Note: Naruko's summoning of kitsune is just like the first part of Lightning's summoning of Odin from Final Fantasy XIII. No producing a crystal and cutting it, just a bright ball of light that lands in front of her and a kitsune appears.
Chapter 7: Terrible, majestic creature
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I own my pen name. That is all.
Naruko stood in a line, facing the people who would witness the tournament. It was her first time seeing so many people who weren't trying to glare her to death or make her feel unwelcome enough to leave the village or kill herself. A welcome change, but why did she feel like a piece of meat at a market?
Ugh, why did she feel so stiff?
Maybe it was because she had tired herself out the day before training as hard as she could. She got summoning down a few days ago. She had to stay on a giant toad's head, Gamabunta til sunset. Naruko kind of passed out a after getting tossed off, so Jiraiya had to tell her what happened. Apparently, she used the last of her chakra to create a shadow clone to throw her back onto his head, where she held on even after passing out.
On the Kitsune side of things, Naruko had learned much about her powers and could now produce sonic roars at will, but she lacked the ability to focus them, making them little more than shields. She had learned some of the Kyūbi's fighting style, which was pretty much what she had been doing when she fought Kiba. Of course she still couldn't get that weird technique down that allowed her to fight more like a beast. Tama believed that it was part of the curse seal's effect, a kind of berserk mode. Either way, she couldn't do it at will and hadn't used it since that fight. She still couldn't use katon to save her life, but that was apparently normal.
Once the Sandaime was done his speech, the new protor, Genma stepped forward. "Before we start the tournament, the set up of the matches has been slightly altered. Look at this." He held up a piece of paper.
Match 1: Kankuro VS Aburame Shino
Match 2: Uchiha Sasuke VS Sabaku no Gaara
Match 3: Nara Shikamaru VS Temari
Match 4: Uzumaki Naruko K. VS Hyūga Neji
"Hey, is it alright to start?" Naruko asked, "Sasuke isn't here."
"If he's not here when his match comes up then he's disqualified," Genma stated. When nobody else spoke up, he declared in a loud voice, "this is your final test. Same rules, different arena. Fight until one is clearly defeated. I'll step in if I think you are going to far, but you could still die if you're not careful. If I move in, you stop moving." He let that sink in, then continued. "Match 1: Kankuro and Aburame Shino. Everyone else, leave the battlefield."
Naruko and the others all went to the competitor's box and watched the match. Sadly, Kankuro gave up right when Genma started the match. Genma declared that Sasuke had five minutes to show up or he'd be disqualified. Just before the time was up, Genma spoke with someone on his radio and then told the crowd that Sasuke would have his match moved to the last slot. Temari didn't even wait for her name to be called and jumped down, using her fan to glide down, then blasted a gust upwards while baiting Shikamaru to come down. Naruko sensed that he was going to take the Nara way out and shoved him over the edge of the railing. She knew it wouldn't kill him and it would at least make him try to fight.
Truth be told, Naruko only gave the battle half of her mind. She wondered where Sasuke was. With how he was, he should have been here yesterday, all ready to go. It made no sense. Could that Gaara guy have done something to him? Or was it that cross dressing Orochimaru creep who bit them? If that was the case, Orochimaru would come to fear tails, just as soon as Naruko grew one and kicked his ass with its power. Now that she thought of it, she'd look cuter with a tail.
Naruko paled with dread. 'Did I just think of myself as cute? Oh Kami, I'm turning into a girl!'
"Winner: Temari!" Genma shouted. Naruko quickly looked down and saw that Temari was just as confused as everyone else. Seems Shikamaru went and gave up anyways, but not before putting Temari in a corner. "Next match: Uzumaki Naruko K. VS Hyūga Neji! Both combatants make your way down to the battlefield!"
Naruko went for drama and hopped over the edge, sliding down the wall with the assistance of chakra. That old pervert's words made sense, so why not do it?
[A week ago]
"Hmm. Yeah, I don't see the council approving of you becoming a chūnin," Jiraiya confirmed after the girl confided in him. Seeing her crumple, he decided to let her in on his secret to becoming chūnin. "Listen, just do what I did."
"I am not learning an invisibility jutsu and peeking on women," Naruko growled even as she imagined how awesome doing that would be.
Jiraiya sighed, realizing that he would forever be a useless pervert to the girl if he didn't start acting respectable. "Not that. Just show the crowd all your skill. If the guests see a genin summoning and fighting like you do, they'll want you for their missions. If they find out that some strong taijutsu specialist became a chūnin when the amazing genin who defeated him didn't, Konoha would be a laughing stock. They would think the council was losing their edge and that would mean their downfall," Jiraiya explained, "see? In order to keep their positions of power, they'll need to promote you."
Naruko thought about it, then decided that it sounded like a great idea. But she still wanted to learn that invisibility jutsu!
[Now]
Everyone thought this was the end of the line for Naruko, that she wasn't going to be able to defeat Neji. Even Naruko herself wondered if she could defeat the Hyūga.
"Your fight against that lesser clan boy was impressive," Neji stated, "but throughout the fight, it seemed like you were barely moving at all to my eyes." He then smirked at her glare. "Something to say before your humiliation?"
Naruko resisted the urge to summon a fox to scare him. "I'm going to humiliate you."
"Third round," Genma said, even as he felt there had only been one round so far, "begin!"
"Big words before your downfall. This will make it all the more interesting when you kneel before me in defeat," Neji said as he assumed his stance.
"Just shut up and fight," Naruko growled. After a few moments, she decided that closing in on the boy was useless. As her six clones appeared around her, she felt depressed that she didn't know any long range jutsu. She had them charge forward.
"Useless," Neji muttered as he proceeded to make a mockery of the high ranked jutsu. After dispatching all six clones like he was killing flies, he smirked at the girl. "Useless, just like the effort you blind fools put in to everything. You are held back by destiny, not by your body. For you, Hokage and pw is too great for a person like you. Hinata is never going to amount to much either."
"The hell?" Naruko growled.
"When you're born, everything is decided by destiny. To try and transcend fate is the same as trying to strike the moon with a kunai, an impossible task," Neji explained, "let me put it simply for an idiot like youself: destiny made you too weak to be anything other than a genin."
"What gives you the right to decide that?" Naruko asked.
Neji sighed. "I just said it was destiny, not me, that decides all. All the past, present and future Hokage were born for it. While it may seem like men chose them, it was decided long before they spoke that they would be rise to be Hokage. Life isn't a river or a waterfall you can power through, it's an ocean." He then snorted, as if to stifle a laugh. "Are you like Lee? Thinking hard work will take you far? What a joke." He then became grim. "Everyone shares only two common places in destiny: birth and death."
Naruko saw and felt the despair pouring from every part of the boy. "What messed you up so badly?" she asked, "what makes you look for death rather than live?"
Neji almost flinched at that. 'What the- How? Can it be that she can read me even without a dōjutsu?'
"I don't know what happened to make you like this, but I figure defeating you might help fix you a little," Naruko stated as she created twenty clones. "Neji... It's time to wake up," the girl muttered as her clones attacked.
Neji dodged all the attacks and took out a few clones as he pushed forward. He knew that, while he couldn't see which was the real Naruko, he knew where she was. He finally broke though and drove a palm strike into her neck, destroying her wind pipe. And while he didn't like the creepy wheezing/whistling noise coming from her as she tried to breathe, he put on his stone mask of indifference.
"Because you knew getting close to me was dangerous, you always stood outside of the fight," Neji explained, "that is why kage bunshin is useless in your hands. I only had to strike the Naruko that wasn't fighting."
The girl, in spite of suffocating, smiled at the boy. "Got...you," she rasped, then exploded into a cloud of chakra.
"It can't be!" Neji shouted as he wheeled around to see two Narukos coming at him from behind.
"With this strike!" one shouted. "You will begin to lose!" the other shouted. "We got you!" both declared as they neared.
The fist of one of the two redheads connected, seemingly dealing damage. Instead a layer of chakra absorbed the blow and Neji started spinning, the chakra forming an orb around his body.
"Hakkeshō Kaiten!"
Naruko was knocked back while her clone was torn apart by the chakra 'shield.' Neji stopped his spin and smirked at the girl. "You thought you won?" Neji asked, then closed his eyes as he saw a symbol on the ground, "you're in my field of divination..." He assumed a stance and rushed the girl, repeated hitting her with jabs until, "Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"
Naruko found herself blown back, having just suffered almost the full power of a Hyūga. Almost instantly, incredible pain flared throughout her body as she fell to the ground. Nothing but pain rebounding again and again through her body, strengthening with every pulse. It was Hell.
"You're finished," Neji stated, "I've sealed sixty-four of your body's tenketsu. Standing should be almost impossible." He noted the girl's violently shaking body. He didn't know what the technique should normally do, but this wasn't it. She should be disabled, but it looked more like she was in the throes of death. "This is how it should be. Stay down before a power you can never hope to understand or defeat," Neji lowered himself and lifted the girl's face to see her agony filled eyes, "hard work amounts to nothing. It is nothing more than a dream, a fantasy of those without power." He let her face go and started walking away.
"Grrr..."
Neji glared back at the girl. "What are you doing? Forcing yourself will make it worse."
"Those...eyes..." Naruko gasped through the pain, "they... see ev-cough- everything... So why torment... Hinata?"
"That is none of your concern," Neji muttered.
Naruko managed to lever herself up so she sat on his ankles. The pain in her legs actually felt good compared to the pain rampaging through her body. "Who gave you... the right to decide other people's... fate?" she asked, "I don't care about what made y-cough! you this way anymore, I'm going to destroy your views."
"You foolish girl," Neji said, "fine. I'll show you the legacy of the Hyūga, and the destiny of the Branch House." He removed his forehead protector as he told a story about his and Hinata's fathers, twin brothers separated by minutes. Naruko learned of how Kumo wanted a Byakugan and failed in kidnapping Hinata. As a peace offering, Konoha was to send over Hinata's father. Instead, Neji's father, the younger twin was sent as a body double with sealed Byakugan. In the end, it seemed that was what had made Neji into what he was today.
Naruko leaned forward after the story and attempted to get up, but the pain was almost unbearable now. She wanted to scream in pain, to cry until the pain stopped. "I'll keep trying until the...end!" Naruko gasped. She kept trying to get up and kept failing. "Just because you lost your father, it doesn't let you decide... what people are capable of. Thinking everything is already decided is what...a-fool-does!" Naruko growled through the pain.
"Worthless," Neji said as he finished replacing his forehead protector. He rushed forward and struck Naruko's chest, sending a pulse of chakra into her heart. "Examiner, she is finished." The boy started to walk away.
Genma looked to the girl and didn't see her moving, not even twitching. As far as he could tell, the girl was dead. Many in the crowd thought so as well. "Winner:"
"I. Won't. Lose," Naruko growled as she dragged her nails through the dirt, trying to claw her way onto her feet.
"You lost the moment I was declared your opponent," Neji stated.
"I don't lose...to weak cowards. People who run...people who lie...people who feel powerless to do anything because they are afraid to," Naruko said as she managed to get on all fours, "you don't know anything unless you try."
"You can't possibly understand," Neji muttered as he thought of his life, "everyone is burdened with their destiny, but some have heavier burdens than others. Someone like you could never understand what it is like to be permanently marked from birth!"
Naruko roughly chuckled at the boy. "I can understand better than you could ever hope. If anything, it's you who doesn't understand being marked for life," the kitsune stated.
Instantly, Ino and Sakura remembered how the girl was the Kyūbi. Nobody could hope to compare to her, a girl given the burden to carry on a legacy of the 'most terrible' of the Bijū. For her, it was something that would hang over her head for however long she lived.
"Hinata has it worse than you. She's a member of the main family, but she is treated worse than you branch families. She's ignored in spite of her blood and has to fight with all her strength just to be noticed," Naruko then realized something, "so that's why you did it. You are supposed to protect Hinata, but you are trying to have yourself killed so you can go against destiny!" She stumbled and fell onto her stomach again.
"I closed your tenketsu. Without chakra, what can you do?" Neji asked, "actually, what can you do with chakra?" He noticed the girl's defiant glare. "You think destiny can be defeated? Show me then."
"I will," Naruko muttered. She needed all her power just to get up before. She needed more power. Her chakra was gone, so how? An image of a fox tail flashed in her mind. But how could she get that power again? She was angry like before and wanted to win just as much, but nothing was happening.
"Examiner. In order to end this match, I'll take her life," Neji declared, "if you feel the need, stop me."
Naruko bawled her fist, nails rending the ground apart as she focused all her hatred on her missing tails. She needed to awaken at least one tail in order to fight.
"Why struggle so hard?" Neji asked as he assumed a stance, readying himself to show the girl the other half of destiny they shared.
"Because 'fate' has done nothing more than beat me down," Naruko growled.
As Neji watched, something about the girl changed. On the outside, her wounds healed up. On the inside, Neji watched as the chakra near her spine started up again. He watched in shock as it spread throughout her body, down her spine and reached the end.
Then grew outside her body.
"What?" he shouted in alarm as chakra networks appeared out of thin air, forming nine extra appendages composed purely of chakra. It looked like latticework for a building with glowing points on them, tenketsu. The worst thing about it was the texture of the chakra she was emitting: rough and violent, like it wanted to shave his very existence away.
"It's over!" Naruko shouted. The latticework of chakra, the external chakra network, flowed into her, making her far stronger than before. It was so great that it formed a thin shell of dark red chakra around her, much like the first part of Neji's 'ultimate' defense. This startled many people because, since her unsealing, her chakra had been a silvery blue color.
In spite of his watchful eyes, Naruko vanished and reappeared in the air to his left. With a mere flick of her wrist, bolts of the dark red chakra flew at Neji like kunai. Neji performed his Hakkeshō Kaiten and deflected the chakra, but it broke apart the shell of chakra in the process. When he released it, he threw six shuriken at the girl, all of which missed when the girl vanished from his view again. Neji would have tried to figure out how she had gotten so fast, but she appeared and threw a kunai at him, which Neji deflected with one of his own.
Even as the kunai met in the air, Naruko and Neji struck each other so quickly only senior ninja and dōjutsu users could tell what had happened. Naruko growled and rushed at the boy, hoping to finish him off with his own talent: taijutsu. Neji activated his Hakkeshō Kaiten as Naruko and her chakra collided with it. "When I'm Hokage, the Hyūga will change!" Naruko declared. With that, the area seemingly exploded. Everyone was surprised that such a battle could occur between genin. They watched as two figures flew from the blast and impacted the ground hard enough to leave holes that were eerily similar to graves.
"Never expected something like this," Genma muttered, wondering if the arena was fit for the rest of the matches. Eh, the genin would manage.
Someone started to emerge from a hole, that someone being a battered Neji. His right arm hung limply, indicating some form of injury. Regardless, the boy got to his feet and stood proud like any Hyūga. As Tenten silently complimented Naruko for pushing Neji to his limits, the boy made his way over to the crater with the girl. She lay in it on her stomach, seemingly passed out as she tried to crawl forward.
"Sorry, but this is reality. There is a winner: me, and a loser: you," Neji stated. He then felt a pulse of chakra from the girl.
Naruko's hands gripped the edge of the crater, her body tensed up and she launched herself at the boy at such a high rate of speed that he could do nothing more than stupidly stare forward in shock until the top of the girl's head connected with his forehead and sent him flying into the nearby wall with enough force to crater it and leave him stuck in it for a few moments. When he fell to the ground, all he could do was twitch. He was completely defeated.
Right then and there, Genma decided to write a personal recommendation for Naruko to become a chūnin. Such a thing was rare, but the girl was too powerful to be a genin. By the murmurings of the crowd, he figured the council would find quite a few recommendations for the girl. A part of his mind told him it would never happen, that they would never give their 'weapon' such freedom. If this crowd and the council's stubborn stance against the girl kept up, the council's days were numbered in more ways than one. Of course, he would recommend her to NOT be a chūnin commander. She was a bit to hot headed to be a leader. "Winner: Uzumaki Naruko K!" he declared.
"How?" Neji gasped, "why are you here? The Kage Bunshin... That's a jōnin jutsu." He wanted this one mystery that his eyes had never unravelled to be answered. How could she use such a high class jutsu with only a single hand seal and be called the last placed genin of her class?
"Remember? I failed when you passed, and the time before, and just this year. A total of three failures. It's because the academy graduation exam always hinged on one jutsu: bunshin no jutsu, a jutsu I could never use," the girl explained. "Destiny decided this. Destiny decided that. All that garbage is just that, garbage. Stop crying and do something about it. You are a genius, not a loser like me. If I can do what I've done, you can do far more."
The crowd burst into applause and comments. Naruko ignored a few stray wolf whistles as she smiled at the crowd and gave them the peace sign. She then started to prance around like an idiot, blowing kisses to the crowd, much to some men and even a few women's delight. Genma allowed it since the Uchiha had yet to arrive.
[Ten minutes later]
The noise from the crowd was quite noticeable to everyone present.
Hiruzen chuckled. "Looks like they enjoyed Naruko and Neji's battle."
"No, I think they are more interested in the next fight," the Kazekage stated. Hiruzen frowned. Why did everyone shove her to the side so easily? He doubted that Sasuke could put up half that good of a fight. Gaara might be able to excite the crowd like that again, but Sasuke wouldn't. "That is the reason everyone is here, to see an Uchiha fight," the Kazekage finished. After a few moments, he looked over to his fellow Kage, "where is the Uchiha?"
Hiruzen frowned as yet another ninja told him that they had no luck finding either Sasuke or Kakashi. He then heard, for the third time, that Sasuke should be disqualified due to all the problems surrounding the boy.
"Give him a little more time," the Kazekage suggested.
"If he doesn't take this seriously, then he is unfit to be a chūnin," the shinobi who had updated Hiruzen on the search progress stated, "if we went by the rules from the very beginning, he would have long since been disqualified."
"Then listen to this. Everyone, civilian, daimyo, Kage and shinobi alike are all here to see Uchiha Sasuke's battle. If you don't give him a chance to arrive, how much support would Konoha lose?" the Kazekage asked, "that, and I want to see how my Gaara matches up to the Uchiha."
Hiruzen sighed, he was getting too old for this. "Fine, five more minutes," he ordered into his mic. Down on the arena floor, Genma nodded and stood there as the crowd glared at him.
The entire stadium waited an extra five minutes. With no sign of the boy, Genma received the order. "Attention!" he called to the crowd, "as stated by the rules, Uchiha Sasuke has been disqualified due to absence!" He ignored the crowd's heckling. "We will now move onto the next tier of the exams. Will Aburame Shino and Temari of Suna please come down now!"
The two arrived and silently stared at each other. "Semi-final battle 1, begin!" Genma shouted as he backed up, remembering Temari's wide attack range from the prelims.
Bugs swarmed out of Shino's sleeves as he moved forward. He knew of the girl's power, but if he could get some on her directly, he could win. Just in case, he directed a few swarms to circle around to catch the girl from behind.
"Nice try," Temari praised, then swung her fan down hard, "but it's not enough!" A furious wind blew around her, tossing Shino's bugs everywhere but at her.
'Hmm. I didn't know she could produce the winds all around her person,' Shino thought, 'I can't get at her in any way now.' His head turned slightly to Genma. "Examiner-san, I have no way of defeating her at this time. I forfeit."
"Heh," Genma huffed out as he felt a bit of pride in the boy. To know when to call it quits was a sign of a chūnin. Looks like Shikamaru, Naruko and Shino would get a vote from him. "Winner: Temari!"
The blond girl was disappointed, but at least she still had some chakra left to fight. She turned and rushed up the stairs, wanting to save her strength and see her brother trounce that stupid redhead.
"Next match, Uzumaki Naruko K. and Gaara of the Sand, come down here!" Genma shouted. Gaara appeared in a swirl of sand and Naruko jumped down. "Semi-final match 2, begin!" Genma declared as he hopped out of range.
"Mother doesn't want you," Gaara muttered.
"Your mother can stuff it!" Naruko shouted back, "it's just you and me here, so no crying to mommy!"
Gaara didn't say anything as sand flowed out of his gourd like water. Without warning, he grabbed his head and started shaking. "I... He isn't here! No, I'll give you some blood. It's not Uchiha blood, but it's good enough for now," the boy muttered to himself as more and more sand floated around him. Just as suddenly as it happened, his issue passed and he stared at Naruko with his emotionally dead eyes. "Come, stain my sand with your filthy blood," he ordered, "try to put up a fight."
"Fine," Naruko growled as she threw kunai and shuriken at the boy. As expected, his sand blocked it all. To make matters worse, the sand took on Gaara's form and threw the weapons back at Naruko. The red kitsune tried to dodge, but a shuriken grazed her leg and slowed her considerably. To her horror, a pair of shuriken were thrown at her. She deflected these with a pair of kunai that she wielded backwards. Sadly, the girl still fell to the ground in a heap.
"You aren't enough," Gaara stated, "you aren't even worthy of staining my sands."
"Heh," Naruko chuckled, then burst into smoke.
"That's-" Gaara started, then got kicked in the cheek. Despite his automatic defence, the girl still pierced it and hit him. The blow was light, but it still cracked his sand armor a bit.
"Sand armor, like when you fought Lee. Do you always wear that?" Naruko asked as she assumed her race's fighting stance, "I'll just have to bust it all off then." Without even noticing it, the chakra from her tails was already acting on her, but at a very low level. Naruko tore forward as Gaara's sand rose up in defence. She swayed off to the side a little and swung her leg, hitting Gaara into his own sand wall. "What's the matter? Is that the fastest your sand can go?" Naruko taunted.
Everyone was stunned. 'It isn't the sand that's slow Naruko, you're just too fast for it,' Sakura thought as she struggled to keep up with her teammate's increasing speed.
Naruko ran at the boy again and again, stripping armor off with her clawed blows and kicks. After a few more hits, Gaara's sand rose up and caught the girl's arm. "Dammit!" Naruko growled as she jumped back, but the sand followed her and started creeping up her body. "No!" she shouted as half of her body was wrapped up in sand. It just kept coming.
"Yes," Gaara crowed as his sand armor repaired itself. The girl was now trapped in the sand. "Sabaku Kyū," Gaara commanded as he closed his hand, crushing the girl.
To say everyone stopped at that moment was an understatement. A few minutes ago, the girl was prancing around like a total moron, now she was just paste and gristle in Gaara's sand.
Sakura's breath hitched and a tear started to roll down her cheek. Ino looked away in disgust and sadness. Even though Naruko had been annoying, she had often helped raise people's spirits. Had Hinata still been awake, she would have probably died on the spot. Shikamaru was staring at the boy who just killed his friend in cold blood.
Genma couldn't believe that she had been killed so easily. He didn't even get a chance to stop it from happening either.
"No...blood?"
All eyes turned to Gaara, who looked confused. "Why? Why aren't you bleeding!" the boy yelled as he repeatedly tried to crush the girl, "bleed! Bleed! BLEED! DIE! DIE! DIE!"
The sand repeatedly compacted, but something was obviously stopping it from delivering its usually fatal pressure.
"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" the boy wailed in confusion and pain. His head hurt like no tomorrow. "-"
BOOM!
Without warning, the sand coffin was consumed in a furious blast. Genma barely got out of the way of a smoking piece of debris that nearly took a chunk out of his neck. "What the- black glass?"
The crowd felt a heavy charge of chakra fill the entire arena. The shinobi who had been around at the time recognized the rough, uneven texture of the Kyūbi's chakra, but this was different. Whereas the chakra from thirteen years ago was vile to the point that it made civilians sick, this chakra felt... serene...sad... It commanded everyone's attention, much like a monarch standing before a crowd.
The area she had been imprisoned had the smoke cleared away with a sweeping wind. Standing in the center of the crater was Naruko, but she was different. Thick, flaming chakra was coming from her wrists, looking like dull red fur cuffs of some sort while the rest of the chakra was thin and looked like fire in zero gravity. There was a healthy glow to her skin and her hair shone like it was fire as it flowed with the chakra that lifted it. All in all, many would later call her striking later. Only one person would ever vocally describe her properly.
"A beautiful, fiery goddess," Lee muttered in amazement.
Gaara stared at the girl, so stunned by her appearance that he didn't notice his 'mother' screaming for the girl's blood. "How?" he asked.
Whoosh!
A swirl of leaves blew around and quickly cleared away to reveal Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke. Genma appeared between them and the fight. "You're too late," he stated, "Uchiha Sasuke, you have been disqualified. Please make your way to the staircase behind you."
Sasuke had been wondering why the crowd wasn't chanting his name or anything, now he knew why. His gaze snapped to the two fighters: his redheaded teammate and Gaara. "Wha... What did he do to her?" Sasuke demanded as he tried to get at the boy.
Genma caught the heir and completely halted his movements. "Nothing, well he tried to kill her, but that chakra of hers stopped his sand. What you see is all her," Genma explained. Sasuke calmed down and backed up towards the stairs. While he wanted to fight, to test himself, he had missed out on the chance. At least he had gained some more power and a new jutsu. There would always be the next time, the next mission.
"Why don't you die?" Gaara shouted as the screams for blood tore around in his head.
Naruko opened her eyes for the first time since the chakra coated her. Those eyes of hers were now filled with light, making them shine like slit purple moons. "Because I won't stop," Naruko said, "not until I become Hokage, not until I'm respected."
Gaara's sand swung before him, throwing a few sand shuriken at the girl. Naruko swung her arm, the chakra batting the sand away as it fused into black glass. His sand slid along the ground and flew through the air to wrap around the girl. She closed her eyes, then snapped them open as she swung her arm, a long flame sweeping through the sand and burning it into black glass almost instantly. The flame remained extended, almost like a flaming chakra sword.
'What the hell is this? This has to be the highest level of chakra manipulation I've ever seen,' Genma thought in shock.
Gaara wordlessly roared as he summoned a large amount of sand, causing the arena floor to sink a good foot. "I'll crush you!" he wailed as he swung his hands down, the sand falling like a small tidal wave.
Before Genma could react, Naruko vanished in a flash of red and Gaara's eyes widened as he looked down at himself. Naruko had used Hiraishin again and had struck Gaara hard from multiple angles, destroying his sand armor like it wasn't even there. The boy had bruises, the first he had ever had. With his concentration broken by pain and shock, the sand fell back to the ground.
"Gaara. I'll end the nightmare," Naruko declared as she reappeared a few feet away from him.
"Just die!" Gaara shouted as he threw sand shuriken at the girl again.
Naruko stared at the projectiles and lifted her hand. A chunk of the ground tore up, burning into black glass from her chakra, becoming a shield for her.
Gaara saw the shield and kept pelting it with his sand in hopes of destroying it. He knew by now that his usual method of killing wouldn't work on the girl. If his sand shuriken became glass, they would still harm her as long as she didn't use the chakra to knock them away.
For a minute, sand smashed into the glass shield. Finally, a crack formed in it.
"A few more!" Gaara shouted, completely insane with bloodlust now, "a few more and I can spill your blood!"
The shield of glass broke in two and flew at Gaara, forcing him to use his shell of sand to protect himself. The sand eye floated in front of the shell as it closed up. "I'll kill you with my full power!" the demented boy declared as the shell closed up. The eye flew over to Naruko and she promptly swatted it out of the air with chakra, cutting Gaara's view of the outside world.
"This isn't good," Kankuro muttered to his sister, "he's completely lost it and forgot the plan."
Temari was worried that her brother might not escape the demon's clutches this time. "As long as he starts attacking Konoha, our plan will work out." She had to be cold or it would hurt worse if she lost her brother.
Naruko stared at the shell. It was as if time meant nothing to her anymore. Her movements were few and very slow unless she was using Hiraishin to move around. It was almost as if nothing could harm her the way she was now, or at least it seemed that Naruko believed that now.
"Come out Gaara," the girl called, "now." When nothing happened, Naruko sighed. "Fine, I'll bring you out then." With that, Naruko held her right hand out as the chakra blade reformed, becoming a long polearm. "This will pierce that shell and allow the light in," Naruko stated, then hefted the weapon back.
"Is that...a spear?" Genma questioned nobody in particular.
"Kitsune Yari!" Naruko shouted as she threw the dull red lance at the shell. It struck and went right through, coming out the other side with steam coming off the two edged prongs that formed the end of the spear.
"She hit him!" Temari screamed, "she hurt him! He's bleeding!"
Naruko stared at the shell as the spear faded away. For a brief moment, she saw a very strange eye. "Gaara...is that you?" she asked, even as something told her it wasn't him, not entirely.
After a moment or two, the shell fell apart and Gaara was revealed, as normal as he had been before and his eyes were back to being the way they had always been. He had a large wound in his right arm, blood pouring out of it.
Kankuro and Temari landed next to their little brother. "Come on, let's go!" Kankuro shouted as he grabbed one of Gaara's arms.
"Hey! You aren't allowed down here!" Genma shouted as he moved to intercept them.
Temari smirked. "Sorry, but we're taking our leave." She swung her open fan, blasting the Leaf-nin with a gust of air. When the gust was gone, so was the Suna team.
"Damn! We have...to..." Genma started, then started to fall prey to the genjutsu falling over the arena. He went to dispel it, but the jutsu already had a good hold on him.
A feather touched Naruko's chakra.
A girl found herself transfixed on the entire fight between the kitsune and the sand ninja. This girl was Yamanaka Ino, one of the few people privy to the knowledge of what Naruko was. This knowledge gave her a rough idea of what had happened to the girl, but it didn't prepare her for what her own body went through as she stared down at the girl.
Her throat became dry, her clothes felt too tight, her heart beat a mile a minute and a strange heat flooded her entire being. She found herself clutching the railing so hard that her knuckles were completely white. Her knees shook, seemingly strained by the simple act of standing. She didn't even notice that she had started to rub her legs together, almost as if she were cold.
'What's wrong with me?' Ino thought as she tried to wet her lips, only to find that she had no saliva available to do so. Right now, she wanted to go down there and...
And what? Images flashed through Ino's mind and she shook her head to be rid of them. She had depicted herself and the girl who was currently wrapped in fire-like chakra doing some very kinky things, things girls shouldn't do with each other. Sure girls could experiment with kissing each other so they were ready for when they kissed a boy, but most of what went through Ino's head was just plain raunchy. Seeing herself and Naruko of all people tangled up in sweaty sheets was just plain wrong.
Despite everything she told herself, the images persisted and Ino found herself indulging in the fantasies that played out in her head. She kept licking her lips every once in a while, but it wasn't to wet them anymore.
The Kazekage's plan was simple. While everyone was marvelling over Gaara destroying whoever he was fighting, various Suna-nin in disguise would take up positions in the crowd. Their allies, the Oto-nin, would do the same. When the time came, both nation's ninja would use a genjutsu together to render most of Konoha's forces unconscious, making it easy to bind them for imprisonment. The remaining forces would be captured or killed and dealt with depending on their condition. That was the plan.
Plans have a way of falling apart.
The moment the feather of the genjutsu touched Naruko's unusual chakra, it surged in an effort to prevent its owner from being placed under the effects of the genjutsu. Sadly, the surge was so powerful that it blasted up, hitting the entire crowd and blasting a hundred feet into the air above the arena. What effect did this massive chakra surge have? The invaders arrived with the expectation of little to no enemy resistance. Thanks to Naruko's massive release of chakra, they found themselves jumping at readied kunai.
For Naruko, it meant the end of whatever power she was using. The chakra dissipated and she was back to being plain old Naruko, tailless vixen. She fell to her knees and gasped for air, feeling like she had just run a marathon against both Lee and Guy.
"Naruko!" Sasuke shouted as he ran over, "are you alright?" Naruko nodded. "This attack, those three had something to do with it," Sasuke muttered and ran forward.
"Wait!" Naruko shouted, stopping her teammate, "Gaara's not normal! Don't underestimate him!"
Sasuke smirked. "I don't underestimate anyone. Don't strain yourself dobette, leave this to me. I can defeat him." He took off after the fleeing sand siblings.
Naruko started crawling over to the stairs, hoping her growing strength would allow her to walk soon. "You've already underestimated him," the girl muttered, "it would take a very powerful shinobi to beat him. Or a bijū..." She got onto her feet, knowing she probably couldn't beat the boy on her own. She was a half baked bijū at best.
Across Konoha, numerous innocent visiting civilians suddenly turned into deadly shinobi intent on subduing anyone they could find. To make matters worse, a titanic snake with three heads erupted into existence just outside the walls, which it quickly stormed. Several ANBU watched helplessly as their Hokage was taken to a roof top and four strange shinobi erected a barrier to separate the Kazekage from the ninja sworn to protect him.
By the time Naruko made it up to the stands where Kakashi and Sakura were, she knew that the attack was bad.
"Huh? Naruko?" Kakashi gasped when the kitsune showed herself, "that huge burst of chakra, what was that?"
"I...don't know," the girl admitted, "I think it was trying to keep me awake."
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Because of it trying to keep you awake, it put out enemy on bad footing. They're already losing ground here." He stepped back, avoiding a kunai to the neck, answering with his own kunai finding the Oto-nin's throat. "Naruko, Sakura, go find Shikamaru and follow Sasuke. This is an A-rank mission." While everyone was transfixed on the chakra spear Naruko had thrown, Kakashi had seen a strange appendage break out of Gaara's sand shell. That and the boy's chakra had the oddest texture, an inhuman feel to it.
"Shouldn't we find some others?" Sakura asked.
"No. With all the confusion, a team of four should be able to sneak through without too much trouble or resistance," Kakashi explained.
Sakura knew he was right. "So four... Wait? Whose the fourth member?" Hopefully, it was Kakashi-sensei himself.
Kakashi cut down another enemy ninja and lay him over a chair. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Kakashi shouted, summoning a small pug. "This is Pakkun. He is by far the greatest tracker in my list of summons. He will track Sasuke."
"A little dog is our fourth member?" Sakura asked, kind of disappointed. It wasn't even a cute or strong looking dog.
Pakkun hopped along the seats until he sat in Sakura's lap, staring up at her with his droopy eyes. "I'm no cute little dog," the dog stated.
"When did I say cute?" Sakura asked, freaked out that the dog was just as weird as the owner. Now that she looked, it seemed like a dog version of Shikamaru.
"Go find Shikamaru you two," Kakashi ordered.
Naruko and Sakura nodded and turned to leave, but Naruko saw the barrier and her eyes showed her who was within it. "Orochimaru!" she growled, then saw the other occupant, "Jiji? What's going on?"
Kakashi looked back at her. "Orochimaru is leading this attack. He disguised himself as the Kazekage and took Sandaime-sama to the central tower. The only thing that will happen there is a bloody battle."
"I'm not letting that hebi-teme kill the old man," Naruko growled and focused her chakra into the area before her heart as she held her hands in position, "Kuchiyose no jutsu: Shiratama, Sentō Kitsune." With those words, a ball of chakra moved forward and expanded until it burst and Shiratama floated to the ground, a large blade in the form of a ring hanging off her shoulder.
"Naruko-sama, you called?" the vixen asked as she opened her sharingan. She quickly took in the area and situation, "Naruko-sama, should I repel the invaders?"
"No," Naruko said, then turned and pointed at the barrier, "take down that barrier."
"I can't do that," Tama admitted, "but I can pass through it using my Mangekyō Sharingan."
Naruko smiled. "Alright. The man who put this mark on my neck is in there. 'Thank' him for me and assist the old man in there with him."
"Hiruzen-chan is in there? I haven't seen him in a few decades," the fox smirked, "I'll punish that serpent for laying his foul fangs on your flesh." The woman lifted the ring off her shoulder and jumped at the tower, covering the whole distance in three jumps.
"Now let's go get that Gaara guy," Naruko growled, "I won't let him kill Sasuke."
"Shikamaru first," Kakashi muttered, "then get to Sasuke and Gaara."
The two genin took off to find the third humanoid member of their team.
A/N~
I've decided, Naruko will have a tail before part I is over. Hiruzen will survive the attack, but he'll step down and assign Jiraiya the 'honor' of finding Tsunade so she can be the next Hokage. This fic's chapters are now going to be released when I finish them. I hope to make it weekly or biweekly releases.
Character Into-
Shiratama (Tama): A rare blue kitsune with two tails. Her title is 'Sentō Kitsune,' the Combat Fox. She possesses two dōjutsu, a sharingan and an unknown dōjutsu that she has almost permanently sealed behind an eye patch. Wields a ring blade. Obviously formed a contract with a human at one point, but it is unknown if she is still bound to it. Age is unknown, but she is over a hundred years old since she remembers Konoha's creation as a young kit. As expected, she is a combat specialist, adviser to the Kyūbi, a teacher and a little bit of a historian. Her Mangekyō Sharingan's special power allows her to pass through most barriers by forming a barrier of matching chakra around her body.
Jutsu Index-
Kitsune Yari: A technique that forms a spear from pure, compressed chakra. It has more than enough power to rip through Gaara's sands and deal damage to him. Due to it being formed from pure demonic chakra, it burns what it cuts and is highly effective against a human or jinchūriki's chakra and jutsu. Can't be used unless Naruko is in a specific state.
Responses-
Sky Zephyrus: Truth be told, I kinda get sucked into writing and I sometimes forget about this fic because I am suffering from NaruSakuIno withdrawal, so I focus more on KTD. While it isn't NaruSakuIno, it sates my addiction to the mentioned pairing for some odd reason, probably because it involves Ino, (ommited canon girl's name) and her little kitten of love in addition to Naruto and Sakura love. Funny thing is that this fic is NaruSakuIno and would be better, but I said I tend to forget it.
KTD is also my baby project. This fic was thrown together due to my extreme displeasure that He said, she said is strictly FemNaruSaku when it could easily be FemNaruSakuIno. I decided that, rather than absorb the Kyūbi like in the before mentioned fic, Naruko had been the Kyūbi all along in an incredibly advanced henge. Then I came up with the whole birth of bijū concept and went from there.
That and I got a cosmic beat down recently that I talked about in KTD chapter 21.
As for Naruko being an empress, that might not be the best thing to happen for Konoha. You'll see why in Part II.
SuperNeos2: So did the shopkeeper and Ino. In fact the shopkeeper wants more! Ino's too tsundere to admit that she wants more steamy kitsune action as well.
gaara king of the sand: Sage mode? Why would I give her something that she could transcend? No, she won't gain sage mode in this, though the toads will assist her in gaining control of her power. You saw a part of it this chapter as well as a less desirable power. Basically, the canon jinchūriki forms that Naruto used in the original are not forms Naruko should have due to the danger of them.
ShadowCub: Someone complained about yuri? Were they lobotomized or something? The only complaint I will accept about yuri is that there isn't enough!
Jiraiya: OH YEAH! (gives two thumbs up, then gets his notepad out)
Uh, I think I'll keep myself in line for now. Now for Tsunade catching them peeping... Heh! (smirks wickedly) That might be a better way to find her than coincidentally meeting at a bar.
DarkLordK: We need more yuri in the Naruko section! Damn, the combinations are limitless! Just to cover all the bases, Naruko/Harem! Hmm, maybe I'll make that later on. Just pair Naruko up with all my favorite characters. I'm doing a Naruto version, though I'm limiting it to 9 girls, so why can't I do a Naruko version?
Ladygoddess8: Tama was originally created as a minor character, but I decided to expand her role. Her covered eye will be revealed later, a dōjutsu of my own creation. It's overpowered as hell, but it has drawbacks that actually make it the least desired kekkai genkai ever. And yes, she will beat patience into that rock we all call Naruko's head, but it won't be til Part II that we get to see it.
chm01: I do believe that I said something about Sakura not accepting Naruko so quickly. People will want me to slit the fan girl's throat later, but I won't.
As for a snapping point, I got a really short fuse when it comes to anger. I normally walk away from the BS, but it has a bad habit of following you around in high school. Thank god I dropped out when I did or I would have eventually killed somebody. Now that I think about it. Don't you find it funny that people spread rumors around that a guy has killed people or is insane and will snap without warning, but they then pick on him all the time? It's like they want to get killed.
I did get my high school diploma, but it was not at a high school. Could have gone to college on a literary scholarship, but I turned it down. Too much stress. I might do it later, but the professor will have to deal with my brand of writing.
Lazy Eyes Conway: Thanks for the encouragement. As I always say, my fics will continue, doesn't mean everyone gets to read them. I get pissed off over a long enough time and I'll halt the story for a while and let people suffer while I keep writing and enjoying my fics. Yes, I read my own fanfics.
Firestar001: How's this chapter's originality? Part II will be a little different for reasons I will not spoil. I've got a bare bones idea of how this fic is going to go in Part II and I'll build on it as I read further along. (memo to self: read up to volume 30 or so to help plan all current and future fics better) One thing I can tell you is that Naruko will have both fire and wind affinities. She will also be wearing a very different outfit, which I think I described last chapter. I'll tweak it later. First change: I'm thinking red, more like a few shades of red. I'll keep thinking about it.
ddcj1990 & god of all: Thanks and updated.
Deathgeonous: Thanks.
Spazzyninjafish: Gymnastics... That explains it. Gymnasts, like surfers, tend to have evenly distributed strength that most people don't possess.
Honestly, you sound like me in the fighting category. You're a natural born fighter if you can dodge, counter attack and effectively land pulled blows in openings. As for what I call that spontaneous fighting... I don't know. I know it is just for fun since it seems neither of you get hurt, so the only thing I can think of calling it is play fighting. As for a headlock, don't break the lock, attack the locker. If your sister is ticklish, then just tickle her until the headlock loosens enough.
Hmm, so you really have sat on your ankles before... Maybe your body is used to such strains from surfing and gymnastics or you just have a natural tolerance for it. Walking with numb legs is easy, just make sure to watch where your feet go since you can easily trip over the smallest things. As long as all the right muscles function, I can walk. I've powered through pain, numbness, twisted ankles, a drill wound to my shin, nails and glass stuck in my feet and most recently a muscle cutting wound to my foot. For lack of a better term, I'm a juggernaut. I've always been a fast moving tank type person my whole life. You'd have to knock me out or break my legs to put me down for an extended period of time.
Ah, fixing me. I don't think its possible, not anymore. I've met people, women who could have helped me, but this is my problem and I don't want to burden them with something they don't need, so I kept them at arm's length. Even when a girl showed interest in me, I'd pretend I didn't notice or I'd tell them I appreciate their feelings, but I wasn't ready for a relationship. I've been broken like this for thirteen years now and I think I'll be like this for however long I live. I'm terrified to hell and back of death, so there is no need to worry about me hurting myself or killing myself. I only get depressed when my mind starts to imagine how my life could have been if I was different, if I had told my high school crush my feelings, stuff like that.
I decided long ago when I learned of my short temper that I would never get into a relationship, all so I could protect people. I'd rather suffer on my own rather than possibly ruin one or more lives by having a lover. Besides, I'm not relationship material. There are things that a person just isn't capable of in this world and me being the man a woman calls her lover isn't one of them.
Final thing, I had a sneaking suspicion you were a girl. Don't know why, but I can sometimes tell these things. Don't know if you know this or not, but I'm a guy. I have to clear that up a lot online since most people say I seem more like a girl than a guy.
MrUnclePeanuts: I know. Don't you see the 'Naruko U.' next to Ino's name?
Ookami prince: (sighs deeply) I thought you would lighten up on the insanity by now, but I was wrong. No offence, but it seems like you're either some gaki at the keyboard trying to act all big and bad after you got lost in some fantasy land or you need some serious meds.
And I wouldn't check you're profile anyways since it seems like it would probably just contain more of your ranting.