Chapter 10

Without a Soul

"So, what brings you all the way out here, dunce?" The raven-haired boy mocked. Naruto's fist tightened, but he still remained in control of his emotions. Hinata could practically drown in the tension in the air, but she kept her mouth shut as the two old comrades spoke. This was between Naruto and Sasuke. But, this time, she would be here for her blonde hero too. He wouldn't have to fight alone.

"Nothing much, I just heard some asswipe was on his way to attack Konoha. That wouldn't be you, would it?" Naruto's emotional strength held fast, and he even had enough control to retort Sasuke's taunts, something that surprised the Uchiha slightly.

"As a matter of fact, it is. Do you intend to try and stop me?" He asked, his hand shifting to rest on the handle of his sword.

"Heh..I don't have to try. I will!" Naruto barked back, and despite the tension between the two boys, Hinata couldn't help but smile at Naruto's bold courage. He was still controlling his anger, and he was even confidently boasting about his own abilities, while belittling Sasuke's ability at the same time! Such strength! Hinata felt her face redden as she admired him.

"Hmph...we'll see." Sasuke muttered, and in a flash he disappeared from the rock, reappearing directly in front of Naruto. Naruto gasped as a sword, laced with electric chakra, suddenly sprouted from his back. "You're so confident, moron, and yet you don't even face me yourself?" Sasuke noted as Naruto burst into a puff of smoke. Suddenly Sasuke felt the sharp point of a kunai being pressed against his back, held by the blonde Jinchuuriki. Sasuke looked backward at the other boy, his eyes red, and smirked.

"Feh...more doppelgangers?" He scoffed, spinning quickly and cutting the second fake into two puffs of smoke. And just as he did that, yet another orange-clad ninja appeared from the sky, sailing down towards him to deliver a devastating kick. Sasuke easily saw it though, and reached outward, stopping Naruto's foot midair with one hand, while the other brought the sword upward, skewering Naruto through the middle, causing him to disappear into a cloud as well. Sasuke was quickly getting fed up with Naruto's feints, and so he devised a new kind of strategy.

Even though they had been doppelgangers, the copies of her beloved Naruto-kun had all been beaten right before Hinata's eyes. She had seen her hero stabbed, sliced and skewered, and that alone was enough to make Hinata sick to her stomach. She back away slowly as the two of them fought, her eyes wide. Because of her shock, she failed to notice when Sasuke suddenly appeared behind her after beating the third clone. Just as quickly, she found his sword pressed against her neck as his arm wrapped around her waist, causing her to gasp in surprise.

"Who's your friend, Naruto?" Sasuke called out, ensuring that the blonde would hear him wherever he may be hiding. "What happened to Sakura? Or have you finally given up your pathetic dream of winning her heart?" Sasuke taunted. He thought the girl in the lavender coat looked kind of familiar, but couldn't place where he had seen her before.

Of course, it was one thing to taunt Naruto...but insulting him about his unrequitted love to the pink-haired girl quickly snapped his temper. With a roaring yell, 24 Narutos appeared from the surrounding forest, some running and some falling from the sky. The crowd quickly rushed at Sasuke, but this only made the Uchiha boy smile.

"Not so fast! You wouldn't want your precious Sakura replacement to get hurt would you? No more Doppelgangers, Naruto! Show yourself!!" Sasuke challenged. But the crowd kept charging. Hinata felt her face drain from Sasuke's slicing comment about her, and she felt her eyes start to water.

"Go ahead! Kill her! See if I care!" The Naruto herd yelled. Hinata bit her lip as a tear rolled down her cheek. She understood Sasuke was trying to get at Naruto....but why did Naruto have to say something so hurtful? Sasuke blinked in surprise and looked down at the girl. Disgusted with himself for not catching it before, he shoved his sword through her back, causing the transformed clone of Naruto to poof away just as the two dozen other Narutos reached him. Sasuke had been in this situation before though, over three years ago, in the Valley of the End. So even though wave after wave of fists and feet attempted to harm him, Sasuke danced around the mess of orange copies, taking out all 24 of them in a matter of seconds.

"Uzumaki Spike!!" A thunderous yell came from amidst the leftover smoke. Because of the fog from so many disappearing doppelgangers, Sasuke hadn't noticed that two extra Narutos had remained outside of the clash. Like an orange lightning bolt one of said clones shot through the smoke, a swirling ball of chakra in the palm of his outstretched arm. The two clones had jumped above the big cloud towards the end of the quick skirmish, and one of them had grabbed the other's ankles, spinning them both in several frontward flips before hurling the latter down at Sasuke. Rasengan in hand, Naruto hit Sasuke dead on with his startling new combo, and both of them crashed into the ground, spraying debris everywhere and quickly dissipating the smoke.

The Naruto that had thrown the other one before having disappeared, only one remained. As he rose to his feet, he pulled Sasuke up with him, his hand wrapped around the onyx-haired boy's neck. Naruto's teeth were clenched as was his other fist, as he glared at Sasuke. The boy only smirked at him, despite the hand at his throat.

"You still haven't told me where Sakura is, dunce. I thought she'd want to be here to help you try and 'stop' me..." Sasuke hissed from behind Naruto's hand. Naruto's nostrils flared and he choked Sasuke much harder.

"You know damn well where Sakura is, bastard..." Naruto growled, his voice low. Sasuke coughed slightly and sneered, showing his teeth.

"Heh...oh, that's right...I remember." His voice was strained, "How was the funeral?" Naruto immediately pulled his arm back and slugged his old comrade hard in the face. He then pulled his arm back again for another one, but suddenly he felt something cold pierce the back of his head. The doppelganger poofed away in a cloud of smoke, leaving Karin holding a kunai in the air.

"That's enough of that nonsense." She remarked, and Sasuke smiled at her, rubbing his neck a little as a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"Doppelgangers are pointless Naruto! Don't you want to show me what you can really do? Or are you that scared?" Sasuke challenged, his voice seeping into the forest and the rest of the surrounding area, searching for the blonde and his lavender-clad companion. "Where are they, Karin." Sasuke asked softly. She looked around a bit.

"There are 14 of them all around us. 7 of the guy and 7 of the girl, I would guess." She informed in a whisper. Sasuke sighed.

"Then let's play some hide and seek." And immediately the two of them disappeared. Sasuke had to admit, it was exhilarating fighting Naruto. He was indeed much stronger than last time, and actually put up a challenge to the Uchiha boy. The sound of grunts and squeals popped up from the forest several times as Karin and Sasuke took out the doppelgangers of Naruto and Hinata. With his Sharingan, he could easily tell who was a clone and who was real if he did so much as glance at them. Eventually, he came upon the original indigo-haired kunoichi, and with a smile swiftly appeared behind her, holding her hostage the same way he had done before. He made sure she was real this time, and leaned in close to her ear.

"So tell me..." He breathed into her ear, "How does it feel...to be his isecond/i choice?" Hinata's breath froze in her lungs. Again, she knew he was just trying to get at her, but she still couldn't stop the lump from growing in her throat at his words, and her own doubts rose to the surface of her mind. Was it true? Was she really just a replacement Sakura to Naruto? Was she really his...second choice? Her heart faded at the very thought of this, and her eyes began to glisten again. "You didn't think he actually liked you, did you? He has only ever liked Sakura...but she loves me. So it appears he's finally realized this, and moved on to you. You're just his...backup girl." Sasuke hissed quietly to Hinata. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she found herself believing him. It all made sense to her. Naruto said himself that he didn't like her the same way she loved him. Did that mean he still loved Sakura?

Karin appeared at Sasuke's side, gasping for breath as she tried to tell him something. "Sasuke! Wa-" But it was too late.

"Shut the hell up!!" Naruto roared, flying at Sasuke from above. The maverick ninja's foot connected with Sasuke's face, and as Naruto soared over Hinata's head, Sasuke flew backwards, barely managing to catch himself as he slid along the ground.

"You don't know anything!! Don't tell her such stupid lies!!" Naruto yelled as he swiftly landed a punch on Sasuke's face. He kept pressing forward, pushing Sasuke backwards as he punched him repeatedly. Even though Sasuke had whispered his words to Hinata, Naruto had heard him through his radio transmitter and come running. Karin wasn't able to catch up to him in time to warn Sasuke before he attacked. The rage he felt from Sasuke's words had triggered the fox's chakra, and the marks of the demon had appeared on his features.

Finally, Sasuke managed to catch Naruto's fist before it reached his face, and as blood spilled out of his mouth, he glared at Naruto, still smirking slightly.

"Finally decided to get serious, huh?" Sasuke wiped at his mouth, smiling wider, "Then I'll stop toying with you."

As Naruto and Sasuke confronted each other, Karin tried to move in and help the Uchiha boy. But Hinata moved in the way, tears still staining her face. Her eyes burned with determination though, and her brow was furrowed. Karin placed a hand on her hip and laughed haughtily at her.

"Aww....poor little baby. Did that meanie Sasuke hurt your feelings?" She mocked concern, then her voice hardened, "If you're that insecure about your relationship with that orange kid, you don't deserve him anyway. Not that you'll ever see him alive again." She smirked evilly, just as a flash of lavender collided with her violently. Karin flew back, rolling once before recovering to her feet. She had no time to react though, as Hinata was on her again like lightning. Hinata wasn't the type of person to get mad easily. But after what this girl just said, fury certainly burned in Hinata's pale eyes.

The Hyuuga heiress bore down on the redhead with a seamless and fluid string of Juuken combo attacks. As Karin's chakra network was damaged, she had a lot of trouble getting a handle on herself enough to defend. By then she felt her limbs becoming numb, and was only able to manage a shoulder charge into Hinata to force her away from her. Karin stood limply, gasping in breaths as she held her left arm, which had completely numbed.

"Tch....Y-you really are ithat/i insecure, huh?" She huffed, sucking in breaths. Hinata stood only a few feet away, still in her basic fighting stance with her palm outstretched before her. One final tear escaped her left eye as she swiftly moved at the enemy once more.

"bIsamashii Kanrui/b!!" Hinata shouted as she spun on her heel, her body swinging low. She brought her palm upward until it collided with the bottom of Karin's rib cage, sending a Juuken-style shock through the girl's body. She was lifted upward into the air, her eyes wide with pain as Hinata reached up and took hold of one arm. The Hyuuga girl launched herself from the ground, pulling Karin's arm around her to make her spin in the air as well as help Hinata move above her. Facing down, her Byakugan activated, the shy kunoichi focused on Karin's body and began smashing her palms into her opponent with unbelievable speed. Before she was finally allowed to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap, The red-headed girl's body received eighty Juuken strikes, ending with one final, eighty-first, chakra-filled and anger-fueled smash that pushed her body into the ground.

Her palm still on Karin's stomach, Hinata fought to gasp in breaths. That move...Courageous Tears....was a move she had never used before. She had created it just then...in the midst of her hurt feelings and building rage. She barely understood where the attack had come from...she had just...done it. Finally, having regained some of her breath, Hinata tried to stand up. Her legs felt wobbly, and her head was light, but she managed to stay upright. She stared at the body of her enemy, and slowly raised a single fist, holding it straight out in front of her, much like a certain orange ninja had done during the Chuunin Exam Preliminaries. A small smile grew on her face, and soon her teeth were visible.

"I have changed..." She said almost confidently, but with hints of awe in her gentle voice. She was surprised herself to be able to admit that she ihad/i managed to get stronger...to change herself. And it was all because of the confidence her ramen-loving, fox-boy crush...no, boyfriend...gave her.