Hiashi froze, his pale visage, somehow, managing to turn stark white. Sweat beaded along his brow, and his hand unconsciously gripped Hanabi's shoulder a little tighter.
It was the middle of the second match, and Hanabi was internally cheering that the timing could not have been more perfect. The young Hyuga could barely contain a smirk before turning to her father with concern. "Is something the matter?" Her tone was artfully crafted with the perfect amount of worry and innocence.
Hiashi swallowed thickly. He dared to shift slightly, to see if he indeed felt what he did.
His stomach bottomed out when, yes, indeed, he had felt something uncomfortably warm, wet, and slimy pooling-
"Father?" Hanabi's voice was more urgent, hand darting out to reach up and gently tug on his sleeve.
Hiashi ran through a mental list of explanations. He hadn't been feeling ill. He had his usual breakfast, and therefore had not eaten anything abnormal that would explain his current condition. No one could have gotten past the guards to poison his food, either. The Branch members knew better than to try anything themselves, and perish the thought that the food dared be spoiled.
That left…
Oh no. No, no, no, no…
Hiashi stiffly cocked his head so that he could look down on his youngest's visage. "I...fear, that...I have somehow managed to become the target of the vile pranksters that have been plaguing the village."
Actually, maybe that was the better option. It was a lot less demoralizing if it was a prank. If anyone thought he couldn't control his own bowels…
Hiashi felt light headed.
"WHAT?!" hissed Hanabi, teeth bared and indignant fury on her face. "How dare they?!" She leapt to her feet. "I will ensure that they get retribution for their tasteless trick!"
And she immediately stormed off towards Hinata before she lost it and started laughing hysterically in her father's horrified face.
Hiashi watched her with a faint proud smile. She was growing up so quickly, but still, such youthful excitement over his discomfort.
She walked right up to Hinata and tugged on her sleeve. Her elder sister turned, eyes widening slightly in surprise.
"Hanabi? What's wrong?"
"It's a terrible thing! Just, unspeakable! I can't even… There aren't words!" Hanabi flailed her arms dramatically and switched between a woeful and furious expression, making sure that some of her seemingly odd gestures were directed towards her father. Then she snapped to attention and looked earnestly up at Hinata's bemused face.
The elder Hyuga knew that her sibling was up to something, but she honestly wasn't quite sure what. The girl had gotten awfully good at being sly with her tricks, and Hinata wasn't sure what the younger girl expected her to do.
Until she promptly held up a determined fist. "I promised father retribution."
Hinata's hand lashed out and grasped Shino's jacket in a flash. The startled boy flinched, but didn't pull away. He turned a concerned eye on his teammate when he felt the tremors in her hand.
...Only to blink in surprise when he realized she wasn't worried or scared...she was doing everything in her power not to laugh.
"Hanabi." There was a faint scolding to Hinata's tone, but everyone in her team heard the mirth underneath. "Bad girl." And Hinata calmly bopped her sister gently on the head. "Go tell father that he doesn't need to worry himself." She paused. "How...bad, is it?" She tilted her head slightly to the side.
Hanabi's responding smirk was absolutely wicked.
"Oh dear," murmured Hinata, shooting her father a pitying glance. "Hold off for three weeks." She sighed. "Do we need a distraction?"
Hanabi snickered and leaned forward to whisper in Hinata's ear. "No. When he stands the second trigger will go off and the seal will disintegrate and trickle out of his clothes, too small to notice. He will think it's...getting worse, but nothing outward will appear and all signs of his...distress, will vanish as if they never were."
Kami-sama, Hanabi's friends had thoroughly corrupted her little sister. If she hadn't caught her in the act of trying to prank her all those months ago, she would never have gotten the chance to wrangle out the deal she had with her sister. She was immensely glad she'd convinced Hanabi that all of Hanabi's transgressions could be 'forgiven' if Hanabi came to her when she committed a new one for Hinata to merit out 'retribution'. It was, admittedly, a very meek pittance, but Hinata felt that people deserved it after how they treated Naruto all those years. Especially as it meant Hinata was never a target of said transgressions.
Really, Hinata only felt a tiny flicker of guilt when she actually realized how often Hanabi kept coming to her for retribution. She'd had to stop keeping count.
She sighed and reached out to gently bop Hanabi on the head a second time. "This one deserves two."
Hanabi gave her a sheepish look before grabbing her in a hug and dashing off back to their father, who looked relieved.
Poor, poor man.
"The winner, Tenten Kiru!"
Hinata blinked and turned towards the arena. Shoot, she missed the tail end of the match.
There were a lot of things Sasuke was prepared for. After his clan had been wiped out, he had gotten used to being far more alert and ready than his peers. He hadn't had anything further to lose other than his own pride...but that had been enough.
Once on Team 7 however, dealing with Naruto, and to a lesser degree Kakashi and Sakura, he was more than used to the spontaneous insanity that seemed to cling to them like a heady aroma. That he himself started getting just as involved in all that chaos only meant he was further primed and ready to face the unexpected with a calm brevity that usually put most people off their game.
Watching Naruto pantomime Sakura's battle had been hysterical, even as he struggled to keep from allowing his laughter to escape.
Witnessing Ino's battle, and still able to hear said girl half way across town had been...gut wrenching. Naruto would do well in any sort of stage performance, especially in comedy. He had lost it when Naruto had transformed a clone into a tiny miniature Ino that fit on his shoulder comfortably, and said mini-Ino started spouting orders while henged Naruto (to look like Tenten) danced around like a puppeted zombie. It was more funny to watch Tenten zombie then lose her head when mini-Ino got pissy and had a one sided argument with Sakura and Tenten zombie smooshed said mini-Ino, thus setting herself free. It hadn't been a bad match. Ino had taken it seriously, even if she still needed a lot more training, and Tenten now learned a valuable lesson about the versatility of jutsu that could completely negate her abilities with weapons (plus, the bun haired teen seemed to be holding a grudge that Ino invaded her head if the following beat down and screaming was any indication).
Sasuke, however, wasn't quite ready to have Naruto's fox like grin beaming at him like he'd gotten high off of chakra. It never meant good things when you were under Naruto's undivided attention.
"You're turn," remarked the blond, slapping a hand on Sasuke's back.
"Hn." Sasuke felt his limbs tingling with excitement. He'd been waiting since yesterday to perform the perfect entrance. He was about to-
"Go kick some ass!" cheered Naruto, hands falling into a familiar position.
Sasuke's eyes widened. "Don't-!"
His threat fell on deaf ears as he felt the seal Naruto had placed on his back flare to life.
Sasuke disappeared in a swirling ball of fire, the world spinning around him. He grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes, mentally spamming a loooong list of terrible things he would do to Naruto after he won his fight.
The idiot ruined his awesome entrance!
There was another odd shift, and Sasuke felt himself reappearing somewhere else, somewhere warmer with dirt underfoot. He pivoted sharply, throwing his arms out and expelling a small burst of chakra in order to send the lingering ball of fire around him scattering into nonexistence. When he stopped, he found himself standing above a kunai in the middle of the arena as the last bits of flames and ash flickered out of life around him. His new attire also helped enhance this. He was wearing a loose black pair of wide legged pants that stopped at mid calf. His ankles up to his knee were wrapped in tape, and his hands up to mid forearm were taped as well, only leaving half of his fingers exposed. He wore a form fitting white sleeveless v-necked shirt, and over this was a high collared long black vest that reached his knees and was belted at the waist. On the front left side was the Uchiha symbol, and on the back was again, Kakashi's henohenomoheji. A weapons pouch was on his belt and a tanto strapped horizontally across his lower back.
His shadow clone popped, giving him a clear view of his unexpected badass entrance.
He literally appeared in a ball of fire out of nowhere. The seal that had gotten him here had burned to ash and left no evidence behind.
Naruto was awesome. Sasuke took back everything nasty he'd thought.
He turned and found both the proctor and his opponent gaping at him in disbelief, the high collar of Sasuke's vest fluttering dramatically in the breeze.
It took everything he had not to grin.
Instead, he casually popped his neck and took his place opposite of Hinata. "I'm not late, am I?"
The proctor shot him a glare. "You almost lost your match via forfeit." The proctor murmured under his breath to himself, "If we didn't have so many damned people kissing up to your clan name and demanding to give you more time..."
Sasuke pretended not to hear it. "I had to help an old lady with her groceries." He rolled his shoulders.
Hayate pinned the genin with another glare before muttering about insolent brats and stupid silver haired jonin (said jonin was practically glowing with pride). "Are both opponents ready?" he asked, rolling his eyes heavenward as if asking 'why me?'.
"Yes," remarked Hinata, regaining her composure to Sasuke's surprisingly dramatic entrance. She probably shouldn't be surprised, not with Naruto on his team. She would bet her lucky jacket that Naruto was somehow involved.
"Hn."
"That entrance was awesome, Sasuke!" yelled Sakura, half hanging over the railing and cheering loudly.
Sasuke sweatdropped. He honestly couldn't tell if she did it for their Masks or because she genuinely meant it.
He shook out his hands before shifting slightly into a more ready position. Despite the rumor mill, Sasuke wasn't about to take Hinata lightly. The fact she was in her own stance, confidence keeping her form precise and her head high, really just hammered that belief home. Sasuke had been force fed that appearances could be deceiving, and Hinata's brittle exterior was not something Sasuke was going to take at face value.
...It helped that Naruto often ranted about how stupid the Hyuga clan system was, with Sakura agreeing vehemently in such a way Sasuke always had to corral the two in order to keep them from doing something stupid after such sessions. He'd learned a great deal about Hinata and her family, something he hadn't fully appreciated until their first run-in with Neji.
Also, it was clear something had changed. Hinata's shell was cracking. The fragile surface was slowly breaking away and revealing something with amazing potential underneath.
Admittedly, excitement thrummed through Sasuke. He'd learned to appreciate a good opponent, and Hinata was one of them. He hoped that their fight would only help her continue to grow further, as his spars with Naruto and Sakura did for him.
He was also super ready to fight someone other than his teammates. Not that they weren't worth every moment spent training, but it was nice to have a new challenger to test himself with. There was always that eager readiness when a good fight was brewing, and despite breaking his more moody habits, that hadn't changed.
He was also super relieved that he hadn't got stuck with Neji. The...similar "woe is me, I have a right to be angry all the time" air had not been something Sasuke was quite ready to deal with, not after so recently shaking off his own.
Sasuke smirked, despite the fact he was trying to play it cool. He was just too amped up not to be enjoying himself.
*Shff!*
Sasuke watched Hinata's fingers just barely missed his nose as he pivoted sharply on his left foot. He used his momentum to carry him in a full spin, allowing him to launch his own attack at her back. Hinata dropped low, letting the punch sail over her head. She spun, still in her crouch, and leapt up with another devastating strike. Sasuke had to cartwheel to the side to give himself some more space and dodge her attack.
It was really an intense start to the match. Both opponents silently lashing out with focused intent, both completely ignoring the oohing and awing from the crowd. Many had been excited for the match, as both were heirs to prominent clans. That said clans were at odds with each other just made the match that much more juicy. Many wondered if said bad blood would be aired during the fight.
When Hinata came charging in again, Sasuke quickly spat a fireball at her to keep his distance. He flipped back and landed in a crouch. He started pulling out ninja wire and shuriken while Hinata appeared again and started bearing down on him. He started throwing the shuriken, which Hinata easily dodged.
Sasuke flexed his fingers, and Hinata's eyes widened as she realized he was able to manipulate the wire in order to ensnare her. She quickly used her Gentle Fist to sever enough of the wires to leap out of the trap (there were a few civilians who didn't understand why she suddenly leapt away after seemingly lashing out into thin air. Sakura overheard a couple people muttering about it in confusion and rolled her eyes).
Sasuke immediately dropped the now useless wires and let them flutter to the ground.
There was a lull in the battle as the two opponents eyed each other warily.
Sasuke silently mouthed 'go big or go home', and smirked when Hinata's eyes widened fractionally.
Good, his message was received.
He stood and shifted into a new stance, one that had Hinata's eyebrows rising to her hairline.
"You can't be serious…" she murmured, looking a bit shaken.
Sasuke gave a minute shrug and a small twitch of his hand. He lifted his own eyebrow in challenge. Wordlessly, he was, in essence, giving her a gift.
She couldn't quite fathom that he meant what he was indicating. He was using Naruto's style. He was intentionally using it, as a sort of apology that Naruto wasn't her opponent and Sasuke was. He was also doing it to prove that Naruto deserved to be recognized, that by using Naruto's style effectively against a Hyuga, it put him on the playing board (not to mention Sasuke was using it to begin with, ergo, already giving the blond credit as a peer).
As soon as he realized that she got the message, he threw on a fake sneer. "This isn't even a challenge. I can use the Dobe's style to win this easy."
Despite the firming of her lips, her eyes were practically glowing with joy and thanks. Anyone who actually cared about Naruto understood what was going on (Hiruzen almost lost his pipe for a second time, and Kakashi had to induce a fake giggling fit to hide his watery eye. It took everything Sakura had not to get emotional, as she hadn't expected Sasuke to be so compassionate to someone outside of their team), while everyone else was totally clueless when Hinata and Sasuke suddenly redoubled their efforts and began another all out taijutsu battle.
Naruto froze in the middle of eating his fresh ramen and regaling Teuchi of the shenanigans at the tower in the Forest of Death. The blond tilted his head in the direction of the arena, eyes impossibly wide. Teuchi blinked when Naruto's happy chatter died out instantly. He turned to find the blond looking misty eyed and choked up, his ramen completely forgotten.
"Naruto?" queried Ayame, peering around her father's shoulder when she too had noticed Naruto's voice was oddly absent.
Naruto let out a strangled laugh. "They see me…" He gave them a wobbly smile. He wanted to say more, express what he really meant, but...the words kept getting stuck in his throat.
Ayame's eyes got soft. She reached out and ruffled his hair. "Of course they do."
"Finally," muttered Teuchi.
Ayame elbowed her father in the ribs, making him groan and clutch at his side. "Who could miss this mop of hair?" teased Ayame, gently tugging on Naruto's blond locks.
Naruto knew exactly what her hidden message was, and he had to lower his head to hide the tears that fell into his ramen.
He was so lucky he got put on Team 7.
Sasuke grunted as he bent his knees and leaned backwards so far his hair brushed the ground. Hinata's sharp and lethal jab cut a few strands of his bangs as her strike just barely missed his head.
Hinata was terrifying. Sasuke found himself sympathetic with Naruto's henged clone from the preliminary matches. When Hinata focused, she was positively deadly.
And despite himself, Sasuke admitted Naruto's style was holding up rather well. He'd thought he would have to switch back to his own style to win, but he was starting to think he might be able to win it with Naruto's usual flare.
Speaking of…
"Kage bunshin!"
Hinata's eyes widened again as she instinctively leapt back.
Three Sasuke's charged out of the smoke at her, and Hinata was stressed to find she couldn't tell which was which. It was even more staggering to realize that Sasuke was still using Naruto's style. It was throwing her off, facing Naruto's familiar style and not being face to face with blue eyes and sunshine dipped hair. She could feel her rhythm being minutely off, and she knew that Sasuke could tell.
So it stunned her completely when all three Sasukes stopped immediately and allowed her to back off safely instead of stumbling into a vulnerable position. Two of the Sasukes dispersed into puffs of smoke.
"Wh-what-?"
Sasuke frowned. "It seems what I did had the opposite effect. I apologize. I will conduct our battle properly." He dipped his head in a show of respect before falling into his own taijutsu stance.
Hinata flushed, embarrassed and disappointed in herself. "N-no! I'm sorry, I…" She wanted to say she was fine, that it was okay. She had been super happy to have Sasuke honor them both in such a way. But... she also knew that he was right. It had thrown her completely off her game. It wasn't the same as she envisioned if Naruto himself wasn't the one involved. Seeing a shadow of him superimposed on Sasuke had been...disconcerting as things carried on. She took a deep breath and bowed to Sasuke. "Thank you. You have honored me with such a gift. Unfortunately, I still greatly wish for it to happen in person, rather than in lieu of." She hoped he understood, and hoped that if Naruto was watching, he understood too.
Sasuke gazed at her steadily for several tense moments, making Hinata internally fret that she hadn't explained herself properly.
Then he nodded, his usual smirk returning. "The Dobe will have no idea what hit him."
Hinata couldn't help but giggle at Sasuke's ribbing. "Maybe." Hinata lifted her arms. "Ready?"
"Hn."
The battle continued, each of them trading blows that were either blocked or barely dodged.
And then Hinata kicked him, sending him flying back a couple yards. He grunted and rolled, coming to rest in a defensive crouch.
Hinata smiled sweetly at the surprise in his eyes. "I have learned from two very precious people, that if we wish to chase our dreams and rise above impossible odds, we must never cripple our own progress."
Sasuke had to cough to hide a startled laugh. Hinata was becoming badass. His returning smirk was more open and genuine, though only those who were close to him could pick up on it. "Wise words."
Naruto sneezed explosively, sending ramen spraying across the countertop while Ayame squealed in horror. Shino's sneeze sounded like an odd tiny squeak. Neither Naruto nor Shino could explain why they were suddenly blushing.
Sasuke launched a fireball, followed quickly by summoning another kage bunshin. Sasuke surreptitiously passed the clone a spool of wire before dodging around the fireball one direction while his clone went the other.
Hinata casually batted the fireball into the air, making Sasuke inwardly curse. Hinata was badass.
Sasuke and his clone started trading blows with Hinata, who was hard pressed but was able to mostly block their attacks and only take glancing hits.
Until she noticed that she was steadily becoming entwined in ninja wire as Sasuke and his clone cleverly spun it around her. She leapt straight up, using chakra to enhance the leap so she shot clear up into the air and out of their reach.
Sasuke and the clone attempted to hit her with combined fireballs, but Hinata batted them away as easily as she had the last one. She came barreling back down at them, expelling chakra from her feet to help create a boost of momentum. She lashed out with her legs. Her attacks connected.
The clone dispersed and Sasuke was flung back when her heel connected with his forearm.
He rolled to his feet, his right arm hanging limply at his side. "Your feet…" He stared wide eyed at her feet, catching on too late that she had far better control than Sakura in this. She could send out devastating attacks through her toes and heel instead of just the sole of her foot. He smirked. Things were really getting exciting.
"Sasuke is getting amped up," remarked Sakura, startling the other genin around her. "This is going to be good!"
They shot her weird looks but refocused on the fight.
She wasn't expecting Hinata to hesitate for a breath. Both of the present Team 7 genin blinked at her, confused.
Hinata vaguely gestured to Sasuke's eyes, indirectly using some of Team 7's secret gestures to ask why he wasn't using his dojutsu.
Sasuke blinked again, while Sakura bit back a groan. Of course Hinata picked up on some of their stuff. She did tend to watch Naruto a lot, and in the beginning, they weren't nearly so skilled in being subtle. Plus, they had been spending a great deal of time with her the past few months. Sasuke couldn't help but glance in Sakura's direction, and she intentionally leaned her elbows casually on the banister in response.
Sasuke tilted his head and scratched at his ear. "Hn."
Hinata's eyes widened slightly, but she didn't press further what he meant by 'hidden threats'. Instead, she pursed her lips and sank into a firmer stance and carefully signed one more time.
Sasuke's visage fell into a scowl as he flicked his hair out of his eyes in a disguised 'no'.
She repeated the signs.
Sasuke once again gave a firm 'no'.
From the stands, it looked like they were pausing to reanalyze their opponent.
Hinata faintly huffed, her only show of irritation. She gave a couple more subtle gestures before flicking a kunai at him.
He easily moved just a bit to the side to dodge said kunai, eyes narrowed as they fell into another taijutsu exchange. It was an impressive display, but it was obvious to the more seasoned ninja that they were merely putting on a show while having a private discussion.
He couldn't actually fault her logic, but he didn't like it. So, they silently argued.
As with any argument, the longer it went on, the more heated it got, the more furious the taijutsu spar automatically became.
Until, completely out of nowhere, Sasuke's foot slipped on the dirt as he was trying to dodge one of her rapid combos and ended up straight in front of her 'feint' attack. Despite being a feint, it still had the full impact, and Sasuke's eyes bulged before he collapsed backwards, unconscious.
Hinata froze.
Sakura's expression was grim, even as she felt Kakashi's gaze land on her.
The arena remained absolutely hushed for several tense moments before it erupted with cheers.
Hinata didn't even hear them, still standing in the same pose and staring blankly down at Sasuke.
"Winner, Hinata Hyuga!" called Hayate. His expression was somber, glancing between the two genin with calculation.
Shikamaru looked ready to excrete a brick. Team 7 was definitely in the know about something, something big. His eyes darted around more sharply, taking in details he had mostly pretended to not notice. Crap. He really hated it when he had to take things seriously.
Hiashi was very nearly gaping. He knew he wasn't always kind to his children, and Hinata and Neji had suffered a great deal after he lost two of his most precious people. And while he had frequently admitted that Neji and Hanabi were quite talented, he knew Hinata wasn't a slouch. She just hadn't quite been up to par for what he knew she would have to deal with when she was an adult, and so his expectations were unfairly high. Still, even after her show of backbone earlier, he wasn't quite prepared for this.
Hanabi was going absolutely bonkers cheering for her sibling.
Sakura jumped into the arena and made her way over to Sasuke's prone form. She used her medical jutsu to reopen the tenketsu. Sasuke groggily opened his eyes and locked gazes with Sakura, hand grabbing her arm earnestly even though his expression was blank. Sakura shot him a half grin that was riddled with understanding. He sagged a bit, grip going slack.
Hinata shuffled uncomfortably next to them, flustered. She had a lot of questions, but she knew this wasn't the place. Instead, after internally debating about it, she simply bowed to the prone boy.
Not a word was said as the three genin left the arena, Sakura waving away the medic nin that were headed their direction.
Gai turned to Kakashi's slouched form. No one else noticed the concern oozing off the silver haired jonin but the jonin in green. He found himself concerned that maybe...Team 7 was getting involved way too deep in things they probably shouldn't know about. And Gai couldn't even begin to speculate what all they might actually know.
Still at Teuchi's, Naruto gaped in the direction of the arena. Sasuke had...forfeited?! What?!
He scrubbed his face and turned back to the last bowl of ramen.
He didn't blame Sasuke. He knew Sasuke had done it because it had become obvious that there was still a threat of an invasion, and Sasuke didn't want to waste precious amounts of energy and chakra on a test when a real battle was hanging in the wings. It could cost lives...lots of lives, and Sasuke was on par with Naruto as one of the staunchest in ensuring as little lives were lost as possible. It hadn't quite been that way before, but after spending time with his team as much as he had, Sasuke was firmly treating the village as Naruto did; a treasured home for an orphan who fully understood what it felt like to lose everything. Sasuke never wanted to go through that again, so he would willingly take the hit against his record by not trying to win his bout.
Naruto wasn't sure if Hinata would actually be happy about that though. She was still under the false assumption that Sasuke had more value and therefore should have been the winner. But, Sasuke didn't have as much riding on the outcome as Hinata did. Sasuke didn't have anyone to impress. His teammates were well aware of what he was capable of, and anyone else wasn't really important enough to care about. He made enough of a showing that the Uchiha name wouldn't be slandered, but he also made sure that his 'trip up' was perfectly staged. It would look like an honest mistake in the heat of the moment, and most would sympathize with the poor luck and move on rather than dawdle over it. After all, Hinata was a Hyuga, and therefore just as prominent and just as equally capable of winning via general public opinion.
Hinata clearly had clan elders to deal with and a father with a very strict outlook on her progress. She needed the accolades that came with winning one of these fights. And if there was one thing Sasuke knew well, it was struggling to reach exceedingly high expectations.
Naruto sighed and pushed away his empty bowl. "Thanks for the ramen!" he called, throwing in his usual boisterous air.
Teuchi and Ayame call out return farewells at his retreating back, but they exchange worried looks. It had been an odd meal for the boy, and they were worried.
Naruto wandered around aimlessly, a little weirded out by the empty streets. He wasn't quite used to how quiet it was without the usual hubbub.
He pondered what Shikamaru would do. The teen was crazy smart, and Naruto knew that his teammates had to be more obvious than they usually were due to trying to accomplish their goals. The question was, did the brown haired youth have the motivation to do something with that knowledge?
"Brat." Zabuza was leaning against a tree.
Naruto grunted, moving to take a seat on the 4th Hokage's head.
Haku frowned and cautiously moved closer to peer out across the village with the blond. "You seem less excitable today."
Naruto's expression was disturbingly pensive, and Haku found himself wishing the blond was his usual outgoing self.
"Things are about to get...intense," the blond finally answered. He shot the older teen a wan smile. He looked away again. "And no matter how ready you are, you never feel ready enough."
Zabuza snorted. "Scared?"
"Terrified," admitted Naruto, not the least bit ashamed. He clenched his fists, suddenly determined. "But they aren't going to lay a hand on my precious people."
Haku felt a shiver travel down his spine at the weight of promise in the blond's voice. "You can't protect everyone." Haku didn't want to say that, but he also wanted the blond to be realistic. The village was large, and the enemy numerous.
Naruto turned a feral grin on him. "Watch me."
Haku and Zabuza blinked before the older ninja snorted and tossed something at the genin. Naruto caught it on reflex. He peered down at it in shock.
"The world's a big place, kid." Zabuza started walking away. "You're funny, but you have to get a lot stronger if you're going to pull off something epic."
Before Naruto could formulate a response, the two ex-missing nin disappeared via shunshin.
Naruto grimaced. "Damn it...I'm starting to like 'em." His hands tightened on the object Zabuza threw at him as a cocky grin began to spread across his face.
He turned towards the arena. "Time to make an entrance."
