Hey guys! So here's the ninth chapter you've all been waiting for. Thanks for all the reviews in the eighth chapter. And YAY! This story has crossed its first milestone of 500 reviews, all because of you guys, so again thank you very much. Now I've got a number of things I wanna explain to you, so please read the author's note at the end of this chapter, it's IMPORTANT! And beware guys Kushina-hime is gonna enter in a couple of chapters, so brace yourselves. So, enjoy for now-
Chapter-9- The Byakugan Blooms!
'SABAKU NO KANKUROU vs ABUMI ZAKU vs HYUUGA HINATA'
Hinata narrowed her eyes while clenching her fists. This was it! There was no going back, she would prove herself to Naruto, to her sensei, to her father, sister and cousin and everyone else who thought that she could never amount to anything.
'For you Naruto-kun, I will do this. I will not let your faith in me waver even a bit', she thought before flipping over the railing and landing graciously on the floor, much to the surprise of everyone who knew her except Naruto. Kurenai was surprised to see the fire in her eyes, those were the eyes of a true kunoichi, radiating confidence and wanting to prove herself, her existence. Meanwhile Neji was glaring at Hinata's back with hate.
"Whoa! Is that really our Hinata?", asked an astonished Kiba while Shino just adjusted his glasses, he too was surprised by her body language. They were expecting her to timidly twiddle her fingers and slowly walk down the stairs with nervous steps, although they knew her confidence was boosted by Naruto but this was still something they weren't used to. Meanwhile Kurenai was looking at Naruto in confusion and admiration in her eyes, he just possibly achieved what she had been trying to do for some years now, just what did he do in that dome. Although she knew that Hinata was probably doing this in the heat of the moment, but still even that was impossible before. She knew Hinata had hidden talent, suppressed by her father and her clan and confidence was the only thing she needed to become an accomplished kunoichi.
Zaku landed on the floor and smirked maliciously at Hinata, "Cocky bitch, aren't you Hyuuga?", he asked with a sneer while Kankurou too landed on the floor with a smirk.
"Why don't you forfeit girl, this tournament is for guys like us not for some weak Hyuuga heiress", he said while keeping his smirk on his painted face, wanting to unsettle her determination, he knew hit a spot with that last comment. He knew about her status as they were made to know about major clans of Konoha in detail for their Konoha invasion plan. Hinata narrowed her eyes at him while activating her Byakugan, glaring at him at the comment which only succeeded in steeling her determination before slipping into the gentle fist stance.
"Your loss bitch, but don't say that I didn't warn you", said Zaku while shrugging before Kankurou spoke.
"Hey pal, what do you say we team up and beat up the cocky Hyuuga", said Kankurou intimidately while Zaku nodded with a malevolent smile whereas Hinata just ignored them. Meanwhile Mei frowned at what they were planning to do, now inwardly she wanted nothing more than for the Hyuuga girl to beat their asses, how dare they underestimate the power of a kunoichi, a determined one at that.
"Hey! That's not fair, those guys are teaming against Hinata", said an angry Sakura while Naruto was watching them calmly, which surprised Kakashi to no end, as he was expecting Naruto to burst instead of Sakura.
"If she can't beat those two pathetic genins, then she doesn't deserve to be a kunoichi", said Sasuke with his patented scowl while Naruto & Sakura just ignored him.
"They're trying to intimidate Hinata into forfeiting the match so that they don't have to face any extra competition. The Hyuuga clan is renowned throughout the world for their gentle fist, so naturally they don't want to face her as even one blow from her would disrupt their flow of chakra making them almost defenceless, I'd say they're actually scared from her", said Naruto with an amused smirk while Kakashi's lone eye widened to that of saucers, was this really Naruto? The loud unpredictable knucklehead ninja who takes actions first before thinking, well he was justifying the unpredictable part. Sakura nodded with him whereas Sasuke 'Hn-ed' in response.
"HEY CLOWN! ARE YOU SCARED OF HER?", yelled Naruto out-of-nowhere before a tic mark grew on Kankurou's forehead who yelled back.
"IT'S WAR PAINT!", while Samui & Karui just sweatdropped.
'That's one weird genin', both thought simultaneously as they stared at Kankurou in exasperation.
"OOOOH SORRY MAN! DIDN'T KNOW CLOWNS FOUGHT WARS", said Naruto with a goofy grin while almost everyone chuckled at that comment. Sakura couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing while slowly others joined in too, Kakashi was just chuckling to himself while Gai was shouting about Naruto's flames of youth shining brightly.
Kankurou gave a dirty look towards Hayate who was chuckling to himself while holding his senbon, well...so that he doesn't swallow it accidently. "What? The kid has a point you know", he said while chuckling. Whereas Mei was smiling amusingly at Naruto while Samui had a smirk on her face, typically thinking that it was a cool comment while Omoi was confused if he should suck on his lollipop anxiously or laugh, resulting in him laughing anxiously while sucking on his lollipop which was a strange & a hilarious scene to say the least. Yugito had a blush on her face, mainly due to the commentary of her sex-crazed bijuu while Hiruzen was chuckling to himself, shaking his head at Naruto antics, no matter how much he changed, he'll always be a prank master of the leaf capable of lighting the moods even in the most serious situations.
Anko had an excited grin on her face while she was eyeing Naruto with a seductive look whereas the rest of the ice queens watched Naruto with a dreamy sigh. Naruto saw Anko out of the corner of his eyes and shuddered at that look, but at the same time blushed at seeing her pretty face, that he had to admit, before turning his head to the other side to hide his blush.
'Oooh! Shying away from me, eh Naruto-kun? I wouldn't leave you that easily', thought a grinning Anko while Temari was laughing at Kankurou, now she got something new to tease her brother. Meanwhile, Naruto's sudden outburst seemed to calm Hinata's nerves as she smiled innocently at Kankurou who was grumbling to himself incoherently while Zaku too couldn't stop a snort of laughter escaping his mouth.
"Alright, that's enough. Are you guys ready?", said Hayate still chuckling lightly to himself while the three of them nodded whereas the atmosphere immediately became tense as the match was about to start.
"HAJIME!"
To almost everyone's surprise Hinata was the one who dashed towards Zaku, chakra flaming her palms as she prepared for a palm thrust midway. Meanwhile Kankurou had jumped back from the two as he was a long range fighter and began waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Meanwhile Zaku put his right palm forward, facing in the direction of Hinata, all the while smirking to himself.
"Zankuuha (Decapitating Air Waves)", he yelled before releasing a concentrated pulse of supersonic sound wave invisible to naked eye while Hinata's eyes widened when she saw a mass of high intensity chakra come towards her at high speed. She immediately jumped high in the air with her momentum, using chakra on her feet and planted herself on the ceiling. Scanning her two opponents, her eyes widened when she saw that Kankurou had no chakra network but that something had a chakra network which was wrapped on his back.
'How is this possible? Wait, does that mean the real one is hiding in those wrappings, but how is he controlling...chakra threads! So he's a puppet user', thought Hinata while a deep frown was etched on her face when she realised that she was at a serious disadvantage as both of her opponents were long range fighters.
'I have to take care of the sound one first and engage him in taijutsu, that previous attack was deadly', she thought before landing on the floor.
"Giving up Hyuuga?", said Zaku cockily while Hinata just ignored him and made a sprint towards him again. Zaku used the same attack again whereas this time she dodged it sidewards, atleast that's what she wanted to do when she suddenly found herself constricted by something and couldn't move out of the way before the attack hit her full force leading to her flying back before skidding to a halt on the floor.
Naruto gripped the metal railing tighter while gritting his teeth, but he had to believe in Hinata, he had faith in her abilities and couldn't give up on her yet. Kurenai was livid at the shameful display of cornering a kunoichi, but the only thing she could do now was have faith in her student. She had never seen those eyes in Hinata, she wouldn't let her hopes dwindle so soon. But even she knew that being hit dead on by an attack like that must have severely injured her, Hinata was tired from the second part of the exams and was already low on chakra. Meanwhile Mei, Yugito, Samui, Karui, the other ice queens and almost all the female jounins frowned at Kankurou, but they knew that it was a part of being a kunoichi and were secretly cheering for Hinata to win the match and show those bastards what a real kunoichi is.
Hinata sat on her knees before blood started to leak out of her ears while she coughed some blood, her whole world was spinning which she deduced that it was because of her body equilibrium was disturbed. Meanwhile Lee looked at Hinata sadly, he knew it was over for her now. He had first hand experienced that attack and knew that there was no chance for her to fight now, even walk properly for atleast two to three hours.
Kankurou had chakra strings attached to his puppet Karasu (Crow) which had held Hinata in her place when she tried to dodge whereas the attack didn't affect his puppet at all, although he was a bit sad at doing this, but he had to progress to the finals for their plan and couldn't take any chances while fighting a Hyuuga, whether it be male or female.
"Give up girl, you don't stand a chance now!", spat Zaku as he approached her slowly until he was a few feet away from her. Meanwhile Hinata stood shakily on her wobbly feet before coughing up some more blood.
"N-No w-way...I w-wouldn't give u-up...e-ever", she said while panting heavily while Zaku just backhanded her as she again fell to the ground.
"Fine you slut! I was giving you a chance to get out the easy way, but I guess I'll do it the hard way. I've been itching to try out a new attack anyway", said Zaku with a predatory smirk as he pointed both of his palms at Hinata, only inches away from her face.
"This will take you out for atleast a month, maybe a coma or worst, you'll just die", he said with a dark expression on his face.
"HINATA! QUIT IT ALREADY, YOU'RE IN NO CONDITION TO FIGHT! IT'S NOT WORTH TO RISK YOUR CAREER", bursted Naruto as he finally had watched enough and knew that Hinata was in a bad condition right now. Meanwhile Hinata couldn't hear anything except the loud ringing in her ears due to the previous attack, the only thing she could do was read lips with her Byakugan and only understood when Zaku told her to give up. Because of the backhand slap, she didn't hear anything further, not even Zaku's her eyes widened when she noticed both of his palms just inches away from her face and saw the vibrating form of his palms as well as the high amount of chakra in the attack. She knew if hit by this one, she wouldn't survive. She could almost see death coming in her face in the form of high frequency supersonic vibrations from the hole in his palms.
"Zankyokukuuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)", she couldn't hear him, she couldn't hear shouts of Kurenai & Naruto, she couldn't hear anything. The only thing she could see was the chakra form of extremely dense sound waves coming towards her in slow motion, as if mocking her. Telling her that no matter what she does, she would never improve, she would never be able to escape them, that she was weak and was better off if wiped from the face of planet.
She could almost see the disappointed face of her father, the sneers of the elders of her clan, the arrogant smirk of her cousin and sister in those invisible waves, but her mind and heart went into overdrive when she saw the grinning face of the one she loves the most. She could almost subconsciously hear him.
"Never give up Hinata-chan! No matter what happens, no matters how many odds are stacked against you, no matter how many people think you are weak, believe in yourself, have faith in yourself! March forward, pursue your dreams, pierce through your enemies!", says a grinning Naruto while giving her a thumbs up, determination shining in his magical sapphire blue eyes.
She closed her eyes as the waves of death drew near, she could feel something warm, something she had never felt before emanating from the pit of her stomach and expanding all over her chakra coils.
'Thank you Naruto-kun. I love you...so much. I would NEVER give up, I'll keep trying till the end and in the afterlife too if I have too', she thought as the warm & comfortable feeling in her stomach grew, but when she felt that same warm burning feeling reach her eyes, she snapped her eyes open which were now a shade of glowing blue in the middle. The world zoomed out as everything became even more slower while she welcomed this comfortable warm embrace before everything came back to normal.
Naruto didn't know what was going on, he was screaming for her to forfeit the match, it was like she couldn't listen to him which he deduced that it must have had to do something to with the sound attack. He shouted in despair before jumping over the railing and dashed towards her with high speeds, he didn't know when he had activated the Rinnegan but was surprised to see a huge amount of chakra expanding all over Hinata's chakra coils and when the chakra reached her eyes.
BOOM!
There was a short impulse of chakra blast which almost made him fly backwards, but he braced himself before landing on the floor and consciously deactivated his doujutsu as he didn't want to reveal it before his fight. Everyone's eyes along with his widened when he saw a silver glowing figure of Hinata along with her 'long' hair, her angelic glowing hair swivelling with the wind created by the blast. The silver glow slowly died down for them to see Hinata standing there with her eyes closed, but one significant difference about her appearance was her long hair(just like in shippuden, but with the addition of bangs on either side of her face).
"H-Hinata-ch-chan...", stuttered Naruto as he called for her. He had no idea what the fuck was going on here, but he was worried sick for her. Meanwhile Zaku was sent flying back because of the blast but he flipped in midair and landed away from Kankurou & Hinata.
Hinata was enjoying and taking comfort in this strange warmth when she heard one voice which was deeply imprinted in her heart. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped along with everyone else who could see her eyes. Hinata was completely astonished and mortified at what she was seeing, the level of detail of everything she could see didn't ever seem possible to her, her vision had drastically improved. She could see chakra pathways and tenketsu(chakra points) in a much greater detail than before, some chakra points which earlier were not visible to her were not as clear as a day, her range of vision had improved by leaps & bounds as she could almost scan most of the forest of death also noting the fact that the supposed blind spot of the Byakugan wasn't there and that she could perfectly see through the complete angle i.e. three-sixty degrees. She also felt completely rejuvenated, almost like she never had went through the second exam, also noticing the fact that she now possessed longer hair than before, well much longer. She turned her head to see Naruto standing a few metres away from looking at her with a surprised expression and a small blush adorning his cheeks. She gasped for the second time when she noticed the white chakra with a mixture of small amount of red chakra flowing through his coils.
'His chakra coils have expanded drastically since the last time I checked his pathways', she thought, amazed at the level of detail she was able to see his chakra network through. She also noticed a strange seal on his stomach and stored the question for later, she had a match to win!
"Y-Your e-eyes..", he again stuttered in shock. Hinata would've laughed if not for the situation, he was acting just like her.
"What a-about my eyes", she asked while cutely tilting her head. Meanwhile Naruto was awestruck as well as mesmerised at the beauty of her eyes. They were still of lavender colour, but as you progressed towards the centre of her eyes, the shade changes to that of sky blue. Surrounding her seemingly sky blue pupil was one small dark pink flower petal adorning her eyes (just like Sharingan's one tomoes), while her long hair along with her bangs made her incredibly cute.
He put the palm of one hand on the other, putting wind nature chakra in one and water natured in another to create a plain ice plate before closing the distance between him and Hinata and handed her the plate. Her breathing hitched when she saw the reflection of her eyes.
'Beautiful', was the only thing she could think before realising the situation.
"B-But w-what happened to m-my eyes", she asked worriedly while glancing towards Naruto who strangely was smiling with pure glee.
"Isn't it obvious you idiot? Your Byakugan has evolved dattebayo", he said before grinning in excitement while Hinata's lips slowly curved upwards before it turned into a full blown smile of pure joy.
"Really?", she asked, barely able to contain her excitement while he nodded vigorously. She squealed before jumping at him and hugged him tightly while he accepted it gladly.
"But, I've never h-heard of a second level of Byakugan", she asked in confusion, both not noticing the fact that she was barely stuttering now.
"See, I always told you that you were special Hinata-chan", he said while swiftly moving his hands through her long hair whereas she snuggled into his chest.
"Ahem", they both immediately separated, blushing furiously and noticed a wide eyed Hayate staring at Hinata in bewilderment. Actually, when Naruto scanned his surroundings, he noticed that everyone had their eyes the size of saucers, mouths open like they were trying to say something, but nothing came out. Hinata blushed in embarrassment when she noticed all the stares directed at her. Even Orochimaru, who was acting as a sound team jounin sensei couldn't believe his eyes. Second level of Byakugan? You've gotta be fucking kidding me!
Kurenai had tried several times to dispel a possible genjutsu, not believing her eyes. Nobody, nobody had an idea what was going on, the Byakugan wasn't supposed to have an upgrade, it was just like a stock product with nothing to add. Mei, Hiruzen and A were rendered speechless, first by the fact that today something happened that wasn't ever heard of, and second by the fact that how casually Naruto and Hinata were acting about this. But Hiruzen, the ice queens and Naruto weren't surprised that much, a few days ago even Rinnegan wasn't supposed to exist. Meanwhile Kurenai had an evil grin on her face, oh she couldn't wait to throw this at that bastard Hiashi. The supposed weak heir has reached a level of Byakugan which possibly hasn't ever been achieved in the Hyuuga clan, HAHAHAHA! She could already imagine the stone faced, arrogant laced and the almighty unfazed leader of the Hyuuga clan bowing before her and his daughter.
"Hehehe, sorry...you have a match to win right?", asked Naruto sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head whereas Hinata nodded with a smile.
"A-Alright...I guess we should continue the match, you guys ready?", asked Hayate while Hinata nodded with a predatory smirk, whereas Zaku & Kakurou were not feeling so confident right now but nodded a bit hesitantly. Zaku was already tired because of using a high amount of chakra in that last attack whereas Kakurou brought back his puppet in front of him.
'You're an idiot Dosu, using so much chakra in one attack. Even if you would have taken out the girl, you still wouldn't have been able to fight the puppet user', thought Dosu while shaking his head.
"Alright, continue", said Hayate while signalling them to start the match again.
"Don't think that just because of your bloodline you can match up against me", said Zaku, still trying to intimidate her while Hinata took out several shuriken out of her pouch before throwing them at Zaku, who easily dodged the shuriken by jumping in the air using chakra. While in air, he put his palm towards where Hinata was standing, or where she should have been standing. His eyes widened when he heard a soft voice behind him.
"Looking for me?", whispered Hinata, her upgraded Byakugan still active before delivering a fast & accurate finger strike to a specific spot behind on his back neck.
'How did she get so fast', were Zaku's last thoughts before slipping into unconsciousness while Hinata grabbed him in midair. She landed near Hayate before putting him on the floor.
"He would be out of it for a while proctor, I suggest you call for medics", she said all the while keeping her eyes fixed on Kankurou while Gekko just blinked, having a stupefied expression on his face. How the heck did she do that? That was the question on everbody's minds, especially Neji.
'That's impossible! Her chakra strike completely missed the chakra point on his neck, I'm sure of it. Then how did he get unconscious? Could it be that her new Byakugan can see chakra points invisible to the simple Byakugan. But even if she did strike any hidden chakra point, it shouldn't be possible for that sound genin to just slip into unconsciousness from one strike only. This is absolutely absurd, not even most professional users of gentle fist are capable of such feat, not even Hiashi-sama. And her speed, how did it suddenly increase so much? What's going on here?', thought Neji while glaring at Hinata, a glare full of hate. He was pissed that her weak cousin suddenly became so strong, that the main family had again outdone him. Hiruzen, Ao, Mei & A were having thoughts along the same line. All of the experienced jounins were gobsmacked after witnessing her delicate attack, they had never seen any Byakugan user do that. Naruto on the other hand was just happy and at the same time excited about her doujutsu, he couldn't wait to explore more abilities of this unknown Byakugan. He wasn't surprised that much by her attack, he had already heard & seen things in the past several days that threw logic out of the window, he was just content in knowing that Hinata was finally standing up for herself and kicking some ass.
The medics had immediately came after Hayate's call and had taken Zaku from the arena.
"Alright, you can continue now", said Hayate, eager to know more about this newly discovered doujutsu, while everyone was on edge, anticipation shining in their eyes. Except for Kankurou, who was a nervous wreck by now. Meanwhile all the kunoichi in the arena, had evil grin plastered on their faces.
'Paybacks a bitch, eh make-up boy?', thought all the kunoichis under the tag of women power. Although Hinata, for the first time in her life was enjoying a fight, she wanted to end this fight quickly as this new doujutsu was draining her chakra at a fast rate.
Kankurou using his puppet Karasu, threw several poisoned needles out of its mouth at Hinata, and yet again she was amazed at the level of detail at which she could see the attack coming at her. She could see everything, as if the world was revolving around her in slow motion. She could see the poison drops at the tip of the needles, she could even count the number of needles he threw at her, each & every needle coming at her way, something which shouldn't be possible even for the Sharingan. Easily dodging the needles in a mixture of high speed & fluid movements, her hair flowing with her in melody. Almost all the shinobi out there blushed lightly at seeing her, even some of kunoichi had to fight off the heat rising on their cheeks. Meanwhile Gaara was starting to become more & more psycho at each passing moment, all the while grinning like a maniac.
Kankurou was astonished, the girl just dodged his needles like they were nothing. Those needles are so sharp that even seeing them coming your way is difficult, let alone dodge them. They were even more accurate than senbon, those needles were designed by Sasori of the Red Sand when he was in the village after all.
Quickly taking out a smoke bomb from her shuriken pouch, she threw it at the floor just in front of her before being completely enveloped by the smoke.
'Smoke screen, what could she be planning right now', thought Kankurou anxiously, waiting for her move, his fingers itching to command his puppet.
Suddenly Hinata came out of the smoke dashing towards Kankurou at high speed who immediately again threw poisoned needles at her from the puppets mouth & both of its hands, wanting to disrupt her momentum. He was surprised when all the needles just passed through Hinata like she wasn't there.
'What the fuck! How did she- a bunshin!', realised Kankurou, but a bit too late as Hinata landed in front of him out of nowhere before delivery extremely fast & accurate palm thrusts to his upper body, almost rendering him out of chakra. Kankurou was in a whole world of pain right then, he felt as if he was stabbed by his own needles. He couldn't almost feel any chakra and was feeling tired like was fighting for hours now, his rasped breathing indicating a possible damage to his lungs.
'She had made a bunshin in the smoke and jumped at that time so that I was distracted by the clone illusion and couldn't see her coming from above. Guess….I lost', he thought before falling to his knees.
"That was for calling me a weak heir", said Hinata with an angry look in her eyes before Kankurou slipped into unconsciousness and fell face first on the floor.
"Sensei?", asked a shocked Sakura as she had never seen this side of Hinata before while Kakashi looked towards her to indicate he was listening, "Earlier when that sound genin fainted, how did Hinata do that? It shouldn't be possible with a touch of only unless she's a medic and quite a legendary one at that like Tsunade-sama ", she asked curiously while Naruto too waited for an answer.
"Well, from my guess, she hit a specific chakra point on the back of his neck which should be out of Byakugan's reach. The Main family of the Hyuuga clan are taught the basics of anatomy of the human body at an early age so that they atleast know about the important chakra points and each of their functions in regulating charka flow in specific organs. However not all chakra points are visible to the Byakugan, hence only a few in Hyuuga clan who are masters of the gentle fist can hit these kind of hidden chakra points, and that too by thoroughly memorizing the location of these chakra points, which is attained through intense studies in medical ninjutsu. So what Hinata did should be practically impossible for her, it could've been a fluke or it could be that this new Byakugan can see those hidden chakra points. If the latter is true, this could be a great breakthrough in the field of gentle fist as well as medical science", explained Kakashi in his lecture mode while Sakura's and Naruto's eyes widened.
"Winner: Hyuuga Hinata", announced Hayate after checking Kankurou's pulse. Almost all the jounins began clapping for Hinata, especially the female populace in the arena, some of whom were hooting without any care in the world. You could see the shining smiles and grins of Mei, Yugito, Samui ( a shining smirk), Karui, Kurenai, Anko who was thinking of training Hinata in the ways of torture & interrogation, Hana, Yugao, Temari who was happy that her idiotic brother was brought down a peg but at the same time concerned for him, Kin mainly because she didn't like males in general except Naruto, Sakura, Ino and every female there you could find. Orochimaru was licking his lips like the snake he was, excited at the prospect of probably finding another suitable body.
Hinata blushed in embarrassment, bowed timidly in front of the Hokaga, Raikage & Mizukage before rushing to her spot on the upper railing platform. Kurenai immediately crushed Hinata in a hug upon her arrival, she was beyond happy for Hinata.
"Hinata-chan, congratulations! You did great!", she said releasing her from the hug before giving her a bright smile, she had always considered Hinata as her little sister and deeply cared for her. Also she couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of her eyes as the new Byakugan was still active, which today had broken the boundaries of their doujutsu.
"Th-Thank you K-Kurenai-sensei", she said while blushing in embarrassment before she saw Naruto approaching her and was immediately on her toes.
'What would Naruto-kun say?', she thought a bit nervously while twiddling her index fingers cutely, while her heart was pounding her chest.
"Hinata-chan! That was awesome, the way you kicked the clown's ass was great! I'm really –", he paused while his breathing hitched in throat when he noticed her eyes. He wasn't able to see them properly due to the distance before, but seeing them up close was something else. He had never seen such eyes, the amazing shades of lavender & sky blue made them angelic and beautiful
"Hinata-chan, you're eyes are beautiful", he said breathlessly while Hinata blushed furiously at the compliment, "Ne, don't you agree with me Kurenai-sen-sei", he said dramatically, pushing the 'sensei' before winking at her which went unnoticed by Hinata who was in her own 'Naruto-kun Lalala Dreamlands'.
"O-Of course Naruto-kun", said a blushing Kurenai before clamping her mouth when '-kun' accidently slipped her tongue. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that Hinata wasn't paying attention & had a far-away look in her eyes. Naruto turned to Hinata when he noticed something which made his eyes widen in surprise.
'There's only one petal in each eye, just like the tomoes of Sharingan when it is activated the first time. Could it be that, there are more levels to this Byakugan just like the Rinnegan & Sharingan? And the veins around her eyes no longer noticeable too', he thought before leaning towards Kurenai who again blushed at their closeness.
"Kurenai-chan?", he asked, opting to use '-chan' as Hinata still wasn't out of it while Kurenai's blush got darker in shade. He brought his mouth near her ear before whispering at what he just found about Hinata's new found eyes. Meanwhile Kurenai could feel the familiar heat rising between her thighs as his hot breath tickled her skin, before she nodded at what Naruto said when he backed away from her. She could also feel several glares at her back, and turned around to see the jealous stares of several female jounins along with Hana, Yugao & Anko while everyone else were busy at watching the names which were randomly appearing on the screen for the next match. Kurenai grinned widely before giving them the winning sign with her two fingers.
Feeling drained and tired, Hinata immediately deactivated her new upgrade. As expected, just like Mangekyou Sharingan, her petal-like doujutsu first turned back to the simple Byakugan resulting in her veins around her eyes getting bulged, her pupil turning to lavender, before her eyes completely turned back to normal. Meanwhile Naruto grinned widely in excitement when he saw the three names flash on the screen.
'ROCK LEE vs UZUMAKI NARUTO vs KIMITA DOSU'
'Oooh this should be good', thought almost all of the jounins, genins, chunins and kages.
'U-Uzumaki, impossible! They all were wiped out weren't they?', thought a stunned Mei while Ao & Choujiro were equally astonished.
"Good l-luck for your m-match Naruto-kun", said Hinata with a smile while Naruto gave her thumbs up while grinning, " Watch as I kick those guys butts", he said enthusiastically while she & Kurenai giggled at his antics.
"YOSH! GAI-SENSEI! I WILL NOT DISAPPOINT YOU", yelled Lee with flames in his eyes while Gai cried tears of happiness. Meanwhile Mei, Yugito, A, Ao, Choujiro, Bee and his team paled when they saw a mini Gai yelling the same youthful crap just like the weirdo beside him. Mei had a dark aura around her while Ao & Choujiro stepped away from her nervously.
'One was enough, but…..two, I've seriously gotta melt their balls off and that godforsaken haircut…..and those horrendous eyebrows too, come to think of it that ridiculous green spandex too. No! I've gotta burn those idiots off this planet', thought Mei having an evil grin on her face which unsettled Hiruzen, his sixth sense telling him that he should keep Gai & his mini clone off of Mei's radar.
"Would Uzumaki Naruto, Kimita Dosu & Rock Lee come down here?", said Hayate before Dosu landed on the floor. Naruto was the last person Dosu wanted to fight as he knew what the happy go lucky blonde was capable of, so naturally he was nervous and scared shitless. Afterwards Lee landed before he started doing pushups.
Meanwhile Naruto was grinning in excitement and was ecstatic at finally being able to show what he was really capable of.
'Hmm, what should I do? Should I show them all of my techniques…..nah. I'll save the really explosive ones for later in the finals, but it wouldn't hurt to show off a bit here. I just want to see their faces, they'll know that I'm not a deadlast', he thought before he was brought out of his musings when he heard the proctor yell.
"Oi gaki, are you coming or not?", asked Hayate with raised eyebrows while Naruto grinned sheepishly. He did the ram followed by a snake hand sign before a small whirlwind consisting of lightning sparks engulfed him. The same whirlwind then was seen right besides Lee before it died down to show Naruto standing there rubbing the back of his back, a smile on his face.
"Sorry about that proctor", he apologized while the senbon fell off Hayate's mouth as he was in pure shock at what the kid just pulled. That was the face of almost everyone there, faces full of astonishment, surprise, jealousy (the emo kid), love with a mixture of lust (ice queens!), admiration and confusion.
"G-Gaki, how the hell are you able to do a shunshin, and an elemental shunshin at that", stuttered Gekko before he looked towards the Hokage.
"W-Wind shunshin? At his age? I-Impossible", stuttered Mei surprise clearly evident on her face. Normally she would cover her surprise under a cheery smile, but this was too much to just drink it under her cheerfulness.
"No, i-it wasn't a wind shunshin", said A who had his eyes widened along with Bee, his team & Yugito, "It was a s-storm element sh-shunshin", he said astounded making her eyes widen, who was sputtering incoherent words. Meanwhile Hiruzen too was surprised that Naruto could use two sub elements, earlier he was expecting Naruto to be proficient in three basic elements considering he was training with so many shadow clones for two months, but being able to even use sub elements was a huge bonus for him. Yes, the Hokage side of him was happy that the village had gained a powerful bloodline user, but his grandfather side was extremely happy for Naruto.
"Hokage-dono, this gaki, are your villagers really that stupid to consider a prodigy genin like him a loser & a deadlast? And what have you been teaching him anyway? Two sub elements? That means he has affinity for Wind, Water & Lightning which is extremely rare in itself, you've gotta be kidding me, this is outrageous!", said A while clutching his head in frustration while Hiruzen sighed at Raikage's antics.
"Just wait for a bit Raikage-dono, all of your questions will be answered in a couple of minutes", said Hiruzen while inwardly smirking to himself.
"Does he have a bloodline yo!", said Bee completely surprising Hiruzen and others by his insight.
"Hai", said Hiruzen while they turned their heads to gaze at Hayate who was looking at the Hokage, to whom Hiruzen nodded at to begin the match.
"YOSH NARUTO-KUN! MAY THE BEST FIGHTER WIN!", yelled Lee while Naruto just sweatdropped at his loudness.
"There's no need to yell at me, I standing right here you know", said Naruto.
"BUT THAT WOULD DAMPEN MY FLAMES OF YOUTH!", he again yelled with fire in his eyes while Naruto face palmed himself while muttering 'never mind'. Meanwhile Dosu was planning to first take care of Naruto, possibly with Lee's help as he knew he was no match for the blonde.
"A-Alright, you guys ready?", asked Hayate after coming over his initial shock while all of them nodded at once before creating distance between themselves. Meanwhile, all of those present were intently watching Naruto to see how would he handle himself in a fight, as they had only saw some of his abilities. Sasuke was the one who was the most focused on Naruto, his Sharingan activated, so that he could copy his jutsus and study his movements, what a bastard! Nobody present, knew the extent of Naruto's abilities, not even Hiruzen. Kakashi too had Sharingan out in the open, not for the same reason as Sasuke but to study Naruto's attacks properly, he needed to know just how strong his sensei's son was after all.
"HAJIME!", as soon as Gekko declared the beginning of the match, Naruto & Lee immediately dashed towards each other, their gut instincts leading to them attacking each other first. Dosu, Kurenai and the other genins who had seen Naruto's speed were surprised that to see that he was going much slower than before. The two of them went for a typical punch to their faces before they met in a clash, resulting a dead lock. Naruto's fist was caught by Lee's left hand while Lee's fist was caught by Naruto's left hand, both of them trying to overpower each other, with Naruto holding back his strength greatly while Lee too wasn't giving his all yet.
Both of them flipped backwards just in time to dodge Dosu's sound gauntlet, who was aiming for them. Upon his last flip, Naruto jumped in air using chakra before pulling a shuriken from his pouch. He threw the shuriken in between where Lee and Dosu were currently approaching each other for another attack. Upon coating the shuriken with his wind chakra, he threw the shuriken at them holding back his strength as he didn't want to kill anyone needlessly.
"Fuuton: Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Wind Release: Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)", he whispered to himself after doing a couple of handseals at moderate speed.
Immediately several wind coated shurikens (around 20) appeared with the original one before heading towards Lee & Dosu who looked upwards in the middle of their sprint, their eyes getting widened by the second. Lee even he had his weights on, was still holding back and thus was easily able to dodge them while Dosu was barely able to avoid the lethal attack. What happened next had everyone's eyes bulging out of their sockets, the shadow shuriken were able to penetrate the hard concrete floor by an inch or two before being dispelled while the original was around 4 to 5 inches deep!
'Impossible! How is this possible? Is he trying to kill us?', thought Dosu with wide eyes while Lee too was having thoughts along the same line before Naruto landed away from them with a serious look on his face.
'Hmm, I still have ways to go with this jutsu. The shadow ones are still not as powerful as the original one, and I have to work on creating more of these wind shadow shurikens. It seems my chakra control still needs a lot of work', he thought in a thinking pose.
'I've never seen shadow shuriken being used in collaboration with elemental natured chakra', thought an astounded Kakashi who had seen the chakra coating the shuriken with his Sharingan, while Sasuke too was frozen in his spot. All the people present except the ones who knew Naruto personally were having difficulty accepting that this was the same loudmouth idiotic good-for-nothing ninja who failed his graduation exams twice. Never had anyone present in the arena seen such damage done by a shuriken. If these shuriken had that much power as to penetrate a concrete floor, it was a truly devastating jutsu. Meanwhile Hiruzen too, the famed professor known for mastering every ninjutsu technique in Konoha was greatly impressed by the technique.
'This gaki has talent, I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to control one chakra tail at this point. He could be the deciding factor in the war against Akatsuki', thought the Raikage with a smirk while Mei was watching Naruto with wonder in her beautiful eyes.
Meanwhile, Naruto just dashed towards Lee before completely vanishing from the sight of all the genins except Lee while Dosu on the other hand was expecting this and could only hope that Naruto was not targeting him right then. Naruto suddenly appeared in front of Lee, who was still surprised by Naruto's speed and couldn't react in time, hence got an uppercut followed by a spinning kick to his stomach making Lee flying back before he righted himself in midair and landed on his feet. Lee spit some blood, but nevertheless smirked while wiping the blood off his mouth whereas Naruto was surprised that his attack didn't affect the taijutsu genin that much.
'Well I guess those muscles aren't for show after all, but still I did hold back greatly', thought Naruto while Dosu could only stand and wait for the right opportunity to attack.
"YOSH! YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH HAVE IMPROVED SINCE THE LAST TIME WE MET NARUTO-KUN", yelled Lee while pumping his fists with each other.
'Oh yeah, I got my butt kicked by him the last time we met , well time for some payback', he thought before deciding to be a 'little' more serious.
"LEE! THE LEAF'S LOTUS BLOOMS TWICE!", yelled Gai while tears welled up dramatically in Lee's eyes before he saluted his adult clone.
"HAI GAI –SENSEI!", he yelled before bending down. To everyone's curiosity and surprise he took out two sets of weights from under his leg warmers.
'Oh come on, does he thinks he can beat Naruto-kun by dropping a couple of weights', thought Kin & Temari simultaneously, the latter of whom blushed upon realising that she had addressed Naruto with such closeness. But everyone except for Gai was taken for a wild trip, even Naruto when Lee dropped those weights, upon whose pressure formed a crater on the floor.
"MY FLAMES OF YOUTH SHINE MORE BRIGHTLY NOW!", shouted Lee, stretching his legs and arms a bit before he settled into the Gokken taijutsu stance.
"Let's go... Naruto-kun", Lee whispered before completely vanishing from Naruto's sight. Naruto was surprised both by Lee's speed and that he didn't yell this time. Before he could do anything he was punched hard by Lee in the stomach followed by a kick to his chest leading to Naruto flying back before crashing violently against the wall, creating a crater.
"YOSH! NOW WE'RE EVEN NARUTO-KUN", he again shouted while Dosu along with everyone except Gai had their eyes as wide as saucers. The speed at which he moved easily matched that of a high chunin to low jounin right now.
'My god, no doubt Konoha is so strong. With such talented genins, you can only imagine their skills when they become jounin', thought A & Mei simultaneously while Yugito, Samui, Karui, Omoi & Bee were getting interested in this match. Meanwhile the ice queens, Hinata, Sakura, Kin, Temari & Ino watched Naruto lift himself off the crater with worry in their eyes. Sasuke had an arrogant smirk on his face while muttering- 'I knew that the dobe was a loser'. Kakashi was surprised by Lee's speed, but as far as he knew Gai he should have expected this.
'Your fate was decided the moment you were matched up against Lee, Uzumaki', thought Neji while smirking, for once he was actually rooting for Lee.
'What will you do now Naruto? With the speed that Lee's moving, you wouldn't even be able to complete the handseals for any jutsu', thought Kakashi while wondering just what the unpredictable ninja had in store this time.
"Hehe yeah...now we are even Lee", said a chuckling Naruto while coughing some blood before wiping it with his hand, the wall's debris on his clothes. Lee's along with everyone's eyes widened upon seeing Naruto getup after a crash like that, even chunins should have trouble getting up after such a ferocious impact.
'Well, jinchuriki's do have high endurance & stamina', thought A trying to reason with himself while watching Naruto in amusement.
"Damn! My trench coat is dirty now", exclaimed Naruto while dusting off his white trench coat whereas Hana just sweatdropped.
'He's not worried one bit about his situation. Just like your mother, ne Naruto-kun?', she thought while Yugao just chuckled besides her. Although on the outside, Naruto was acting like, in Kirabi's opinon- 'no worries mothafucka, I'll still beat ya sucka', on the inside he was frowning with himself.
'Damn it! Damn it! I forgot to tell Itachi-sensei about this. Although my body was enhanced to gain much greater speed, strength & stamina, my normal eyes still aren't used to keeping track of someone moving this fast, ...however Lee's speed is still nowhere near mine. But, I think I should activate Rinnegan or else he's gonna torture me in Tsukiyomi again. Oh yeah, now that I remember I still haven't done anything to get back at him for how he tortured me in that realm, and jiji too for keeping Kurenai-chan and the others away from me even though it was for my benefit. Hehehe...it's prank season!', thought Naruto inwardly grinning evilly to himself before focusing on Lee & Dosu, who miraculously was still in this fight somehow.
"Alright bushy brow, I'm gonna get serious now. So whatever trump card you have saved for later, you better use it now", said Naruto, slowly closing his eyes while everyone except Hiruzen and the ice queens watched him in confusion at what he was doing.
'Hehee...I wish I had a camera to capture everyone's faces when they see his eyes', thought Anko while Hiruzen, Kurenai, Yugao & Hana were mentally grinning to themselves.
So, tell me if you liked the chapter! I'm really targeting the milestone of 1K+ reviews for now, and I think with the way you guys are supporting me, I can reach it and God knows how much hardwork I'm putting in this fic. So yeah, please review and be honest in them. Also, the credit for idea of creating my own second level of Byakugan goes to-'xstofer', who stated this in a review for the third chapter, really thanks a lot bro!
AUTHOR NOTES! (IMPORTANT)
As stated above I've quite a things to explain, so here goes-
First of all, I know you guys are gonna whine about only two fights in this chapter and that this story is going too slow. About only two fights in this chapter, these were the only two main fights among a total of seven matches, so yeah it took quite some space to describe them. I could have chosen the less preferred fights after Hinata's fight and would've covered like two or three more fights, but I chose to do the main things in this chapter. Further, in the next chapter I'll give a short brief of the coming matches instead of detailed fights except the last one which is a bonus for all Sasuke-teme haters. So the next chapter, the preliminaries would end and we'll get on with the plot. Now about the pacing part, you guys have to understand that I've changed a great deal of events from the cannon which I have to explain properly or the story would seem rushed to you. For example, I have to take in consideration of Naruto's doujutsu, Raikage & Mizukage attending the Chunin exams, about Iwa, reactions of who knows how many people when they see the changed Naruto, feelings of the ice queens, Ayumi (Fem. Kyubi), Hinata, Kin, Temari etc and what not. Also I have to add a tinge of humour in every chapter which slows down the plot pacing a bit, but it's my style of writing. So yeah, if you want quality chapters, I have to take things slow & steady.
Second, about the second level of Byakugan. I know many of you guys don't prefer artificial bloodlines and will probably flame me, especially those who hate Hinata and probably whine about her getting too powerful, but I had to upgrade Byakugan as it was too weak compared to Sharingan & Kishimoto made a mess of it. So, in my fic Byakugan too would be strong, having it's own strengths. So flame all you want, I'll just outright ignore them! And I wouldn't change my mind.
Third, some of you may be considering that I'm concentrating too much on Hinata with like Naruto loving her the most & something or giving her too much power, no it's not like that. NaruHina is not the main pairing in this fic, IT'S NARUKUSHI DAMMIT! I'm just trying to describe the feelings of EACH & EVERY girl properly, so that atleast I'm not going fast with the relationships. If you think this chapter makes it look like NaruHina is the main pairing as some of my friends said, well then you just fucking wait till Kushina comes, just you wait! Naruto will love all the girls equally, but since Kushina is his mother and to-be-lover, she will have a special place in his heart, got that! So again, I'm gonna ignore flames about Hinata in this chapter or any other chapter.
Fourth, some of the reviewers have been asking about- ' When did Kakashi helped with his yokai training?' or some other things which I tend to explain in further chapters. Just like in the first chapter, I'm again saying, no requesting that please be patient as everything will be explained at some point in the future chapters. This is NOT completely following cannon, since I started this fic from the second part of Chunin exams, it doesn't mean that before that it was the same as cannon. Whatever was different in Naruto's past I have covered or will cover in flashbacks, like the flashback I gave with the three ice queens helping Naruto while Anko was gone with Orochimaru at that time(sorry if I didn't tell you this before about why Anko wasn't there along with others to help him). So whatever I write, I'm writing with a reason that will be at some point explained. So please try to be a patient reader, this is my first fic after all, so you can go a bit easy on me, ne?
Lastly I would like you guys to suggest possible names for the second level of Byakugan, it doesn't matter if it is in English, I'll just translate it later.
So, that should be it. If you guys have any questions (Ofcourse you would, human mind is a curious one after all), feel free to ask in the reviews and I'll PM you back. This chapter I think was the longest till now (excluding the author notes), so please don't hesitate to review, even two or three words would be helpful. Well see you next time & take care!
N6023