I have returned!
Here's another chapter.
Of the one and onlyyyyy
Innocence!
Hahhhahahha
-mayu
my god I'm so slow. Sorry guys
Innocence
Chapter 22
He sat outside the hospital room, not allowed to enter, for Jiraiya and Tsunade were discussing with the girl. Shikamaru, his arms grasped tightly over his chest hadn't moved from this spot since he had arrived, carrying the broken girl.
Sasuke sat across from him, staring into his right hand, fingering a cut he had received and eyes lost in thought. The hallway of the hospital was empty, and the two boys in it felt the silence was over-bearing and heavy. As if it was waiting as well as they were, wondering on the young blonde's fate.
The door to the room opened, and a haggard Tsunade stepped out. Her eyes were red from crying and her hair a mess but she was smiling a small relieved smile.
"She'll be fine."
At those words, Shikamaru bent forward, put his face in his hands, and didn't move, but the small drops on the floor spoke another story. Sasuke leaned back and sighed, closing his raven black eyes. Uchiha's don't cry.
Inside the room lay a little blonde girl, eyes blinking blearily, her father, Jiraiya stood over her. She held out a hand and the big man took it and bent over to kiss her forehead.
"We were worried for you little one. Don't ever do that again." Narue smiled and nodded drowsily. The door opened and in walked Shikamaru, his eyes watery and red, and Sasuke, his face empty of anything.
Shikamaru rushed to her immediately and hugged her; she patted his head and played with his pony tail. Once he stepped back, Sasuke stepped forward but was hesitant to hug her, remembering the look on her face in the forest.
Narue put an end to that, weakly holding out her small arms. She hugged him, leaning to him and trusting him to hold her up from falling off her bed. Sasuke's face melted from its cold exterior and he smiled a tearful smile, hugging her back hard.
"Now Now, leave Narue-chan to rest, I promise she'll be ready for the preliminaries in two days, ok?" Tsunade told them quietly, exuding that mysterious force that mothers world over seem to control.
It was a large chamber, with a statue at the end of it. The teams were lined up in front of the teachers, clan heads and the Hokage, waiting for some signal to start.
Sarutobi stood on the raised bit of cement, hands clasped and head bowed, as if contemplating something intricate and complicated. The teams stood uncertainly, wondering if they should say something, but hesitant to break the silence.
Suddenly, the doors clanged open, and in rushed a tiny, blue eyed blonde girl. She started at the left hand side of the teams, with team 8.
"HINA-CHAN! KIBA-KUN! I LOVE YOU!" a pause, "AND YOU TOO SAKURA!" Narue leaped into Hinata's arms and hugged the violet eyed girl.
"W-we love you too, N-Narue-chan." The soft-spoken girl emitted, passing the small one off to hug her teammates. Kiba rustled her hair and Sakura smiled a little, surprisingly happy to see the blonde. Laughing Narue jumped off of Kiba's shoulders and ran up to the Hokage, hugging his knees, Narue said, "Ojii-san…missed you!".
Sarutobi's heart swelled with the grandfatherly feeling he felt for this girl, and bent down to kiss her blonde head, "Missed you too Narue-chan." Narue beamed and jumped down off the raised cement. She ran to Chouji, gave him her sentiments and then ran towards her own team.
She slowed down after a couple teams, turned around and went back, stopping in front of the red-headed Gaara. It was a staring contest…on epic levels.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…" Narue blinked.
"…" Gaara blinked.
"…"
"…"
"TANUKI-CHAN!" and then she hugged him.
Him.
Gaara.
She hugged Gaara.
She Hugged Gaara.
Anybody would say that this is the cause of the destruction of the universe, but the real kicker, that made a lot of people's jaw's drop, was the fact that Gaara didn't do anything.
He stood there, surprised and shocked, staring down at the little blonde head hugging his middle. Wondering why the HELL his sand didn't stop her. In his mind, Shukaku giggled in his own little perverse way.
And then she was gone, jumping into Shikamaru's arms, quickly hugging Sasuke and then taking her place in line. Finding her legs tired, she sat down and began drawing little doodles in the bits of dust and sand on the ground with her finger.
Sarutobi gave a chuckle before he started on the introductions, and a speech on what meaning is to the chuunin exams.
Narue, while sitting on the cold gray floor in the big room with so little people, thought back to how many had started the test, and dared not think about what happened to a majority of them.
Suddenly, a disturbance at the front caught her attention. A sickly man had jumped down and started to speak, coughing every once in a while into his hands. Narue recognized the man as Shikamaru's teacher, and decided to greet him.
"-and so, the winners from every fight will continue on to the third part of the exams, in one month-OOF!" Hayate stared down at the small blonde girl hugging tightly to his waist.
Silence, and then Narue moved her head to look up at the man, her chin resting against his stomach, "HI! What's your name?" Hayate blinked at her, coughed and then said, "Hayate." Raising a hand in greeting.
Narue registered this and then squealed once again, a big smile welcoming this man to her group of friends, "HELLO HAYATE-CHAN!" and then let go and ran back to her spot.
A sweat drop formed on the back of Sasuke and Shikamaru's heads as some of the other foreign teams glared at them for disrupting so much.
"Riiiight, anyways." Hayate coughed, drawing the word out, "in one month's time, the third exam will take place, now if you will please turn your attention to the screens, the first match will be displayed at random."
(AN: you all should know by now I'm too lazy to do every single fight, so I'm just going to do the important ones, you can imagine the others, please be patient until I announce the winners of prelims :D)
The screen scrolled to different names fast, finally settling on,
Nara Shikamaru
Vs
Yamanaka Ino
The dark haired boy sighed, a girl…again. Ino of course thought of Shikamaru as the lazy ass he had been in the academy, not taking into account that some people actually train and improve after the academy.
As the rest of the contestants left the arena, Ino and Shikamaru took their places across from each other, and waited patiently for the sign to start. Ino was confident, a smirk on her face and her hand dipped into her kunai pouch. Hayate gave each a glance before starting the match, darting back out of the way immediately afterward.
"Don't think I'll go easy on you Shika—" Ino started to talk, and sadly her words of wisdom were interrupted by several kunai all headed towards her face. While dodging, she failed to see Shikamaru appear behind her, but she did feel his knee contact her back and send her flying high into the air. Shikamaru took his two short swords off his hips and held them perpendicular to his body. Crouching, he sighted out Ino and launched his body towards her.
Meeting her in the middle of the air, using the flat sides of his swords, he gave the girl several bone crushing whacks on her ribs, arms and head. Finally, holding both swords in both hands, he brought them over his head and then brought them down sharply on the yellow haired girl's head, sending her flying to the ground with tremendous force.
It was an unrefined attack combo, newly thought out, and to Shikamaru's inner critic it was foolish looking. What made it really effective was that Ino didn't get up.
As the medics rushed into the chamber to help the broken Ino, Shikamaru climbed the steps, ignoring the proctors "Winner: Nara Shikamaru." The deer boy was tired, surprisingly so. Adrenaline didn't go well with him. But, when Narue tackle hugged him around the waist, he got the energy to smile and ruffle her hair.
"Good job Shikamaru! It was over so fast! The way you went whoosh! was so awesome!" the girl continued to babble on, causing many to either tune her out or just smile and nod. Pretty much what you do to every little rambunctious child you ever meet.
"Next fight, Uchiha Sasuke vs. Uzuki Yoroi" (AN: I can't remember that guys name!)
Sasuke smirked confidently, keeping his Uchiha reserve, and walking down calmly from the watching platforms. Yoroi did the same, smirking confidently as well. when the fight started, Yoroi knocked Sasuke a round for a bit, sucking out his chakra as he did so.
Sasuke as getting angry and confused, and hen he began to perform his Lion combo on the other man, the curse seal flickered and awoke, sending hot streams of hateful power into his veins. (If your mind is in the seventh gutter, you're not alone.) Right when the anger was about to consume his mind, Narue's terrified and pained face came to mind and with a heart wrenching feeling he forced the seal back.
He never wanted to see the sunshine girl anything like that ever again.
Yoroi cracked his face into the floor, and Sasuke would have nearly done the same if it weren't for Kakashi holding his shoulder, "Well done, now come with me." Without giving the boy a chance to say anything, the jounin disappeared with him.
Hayate nodded, and turned to watch the screen ramble through names. It finally settled on "Uzumaki Narue vs. Hyuuga Neji." Hinata's intake of breath as evident, as was the stiffening of some people's backs. They knew this wasn't going to be an easy match for the girl, as the Hyuuga was powerful for his age.
The two were in the arena, Narue with a friendly smile, and Neji with his normal stoic face. Presenting her hand to shake Narue smiled, "May the best one win?" Neji considered her and the hand for a moment, before settling into his families' stance and said, "I will." Lee up in the stands frowned at his teammate's arrogance and rudeness, feeling slightly sorry for the young girl.
Narue's face seemed to tighten at his response and she nodded, stretching and loosening her muscles before falling into the stance her adoptive father taught her. Knees bent and feet wide apart, one arm pointed down behind her, the other held across her bent body hands clenched into small fists.
"Hajime."
Neji was fast, charging her and slipping into her defenses in what seemed to be with an easy effort. However, when he made to hit, she seemed to flow around his attack and kick him sharply in the ribs. The blow forced him back a pace, surprise etched into his cold features. Narue gave a small smile; still in the pose she had hit him.
Neji's face contorted in anger, and he rushed back in, his Byakugan blazing and his jyuuken stance perfect.
Again, Narue swerved around at the last instant, bending at an impossible degree and sweeping his feet out. Catching himself on his arms, he kicked his legs into her face, causing her to dodge back and dance away a couple meters. The two measured each other, until finally; Narue smirked (odd) for her. She brought her hands together and called out in a clear, ringing voice,
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Four clones popped into existence and with a nod, she sent two to either side to circle the other. Neji set into a stance, smirking as he took in the clones from all sides with his 'all-seeing eye'.
"What are you thinking? There's no way for you to defeat me. My eyes can see every one of your clones, and which is the real one." He smirked arrogantly, looking directly at the real Narue. She only smiled before becoming a blur. She and her clones ran about in yellow blurs, the shin guards on her legs glowing an eerie gold, very close to her hair color.
While running, she and her clones called out, each with varying tones or volume intending to confuse him, "Tell me Neji, can you see me? Which one of me is real?" they all stopped suddenly, still in the circle around the Hyuuga.
Neji smirked again, rushing forward while crying out, "You can't fool me! This is the real one!" and proceeded to shove his chakra laced fingers into her stomach without a thought. Narue bent over, face contorted in pain and agony. Several people up in the stands stiffened, Shikamaru gripped the railing hard, being the only one of his team in their part of the stands.
A delighted giggled filled the air and the Narue Neji had hit burst into smoke, eliciting a shocked face from him. How had she tricked his eyes? HOW?
"Neji-kun! You better start to dodge!" Suddenly, there were a great deal more Narue's than four, and each had two handfuls of kunai. Using his awesome seeing and dodging skills, Neji bent and swerved and ducked incoming Kunai that the Narue's threw, becoming increasingly irritated at the same time.
"Enough of this foolishness. I will win, fate as decreed it so." Neji growled, slipping into a different stance. He zeroed in on the real Narue in the crowd, this time making sure he knew it was her. What he missed with his oh so powerful Byakugan, was Narue's suppressed smile. Charging, Neji sped up faster than he had been and got within Narue's guard again. This time however, she didn't have the time to get away and found herself under the attack of chakra induced finger prick jabs.
It hurt, god it hurt, but she needed this to happen for her plan to work out. Once Neji had sealed every one of hr tenketsu and was ready to jump away she shot out a hand and grabbed onto his jacket, pulling him close, using him to stand up straight.
"What are you doing you failure? You have lost, let go." Neji growled, ready to punch her in the face. Narue didn't answer; she was busy concentrating as hard as she could. There it was. Narue opened her eyes and clamped down harder with both hands on the boy smiling a surprisingly wicked smile.
"Night, night." She whispered and then unleashed all the control she had over her clone. It exploded in a massive explosion of chakra, not all of it blue. A mix of red and blue and purple slammed into Neji, burning him everywhere and sending him flying back with tremendous force. He smashed into the cement wall, huge spider web cracks stretching behind him. He hung there a moment, obviously out cold before falling with a horrible thump onto the ground.
Narue stood shakily, panting and staring with sad eyes as medics hurried over to Neji's comatose body. That had taken too much out of her, she was feeling lightheaded. Before she could fall forward onto the floor, Shikamaru was there, gently picking her up and teleporting her back to the stands.
"Good job Narue; great match." Shikamaru smiled at her, checking her over for any serious injuries. Her tenketsu were a bit stretched and hot, but that would heal in no time, there were small burns on her hands which he went about wrapping almost immediately.
"Where are Sasuke an' Kashi?" she asked sleepily, Shikamaru paused, hesitation written across his face.
"They had to take care of something, they're proud of you too." He settled on, brushing the hair back form her face. She nodded sleepily before dozing off in post match adrenaline.
"Narue, Narue wake up. The matches are over." Shikamaru was shaking her shoulder, speaking in a low voice. Narue grunted and sat up wearily, she was still stiff from the hyuuga's taijutsu style, but not as sore as a normal person might have been. Sometimes having a gigantic fox in your stomach came in handy.
Narue rubbed her face, brushing the hair that fell into it back. She gave a short smile to Shika before laboring to her feet, stretching up. Oh look, she was getting taller, the top of her head hit Shika's nose. Cool.
Shikamaru smiled and pulled her ponytail.
"Sabaku no Gaara." Narue sounded out the name of her opponent thoughtfully, tapping a finger on her lip, "You think I can beat 'im?" she asked her teammates.
Kakashi gave her an eye smile, somehow walking with his one eye buried in his book. Sasuke hummed and twitched his head, he was so aloof lately. It really bothered her, but after what happened with Orochimaru, maybe he just needed to be alone for a while.
Shika gave her a bored look, raising an eyebrow. She giggled and spun around him, nearly knocking him off his feet in the process. She jumped and clung to his back, causing him to stumble.
"I'm sure you'll be fine." He drawled, trying vainly to get his hair away from her prying fingers.
Narue laughed as she finally got his hair undone and then sunk her fingers into it. Ruffling it she tried to keep the smile on her face.
As she stared at the back of Shikamaru's head she thought she felt a cold hand on the back of her neck. Reaching back she only felt skin, but then a flash of an image in her mind made her flinch. Swallowing she pasted the childish smile on her face again, hopefully nobody noticed her flinch.
The sharingan loomed like a shadow in her mind, swirling and staring at her from an impassive face, a cold face.
Itachi's face.
ALRIGHT I HAVE TO END IT.
I can't figure out how to continue it, and I'm afraid it's the end of the road for Innocence.
My very first fanfiction and I have to give it up.
It is up for adoption, but as I have never given a fic up before, someone will have to tell me how.
BUT.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR FOLLOWING IT THIS FAR. I'M PROUD TO HAVE GIVEN YOU THESE CHAPTERS AND HOPE IT LIVES UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS. THANK YOU AND GOODBYE.