Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 19: The Finals

They only had a few more days before the final rounds. Yuki was set to fight against the only Sound ninja who advanced to the finals. His name was Dosu. He seemed like the oldest of his team. He always showed high levels of confidence. He was somewhat cocky as well. Yuki wanted to find out about him before the battle, but he was nowhere to be found.

Everyone was training very hard, including the infamous lazy Shikamaru. Yuki spent most of her days training as well. She had no one to train with unlike the rest of them. Naruto seemed to be training with one of the Sannins: Jiraiya. She hasn't seen him in the last few days either. Sasuke was also nowhere to be seen, but Yuki knew that he was off somewhere with Kakashi. Shikamaru was training with his whole team. Tenten was helping Neji. Shino also had his whole team minus Hinata helping him out.

At times like this, Yuki did feel a little lonely. Maybe it was because she was starting to form bonds with people here and there, she did start to enjoy having people around her. As she was training by herself, she found herself getting bored. There was only so much she could do.

There was only 1 day left before the final rounds. Once again, Yuki was training by herself. She always trained in isolated areas. It wasn't because she feared being observed, but it was just habit of hers as an ANBU. Although her ANBU's days were behind her now, old habits die hard. She was now rehearsing her ninjutsus. Yuki was proficient in nature transformation. She was proficient in all five basic nature transformation. Her favorites were water and wind. However, her true affinity was to lightning. She only used lightning techniques as a last resort. It wasn't because she wasn't good with them, they were just very destructive. Yuki always disliked unnecessary destruction.

Before she knew it, the battle day came.

The first match was between Naruto and Neji. Although everyone believed Naruto would lose to Neji, Yuki believed in Naruto's willpower and spirit. She was looking onto the battle with the rest of the finalists minus Sasuke and Dosu. They hadn't arrived yet. For some reason, Yuki found it unsettling. Sasuke was definitely with Kakashi and, knowing Kakashi's habits, they would be late to the battle. It was Dosu's absence that was bothering Yuki. From what she knew, he would have arrived earlier than everybody else, ready to fight. He was someone who was eager to fight, perhaps even too eager. As she was lost in her thoughts, she awakened from them as she heard Naruto yell out:

"I, Uzumaki Naruto, will become the Hokage and I will change the Hyuuga for you! I will prove to you that we can take charge of our own destiny!"

Yuki smiled. Naruto wasn't one to make empty promises. He already achieved much more than what people thought he was capable of. With that statement, Naruto charged at Neji despite having his chakra points blocked. It seemed as though he has learned to make use of his Nine-Tail's chakra. Neji seemingly dodged Naruto's attack, however, it was all just a bait. Naruto came from the ground and hit Neji from below. Neji was unable to react in time. With that hit, the match was over. Naruto had won.

The crowd cheered loudly at the unexpected result. Yuki could hear some say how they were impressed by him. Some no longer called him the Nine-Tail Beast. They knew his name. They acknowledged his existence as a ninja. Naruto was no longer seen as a monster by many. He was Uzumaki Naruto. He was someone who could, potentially, become the Hokage. Yuki looked over at the Third who was sitting next to the Kazekage. He was smiling as well.

"I can't believe Naruto won." said Shikamaru as he begun stretching himself. "Now I am really going to have to give my 100%. I can't be seen as a loser, now can I?"

Yuki giggled at that comment.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready? You are next." he asked her as he yawned.

"My opponent is not even here yet..."

Genma, the jounin in charge of the finals, gave her sign to come down to the stadium as well. She sighed. Although she was somewhat excited about the exams, she was mostly excited to watch the battles. She couldn't, however, at this point forfeit. Part of her did not want to lose simply by forfeiting, especially after seeing how hard Naruto was fighting. She could only sigh. She hopped down from where they were onto the stadium's battlefield.

"If your opponent isn't here in 2 minutes, you will win by default." Genma told her as she approached him.

The two minutes went by quickly. There was still no sign of Dosu. People were booing as they were expecting to see a battle happen.

"Yuki is the winner by default." announced Genma. "You can head back up now. Sorry for all the trouble."

Yuki smiled and teleported herself to the platform where Shikamaru was awaiting his turn.

"Great, now my turn has come even faster." he mumbled as he glanced over to his opponent.

It was the Sand kunoichi, Temari. He sighed as he remembered how she fought during the preliminaries. She was a smart kunoichi who never made needless moves. She thought thoroughly each of her actions. Temari also glanced over at Shikamaru.

"Well, good luck." said Yuki to Shikamaru.

"Maybe I should just forfeit now. I mean this exam is getting quite troublesome." he said as he yawned.

Temari did not hear him. She only heard Genma calling her name and so she came down the battle area. Shikamaru didn't move from the platform. Naruto then pushed him off the platform with a huge grin on his face. Shikamaru landed almost head first onto the ground. He did not even bother trying to land on his feet. If there was one person who would be the definition of laziness, Yuki has found him.

He rubbed the dirt and dust off his clothes and cursed at Naruto under his breathe. He then slowly walked over to Genma with a quick nod as a sign that he was ready for battle and so the battle began. Shikamaru used his shadow binding jutsu right at the start and Temari kept backing away until his shadow could no longer reach her. He tried increasing his shadow surface area by using the walls' shadows, but she calculated that distance as well. Temari then went on the offensive by shoving a few of her wind jutsus at Shikamaru, causing quite some damage to the trees in the battle area. Shikamaru then took off his jacket and threw it in the air. As everyone began to wonder how he would now win as he didn't seem like someone who would attack, he managed to capture Temari with his shadow. He used his surrounding, including the hole that Naruto had dug during his battle against Neji, to his advantage.

"Oh yeah!" yelled Naruto. "Shikamaru has won..."

Before he could finish, Shikamaru raised his arm and surrendered. Yuki couldn't help but smile. His chakra was probably depleting and he didn't want to move on to fight once again. He also, most likely, wanted to pretend to be a gentleman and let the lady win. Temari could have won, but, against someone who thought even more thoroughly than she did, she could only face a defeat.

Temari wasn't too happy about Shikamaru's chivalry, if it could be called as such. She headed back to the platform with a frown on her face. She did not want to win that way. Yuki, for some reason, then, found herself having some respect for Temari.

"Shino and Kankuro. It is your turn now." announced Genma.

Shino was about to take the stairs to head down, but Kankuro then yelled out:

"I forfeit!"

Yuki turned her head to look at him. He avoided eye contact with her. Something wasn't right. Kankuro was the type to want to prove himself as well. He was hot headed. She remembered to when he picked a fight with Konohamaru upon his arrival in the village. He wasn't the type to simply surrender.

"Alright. It means it's time for Gaara and Sasuke."

Gaara smirked. He was looking forward to this day. He wanted to fight Sasuke. To be precise, he wanted to fight. He wanted to kill. He always had that intent in his eyes. Today was no different. Naruto sensed it too. He avoided eye contact with Gaara. He also kept distance from Gaara.

"It's not like you to be so scared." Yuki said to Naruto.

"I've... talked to him." Naruto started telling her. "He was trying to finish Lee off in the hospital. We managed to stop him. Then he told us that he was a monster. I... You know how I don't want to label someone as a monster, but I truly feel like he is one. No, there's a monster inside of him."

He stopped and clenched onto his shirt.

"He's nothing like you." Yuki said to comfort him.

Naruto looked at her with wide eyes. He didn't know she knew of the Kyuubi.

"How..."

"I can sense that you have two different chakras within you. So does Gaara. However, you are nothing alike. After all, you are not defined by what's inside of you."

He smiled as his fist loosened. He looked down in the battlefield. Gaara was already standing there waiting for Sasuke to arrive. He was nowhere to be seen. Naruto began feeling nervous for his teammate. Many were looking forward to this battle. They were all awaiting Sasuke's arrival. They announced that they would extend the waiting time as everyone really wanted that to be done.

"I'll go walk around." said Yuki. "Who knows how long we will have to wait."

Yuki wanted to go check on Neji. Since his defeat, she felt uneasy and wanted to go see him. They did not exchange many words, but they somehow still managed to share some of their feelings with each other. Sometimes, there's just a possibility of meeting someone who can understand you, who can share everything with you with a simple facial expression, look or through body language. Neji and Yuki somehow developed that bond unknowingly.

There was a small room in the arena where the wounded could get treated. Neji was most likely there. The door to the room opened and the head of the Hyuuga's family came out from it. He had a dark expression on his face, but his body language showed some relief. His eyes met Yuki's and he smiled as he left the door open for her to go inside. Inside, Neji was staring outside the window with a much brighter expression then she has ever seen him have. There was a paper on the ground. Yuki grabbed it. It was signed by Neji's father. It was letter to Neji.

"I feel like all my doubts and fears have suddenly just flown away." said Neji as his eyes were still locked on the sky where many birds were travelling.

"You had doubts and fears?" asked Yuki jokingly.

He looked at her. His face was indeed brighter. He no longer had that dark expression on his face. He no longer had that expression of someone who was caged and held down by a curse, a destined life.

"Naruto, he is an interesting person, isn't he?" Yuki asked him.

Neji nodded.

"He helped me realize many things I've long hid away before I feared facing them and understanding them."

"He does tend to have that power."

Neji walked towards Yuki.

"Thank you for coming."

Yuki blushed slightly as she was taken aback from those words. Neji was never one to say thank you. She did not know how to reply to that. She did not know why he was thankful for her presence. Yuki tried to avoid that awkward conversation:

"Should we head back out? I heard some loud cheering a few minutes ago. I think Sasuke's battle has began."

He smiled as he noticed how uncomfortable Yuki suddenly became. He led her to the door. As they were about the cross the door frame, they heard a loud explosion sound and many people yelling for help. They exchanged looks and quickly rushed to the main arena's area. The walls were destroyed and people were put to sleep by some kind jutsus. Many jounins and chuunins from Konoha were in the midst of fighting Sand and Sound shinobis. Above, on the roof where the Kazekage and the Hokage were sitting, there was some sort of violet barrier.

"Byakugan. The Hokage is in that barrier fighting against some man that strangely looks like the snake you fought in the forest." he told Yuki.

"Orochimaru..." Yuki murmured.

At the corner of her eye, she spotted some other ninjas kidnapping an unconscious Hinata. She pointed it out to Neji.

"Neji. Someone is kidnapping your cousin!"

He quickly rushed over to the area. Yuki did not follow him. She believed he was good enough to deal with that issue. It wasn't her priority issue anyway. She headed to the barrier where the Third was trapped.

As she got there, there was already a team of ANBU there. They looked at her and, as they recognized her, briefed her on the current situation:

"The Kazekage was a fake. It was Orochimaru all along. He took the Hokage into this strange barrier. We've tried everything, we haven't been able to break through. If we touch it, we just get engulfed in flames. He's been fighting in there for a while now. We want to assist him, but..."

"If I am not mistaken, this is the infamous Four Violet Flames Formation." said Yuki as her worries began rising as well. "It can only be undone from the inside, which means the Hokage would have to defeat Orochimaru first and then one of the four shinobis who performed the jutsu."

As she said so, a thick dense forest rose from the roof preventing them to see the battle any further. Such wood manipulation could only be...

"The First?" said Yuki in astonishment. "How..."

"We have data saying that Orochimaru was working on summoning from the dead..."

They were interrupted by loud explosions' sounds and earthquake-like vibrations. Yuki clenched her fists and bit her lip until it bled. She did not even realized it had happened. Could it be that the final round of the Chuunin exam was actually the final scene of Konoha's story? She did not want to believe so, but the odds weren't great.

"How many are able to fight right now?"

"We have around 6000 shinobis in the village right now on top of the 500 ANBUs. We have many genins who would be able to fight, but, to hold their own..."

"What about the Root? Have they been made aware of the situation?" asked Yuki as she was still trying to see through the dense forest created by seemingly the First Hokage's summon.

"We haven't seen any of them, but I am certain they are aware of it."

Yuki cursed under her breath. She should have known that the Root wouldn't take action at such a time. However, they had over a thousand skilled shinobi who could help overturn the current situation while the Hokage fought Orochimaru.

"I'll go talk to Danzo."

"Yuki, you know you won't get through to him. He probably wishes that the Third..."

"Don't you dare say that word." said Yuki firmly. She didn't want to think that the Third could possibly die. "Danzo is a rational man. If he does want to rule, he still wouldn't want to rule over ruins, a few thousands and dead people."

Yuki looked at the barrier one last time.

"And if he is unwilling to help, I will do all that I can to prevent the downfall of my village."

End of Chapter 19

Thank you for reading!

xoxox

Krystal