Yes, finally! I'm slowly beginning to get loose here, so in some time I might be able to return to updating once a week. It's still impossible for the time being, but there's always hope.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. As for Toge (the 'bone guy') and his abilities, I will only say that all shall be revealed in the right time. His cases isn't as simple as it may seem right now.
Also, I feel rather disappointed in the number of reviews I've been getting lately. Don't mean to scare anyone, but my other fic has already been put on hold due to the lack of reviews and I wouldn't want for this one to be dropped as well. So if you want this story to keep going, review.
And now, without further to do, here's the next chapter of "Naruto Beyond":
Chapter #34: Second Exam – Team Eight
Title Page: forest: Kumo is observing an anthill, Hisaki is eating a sandwich with Hinako sitting right next to him, blushing and Hinata feeding a baby fox
Hinata stood at the view point, propping her hands on the rail and watching the Hokage Monument. She lowered her sight slightly as stars began to twinkle on the night sky. She didn't even turned around when she realized someone came to join her.
"Why are you standing her all alone, Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto as he came closer to the white-eyed woman and followed her glance. The head of the Hyuuga didn't reply at first and only after a moment of silence did she respond, yet she kept her voice down: "I came here to think a little… this was always my favorite spot…"
"So I know…" added the blonde with a warm smile. As he said so the woman finally turned to him and seeing his face she returned the smile. The whisker-marks looked at the Hokage Monument too and then speak up, without looking at the head of the Hyuuga: "I always thought that by this time I'll become Hokage… it's funny how the tables have turned… how I turned them… is it always that once we grow older, we spot perusing our childhood dreams?" he asked the woman, who looked at the monument behind her before replying:
"Not really… we just came to realize that not everything is so easy… that we have other things that has to be done, even if it means to put aside our dreams for the time being… this is what you told me yourself the day I left the leadership of the clan to Neji…"
"I did, didn't I?" the blonde asked himself with a smile. "Boy, I must be really getting old since I don't remember my own words…" and at this point they both laughed softly. After a short while silence felt between them once more and the Kyuubi vessel glanced up at the crescent moon that shun above them. "How unromantic…" he whined at the sight.
"Things changed a lot since we were little, haven't they, Naruto-kun?" the woman asked with a slightly teasing smile showing on her face. "Sometimes I'm wondering what part we played in those changes… or were we just by-standers that waited for the changes to come?"
"You certainly weren't, Hinata-chan…" announced the blonde confidently. "After all, you're the reason why Hyuuga changed so much… even though you're not leading them anymore… at least not in the literal sense… but you'll always be the heart of your family…" and just then their faces came close.
However, before anything could happen, if something was about to, a sudden appearance of another jounin distracted both of them. The new arrival was a man their age, wearing a light green outfit with a hood covering his head and sunglasses on his nose and a black shirt underneath the jacket. A wide neckband hid his mouth and a Leaf hitae-ate was barely visible from beneath his hood.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I have an important massage…" announced the mysterious man, gaining both jounin's attention. "Hokage-sama wish to see all the jounin that are not busy with the exams or outside the village to come to a special meeting… you presence is required as well, I'm afraid…"
"Yeah, yeah…" replied Naruto with a sigh. "We're going…" and with that he slowly walked over to the man. The moment they stood next to each other, the blonde whispered into his ear so that Hinata couldn't hear: "You know, you really blew a moment there, Shino…"
---Back to the Forest of Death---
Urusai and Ayame immediately reached for their kunai as Jun narrowed his eyes and looked in the darkness that embraced the trees around them. Kakashi's daughter felt a single drop of sweat running down her face and as a barely hearable sound of a tree branch getting moved reached her ear, she automatically tossed her knife in the direction it came from without thinking.
In a flash another kunai shoot from the darkness and as the two collide in mid-air, they both got thrown off course and landed on the ground harmlessly. "Chill, will ya?" they heard a familiar voice and in the next moment Hisaki, Hinako and Kumo walked out to the clearing. "It's only us…" continued the blonde as he raised his hands.
"What are you guys doing here?" asked Jun both surprised and suspicious. Hisaki, who all this time kept on smiling, replied almost immediately: "We were passing by when Kumo realized you guys set out camp nearby… we figured that we can visit you… and save ourselves the trouble of setting camp…" he added quickly, scratching the back of his head.
Ayame sweat dropped at hearing that statement. She glanced at Kumo, on who she could swore she saw a sweat drop too, but decided to shook it off. "We brought some rabbits…" Hisaki added after an uncomfortable silence that felt between them and seeing that didn't give the effect he wanted, he kept on going: "Besides, it'll be safer if both of us were to join forces for the night… in case of any attack, our chances of winning the fight will increase…"
"Okay, fine…" Jun quieted him annoyed. "Just give us those stupid rabbits so we could cook them! Ayame, prepare a genjutsu barrier to cover up the camp fire…" and at this point the masked kunoichi nodded and performed a quick set of hand seals.
"So, who's it going so far?" asked Hinako cheerfully as she settled down near the pile of branches that Urusai made. With a quick set of hand seals a small among of flames left Jun's mouth and soon the fire covered most of the pile the blonde made.
"Been better…" was all Jun said, making Hisaki's eye twitch slightly at his companion's cold attitude. Kumo merely glanced at the young genius and then, turning back to look at the fire, he speak up: "I take that you haven't get any scroll so far…"
"It's worse then you think…" replied Urusai before Ayame managed to shut him up. "We lost the one we were given at the beginning…" and as he said so, Kakashi's daughter began boiling. In a flash she jumped onto the blonde and began wiping the floor with him.
"How in the world did you graduated from the Academy?!" she yelled as she shook her teammate. "Shinobi should never reveal information about himself or his actions to an enemy and even though they're from the same village, they're still our rivals, idiot!"
"Ayame-san, you should quiet down…" advised Hinako slightly scared as she tried to calm her companion down. "You covered the arena with genjutsu, but your voice can still be heard in the forest…"
"So, you're scrolless…" concluded Hisaki as he glanced at Jun. The other boy didn't reply, which made the blonde sure Urusai spoken the truth. The leader of team eight only narrowed his eyes slightly and turned back to the other two.
Ayame finally gave Urusai a break, but the blonde sure didn't look too well. Hinako helped him up, thus making the loud mouth blush deeply. Hisaki raised his sight at the starry sky as a worried expression crossed his eyes.
"Go to sleep…" Jun suddenly said in an ordering tone. "I'll take the first watch…"
The night was peaceful and before they knew it sun began rising on the horizon. The fourth day of the second exam was going to be a bright one. Urusai stretched himself as he yawned and only then did he notice Hinako cooking some soup on the fire. "Oh, Urusai-kun, you're up… good morning!" she welcomed him cheerfully with a wide smile, making the blonde blush again.
Only then did the loud mouth notice that the rest of team eight was already up with Kumo sitting motionless on a nearby log and Hisaki sitting on a tree branch above the camp. The moment he realized the blonde was up, the leader of Hinata's cell flipped back and somersaulting in mid-air, landed right before Urusai: "You guys sure get up late…" she stated with a smile as the other blonde scratched the back of his head, still slightly 'out there'.
"Ayame-chan isn't up yet?" Urusai asked in a sleepy voice and looked at his companions. The one to answer was Hinako: "She's still asleep… does only Jun-kun get up at a ninja hour?" she teased as she tasted the soup.
"Jun's up already too?" the blonde asked surprised and then saw his teammate coming out of the forest with water. He glanced at the loud mouth with an accusing look and then settled the liquid down to divide it.
The morning passed and soon the two teams were preparing to go their separate ways: "Good luck to you guys then…" Hisaki smiled to them friendly as he waved his hand. None of the team seven members made a gesture to reply to him as they turn away and began walking. The blonde seemed to consider something for a moment and then, with a short hesitation, he called out: "Wait a minute…"
And as Urusai and his teammates turn around, he tossed them a Heaven's scroll. Jun looked at it suspiciously and then glanced back at Hisaki: "What's that suppose to mean?"
"Take it…" the blonde replied calmly. "We have a complete anyways, so we don't really need this one and considering how little time is left, it might help you…" and as said so Ayame walked out front and slowly picked up the wrapped scroll. He glanced at team eight for a moment and then asked: "But why are you doing this?"
Hisaki threw the other blonde a quick glance before he looked back at the masked kunoichi and replied: "Lets just say that Urusai impressed me during the first exam and that's my way of showing it… besides, it's a payment for letting us use your camp for the night…"
"Thanks…" Urusai finally managed to speak up as he held out his hand. Hisaki only smiled and shook it. "Watch yourselves…" the loud mouth said as the farewell. Jun only nodded with a tiny smirk appearing on his face. Ayame said nothing.
In a flash Naruto's students were gone, leaving team eight behind. "Was it wise?" asked Kumo calmly once the trio was gone. "As Ayame said herself: even though they're from the same village, we're still rivals in the exam… now we have nothing to trade in case we run into some powerful opponents…"
"Don't worry, we'll make it through…" Hisaki replied as he smiled towards his friend. "We're heading to the tower anyway, so this part will soon be over for us…" and so he spun on his foot and headed towards the finish line of the exam.
Kumo only let out a weak sigh and then followed his teammate. Hinako smiled widely as she observed her blonde companion disappearing between the trees. After a short moment she took off to catch up and the three headed to the tower located in the middle of the forest.
---That time, elsewhere---
"Boy, those sand-nins were so easy to defeat that it almost feels unfair to pass the second exam like this…" announced Kenbu as he jumped onto another tree branch, following his teammates. "Maybe we could stick around and finish off few more teams?" he purposed, but none of his companions seemed to care much about his idea.
"We're not here for fun, Kenbu…" Kigahen reminded him coldly. "Don't forget about the mission… even though my brother turned out to be a great disappointment, we still have work to do here…"
"Yeah, yeah…" whined the swordsman bored. "But what's the point in any of this right now? That brat was supposed to be the key, since he's out of the question, there's really no point for us to be here…"
"You're mistaken…" replied the blonde, still calm. "He was just one of the targets…"
"One of the targets?" Fuka looked at him confused. "I wasn't informed that there was more then one target… would you mind explaining this, Kigahen-kun?" she asked her teammate, who only threw her a quick glare, which told her that there was not point in continuing this conversation.
---different goals and motives… the worlds collide---
And with that this chapter is done. Hope you enjoyed it and do leave a review after you're done with it yourselves. It'd be nice and will help this fic survive.
And now, since I haven't done this for a bit, here's another character profile:
Name: Emimaru Hinako
Name origins: her first name is made from the word 'hina' which means 'chick', while her clan's name is based on the word 'emi' which means 'blessed with beauty' (usually used as the first name). Maru in this case means 'something in full'
Age: currently 13 years old
Birth Date: 14th of February
Blood Type: AB
Height: 141,1 cm
Weight: 46,2 kg
Favored style of fighting: weapon usage
Current rank: gennin
Village: Konoha (Hidden Leaf)
Team: cell led by Hyuuga Hinata; her teammates are Aburame Kumo and Hashira Hisaki
Family: very little is known about her clan. Her parents died when she was still very little and now she and her older sister are the last of their clan
Bloodline limit: none
Techniques: Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu
First appearance: 25th chapter
Also, so that you won't get too confused, I'll place the full list of more important gennin bellow (just as a reminder... one of those teams didn't made an appearance in the story yet however):
KONOHA (Naruto): Hatake Ayame, Hanayaka Jun, Kodawari Urusai
KONOHA (Hinata): Emimaru Hinako, Aburame Kumo, Hashira Hisaki
KONOHA (Shikamaru): Uchiha Homura, Akimichi Choumura, Hyuuga Isseki
KONOHA (Sasuke): Inuzuka Hige, Fuujiru Dajaku, Reijuushi Kyoudai
KONOHA (Lee): Naifu Ibuki, Mekko Gaki, Sakudo Kei
SUNA (Temari): Nibai, Sabaku no Kai, Saboten
SUNA (Kankuro): Hagetaka, Chisoku, Kugutsu
KIRI (mist-nins, Tsurara): Ago Fuka, Ketsueki Kenbu, Kodawari Kigahen
OTO (Kabuto): Tategoto Fushi, Kaguya Toge, Wooku
KUSA (grass-nins): Chitagana Renge, Hongen Kamoku, Irakusa
AME (rain-nins): Kasumi, Kasano, Pazu Tso
And that's it for now. Hope you like it and until next time.
Cya.