruto knew from fixing her weapons, strode inside, her clothes having seen better days and the twin buns on her head never were messier. Without a word of greeting she walked up to him and slammed several scrolls onto the counter.

"Repair, please!"

Naruto smirked. She seemed to always place her weapons higher on her priority list than most other things. "Sure Tenten. But you do need to unseal them. Can't do that, I'm an artisan not a ninja." Naruto noticed the silver haired man twitch, but ignored it. While Naruto could very well unseal them on his own, it was somewhat illegal for civilians to be able to use combat related scrolls. Even if it were just storage scrolls.

She huffed and swiped several scrolls open, unsealing a myriad of weapons onto the counter. The wood groaned under the weight of a good dozen of heavy steel weapons and Naruto suddenly jumped back in order not to be run through by a stray blade. "There, now please?" Tenten gave him puppy eyes and let her lips tremble.

Lifting the remains of what once must have been a scythe, he raised an eyebrow at the melted blade. "What did you do out there with all these weapons?"

Tenten crossed her arms before he chest. "Well excuse me, but someone had to kill the acid leech!"

"Ah!" was all the response Naruto made. Thinking about all the seriously deadly stuff out in the forest made him worry even more about Hinata. Shaking his head, he went to work, hoping to forget his worries.

He didn't notice when Tenten left, so engrossed he was, repairing the dozen of weapons, but it didn't have the desired effect on him. His mind circled around the singular fear that something would happen to Hinata. Naruto knew that they had about two or three days to reach the tower and the first day wasn't even halfway over yet, but that didn't help his distressed mind. He knew that people died in these exams. The thought made him shudder.

The first day ended without Hinata arriving, and Naruto found himself unable to sleep that night. After tossing and turning for about an hour, he had enough and sneaked out into the hallways of the quarters towards the mess hall. He was only mildly surprised to find Kurenai there as well.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked before he even walked into her field of vision.

He gave a humorless chuckle. "Yeah, I suppose you couldn't either, you know..." Naruto frowned. When did the verbal tic return?

Kurenai shook her head. "No, not at all." She sighed and dropped the chopsticks back onto the tablet. "I have faith in them, I really do, and after Hinata got as good as she is now with her bows and all the extra training she'd done, I'm a hundred percent certain they can make it but..."

"That doesn't make the waiting any easier, does it?" Naruto said, sitting down beside her. Kurenai could only hum in agreement.

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The second day was very uneventful until Kakashi briskly walked past Naruto in the direction of the entrance. After he stood inside the workshop for an hour, Naruto got annoyed and demanded his name, which he actually gave him. Curious and not having anything better to do, he followed the ninja out to see if anyone he knew might have returned.

Two familiar and dirty faces greeted him there.

The weird black mop of hair upon the boys head clearly indicated him as one Sasuke Uchiha, who looked like hell, clutching his neck with on hand just above the shoulder. The pink hair and overly loud voice identified the girl as Sakura Haruno, whose arms were covered in bandages as she limped behind Sasuke. The third member of the team, Naruto didn't recognize and he didn't bother taking a closer look at the brown haired boy. He observed Kakashi talking with Sasuke, looking at something at the boy's neck before his head snapped into his direction, a thoughtful look on his face. He strode over to him, dragging Sasuke after him.

"Naruto, I need you to seal something for me," Kakashi said.

The boy blinked. How could he know about that? He and Muso didn't really keep it a secret, but they also didn't broadcast it. That meant that, either Kakashi knew someone who owned a weapon of the forge master or he had one himself. There was something else nagging at the back of his mind, but he ignored it for now.

"Seal what?" he asked eventually. It wouldn't do a civilian any good to lie to a ninja. That too was an offense in Konoha.

With a head motion, he beckoned Naruto to follow him. Shrugging, he followed Kakashi and Sasuke, who still seemed very much out of it. They arrived in a big circular room with a circle of seals in the middle. From what Naruto could see they acted as a suppressor for whatever you intended to seal and amplified the seal used. Kakashi pushed Sasuke into the circle were he heavily sat down. The jonin motioned for Naruto to come closer.

"This," he said, pointing at the seal on Sasuke's neck, "is a curse mark. It floods the body with foreign chakra, whenever they get agitated to a certain degree. It also messes with your mind. Therefore I need you to seal it."

Naruto studied the small black seal for a moment before looking back at Kakashi. "Why would you ask something like this of me? You do know I'm an artisan and not a ninja, therefore I'm not allowed to do anything related to that."

The silver haired man gaped at him, it had not crossed his mind that Naruto would take offence with his request. "You... you won't help with it?" he questioned.

Naruto shrugged and placed his hands into his pocket to keep the man from seeing them shake. He was trying hard to maintain his composure, the nerve of these people thinking they can just demand things of him after discarding him like garbage. Kakashi watched Naruto, he didn't get it, was the boy refusing to help a comrade, but then the thought hit him. We're not his comrades, we are nothing to him. For the first time since meeting the boy, Kakashi understood that just because they all lived in the same village didn't guarantee Naruto's immediate cooperation. Hell, in all the time he'd known of the boy he'd never made an effort to talk to or get to know him personally. His sensei, Kushina, Obito and Rin would all be so disappointed in him. Now here he was, making demands of a boy the village had discarded, all to save his student when no one sought to save him when he needed to be.

"I never said I wouldn't help. I'm asking why you're requesting my help of all people. You've barely said two words to me in all the time we've been here. How you know of my skill is another matter altogether."

"I guess I took it for granted that being from the same village and that you were Sasuke's former classmate you'd want to help him."

"Well in the future don't assume things." Naruto retorted. "Further, you should have made the request with my master or Jiraiya sensei and not me, I'm only the apprentice." Kakashi was taken aback by the mention of Jiraiya being his sensei. 'When did that happen and why didn't I know about it?' He would fill the information away until after the preliminaries.

Speaking of his master, Muso appeared at the entrance of the room. Having been notified by a clone. "Naruto my boy, what seem to be the matter?"

Indicating the mark on Sasuke's neck as Kakashi had done with him, he informed his master of the request.

"I see," he said turning to Kakashi with a raised brow, "that's a nasty piece of work your boy got there." After a bit more observation a decision was made. "We will assist you under the condition that you tell no one what we did."

"You have my word." Assured Kakashi earnestly.

"I'd also suggest you ensure your student doesn't disclose it either." To which they received a nod. Both Muso and Naruto studied the small black seal for a moment longer before looking back at Kakashi. "You want him to keep that?" Naruto questioned. "We could just remove it, you know?"

The silver haired man gaped at him, it even was visible though the mask. "You... you can remove that?" he questioned.

Naruto shrugged and reached into his leather apron. He pulled a circular piece of metal out, about as big as his palm and resembled a big metal stamp, and a long metal pin that could be mistaken for a pencil. Kakashi watched as Naruto under the attentive guidance of Muso, engraved the metal piece with symbols that he wasn't familiar with. They were incredibly tiny and together they formed one big symbol. It vaguely resembled 'freedom' but then again, it seemed to be a different language all together and could mean just about anything.

Apparently, finished Naruto looked to Muso who nodded at him. Stepping close to Sasuke, he placed a hand above the symbol and hummed lowly and melodically albeit tunelessly. His hand glowed ever so slightly, Kakashi had nearly missed it, and without further ado, he hard-pressed the metal piece like a stamp into Sasuke's exposed neck. The boy yelped in surprise, the yelp turned into a scream of pain as the metal burned into his skin. It was over after about a minute, leaving Sasuke panting on his hands and knees, but the curse mark was gone, only smooth skin was left behind.

"What... was that?" Kakashi asked slowly.

Again, Naruto shrugged. "Trade secret." With that, he moved to leave the room, but halted in the doorway.

While Muso never hid that he used advanced seals in his craft, he did hide the fact that he used runes, the ancient symbols that had long since been forgotten. Muso had brought them along from his home far to the north. A family heirloom, he had told Naruto. It wasn't as if he couldn't have removed the mark with regular seals, but it may have killed Sasuke, and he really didn't want the village elders on their case.

"Just remember your promise should anybody ask what was used. Muso stated in a flat tone. "You could probably tell them it was a complex 78 letter seal that was used to undo the mark if you must say anything. Goodbye."

Kakashi was silent for a while and looked at the now unconscious Sasuke. "I will." He said and picked up his student. He left without another thought, as if Naruto and Muso had never been there in the first place.

The blonde sighed, he and Muso returned to the workshop. After all they still had duties to perform.

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Naruto met Sasuke and his team early the next day in the mess hall. Because there weren't any more tables free, Naruto sat down in front of Sasuke. His eyes widened slightly, remembering what Naruto and the other man had done for him the day before, but he didn't do anything, but give a curt nod which Naruto returned. Their strange understanding still seemed to exist.

"Oh my god! Naruto!" Naruto winced, Sakura was as loud as ever.

"Yeah, hi there," he said lamely and continued eating his meal.

"What are you doing here?!" she shouted at him. Naruto sighed. She didn't change at all it seemed, but Naruto wouldn't judge by first impressions. After all, she had made it through the forest.

Putting down his chopsticks, he said, "I am here as arms mender and artisan. I repair your weapons and supply you with kunai, basic clothes and stuff." To tell the truth, he did not want to talk, no offense to the girl, but he couldn't exactly run away at the sight of her. Or could he? Wasn't there a seal that...?

"You- you have a job!?" The very thought seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

He rolled his eyes, kami above why was she here? "Yes," he simply said. There just had to be a rune for...

"No! I mean-… We thought you were dead or something!" she amended quickly.

He continued to eat, avoided looking at her. "Well, I'm not. Surprise." Naruto thought he had caught Sasuke's smirk as Sakura fumed at him, albeit quietly.

Dinner continued and just before Naruto made to stand, Sasuke spoke up. "You mend weapons, right?" Quickly overcoming his initial shock, he nodded. Sasuke continued, "Can you fix my windmill shurikens then? I broke quite a few."

Naruto grinned. "Sure, Sasuke." He had intentionally forgone calling him 'teme', he thought himself too old for dumb nicknames.

Standing as well, the Uchiha said, "Lead the way, Naruto," and the two boys left both Sakura and the still nameless third guy behind.

"You're quieter than I remembered," Sasuke remarked as they walked down the hallways, "and not everyone thought you were death like Sakura stated."

Naruto nearly tripped. "I didn't think so either, just figure I never crossed some people's mind after the academy. Out of sight out of mind and all that." Sasuke just harrumphed in response.

They entered the workshop and Naruto found a familiar sight. "Kami above! What is your problem?! Do you have something you want to talk with me about Kakashi? If not leave you god damn maniac!"

Kakashi didn't react, instead, he just flipped a page in his book. Naruto bristled, but moved past him and behind the counter were he sat down heavily.

Scratching the back of his head, he sighed. "Well, lemme see your shuriken. If they can't be repaired, I can replace them, you know."

The shurikens were in a horrific state. Blunted, cracked and some parts were even corroded to some degree. One of them even had teeth marks, as if a fanged animal had bitten down on it. Hard. The marks nearly went through the solid steel.

"Hate to say, but you'd be better off with a new set, Sasuke. What did you throw these at?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shuddered. "Snake." he stated flatly, the Uchiha didn't want to talk about the encounter with Orochimaru.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Instead, he walked over to one of the many tall cupboards that stood against the wall behind the counter. He opened the tallest of them and Sasuke got a look at many, oh so many throwing weapons stored away inside. Intentionally or not, while Naruto rummaged through his stock he threw some of the weapons aside, or more accurately, at Kakashi. The man avoided everything without moving from his spot, but his eyes and Sasuke's, widened when a huge ass spear with a blade as big as Sasuke's torso soared towards him. Using the substitution jutsu, Kakashi switched places with a big tower shield that leaned against a wall. The metal shield lit up like a lantern as the spear sent millions of volt through it and was driven into the solid stone wall. Kakashi gawked at the hole in the wall and the spear sticking out of it.

"Here you go," Naruto said as if nothing had ever happened and handed Sasuke a wooden crate.

"Thanks... I guess," Sasuke told him as he too looked at the spear in the wall.

"Now, do you mind taking your sensei with you? I can't have too many holes in my walls and with him here I can't make any promises." Naruto sauntered over to the weapon and gave it a sharp tug, ripping it out of the stone.

"What in the world is this spear?" Sasuke asked as Naruto stowed the weapon away.

"Oh, yeah, that's not a spear but a glaive, to be exact. The biggest one I've made. About half a year ago? Hmm...Well, the thunder rune surely lasted..." Naruto was by now talking to himself as he inspected the weapon.

"You mean... you made this?" Sasuke asked in a carefully neutral tone.

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, I did. Just because I didn't make it as a ninja, doesn't mean I can't do anything else. The old man took me in and taught me all there was to know and he isn't even finished yet."

Sasuke ignored the bitter remark. "Old man?"

"Yeah, Muso, the artisan out in the-," Naruto was cut off by Sasuke dropping the crate. "Hey, they may not break from that, but don't drop 'em' like that."

Sasuke picked the crate back up before looking intensely at Naruto. "You... were taught by Muso, the forge master?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto closed the cupboard and sat down behind the counter again. "Yeah, sure. What's with that?"

Sasuke shook his head. He would need to let that sink. "No, nothing, thanks for the replacement." He left with a thoughtful expression.

Kakashi wasn't surprised, after all, he had been the first to see Naruto after he vanished from his apartment when he picked up the armored vests for ANBU. What did surprise him was the skill Naruto had in handling these weapons. If the throws had been stronger, he would have been a pincushion before long. The accuracy was deadly and the power behind the thrown glaive had been immense. Not for the first time the silver haired ninja had to wonder just why Naruto wasn't allowed to become a ninja. Something wasn't right. Kakashi left, intending to get some answers from the Hokage.

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Later on the third day team eight finally arrived. Battered and bruised they hobbled inside the tower. There, they were greeted by Kurenai and instructed to rest and get their gear repaired by the artisan within the tower.

Never in all her life had Hinata been happier to take a long hot bath. She soaked in the water for hours, scrubbing off the grime and blood the forest had left her with. Stepping outside of the small bathroom into the equally small one-bed room she sorted through her clothes. She would need to replace them all, the armor padding took quite the hit and while Hinata wasn't really hurt beyond a bruise on her back, the armoring was through with, burned by a lightning strike. Kurenai had told them about an artisan that was here to mend and replace weapons and he would also have clothing available if needed. Yeah, her bows needed repairing, the shield took a huge hit and Hinata wasn't sure if the fireball it took had damaged anything too badly. It wouldn't do her well if she couldn't use it in the third part of the exam. She decided to find him after dinner. Hopefully, this particular artisan could repair her weapons, if not she would have to wait until she could have Naruto look at them. They were her most precious possession after all.

Naruto was going stir-crazy. He couldn't find Kurenai anywhere, neither had he seen Kiba or Shino or any indication Hinata was here. Kakashi would have known, but he actually was with his team for once, something he didn't know. Naruto was also unaware of the fact that team 8 was fast asleep in their rooms, an area he was unable to enter as they were restricted to ninja and the medical personal. But as it had to happen someday, he came across the third Hokage, someone Naruto had thought he wouldn't ever see again, which was a very stupid thought, because the Hokage had invited him personally.

"Naruto." The older man's voice sent a lot of vivid memories of past encounters through Naruto's head. How he always told him of his dream and how he encouraged him in it. He was about to spin around and snap at the man, yell at him, asking him why he spoke to him only now, years after he had vanished. But the snarl faded from Naruto's lips when he saw just how old the man had become. Hiruzen was far from young, really, and even though he had called him old man, Naruto did so as affectionate gesture. But now, the Hokage looked truly old. The wrinkles seemed to be permanently carved into his skin, the rings underneath his eyes were near black and his beard had whitened out completely. Aside from that, he seemed to slouch, dragging his feet heavily across the floor. Naruto swallowed his insults as he was reminded of just how hard the job of the Hokage was.

So he inclined his head, if only just barely. "Lord Hokage," he said, unable to meet the man's tired eyes. Hiruzen sighed and refrained from coming closer.

"I see you are doing well." the Hokage told him.

Naruto nodded. "I am fine, yes." The boy remained silent, unwilling to talk with his eyes anywhere, but at Hiruzen.

The Hokage sighed again. He hadn't imagined meeting Naruto again as anything easy, but this was just straight out awkward. Now he actually hoped for the boy to scream and shout at him as long as he would talk to him. Oh how he had failed him. He shook his head. Now his life was better, hopefully for quite some time before his burdens would drag him back down, back to him.

"Very well. I thank you for your work on behalf of this village." He swallowed thickly. "Fare well, Naruto."

He watched the Hokage walk away, his posture even worse than before, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. The Hokage could have done something, could have tested Naruto himself, could have allowed him another year in the academy, but he didn't. He never even came to talk to him. It was an old wound, a wound Naruto had thought healed, but apparently, the fact that he had to give up on his dream, on his life as a ninja, still hurt deeply.

He stood there for a while, unable to really move away, before he shook his head and reminded himself of his job. Still deep in thought Naruto headed back to the workshop. As usual, Kakashi was there now, wherever he may have been before, standing before the fixed wall, reading his pervert book, letting of the occasional giggle. Grimacing and throwing his spare hammer at the man, Naruto sat down and waited. The newly arrived ninja would soon seek him out to repair their gear. Sadly, Naruto was only allowed to sell standard weapons and armor, so not exactly the stuff he and Muso usually made. The glaive he had with him because... well, because he wanted to show it off. Anyhow, he needed work to take his mind of his encounter with the Hokage and more so off his worries over Hinata.

Naruto heard the door open and, not looking up from the material ledger, shouted, "Welcome, what can I do for-"

His greeting was cut short by the sight of the person that had entered. Blue black hair frame a face with big lavender eyes. Stepping from behind the counter, he took several steps, but was met by his friend in an embrace.

"Hey there," he whispered, "I was looking for you this morning! How come I didn't see you at dinner?" He frowned when she didn't smile back, she looked tired, not bodily, but more in mind. How much he hated this forest right now!

Hinata seemed to snap out of it, pushing herself back from his embrace and blushed. The teen was relieved to see that she wasn't that much out of it. "I-I'm sorry!" she offered, "I was just..." Hinata suppressed the need to frown. Just needed to see him? Just needed some comfort after all the fighting and killing? She needed to cry her life out on his shoulder more likely. But she wouldn't, she didn't want to be weak. So she spurred up herself, though still struggling for words.

Naruto looked her over to make sure she was in one piece. He was somewhat pleased that Kakashi had vacated the room as soon as Hinata entered. Maybe the man was actually decent? "Congrats, Hinata, on making it," he said, but Hinata didn't look all that happy.

"You know," he began, sitting down again and offering her a chair as well, "I talked to a lot of people here, all of them ninja. All of them knew what they were in for. All of them knew what this was about, even signed a waiver so they alone are to blame for what happens to them." Hinata looked at him, but reacted little to what he said. "The thing is, whatever you had to do in that forest, Hinata, no one could blame you for it, and no one would have the right, for they probably did things way worse than you. And whatever you did, I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't judge you by that." That seemed to have gotten her attention. "You are a ninja, and pretty soon chunin, so you didn't do anything wrong. It's... just your job. I... know how that feels..." Oh damn, he had blabbed there!

Hinata looked relieved, but thoughtful. Hopefully, she wasn't thinking about what he had said at the end.

Then she smiled. "Thank you, Naruto," she told him sincerely and it made his heart leap in circles. Remembering what she had come here for in the first place, she took her weapons off her person, careful not to damage them and her jacket.

"Ah!" Naruto exclaimed and hopped of his chair. He took the shield and unfolded it. He aimed at the door just as it opened. "Oh for the love of-! Why are you here?!" he shouted at Kakashi. The man shrugged and continued to read. Naruto's eyebrow twitched violently and he reached back to grab an arrow.

He had added an acceleration seal to the shield-bow before Hinata got the finished product so Kakashi never saw it coming. His book was ripped from his hand and shredded into a million pieces. The man frowned at his empty hand before he looked at Naruto with a look that said 'Really?' before he simply produced an exact copy of the book that was just destroyed. Naruto's face hit the wooden counter with an audible thud! Before he started mending Hinata's bow.

It wasn't all that damaged, really, but it would do good to clean and readjust some things. The dent in the shield made him frown though. It had affected the blade inside so that definitely needed to be fixed. While he tinkered with the weapon, Hinata sat there and watched him. At some point, she handed him her second bow and watched him fix the chip in one of the dagger blades. She really liked to watch Naruto work. He was so focused, yet relaxed, totally at ease.

She was snapped out of it when the door swung open and another kunoichi entered the workshop. Her clothes looked relatively unaffected, but her hair was a mess she had somehow managed to capture in a total of four ponytails. The big fan on her back looked like it had taken the biggest hits, singed as it was, and the sour look on her face indicated a really bad time in the forest. But hadn't Naruto seen her before? With the angry red head?

"You're the artisan?" she asked and Naruto nodded. The girl slammed her huge fan down onto the counter. "Can you mend this?"

Shrugging, Naruto looked it over. Did she hold it into a fire? There were several holes in the fan, rendering it nearly useless. He noted the chakra threads laced into the fan, specifically around the three violet circles on it. He studied it for some time more before he understood how it worked.

"You want me to just mend it or restore the lost chakra threading as well?" The question seemed to have caught her off guard. She really hadn't expected Naruto to be able to do that. Hinata told the girl, who introduced herself as Temari that she was fine with waiting, so Naruto should go ahead and fix the fan first.

Temari was amazed by how fast and how accurately the needle moved in the artisan's hand. He connected the served chakra threads and restored it to the exact same quality it had been before. After Naruto was finished, Temari was unable to tell where the holes had been exactly. Thanking him numbly, she left with her weapon.

"And here I thought she would be way more unpleasant," Naruto sighed and returned to working on Hinata's bows.

Hinata's gained a perplexed look on her face, not that anyone noticed, and she inched closer to Naruto. "You... know her?" she asked.

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when Hinata's voice was so close all of sudden. Taking a calming breath he answered, "Well, I passed by her team and the one with the red hair demanded my blood, so you could say I have seen her before, but I don't really know her past the fan."

Nodding, she relayed to him what her team had observed about the red head on Temari's team. Hinata retreated to her previous seat, but indicated her obvious fear of having to face him. After a while, Naruto, who had been working silently, spoke up.

"Say... wanna grab a bite? I mean... later?" he asked, not looking at her.

The moment may have seemed kind of romantic for teenagers had Kakashi not giggled like a school girl just then. Naruto nearly blew a gasket. He threw hammer and anvil at the man who, still giggling like some maniac, vacated the room, while avoiding the projectiles. Breathing heavily, Naruto retrieved the tools, set them back in place and slapped a poster that read "Hang in there!" over the hole in the wall before sitting back down. After another second or so, he turned to Hinata again.

"So?" he asked and Hinata found herself blinking, then blushing and then nodding rapidly with a meek "Hai!" that got lost in between her rapid head movements.

"That's great!" Naruto shouted before looking sheepishly at her, clearing his throat. "Yeah, great... so, when are you gonna be at the mess hall (Shokudō)?"

Safe to say, Hinata skipped the halls with a spring in her step. She had nearly tripped on the way out and nearly left her gear behind, not to mention she had nearly forgotten to buy some standard ninja attire. It was a simple gray hoodie, which looked like Naruto's by coincidence, and standard navy blue pants with sandals. Naruto told her he would have gotten her padded armor, but he wasn't allowed to sell or give away specialized gear. He had tried to mend Hinata's old clothes, but the armoring was truly ruined and Naruto spent half an hour trying to find out who had done that. When she eventually admitted that he was dead, he didn't react at first, then said he shouldn't have messed with her. For some reason, she felt better because of that.

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Preliminaries

After a delightful, if slightly awkward dinner, Naruto had managed to track down Kurenai and gotten permission to be at the stands for the preliminaries.

Somehow, the matches had been disappointing. Sasuke just rolled over that one guy that tried to absorb his chakra and Sakura and Ino were a disgrace to kunoichi. Thank kami it was over. Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

Now, he waited for Hinata's turn all the while glaring daggers at the other Hyuga in the arena. Neji Hyuga was, according to Hinata, her cousin and did not like her one bit, loathed her even. He seemed hell bent on ridiculing her every time he got the chance. He made Naruto's blood boil and he had to take twenty-three deep breaths before he stopped thinking about shoving every arrow he had made for Hinata up Neji's arse. Not that he would.

When Naruto wasn't glaring at Neji or admiring Hinata, he tried not to squirm under the glare he got from across the arena. The red head from Suna did nothing, but try and burn a hole into Naruto with his gaze alone. He was startled when Kurenai gasped besides him.

Hyuga Hinata vs Hyuga Neji

Ah, the irony.

"Show him, Hinata!" he shouted down to her. She returned a weak smile and he could see her clenching the bowstring above her chest.

Hayate, the proctor of the exams, stood in the middle of the arena, waiting for Hinata to get ready while Neji already stood on his other side, sneering at Hinata with disdain.

"Ready?" Hayate called out and Hinata readied the shield on her arm, falling into a stance not unlike Neji's, but her feet weren't as stiffly positioned as his and her arms she held lower than he did. That seemed to make Neji even angrier. They both nodded at Hayate.

"Begin!"

Neither moved a muscle. Then Neji spoke.

"I never thought that I would have to fight you…" He stated. 'Withdraw." A stern assertion by someone who thinks of himself as a servant to person opposite him. Oh the irony.

"I will not." She asserted, not willing to back down.

"Lady Hinata you are a spoiled one of the head family." He mocked. "A failure whose father refused to train her." He smirked.

"Are you here to talk me into defeat or fight me Neji-nii-san?"

"You think you've changed because you wield a bow and can speak without you're usual stutter? People like you don't change, they can't. You're still weak!"

"That's where you are mistaken in your assessment of me brother. I was never weak to begin with, you like the other members of the clan merely took my kindness and soft spoken nature as such." Proud of herself for finally realize this. "I am strong and not you or anyone else will make me believe differently. Now I ask again, are you here to fight me or what?"

"Byakugan!" For one word to sound so ominous, it seemed to cause shills down the participants' spine. The look on his face as the veins around his eyes became prominent.

"My eyes can't be deceived. Talking tough won't change you, deep inside you are imagining physical and mental suffering. You're imagining the results of this battle…even the act of placing that shield in front of your body…and that reflects your mind…"

"Enough, you bore me." Her statement ignited fury in him.

Neji exploded from his position rushing straight at Hinata, one arm drawn back as wide as he could. It seemed to Naruto that he intended to end this with one clean hit.

But Hinata knew him too well to be surprised or even faced by the fact that he tried to kill her. Neji came to halt in front of her, but his palm shot forward at her chest. Hinata brought the shield up and caught the blow full force. It lifted her off the ground and she flew backwards. While Neji smirked at his display of power he failed to notice that Hinata had let him force her away.

She unfolded her bow and suddenly, Neji didn't smirk anymore. 'What will you do now Lady Hinata'? He pondered to himself.

Hinata never touched the ground. From the quiver at her side she had drawn an arrow with two sharp ends and held it horizontally beneath her feet whilst still in the air. The arrow exploded as soon as her chakra touched the little mechanism inside and a metal wire shot from each end, lodging itself into the walls of the arena. She stood on the wire and without missing a beat, she pulled more arrows out of the quiver. Naruto smirked when he saw what she intended to do.

The arrows with the cross shaped head started to rain down on Neji. The boy avoided every single one of them, but Hinata had expected that.

"Is that all?" he shouted at her. "Pathetic! Come down here and fight!" He jumped only to be jerked back violently, as if he had hit an invisible wall. "What the-!" There was a thin cut across his chest, bleeding slightly.

"First blood," Naruto whispered.

Neji's eyes narrowed as he poured more chakra into his eyes. Then he gasped, looking around himself in disbelief.

The cross shaped arrow heads worked exactly like the arrow Hinata had used to stretch the wire she stood on. The moment the arrows hit the ground or were deflected by Neji they would send out wires so thin they weren't visible to the naked eye and even the Byakugan would have had difficulties spotting something so thin. Neji stood in the middle of a forest of wires, spanning around him, encircling him like the trees.

"Welcome to my forest of death, Neji," Hinata said with a confidence in her voice no one, but Naruto and those that truly knew her ever got to hear. She folded the bow back to the shield and reverently pulled the long bow of her back, holding it before her. "Let's do this," she told herself, "No weakness!"

Neji didn't have the time to blink before and arrow pierced his upper left thigh, drilling into the solid stone beneath. He snarled, refusing to scream out in obvious pain. Instead, he dodged the next arrow and threw a kunai at Hinata who simply swayed to the left a little, not breaking her aim and released another arrow. Neji made to sidestep the arrow but ran into the wires. Cursing, he pressed his body into the sharp metal and the arrow only grazed his shoulder.

"That's enough!" he shouted and drew an arm back. "Eight Trigrams Air Palm!" Neji roared and released a blast of compressed air against Hinata.

The wires that had been in the way snapped or were ripped out of their holding place in the wall as Hinata was forced to jump sideways on her wire, which thankfully held fast. Neji followed the path of his technique and landed on the wire as well and engaged Hinata in close combat. She was at a disadvantage against him. Without the shield, she would have been done for.

Neji swiped her palm strike aside, sending chakra into her wrist as he did so. Hinata winced and jumped back. In under a second, her long bow had shrunken down to reveal the long dagger inside it. With dagger and shield, she managed to hold herself. Neji's wounded leg took its toll as he failed to position it fast enough on the fine wire and he slipped backwards. Instantly, Hinata's foot dug into his unguarded chest as she used him to catapult herself into the air, her long bow once again in hand. Neji's eye widened when she fired three arrows at once at him.

Twisting midair, he managed to avoid two of them, but one lodged itself into his side. He grunted in pain as he hit the ground, rolling to lessen the impact, but before he could stand straight again, lightning crackled though his body. Writhing in pain he swiped at the arrow in his side, dislodging it from his body along with a lot of blood.

He was breathing heavily, trying to regain his equilibrium. "Give up, Neji," he heard Hinata say from somewhere above him, "That was the non-lethal version."

"NEVER!" he roared and suddenly disappeared from where he had stood. Hinata's eyes widened and she whirled around, but it was too late already.

"Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher!"

Hinata chocked on her scream as she was blown across the arena and hit the wall with crushing force, being driven hard inside it.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted, nearly hopping over the railing, but Kurenai haled him back.

Neji dropped off the wire like a sack of stones, hitting the ground hard. Still, he pushed himself to his feet and sneered in Hinata's direction, his Byakugan still active. He swung clumsily to the left, the arrow just grazing his cheek.

Hinata dropped out of the hole in the wall onto her knees, breathing heavily. Never had she imagined Neji would use the body flicker technique or any technique that wasn't gentle first. Her insides had taken a brutal hit, the chakra he had driven inside her stomach had caused multiple internal bleeding and was sure she had broken at least two ribs.

Shakily, she stood and approached Neji, who likewise limped towards her.

"Maybe... I have... misjudged your... strength," he wheezed, holding his side.

Hinata said nothing at first, only observing her big brother. There were things that needed to be said and now was as good as any time to say it.

"I always thought you were a genius. That those eyes of yours could see anything no matter how invisible it seemed. Yet here you are as blind as a bat to what really transpired all those years ago. I'm sick and tired of walking on egg shells for your sake and others." She took several ragged breaths before continuing.

"The truth is, whether you like it or not; I didn't kill your father. And whether he was forced to die or not is now irrelevant because if you really knew him you would have known they couldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to."

At this point Neji was seething with fury. How dare she talk about his father? Yet she continued, seemingly oblivious to the storm brewing above his head.

"Let me enlighten you about Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga. The identical twin brothers, born mere seconds apart. They were each other's soul mate, and would have died for the other no matter who they had to leave behind. Your father wasn't willing to allow his brother, the person he share a womb with, the first person he'd ever loved to be killed. You don't have to believe me, but it doesn't make it any less true." Whether she'd get through to him was anyone's guess, but enough was enough.

"I know I would lay down my life for Hanabi any day of week, if it meant she would live to see another day. That's how much our fathers mean, meant to each other. They loved each other unconditionally despite and in spite of all the misgivings that surrounded their relationship within the clan."

"That is the truth, take it or leave." Standing straighter as she dropped the long bow and extended the katar from the shield, readying herself. "So Neji-nii-san, you want vengeance is that it? Then come let us settle this once and for all."

"Whatever...," he continued, "That doesn't... change... that you're in... range...!" Hinata's eyes widened and she started to move at the same moment Neji did.

"Eight Trigrams-!"

"Ninpo: Flower Shield!"

Neji exploded into motion, his palm shooting forward at unrivaled speed and hit-

He missed his target. His strike was stopped.

Hinata, while relying on her weapons, was not ignorant enough to lay all of her hopes into them. She had learned several jutsu, including lightning elemental jutsu and the few medical ones she was able to use. But most importantly, she created three jutsu of her own making. One being the flower shield.

It was unnecessary for her to hold a shield to use the technique, but it certainly didn't do any harm. When using the flower shield, Hinata forced a mass of chakra out of her palm, just like a gentle first strike, but Hinata manipulated the expelled chakra to form a big, opaque shield before her. Because it was as big as she was, she could only maintain it for five seconds before she would feel a drain. But in this case, she needed to only block one hit before she followed with her second technique.

Neji's palm was painfully repelled against the round, petal shaped shield in front of him. He hadn't expected that at all, but then again, Hinata had barely used any chakra before now.

Hinata let her hand be driven back from the impact on her shield, which immediately dissolved. She spun on her heel and readied her dagger mid rotation.

"Ninpo: Thorns of the Rose!" Chakra coated the long dagger, the blood on Hinata's hand dissolved into it, staining the normally white technique red, as she slashed at Neji with all her might, aiming for his abdomen.

The technique would work with any blade she held or even just her hand, but the blade she had gotten from Naruto was inlaid with orichalcum, which greatly increased the strength of her attack. The name didn't originate from the slash, no, it was what would happen after the hit that earned the technique its name. Should Hinata hit her target, no matter how shallow the cut, the chakra blade would immediately attach itself to the target and after Hinata formed a hand seal, the chakra would expand into the wound, piercing through the target, impaling it like a thorn.

But Neji had regained his bearings, shaking of the initial shock. Barely in time. He had managed to move his arm into the way of Hinata's strike. He jumped back, but the cut was deep and he gasped in pain as he held the deep cut on his forearm. But Hinata wasn't about to let him go easily so she formed a simple hand seal before her face and at once, Neji screamed in pain as his arm, bone included was pierced by a spike of solid chakra.

Neji was at the verge of fainting, the blood loss had been enormous and he used a whole lot of chakra. His Byakugan deactivated on its own, but he remained upright on his knees, clutching his ruined arm.

Coughing up blood, Hinata frowned as she swayed on her feet, struggling to remain standing.

Naruto was out of it. He wanted to go down there and deck that Neji guy so hard he wouldn't stand up ever again. But he simply continued to cheer on Hinata, she was strong enough to do it on her own, after all. "Go, Hinata! Take him out!" he shouted at her and she felt her heart swell in pride.

With a shaky breath she straightened, ignoring the pain, and walked forward, once again stowing her long bow away at her back. Out of her quiver she pulled out a poisonous arrow that would put Neji to sleep since she didn't want to kill him. She swayed slightly before his bleeding form. Hinata raised the arrow to stab it into his shoulder or arm, whatever she was capable of hitting.

But Neji wasn't finished yet. He whipped his good arm upwards, the palm facing Hinata, whose eyes widened and she moved to the side while raising her shield in from of her. The arrow hit Neji's upper arm, but he simply ignored it and shouted with all he had left: "Eight Trigrams Air Palm!"

The boys arm gave a sickening crack as the bone snapped from the backlash of the strike that barreled into Hinata's shield. With a muted scream, Hinata was thrown backwards, skidding along the floor until she hit the wall she had previously emerged from. The moment her body hit the wall, Neji hit the floor, unmoving and bleeding, the arrow still inside his upper arm.

Absolute silence hung in the arena while Hayate observed both downed contestant, waiting if one would rise again.

Naruto held his breath, stopped moving and stared at Hinata, willing her to rise, to win against this asshole of her cousin. Kurenai had chewed away the nails on both hands by now and Kiba, and even Shino, leaned over the railings waiting for Hinata to move.

Seconds trickled by and it seems as if they wouldn't attempt to stand again, but the silence was broken by Hinata as she coughed lightly and rolled over onto her back and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Turning her head she spot Neji still on the floor as well. Ignoring the pain she started to crawl towards him. Once there she place her hand on the side of his face and he turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry things had to reach this far," she coughed, but continue, "but I needed to get through to you before it was too late. You are the one person whose words cut me deeper than anyone else and that is because I love you so much that it hurts." Pointing to her chest where her heart was located she allowed her tears to fall. "It hurts right here, every single time. You are also one of the persons I'd gladly lay down my life for in a heartbeat. I know it might sound selfish, but I want the old Neji back, the one that loved me and wanted to be my strength." That said she touched her forehead to his until the medics came and took them both away.

As the two cousins shared the moment, Hayate deemed her awareness as enough, raised an arm and made his announcement.

"Winner, Hyuga Hinata!"