Sum of our Parts
Battles of Fate Pt. 3
***Still wish I owned, still don't. ***
"Le gasp!" normal talking
'das fuken?' normal thinking
"set-you-on-fire-no-jutsu" Jutsu and other techniques
"I will murder you!" Tailed beast talking
***SooP***
Gaara stood still, watching his opponent like a predator would watch its next meal.
Natsuko on the other hand was rocking back and forth on her heels, her energy and excitement obvious to all present.
Hayate immediately regretted starting this match. Not that he thought that the Kunoichi was weak, far from it. Akane did nothing but praise her sister when she was mentioned, but this boy… he was danger on an entirely different level. He was a killer, and he enjoyed it.
The blonde on the other hand seemed almost too innocent and happy to be a Ninja.
Moments seemed to turn into hours as the two refused to make any aggressive movements, until the Suna Shinobi had enough of waiting and uncorked the gourd on his back, pouring sand out and promptly attacking with it.
The excitable Uzumaki promptly dodged out of the way and threw several Kunai towards the boy, who materialized a sand clone, catching the weapons easily.
His opponent just smiled cheerfully and dodged yet another attack.
***SooP***
Up in the stands Kakashi's hand went to his headband in preparations to copy any Ninjutsu that the girl might use for later training with Sasuke, before he halted and glanced over towards the girl's sister.
"Should I even bother trying to copy her during this match?"
The redhead shrugged before returning her eyes to the battle underway. "I suppose if you feel like wasting Chakra go ahead."
"So you put the seal on her as well?"
"Of course."
"Wait if you put the seal on your sister and yourself, then why didn't you put one on Hinata? She could have destroyed Neji." Kurenai remarked, earning curious glances from the Hyuga heir who had been standing close enough to overhear the conversation.
"Because it messes up my Byakugan." The girl stated, her eyes never moving the match.
"So you tried to do so already then?" Asuma guessed, and earned nods from both Genin.
"It has something to do with coating them in a weird Chakra cloak." The white haired Sanin responded from his spot nearby.
The various Jonin, along with Itachi and Hizashi, turned to the man, interested in hearing his explanation.
"She tried explaining it to me when she first developed it, something to do with a layer of dense Chakra coating the person, which is probably why it messes up the girl's sight as well it isn't directly on the skin but an inch or so beyond it."
"So you don't know how it works then?" Anko inquired, a slight smirk forming on her face at the pervert being one upped by a Genin.
"Stupid bet with stupid Fuinjutsu prodigies." The sage muttered.
Anko just laughed.
"I do have one more question though Akane, how did you know to use a lightning barrier against Sasuke? Uchiha are known for the fire based Jutsu."
"Because you used it on the bridge, I figured that since you were his Sensei you would teach at least one of your student's that technique and considering he is your obvious favorite I knew you would let him copy the ability in preparations for the exams."
The Jonin just gave an embarrassed chuckle and rubbed the back of his head, while the other Sensei's glared at him. Teaching your student's high level techniques was one thing, teaching them assassination techniques in preparations for a Chunin exam was something else.
***SooP***
'Again the girl dodges mother's sand just in time, again mother is angry. I do not want mother to be angry with me, she is scary when enraged, and I just want to let her be happy.'
'But I also want to sleep it has been so long since I have been able to have a good night's sleep.'
'Temari is worried about me, she thinks that I do not see how much she worries but I do. She does not sleep much anymore either, neither does Kankuro. They worry about me, but why? I hurt them. I scare them. Why would they be worried about me?'
'Perhaps after mother is released and we return home I can find out.'
***SooP***
"I am curious as to what will happen after these exams though." Hizashi called out suddenly, loud enough for those nearby, including the Hokage, to hear.
"Why do you say that Hizashi-Sama?" The younger Sarutobi asked in response.
"Well the redhead dem- er brat is obviously a Fuinjutsu expert, and it just so happens that her teammate appears to have a modified Caged Bird Seal. Such a thing is illegal after all."
The various Ninja turned to said Genin who had completely ignored the man.
"Is this true Akane-chan?" the cyclopean Shinobi inquired, with his patented eye smile as cheerful as ever.
"Hm? Did you say something Kakashi-San?"
"YOUTH!"
"Shut it Gai, he is correct though Akane-chan." Kurenai continued.
"Yes he is, in that modifying a Clan Seal is illegal." The Genin replied, her focus still on the blonde who had continued her dodging, much to her enemy's annoyance.
"So you admit to doing such a thing then?" The Hyuga leader declared.
"Perhaps you should have Jiraiya-Sensei inspect the seal before you make such accusations Hyuga-Sama."
At Hinata's nod of approval the Sanin kneeled down and did as he was asked, before chuckling slightly.
"Well that certainly is interesting, it appears as though the Caged Bird Seal is still unmodified, of course there is another completely separate seal surrounding and suppressing it, but that is certainly not illegal as far as I am aware." The toad summoner glanced towards his Sensei who nodded in confirmation.
"Then we shall have it removed immediately!" Hizashi declared, only to hear a slight chuckle from the Uzumaki.
"Then you would be modifying or removing a clan seal, I am an Uzumaki after all."
The man's jaw dropped while Hiruzen held back a chuckle, it wasn't very often that a Hyuga could be outwitted with their own rules.
"She is correct Hizashi-Sama otherwise she would be allowed to remove the Caged Bird Seal from Hinata if she could figure out how to do so. If that were to happen you would have quite the situation on your hands." Kakashi once more eye smiled towards the pale eyed man.
"It really is such a simple seal too if I were so inclined I could probably put it on every member of the branch clan in a day or so at most."
This had the man paling even more than usual, such an action would lead to an uprising in the clan itself.
Hinata finally understood her two teammates plan, and giggled at how diabolical it was.
"Just to make it clean Hyuga-Sama, if anything should happen to my teammate or her sister… I will ensure that this knowledge is spread throughout Konoha. This, of course, includes any type of forced marriages, relationships, or impregnations." Akane continued, her voice dipping slightly in a threatening manner.
The Jonin present turned their attention to the man in question, many of them glaring at the man. It wasn't unheard of for clans to do arranged marriages, but to force children into them just to use them as breeding tools was looked down upon by all of the major houses and clans of Konoha.
The Hyuga just gulped before nodding slightly in acknowledgement.
***SooP***
Natsuko saw her first opening after a particularly long ranged attack by the red haired boy, and her hands immediately blurred into motion.
"Earth Style: Flying Stones"
A barrage of earthen projectiles flew from the ground in front of her, forcing up a sand wall where they impacted harmlessly.
'So it does react without him to guide it, let's see how fast it is.'
Forming the hand sign for her favorite Jutsu the blonde created ten more replicas of herself before they encircled the boy, who glanced around in an uninterested way.
A second later they all threw a handful of Shuriken towards the boy, whose defense once again reacted immediately and blocked the attack without effort.
"Wind Style: Eye of the Storm"
Each of the clones emitted a tunnel of enhanced air, which converged on the boy. Seconds later they formed what appeared to be a large tornado, which began moving the sand upwards and out of the Suna Ninja's reach.
Gaara's eyes opened in a panic, he had never been without his sand before and now this girl was threatening to remove it.
Acting quickly the boy channeled his Chakra through the ground, creating sand outside of the area that he now found himself trapped in and sought to impale the blonde with spikes from the ground.
The technique worked, up until the point where his adversary dissolved in a puff of smoke, revealing herself to be a Shadow Clone.
Refocusing his efforts, Gaara began the same process, dispelling the other Natsuko's in rapid succession. Unfortunately he was unable to find the real Uzumaki before most of his defense had been torn away, leaving him vulnerable to a barrage of Air Bullets that impacted a moment later, tearing away the last pieces of his Sand Armor in the process.
Before she could follow up with any more attacks though the offensive sand finally reached the Kunoichi, forcing her to abandon her plans and dodge out of the way, receiving a few minor scratches for her efforts.
***SooP***
"H-hey Temari, this isn't looking too good. I mean if this random chick is holding her own against Gaara what the hell makes us think that any of this will actually succeed?" Kankuro whispered out.
"Relax, Gaara's got this, she hasn't even managed to hurt him yet and that stupid wind trick won't work on him a second time. Now that the Sand has returned he has only increased his offensive and defensive capabilities."
"Yeah but this is just one Genin. What the hell are we going to do when the others gang up on him, or heaven forbid, a Jonin?"
"I don't like this any more than you do but what choice do we have? You know father is dead set on this path and nothing is going to persuade him otherwise. Besides we will be there to help Gaara if something goes wrong because I am sure as hell not abandoning him here."
"Yeah I guess… Still I have a bad feeling about this."
The Suna siblings returned their attention to the match in progress, missing the calculating stare that they had received from the redheaded Uzumaki.
***SooP***
"Mother want's your blood, she demands your blood. Thus she will have your blood!" The crazed boy shouted, stretching his hand out toward the blonde.
"Sand Binding Coffin"
At his command the sand beneath the ground sprung forth, enveloping the girl.
A sadistic smile formed on his face before preparing his follow up Jutsu, only to widen his eyes in shock as the structure blew apart from within.
"Wind Release: Air Burst"
The girl then followed up by flowing through a series of hand signs.
"Water Release: Flooding Wave"
His sand having returned moments earlier, immediately rose up in defense and easily stopped the wave of water that soon drenched the entire arena, along with Hayate whose eye twitched in mild irritation.
"Now then, time for the Uzumaki special surprise!" The Kunoichi happily proclaimed.
***SooP***
Up in the stands the Genin and various Jonin continued looking on as the battle picked up and Natsuko declared her attack.
Several seconds passed before an irritated Kiba decided to speak up.
"Wait a second, how come I am still getting crap for my technique names from the preliminaries but no one says shit about her?"
"Because she is adorable." Sakura stated in a serious voice, as if the answer was obvious.
"Oh come on I'm attractive too… right?"
"Akamaru is cute…" Hinata replied cheerfully prompting the various Kunoichi, save for Akane, to giggle at the dogs happy barking.
"Traitor…" the Inuzuka muttered out.
***SooP***
"That was foolish of you all you have done so far is waste Chakra for no advantage. Even if you had electric Jutsu they would not reach me at this point." The red haired Ninja called out.
Natsuko just giggled happily before throwing a Kunai toward the boy, whose sand began rising up, only to barely intercept the weapon rather than easily block it as before.
Gaara's eyes widened in shock, as the Genin created a dozen Bunshin before commanding them to throw Kunai towards the horrified boy.
To his family's surprise Gaara was forced to dodge out of the way from one of the Kunai, which had managed to make its way past his defenses before the sand could react in time.
***SooP***
Temari swore under her breath, "I never realized that by adding so much water to his sand that you could slow down Gaara's defense and attack. This is very bad."
"We need an exit strategy Temari, if this continues on Gaara will be forced to use his trump card before everything is in position. I don't know about you but I sure as hell am not ready to fight a stadium full of enemy Ninja."
"I am working on one…."
***SooP***
Natsuko just grinned happily.
Gaara returned it with a death glare.
"Do not think this has changed what will come to pass. Mother will have your blood, and then your sister's blood as well."
At this declaration the thus far cheerful blonde froze, her head lowered slightly as she stared down at the floor, concealing her emotional state.
***SooP***
"What is she doing…." Kurenai muttered out in question.
Asuma was prepared to give her some half assed answer when a crimson aura enveloped the Uzumaki currently in combat.
***SooP***
"If you lay one hand on her I will tear your arms off." A demonic voice rang out, earning shocked stares from all those present, especially those who had come to know the girl.
Raising her head Gaara finally saw what he had caused. The girl's eyes had gone become vertical slits and her whisker marks more pronounced. Her teeth were now elongated along with her fingernails, to the point of becoming claws.
The Kunoichi charged forward, easily dodging the considerably slowed sand, though at this point Gaara wondered if it would have been able to keep up with her even if it was at full speed. Just as she reached him the Suna Ninja attempted one last attempt at defense, raising a spiked barricade from the ground directly into her path in an attempt to skewer her.
Only for the girl to nimbly flip over them and deliver a devastating kick to his face, tearing off what little sand armor he had been able to accumulate and tossing him backwards a dozen feet.
***SooP***
"K-Kami in Heaven what the h-hell is she?" Kankuro stuttered out.
"She must be a Jinchuriki like Gaara, this is bad. I thought that Gaara would still be able to kill her even with her advantages but now… Without him being at full strength I don't know if he can beat another one like him." The boy's sister hesitantly replied.
***SooP***
Meanwhile Orochimaru was cursing his luck. Not only had Sasuke lost but now his secret weapon was being tossed around the ring like a rag doll. Apparently his intel about the Kyubi Jinchuriki had been incorrect and that she had indeed managed to tap into its power. Not only that but she was not the rage filled warrior that they tended to be when first drawing on the corrupt Chakra. Despite her rage the blonde seemed to have control over the power and her own emotions.
Even worse was the loss of his own student Kabuto, who had gone missing after his completion of the second phase of the exam. This was by far the most nerve racking of the problems. Had Kabuto revealed their plan? He surely had enough time to do so as the snake Sanin had been unable to locate him during the month break.
***SooP***
After the third time of being thrown across the stadium, and barely being able to cushion his blow with the sand that now permeated throughout the arena floor, Gaara had finally devised a counter strategy.
First he launched a large volley of sand spikes, hoping to force the girl to break her assault and either dodge or retreat onto the defensive.
What he had not been expecting was that the demonic Chakra would allow her to sweep her arm in front of her, annihilating them before they could even make contact, and forcing him to actually duck under the oncoming wave of energy, not trusting his defenses to block the attack.
This only presented her an opportunity to deliver a devastating kick to his ribs, causing his chest to explode into sand.
Moments later the true Gaara emerged from the other side of the ring, having created a Sand Bunshin when she had blocked her own vision.
He had taken too long to use this technique and had continued underestimating the blonde powerhouse.
No longer would he make that mistake.
"Sand Shield"
Slowly a defense dome of sand formed around the boy, cutting off all access to him, while an eye formed above it.
Natsuko just glared at it, cursing herself silently for allowing the boy to use one of her favorite tricks against her.
She charged towards the barricade, intending on ripping through it, only to be forced backwards when an exceedingly strong spike jutted out, this time surprisingly dried, despite the knee high water that still remained on the ground.
Apparently the boy had figured out a Jutsu to remove the water from his weapon.
***SooP***
'So he has been forced into this so early hm? Well I suppose all of my forces are in place regardless, after his transformation is complete and he stomps the brat into the ground I will begin the invasion, then there will be nothing left to chance. Finally I shall have my revenge.' The snake summoner smirked beneath his disguise as he made a slight gesture to his guards, indicating it would soon be time to commence the plan.
***SooP***
Natsuko, still cloaked in the Kyubi's Chakra, stood gazing at the dome like structure for another few moments, before silently making up her mind for her next approach.
With a single hand sign she created two Shadow Clones, before extending her right hand, and forming a glowing sphere of Chakra with the help of the one copy.
A whirling sound quickly filled the stadium as the Ninja who had been alive to witness this technique during the previous war watched on in horror as the blonde Genin recreated one of the signature moves of the 'Yellow Flash'.
***SooP***
"Jiraiya, you taught her the Rasengan!?" Kakashi muttered out under his breath in awe. Although he also had developed the technique it had taken him far longer than a single month to develop and learn to control it.
"Of course, I knew who she was facing in her first match so I figured it would be a good backup technique should she need it for his defenses, looks like I was correct." The Sanin muttered, watching as the Kunoichi charged forward, and weaved through the oncoming counter attacks that the Suna Ninja launched.
***SooP***
Just as her technique was about to collide, a sand spike jutted out from her left flank, intending on skewering the blonde Ninja just as she was about to reach her intended target.
Luckily she had the forethought to create a clone just for this purpose, who immediately launched an earth spike of her own to divert it's path, before poofing away from lack of Chakra.
The swirling sphere of energy met with Gaara's ultimate defense.
To his credit the sand managed to momentarily halt the technique, but with the Kyubi's Chakra still flowing around her Natsuko forced her way through, tearing into the darkness beyond and ripping into the boy's shoulder.
His screams of pain echoed throughout the area as the sand threatened to collapse down onto his adversary and crush her arm.
Luckily Natsuko was able to Kawarimi with her clone at the last second, allowing her to escape with only a few minor bruises and cuts from the defenses continuous reaction.
"Blood?! MY BLOOD!? MY BLOOD!"
The Uzumaki was immediately forced onto the defensive as dozens of sand spikes and attacks came hurling down at her, luckily she managed to put up a wall of water at the last moment, severely slowing them down and providing her a few extra precious seconds to avoid any serious harm.
Unfortunately the transformation had already begun, as the dome of sand that Gaara had created collapsed, revealing the boy in a partially transformed state, his form becoming more demonic by the second.
"MOTHER SHALL HAVE YOUR BLOOD!"
Hayate began making plans to call the match. Despite all he had seen the two Uzumaki sister's accomplish there was no way they could be prepared to deal with something like this, that is before he took notice of the confident look on the blonde's face.
***SooP***
'Just a few more moments and the attack shall commence. Then my fool of a Sensei shall finally fall along with his pathetic village. Soon I shall be able to claim a new body, one even more powerful than before.'
***SooP***
"W-we need to do something. We can't just let Natsuko face that thing by herself!" Sakura stuttered out. Although she had never been particularly close to the blonde girl she still felt bad for how her teammate had acted during the preliminaries, along with the fact that she was a fellow Ninja of Konoha.
"Don't worry, Natsuko has a plan." The redheaded Uzumaki responded, her eyes never leaving the match in progress.
"What the heck kind of plan can you make against an unstable Jinchuriki who is transforming?" Gai inquired nervously.
"The kind of plan that will change everything." Jiraiya whispered.
***SooP***
The blonde Kunoichi took a deep breath, before releasing it and dissolving the aura of Biju Chakra that had surrounded her, then glanced up as Gaara continued on his transformation, slowly becoming large and more powerful as time went on.
With a hesitant glance towards her sister the Genin then began to weave through a series of hand signs.
***SooP***
Up in the Kage box Hiruzen took notice of the change in tactics, before rising out of his seat in shock, his eyes opened wide as he recognized the technique that was about to be used, something that had not naturally been seen in decades.
***SooP***
"Wood Release: Tenth Edict on Enlightenment"
Immediately the girl slammed her hand onto the ground, producing ten large wooden pillar that completely encircled her adversary, which immediately began wailing in despair at having it's Chakra drained away from it.
***SooP***
"What the heck kind of technique is that?" Kiba called out, having never heard of the 'Wood Release' before.
Upon not receiving any answers he glanced over at his Sensei, only to see the man's eyes opened wide in shock.
"Uh Kakashi-Sensei?"
"Tha-that isn't possible… Only one man has ever been able to naturally use that." Asuma replied, his cigarette having fallen out of his mouth moments prior.
"Hey what's the big deal about this?" The Inuzuka pressed, still confused as to why everyone was so shocked by this technique.
"The only man to ever use the 'Wood Release' was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju" Hinata muttered out, still not believing what she was seeing.
"B-but that isn't possible right? I mean Natsuko is an orphan. There is no way she is related to a Hokage…. Right?"
None of the Ninja present could answer him, since all except for Jiraiya and Akane were too stunned to respond.
***SooP***
After a few seconds Gaara began to revert back to his normal human self, although considerably out of breath from the onrush of Biju Chakra.
Seeing her opportune moment the blonde immediately dashed forward, as she reached into one of her side pockets and pulled out a piece of white paper with various markings on it.
The Suna Ninja could barely glance up at the approaching girl much less make any move to counter her inevitable attack.
Seconds later she slammed the piece of paper into his exposed stomach, and his Jinchuriki seal.
Bright energy emitted from the two and filled the stadium for a minute before finally fading, revealing the prone form of the Shinobi, with Natsuko standing over him.
***SooP***
"Wh-what the hell just happened? Gaara…. lost!" the boy's brother stuttered out, but received no answer from his sister standing next to him.
"What the hell do we do now?" the boy continued, nudging the Kunoichi to try and snap her out of her daze.
The girl blinked before her mind whirled into action, the attack would commence soon, especially if Gaara had been taken out. There was far too much effort put into the plan to just abandon it now.
During the confusion they would grab their brother and escape.
It was the only thing she could think of to do now.
***SooP***
'That damned bitch! Now we have at least temporarily lost another part of the plan! Regardless my Sensei will still fall this day, I have not planned and prepared for so long only to have my strategy ruined by some Genin brat!'
***SooP***
"Gaara of Suna is unable to continue! Natsuko Uzumaki wins by knock out!" Hayate exclaimed to the stunned silence that now filled the stadium.
No one yet knew how to react to one of the two village pariahs defeating a monstrous sand demon, especially by calling upon a technique that could only be utilized by the First Hokage.
Said blonde merely blushed and started to make her way back towards the entrance, when feathers began falling from the sky.
***A/N***
To all of you who might cry bullshit due to Natsuko's bloodline… I would have thought it kind of obvious with her affinities. Earth and Water make Wood, and I always was a bit annoyed that only one character could ever use the technique naturally considering it was a bloodline.
In preparation for any comments or PM's, no this was not a last minute addition I had planned on Natsuko being able to use this from my inception of the story.
As always read and enjoy!
