Team Blondie
by
French NaruHina
Chapter 6 : Freedom
Naruto was busy cleaning his father study, it was full of diagrams and seals prototypes, surely the result of his attempt to find a way to seal the Kyuubi. As he was organizing the different scrolls, they may be of some use later, one caught his eye, it was addressed to him ! He quickly unrolled it on the still dusty desk.
Naruto, my son,
If you read this it mean that you're already a chunin so I guess congratulations are in order. I am certain you've become a wonderful man and shinobi. Know that your mother and I would have done everything to be with you right now... As you probably noticed, you are unable to perform the classic clone technique, well it's kinda my fault, because I sealed the Kyuubi in you you have an insane ammount of chakra making you unable to drawn the required ammount of chakra for a bunshin; on the other hand your massive reserve will allow you to use the kage bunshin like no other before. That lead us to the jutsu I transmit, you can see three storage seals below containning, from left to right, the kage bunshin, the rasengan and the hirashin. You can learn the first two as soon as you may want to, for the last I advice you to wait before you reach Jiraiya-senseï fuuinjutsu mastery. As you probably know already, he is your godfather and, while he may be a pervert, you can count on him... Well I have a giant nine-tailled fox to seal and I'm still not ready so goodbye son.
Namikaze Minato
P.S. : Sorry to tell you this way but you have to know... I just discovered your mother has been poisoned.
It took 16 seconds for Naruto to process the last bit of information before screaming "ERO-SENNIN !"
Jiraiya entered the room grumbling "Don't call me that brat !"
"No time for that. Who did this ???" Naruto retorted pointing to the last line of his father's letter.
"So you found out... Sorry but we don't know who killed your mother..."
The blond's eyes darkened "You don't know or you can't prove it ?"
"I see it's no use to hide it from you. His name is Danzo. As for why, Danzo wanted to make a weapon out of you by incorporating you in his ROOT program, your mother never would have accepted that so he made you an orphan, under the direct custody of the council. Senseï was only able to save you from this by one voice..."
"I'LL KILL HIM !!! I'LL RIP HIM APART LIMB BY LIMB FOR WHAT HE DID TO MY MOM !!!!" As his eyes turned red Jiraiya choped hil on the back of the neck, knocking him out.
Naruto awoke on a bed, he quickly recognized the room as his new bedroom. "When did I go to bed ? Wait, ero-sennin knocked me out, but why ? Oh yeah, Danzo-teme..."
"I know what you're thinking, don't try anything for now..." he looked to his left, on a chair next to his bed stood Kakashi,reading his favorite orange book "Jiraiya-sama told me everything, I will not say I feel the same as you do right now, but if I could I would kill Danzo myself. However he has too many allies inside the village for us to get any hope to succed..."
"So, you're a perv too ?"
Kakashi eye-smiled "Yup ! You know what ? I'll train you and your friends. From what I've heard the four of you suffer from a serious lack in ninjutsu, so you should appreciate the fact I'm, after Hokage-sama, the one who know the more jutsu in this village."
"Really ?"
"Yes, I'm sure you'll be the top students in no time if you do as I say..." seeing the stars in the blond eyes, Kakashi couldn't help but think "Too easy"
"You're on Kakashi-senseï !"
The next day Naruto and Roxas met with Hinata and Naminé in front of the academy, Naruto was grinning like an idiot troubling Naminé "Something new Naruto-kun ?"
"Uh ? Yeah, you won't believe it, Kakashi-senseï want to help us with ninjutsu, isn't that awesome ?"
"I suppose it is..."
Hinata wasn't conviced by this explanation though : this smile was a mischievous one, Naruto was up to something... Her suspicions were confirmed as they entered the classroom and passed by the remaining menbers of the straigh Uchiha fanclub, who were currently battling about who would get the "honor" to date Sasuke.
"You see Naminé-chan, the old-man told me that when a clan was reduced to one male menber there is a law that permit said remaining menber to take multiples wives, in order to repopulate the clan that is..." the fangirls stopped their battle and looked at each other before nodding. Sasuke heard and saw everything from his seat, as the now organised fangirls reached him is only thought was "Curse you Namikaze..."
As they finished classes for the day the group met with Kakashi at trainning ground seven... well more like they waited for him new senseï arrived half a hour later to see Naruto and Hinata sat under a tree holding hands, Naminé drawing the lake and Roxas examining the monument near the three wooden poles.
"Yo !"
"You're late." declared Roxas non taking his eyes of the graved stone "What's this ?"
"This is the reason I asked you to come here."
"Didn't you say it was to teach us ninjutsu ?" asked a perplexed Naruto.
"Yes, but I choosed this trainning ground to tell you about this monument. There are graved the names of the ninjas who gave their live for the village. If you want me to teach you, you must understand you are barly nothing by yourself, it is only by puting your strenght together than you can you can achieve your goals... the names of all my gennin team menbers are on this stone. One of them told me once "those in the ninja world who breaks the rules and regulation are called trash but those who don't care about their companions are even worse than trash."" he took a pause to let the words sank in "in order to become true ninja of Konoha you must keep in mind that you may have to put your live in the line to protect your teammates because they are the ones you must trust more than anything, do you understand what I mean ?" at the look of determination in their eyes he concluded "Good. I will teach you elemental ninjutsu, but because they are extremly draining in chakra better control is required so we will begin with the water walking exercise. Once you'll be able to do push-ups on the surface of the lake I will teach you techniques of your respective elemental affinity 'cause they require ten percent less chakra to execute... Now let me explain to you how to walk on water..."
Three months passed and saw the four of them climb to the top of their class ranking. The second general evaluation a month and a half before cut the number of students down to 28 students, surprisingly few fangirls gave up, leading their promotion to consist of a majority of girls. The remaining students found themselves forced to raise their level to keep up with the lead situation greatly infuriated one Uchiha Sasuke who found himself ranked fourth, tied with Naruto only because his superior marks in written tests, plus, as it is well know, uncontrolled anger is the worst enemy of a shinobi thus the more the four were good the less Sasuke was able to control his frustration and the less he was able to keep up the pace they set.
Hinata was returning home after a date with her "Naru-kun" her now mid-lenght hair waving softly. As she walked through the Hyuuga compound her Byakugan eyes caught sight of somethin unusual. "They are no council meeting scheduled this evening..." As the council of elders enterred a room she activated her Kekkei Genkai, her father was not present, it couldn't be good. She proceeded to read on the elders lips, thankfully noone were turning his back at her.
"It seems that the heiress managed to take the first place in all categories this time around..."
"Yes, it appears we were wrong considering a faillure, but it could prove itself a hindrance to the clan..."
"You're right, Hiashi himself is more an more rebelious in our meetings, we cannot afford Hinata continue to walk on that path of hers, the fact she alterred the Jyuken is proof enough she doesn't respect our authority anymore."
"We should have take measures earlier, we all know that. Dwelling in the past won't resolve anything. I have a solution to maintain the heiress under our influence, I suggest we marry her to my grandson Hiro, he share our views on the clan and should be able to divert Hinata's authority once she take over the clan. Can I count on your support in this matter ?" all approved.
Hinata couldn't believe her eyes, they planned to marry her off in order to keep control of the clan "I need to warn Otousan... No, his hands are bound in case of unanimous vote from the council, I can resolve this by the official means. If I want to counter them I'll have to play dirty..."
Kakashi opened the door of the Namikaze mansion mansion to find Hinata standing there "Well, I didn't thought you couldn't stay away from Naruto more than an hour." he joked "Please come in."
Hinata reached Naruto and Roxas who were watching TV in the living room with Kiba. "Hina-chan, what are you doing here already ? Is something wrong ? Oh, don't mind Kiba, he asked if he could hang out and we said yes..."
"Yo" was the greeting from Kiba, who was busy petting Akamaru and watching the cool movie on the screen.
"Naruto-kun, I want you to marry me."
"WHAT ?!"
Kiba whistled "You sure know how to treat the ladies Naruto, you got to show me how you do."
Meanwhile Roxas began sulking "I don't even have a girlfriend and he is already going to marry..."
"C-can we discuss this privately ?" Naruta grabbed Hinata hand and led her to his study. "Could you tell me where this come from ?"
Hinata told him about the conversation she heard earlier "So you see if we don't marry soon the elders will marry me to this Hiro and we can't be together anymore. I wish there were an other way but there isn't : the only other possibility would be to overthrow the current council but all other main familly member support the council views, and the branch familly can't do anything because of the caged bird seal." she concluded in a hurry.
"Wait a second, did you said caged bird seal ?" at her nod he rushed to his desk "where did I put this ? Ah,there it is !" he took a scroll ad unrolled it on the desk, Hinata took a look at it from above Naruto's shoulder. On it appearred a reproduction of the Hyuga seal another seal intricated aroud and inside it, the scroll read cage bird seal removing seal.
"It can't be..."
"Well, I may be a newbie in the sealing arts but ero-senseï is a good teatcher. I don't fully understand the working of this seal but it seems the red seal is designed to progressivly tear down each layer of protection from the green seal, then disipate its main matrice. My father's notes say he never tested it but the theory seems correct. However it's execution require a level of precision I don't have right now, but maybe Naminé-chan can reproduce it exactly..."
"Do you think we can try it tomorow ? I have a personnal debt to honnor."
"Uuuh, sure."
"Great, I should go I have a public trainning session for the clan... I think Ill pick Hiro as my opponent this time !" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving.
"Poor guy...I'll better prepare everthing for tomorow."
Neji was annoyed, Hinata-sama asked him to escort her and he has team trainning next, his team was not so terrible Tenten was okay but Lee and Gai... just thinking of them sent shiver down his spine. He found himself soon in front of the Namikaze household. "Do you still require my presence Hinata-sama ?" she didn't respond, he sighed then followed. She greatly intrigued him, five months ago he considered her destiny was to reamin weak but as time passed she proved herself more and more competent, she wasn't at his level yet but he admitted she obliged him to take her more and more seriously in their sparring matches. She managed to change her fate, a right reserved to main family members... As he finally took notice of his surroundings he realized he was in the mansion's basement, surrouding by three blond blue eyed people, two he recognized as the Namikaze-Uzumaki duo the third being he girl his age.
"Neji-niisan, you're probably wondering why I brought you here."
"It is not my place to question your intentions Hinata-sama."
"Actually my intentions should be your concern right now... I know you hold me responsible for your father's death so I decided to act upon this..."
« Great, not only did she bring my father into this but she want to torture me now 'till I pardon her... »
"...that's why we will unseal you."
Neji eyes widenned "Don't say such words lightly..." his voice contained a dangerous edge.
"As you probably know, sealing ink is a mix of normal ink and blood which give it its chakra-conductive properties. As your father lost his live because of me it would be justice my blood is used in the mix that will unseal you." she then cut her palm and let her blood flow into an ink bowl bellow her. Naruto handed the bowl and a scroll to the blond girl who approached Neji. She unrolled the scroll on the floor and put a brush in the ink.
"My name is Naminé, please stay still : if I do a mistake in the design of this seal your brain could liquefy when we try to activate it." if Neji was nervous before this certainly calmed him dow...
Naminé slowly applied the ink on Neji's forehead. "I'm done. It's up to you now Naruto-kun..." He came in front of Neji and put his right hand on his forehead.
"It may hurt a lot..."
"Not as much as what you'll feel if it's some kind of joke..."
"Hina-chan told me you would say something like that... " he began channeling chakra through the seal. Neji felt a burning sensation on his forehead, he forced himself to stay unmoving, the sensation suddently disapeared and he fell to his knees panting. Naruto handed him his hitai-ite, he hesitantly looked at his reflection and tears streamed down his cheeks : his forehead was blank. He bowed the deepest he could.
"There is no words to express how thankfull I am. I am in your eternal debt. The four of you gave me freedom and I shall know no rest untill I fully repay you."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrasement. Roxas spoke "A simple "thank you" would have been enough you know..."
"Neji-niisan, you should go meet your team, then meet me in front of my father study when I come back from the academy."
"Hai Hinata-sama !"
Neji walked through the village streets, everything seemed so different, like if a whole new world of opportunities opened itself to him « The taste of freedom surely... », he reached team 10 trainning grounds where Tenten and Lee were already waiting.
"Good morning Neji."
"Good morning Tenten." replied Neji, surprissing the young girl, he wasn't the most polite of person usually.
"You seem on a pretty good mood on this nice morning my youthful rival !" shouted Lee. Aaahhh Lee, such enthusiasm was intoxicating, he never gave up, struggling everyday against fate to realize his dream, becoming a formidable ninja without use of ninjutsu or genjutsu, how right he was... "Did something pleasant hapened to you ?"
"Yes Lee, this hapened..." he took off his hitai-ite, his conpanions gasped in surprise.
"You don't wear this unyouthful seal on your forehead !It is a wonderful news, YOSHHHH !!!"
"Yes, it is. Lee," the green spandex wearing shinobi turned to him "my flammes of youth are brighter than yours..." Neji smiled as he took his battle stance.
"I think a youthful match will help us determine who's flammes of youth burn brighter..." Lee replied before charging Neji. They went at it for four hours, not even noticing Gaï was standing there , crying from the beauty of such a youthful spectacle.
Hiashi was in his study, reading various report, when he heard a knock on the door.
"You may enter..." his vistors revealed themselves to be his eldest daughter and his nephew.
"Otousan, I am here to discuss primordial matters concerning the future of the clan. I discovered the council is currently plotting in order to take control of the clan."
"Yes, I came to the same conclusion earlier today... Alas, I fear there is nothing I can do against an unanimous vote of te council as they have the full support of the majority of the main familly..."
"Neji-niisan, could you ?" Neji nodded and revealled his seal-less forehead "You can leave now." he departed.
"H-how ?"
"Yondaime-sama develloped a way to undo the caged bird seal, his son recently discovered it and he accepted to help me free the branch familly... I came here to propose you to associate to this effort, as I know it was your dream before my uncle death. Even if I don't have your support I will procced along my plan..."
"I see, whatever choice I make Hinata will be seen as the liberator of the branch familly, wich represent five sixth of the clan number. I can merely choose betwen the "bad" and the "good" side, in the best of cases I'll only be a figure head as the majority of the clan will fully support Hinata views making her the true leader. Very clever..." "It seems I have no other choice than to associate with you.. bu tell me, what would you do if I threatened you to silence you one way or another ?"
"I guess I would have to dispel myself as I am a kage bunshin."
"You can use this jutsu ?!"
"Only one bunshin at a time each two hours."
Hiashi smiled "You got me checkmate on this daughter..."
Omake : The legend of the 300 fangirls part 2
"I think a youthful match will help us determine who's flammes of youth burn brighter..." Lee replied before charging Neji. They went at it for four hours, not even noticing Gaï was standing there , crying from the beauty of such a youthful spectacle.
Four hours later Leonida met her troops near the trainning grounds. Her second in comand spoke.
"Leonida-sama, this is our new recruits, our numbers reach now 73 braves."
"That is good, you must pursue your effort..."
The yaoi fangirls heard the echoes of a battle so they went to investigate. As they reached its location Neji and Lee just finished.
"It appears we were evenly matched today my youthful friend."
"It seems so Lee..."
"NEJI !" they ran toward each other.
"LEE !" tears began to flow freely.
"NEJI !" an ocean sunset background appeared from nowhere.
"LEE !" they gave each other a bone crushing manly hug.
"It's the most wonderful thing I've ever saw..." stated Leonida's seconnd in command.
Leonida nodded and turned to her troops "Remenber this day, girls, 'cause it will be yours for all of times !"
AN : This one was longer as you have seen. I hope you don't feel like I rush into things. All rewiew is a welcomed one !