Chapter 5
The three freshly graduated Genin were walking down the road, chatting happily. Of course, they were ecstatic that they had finally finished the brutal training program Ibiki-sensei had dreamt up. Thinking about it made them shudder, and they were sure they would for the rest of their lives. However, it did make them stronger. Far stronger than they had imagined it would. Hinata, although still shy when it came to people, was rather confident in her abilities on the battlefield. Although she no longer stuttered, she didn't slouch and slink around trying to avoid attention. She walked somewhat normally, although she still didn't like to start conversations. Once she was comfortable with someone's presence, she would chat normally with them.
Chouji was still somewhat 'big boned' even after the program. However, underneath the fat, there was a layer of rock hard muscles. Sure, he could still convert the fat into an instant burst of chakra, but it was supported by a large amount of stamina and slow releasing chakra from his muscles. His fighting style benefited from the change, as he was much more agile now, both normally and in his Meat Tank attack. With the addition of the spikes, he could change direction at the blink of an eye, and would usually hit on the first or second try. Even if the opponent was good enough to dodge those attacks, he (or she) would be either immobilized by Hinata, or destroyed from a distance by Naruto, or most often a combination of the two. Chouji's stamina is well complimented by the many jutsu he learned from Ibiki-sensei. He knew almost all of the Genin and Chuunin level jutsu from all five elemental attacks, as well as a fair amount of the Jounin level jutsu. He also knew a fair amount of special jutsu that didn't align to a certain element, such as Kage Bunshin and other such jutsu.
Ibiki, nor many other shinobi for that matter, knew a lot of raw chakra attacks. Most of the ones Naruto had learned were from memories of the Kyuubi's attacks. Although they really didn't know the names of them, in truth they were just the molding and manipulation of raw power. However, Naruto had developed a number of original attacks, such as the Amatsu Tenshi no Senshu. (Heavenly Angel's Bow) It basically created a rod of pure energy in one of Naruto's hands. Then, with a chakra string, he bent it and created an arrow of pure chakra. It worked a lot like a normal bow, but the arrow could do a myriad of things, such as explode on contact, or completely burn through an opponent. If he aimed the bow correctly, it could be used to knock out and even burn tenketsu. A burned tenketsu is like a chakra burn, but because of the damage, it is closed until it has healed. It requires a lot of chakra to use, as well as a rather decent spin to the chakra entering the tenketsu to do enough damage to burn it shut, making it almost impossible to use during close combat, making it impossible to use with Jyuuken. Because of all this, Naruto has become very skilled as a long range fighter, and as Ibiki-sensei had taught all of them Kage Bunshin, Naruto could create an entire army of chakra archers, making for a rather painful volley of well aimed arrows. It was extremely deadly. Also, Naruto was the Supplies Officer for the team, meaning he used special sealing scrolls to seal away the large supply of food that was consumed between him and Chouji. It saved both space and weight, and they could seal as much stuff as they had scrolls and ink without changing their weight too much. It also came useful for weapons and Medical Kits, and other such odds and ends. Putting the scrolls in plastic bags made them impervious to water, so the never had to worry about running out of supplies while on missions. Ibiki-sensei had really covered all the bases with his training.
Despite their intimidating skills, the three had come out of the training relatively unscathed, mentally. Although they hated the training, and didn't like thinking about it, they were all much stronger because of it, and therefore they were glad they went through it. If they had the chance to go back in time to undo the training, they wouldn't stop it for all the money in Fire Country.
Now, they knew that they were going to be accepting missions tomorrow, and were rather exited. But, they had tonight off, and due to Naruto's obsession with ramen, they were going to Ichiraku's. As they were nearing the stand, they, quite literally, ran into several rather grumpy people. Of course, no-one from Team 7 fell down, but the other people weren't so lucky.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." Naruto said, extending his hand down to help up the person who was sitting on the ground, rubbing her rather tender behind.
"Watch where you're going, dobe."
The icy, yet apathetic voice that spoke was very familiar to Naruto.
"Ha, who're you calling dobe, Uchiha-san" Said Naruto, his voice having a rather stinging edge to it "As I recall, you were Runner Up in the class rankings, beaten by… who was it again? Oh, that's right… it was me. I guess I'm just not so full of myself that I go about claiming to be superior to everyone else because I scored higher than them."
The last Uchiha in Konohagakure, said to be the most cold-hearted shinobi in Konoha bested only by Ice Queen Kurenai, was livid. His face was a rather unhealthy shade of red, and several veins could be seen on his forehead and neck, sticking out rather painfully to everyone looking at him.
"You may be the Last Uchiha, but you're still no Hyuuga. Go off and play shinobi with the academy students. You're wasting my time. Come on, guys."
With that, the three walked off. Chouji, who had hated Sasuke because he was one of the kids that had teased him when he was young, just brushed past him, ignoring the Genin. Hinata made a quick apology and left with a small bow, but as it was little more than the nodding of a head, it enraged Sasuke even more.
Sakura and Ino were obviously torn between their two idols. Sure, most of the adults didn't trust Naruto, even after they learned he didn't have Kyuubi sealed inside of him and that he had been adopted and carried the full weight of the Hyuuga name behind him, but most of the younger generation was a part of the Hyuuga Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke fan club. To see both objects of their affections fight with each other was rather distressing. After a moment, the two girls started trying to sooth Sasuke's bruised ego and calm the boy down.
"Don't listen to him, Sasuke. You're better than him any day."
"Yeah, I bet he couldn't beat you in a fight if his life depended on it." How ironic those words would be…
Sasuke just brushed them off, shaking his shoulder to remove their hands that had been set there, and walked off, hands in his pockets, brooding.
'I'll kill my brother, and when I'm done with him, you're next, Hyuuga Naruto.'
With that, he walked off to go train.
When Naruto, Hinata, and Chouji rounded the corner, they burst out laughing. Uchiha Sasuke, although popular amongst most of the girls, save for Hinata, was not very well liked by the younger generation. He was coddled by the adults, and merely tolerated by his peers. His rather stinging remarks, when he spoke at all, were not taken kindly by their targets.
"Nice one, Naruto. You really handed it to him on a silver platter." Chouji said, with a large grin
"Naruto-kun, you play the part of a stuck up Hyuuga almost as good as Neji-nii-san. Although, I'm glad that you don't have a stick up your ass, like he does" Hinata said, with a small giggle.
"Yeah, and that Sasuke is even worse. He doesn't just have a stick up his ass, he's got an icicle. Always trying to out do everyone and I don't thing even Neji-san would even go that far." Chouji said, with a rather evil chuckle.
"Thanks, guys. I don't know what came over me. It was bad enough he thinks he's better than everyone else, but to call me a dobe when he scored lower than me? That just blew me over the edge. Anyway, there's Ichiraku's. Let's go!"
As they walked under the flaps to enter the small stand, they saw three of the stools were already occupied.
"Hey, Shikamaru! Long time, no see!" Chouji said, Shikamaru turned on his stool and stood. He was surprised when Chouji enveloped him in a friendly bear hug.
"Ack, Chouji, you're squishing me!"
"Oh, sorry." Chouji set him gently back down to the ground, and Shikamaru stumbled slightly after being let go.
"Troublesome… When did you get this strong?" Shikamaru, the laziest ninja in Konoha, had an interested expression on his face.
Kiba turned around to face the three newcomers.
"Yeah, how did that special training go under that madman, Ikibi or whatever his name is?" "BARK!" Akamaru was sitting in Kiba's jacket. He seemed to bark each time as an interjection to Kiba's outbursts.
A small amount of killer intent came off Naruto as he spoke. "His name is Ibiki, don't get it wrong again. He's a better sensei than you'll ever have, even if his training method is rather… unorthodox."
Kiba wilted under Naruto's glare, and Akamaru whimpered slightly. His eyes were as intimidating as the Hyuuga's in full Byakugan, although Naruto never got the veins and his eyes were always active. He softened and gave Akamaru a little pat. "Nice to see you again, Akamaru. How's Kiba treating you?" Akamaru barked once and would have been shaking his tail, if he wasn't in Kiba's jacket.
"He said he's doing fine, and I'm treating him well. You should see how strong he's getting!"
"Tch, troublesome" Shikamaru said, turning back to his bowl to eat.
"I would like to know how far you three have progressed as well."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Shino? You have a voice?"
They all face vaulted and Naruto laughed.
"Heh, sorry. Couldn't resist…"
"Yes, he has a voice, and I bet he could take you easily!" shouted out a rather pissed Kiba "BARK! Growl…." Again, Akamaru interjected.
"Well, then maybe we should do some sparring? We have the rest of the day off, and after dinner, I'd be glad to mop the floor with you… uh…. I mean spar with you."
They all sweat dropped.
"Anyway, I'm still hungry. Let's get some food! I'll have one pork ramen, three shrimp ramen, two beef, and a chicken to round it off. All deluxe sized!"
"Coming right up!" said a grinning Ayame as she prepared the bowls for their number one customer.
"Ano… I'll have a shrimp ramen"
"And I'd like six BBQ pork and three BBQ beef ramen please!" Chouji could eat as much as Naruto when it came to ramen.
The other team sweat dropped at all the food that had been ordered.
"Hinata-chan… do they always eat this much?" asked a curious Kiba.
"I'm afraid do. At least they eat with some manners, instead of choking it down as fast as possible."
Indeed, Naruto and Chouji were eating with a fair amount of manners. They gracefully lifted the noodles, allowing them to cool for a moment, before dipping them into the steaming broth before gracefully consuming them. Naruto had eaten like this since his adoption into the Hyuuga, but Chouji used to be a wild and rather rude eater, slurping and gobbling the food down as fast as possible. It appeared that the 'bonding time' during the week long survival training in the woods with Ibiki-sensei had allowed the Hyuuga to pass down their manners to their large friend.
After Hinata had finished her bowl, she chatted nonchalantly with Kiba, Shino, and Shikamaru while Naruto and Chouji listened while finishing their ramen. After the two finished, they joined in the conversation, and eventually the talk drifted to missions.
"So… Shikamaru" Naruto started "what kind of missions have you been doing since you graduated?"
Shikamaru tilted his head back and rubbed his temples with one hand, it covering his eyes in the process. "So troublesome…"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at his behavior.
"They suck!" yelled Kiba. "All these D-rank missions are nothing more than shit jobs! What does catching the Daimyo's cat and babysitting have to do with being a ninja? For Kami-sama's sake, the Academy Students should have these missions, not Genin! I'm more than ready for a challenge!" "BARK!" Akamaru sounded both pissed and annoyed at the same time, pretty good for a dog.
"I agree with Kiba." Said Shino, and for the first time ever, the collected group actually saw him bristling with anger and annoyance. He noticed them staring at him. "What?"
"Nothing…" they all said in unison, finding various objects around them suddenly incredibly interesting… who knew that salt shakers and the back of Ayame's head could be so interesting?
After a moment of awkward silence, Naruto stood up and pulled out his wallet, paying for his ramen and leaving a decent tip. "Well, it's getting late, so if we're going to be doing some sparring, we should get going."
"YES!" Chouji and Kiba shouted in unison, eager to test their abilities.
"Troublesome…" Shikamaru said.
"…" Hinata and Shino just stayed silent, following Naruto as he got up, walking off to the training ground.
After a half hour, enough time for Naruto and Chouji do digest their food intake without worrying about vomiting during the exercises, they arrived at a training field.
"Before we start, we should all do some stretches and some warm ups. Hinata may be a good Medic Nin, but we still don't need to be pulling a muscle or tearing a tendon because we were careless."
Even Shikamaru, with a small "Troublesome…" joined the group in stretching and doing some laps around the training field. As they were not looking for an intruder or an observer, no one noticed that Sasuke had taken up a position in a tree with a pair of binoculars to watch the action. He had been brooding on top of a roof as the group went by, and had decided to follow them when he heard Kiba shouting out challenges to everyone, exited at the prospect of sparring with them. He had dashed home to grab his binoculars after finding out where they were sparring. He had arrived back in time to see them finishing up their last couple of laps.
"Ok, how should we do this?"
Surprisingly, it was Shino who spoke up. "We should go one on one fights. As a team, we are specialized for hunting and retrieving, not combat. We, as a team, only have the advantage with our surprise attacks."
Naruto nodded before pulling out a scroll, and after looking through it, he palmed a set of kanji. With a small puff of smoke, a board game puffed into existence. They all sweat dropped.
"Oi, Naruto, what's the game for?" shouted Kiba.
"I don't want the game, I want the dice."
Naruto pulled out the dice and gave one to each person. "Ok, this is how it'll work. The lowest rollers from each team will fight each other, as will the high rollers. The two left will fight each other also. Any objections?"
"Troublesome… but I think some rules should be placed down. One, no killing blows. Two, if the fight is getting out of hand, those not fighting will stop it. And three, no weapons. I don't know if Hinata can heal a pierced jugular from a slipped hand or a botched dodge. We don't need to be killing each other."
Everyone either nodded or voiced their opinion, and Kiba did so rather loudly.
"Good. Then let's roll."
Everyone took their dice and shook it in their hands.
"San…Ni…Ichi…GO!" Naruto counted down.
After saying go, everyone dropped their dice onto the ground, careful to track theirs and not get someone else's. The match ups were Chouji vs. Kiba first, Hinata vs. Shino second, and Naruto vs. Shikamaru third.
"Ok, Chouji, Kiba, get ready. I'll act as judge. When I call the fight, you both stop instantly, got it? Troublesome…" Shikamaru said. The two fighters nodded and walked out a ways, facing each other with glares.
"I'm gonna kick your ass, fatty."
Chouji only grinned, used to being called names so much that it didn't matter to him any more.
"BEGIN!"
Kiba shouted some random insults, and Akamaru jumped on Kiba's back. "Juujin Bunshin!" He shouted after a few hand seals. A puff of smoke later, and two rather feral looking Kibas appeared, one on the other's back.
"Let's go Akamaru!"
They both took off at incredible speeds at Chouji. A series of hand seals that were difficult to follow because they were so quickly executed brought out one of Chouji's favorite jutsu.
"Doton! Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu!"
Chouji sank into the ground before Kiba could reach him. Kiba and Akamaru stopped, sniffing the air. Their efforts were futile, as Chouji was walking through the earth as easily as on top of it, and his scent couldn't be followed. Suddenly, a large mud dragon rose from in front of the boy and his dog, flying directly at them. They dodged in either direction as the dragon impacted the dirt beneath them. The mud washed over Kiba's legs up to and over his knees, effectively trapping him in the bog-like goo. Akamaru was buried up to his neck. Chouji jumped out of the ground, and as he was landed, he finished a bunch of hand seals, calling out "Katon! Housenka no jutsu!"
The fireballs he spat out impacted the area around the ninja and his dog.
"Ha, your aim is so bad you couldn't even hit us!" Kiba yelled. Chouji just landed and smiled.
"Try getting out." Chouji said. Kiba looked down and saw that the dirt around him had been solidified, and was nearly impossible to get out of. Akamaru could only whimper as he was stuck.
"Winner, Chouji." Said a slightly surprised Shikamaru. Chouji grinned and sank into the dirt once again, only to pull Kiba and Akamaru under and pull them back up to the surface.
Kiba looked crestfallen. Chouji reached his hand out. Kiba slowly moved his hand into Chouji's, and the shook.
"Good fight, Kiba."
"Thanks…Chouji."
"Ok, Hinata vs. Shino! Get ready!" Naruto shouted eager to get to the next match. The two fighters walked out to the middle of the field and nodded at each other. Hinata fell into her Jyuuken stance, while Shino just stood there.
"BEGIN!"
Hinata rushed at Shino, who just stood there. Hinata's hands were a blur as they flew out and struck several parts of Shino's body, flashes of chakra flying out his back. Hinata jumped away after noticing several hundred bugs trying to crawl up her leg. Shino just stood there, casually stretching his arms and legs, showing the Hyuuga heiress that he was unaffected by her attack.
"What! How?" asked Hinata.
"Your attacks are chakra based attacks. My kikkai bugs eat chakra. It's a simple matter of them coating my body and eating the chakra that would other wise close my tenketsu."
Hinata suddenly felt weak. With a blast of chakra and a spin, she activated the Kaiten to remove the bugs from her back. Jumping after she finished, she used several decent acrobatic moves to jump away. She made the familiar cross seal and said "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." Several Hinatas appeared, each one taking up a position around Shino. His bugs managed to crawl up one and after absorbing all the chakra in the clone, it dissipated. Hinata and her clones charged after the poof of the clone, throwing a myriad of Jyuuken attacks, as well as using a fist for several of the attacks, changing between physical and chakra attacks to keep Shino guessing. After a few moments, Hinata jumped back and her clones dissipated.
Shino fell down to his knees, and slowly fell face down onto the ground. Hinata stood back and relaxed as her opponent was down. Shino suddenly became a mass of bugs, which rose up in a wave and flew at Hinata, who jumped back and tried to dodge the attacks, only to run into the real Shino behind her. She spun around and attacked him. Surprisingly, Shino was decent at Taijutsu, and managed to either block or dodge most attacks. By the time Shino was ready to collapse, the bugs had reached Hinata and started draining chakra. They both struggled to stay conscious, but failed, and collapsed at the same time.
"…I guess it's a tie then…"
Naruto ran out to Hinata and started shaking her as Shino's bugs withdrew into their host's body.
"Oi, Hinata! Wake up!" He pulled out a soldier pill and stuck it in her mouth. She involuntarily swallowed. After a few seconds, the pill took affect, and her eyes flew open. She sat up suddenly and looked around. Naruto had just deposited another soldier pill into Shino's slightly open mouth.
"Naruto-kun? What happened?"
"Ano… you were sparring with Shino, and you tied. You both passed out at the same time. You were great! You kept him guessing the whole time!"
Hinata blushed slightly. "Thank you, Naruto-kun."
Shino woke and stood up, walking back to the sidelines. Hinata just sat there, staring into Naruto's eyes. 'So much like mine…but so different…' Her thoughts eventually turned to… other things. She blushed more. Naruto stood up and grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun."
"No problem, Hinata-chan"
'He called me Hinata-chan!"
Hinata blushed even more and almost fainted before she reached the others, finally coming to her senses as Kiba yelled "Wow, great fight, Hinata! I've never seen anyone move so fast! You were awesome!"
"Thanks, Kiba-san. You did well, Shino-san. Very clever use of a Bunshin hybrid. I thought it was you, but it really kept me guessing when it turned into a mass of bugs. You're very good!"
"Thank you, Hinata-san. You did very well yourself."
"So troublesome… I guess its time for our fight, Naruto."
"Yeah, I guess so… You ready?"
"Troublesome…"
They walked out to the middle of the field. Hinata decided to play the role of judge in place of Shikamaru, as he was now fighting. Sasuke, still unnoticed by everyone, looked on with anticipation. 'Time to see your abilities, Naruto-baka.'
Naruto took up a Jyuuken stance, only where his outstretched hand should have been sideways, it was held much more like Rock Lee's. His back hand was held normally, and his weight was shifted backwards.
"Ready?"
"Tch, troublesome… Whenever you are…"
Naruto didn't notice that the shadows under Shikamaru were already stretching out to him.
"Begin."
With that, Shikamaru's shadow touched Naruto's, who was now completely immobile.
"Kagemane successful."
Shikamaru reached into a pouch and pulled out several shuriken. This was the normal Shadow Bind, not Shadow Imitation, so Naruto didn't move at all. With a flick of his wrist, Shikamaru threw the shuriken at Naruto, doing several hand seals along the way.
"Kage Shuriken no jutsu."
The three shuriken multiplied into sixteen shuriken. Naruto's eyes widened as they impacted. POOF! The shadow clone burst into smoke.
"Nani?"
"You think I'd fall for that? You underestimated me."
Naruto's voice seemed to come from both everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It unnerved the group, and Shikamaru most of all.
"Now, let's end this. Amatsu Tenshi no Senshu: Ya Seisha!" Dozens upon dozens of blue chakra arrows burst into the field from the woods all around them. They came from every direction and in such numbers that even as Shikamaru dodged the first ones, he fell directly into the patch of the next group. The arrows dissipated as they struck the shadow user, each one hitting like a punch. Needless to say, Shikamaru was hurting after that attack. He fell onto his knee as a final arrow came flying out of the undergrowth.
"Jinjifusei no Ya!" (Knock out arrow.)
The arrow struck Shikamaru on the forehead. He instantly passed out.
Sasuke had been watching the entire fight, and was surprised when several Naruto clones appeared underneath the tree he was sitting in. He was even more surprised when they both reached out their right hands and produced a large pole of chakra. Then, a chakra string attached itself to either end of the pole and pulled taunt, creating a bow made entirely out of chakra.
Sasuke was amazed. It would take incredible chakra control to make this. He almost fell out of the tree when each Naruto clone pulled the chakra strings back, and a blue chakra arrow appeared by their hands in the correct position. Each Naruto released the arrow and they sped out to their intended target: Shikamaru.
Sasuke looked through the binoculars again just in time to see Shikamaru get hit from all sides by a large amount of these chakra arrows. Then, finally, one last arrow hit him in the forehead, and Shikamaru dropped. Sasuke could only stand there. Naruto had used clones to make an attack that would require an incredibly large amount of chakra as well as the control needed to shape and shoot the bow! Damn it! He's already so strong. I need to work harder to surpass him. If I can surpass Naruto, I can beat my brother…'
The clones dissipated, and Sasuke jumped down and walked back to town, hands in his pockets, brooding as usual. He didn't even notice when Ino and Sakura threw themselves unabashedly at him, completely brushing off the two fan girls. He had a lot of training to do…
Hey there, Halo here yet again. To picture Naruto's Heavenly Angel's Bow, think about Ishida's bow from Bleach. That's a fair vision of the bow… actually, that was my model for the attack… Heh, I can't be original all the time! Give me a break! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It took me awhile to get the fights though up and typed, and even then they come off pretty horrible. I don't think I did a very good job on them… except Chouji and Kiba's fight, I think that one was ok… but in any case, you guys were calling for longer chapters, so here you go! In other news, my Senior year in High school starts in a couple of days, so I wont be able to update very often, so I hope I can update chapters around this size to keep you happy. Also, I managed to get a hold of a copy of Final Fantasy VII, PC version. Finally, after hearing all the hype around the game, I get to play it! I hope it lives up to its name… even if the graphics are kinda old…. Meh, if the game is as good as people say it is, it won't matter. As my brother put it, "If games were intelligent, FF VII would be a god!" Accurate description? Or not? I'll find out eventually…. But anyway, Review! Tell me what you think! I'm off to post this now, so Laters!