I'm terribly sorry for taking so long to update, but our 3rd mid-Quarter and Quarterly exam were following each other. There was no time to update til now, and I'm really sorry for making you wait. I appreciate the comments, just for that I made this a really long chapter. Thank you so much for bearing with me for a long time now.
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!
(WARNING: Some Sakura bashing or whatever you call it in this chapter. Sakura will get some sense knocked into her! BY her friends no less! XD Kick ass!)
(Heading towards training ground 55)
Hinata walked beside Shikamaru. She was still thinking about that fight betting on Naruto's love and Sakura's confession, with this battle she cannot lose. If she lost, she will lose Naruto forever and she can't bring herself to let him go, not after he confessed his love to her. If she won, that was the real challenge, she will help Sakura confess to Sasuke and help them find an easy relationship.
She knows she's strong enough to defeat Sakura, she just had to get up close and block her tenketsu so she won't be able to release chakra from her hands and create an earthquake. Problem was, how was she going to get near Sakura without getting hit by her blast.
"Hey Hinata." Shikamaru snapped her from her thoughts.
"Y-yes?" She turned to him.
"How do you plan on beating Sakura?" He turned to her whispering. "You can't take her head on, wanna let me know about your strategy. I might be able to help you."
"B-but why?" Hinata blinked. "Why would you help me?"
"Because I'm sick and tired of Sakura acting this way." He sighed. "She's turning into a wreck ever since she found out Sasuke was back. She's probably afraid that he'd hurt her again or..."
"That he'll try and kill her?"
"Exactly." Hinata lowered her head.
"I don't know how I'm going to approach her with this but I'm not backing out." Hinata spoke with determination. "I don't plan on handing Naruto-kun out so easily. He's not a price but still, I won't hesitate on doing what I can to prevent this. I love Naruto-kun ever since the beginning he saved me... I can't back down now. I love him too much to do that."
"Knock some sense into her then." Shikamaru walked faster.
"Will she even allow that?" Hinata blinked in confusion.
"I don't know what she's planning exactly but you better have a good strategy against it. She knows she will never be happy if she won, from my point of view, she wants you to beat her. She's in turmoil with herself and she's beating herself with it."
"How could you be so sure?" Hinata wondered. "Sakura-san is a strong woman, I don't think she's as troubled as we make it out to be."
"Just a hunch." Shikamaru shuddered. "Nobody can be too sure."
They walked in silence with Sakura leading the way, with Shikamaru following and Hinata not far behind. When they were half-way there, Sakura stopped and her heart skipped a beat. Hinata looked up and saw why that was and her heart managed to skip as well. Shikamaru payed no mind and continue to look back and forth at the girls. This wasn't going as well as he thought it would be. First a conflict, then a bet and then confrontation. Shikamaru knew it was hard for Sakura to face her fears and he knew Hinata had changed enough to face hers. He could only wonder what would happen next.
"Alright, that'll do it." The man spoke and placed his hands in his pocket.
"A-are you sure?" One of the kids asked.
"Of course. You genin's should rest and take the day off, we have enough ninja's preparing for this meeting. Have fun! You did a splendid job decorating the place. Well done. Be careful not to do anything reckless, I happen to do that when I was your age."
"Thank you Hokage-sama!" The genin's shouted as they ran, the Hokage waving goodbye to them.
"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered as Naruto turned to look. "What are you doing here?"
"Hina-chan? Shikamaru and Sakura-chan?" He smiled in amazement. "I could ask the same thing to you. What are you all doing here? I thought I asked for everyone to be prepared for... well you know... that discussion before the meeting actually starts."
"We've gathered Konoha 11 and Ino is there so Sai is not far behind. We're headed to training ground 55." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck.
"I see. Must be a lot of work for you then. Sorry."
"No trouble at all. It's just a drag, I see you're working hard as well, Naruto." Shikamaru smiled at him. "What are you doing far away from the office besides looking for us?"
"Oh, I happen to bump into you three for no reason at all." Naruto looked at the sky. "Just checking to see if everything is alright. It's a wonderful day at least, better hope the meeting goes as planned."
"You planned for it." Shikamaru smirked. "That's unlike you..."
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata lowered her head. "I'm really sorry for this..."
"Yeah, now things go beyond what I do everyday, it's not so hard to adjust. The day is perfect although a bit of delay and arrival is going on, we don't know who's coming first. Hopefully it's Gaara, Suna isn't far from here so it's probably him. The Tsuchikage is on air, I think. The Mizukage, dunno about her. Raikage and killer Bee are mostly next on the list but hey, we don't know till they come through the door."
"I see." Shikamaru sighed. "No use getting worked up then.
"Yeah, that's the whole point." Naruto turned to Hinata. "What's with that sad face? You know I don't like that. I like your pretty smiling face better than that pouty one."
Naruto walked towards Hinata and kissed her on the forehead, smiling at her with a bit of lust going on. Hinata blushed and started pushing her fingers together, smiling, while Naruto took both her hands and separated it. She blushed to no end while Shikamaru shook his head.
"You two really are together." Shikamaru laughed. "No doubt about that. Although you are clueless at times Naruto. You don't know what's going on between the-"
Sakura stepped on Shikamaru's foot with chakra and he yelled out loud sinking towards his foot. Naruto ignored this but smiled at Hinata and continued to mess with her hair. Hinata was a bit confused but she payed no attention to it. She let Naruto caress her face with his fingers while she blushed.
"Dammit Sakura!" Shikamaru yelled.
"Shut up!" Sakura scoffed back. "Or you'll receive more than you bargained for."
"Harsh." Naruto winked at Hinata.
"It's only been a few minutes since we last saw each other." Naruto smiled at her and whispered. "I'll speak with Hiashi-sama when the meeting is over. I hope that's all right with you. So you're coming with Shikamaru to training ground 55? You know you can stay with me till all this is over."
"Well... I could but..." Hinata looked away. "You see... Sakura-san and I... we..."
"It's none of your business Naruto." Sakura muttered at the sidelines.
"I'm the Hokage, everything in this village is my business." He sternly spoke not looking at Sakura.
"Excuse me?" Sakura glared.
"Look Sakura-chan, I know you're a bit problematic right now so..." He was cut off leading him to look at her.
"I'm your assistant, I tell you what happens in this village as well. There's nothing going on so just go back to work. It's your duty right? So leave us out of it. My life is none of your concern anymore."
"I'm the Hokage, Sakura-chan. I have a higher authority than you do. I think I have any right to be nosy when it comes to the safety of my people and the safety of my loved ones." Naruto was serious. "Is there something you'd like to tell me about Sakura-chan? I hate it when people lie to me, remember? That's the thing that I hate the most, especially when people try to mistake me as a fool."
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered. "Sakura-san and I... we..."
"Me and Hinata have business to attend to at Training ground 55." Sakura grumbled, her attempt at lying failed. "It's not yours to meddle with. Both of us have something to settle and you can't interrupt so leave it alone will yah!"
"Is that all your doing?" Naruto smirked. "I believe I was the one that made that meeting. Whatever you and Hina-chan are going to do, I don't like it one bit."
"Well..." Hinata lowered her head. "Naruto-kun... you see... umm..."
"Sounds to me like something else is going to happen." Naruto looked worried. "I don't know what you and Hina-chan are up to but if Hina-chan gets hurt I won't forgive you. She means a lot to me now than ever, like I said I have every right to be nosy."
Naruto walked up to Hinata whispering, "Be careful."
Naruto pecked Hinata's lips and walked away, waving his goodbye to the three, he turned his attention to the chunin's setting up stands. He went back to work, leaving Sakura hanging with his words. Sakura blushed in fury, she hated him for being like that.
"It's always about her isn't it." Sakura shouted and turned to walk away. "I really hate that about you. You never could understand, you're always so... uhh!"
Sakura walked faster mumbling to herself and ruffling her hair once in a while. She was confused at why Naruto would speak to her like that and why show affection for Hinata in front of her. Sasuke-kun would never do that to her, he would never stoop so low as to like a civilian kunoichi while he is on top of his clan. Not to mention he was the only guy in his clan left. Damn Sasuke and his irresistible features and Damn love! Question was, does she really still love him?
Sakura walked faster leaving Hinata and Shikamaru in the dust. The two made no attempt to speed up as they walked silently with their thoughts lingering about.
Hinata was worried about Naruto finding out. For some reason he looked like he already knew, but why was that? Naruto also took the time to mention her father, she was a bit scared since she had no clue what they would be talking about but still excited that Naruto would find the courage to speak with her father. It was, for her, enlightening.
She could never give up Naruto even if she had to die. She already did it once, no use not doing it again. She smiled, Sakura was her friend and she would help like Naruto has helped her. She 'never goes back on her word' and same goes for her love.
On the inside, she can't help but giggle at the thought of Naruto. The way he kissed her forehead and pecked her lips, the way he slowly twirled his fingers on her soft purple hair. How his lips curved into a smile so genuine that her body could almost feel it touching her neck... His body inching towards hers like she's being pulled ever so closely and her heart drawing near to explode... her breath endless and...
(Training ground 55)
A huge open area with trees surrounding them. The field was about three football fields wide and was completely green with life.
"We're here." Shikamaru snapped her out of her thoughts. "Hey, Hinata, you alright?"
"I... uhh... pay no mind to me." Her face was red like a tomato.
Shikamaru stayed silent as he shook his head. What a drag, now he had to worry about Naruto getting into his ass. Naruto would never forgive him if Hinata got hurt on his watch. He had a lot to tell his friends, with him being the counselor, his duties were making sure the law was right, he was the one for trials also Naruto's adviser. His job for today was making sure nothing bad happens to his friends and that everyone understands the situation everyone's in.
"Shikamaru!" Ino waved at him to come over.
Ino, Chouji and Sai were next to each other. Kiba and Shino were at the sidelines whispering. Tenten, Neji and Lee were together along with Gai-sensei. Kakashi arrived as well moments later standing next to Ino. Shikamaru, Hinata and Sakura walked over to them.
"Hey Sakura." Ino smiled at her. "What's gotten you down in the dumps today? You seem like you've been crying with those beat red eyes."
"Shut up Ino-pig." Sakura glared and crossed her arms. "I'm not in the mood to fool around with you. I have business with a certain someone here. So let's get this meeting over with and I can go back to doing what I have to."
Sakura raised both her fists and drew them together slamming into each other and cracking it as if she meant war. Hinata started to tremble and her fingers won't stop moving, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath not drawing any attention to her.
"Whatever, I was just being nice."
"Ignore her Ino." Shikamaru frowned. "She's just messed up." He said earning a glare from behind.
"Hey Shikamaru, thank goodness you got here." Ino pouted and grabbed Sai who was right next to her and took him in a bare hug. "We thought you guys would never come. Now you got to tell us what it is that has you up your buttons! The gossip is killing me."
"Don't rush me Ino. It's really important." Shikamaru sighed and looked at Kakashi.
"Now... now... It's a big problem that you need to understand." Kakashi's one eye stared at everyone. "Most of you already know about this. Those people are Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Neji, Sakura and I. We've each made our attempts to conceal our knowledge but now, Naruto wants us to share it."
"That's a lot." Chouji wondered.
Ino shouted. "How come we're not part of it?"
"You are a part of it." Shikamaru stated. "The reason Naruto wanted to tell us was because he is allowing us to go to the Kage meeting. He wants us to testify our reasons and beliefs. He trusts us well enough to make our own decision on who's side to take."
"I don't believe I'm following." Tenten crossed her arms. "This meeting of the Kage's seem really important to everyone, why is that? Only a high alert ninja would make the Kage's move around this much."
"That's because were dealing with the number one criminal during the war." Kakashi muttered enough for everyone to hear. "I suggest you all just sit back and we will explain everything in detail."
"Wait... number one criminal?" Lee wondered. "Is this about Madara or Sasuke-kun?"
"Who else is Konoha's number one criminal rouge ninja who betrayed this village for power?" Kakashi's eye turned to 'U' as he smiled under his mask. "It's none other than Sasuke that has this whole Kage meeting in turmoil."
"Sasuke-kun?" Ino lowered her head. "They caught him?"
"I hear Sasuke-kun was out of the village in hiding." Sai spoke and eyed Sakura. "I was told he was probably hiding in one of Orochimaru's base. I don't know if the Intel is good though. It was over a few months ago."
Sakura hung her head, how she hated that Sasuke was the topic. No matter, she can get what she wants with Hinata later on. To see who is stronger and who is the one who takes the price. She bit her lips and clenched her fists.
Sai looked at her with worry, he was also a part of team 7 and he knew how much Sakura loved Naruto as a brother not as a lover. She was messing those two words up. Sai reverted his look to Kakashi who gave him an odd laughter.
"Sorry."
"It's fine Sai." Kakashi chuckled. "This meeting is about Sasuke's punishment. They already have him in custody per se the Hokage does."
"What do you mean Naruto has Sasuke?" Chouji wondered.
"It means that Naruto lets Sasuke roam free in his own will." Kiba snarled and Akamaru barked. "Damn Uchiha thinks he can get away that easily for attempted murder of everyone of this village."
"He's not causing any harm Kiba-kun." Hinata spoke quietly.
"He is still a danger, Hinata-san." Shino spoke.
"Alright, no arguments." Kakashi did his Raikiri to stop any other noise. Once the noise was gone he stopped his Raikiri and spoke dully. "I'll further explain if you all cooperate without any disruptions."
"YOSH! The YOUTH of my RIVAL is BURNING with passion." Gai made his signature pose and his teeth shined under the sun. "Do tell us the Intel you have on Sasuke, perhaps it will enlighten us further."
"huh?" Kakashi blankly looked at him. "Right..."
"Neji..." Shikamaru eyed him. "I suggest you go first."
"It is not so hard to sense his chakra in the village." Neji spoke. "At first I doubted if it was even his chakra signature but when he would pass by I would use my Byakugan to see whether is was truly his chakra signature. There is no mistaking it. The Hyuga's Kekkei genkai is not as powerful but well versed in its power."
"So you've been spying on him when you found out." Kakashi's eyes wandered around. "Is that what you're saying?"
"I have been doing some snooping around and that is the reason why I am very well worried. Worried that Sasuke would hurt someone he comes close contact to. He's Naruto's friend so I do hope I am wrong about him changing. Sasuke is currently weak at the moment and any attack from us can kill him, but that will likely happen since Sasuke is being protected by Naruto's custody."
"Right we got it, next up Kiba and Shino." Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. "You two are up. How did you two find out, no lying."
"Geez... sharing damn info... to think we'd even lie about it." He muttered and cursed and downright glared at every little thing.
"Kiba..." Ino grunted. "Just tell us what you found out about Sasuke-kun. I want to know why he's in the village for Pete's sake."
"Alright, want to know how I found out. Ever since Naruto brought Sasuke back along with Temari and Kankuro, I've been wondering what the smell was around Naruto. I felt as if that was Sasuke's faint smell. I tried to dig in for more info and I snooped around Naruto's house one time."
"You snuck in?" Hinata shouted startling everyone. "That's not very nice, breaking into someones home without their permission. Naruto-kun's the Hokage."
"I just did some snooping around, no big deal." Kiba grunted in annoyance. "I realized Sasuke's smell was stronger and I realized he was staying in Naruto's house. I got a bit tempted to scream out the murderers name but instead I went to Shino for advice. Told me to put a sock in it and keep it secret, that he'll keep Sasuke monitored with his bugs."
"And what did you get Shino?" Kakashi asked while Shino stonily replied.
"Just that his chakra is beyond low right now and that he cannot fight any of us." Shino spoke. "He is very exhausted and is still recovering."
"Yeah, whatever." Kiba crossed his arms. "I still don't like him. I didn't even know Hinata was a part of all this, not to mention you Shikamaru, but considering you're Naruto's counselor it's a dead giveaway. Okay, I've done my fair share of Ino what about you guys aren't you going to say something. Anything at all?"
"I think I just realized that guy in the hood was Naruto." Ino smiled sheepishly. "The one with Temari and Kankuro and I realized he was the same guy Hinata was with during Naruto's free fall. The same guy that Sakura almost punched to death when he heard our conversation about him. How Sakura was like... ready to kill him... attack him for hearing just that... haha!"
"SHUT UP WILL YOU INO!" Sakura turned red in embarrassment.
"You almost killed him?" Kakashi's eyes widened. "Sakura?"
"I didn't know it was him." Sakura frowned and turned away. "Lay off."
"We skip Sakura." Shikamaru spoke. "I found out when I realized that the meeting with Gaara was a lie when Hinata told us. It was a giveaway as well at the number of flaws in hiding their plan but even the simplest mistake was the hardest to uncover. I had doubts in my thoughts that it was real until I was confronted about it by Hinata. In my opinion, a great deal has changed in Sasuke and he seems more social than he was before."
"So you've talked to him." Tenten asked.
"I've spent my evening with him." Shikamaru smirked. "Even the Godaime Hokage knew about this and was marveled at how awkward it was having Sasuke around. The one who saved Naruto from that fall was also Sasuke, even Iruka was amazed when he found out. It's why we're testifying to try and shoulder our beliefs about him. To punish him or kill him."
"I don't believe he's changed." Sakura scoffed and smirked. "He's just hiding his true self to try and attack the leaf village again. He's still a criminal no matter how you look at it. He can't make up for what he's done, it's to great for him to simply change. He can't just come back to our lives saying he's sorry and that we'll just forgive him? What is that?"
"I agree with Sakura-san." Sai was trembling but he was good enough to hide that. "But I also agree with the decision to lay it in the hands of the Kage's and us. We all have different perceptions on Sasuke and opinions about who he is and Naruto-kun did this so it is our decision, the decision of his friends. Not just his, he's giving us a chance to change this one mans life. Naruto-kun is asking us to do what we can to change something in Sasuke."
"He's still a criminal Sai, don't tell me you're siding with him."
"I am not siding with him Sakura-san. Merely stating my own perception about him, we cannot dwell in the past because it can soon corrupt us. People change and Naruto has taught us that. Perhaps, he managed to get through Sasuke, we just don't know it yet."
"Sakura-san..." Hinata walked towards Sakura. "By any chance can we not... fight about this... I don't think it's right to... to make Naruto-kun the price and..."
"Shut up!" Sakura shouted and nearly punched her in the face when Kakashi blocked her fists. Hinata backed away trembling from the almost 'hit'.
"Leave us alone Kakashi-sensei, this is between me and Hinata. We're going to settle this like a kunoichi should, just like me and Ino back at preliminaries. We settle this remember Hinata, we had a bet and we finish this bet! You can't back down now, I'm eager to see who wins this or not!"
"Aren't you loud today?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about Sakura?"
"Those two made a bet to see who gets Naruto as a price." Shikamaru placed his hands in his pocket. "Winner takes Naruto loser doesn't have Naruto or loser will tell Sasuke her true feelings and leave Naruto be."
"Sakura this is madness!" Ino shouted.
"SHUT UP INO-PIG! STAY OUT OF THIS!"
"Don't you know you're taking this too far. We fought for Sasuke-kun before and it didn't end out so well and I've given up on him. This is Naruto we're talking about, if he's the price, then... it's totally not worth it! You're going to lose! Sasuke-kun seems to change, why do you have to mess up Naruto's relationship with Hinata? That's not right at all!"
"I'm not messing with his relationship... I'm fighting for his love." Sakura glared at Ino. "Would you people stay out of this? I'm tired of listening to you people talk about Sasuke-kun like he's changed or something. My views of him have changed when I got my head right, he's a criminal. Criminal's deserve no happiness."
"Sakura, I'm not letting you fight Hinata." Kakashi glared.
"LET GO OF ME SENSEI! LET GO!" She shouted.
"It IS VERY UNYOUTHFUL for two women to get so upset about such trivial matters! YOSH, even if BURNING POWER OF YOUTH AND LOVE COLLIDE... eternal..."
Tenten and Neji punched Gai enough to stop him from talking and encouraging this. Sakura managed to slip out of Kakashi's grasp and slapped his hand away. She glared at him and scrunched her face.
"You're becoming more and more like Sasuke." Kakashi frowned as he took a step forward. "You know that?"
"Shut up, I'm not."
"As leader of Team 7, I am not allowing this." Kakashi glared. "If Naruto, the Hokage, would find out about this he won't forgive you for hurting your friends. Something is wrong and we're trying to help you, so let us help you."
"Nothings wrong with me! You think that I'm having emotional trauma or something that I'm breaking down because of what I experienced during war. You think that's what happened to me? YOU THINK I'M SLOWLY GOING INSANE THAT I'M PARANOID?"
"It's possible Sakura." Kakashi softly spoke. "You experienced a lot of things with Sasuke and him trying to kill you, you haven't even been to the psychological team in the hospital nor did you have yourself checked up. If you're upset then take it out on somebody else, you can't fight with anger, remember, this is what lead Sasuke and Naruto into hurting their comrades. You shouldn't let your anger take control of..."
"I don't care! I have a score to settle with her!" Sakura screamed. "I'm not backing down just because you people told me too! I'm not emotionally challenged or paranoid. You people are insane, I'm just telling you he's a criminal! Why won't you believe me?"
"Because I met him and talked to him for real..."
"That doesn't make up for what he's done, I will believe it when I see it for myself! FIGHT ME HINATA! Tell me I'm wrong, punch me in the face if you have to! FIGHT ME!"
"B-bring it on!" Hinata shouted back. "I-I wont back d-down!"
Sakura punched the ground to cause a slight tremor in the ground causing everyone to go off balance. Hinata on the other hand saw this coming and jumped to the other side of the huge field with her hands and feet positioned. Sakura glared at her and walked to the middle of the field leaving a great distance between them for attacks. The others were on the ground rubbing their heads, they were at the other side of the field far from Sakura and Hinata.
"Sakura-san!"
"Forehead girl! STOP THIS!"
"You're only making this worse."
"YOUTH!"
"Gai-sensei, Sakura-san!"
"Hinata! Kick her ass!"
"You're making this worse Kiba!"
"Don't encourage her!"
"I'm not Shikamaru, Chouji! Sheeeshh!"
"ARfff! Ruuuff!"
"Dammit stop this!"
"That's ENOUGH!"
Kakashi and the rest shouted at the same time trying to get their attention, they were all ready to butt in but then again they couldn't. A huge wall of wind chakra pushed them all down at the same time. A huge gust of wind erupted from everywhere just in their spot only. Everyone was looking confused, they couldn't move and it seemed as if gravity was pushing them down.
Someone had blocked their way to get to the two.
"What is...?"
"I can't move..."
"What was that...?"
The wind became even more stronger and it was pushing them down even more and it was hurting some of them. It was as if 'Gravity' was defying it's nature and it was pushing them towards the ground even more with little room to move.
"ARkk! Arrff! Rooff!"
"Wind chakra?"
"BLAZING YOUTH!"
"GLOORRYY! SENSEI! YOUTH!"
"What the hell is wrong with you people?"
"It hurts!"
"What's wrong?"
"Who did this?"
"Get off me you little...!"
"A chakra wall? "
"Possibly."
They heard a new voice answering there question. They looked around but couldn't see anyone else, the wind was pushing them down and wouldn't let them move any more. Hinata and Sakura were busy and couldn't even hear them shouting.
"It's a new jutsu I was working on."
Naruto appeared in a yellow flash in front, his back turned to them and he was facing Hinata and Sakura's match. Hinata was focused and her guard was already up but Sakura was confused and would attack head on without thought.
"Damn this match is a bad match. No use, we have a clear winner anyways. Didn't think it would result to this much conflict, thought it was more under control." He pouted and frowned at the same time, his eye twitching.
"You? Naruto? Here?" Shikamaru blinked and tried to move but his body won't let him. "You knew about this? What's this jutsu of yours?"
"What the hell, get it off us Naruto!" Ino shouted while moving her arms back and forth. "This jutsu is damaging my entire perfect complexion! Not to mention this is humiliating!"
"Arrff!" Akamaru whined.
"Worry about your complexion somewhere else girl!" Tenten frowned and shouted. "Naruto, you better dispel this jutsu right now if you know what's good for you!"
"I didn't think I would use it on you people though." Naruto smiled still staring at the two fighting. "Never thought I actually had to use it on anyone. Sorry I had to do that, a little more and you would have broken those two up from fighting."
"You honestly want them to fight?" Neji wondered. "You want Hinata-san to face Sakura?"
"They need to... release some stress." Naruto shuddered. "That much I know."
"I'll release some stress on you later!" Kiba shouted. "Get us out of this!"
"Loudmouths." Naruto groaned, waved his left hand without a care, the wind subsided and everyone got to their feet. Sakura and Hinata didn't seem to notice Naruto's arrival and continued to fight each other. The distance was to great for Hinata and Sakura to hear them.
"What do you think of my new jutsu?" Naruto smiled not bothering to face them.
"That jutsu a while ago?" Shikamaru rubbed his head. "I hate it."
"It's Wind Style: Chakra suppressor Wind wall."
"Chakra suppressor?" Kakashi arched his back in pain. "You know how to do that? What does it do?"
"It uses the chakra in the wind to suppress your chakra and push you down like a heavy wall that buries you to the ground and keeps you there. It manipulates gravity like Nagato's but I used wind instead of gravity itself. Still haven't got the right name for it though, but it seems perfect as it is."
"Naruto?" Chouji whispered. "You're..."
"What are you doing here Naruto?" Kakashi stood up in shock. "Shouldn't you be preparing for that meeting, we could handle this just fine..."
"I'm done roaming around the village, I'm worried about Hina-chan and Sakura-chan fighting." Naruto scowled and his eyes were full of worry. "I hate seeing Hina-chan like this, it kinda hurts. The way she was looking at me a while ago meant there was something wrong and they way Sakura-chan always cut her off, it's hard to believe nothings going on at all."
"You're not going to do anything to stop them, are you?" Gai eyed him. "As the Hokage, you wouldn't tolerate such behavior like this, would you?"
"CHERRY BLOSSOM STRIKE" A huge blast from the two can be seen and heard. The ground shook, the others were slightly off balanced while Naruto stood his ground and stared at Hinata and Sakura battling it out.
"As Hokage, no I won't tolerate such acts with my ninja's." Naruto seriously stared at the two still fighting with each other. "These two, I can exempt. Letting this escalate won't do any good, might as well let them settle this and be done with it."
"So we don't do anything to stop those two?" Kiba asked receiving a few good defends from his friends.
"Arff..."
"Don't interfere, I think this is going quite well don't you think." Naruto smiled, his fists clenching. "I was hoping that it wouldn't go this far but I guess, Sakura-chan is Sakura-chan after all, no doubt she still loves that -teme if she's going as far as to mess with me and my relationship."
"Naruto-kun... thank you" He could hear Hinata's voice in his head.
Everyone that Naruto didn't like what he was seeing. They could all see Naruto trembling slightly and his fists were clenched together, his nails digging on his skin and drawing blood. The blood dripping on the soft grass below. Everyone saw that... they could all see that he too... was in conflict...
He could see Sakura attack with multiple Kunai's, explosive tags and cherry blossoms and there erupted a large blast causing a very large hole from where it hit. The smoke cleared and Naruto was trembling even more.
"Be careful..." Naruto bit his lips. "Please be okay, Hina-chan..."
(In the other side of the field)
Hinata was ready for battle, her hands were outstretched and her feet were far apart. She was ready to execute a Jyuuken style. Her Byakugan already activated and her body filled with adrenalin from Sakura's slight tremor. She took a deep breath and analyzed Sakura's position. She was unfocused and tears were dripping from her face, her fist clenched and body language was off.
But she was deadly when underestimated.
They were ready to begin, she was determined to stop all of this before it resulted to any more damage. Next thing she knew Sakura was heading straight towards her with her right fist up and ready to punch. Hinata lowered her back just enough to dodge without moving her feet. Sakura swiped at the air and rotated, her left feet hovering in the air to hit another strike.
This time Hinata countered by slamming her palm in one of Sakura's chakra points on her leg, she was about to hit another chakra point when Sakura noticed this and retreated far away, Hinata stood her ground ready for another attack.
"I'm a medic ninja, I can counter all of this." Sakura glared at Hinata. "If this is all you can do then you can't win against me. I can use medical ninjutsu to re-fix the tenketsu you blocked off."
"T-that's not even possible!" Hinata shouted her fist clenched tightly. "There's something else you did? You can't just stop me from blocking off your tenketsu, I was sure that I hit you with my Jyuuken strike! I saw it with my Byakugan."
"You weren't looking well enough. I exploded chakra on my leg and you only managed to block off a tiny bit of chakra in my leg, not enough to paralyze me." Sakura smirked getting ready to attack."I did it before it even hit."
"Exploding chakra in your body?" Hinata winced at this.
Sakura smirked at Hinata.
"She's pushing herself too far," Hinata glared at her. "Everyone knows that's just luck that's going her way if she were to explode chakra in her body. It could kill her, then again she is a trained medical ninja... still... she's doing it wrong... I could see her leg is slightly injured."
"If I keep this up, I might just win..." Sakura laughed inwardly. "But I can't keep exploding chakra in any part of my body. It might kill me, but if I don't she'll block off my tenketsu and it will be hard to bring it back. I might as well block her from coming near me and doing her 'Eight Trigrams'."
"CHERRY BLOSSOM STRIKE!"
Sakura shouted as she punched the ground with all her strength. The ground shook as Hinata dashed forward jumping out of the blast and propelling towards Sakura. She thrust her palm in the ground creating a second blast. Sakura crossed her arms in front of her face to shield her from the debris flying around. She stared for a moment in shock as her body didn't respond, Hinata dashed towards her with her fist ready to clash.
"Palm heel Strike!"
Hinata pushed her palm into Sakura's chest and Sakura coughed up some blood. The chakra went into her body and did some internal damages and Sakura flew a few feet away from Hinata.
"Sakura-san!" Hinata shouted. "Are you alright? I'm sorry... let me..."
"S-stay a-away f-from m-me..." Sakura coughed, her body paralyzed. "T-this match isn't over."
Hinata stood there waiting for Sakura to stand back up, Sakura pushed herself from the ground shaking with fury and was literally crying while she pushed herself. She wasn't going to give up, she won't let Hinata win. Never will she be looked down upon again. She pushed herself enough to get her on her feet and took something from her pouch, a needle. She slammed it into her leg and pushed the liquid inside. She smirked and threw away the needle.
She stood up feeling fine as ever, although she could still feel the pain in her chest, she assumed the position she was in before. Hinata's eyed widened.
"Shocked?" Sakura's voice lowered. "That's a medicine to stop paralysis, good thing I came prepared, there's more where that came from so come at me with all you've got!"
Hinata made no second thoughts as she ran to Sakura thrusting her right palm towards her head. Sakura slid under Hinata, pushing herself by her hands and sending Hinata a kick to the head. Hinata was used to these kinds of attacks from Neji and Hanabi and she quickly rotated, grabbed her leg and twisted it. Sakura twirled around and kicked her other leg and Hinata was forced to let go.
Sakura ran again and jumped high into the air twisting her body as fast as she could (like Kiba's fang over fang) when she was nearing the ground she pulled herself up and lifted her foot.
"Heaven kick of pain!"
It was too fast and Hinata had to protect herself.
"Rotation!"
Sakura was sent back flying but twirled and landed on her feet, sliding a few feet away. Hinata although she was protected flew feets away as well sliding on her back and moaning about how it hurts. She tried to sit up but her body won't let her, she slowly moved to her side and cried in pain.
"uhhh..." Hinata touched her side and it felt like cracked ribs, one of the debris must have hit her. She couldn't see with all the dust and her rotation was too slow to deflect the first few debris.
"This is bad." Hinata coughed up some blood. "If I don't stop this, we're going to each be in the hospital."
"What the hell happened Neji?" Naruto bit his lips and was pacing, he just saw Hinata flying across the field after Sakura, unlike Sakura who managed to get on her feet Hinata didn't. "Tell me what happened."
"A while ago Sakura's got hit by Hinata-san's Palm heel strike and it damaged her internal organs and mostly Sakura's lungs. She's acting on the drugs on her body, she's suppose to be paralyzed but the drug took off the paralysis and only maintained the anesthesia."
"And Hinata... she looks badly injured." Narutp bit his lips. "Tell me she's okay, tell me she can go on. If she can't I'm... I'm stopping this match."
Authors notes:
I wasn't going to stop it here but then again it was dragging too long and I'm really busy this time of month and really problematic... I wanted to do more but I got this... the match will continue so no worries about that...
Merry Christmas, thank you for reading and commenting!
Feel free to review and tell me what you think about the fight scene and Naruto's reactions. Pretty mature and I like him that way, surprises me about what comes out of his mouth. He's turning out like a good man! XD
Next up: Sakura and Hinata's fight will be longer and more fierce than before. A surprise in the chapter as well. Kage meeting is coming up, so be on the look out. Don't worry, I'll update again soon! XDD