CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – Present day, human world, three kilometers village of Konohagakure
"You will be subjected to an environment in which your demonic senses will either make you, or break you," Naruto had informed her. She had struggled with mastering her senses for several days until finally, he decided to do an ultimatum. He found an abandoned fort a short hike from their home that would serve as her residence for one hundred and forty-four hours. "This is the solitary confinement chamber of what once was a temporary military fortress, and I will, over the next six days, slowly open all the light sources. You will either get used to your senses, or have a psychotic episode." He hated to do it; there carried a potential her mind—newly demonic—would snap under the pressure of the room. Still, she would never realize her senses fully otherwise. He trusted her strength, but felt apprehensive. "You do not know the agony of the chamber."
"I...I want...I want to do it...Naruto-kun," she said. "I want to...master this...If I can't control the basest part...of my being...how can I ever hope to battle?"
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. "Please survive," he requested.
"I...I hope so...Naruto-k...kun." Stepping downward into the dark chamber, their hands slowly slipped apart. Naruto shut the thick steel door and turned the crank until the door was firmly locked.
See you in six days, he thought. He left the fortress and headed back to the village; he had business to attend to.
Back in the village, the chuunin exam had been concluding for a while now. The third part of the chuunin exam had seen an exciting first and second round, and now it came down to the finals. The initial rounds had seen the elimination of almost every genin from other villages, and now the tiers were two. The screen displayed two names right next to each other: Matsukita Satoshi versus Higurashi Otowano. Out of more than a hundred ninjas from various villages, despite being the youngest competitors in the chuunin exam at ages six and seven, respectively, Satoshi and Otowano had survived despite being laughed at and focused on by every other competitor. Yomiko had seen her elimination at the hands of a much older sand village ninja, and Satoshi had seen revenge, by eliminating him.
"So, Otowano," Satoshi uttered standing arms folded. "I get to show you what I learned from Kakashi-sama during the break. Believe it!" He'd acquired a private lesson from Kakashi.
"We get to square off! HOOOOHAAAAAAAA!" He raised a glorious fist. "But don't think I'm going easy on you, Satoshi. I learned some mighty techniques from Naruto-sama!"
The proctor dropped his arm and the battle kicked off. Both combatants propelled, diminutive rockets shooting across the closed-in battlefield. Satoshi began his assault on his partner's senses. Ducking beneath a right hook he brought his left leg straight up and nailed a strong axe kick directly on his opponent's chin. As Otowano got shot vertically, his foe created a physical shadow clone which did a spin after a leap, nailing its target right on the head, bringing him down, into the path of an uppercut which threw the cheerful ninja backwards. Before landing on his back, however, he pushed off the ground with his hands and resumed a standing position. He barely had time to twist his torso concavely in avoidance of a rising knee strike. Fortunately, he managed to utilize his awkward body position in the form of a twist, which guided a roundhouse kick that blasted Satoshi right on the chin. The dark-haired genin landed on all fours, and forced himself upwards. They both grinned.
"You attack well," Satoshi admired.
"You really hit hard," Otowano replied, giving a "Hoohaa!" at the end.
Hinata sat in total darkness. Six hours into it, and she barely managed to inch her blindfold partially off of one eye. With one of the light sources partially cracked—such a small beam of light wouldn't even enable a human's sight—a fully uncovered eye took in an unbearable brightness. She sat with one eye halfway concealed for hours, trying to get used to it. Pulling every ounce of chakra away from her eyes didn't help; it seemed akin to dressing a bullet wound with a sticky bandage. She had one of her earplugs out, and even so, she had to make careful not to move too much; sounds seemed unimaginably magnified. A finger tap sounded like a sonic boom to an exposed ear. HOW does Naruto-kun stand it?! she wondered to herself.
I HAVE to get used to this soon, she realized. By the second day I will have gone without food for twenty hours, and my enhanced demonic metabolism can't handle it. I know there's food down here but if I can't stand the light, I won't be able to see it with my blindfold on.
She pulled up the other part of her blindfold so both eyes were halfway uncovered. She clenched her teeth as she opened both eyes and dealt with the agony. God, help me through this.
Satoshi and Otowano stood panting. They'd been going at it for four whole minutes. Taijutsu after Taijutsu exchange, ninjutsu here and there, they'd worn themselves almost out. They both knew their next attack would decide the victor. I'm going to have to pull out this new technique that Kakashi-sama taught me, Satoshi figured.
Naruto-sensei taught me this new technique; if I don't use it, Satoshi's gonna wipe the floor with me, Otowano realized. He came up with his strategy as he saw Satoshi make a hand sign. Satoshi gathered chakra in his hand and pushed off the ground with chakra in both feet. Making use of all his available speed, he zoomed over to his friend's position. Clutching his left hand on his right wrist, lightning began to shoot off his open right palm. Instantly Naruto glanced over the walkway at Kakashi.
"CHIDORI? You have to have a sharingan to do that!"
Kakashi came over, and whispered the story in Naruto's ear. "Satoshi was actually the son of Uchiha Itachi and a non-shinobi villager. He never knew his father, but I learned of it through old records." He grinned that trademark Kakashi grin. "Why do you think I privately tutored him? Because he's the fourth youngest Sharingan user ever!"
"But he could kill him!"
"Which is why I'm going to stop the fight with Satoshi being the winner if Otowano doesn't come up with something now!"
Otowano looked in horror at the lightning on his partner's hand. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? He began to be worried, but came up with his plan. He bit down hard onto his thumb and drove a smidgen of blood down deep into the dirt. His opponent was mere inches from him with lightning power in his hands.
SLASH!
The sound of flesh being cut resounded. The medical ANBU prepared to spring forth in an attempt to save Otowano, although he could already be dead. Everyone looked horrified at the sight they saw...except Naruto.
He he, good one Otowano! he thought.
Five different summoned vines clasped themselves hard round Satoshi's neck, arms and legs, With a thought, the vines tightened and and Satoshi was pulled into a position that opened his torso for attack; he could not even move. "Bloodvine no jutsu, my trademark," he commented. He took a leap backwards. He cupped a right hand below a left hand he rotated above it. A blue whirlpool of light sucked itself towards a singularity halfway between the two hands. A miniature star being formed, it turned into a pulsating blue orb of chakra. "AND THIS IS NARUTO-SENSEI'S TRADEMARK!" He sprung forward. "RASENGAN!"
He slammed it right into Satoshi's gut, tossing him all the way across the battleground. As all stood in awe, Satoshi lifted his head. "You...are something else...believe...it..." He fell unconscious from the blow, and from lack of chakra.
"I won! HOOOHAaaa..." Plop. Face met dirt.
"Wow."
"Yeah. Wow's right, Kakashi-san," Naruto admitted. "I didn't expect this level from a chuunin exam fight." He began to walk away.
Kakashi looked at him. "Where're you going?"
"To get some ramen, and then tomorrow I'm going to check on Hinata."
Hinata sat in the center of the chamber, the blindfold completely off. She had gotten used to the intense light conditions—finally—but kept the earplugs in. She had found the store of food he'd hidden in the chamber and feasted. She took the next step of removing both earplugs. Her enhanced hearing allowed her to hear the faint rustling of the air. Then she shifted to a standing position and the movement banged in her ears so she slid back down with clenched teeth waiting for the sound to die down. Well, isn't this a fine conundrum, she thought.
Naruto approached the door of the chamber. "How are you doing?" He opened the slider on the door halfway.
"Naruto-kun!" she said, "it's too bright!"
"Okay," he replied, opening the slider all the way, ignoring her cries. Forgive me, Hinata, but if I go easy on you you'll never master this. "I'll be back tomorrow."
He kept returning until the sixth day when he could let her out into the open. She finally had mastered her senses; his crash course allowed her to adapt much faster than the three weeks it had taken him.
"Stand, Matsukita Satoshi," Jiraiya instructed, rustling his paperwork. When the overly-thin ninja stood, with hands cupped behind his back, the aging shinobi acknowledged him. "For mastery of a jounin level technique, as well as good performance during the exam, we hereby raise you to a class-one chuunin."
"Thank you, sir!" Satoshi cheerfully replied. He went into the next room to be fitted for his vest.
"Stand, Higurashi Otowano." The always bubbly ninja stood. "For mastery of a jounin level technique, incredible strategic ability for your age, as well as exceptional performance during the chuunin exam, we hereby whitebook you."
Otowano could have exploded out of his skin. "WHITEBOOK!" he did a vertical leap almost six feet in the air. "HOOOOOOOOOHAAAAAAAAAAA!" Ninjas hundreds of yards away from the building wondered what the hell that sound was.
"Ahem," Jiraiya cleared his throat, silencing Otowano. "You have demonstrated ability far beyond that of a regular ninja. The White Book of Exceptional Young Ninja list all of the ninjas who never served as a chuunin. You are hereby raised in rank to a class one sensei-type jounin." He grinned. "You are very talented; your sensei did not score well enough to skip the chuunin rank." He shook the child's hand. "We haven't had a seven-year old jounin in my lifetime. Congratulations."
"SENSEI! NARUTO-SENSEI!"
Naruto saw the young Otowano do a charging leap into his arms. "I can tell by the vest you made it, Otowano. Congratulations."
"I'VE BEEN WHITEBOOKED!"
Naruto's jaw dropped. "Oh my God! That's great!" he thought of it. A seven-year old jounin? Damn. "I have to say, I certainly wasn't expecting that."
Otowano did a Sonic-The-Hedgehog style dash through the village. "HOOHAA! HOOOHAAAA! HOOOOOOOOOHAAAAAA!"
Naruto walked away, smiling. "I wonder who he reminds me of," he whispered to himself.