Chapter 18-Naruto's Decision

As the team raced along the tree tops suddenly Naruto felt Chouji's chakra signature just drop out to nothing and he froze making the others circle around him in concern. "Hey Naruto you okay?"
Naruto looked up at Shikamaru and then gulped "I can't feel Chouji's chakra anymore, it's gone" he whispered and then closed his eyes and looked away as the pain of losing a friend hit him hard.
Shikamaru fell silent and then cleared his throat "and the big guy" he choked out in a strained voice.
Naruto closed his eyes and let his chakra fan out and then he smiled and nodded "he did it, that guy is nowhere to be found"
Kiba looked down sadly and even Neji adverted his eyes in sorrow, and when Naruto looked at Shikamaru he thought the boy was going to break so with a anger that hadn't flooded his systems since his first confrontation with Zabuza he grabbed Shikamaru by the lapels of his chunnin vest "Don't you dare let his sacrifice be in vain" he growled and then fixed each member of the group with a angry glare "he willingly took on the risk of fighting that guy so that we would be able to carry on and complete this mission, and what do we do? We stand around I our own little pity party, I know that losing Chouji was hard, but wouldn't it be better to complete the mission so that we can all say that we did this for Chouji?" Naruto said now looking at each member who were all staring at him in awe.
"Naruto, you can let me go" Shikamaru said as he touched Naruto's wrist in a light grip "I understand now" the shadow user said in a sad voice "now I know what it means to be a leader" he said and then looked forward and sighed "Okay let's go we don't have much time before they reach the boarder of the fire nation and then everything that happens will be out of our hands and we can't let that happen"
Naruto nodded and the four of them shot forward through the foliage why Naruto took one more sad look backwards 'don't worry Chouji your sacrifice won't be in vain'

Sakura sat on the steps of the temple just staring up at the clouds and couldn't help but crack a small smile, but just as she was about to re-enter the temple Kotsue jumped in front of her and bow "Lady Tsunade would like to talk with you" Sakura sighed and nodded before letting the elder ninja transport her to the Hokage's office where she quickly bowed to the elder woman.
"Good, now I want to talk to you about suitable ninja to go after Naruto's team" Sakura's eyes snapped open and the Hokage smiled sadly "The truth is the only ninja on that team who could fight any of the sound ninja personally trained by Orochimaru and get away with his life would be Naruto and seeing as Shikamaru was put in charge of the mission I don't know how far he'd be able to go, and to make matters worse this is Shikamaru's first mission as team leader, Naruto at least had two missions as team leader under his belt"
Sakura nodded and then took a sheet of paper and wrote three names on it before giving it back to the Hokage who raised an eyebrow at her choices "are you sure these three are right for the job?"
Sakura smiled and nodded "yeah I think that out of all the ninja's Naruto knows I think that those three would be willing to do anything for him" Tsunade sighed and nodded
But just as Sakura was turning to leave Sakura heard what she thought was hurried footsteps racing around from the door, but then frowned and shook her head in confusion, there was no way anyone would have the guts to stand outside and listen to a private conversation with the Hokage.
"Lady Tsunade, you love him don't you?" she said pausing at the door "Naruto you love him don't you"
Tsunade smiled warmly but then nodded "Yeah he's the adorable but annoying grandson I never had" Sakura nodded and then left the office with a sigh and then ran straight into Zabuza who was staring down at her with a strong gaze.
"Naruto will be fine, I never found more capable ninja when I went on my mission with him" Zabuza said in a soft voice making Sakura nod and then sigh when the swordsmen walked away, getting all the speeches about how great Naruto was and how there was no way that he could be killed was actually getting tiring she knew Naruto was strong and she knew that Naruto could handle himself but she also knew that the others weren't Naruto and couldn't handle themselves like Naruto could, they weren't raised in ANBU like he was. Sakura was so caught up in her own world that she didn't see the familiar green spandex wearing figure creeping out the doors of the hospital and slowly running towards the Leaf village gates.

Naruto looked down at the group once again but this he was alone and taking a deep breath he could sense from the fighting and bickering that was going on in the group that the last three sound ninja had figured out that Jurobo wouldn't be coming back and that they knew they were close.
"I say we turn back and destroy those little snot nosed brats once and for all" Tayuya growled out in annoyance.
Sakon sighed and shook his head "We can't do that Orochimaru needs Sasuke before tomorrow and we have a lot of ground to cover and quickly" the sick looking man spat out "come on"
Naruto took a deep breath and then jumped out of foliage and landed right on the coffin and smirked up down at Kidomaru and winked "Hiya, you weren't going to start without me are you, if you were I'm offended" he said and then flipped back to avoid the strike the spider like man had aimed for him.
Kidomaru smirked as the other members of Naruto's troops landed next to him on the tree and then threw the coffin to Tayuya and cracked his hands "Go on, I feel like playing for a little bit" Naruto glared at the spider man as the other two sound ninja were able to race away.
Kidomaru turned to face them and his face morphed into a wide crazed grin. "Now are we going to have some fun?" he said before spitting four globs of white out at each member which only Naruto had managed to avoid. "Oh and what do you know, the Kitsune dodged the attack" Kidomaru cackled.

"Don't underestimate my teammates" Naruto shouted as he felt Neji slowly freeing himself as he dodged another string of what looked like spiders web. Duck now like all the times before Naruto trusted his instincts and then dodged an orange piece of silk that had lodged itself into the tree behind him with a loud thump.
"Damn how'd you dodge that you're a fast little thing aren't you" Kidomaru said crouching on the tree with a fascination as he watched Naruto's graceful movements. "I guess the stories about you are true"
Naruto growled and was about to dodge another strike when out of nowhere Neji sliced the sting before it could get to him. "Don't even think of harming my friends, or I will end you" Neji spoke in a deadly low tone. Naruto smiled and then looked behind him to see Kiba and Shikamaru already freed from their spider silk prisons.
"Hey that's really uncool I was gonna have a bit of fun with him" Kidomaru said in a gleeful voice when he saw Naruto glare at him something fierce "Oh the kid ahs a glare, I like feisty"
Naruto just shook his head and stepped up next to Neji but was shocked when the Hyuga pushed him back a tiny bit "Go on, I can handle him"
"Neji are you an idiot, this guy will kill you" Naruto grit out he wasn't going to lose another friend like he did Chouji he wouldn't.
The Hyuga gave Naruto a small smile while activating his Byukugan and then looked back at Kidomaru "This is as far as I go in this mission, by job now is to stop this creature from passing, Chouji was right Naruto you are the only one who can truly get through to Sasuke" Shikamaru looked down and sighed tiredly and looked at Naruto who was refusing to move.
"Naruto let's go" he called out "Leave Neji, that's an order"
The blonde took a step back and was about to turned when Neji stopped him "Naruto sometimes you're eye sight is better than even my own, Sasuke needs you're light right now, help him, show him the way back to us" Naruto nodded and clapped Neji in a monkey grip.
"This is a sign of comradeship in the ANBU and you are defiantly my comrade" Naruto said before releasing Neji and jumped off with the rest of the group through the team.
"Oh I've only got one playmate, that's boring" Kidomaru said pouting when he saw Naruto jumping off "I want to play with the little fox" he said in a crazed voice as he released his silk strings again towards Naruto only to have them shredded by Neji who jumped into their path.
"Trust me, I will be more than enough entertainment" Neji said in a stiff voice. Kidomaru looked the Hyuga up and down once and then grinned happily.
"oh yes I think I'm going to have some real fun with you" he said jumping back so that he could fire more string at the Hyuga only to have it cut all over again.
Neji frowned as he noticed the small disadvantage he had 'he's a long range attacker and I'm a close combat fighter, this won't end well'

Zabuza stared out at his pupils in boredom, truthfully the chunnin didn't need to be under his tutelage any more, they had become master assassins weeks ago, but it seemed that the kids had cold feet about leaving the master assassin as they were only just now accepting solo missions.
"Zabuza sensei is something troubling you" a chunnin asked the troubled Jonin.
Zabuza stared at the teenager and waved him away and then dismissed his students, before walking through the village until he reached the Temple where Anton was sighing loudly.
"Zabuza you've returned, if you keep coming this frequently your gonna end up like Naruto" the ex-shinobi said when he spotted the swordsmen.
Zabuza grinned and then sat down on the steps and ran a hand through his short cropped hair "I wish the kid would stop making me so stressed all the time sometimes though, I feel as if I'm going to lose my hair whenever I hear he's in trouble" Anton laughed and nodded.
"Yeah I know what you mean, I remember when he was just a kid, and he was forced to go on this really high ranking solo mission I was so scared for him and until he got back I didn't stop pacing" Anton said in a happy voice as he remembered his old ANBU days.
"Tell me what was Naruto like...back then" Zabuza asked looking at the ex-ANBU officer with a hooked expression.
"Well Naruto was a lot more innocent back then, he hadn't had been forced to make all the tough decisions yet and still had that bright child like curiosity alight in him, but the worst thing about ANBU is it slowly destroyed that, I literally watched as Naruto grew up into a man before his time" Anton said rubbing his forehead.
"Really because I think the kids still sort of immature at times" Zabuza said chuckling a little.
Anton laughed and nodded "Yes Naruto still is a kid at heart but you must have noticed that when it comes down to a mission Naruto takes on a whole different persona"

Zabuza nodded and the sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair "I wonder how Kakashi's going to take the news, he is one of the most closest to the kid" he said in a slightly sad voice.
Anton hummed and chuckled a little "I have a feeling Kakashi will be more stressed than you my friend"

Neji dodged another string and the jumped towards the spider man and then smirked when he entered the field of combat. "8 trigrams 64 palms" Neji said and then begun to seal all the 64 chakra points in the body "2 palms, 4 palms, 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 palms" he said before kicking Kidomaru sending him sprawling to the ground. "I just sealed all 64 chakra points in your body there is no way you're getting up"
But just like in his battle against Naruto Neji was shocked into silence when Kidomaru stood up and orange armour like substance that covered his body all cracked and fell off his body in large chunks. "That attack is pretty handy kid, but it doesn't help if I can create armour from every sweat grand in my body now does it"
Neji grit his teeth and then glared at the spider like man who was hanging upside down on a nearby branch "Very clever and useful" Neji spat in an annoyed tone making Kidomaru laugh.
"You really aren't like Naruto at all are you, no wonder why he beat you in the finals, you see unlike him you don't have what it takes to truly be a ninja, you haven't gone to that dark place and had to live through it, that Naruto kid, he still hasn't crawled his way out of that hole" Neji glared at Kidomaru and then readied himself for an attack when Kidomaru strung a spider web between one set of his hands and then ran through hand seals with the others "Summoning Jut-su"
Neji paled when suddenly a huge spider hung above him and what made things even worse was the huge white sack that it was now creating from the silk glad on its rear end. "This can't be good" Neji whispered looking up at the huge spider.
"Let's fly boys" Kidomaru howled as he cut the sack sending hundreds of tiny baby spiders falling towards Neji who took the tradition Hyuga stance and then took in a deep breath.
"8 Palms: Rotation" The Hyuga prodigy said and then released his chakra in a large burst while spinning in a large orb, only to have the silk that was connected to the baby spider's silk glands slow him down to almost a stop as they surrounded him. 'Damn, I can't rotate with them'
All the while Kidomaru was watching the fight very closely only to smirk as he watched Neji's spinning come to a halt "So the little brat can't rotate when under too much force can he"
But then Neji took the same stance he had before slamming him with his 64 strikes and then begun striking each of the baby spiders singly making them cry out in pain and then curl up and die. "I'm not done yet" Neji called out when the baby spiders stopped falling.
Kidomaru jumped out of the foliage and then sat on a tree swinging his leg 'let's see how close Naruto and this freak were' he thought before smirking at the Hyuga who glared back "You know what I said about Naruto still being in his little hole, well I think I was wrong...that kid had no chance he was born in that hole, that blonde little killer, he's a step above monster and that's putting it lightly, that kid...well he'll never be able to change"
Neji glared and then shook his head and dodged a kunai that Kidomaru had strung up behind him with perfected ease making the spider like man to gap 'what! Does this kid have eyes on the back of his head or something?"
"Naruto is one of the most kindest ninja I have ever had the pleasure of fighting side by side with, if he is anything he's the opposite of a monster" Neji said as he remembered the second day he and Naruto had been on their first mission together.

Flashback
The attack had come out of nowhere and had ended up with Tenten being separated from them and with Neji with a deep and painful gash on his upper thigh but as the Hyuga looked at Naruto he couldn't help but notice the arrange of wounds Naruto had acquired and yet there the blonde sat dripping blood but still quickly working on his injuries instead.
"Naruto you should treat yourself first I'll be fine" Neji gritted out in pain as Naruto poured alcohol on his large wound.
The blonde shook his head and grunted "I heal faster than you do" was all the blonde said before quickly pulling the bandages tight around the brunette's leg.
Neji gasped out in pain as he felt the alcohol soaked bandages start to do their job and the white material start to get stained red. "Dammit!" he gritted out and Naruto put a bottle to his lips and encouraged him to take a large gulp and surprised the Hyuga when he felt the burn of whisky slide down his throat.
"It helps with wounds and I've found that when treating someone it helps distracted them from the pain" Naruto said as he stared out of the cave for Tenten. "Do you have the scroll?"
Neji nodded and with a shaking hand held out the scroll to his commander who quickly put the scroll in his pouch.
"I almost failed, he almost got the document" Neji muttered while taking another swig of whiskey as his wound flared in so much pain his eyes glazed over in tears.
"But he didn't get it did he" Neji looked over in shock and saw Naruto sitting with his back to the rain at the very edge of the cave getting thoroughly soaked as he gave Neji a reassuring smile "You did good Neji, I couldn't have asked for a better ninja watching my back you were level headed and reacted well, now get some rest, I'll take watch who knows maybe Tenten will turn up soon"
Flashback

Kidomaru snorted and then let himself descend until he was right in front of Neji with a crazed grin on his face "Please that kids hands are so blood stained that they won't ever be clean and you know it" Neji glared at the man but didn't speak "You've seen the way he acts he's less human then all the rest of us, watching him on the battlefield has enabled me to see what he's really like underneath and truthfully, it scared even me"
Neji glared at the floor and then dodged another Kunai before looking straight into Kidomaru's eyes and spoke lowly "Naruto may be able to fight and kill without any worries but have you watched him outside of the battle, because I've watched him go from master killed to the most gentle care giver I've met so don't tell that you know him" Kidomaru glowered and then jumped back to the spider and then tapped it one on the back making it scream and release more of its tiny baby's making Neji use his signature move once more.
Kidomaru cursed mark activated and swirling lines covered his body as his eyes took on an even more crazed look. "I will figure out how to destroy you're ultimate defence, even Gaara's had a weak point" Neji winced at the reference to the crazed sand ninja. "So let's go again shall we?" he said as the spiders dropped its baby's once more.
Neji took a deep breath and shifted his stance a small bit which was a move that was notice by Kidomaru "8 Trigrams...128 palms" Neji shouted and then he begun to strike "2 palms, 4 palms, 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 palms, 128 palms" Kidomaru stared in awe at the amount of spiders the young boy had killed, but this time he readied several of his special kunai and watched closely as the boy started to kill the next lot of spiders and then let his kunai fly.
'Come on one has to get through" Kidomaru thought as he saw five of his Kunai hit the floor but when Neji turned around Kidomaru smirked as he saw one of his brown kunai lodged in the middle of the Hyuga's neck. "Gotcha" Kidomaru whispered and then whistled making his spider fall down and attack the Hyuga only to be pierced by the boy's chakra jabs and disappear in a puff of smoke, but for Kidomaru it was all the distraction he needed and in a mere fraction of a second he released several more kunai closer together.

Neji panted harshly and winced when the kunai in his back started to sting when suddenly he cried out in pain when two more Kunai lodged themselves into his back 'he's found by weak spot' Neji thought as he reached back and ripped the large kunai from his back and begun to run through the forest desperate for something to hit him.
Kidomaru laughed and allowed the second stage cursed mark to take over his body making his appearance turn even more spider like then it was. "You can't get away now that I know you're little secret" Kidomaru cackled before he spat out a large bow and began forming a deadly looking arrow to go with it.

Neji panted as he rested against a tree and then froze when he heard a whistling through the air and only just jumped in time to avoid the full blow of a deadly looking arrow that lodged itself into the tree where Neji was resting but looking down Neji saw that he didn't get of scot free and now had a deadly gash on the side of his midriff. So taking a deep breath Neji continued to run when suddenly something Naruto had told him on their second mission hit him.

Flashback
The moon shone brightly as their small team took cover in a beautiful forest, earlier that day the team had been given their package and Naruto had single handily defended the team from a rouge ninja that he had killed even thought nether Neji or Tenten had sensed him there. Neji stared over at Naruto who was sitting in a tree branch for watch and then jumped up to sit next to the blonde and cleared his throat a little.
Naruto smirked a little and gave Neji an amused glance "Yes Neji?"

The Hyuga looked up at the moon to try to see what was captivating Naruto so much but then gave up after a few moments "How'd you know that made was coming even though I couldn't even see him with my Byukugan?"
Naruto tapped his ear and then his nose before thumping his heart. "Neji we are some of the most amazing creatures on the planet, we don't have to rely on just our sight, take Kiba's family for example they don't rely on their scent like every other family but instead rely on their smell, I use my other senses when I'm out in battle, my hearing and my smell are one of the main reasons that I'm still alive today" Neji stared at Naruto in shock and looked at Naruto's Pentingan eye which still made him a little scared even at this moment.

"But what about you're final sense you showed me three?" Neji asked and Naruto smiled widely
"I use my instincts a lot as well, I know it must sound stupid but I'm not Shikamaru who can create full proof plans in mere seconds I go with what my gut is telling me and if it's telling me that something bad is about to happen then I listen to it, maybe you should give it a try" Naruto said clapping Neji on the shoulder before resuming his watch.
Flashback

Neji held a hand to his wound and then grimaced as he realized what he would have to do and then stopped near a tree and just waited and waited when he heard the subtle whistling of a arrow flying through the air and just at the right moment he spun around and the arrow went straight through his chest just above the heart missing it my mere centimetres and through the back of the tree. When Neji heard the muffle scream of excitement from Kidomaru he smirked and held a hand to the string that was attached to the arrow and then ran his chakra up the sting all the way when suddenly the scream became a gurgle and Neji gave a sigh of release when the string became lax and he quickly cut it with his chakra and then fell to the floor making his headband fall from it place and stared up at the descending sun. "Naruto...you're right" he whispered as his eyes closed and his hair slipped across his face.

"KIT I FEAR SOMETHING BAD HAS HAPPENED TO THE YOUNG HYUGA" Kyuubi said in a fearful voice making Naruto search out with chakra and then stopped and gripped his chest when he felt Neji's fade away to nothing.
"Shikamaru...Neji won" Naruto whispered but didn't say anything and the shadow user swore and ran a hand down his face and then looked at Naruto who was now leaking a dangerous aura. "When I find them I'm going to rip them apart"

Kiba looked over to Naruto and put his hand on the blonde's shoulder and then shook his head "Naruto remember Sasuke is our priority" Naruto glared at the dog user and shrugged his hand off his shoulder and looked Shikamaru in the eyes.

"I swear this to you if you leave Sasuke to me, he won't ever be able to be a ninja ever again I swear it" he spoke in low tones and Shikamaru nodded and then looked at Kiba with a sigh.
"How close are we?" he asked
Kiba took a deep breath and then gave a wicked grin "We're close we could attack now and nobody would notice" he said with a wolfish grin.
"No that wouldn't work" Shikamaru and Kiba looked at Naruto who was shaking his head and then explained "have you guys been trained in nocturnal combat, because I have but if you haven't that plan is totally flawed"
Shikamaru nodded and Kiba just scratched his head in confusion "How"
"Think of it this way, yes it's true we would have the element of surprise but seeing as only Naruto has been trained to fight in the pitch black with zero visibility the only one of us who would be any help at all would be Naruto and I think Naruto would be a little distracted about how we were doing and would come to help us therefore losing us the element of surprise" Kiba nodded and sighed before shrugging at Shikamaru.
"So what do we do?"
Shikamaru smiled and the motioned for both of his teammates to come forward and then explained his plan to them.

Gai rushed into the Hokage's office and Tsunade smiled up at the frantic ninja and motioned for him to sit "Ah Gai you're back how was the mission?"
Gai refused to answer but instead started to cry "DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT HOW WAS LEE'S SURGERY?" He yelled in an effort to make sure the Hokage heard him.
Tsunade blinked twice before smiling warmly and motioned for the upset Jonin to follow her. "The surgery was a complete success Lee should be back on his feet in a few weeks" Tsunade said and then winced when she heard Gai begin to cry in happiness while shouting the joys of youth to the whole hospital.
"LADY TSUNADE THERE'S AN EMERGANCY" the blonde Hokage looked around and saw one of Lee's nurses rushing towards her with a panic looking face.
"What is it" The Hokage asked in a calm voice-which was very rare.
The nurse gulped and then took a deep breath "It's Lee, he's gone"
Tsunade's eyes widened and Gai just begun to cry a little more and the two of them rushed towards Lee's bedroom and then the Hokage took large calming breaths as her anger threatened to overtake her when she looked at the empty bed and wardrobe before her. "Lady Hokage?"

The blonde whipped around and saw three figures in the door way and smiled "Ah you came very quickly didn't you?"
The middle figure nodded "We Owe Naruto Uzumaki a lot anything we can do to repay him is nothing compared to what he did for us"
Tsunade nodded and then cocked an eyebrow "Well then you wouldn't mind being back up for him would you?"

The three figures nodded and Tsunade smiled and walked towards the figures happily, putting Lee's disappearance to the back of her mind.

Kiba stared at Sakon for a moment and then took a deep breath and let out a howl that would have made his mothers Kodamaru proud. The sickly looking man jumped making Tayuya glare at him and then go back to scanning the forest. Naruto smiled and then gathered his breath in his throat before closing it off making a loud growling noise erupt from his throat right next to the fiery haired girl making her freeze and move closer to Sakon. Shikamaru watched his two teammates scare the two sound ninja into frenzy and he slowly inched his way to the coffin and when Tayuya and Sakon both jumped up when Naruto made a loud crunching sound couples with a snarl by Kiba, the shadow using ninja leapt forward and grabbed the coffin before jumping off.

"Nice one guys" he shouted and Naruto jumped out and use Tayuya as a vault while Kiba jumped on Sakon and then over him as the sun began to slowly rise.
Shikamaru smirked as his two more feral teammates caught up with him and gave him toothy grins and high fives. But just as they were about to make their escape Naruto saw something out the corner of his eyes headed for Kiba "KIBA BEHIND YOU!" Naruto yelled and the dog Nin only turned in time to catch Sakon and to go tumbling down the large crack in the mountain towards the stream at the bottom.
Shikamaru saw Naruto's guilt filled eyes and slapped his and the face hard, "Naruto we can't lose focus anymore, we are the last two left, Kiba can take care of himself!"
"Yeah but who is going to take care of you" Tayuya said from behind them and Naruto felt his anger begin to rise and with it Kyuubi's chakra.
"You really don't want to mess with me right now ugly" Tayuya was about to say something when suddenly a figure out of nowhere jumped down and picked up the coffin from where Shikamaru had put it down and then jumped over to a nearby branch.
"Kimmimaro...but you should me dead!" Tayuya said in a fear filled voice.
The almost white skinned man gave Tayuya a once over before his eyes glued on Naruto "You follow, I wish to see which one of us is stronger" he said before jumping off.
Naruto let loose a feral growl as he felt Kyuubi's chakra flooded his systems turning his eyes red. Shikamaru watched as Naruto's appearance turned more beastly and he shot off after Kimmimaro with speeds he could only dream of.

"You're friend is dead" Shikamaru sighed and turned as he face Tayuya and cracked his neck
"I guess that means you and I are gonna dance huh?"