Gaaaaahhhhh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to take so long to finish this chapter, please accept my apologies. I've had so many things going on it's just been harder to make time. If only I could type faster. I hope everybody enjoys this chapter. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. There are so many other things I wanted to say, but the site erased my previous explanation so I hope this is okay. As always, reviews are welcome.
I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form, but if I did this is how it would go.
HIRAI'S RAGE
As Naruto walked out to the middle of the training ground to face off against Hirai a thought crept into his mind. Would there be any difference without the fox's presence? He wanted to go all out to find out, but he knew he had to save most of his energy for Lee. He hoped that Hirai wasn't to tough and decided to start of lightly. He got to the middle of the training ground and waited for Hirai to get set. They looked at each other and Naruto said. "Are you ready?" He saw her nod and set herself, but he also noted a second of hesitation. She was unsure of how to proceed. His smile grew as he realized how unfair this was for her. As they were about to begin Naruto heard a scuffle near the entrance of the training area. Hirai heard it too and turned towards the source. However before her eyes could set on the cause of the scuffle a voice broke into her ears. "You should focus on your opponent. In this case that's me Uzumaki Naruto! Cuz if you don't you'll soon find your ass kicked!" Her head whipped back to him immediately. This arrogant person, she thought, I'll show him not to underestimate me. Hirai saw he was just standing there. It infuriated her, his casual stance. With unexpected speed she reached for a kunnai in her waist pack and launched it at Naruto. As soon as the kunnai was on it's trajectory she was running right behind it. Pulling out her kodachis as she ran. She saw him form a few seals, but didn't know what they were. However she saw no results and kept charging in she wasn't going to let him finish whatever jutsu he was trying to do. He caught the kunnai deftly with one hand and began parrying her attacks with it. She was moving as fast as her limbs would allow and yet he was parrying all her attacks with ease. Naruto was able to read her movements with ease. He didn't need a blood limit to see what she was going to do because her body telegraphed where it was going and her motions seemed to linear. As Naruto sparred with her he reflected on his younger days. Was he that transparent before? Were his moves so easily read as Hirai's were? He swung her arm to the side to open her guard up so he could attack when suddenly his clone which had been watching from behind stepped in and blocked the kunnai he had just parried to open her guard. Had the clone not stepped in she could have stabbed him without having to adjust her hands a fraction of a second that Naruto hadn't anticipated could have cost him the fight. A look of surprised appeared on both their faces. Naruto for having missed the fact that the kodachi's were double bladed and he had been baited into thinking he had opened up her guard, he realized he had underestimated her and saw another similarity to his younger self. Hirai for not having noticed the clone appear behind her and watch her through all her fighting. He had let her think she had the upper hand while he actually could have taken her out with ease the whole while.
Naruto's clone had caught a glimpse of the scuffle before he stepped in to help. It seemed that Lee was laying on the ground. Which would be correct. Lee had smiled and tried to apologize about the broken fan to Temari. However he was only able to get out a "Ano, gom-" His apology was cut short right then by a vicious right hand. Temari was not about to let Lee get away with this so lightly. She was about to pounce on Lee when Neji caught her from behind and tried to restrain her. She struggled for a second, but changed tactic's quickly.
She whispered in a dangerous voice to him. "You're going to have to let me go sometime. You might as well do it now. If you don't it'll only get worse." She stood still, but Neji could still feel her heavy breathing.
Neji quickly scoured his mind for a way to get out of this situation. They were after all in her village and at a big disadvantage if she did decide to turn on them. What did he know about her that he could use. Suddenly his mind went to something he had seen with byakugaan one day while training. It had not been intentionally seen, but now he brought it up in hopes it would have the desired effect on her. "Hai, what you say may be true. However I know about your precious... Shiki." Temari's eyes widened with shock. "Get rid of us and whenever they go through my journals in investigating my death I'm sure they'll stumble upon that tidbit. Maybe this makes no difference to you, but... what would your Kage think?" Neji said in his serious matter of fact voice.
Temari hadn't expected this turn of events. Nor had she expected Neji to use that information in such a manner. "You're lying." She said with little conviction. She didn't know Neji that well, but what she did know didn't help her cause.
Neji heard the uncertainty in her voice and knew he had her. He eased his grip on her as he whispered into her ear. "I have no reason to say anything. Let this go and I won't... you have a pupil to look after right now as well. Do we have a deal?" He felt the tension go out of her and knew his answer before she voiced it.
Temari saw the reason in his words. Even though she was still pissed off about her fan she knew she needed to make sure nothing happened that would endanger the villages relationship. She reluctantly said. "Hai, I agree." As she said this Neji immediately let go. He went to check on Lee who was starting to come around. She crouched down to pick up her broken fan and cradled it in her arms to inspect it. She wondered and hoped that it could be fixed. She then focused on her pupil.
Hirai jumped back after the parry. She didn't see him complete the seals and hadn't thought he pulled of the jutsu however she wasn't about to be outdone by some clone. She began forming her seals as well to form her own clone. However as she was doing this she saw that both Naruto's were also doing this. Was he mocking her she wondered. This began to anger her as she finished her jutsu and a clone appeared beside her. However almost instantly after she finished her jutsu there appeared two more clones next to the pair of Naruto's. She realized immediately that she had made a mistake. She had taken her eye's off him for a second and when she saw both of them performing the seals it was not an attempt to mock her, but to confuse her. To her dismay it had worked. She didn't know which one was the real one. Loosing track of the real one made her job harder, not much she thought to herself, because she would have to eliminate the clones first. Hirai didn't hesitate she and her clone both launched themselves at the Naruto clones. Naruto was somewhat surprised by her launching herself at him in such a manner. She was upon him before he had time to really assess the situation, but his clones parried all her and her clones attacks successfully and bought him a little bit of time. Before he reacted a smile spread on his face. This girl presented a good challenge, he wasn't about to start backing down now. As his clones occupied Hirai Naruto formed a few more seals and summoned a weapons scroll. He was reaching for a katana when he thought better of it. He wasn't about to easy on her. He instead picked up two short bo's. Each one about thirty inches in length and made of a sturdy metal. With the two bo's in hand he let the clone's disappear. In a flash he was in front of a Hirai clone, he saw the expression of surprise on her face right before he acted. He swung the bo forward and anticipating that she would move to block it pressed a button. The bo separated forming nunchakus. Hirai was only able to catch the bottom part with her block the other half went right over her kodachi and swung down striking her right above her forehead. There was a sickening thud as the metal connected to her skull and the reaction was almost immediate as Hirai let out a yell of pain and jumped back several yards stumbling and falling as she reached for her forehead with her hands. Naruto realized his error quickly, he thought she was the clone at first, that's why he hit so hard, but upon this realization he reacted with blinding speed to the clone that had launched itself at him. Naruto avoided the first attack and before the clone could reposition itself Naruto had already struck twice without mercy. There was only the look of shock on the clones face before it exploded into sand and fell harmlessly to the ground. Naruto walked past it and towards Hirai who was still on her knees. The pain Hirai felt was unreal. The impact had exploded into her system and made her feel like he had hit her with more than nunchakus. Her head was throbbing and her eyes were watering. However that was all erased as Naruto spoke and her anger began to rise. "You don't gotta cry Hirai. I didn't mean to hit you so hard." Then he stopped and laughed. (Inner Hirai was simply burning up inside. 'how dare that baka laugh as if it were something funny!!) Naruto kept going not knowing what was going on in her head. "We could stop if you want." He said in a gentle tone. This infuriated Hirai to no end, but he suddenly exploded at her and she had no reaction for a second. "OR YOU COULD STOP BEING HALF ASS ABOUT IT!!!! You scared or something, you wanna spar, don't be scared of using your blood limit!" an evil smile spread on his face. "The future Hokage of Konoha can handle it." He said in an evil and smooth voice. Hirai was stunned for a few second, however Temari's words remained with her. 'Don't use your limit' she had said. Hirai slowly got up a quiet intensity filling her. Naruto could see she was finally serious.
Hirai responded with a seething rage. "I don't need my limit to beat you." Suddenly she flickered and was about fifty yards away from him. Even from that distance Naruto saw that she had done something with the kodachi's. She held her arms to either side and flickered again this time she was fifteen yards away and the scene had totally changed. Naruto had seen all her movement with his trained eyes. Her kodachis had opened transforming into fans. It was something Naruto hadn't expected as the fans had a very thin paper between the blades which had opened up. However Naruto didn't have time to admire them as he knew what was coming and flickered back himself. Forming his wind summoning seals as he did so. Hirai swung her fans together in a blinding motion and yelled "WHIRLWIND ATTACK!" A huge gust of wind erupted from the fans and in a tornado like shape flew towards Naruto. However Naruto had also used his blinding speed to perform his seals and his chest was puffed out. He finished the seal and exhaled forcefully. The amount of wind that escaped his lungs was inhuman. Temari's eyes widened as she saw what was transpiring. She had taught that technique to Hirai and it had also served her well, but never did she expect that anybody would be able to do a wind summoning strong enough to counter it. Was it possible to have such an affinity with the wind or was Naruto that strong now. Either way she no longer had time to think as the whirlwind attack was undone by Naruto's wind blast.
Temari started as a voice spoke next to her. "I picked a worthy rival." She turned to see Rock Lee standing there for a fraction of a second and then he too had disappeared. Naruto didn't let up, before the whirlwind had completely died down he sprinted towards Hirai with ungodly speed. Hirai thought he had flickered, but regardless the next second Naruto's fist stopped an inch from her face and standing in front of her was Naruto with his outstretched fist, Hirai felt a breeze on her face. Next to Naruto stood the weird looking guy in the green suit. Lee had his hand around Naruto's wrist.
The implications of what Hirai saw happen didn't take long to sink in. She quickly realized with growing rage that she had been helped by another of the Konoha shinobi. He had helped her from suffering a crushing loss to one of his own. The rage was being fueled by shame. Temari's words of not using her blood limit were quickly being forgotten. Anger seeped through her veins as she felt pitied. She could feel herself tremble with fury. She stopped thinking as her only desire became to erase the feeling she felt. She would do that by erasing the ones that had caused those feelings. "Nnngghhh." She seemed to try to keep her emotions in check before it was too late.
Naruto looked at Lee questioningly as they stood there. He had not intended to actually hit her, however he was nonetheless impressed with Lee's speed. Lee grinned back at his comrade and was about to comment when they heard Hirai make some sort of small noise. They both turned to look at the young kunoichi and their eye's saw every detail. They saw the trickle of blood running down the blade of her kodachis' which had returned to blade from and even caught the slight trembles running through her body. Naruto began to ask what was wrong. "Hi..." He stopped as she began lifting her head and he saw that her pupils had disappeared and shining golden orbs stared back at him and Lee. A look of intense hate now had settled on her features and Naruto felt a chill as she stared at him. Her right hand swung forward with incredible speed making him and Lee jump back. Not knowing anything about Hirai's blood limit neither of them were ready for what happened next. The kodachi was glowing as she held it in front of her. That was all Naruto could see as suddenly the blade of the kodachi split. It had a fan-like effect as from one blade sprung ten. It seemed like an optical illusion as Naruto watched and began backing away. Lee did the same thing. The blades continued to separate and without warning exploded towards them. Several aiming toward Lee as well as Naruto. Lee quickly began jumping back. Each step he took raising his feet to unceremoniously take off his leg weights. The first one dropped where he had been just a fraction of a second ago and was almost instantly pierced and cut through as the blades followed him. The growth of the blades picked up speed as they followed him. Lee found himself quickly on the defensive as he was dodging multiple blades that kept coming. Naruto found himself in the same predicament. He was able to take of his arm weights, but the velocity of the blades didn't allow him any maneuvering room to get the leg weights off. He was not as fast as Lee, but he countered the oncoming barrage of blades. He quickly gathered his chakra and formed a rasengan in one hand. He thrust it at the blades, on contact the blades twisted and spiraled. However there were too many blades coming at him. He would not be able to keep up with his rasengan. He called up on more chakra and formed another rasengan in his other hand. He used both rasengan to begin twisting the blades. However he was still purely on the defensive as the multiple blades kept coming and he was quickly trying to think of something to stop this nightmare.
Temari and Neji had both seen the situation developing and rushed forward to help. However Hirai seemed to have sensed this and with her other kodachi pointed at the ground stopped them. The kodachi's blade exploded in width and length as it plunged itself into the ground. Temari saw this and jumped back into Neji making him fall backwards. He was taken by surprise and yelled. "WHAT THE." He was going to yell 'hell are you doing?!' However that question was cut short as enormous blades exploded out of the sand where they were just going. The blades kept erupting forming a huge wall of blades preventing them from helping them. Neji was awestruck. He was actually terrified. The girls intentions were clear from what he saw before the wall blocked their view. She planned to run them through and pin them against the wall. The suddenness of the attack had taken everyone by surprise. This realization didn't help him any. He scrambled to his feet as quickly as possible yelling as he did so. "DAMN!!" This was uncharacteristic of Neji, but he had never been in such a hopeless situation and the thought of loosing two people very important to him clouded his analytical skills. Temari was also scrambling to her feet fearing the worst. How she wished Gaara was here right now.
Almost as if in answer to Temari's words two words erupted in the training hall. "FUUTON RENKUUDAN!!" (compressed air ball) Nobody had noticed Gaara step into the room as they were all pre-occupied with the events in front of them. Neji tunned to see an immense ball of compressed air fly by him. He immediately turned on his byakugaan and his eyes widened in shock as he saw two other air balls follow the first one. He was awestruck at the insane amount of chakra molded into each one. The first one struck the wall of blades causing a huge explosion as it created a hole through which the other two flew through. The force of the explosion sent Neji and Temari sliding back in the sand. However Gaara's attack didn't end there as a huge wave of sand rose from behind them and swallowed up the blades. Through all the action neither Temari or Neji saw Gaara shoot through the hole to the other side.
Hirai was totally unaware of the situation as she heard and felt her wall of blades being destroyed. She began turning towards the commotion when suddenly she felt an explosion of pain through her hand and arms. She did not see what had caused this, but it was enough force to make her start spinning. The second air ball struck the ground where her blade had plunged itself and exploded. The force from this explosion sent her literally flying into the air. As she left the ground another emotion seeped into her rage. Fear. Nobody should have been able to break through her limit like that. She knew exactly who it was though as the sand wrapped her up and began to press against her. She had seen this technique used many times, but never in her wildest dreams thought she would be on the receiving end. Her fear began growing even more as her rage died away. Her mind returned to days past when she would watch Gaara training in this very room. She remembered him telling her about this technique as he used it on solid still barrels. He did this in such a relaxed manner it was always hard for her to believe his words. "This is a killing technique, Hirai. Imagine the scrapes you receive when you fall on the sand. The way the sand peels your skin off slightly. This technique works on the same principle except that with about a thousand times the pressure." As he said this he opened his hand and she saw the sand swallow up the barrels. He then closed his hand and the sand dispersed the barrel had disappeared. She could never imagine Gaara using it on another human being and now that she was in it's grasp she felt fear. She looked up and there right in front of her face stood Gaara on his face he wore no expression, Hirai could not read him at all and her blood froze in her veins. He was indifferent to her life, she thought she was gonna die and the worst part was that she realized she probably deserved it. She hung her head and waited for darkness to take her body trembling. What she didn't expect was for Gaara to speak to her with such a sad voice. "Gomen, Hirai. I should have been here sooner, I should have paid more attention to you. I should have made sure you didn't face Naruto. Gomen." The sorrow and honesty in Gaara's voice made Hirai want to cry. She wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault that she made the mistake, but it was to late. The sand fell away from her and he was walking away. His back to her he called on the sand and enveloped all of her blades. He had his hand in front of him held open and then he closed it. The sand all fell away and there was no sign of the blades. He kept walking away from her and making his way towards Naruto.
Naruto meanwhile was on the other side of the blades. When the blades stopped his momentum took him a few steps back as he slammed into the wall. He was breathing hard, but the blades had stopped and relief washed over him. He slid down the wall to a sitting position wondering what the hell had just happened. He had almost lost his life and he had for the first time in his life felt a slight strain as he used his chakra. The question of how much he took the fox's power for granted crossed his mind briefly. However he remembered Lee and snapped his head in his direction. He saw Lee was on one knee looking back at him. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and gave Lee a thumbs up which Lee weakly returned. Naruto relaxed and lay his head against the wall. He said to himself. "That was intense!" He didn't fully relax nerves on end in case the attack resumed, but he kept breathing trying to calm himself somewhat. He quickly jumped to his feet as he noticed a motion in front of him. The sand came up covering up the blades. Lee had also jumped to his feet. Suddenly everything in front of them fell harmlessly back to the ground. Walking towards them was Gaara. They both relaxed a little bit still remaining alert. He came up near Naruto and spoke. "Hello... Naruto."
PREVIEW
How is team 8 doing. Are they getting closer to their goal? What is their true goal?
RSO'S
Dobe-teme- Thanx, I haven't explored how Konoha feels about the whole Uchiha situation, but I feel there's alot who feel like you, but at the same time most of them don't really know about the Hyugaas level of skill with this as they really don't focus on it.
dragonman180- I thought about using water as well, but it didn't mesh well with lightning so I opted to not too. I'm not trying to go by the filler's so that wasn't really an influence, but I did consider water. I hope I didn't dissappoint. If I did this won't be the last time they fight.
raikiri1991- thanx, they're still around. Just haven't had time to put them in, but you should see them in the future again.
shadowneji- thanx, I haven't thought about that yet. As how she's nowhere near reaching her ceiling in her current level, but once she get's better I'll give it more thought.
asianwriter- anytime.
zerofaith- I am so sorry. Man talk about feeling bad. J/K. I got plenty of ideas, just lacking in the speed department.
raikiri91- No way, Jiraiya can live up to my aspirations... what he can.
tobmaster- Thank you. I feel it's about to start picking up speed, if only I could say the same about my updates. Sorry.
warprince- thanx, done.
causeiambetta- Thanx, Naruto still might pester Neji. You never know. I don't think Naruto is to big on the why factor though, so who knows. All he need's to know is that he owes her. Two words for your two words. No way. I feel I gotta be original, I'm not gonna take the chidori and give it to Hinata. I feel she's deserving of developing her own thing. Yeah, you're right Naruto won't show off yet. Sorry.
narashikamaru- Thank you. However you know what they say, the best training is to actually put it to use in a real situation. Thanx, I feel like I'm accomplishing those things, but now I find they are really eating away at my doing nothing time. J/K. Good luck with the job. Again thank you.
danny- Thank you. Man it's so refreshing to know someone can visualize what I'm trying to get accross. About the outcome was it what you expected? Or did you expect the unexpected? lol. Oh, Oh, Oh. I got to that part. Sort of. Lol.
crazygirlofmanynames- thanx.
jeefus- I'm glad you liked where I ended. Hope you like this chapter's ending too. Lol. I can be so cruel sometimes. J/K. Well, I hope you're not dissappointed in the outcome, and for legal purposes I in no way shape or form took any of your ideas. They were mine first so raspberries to you. lol J/K. Actually I rather liked you're long review. It was real fun to read.
sirus- thanx. P.S. sorry, I kinda had hoped that was implied, but hopefully people will read your review and make the connection. Thanx for saving me time. Woohoo the benefit of smart people know no bounds.
sipherous- wow, that's a long time. Thanx, I'll try to live up to the expectations.
vld- awesome, good catch. Alot of people just don't realize the potential Hirai has. You are the MAN, for catching that... unless your a girl in which case your not the man, but still awesome.
naruxhinafreak- Yeah, it is troubling, but it also opens up alot of possibilities. Thanx, I'm glad you like it. Oh do cliffhangers really distract you. That's so crazy that sounds exactly like...
kikyo4ever- sorry, bout the long wait, but it will be worth it. I hope.
nicademus- not a problem. Soon, I'm really gonna try to push the story along faster and trim down on anything that might not be necessary to the story. thanx.