Insert disclaimer here
Blah Blah Blah basic text (i.e. description, speech, etc)
Blah Blah Blah Thought or some transaction within someone's mind
Blah Blah Blah Kyuubi talking Jutsu will also be bold
BLAH BLAH BLAH yelling or emphasis of some sort
Naruto of the Nine Tails
Rated M for language, violence, adult content, graphic imagery, and, making their long awaited cameo, clowns
Chp 18: Rivalry, Rage, and Retribution
Training Ground 44
Slash
Duck
Uppercut
Dodge
Stab
Back Handspring
Boom
Kawarimi
Ax kick
Roll
The spectators could only watch in morbid fascination as Ino and Sakura continued to dance around their personal war zone, lost in their heated rivalry, ignoring their wounds and fatigue as each strove to outmaneuver the other, each pushing for that one moment that would grant them the advantage in their struggle for dominance.
Slip a punch, lead into straight jab.
Side step straight jab, use motion to continue into a cross slash.
Trap blade between palms, pull opponent into a side kick.
Drop into backward roll to avoid side kick, throw shuriken to prevent pursuit.
Use stolen kunai to deflect shuriken, throw kunai to distract in order to close the distance.
"They are quite… persistent," Kurenai commented, not sure whether it would be appropriate to approve. While she admired the competitive spirit and enthusiasm of their rivalry, and the fact that they weren't raging fan girls like so many young kunoichi these days, the level of lethality they were using seemed… excessive.
"Such passion, it's so… inspiring!" Lee wailed, crying tears of admiration.
"Indeed my adorable student," Gai sniffed, loudly blowing his nose on a hanky that he pulled out of nowhere as Sakura grabbed the straps of her discarded pack.
"SHANNARO!" the pink haired girl cried, wielding the bag like a flail as she brought it over her head swinging it down into a vicious hammer strike shattering the concrete where Ino had been a moment before.
'Too close,' Ino thought as she continued to backpedal out of the way of a follow-up roundhouse kick that would have taken her head off.
Continuing her rotation the pink haired girl brought her bag around at hip level.
As Ino jumped out of range she suddenly had to sidestep Sakura's flying backpack, "Oh come on Forehead! You know that won't work on…me?" her voice trailed off as she noticed Sakura had formed the tora seal, 'Shit.'
BOOM!
"Checkmate Piggy," Sakura muttered as her backpack exploded launching Ino back toward her and into her waiting fist.
WHAM!
"Winner by knock out, Haruno Sakura!" Hayate called.
"Why'd she destroy her pack, I thought she was proud of her collection?" Sasuke asked confusedly as the medics checked Ino and Sakura.
"Why Sasuke, you do care!" Kakashi teased.
"Hn? You say something Kakashi-sensei?" causing the entire room to freeze.
One of the assisting chunnin glanced over to Anko, "Did he just…?"
"Yes, yes he did," Anko snickered as sounds of suppressed mirth filled the room.
"Oh ho! It seems you have fallen victim to your own hippness my eternal rival!" Gai crowed, looking more than a little pleased.
No answer.
"What nothing to say? Struck dumb by the turnabout?" Gai gloated.
No answer.
"Kakashi?" he asked, taking a closer look at the other jounin only to find that he was staring at Sasuke with total adoration and hadn't heard a word he'd said.
Silence...
Anko smirked, "Three… two… one…"
"DAMN YOU KAKASHIIIIII!"
Meanwhile Chibi-Kakashi was prancing around Kakashi's mind waving flags proclaiming, "Best students EVER!"
Shaking her head Hinata turned to Sasuke, "She switched to her survival pack for the exam, and the self-destruct feature she included has a summoning array attached so that when she activates it everything in the pack gets summoned to her bedroom," Hinata explained, finishing as Sakura and Ino, freshly revived, came up the stairs.
"Giving away my secrets?" Sakura accused teasingly as the board displayed the next match.
Akamichi Chouji vs Tsuchi Kin
"Looks like you're up kido," Asuma spoke, pulling out a pack of his favorite cigarettes.
"I don't wanna," Chouji mumbled.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered as Ino turned bright red.
"What do you mean you don't wanna! We just spent the last six days getting to this point and you're just going to quit!" Ino raged.
"I don't wanna," Chouji repeated stubbornly.
"How 'bout this," Asuma sighed, already mourning his bank account, "Just go out there and do your best and when this is all over I'll-" but whatever it was that Asuma would do to bribe Chouji would have to wait as he was interrupted by Chouji's impatient opponent, though for most it wasn't too hard to guess how he had planned to bribe the little Akamichi.
"You coming or what fat ass?" Kin called from the floor.
Chouji froze, "What did she just say?"
"I said, are you going to haul your lard ass down here and fight me or are you just going to sit up there and stuff your face?" the young kunoichi sneered.
"Troublesome, that girl is screwed," Shikamaru muttered as Chouji spun on his heel and marched purposefully down the stairs.
"Yes, yes she is," Hinata agreed.
"Poor kid," Asuma muttered as he lit up a cigarette.
"Must you do that here?" Kurenai complained, "And what makes you so sure that that girl is going to lose?" she asked as Hayate got the two combatants into position.
"She called Chouji fat," Ino said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why would that be-"
"NIKUDAN HARI SENSHA!"
"…Oh my," said a wide eyed Kurenai as the boy come rolling-spiked-ball-of-death-pain-and-pointy chased the girl around the arena.
SLAM
"I don't know whether I should be amazed or terrified," Kiba muttered.
CRASH
"…Yeah I think I'm gonna go with terrified."
BANG
"Note to self: never call Chouji fat," Sasuke muttered, his skin slightly paler than usual.
BOOM
"Indeed," Shino agreed as the sound girl dodged Chouji yet again, just barely avoiding becoming a smear on the wall he had just destroyed.
"BUBUN BAIKA NO JUTSU!"
"Who knew Chouji could be so scary," said a slightly green Hanabi.
WHAM
"I know, right?" Ino said, smiling as Chouji tried to swat the sound girl like an oversized fly.
WHAM
"It's always the quiet ones," Kakashi mused.
"BAIKA NO JUTSU!"
"Perhaps I should sign him up for some anger management classes," Asuma muttered as the now two-story Akamichi started to stomp and kick at the sound girl.
CRUNCH
"I don't think that would be very effective, I'm reasonably sure that this reaction is hard wired into the Akamichi," Kakashi said, nodding sagely.
STOMP
"I suppose you're right, and it's not exactly a bad thing," Asuma admitted as Kin's luck finally ran out.
"CHO HARITE!"
BOOOOM
"Winner Akamichi Chouji, now would the medics please peel that girl off my floor?" the proctor called as the board started flashing names.
"Nice work Chouji!" Ino cheered.
"I'm hungry," Chouji pouted, causing everyone to burst out laughing as the board started flashing through the names of the remaining gennin.
Hyuuga Hinata vs Inuzuka Kiba
Seeing this Hinata frowned, 'With Naruto's current state of mind I probably shouldn't risk any kind of confrontation between him and Kiba, Naruto might overreact,' she thought. Kneeling down to Naruto's level she looked him in the eye, "Naruto, I'm going to fight with Kiba, I need you to stay out of this ok?"
Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously as his ears pulled flush to his head and his lips curled back in a silent snarl, obviously not liking what he was hearing.
"Naruto calm down, I'll be fine, but you need to stay up here, ok?"
A low menacing hum in Naruto's chest proclaimed that, as far as he was concerned, this was most certainly not ok.
"Naruto…" Hinata spoke, her voice firm and commanding.
Though obviously still agitated the young Jinchuuriki lowered himself to a relaxed position on his stomach signaling his compliance, though it did not escape any of the Jounin that the boy's eyes never left Kiba as Hinata made her way down to the floor.
"I still don't get it," Kiba grumbled, glaring up at the observation level, either not noticing or not caring that his voice carried throughout the room. "What does he have that I don't?" he asked turning to Hinata.
"What?" Hinata asked, why was he bringing this up now.
"Don't try to deny it, I can smell him all over you."
"Excuse me?" Hinata asked sharply, not liking what he was implying.
"You're into the whole bestiality thing, I get that, but-"
Suddenly everything came to a screeching halt as the temperature in the area plummeted.
Kakashi palmed his face "Wrong move sparky," he sighed into the oppressing silence that had followed the young Inuzuka's remark. He was starting to wonder if Kiba had short term memory issues considering the boy had a front row seat to Hinata's systematic humiliation of the Torture & Interrogation Director not even a week ago.
"Start. The. Match." Hinata hissed, glaring at Kiba with a look that could freeze salt water. She was furious, no she was beyond furious, she was livid! And she knew just how she was going to end this...
Flashback
"He won't leave me alone!" Hinata cried in exasperation.
"It's just a crush, if you ignore him long enough he'll give up eventually," Hana replied, amused by the little Hyuuga's frustration with her little brother's attempts to woo her.
"But isn't there anything I can do to discourage him?" Hinata pleaded.
"Have you tried telling him that you're not interested?"
"Yes! But every time I turn him down he interprets it as "maybe" or "not now" or something."
"Hmm… well I suppose I could tell you a way to keep him in line, but you'd have to promise to only use it if he gets really out of hand."
Hinata nodded enthusiastically.
"Alright, if he ever get out of hand, here's what you need to do," Hana said, leaning over to whisper in Hinata's ear.
End Flashback
...but not yet, before she broke him mentally, she was going to break him physically.
"He he he," Kiba chuckled nervously, suddenly feeling like a lamb standing face to face with a starved Tiger. "Aw c-com'on sunshine I was just-"
Unfortunately for Kiba, Hayate had no desire to get between the Hyuuga heiress and
"Hajime-!"
Before Hayate even had a chance to move away from the two combatants Hinata had launched herself in a bust of chakra that further destroyed the already abused arena, catching Kiba's throat with the crook of her elbow in a vicious cloths line, using a variation on an old form of jyuuken to transfer all her momentum into the strike, skipping the unfortunate Inuzuka over the rubble like a stone on a lake.
"Grr," Akamaru's growled lowly as he advanced on Hinata from her left.
Hinata spared the little dog only the barest of glances but in that brief moment she sank her frustration, her anger, and her malice into a single bust of killer intent, freezing the poor ninken where he stood before turning back to Kiba as he painfully picked himself up off the floor.
'Shit that hurt!' he thought, massaging his throat as Hinata advanced on him. Had he not been a ninja that strike would have killed him, as it was he was having trouble breathing... 'Hanabi wasn't kidding when she said Hinata had been experimenting with Jyuuken. Nothing about that was gentle.' Frowning Kiba quickly went over his situation. Considering what Hanabi had told him and Hinata's opening he could safely assume that Hinata wouldn't be using the kind of Jyuuken he was used to fighting. Hanabi had said that Hinata was a lot stronger that she was in open combat, something Kiba was only marginally better at than his smaller team mate and then only because he was faster and had Akamaru. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was at a major disadvantage, most likely his only chances of winning were either to catch her off balance or to outlast her. Still on his hands and knees he threw a sloppy tora seal to concentrate a burst of chakra, 'I need to end this fast,' he thought, choosing the former as put on a burst of speed throwing his elbow at Hinata's midsection.
Up in the stands Kurenai wanted to slap the boy, "How many times do I have to tell him that engaging a Hyuuga at close range is a bad idea?" she asked herself.
Sliding into a half crouch Hinata slipped under Kiba straightening up as his his elbow passed over her head, burying her knee in his solar-plexus, but she was far from done as she followed the collision with a blinding combination of the most painful strikes she could think of that wouldn't end the match.
Heel Palm Uppercut.
Knife strike to the larynx.
Knee to the groin.
Palm strike to the left floating rib.
Fractures.
Pressure points.
Partial dislocations.
One after the other, never letting up, moving in and out of Kiba's attempts to counterattack with frightening ease.
'Fuck! This is like fighting a ghost!' Kiba thought painfully as he finally managed to get some distance, "Tsuga!" he cried launching himself at Hinata like a clawed tornado.
But it was not to be as Hinata contorted her body to follow Kiba's rotation, snatching his wrist and using his momentum to swing him into the arena floor with crippling force.
"F-huck!" Kiba wheezed, shakily climbing to his feet, he was going down, but he'd be damned if he was going to do it quietly.
"You know, I never thought I'd use this," Hinata whispered, her tone icy and foreboding as she watched Kiba struggle to stand, "but I think Hana will understand."
Hearing his sisters name Kiba froze, confused. What did she have to do with this?
"HENGE!" Hinata cried, a mass of smoke consuming her form as she formed the ram seal.
'She wouldn't,' Kiba thought in horror, taking a nervous step back. Hana wouldn't really do that to him, would she?
"It's just a henge how is that-" Kankuro began only to cut himself off has he remembered the pink haired girl's use of Bunshin no jutsu.
"HIYA KIBA!" Hinata cried in a goofy cheerful voice as she burst from the smoke dressed in full clown garb.
For a moment Kiba didn't react, he simply stood there petrified as he stared at his opponent in abject horror only to let loose a girly shriek of fright before he fainted.
"And just wait 'till I tell your mother," Hinata growled as she released the transformation.
Absolute silence followed.
'Oh that's cold,' Kankuro muttered, shivering at the little heiress' brutality, he would seriously be rethinking his plans for the near future.
EDITED: 7/22/11
There, I redid the fight with Kiba and no worries, the next chp is almost done
End Notes
Sorry for the wait, this was supposed to be out and was all but done weeks ago but between several potent distractions, my muse being less than helpful in regards to writing, my doc and I trying to tweak my meds (we failed), and starting a new job and this sort of fell by the way side. And before any of you who bother to read this bite my head off most of the past few weeks were spent trying and failing to expand on the fight between Hinata and Kiba, as you can see, I was unsuccessful. That said, this is going on my list of scenes to review and revise at a later date so I will be coming back to it at least once, so anyone that has ideas or free time feel free to throw your brilliance at me or write a version of the scene.
Now, by popular demand, I added an ending to the Ino vs Sakura battle (as I hope you noticed). See your reviews do count! Anyway I was originally just going to use the space between chps to imply that they had been fighting for a very long time then end it but since so many of you seemed to want a more satisfying conclusion I took a second look at it and decided you guys were right.
Now, some of you may find Choji's match familiar, and yes it is based on the match from my WoaWS: Akatsuki's Crimson Princess. I'd been debating how I would keep with my "Keep it original" policy for the matches for a while and I always wanted to do something with Choji so I used the idea of Choji vs Kin to see how it was received, generally I got the idea that people liked it so I used it here as well, though slightly more refined.
For anyone that doesn't know, the Cho Harite is the Mega Palm Trust that the Akamichi use while Multisized, basically it's the bitch slap from hell.
And I a shout out to THE HEE-HO KING, Nocontact, and all the rest of you who were wondering about it… How'd you like the clown? XD
Muse Rant
You're fired
…what?
You. Are. Fired. Laid off. Let go. Sent packing. Given the boot. Need I go on?
Um, why?
Because you have been less than helpful with my attempts to write since before Christmas.
Well it's practically all you talk about! And it's always about Naruto! You're… you're Narutarded!
One, you are the one who got me into Naruto and fanfiction, thus this is your fault and therefore, to some extent, your responsibility. Two, Naruto is a very flexible plotline and thus very easy to manipulate in numerous ways so it makes an excellent outlet for my overactive imagination. Three, I have… five Naruto fics posted so of course I'm going to want to talk about them so that I can FINISH them.
...You're still a Narutard.
Ah, but your fault it is. Admit this, you must.
Shit, not this again.
Victory, mine it is... again.
*Final Fantasy VII victory music plays in the back ground*