Team 7: A Retelling
By: Tellemicus Sundance
#09: Return to Konoha
Four days later…
Konohagakure
After resting for another day in Nami after the 'sparring matches' that Zabuza and his minions had with them, Team 7 had finally departed. Since they'd been all but carried back to Tazuna's house after the fights, none of the ninja had seen the exact of damage inflicted upon the bridge from the various fights. Massive cracks, torn up and crumbled blocks, charred and blackened stone, craters and missing chunks of railings, and more littered the entire length of the bridge. What was once an almost pristine structure of endurance and fortitude now looked battered and barely standing on its own feet. Needless to say, all of the Konoha ninja had been quite embarrassed and apologetic about the extent of damage they'd unintentionally caused on Tazuna's project. The old man had taken their apologies with a beaming smile as he and many others of Nami waved them off.
The run home to Konoha was much more relaxed than it probably could've been. But then with three of the four ninja suffering from a substantial case of chakra exhaustion, no one was complaining about the light jog they had taken through the forest. Of course the 'light jog' probably would've been considered full-on sprinting for hours on end by most civilians, but that's only by the perspective of the beholder.
It was approaching dusk now and they could finally see a very familiar and welcome landmark ahead them. The protective wall surrounding Konoha was visible with the massive gates looming ever closer, the Hokage Mountain clearly visible over the tall structure. Sasuke would freely admit that he quite enjoyed his time away from the ninja village, but the sight of the easily-recognizable gates of his home village was a truly heart-warming experience for him. Despite his best efforts, a relieved smile crossed his face as he and his team reached the gates and entered the village proper. It was good to be home.
"Oh man, I can't wait to visit Ichiraku!" Naruto gushed, practically drooling at the thought of the heavenly broth of ramen that was no doubt waiting for him. "I haven't had any good ramen in weeks!"
"After we register in and file our mission reports, you can have all the ramen you want, Naruto-san," Kakashi admonished lightly, gazing distractedly around them at the welcome sight of his home.
"I know, sensei," Naruto said, whining slightly as he remembered the one part of his ninja career he despised the most: paperwork. "But I really, really wanna go now!"
"Quit whining like a brat, Naruto-kun," Sakura growled lowly, a cool breeze blowing off her. "It's very annoying. Grow up already."
"But Sakura-cha—"
"SASUKE-KUN, YOU'RE BACK!" a shrill voice cried out as a body smelling strongly of apple-cinnamon perfume slammed into Sasuke's back and a pair of slender but strong arms wrapped themselves around his upper arms and chest. "I've missed you so much!"
Staggering slightly, Sasuke had to quickly catch his footing to prevent himself from falling forward with the girl on top of him. That would've been inexplicitly embarrassing, on so many levels. Glancing back with a deeply annoyed glare, Sasuke said, "Get off me, Yamanaka."
Ino was sporting a slightly red flush on her cheeks due to her close proximity to her 'true love' and she smiled cutely as he looked back at her. "But, Sasuke-kun," she purred out in a voice that was far too sexy than someone her age should've been capable of yet. "It's been so long since we've seen each other! I just can't bear to let you go so soon."
"He said to 'get off,' Ino-san," Sakura growled out pointedly, feeling every bit as annoyed as Sasuke at her best girlfriend and rival's actions. "We just got back from a mission and we're all tired. Come back to bother us tomorrow, at least."
"If you're so tired, then, by all means, leave, Dekorīn," Ino said, smiling slyly at Sakura. Turning back to Sasuke, she purred out, "Nice clothes, Sasuke-kun! You look even cooler than before! They must've cost a fortune to get!"
"Troublesome woman," a lazy voice remarked from nearby.
"Hey, Shika, Choji!" Naruto called out, turning to face their other classmates. "Think you could pry Ino off Sasuke before he does a Kawarimi on me again? I don't think I could survive another one of those."
Much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, Sasuke knew that Naruto had just completely read his mind on what he was planning to do should Ino not release him in the next five seconds. Something that Ino would now doubtlessly not allow now that she was reminded of Sasuke's most favorite escape strategy from her.
"This is Ino we're talking about, Naruto-san," Shikamaru pointed out lazily, earning him a murderous glare from Ino in the process, which he blatantly ignored. "We'd have a better chance of pulling the moon out of the sky than getting her off Sasuke."
"Eh…good point," Naruto admitted, resigning to what he figured would inevitably happen in the near-future.
As the kids were interacting, Kakashi glanced to the side as Sarutobi Asuma walked over towards him and the genin. The burly man was idly smoking one of his usual cigarettes and had a slight grin on his face as he watched Ino make a nuisance of herself with the boy she adored so much. Turning to Kakashi, he casually said, "You're finally back. I hope that bridge builder wasn't too much of an annoyance."
"He wasn't too bad to get along with after the first surprise attack," Kakashi said lightly, smiling slightly under his mask as he saw he'd fully gotten Asuma attention. "Turns out he'd had a bounty on his head that some Kiri-nin were trying to cash in. My team was able to hold them off, though…Quite easily, actually."
Never let it be said that Kakashi was an unjustifiably arrogant ninja, he just liked to rub other peoples' faces in the muck in due time. And he'd been getting a lot of that himself from Asuma and, to a lesser extent, Kurenai since the Genin Final Exams. His two Jounin sensei comrades had been steadily, if subtly, boasting about their genins' accomplishments and exceptional mission performances for weeks prior Team 7's Nami mission. Apparently, unlike him, Asuma and Kurenai had gotten their teams started on missions within the first week of graduation. In fact, Asuma had been boasting of Team 10's third successful C-Rank just before Team 7 left, even though the mission itself hadn't been all that impressive in the first place.
"Anyone in particular?" Asuma asked, quite curious.
"First, it was the Demon Brothers as we were approaching Nami no Kuni." That name didn't ring any bells for Asuma, of course, since they had never attained any worthwhile infamy outside Kirigakure. "And, as we were leaving, we got attacked by a team led by Zabuza, the Kirigakure no Kijin."
"Za-Zabuza?!" Asuma stuttered, looking sharply at his colleague. When he first saw Kakashi, he'd noticed quite quickly the bandages hidden under his Jounin uniform, the slightly hesitant manner in which he moved about (even though it was very well hidden), and the man's slightly depleted chakra levels. But Asuma could see that they weren't life-threatening so he'd not paid them much more attention. But if he'd truly been in a battle with the feared Kijin, then he shouldn't have walked away with only such minor injuries! And Kakashi's genin didn't seem all that injured either, excluding an occasional scrape, a small and bandaged wound, or a half-healed cut. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you later, after we report in," Kakashi said dismissively. Deciding to finally come his students' aid with dealing with Ino, he loudly called, "Alright, that's enough playing around, kids. Team 7, we're overdue to report in. Time to go!"
"Hai!" all three genin answered. In a burst of pure speed, Sasuke slipped out of Ino's distracted clutches and jumped to the relative safety behind Naruto and Sakura, without trying to make it seem like he was hiding. Neither of his teammates seemed surprised by his quick escape or that he'd chosen to cower behind them, though Ino had complained quite loudly in disappointment when she saw where he'd gone. It was with an almost audible sigh of relief that Sasuke moved with his team towards the Hokage Tower.
Training Ground 29
Early next morning…
"Do we really have to do this, Ino-san?" Choji asked, somewhat distractedly as he tried to wipe sleep from his eyes. It was about six o'clock in the morning, a full two hours before he usually sat down for breakfast with the team before heading to the Tower for a mission, and he was really feeling the effects of deprived sleep. That and Ino hadn't even given him time to grab a few bags of chips before hauling him bodily out of his bed and home for reasons that he still wasn't entirely sure of.
"Baka!" Ino snapped, rather annoyed with Choji. "If we don't do this now, we won't have time to catch them before breakfast or Asuma-sensei getting us a new mission or training today! Besides, Dekorīn told me that they usually get started training at five! So quit complaining already!"
Shikamaru just glanced to the side in annoyance at the blonde. Truthfully, he knew why he was accompanying her on this 'reconnaissance mission'. It was because he was reluctantly curious. While Ino's motives for spying on Team 7 were clearly hormonal, he still wasn't too sure why she felt the need to drag him and Choji along with her. Maybe she just wanted to use them as patsies in case they got caught? If so, then he'd have to admit that that was a pretty good plan for her to help save face, as long as none of Team 7 looked too deeply into the situation.
Regardless, he was just as curious as Ino was. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had all been friends for years, since the early days of the Ninja Academy. They had formed their own little cliché that many of their peers couldn't quite understand. Why would the best student in the class make friends with a book-smart but otherwise unremarkable girl like Sakura? How could either of them put up with a loudmouth idiot like Naruto? How could Naruto stand to be friends with the same guy who continuously outclassed all of his abilities in class and didn't share his love of pranks and playing hooky? And what did they do in their spare time outside of the Academy? Ino had once told him that Sakura usually worked herself into the dirt doing self-training out in the forest and would never do anything fun if Ino didn't forcefully drag her away. It was something Shikamaru could respect about Sakura for doing. Sasuke probably did a lot of that in his clan training grounds, but Naruto always seemed to just disappear if he wasn't pulling pranks on people.
When he'd learned they'd all been placed on a team together, he honestly hadn't been surprised since they were already good friends and the Hokage probably knew that. And he also hadn't been surprised when Asuma-sensei learned that they'd apparently managed to pass the test of the renowned ninja Sharingan no Kakashi. But Shikamaru had also noticed the faintest hitch in Asuma's speaking and the tiniest stiffening of his posture as he told them that, he knew something about Team 7 that he was hesitant to tell his own team about. It was a mystery that had been gnawing faintly at the back of Shikamaru's mind for weeks now and he had finally resolved to settle it. And since he knew that none of Team 7 usually socialized too much outside their little circles, he'd have to watch them from afar to discover just what was being hidden.
"AHHHHHH!" a piercing cry cut through his thoughts like a scythe through wheat. Snapping his head up straight, Shikamaru looked in the direction of the cry, the training field straight ahead of them.
"That sounded like Naruto," he said needlessly, curious and a little concerned. No one in Konoha but Naruto could shout that loudly, and that had been one of pain.
"Let's go!" Ino ordered, rushing forward already.
"Wait!" Shikamaru barked, catching Ino's wrist to keep her from charging headlong into an unknown situation. Gesturing towards the trees, he said, "Let's go this way." Ino nodded after only a second of consideration, jumping into the branches and racing along, her teammates at her heels.
As they drew closer to the next training area, various new sounds began to reach them. Sounds like the unmistakable cracks of a snapping whip, sloshing and splashing water, and the more familiar impacts of flesh and metal on wood. Finally reaching the training field, Team 10 dropped stealthily to the ground and peered through the underbrush. What they saw actually caused all of them to stop and stare.
The first thing they saw was Naruto, dressed once again in that new black and orange outfit he'd apparently gotten on their previous mission. He was sprinting upon the running track with a rope tied from his waist to a thick board that he was dragging behind him. Sitting upon this board was Kakashi and three large stone statues of the Buddha, the man ruthlessly cracking his whip upon Naruto's unprotected back, shoulders, and butt as he continuously told him to run faster.
"Will you stop it already, oni-sensei?!" Naruto was yelling in pain and desperation. "I'm not a horse!"
"No, a horse could run faster!" Kakashi pointed out, gaining a deadly gleam in his single visible eye. Suddenly lashing out much more ferociously and quickly with his whip, he yelled, "Now shut your mouth and move your legs!" And indeed Naruto did run faster, easily doubling his previous speed due to the increased incentive.
As the blur that was the tortured blonde raced past them, Shikamaru spotted Sasuke. Dressed in only his new blue shorts and white sash, he stood in the center of a converted boxing ring. Surrounding the ring was a series of posts and weapon launchers. Some of the posts had spring-loaded mats that were lashing out at the Uchiha heir in random patterns, forcing the Uchiha to either counter or dodge them. At the same time, kunai and shuriken were being shot out of the weapon launchers whenever he crossed one of their lines of sight. Sasuke had a kunai in each hand, allowing him to easily deflect the weapons that he couldn't dodge. Another Kakashi stood off to the side of this, speaking to the Uchiha as he read a book in his hand. Was he giving the Uchiha a lecture at the same time as he forced him to dodge all that? Talk about learning to multitask!
And finally, off to the side by the river, there was Sakura. Her training seemed to be the least dangerous, to a certain degree. She was simply sparring with yet another Kakashi upon the surface of a steaming pool. She was dressed in only her new spandex shorts and undershirt which, considering all the steam and boiling water below her feet, was probably a good idea.
"Wow…" Choji sputtered with disbelief and fear plainly evident in his voice. "And I thought our training was tough!" Ino and Shikamaru could only nod in honest agreement.
"You call that 'tough'?" a snide voice spoke up from behind them, startling Ino and Choji. "That stuff's pretty basic. How pathetic! I can't believe that the great and terrible Kakashi has so little faith in his genin."
Turning to face the newcomer, Team 10 saw that there were three of them. The speaker was a boy in a cream-colored shirt, dark shorts, and had the Hyuuga clan's famous white eye of the Byakugan. Another boy had on a green spandex suit and his shiny black hair neatly cut in a bowl-cut. The lone girl of the team wore a sleeveless pink blouse and green pants with her dark hair up in a chignon style. She was quite pretty in a conservative way.
"Who are you?!" Ino demanded, immediately irate and wary.
"I'm Tenten," the girl said, smiling gently in an attempt to ease the blonde. "These are Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee, genin of Maito Gai."
"What business do you have here?" Shikamaru asked, eyeing each of them closely. He could immediately tell that they were all much more experienced them. Maybe they were from a previous year's genin generation? That would explain why he'd not seen them before.
"We could ask the same of you," Neji pointed out, glancing over at the Nara heir with a look of almost arrogant superiority. Shikamaru caught that and felt a wave of annoyance. Great, another arrogant Hyuuga genius to deal with.
"Don't be rude, Neji-san," Lee spoke up, looking at his teammate with a stern expression. "They clearly wanted to see the depths of this team's dedication, like us! Don't dampen their fires of youth!"
Team 10 stared at the green-clad boy with expressions that could be easily and collectively summed up in a simple 'what?' Neji ignored the boy as he moved forward, leaving the underbrush and walking out onto the training field fearlessly. After a moment's hesitation, the rest of the genin joined him in approaching the training genin.
Looking up from where he was speaking to Sasuke, Kakashi watched as the group he'd sensed earlier finally decided to approach them. He easily recognized Asuma's team from yesterday. He'd somewhat expected them to come visit, just not this early. He'd bet it was likely the blonde girl's doing, given her infatuation with Sasuke. The other genin team took a slight bit longer to recognize, only because he'd only seen Gai's team in the briefest of passing over the past year. Judging from the Hyuuga's expression and posture, he was likely coming to scope out the latest genin combat team's worth.
Gai's team was rather unique in that it was a more of an unspecialized specialist team. Their greatest strength lay in their combat abilities, unquestionably. A Hyuuga's Jyuuken, a Goken and taijutsu specialist, and the girl's well-renowned reputation of perfect accuracy with ranged weapons. Yet they were also quite skilled at tracking, capture and interrogation, and infiltration. If they were here, Kakashi was also willing to bet that Gai wasn't far off either.
"Is there something I can do for you, Hyuuga-san?" Kakashi asked, interrupting his own lecture on the known political and military command structures of Kirigakure and Kumogakure versus Konoha.
"Is the Uchiha free?" Neji asked, glancing at Sasuke who was still focusing on his training. "I want to see just what I'll be up against this coming Chuunin Exam."
Kakashi couldn't help but frown at the Hyuuga's blunt request and statement. Though it wasn't technically against the rules, getting into a fight with a potential competitor prior the Exam was greatly frowned upon in the ninja world, doubly so if it was between two ninja of the same village. "And what makes you think I'll be entering them?"
"Gai-sensei seemed pretty confident you would do something to that effect," Neji said, the faintest twitch of a smirk pulling at his lips.
What was left unsaid was that Gai didn't approve of it, something that all of his genin team and Kakashi knew. Then again, Gai didn't know of his team's overwhelming potential and already considerable levels of skill and teamwork. Truthfully, Kakashi already had the greatest confidence that his team could pass the Exams and with flying colors.
"Well, sad to say, we're a bit busy right now," Kakashi said, still frowning. "Now leave, my team still needs to complete their morning training."
"Hey, Kakashi," Sasuke called, not diverting his attention as he deflected a kunai to the side while sidestepping an attacking mat aimed at his knee. "Why not give Naruto a chance to relax? I think he needs…" Jerking his torso to the side, a shuriken whistled through the displaced air. "…to see why running around in circles is a good thing."
Neji frowned as he glared at the Uchiha. "I don't wish to fight that weak failure. I want to fight you." Behind his back, his cold comment caused several of the genin (even his own team) to slightly bristle at the insult, though none of them argued with him.
Ignoring Neji's comment, Kakashi thought for a second. It was clear that the Hyuuga wouldn't be leaving unless he was directly ordered by either his own sensei or Kakashi. But if he did force the boy to leave now, that could sow the seeds of mistrust and animosity against his team, things that would only hurt their futures. On the other hand, if he did allow the boy to fight one of his team, it could be used as yet another training exercise…
Nodding to himself as he turned to the side, he hit the stop button on Sasuke's exercise machine. As the Uchiha hurriedly climbed out of the ring and pulled his clothes back on, Kakashi held up his hands in a seal—"Kai!"—and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The real Kakashi sparring with Sakura quickly assimilated the information his clone had picked up and agreed with its decision. Catching Sakura's approaching fist, he spun around and used it to throw the girl into the air and land in an unceremonious heap on the earth.
"Alright, that's enough for now, Sakura-san," Kakashi said, holding up his hand to keep the girl from charging back out into the boiling pool. "Something's come up and we'll be taking a short break."
Panting heavily from the grueling sparring session that she'd just experienced, Sakura lowered her fists as she caught her breath. Truthfully, she wasn't nearly as exhausted as she would've thought she'd be. Maybe all that tree-climbing training that they'd done in Nami had paid off in more ways than she'd hoped for? "What's going on, sensei?"
Kakashi merely pointed to the side, towards where she knew Sasuke was training. Looking over, she quickly spotted Ino, her team, and several other people she didn't immediately recognize. "It seems that someone is a little eager to establish a new pecking order, Sakura-san," Kakashi commented as he was looking off to another side, where Naruto was untying himself from the rope and staggering off the track.
Pulling on her dougi as she wiped sweat from her brow, Sakura quickly hurried over to the group of genin by Sasuke. She had to forcefully stop herself from rolling her eyes and groaning in annoyance when she saw that Ino had already managed to latch herself onto Sasuke's sweaty and panting body. Moving with her sensei, she quickly scanned the others, searching for familiar faces. Of the group, only the two boys who were clearly Tenten's teammates were unfamiliar to her.
"Tenten-san," she greeted in an amicable manner. "It's been a while."
"Hello, Sakura-san," the elder kunoichi greeted, smiling at her younger friend. "How have you been doing since you became a genin? We hardly see each other anymore."
Chuckling slightly at that, Sakura answered in a slightly exaggerated voice, "Well, Kakashi-sensei is a real demon, and he never lets us walk away from here."
"So I see," Tenten nodded, gazing pointedly around them at the numerous amounts of training equipment. Leaning forward to speak softly to the girl, she said, "Gai-sensei had seemed somewhat unsure of whether or not Kakashi would be all that good of a sensei. What do you think of him?"
Cocking her head slightly, Sakura considered the question. "Well, he hasn't really taught us anything really advanced yet. He's just putting us through these endurance exercises, taught us some chakra controlling exercises, stalking and infiltration tactics, and an occasional jutsu. I think he wants to set our foundations strong before getting to the hard stuff."
"SASUKE!" "EWWW! GROSS!" SMACK!
Two shouts of distress and a meaty smack cut into the girls' conversation. Turning to the commotion, it took Sakura only half a glance to see what had happened. Apparently, Sasuke had done a Kawarimi on Naruto to escape Ino's clingy attentions. The obvious tells for this was Ino frantically scrubbing herself of the 'Naruto germs' she'd picked up from the other blonde and Naruto picking himself off the ground with what looked like a bruise forming around his left eye.
"Do you really have to hit me like that every time Sasuke does that, Ino?!" Naruto demanded, more than justifiably annoyed as he rubbed the bruising.
For her part, Ino was flushed several shades of red and unable to look towards her fellow blonde. "G-Gomennasai, Naruto-san, it's a reflex." The two of them weren't strictly on the best of terms, but they were generally friendly to one another…as long as Sasuke wasn't in a hundred-meter radius of them.
Sakura's attention was suddenly diverted to a mass of black hair and a green spandex suit that walked smoothly in front of her. Though she was hardly one to much care about stuff like it anymore, the boy's massive eyebrows were sending shivers down her spine quite violently. Not only that, but his clothing fashion was a bit…eccentric.
"Hello, my name is Rock Lee," the boy said in a calm voice as he stared at her. "Is yours Haruno Sakura?"
"H-Hai," she uttered, still receiving a bad vibe. "Is there something I can do for you?"
Suddenly, Lee smiled while cocking a thumbs-up in one of his nice-guy poses, his shiny white teeth actually sparkling in the light. "Let's go out together! I'll protect you with my life!"
For a long moment, Sakura just stared at him, using all of her self-control not to freak out like how she really, really, really wanted to. "…No thanks." To a certain degree, she almost felt sorry for Lee when he slumped down in defeat at her rejection.
"Fight me, Uchiha," Neji demanded, earning all of the gathered genins' attentions as he slid smoothly into a fighting stance.
Sasuke just sighed in annoyance as he turned a bored gaze at the Hyuuga. "I have no desire or need to show off my fighting style to a little boy needing assurance of his continued domination of the food chain."
Naruto and Sakura both rolled their eyes at the Uchiha's wordy speech. The only times he ever spoke like that were when he was purposely trying to goad an opponent into losing their temper. And indeed, it definitely seemed to be working as the veins around Neji's eyes suddenly bulged and his Byakugan flared to life in a silent and controlled rage. Ignoring the fuming Hyuuga, Sasuke looked pointedly over at Naruto and raised a knowing eyebrow, Naruto just rolled his eyes again as he started moving forward.
It was a silent byplay that neither Neji nor Shikamaru missed.
"I do not want to fight the loser over there," Neji growled, catching everyone's attentions again. "In the end, a loser will always be a loser. They will never change, and that is the truth."
Now all of Team 7 was glaring at the Hyuuga with matching stares of suppressed anger. Sensing approaching danger, Team 10 silently shuffled to the side to watch the drama with growing amounts of interest. Tenten and Lee largely kept quiet as they resigned themselves to yet another rant from their teammates about the unchangeable fate.
Smirking to himself, Neji was quite pleased that he'd managed turn the tables on the Uchiha's tactic. "I want to measure the worth of this genin generation by fighting their best. Or do you think yourself lower than the worthless dobe over there?"
"Heh," Sasuke chuckled, not at all perturbed by Neji's barb. "Of course I am. I can't even come close to beating Naruto in a straight fight." That remark surprised almost everyone except Naruto and Sakura, who knew full well what Sasuke meant. Sasuke meant that Naruto could easily outlast him thanks entirely to his inhuman endurance. "I can tell you're confused. Why don't you try actually fighting him and find out exactly what I mean instead of just immediately labeling him for the loser you think he is?"
That question really struck a tender chord in Neji, though he hid it extremely well. Sasuke was essentially challenging his view of the world, that his belief of fate and one's unchangeable destiny might actually be wrong. But rather than answer directly, Neji just lunged forward, fully intending to start his desired fight with the Uchiha before he could manage to change his or anybody else's mind.
Thanks to his Byakugan, Neji was easily able to see Naruto and Sakura rush forward from the side, ready to deliver attacks. Naruto was coming forward with an arm cocked back and Sakura took a jump over her teammate, obviously to attack from above. At the same time, Sasuke was already moving at surprisingly high speeds towards Neji's other side, crouching down low to sweep the Hyuuga's legs out from under him. Swinging his leg out towards Naruto, Neji pushed himself into a slight jump over Sasuke's leg and bringing his closest arm up to defend against Sakura's descending ax-kick.
Though he managed to land his kick to Naruto's face, Sasuke's leg sweep suddenly deviated just enough off course of what Neji anticipated, and struck the Hyuuga's foot. The unexpected attack knocked the Hyuuga's balance off and, combined with his counterattack at Naruto, sent him into a slightly uncontrolled spinning fall to the ground. To add to his troubles, Sakura's ax-kick landed solidly between his shoulders where he couldn't easily defend against. The powerful kick sent him crashing to the ground belly first. Much to Neji's relief, he was able to turn his crash-landing into a roll and save his dignity.
As he stood back to his feet, wincing ever-so-slightly from the considerable pain in his shoulders, he glared over at the three younger genin who were now standing shoulder to shoulder in almost mirror image fighting stances. "How dishonorable, attacking a person from the side with no warning like that."
"Ninja," Sakura pointed out shamelessly as their glares deepened.
"And you're one to talk," Naruto added. "Attacking Sasuke like that when your opponent is me."
Off to the side, Team 10 all blinked in surprise at the fluid teamwork they'd just witnessed. Although their families were well-renowned for teamwork and supplementing their attacks with one another, they themselves had never truly reached that level of cooperation yet. Asuma-sensei had commented that he was going to teach them how to do so and that by the time they had finished they'd have unsurpassed teamwork. But, hidden somewhere inside them, they each believed that their teamwork was already unsurpassed among their classmates and peers. To see proof that they were in fact lagging behind (in more ways than one) was quite an eye-opener for them.
Tenten just smiled faintly as she watched Team 7 react to Neji's attack. Though she wasn't very close to any of them, it still relieved her to see them so easily and quickly come to one another's aid like that. Sasuke hadn't been joking when he said that Kakashi's training was torture. She believed it because only such training could instill such rapid responses from them when one of them was attacked like that.
"Yosh!" Lee cried out. "What impressive flames of dedication they possess! Truly, they all burn with the fires of youth!" Nobody paid his compliment much attention.
Gritting his teeth, Neji's slid back into the Jyuuken's opening stance. "If it will shut you up, fine then, attack at your own peril, dobe."
"NOBODY CALLS ME 'DOBE' BUT SASUKE!" Naruto yelled as his charged forward. Unlike what many people might've thought, but Naruto was already scanning through his limited amount of knowledge about Neji. 'He's very fast, almost able to keep up with Sasuke. And he's coordinated and flexible, turning his fall into a roll. But he also might have been able to counter Sakura and my attacks from the side, if Sasuke hadn't thrown him off. Do his weird eyes give him some kind of extended or enhanced vision like the Sharingan?'
As he was approaching, he brought his hands up and summoned four Kage Bunshin. All four of them withdrew a kunai and lunged forward ahead of Naruto. Two of them lunged towards his legs, swinging their blades in broad slashes. Neji easily jumped over the attacks, using their heads to push himself higher into the air while also pushing them face first into the dirt. The other two Naruto came in from the sides and behind him. With his Byakugan, Neji saw the attacks and quickly put himself into a midair spin, kicking out at the blondes and dispelling them.
Landing at last, Neji watched and waited as the first two recovered and attacked his back yet again. Jumping backward slightly, he grabbed their wrists and pushed them down. Not even giving them a second to recoil, he jabbed his elbows up into their jaws, knocking them backward. Spinning around, he thrust his arms forward in powerful thrusts to their chests and dispelled them as well.
It was at this point that he noticed a strong wind blowing down on him from above. Turning his attention upwards, he saw the fifth and final Naruto descending with his fist cocked back, a maelstrom of wind cycling wildly around his clenched fist. Bouncing to the side, Neji smirked conceitedly as he watched Naruto miss him entirely. But that smirk vanished the moment Naruto's fist struck the ground. The winds discharged and instantly blew up a large cloud of dust and dirt, blinding everyone nearby. The dust cloud didn't affect Neji beyond irritating his eyes and getting his clothes filthy. His Byakugan showed him that the winds had also launched Naruto high into the air and to the side due to the angle he'd landed at.
Coughing slightly as the dust cloud slowly dispersed, Neji turned towards the blonde with a superior smirk coating his expression. "Do you give up now, dobe? You have no chance of beating me so why continue to humiliate yourself like this?"
Chuckling, Naruto stood back to his feet and slid back into a fighting stance. "Sorry, baka, I never learned how to quit."
"Ain't that the truth," Sasuke and Sakura muttered, slight smiles on their faces as they watched.
"Is that so?" Kakashi asked, eye-smiling at his students' statements. "I thought it was something like that."
"Then I'll instruct you!" Neji snapped, sliding into a peculiar stance. "You're within range of my Hakke."
Naruto barely had enough time to utter a confused 'what?' before Neji was suddenly upon him. With relentless precision, the Hyuuga boy lashed out, jabbing his fingers into Naruto's torso and sending small spikes of chakra through his body. "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!" The final thrust was done with his entire palm and with enough strength to send the pained Naruto tumbling to the ground some distance away.
"It's over, dobe," Neji said bluntly, already turning to Sasuke as his Byakugan receded into dormancy. "Now, no more stalling, Uchiha, let's get started."
Sasuke just crossed his arms with a knowing smirk, not moving. Sakura chuckled in a decidedly conceited manner as she watched the Hyuuga. Suffice to say, Neji didn't like what he was seeing. It was like they felt that they didn't need to rush in to avenge their teammate's loss. "What's so funny, onna?"
"You have no idea of what you're in for now," Sakura answered. Her vague answer only served to deepen his confusion and frustration.
The rustle of clothing behind him was the only warning he got before a strong fist was buried into his cheek. The powerful blow sent him tumbling to the side but he was easily able to regain his balance and slide back to his feet, looking up to see what and who had attacked him. It was Naruto, panting but still standing strong.
"Impossible!" Neji growled in growling frustration. "I closed your tenketsu! You shouldn't be able to move or even mold chakra!"
Naruto just smirked as he thumbed away a small amount of blood off his lip. "But a ninja doesn't always need chakra to fight, does he?"
"THAT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH, NARUTO-SAN!" Lee cried out loudly, flames of pure exhilaration burning intently in his eyes. "SHOW NEJI-SAN THE POWER OF TRUE HARD WORK!"
Naruto distractedly flashed the green-clad genin a thumbs-up, not taking his eyes off his opponent. Bringing his hands up into a handseal, he continued, "Besides, you didn't 'close the tenketsu' on my legs, did you?!"
Jumping into the air, Naruto kicked out with one leg at the Hyuuga, sending a powerful blast of wind from his feet rocketing outwards. Thrusting his palm forward as his Byakugan flared to life, Neji launched a powerful blast of pure chakra into the approaching wind, disrupting its force and causing it to unravel and dispel harmlessly around him. Before Neji could make any snappy comebacks, Naruto landed upon the ground. Since he still was channeling the wind around his unused foot, this caused another explosion of wind to kick up another dust cloud. But it also had the now intended effect of launching Naruto headlong towards the surprised and largely unprepared Hyuuga.
Managing to dodge to the side in time, Neji turned to keep Naruto in front of him. Seeing the blonde stumble awkwardly on the ground, Neji ran forward to attack. But before he could get close enough, wind erupted around Naruto's foot, which he slammed down on the ground and sent him flying to the side in a high arc. This time he managed to land somewhat more gracefully, kicking out with his other foot and sending another wave of wind at the Hyuuga.
Gritting his teeth as he crouched under the strong winds, Neji glared disgustedly at the blonde. 'What an absurd jutsu!'
"Yeah, you got him now, Naruto-kun!" Sakura cheered wildly. Sasuke was grinning broadly next to her, more than a little impressed with his teammate's quick adaption to the battle situation. Kakashi was just eye-smiling at his most inventive student's uncanny luck.
Team 10 was just staring dumbfounded at the match they were seeing. With her long hair flying backwards from the strong winds, Ino couldn't help but utter, "Wish I could do that."
"Give it up, Uzumaki!" Neji ordered, a bit more loudly than he needed to. "This fight was decided to moment it started! You're not going to beat me, no matter how hard you try! That is your destiny!"
"Is that so?" Naruto asked, grinning knowingly. "Then why are you suddenly calling me 'Uzumaki' and not 'dobe'? I think it's because you're afraid your destiny changed."
That really struck a chord. With an enraged shout, Neji rushed forward on the offense, determined to bring the blonde down once and for all. Jumping into the air, he kicked out with all of his strength. Catching Neji's foot in both hands, Naruto clutched tight to keep himself from being knocked away. Landing on one foot with his other still in Naruto's grasp, Neji glared at Naruto.
"Wow," Naruto said in a calm voice that was eerily reminiscent of Kakashi as he finally released Neji's foot. "That was so predictable I didn't even bother dodging." Lunging forward again, he punched Neji straight in the jaw and knocked the genius back a few steps. Bringing his hand up to his wound, Neji was surprised to find his lip split and bleeding.
"Blood?" he couldn't help but utter in surprise as he glared again at his opponent.
"I said it already, Hyuuga-san," Naruto said, smirking confidently. "A ninja doesn't have to rely on chakra to win a fight! Besides, you have no idea just what kind of training I've had to endure to get this strong!"
"Don't get cocky, brat!" Neji yelled, lunging forward and thrusting his palm into Naruto's chest, sending a potent blast of chakra through his abdomen and knocking the blonde sprawling across the ground. "I don't care how hard you've trained. You are just worthless loser fighting against a genius. I have inherited more skill and power than any other Hyuuga before me ever has. Against me, your defeat is simply inevitable because a loser like you can train over a hundred times more than a genius like me and still not win the fight!"
Coughing out blood as he once again picked himself off the ground, Naruto stared levelly at Neji, hunched over slightly but not seeming to otherwise notice his wounds. "And that's your greatest weakness, Hyuuga… You've probably never learned what it means to truly fight for victory. But don't worry, I'll teach you what the bitter taste of losing is like!"
Heckles rising uncontrollably as true killing intent began washing off Neji, he lunged forward with his palms glowing ominously. Lashing out with ferocious strikes, his anger grew as Naruto was somehow able to dodge or deflect the attacks, all the while backing away. "Don't try to preach to me about weakness and loss! A loser like you had nothing to begin with so how wou—"
A strong jab under his ribs knocked the air out of his lungs and immediately silenced his rant. Not relinquishing his sudden advantage, Naruto leaned in and thrust his elbow into the same spot as he answered Neji's rant, "You're right I don't know anything about that stuff. But I do know is this: you're right, a loser who trains a hundred times harder still can't beat a genius."
Bouncing backward, he caught Neji's arm by the wrist and pulled him forward into his knee. "But if that's true, what about a thousand times?!" He head-butted Neji, smashing the Hyuuga's nose on his hitai-ate and knocking him backwards as Naruto released his wrist. "Or ten thousand times?!" Spinning around Neji as he dodged Neji's retaliatory attack, Naruto kicked him strongly in the kidney, knocking him off balance.
"Why do you think the greatest ninja legends are about a bunch of nobodies from nowhere? It's because, in the ninja world—" Neji spun around, punching his brightly glowing fist forward in a furious attack. It was an attack that completely missed as Naruto ducked under it and kicked out, wind blasting to life around both his feet. The combined power of one foot launching off the ground, sending Naruto flying upwards into Neji and the other foot impacting powerfully into his stomach sent Neji rocketing into the air. "EFFORT BEATS TALENT!"
There was an almost eerie silence that hung over the collected genin as they watched the Hyuuga arc through the air. Most of them couldn't help but stare in honest surprise and disbelief that Naruto had likely actually managed to win. It was a silence that was swiftly broken a wild cheer from Lee. It was a cheer that surprised and scared them, even more so when they noticed that he seemed to be surrounded by equally wild, burning flames of his determination and excitement. "YAAHHH! You go, Naruto-san! Hard work will always win in the end!"
Landing heavily in the river, Neji's body kicked up a large splash of water. Walking exhaustedly out onto the river's surface, Naruto looked down at Neji's unmoving but still conscious body. Seeing that he wasn't going to attack again, Naruto bent down and picked the defeated genin up and carried him over to the shore where he laid him down.
Smiling slightly as a thought occurred to him, Naruto said, "I have to say, though, Hyuuga-san, there is another reason why I was able to beat you today." Seeing that he got the boy's attention, Naruto smiled broadly as he said, "I have a lot of experience fighting genius prodigies. After all, I've got three of them on my team!"
That statement drew a raised eyebrow from Neji as he tried to understand what Naruto meant. He knew that Kakashi and Sasuke were considered genius ninja, so who was… The pink-haired girl?! But that didn't make any sense! If the girl was really some kind of genius, there would've been talk and rumor about it!
"Alright, Naruto-kun!" Sakura cheered, literally bouncing with energy at her teammate's victory. "You beat him! Great job!"
"Of course I did, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, grinning widely as he pumped an arm in victory. "I'm gonna be Hokage after all!"
"That was…awesome," Shikamaru said, more than a little surprised, as were Ino and Choji.
"I'm surprised, dobe," Sasuke said, the grin on his face quite noticeable. "He closed your chakra openings. And he must've blasted your heart and lungs with that chakra palm strike. How are you able to still be standing?"
"Huh?" was Naruto's all-intelligent reply before he was suddenly awash with vertigo and promptly collapsed.
"I guess he was just hanging on by a thread," Sakura muttered, sweat-dropping like everyone else.
"You okay, Naruto?" Sasuke asked in a mild tone, gently nudging the blonde with his foot. All he got in response with a piteous moan of pain and exhaustion. "Yeah, you'll be fine."
"My, my!" a loud, unfamiliar voice suddenly called out. "Your team is positively the epitome of fiery youth, Kakashi-san!"
A cloud erupted a short distance, earning the surprised stares of all but Kakashi. When the smoke cleared, Teams 7 and 10 were beheld the most unpleasant sight of seeing an older but otherwise identical copy of Lee standing in an identical nice-guy pose. But where the genin might've been able to restrain themselves from reacting to Lee's appearance, they couldn't against this new stranger's.
"ACK! Look at those eyebrows!" Naruto shouted, once again miraculously standing and pointing at the man with flamboyant gestures. "They're so huge, they're almost alive! I've never seen anything like that before!"
"Hey, don't insult Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled, more than a little perturbed at the blonde's attitude. "Gai-sensei is the strongest Jounin in Konoha!"
"How am I supposed to respect such monstrous things as those eyebrows?!" Naruto yelled back, even louder.
"That's enough, Lee," Gai interrupted Lee's following rant. "You'd best show that boy some respect as he's been able to do what you so far haven't."
"H-Hai, sensei!" Lee responded, bowing slightly towards Naruto. Rising again, he yelled out, "I've been inspired!" This earned subtle groans of annoyance from Neji and Tenten. "I shall run five hundred laps on the track with double the weight. And if I can't do that, I'll start it over on my hands!" This declaration earned more than a few gawks of disbelief from Teams 7 and 10.
"A truly magnificent goal, Lee-kun!" Gai said, smiling broadly. "I shall join you!"
"Oh, Gai-sensei!" Were those tears falling from Lee's—and Gai's—eyes?! Then the pair of them hugged. It was an image that seemed so much more dramatic in the rising sunlight of early dawn. To some people, it might've been a very touching scene, but to most others…
"MY EYES!" Naruto yelled, turning away from the scene as his hands clutched over his eyes and furiously rubbing them. "THEY'RE BURNING!"
Though they wouldn't admit it, it was a sentiment that all of the gathered genin could agree with.
(Author's Note) And here's another happy addition to the story. I hope that it's as fun for you as it was for me.
I wonder how many people can catch the reference I used this time, probably a lot I'm guessing. Thanks go out to FictionReader98 and Fiori75 for their ideas, opinion, and suggestions about this chapter. I couldn't have done it without you guys!
Before any of you ask, here's some answers to your likely first questions.
1) Isn't Naruto a little too badass right now?
In my opinion, no. He's been training with Sasuke and Sakura for years already and Kakashi isn't holding anything back when he puts them through those endurance exercises. So, not only is Naruto (and Sasuke and Sakura) considerably physically stronger, but he's also got a significantly greater amount of chakra available now thanks to this heightened endurance training.
2) How can Naruto still fight and use ninjutsu when Neji closed his tenketsu?
The answer to that is something I've been puzzling over for years and finally made a decision. Canon states that when a person's tenketsu is closed, they can no longer mold chakra. But that has always struck me as weird. 'If they could no longer mold chakra, how was it that they were still alive?' was a question I always asked myself. So, I came to this answer: They could still create and mold chakra, but with their tenketsu closed, they couldn't release it. And, from what I've seen of canon, Neji always targeted his opponent's torso and arms but rarely if ever their legs.
3) If Nej knows the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō, does he also already know the Kaiten?
No. He is shown learning or mastering that jutsu during the training break after the Preliminaries of the Chuunin Exam. Thus, while he's spent the past few weeks/months learning the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō, he has yet to delve into the Kaiten's training. But, with his defeat here, maybe he'll get started a bit earlier than anticipated?
Dekorīn—Forehead Girl
Chignon—more commonly known as her twin 'hair buns'