(A/N) And we are back. Sorry about the lack of update yesterday, but I had a minor case of insomnia that led to me not falling asleep till five in the morning and sleeping until two in the afternoon. On the bright side, I had a whole lot of time to think about my story. I've thought about a lot of what is going to happen in the chunin exams, and I can't wait to get there.

On a side note, you guys seem to like my idea for HakuxYugito a lot, which sort of surprised me. I'll leave the pairing in the open for a little longer while I finish the wave arc.

So without further ado, on with the chapter!

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Chapter 21: The fight for Gato part 2

Right as Kuroyurasu's body fell to the ground, the chakra boost that Naruto had given himself wore off, causing his ribs to destabilize once more. He coughed up a bit more blood, but he took a scroll out of his pouch. Opening it, he injected some chakra into it to cause a bigger scroll to pop out. Naruto then, sealed Kuroyurasu's body into it. He then started to wobble back towards the entry dome.

Once he reached the dome, he sat down on the floor. He would have gone and sealed the rest of the bodies, but he knew that if he moved too much, there was a chance that he could die. So he sat there in pain and hoped that Hinata would finish up soon. He knew that she was as strong if not stronger than him, but he was still worried none the less. He also worried that she would toy with the Kumo nin too much.

Suddenly there was a bright lavender flash, and a worried looking Hinata appeared in front of him. She said "Naruto-kun! What happened to you?"

Hearing Hinata not calling him by his nickname, Naruto could tell that she was upset. He must look worse than he thought he did. He laughed dryly and said "I got punched. Once." He then began recounting his fight with Kuroyurasu as she bent down and conjured her special foxflames and started mending his ribs.

When he finished his story Hinata said "That was extremely reckless of you Naruto!" Naruto flinched that she had dropped the "Kun" from his name, "You know that I told you that while you could temporarily heal wounds by going into that orange flash state of yours, it also makes the wounds worse when the state wears off. You had shards of your ribs in your lungs! If I had not gotten here when I did, you would have died within five minutes, even less if you moved around more! That's why I specifically told you to never heal yourself like that unless I am directly nearby!"

Naruto looked down and said "I know. I'm really sorry, Hina-chan. But it was the only way that I could have beaten him without possibly causing damage to the dome."

Hinata bit her lip, and was conflicted between herself being upset of what Naruto had done, and the relief that she felt from knowing that Naruto was fine. She then sighed and said "I'm not angry at you Ruto-kun, I was just worried. But you're fine now, so it's all in the past. But can you try not to come back with a wound that even Tsunade wouldn't have been able to heal next time?"

Hearing her call him "Ruto-kun" again, Naruto instantly felt a lot better. He had been laying down while Hinata was healing him, but he leaned up and gave Hinata a quick peck on the lips, and said "Sorry again, Hina-chan. I wasn't careful enough and I got hit because of it. Unfortunately, that one hit had a scary amount of power in it. Anyways, I see that you have finally perfected the Hiraishin and apparently marked me with the seal for it. Although I'm a bit confused, as I thought that the flash was supposed to be yellow."

Hinata giggled and said "I have not mastered the Hiraishin. And I don't think that I ever will completely master it. You are right though, the Hiraishin's flash will always be yellow. That was a technique that I have been working on in secret, and I finally mastered it in my fight with Akarui. It's called Sorime (Warping/Distorting eye). It is weaker than the Hiraishin in some ways and surpasses it in others. It is a space-time ninjutsu that allows me to instantly warp anywhere in my field of vision without any seals, which because of my byakugan, is anywhere within a 5 kilometer radius around me. However, I can't use it repeatedly without a serious sensation of vertigo, so the Hiraishin has me beat there. It takes approximately 30 seconds for me to use the technique again without drawbacks. Also, it's a bad idea for me to warp right next to the enemy, as it distorts the air quite obviously, which would notify the enemy of where I am going to come out."

Naruto's eyes widened and he said "That's amazing Hina-chan! Do you think you could teach it to me?"

Hinata giggled at his excitement about the chance of learing a new technique, and said "I'm sure I could teach it to you, but it would not be anywhere near as effective as my use, since you don't have the byakugan."

Naruto had a huge smile on his face and gave Hinata another kiss, before saying "So how did your battle with Akarui go?"

Hinata grinned and said "It went quite well, and he got what was coming to him. Although I learned something very interesting about my kidnapping attempt. So here is how it went…"

(Flashback no Jutsu)

As Hinata and Akarui walked along, they were carefully examining each other. Hinata first observed his appearance. Akarui was a dark skinned man of around 5'11". He had shaggy white hair that reached down to the back of his neck, and covered his right eye. He appeared to be wearing an eye-patch that went and covered his right eye. He wore the standard sleeveless Kumo uniform, and on his left shoulder was the tattoo of the kanji for "Gale". On his right shoulder was the tattoo of the kanji for "Thunder". On both of his palms were tattoos of the kanji for "Hurricane". He held himself with a calm, cool confidence.

Akarui spoke up and said "You know missy, it's not very bright of you to go up against me. I'm a Kumo nin, and as an unsealed Hyuuga, you should definitely not be walking so brightly to your fate. When I beat you, I will take your eyes so that those bastards on the civilian council will finally be done with their Byakugan obsession and I can go back to the village once more. I mean seriously, they went against the Raikage's orders and tried to take the Hyuuga heir straight from the Hyuuga compound ten years ago. In my opinion, that mission was doomed to failure in the first place, as it had not come from the Raikage."

Hinata flinched at his words as bad memories flooded back and said in a low voice "I'll have you know that I was the Hyuuga heiress that they tried to take ten years ago. But I do find it interesting that you said that it was the civilian council who gave those orders. It seems our villages have something in common, meddling civilians. I will also have you know that I will NOT be losing to you. Not on my pride as a Hyuuga. Never will I have pride at once being in that horrible clan. But on my pride as a Namikaze and on the pride of being the future Hokage's wife!"

Akarui whistled and said "Wow, I must say that your heart shines brightly. But it still does not change the fact that you are going to lose."

Hinata said in a low voice "We'll see about that."

They then arrived at their destination, and stood a ways from each other. Hinata took out Shin'en and started whirling it around by its chain.

Akarui whistled again and said "A kusarigama, eh? That's an interesting-"

He was interrupted by Shin'en suddenly flying at him. He dodged just in time, but Hinata pulled back on its chain and sent it flying back. Akarui tried dodging again, but he was nicked in the shoulder. He instantly felt his arm go limp and his chakra being disrupted. Hinata smirked, but was a bit unnerved by the fact that Akarui was still smiling.

"That's quite the interesting weapon that you have there, missy. It fits perfectly for an ex-Hyuuga. But I'll tell you a little secret about me. I have another nickname in the cloud. I'm known as "Kumo's anti-Hyuuga". Now I suggest you activate that Byakugan of yours, and watch closely."

Hinata activated her Byakugan and watched in shock as Akarui sent a huge shock of lightning chakra through his entire body. Akarui then flexed his previously numb arm and said "Can you see why that Kumo brightly calls me that?"

Hinata said grimly "You send a flash of lightning chakra throughout your body, which would reopen any closed tenketsu, as well as unnumbing any part of your body. It looks like Shin'en is not the weapon to use against you."

Akarui clapped and said "Aren't you the bright one, missy. A pure Hyuuga would never stand a chance against me, because I can reopen my tenketsu and they rely only on Jyuken to win. However, you seem to have obviously deviated from the Hyuuga's strict ways, so maybe I can have a fun fight with you. Now let me show you why I am called "The Thundering Gale of Kumo!"

He then flew through some handsigns and held out both palms, saying "Combination Storm Release and Thunder Release: Hurricane Release: Grand Storm!"

Out of his hands came out a giant tornado of lighting and lasers, shooting quickly at Hinata. She was forced to drop Shin'en, and quickly unsheathed Nijitanken, and held them out to greet the incoming twister. Akarui was smirking, thinking "If she thinks that those two daggers will stop my Grand Storm, then she is not as bright as I thought she was…unless…SHIT!"

"SHIT" was exactly the right thing for Akarui to think as the twister collided with Nijitanken. The storm was slowly absorbed into the blades, causing them to turn dark blue then yellow, before causing the blades to turn green before finally turning clear again.

Hinata smirked and said to Akarui's worried face "It seems that you have at least heard of the blades that I use. Although I am quite impressed with you, you created your own kekkei genkai by taking the two elements used for your Storm Release and combining them backwards. You then combined your two kekkei genkai into a third. That takes real skill and is something that is unheard of except in the blades that my boyfriend uses. But you picked the wrong opponent to use that against. Let's see how you like a taste of your own power!"

She held out Nijitanken which turned green and shot out the exact same technique that Akarui had just used. Akarui countered with his own Grand Storm. There was a huge explosion when the two storms met, and when it cleared, Akarui looked to where Hinata had been standing to see an ice mirror with Hinata standing inside of it. He got a huge sense of foreboding and quickly reached up to his face and tore his eyepatch off.

He whirled around to find an ice mirror with Hinata lunging out of it. She struck out with Nijitanken, but he dodged just in time and quickly scurried back to the other side of the room. Hinata was standing there in, shock, as she saw what was behind his eyepatch in that little exchange. She quickly gathered herself once more and said "How?"

Akarui laughed and said "Oh, this?" as he held up his hair to reveal an activated Byakugan. He continued by saying "I beat an unsealed Hyuuga a long time ago. Interestingly enough, he already had one eye taken from him. That was the very reason that I was banished by the civilian council of Kumo. I refused to give up the eye for research and implanted it within myself. Now the real fight begins!"

Akarui's body surged with lighting chakra, and he practically warped in front of Hinata. He made a quick left hook to her face but she leaned back just in time. But that was what Akarui wanted to happen. He then took his right hand and held it strait, charging it with lightning chakra, and thrust it straight at Hinata's unprotected stomach.

Hinata's mind was going a mile a minute as she thought "I have to do something to dodge this! If I don't, while I would be able to heal it, he would just kill me while I do so. There's not enough time to flood myself with Yokai, and Hiraishin is out since I have not mastered the full long distance travel and there are no seals for it nearby. I only have one choice, and it's not a complete technique. But with no other option, I guess I have to try! SORIME!"

Akarui's hand was an inch from Hinata's stomach when there was a bright flash of lavender. Akarui's hand continued and he was thrown off balance as he hit nothing. Quickly searching with his Byakugan, he found Hinata standing in the opposite side of the dome. He turned and said "Well that was unexpected. I thought I had you. But no matter, I have just proven that my speed surpasses yours, so it's only a matter of time."

Hinata said grimly as she sheathed Nijitanken "Your speed surpassed me then. I wasn't ready, but now I am. I'll show you a technique that not even my father could possibly hope to reproduce."

There was a sudden outpouring of lavender chakra, and when it settled, Hinata was standing there in a lavender chakra shroud. She then took a stance similar to the standard Jyuken one, and she said "Juho: Tsuinkitsuneken!" Her hands were both engulfed in shrouds of chakra that both resembled fox heads.

Akarui let out a laugh and said "A jyuken stance? Even if it looks a little different than the normal one, I thought that you learned that jyuken has no effect on me!"

He then warped in front of Hinata and let out a right hook. She danced around the punch, so he tried to clothesline her with his outstretched arm. She simply ducked under his arm. Akarui was getting irritated, and he sped up his blows a bit. But Hinata simply danced around all of his punches. Akarui was getting very annoyed that Hinata was making a complete fool of his speed, and said while still trying to hit her "Why can't I hit you? And why are you not even trying to hit back?"

Hinata had been smirking the entire time that Akarui was trying to hit her, and she said "It's quite simple. I am faster than you in the state I am in, and I am no where near my fastest. This chakra cloak is the weakest that I can make it. As for why I am not hitting you, I want a good workout before I end the battle. I got what I more than what I hoped for in your kekkei genkais, but earlier I was taking the battle to lightly and you put me in a tight spot because of it. But I have to thank you, as you allowed me to complete a technique. Now that I am a little serious, I thought that I should have a little fun."

Akarui was seriously pissed off at what she said, and screamed "YOU WERE HOLDING BACK THE ENTIRE TIME?! HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME! I'LL SHOW YOU-"

Akarui was interrupted by Hinata deciding that she would hit back. She lightly tapped Akarui's shoulder with one of her Tsuinkitsuneken, and he fell down, screaming in pain. He tried surging his lightning chakra through his body, but found that it had no effect. He looked closely at his shoulder with his Byakugan, and was horrified at what he saw.

He saw that all of the tenketsu in his shoulder were completely obliterated, completely cutting off the flow of chakra from his body to his arm. The chakra in his arm was fading quickly away since it was not connected to the source. And what scared him even more was that there was still some of Hinata's lavender Yokai inside of him, leeching slowly to the nearby tenketsu. The Yokai reached one of his tenketsu and proceeded to shut it down. The pain that he felt when it did this was almost unbearable, and he screamed as the Yokai found another tenketsu to shut down.

Hinata smirked and said "My yokai will slowly travel through your body, shutting down every one of your tenketsu, until it reaches the tenketsu in your heart. When it shuts down that one, you will die. While I could let that happen, and I estimate it would take thirty minutes, I won't. I have to check on my Ruto-kun to make sure that he is not to seriously hurt. So I will end your life quickly."

Hinata tapped Akarui's forehead, causing his brain to literally melt, killing him instantly. She then took out a scroll and sealed his body inside. She picked up Shin'en, and then extended her Byakugan's vision to look at the entrance room, and found Naruto leaning on Kadouken. She focused and saw the state of his ribs. Horrified, she focused on the area right in front of him, and thought "Sorime", causing her to disappear in a lavender flash.

(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)

"And that's how my battle with Akarui went." Finished Hinata.

"I'm really proud of you Hina-chan!" said Naruto, while inwardly he shuddered "I am never, EVER, going to piss Hina-chan off. I saw what the Tsuinkitsuneken did to that man on the bridge when she wasn't in a chakra shroud, but hearing what it does when she is in the shroud is horrifying. That and the fact that she can warp anywhere in her vision with Sorime means that she could easily catch me even if I ran at full speed in orange flash mode."

Hinata, having no clue what Naruto was thinking, gave him a passionate kiss before saying "While we wait for Zabuza-san and Haku-chan, why don't we seal away some of these bodies?"

"Great idea Hina-chan!" replied Naruto, "It looks like Han had enough sense to not boil their faces, so that they are still recognizable, meaning that their bounties will be easy to claim."

With that they set to work.

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And that's a wrap. I only put in Hinata's fight in this chapter because I have a dentist appointment to go to soon, and I don't have the time to put in another fight. It goes along the lines that I like to post what I have done if I have anything substantial done. I might do another chapter later today to make up for one of the two days that I didn't post a chapter, but we will see.

Anyways, I'm not going to put an omake in this chapter for the same reason that I didn't put another fight in.

So until next time,

Slice N Dicer