[A/N]Here comes Chapter 3. Once again, if you're going to review, PLEASE make an account so I can properly reply to you. They're free to make, last I checked, so you don't have to pay for anything. ^_^ [A/N]
~~~DEAD CENTER OF THE FOREST OF DEATH, IN A SMALL CLEARING~~~
"And why would I be against listening to your stories while we wait?" Hinata teased, "They're may not all be exciting or action-packed, but They're plenty captivating nonetheless." Naruto smiled.
"Alright then… I wonder, though…" Naruto said, standing up.
"What's wrong, Naru-kun?" she asked, getting worried. Naruto smiled.
"I wonder what would happen if I tried to pump it so full of chakra that the thing overloaded and exploded around her?" he asked. Hinata stared at him as if he were truly insane.
"I honestly wouldn't try it," she said skeptically, "Normally it would be a sound strategy, given the type of technique it is, but since you've already allowed it to absorb your chakra, it wouldn't damage it; it would just absorb your chakra."
"That's what I'm saying!" Naruto said blandly, "I can't destroy it anymore, so instead of TRYING to damage it, I just feed it so much chakra that the thing overloads its storage space and explodes on its own. I may not be able to hit the thing myself anymore, but it should be perfectly able to destroy itself!" Naruto said, forming one of his signature moves: in one hand, he formed a large shuriken entirely of wind-type chakra, and then slowly began filling it with stars.
"The Hoshiton: Rasen Shuriken. One of my most favored techniques. And now, the fun begins," Naruto said.
The attack soon began shifting under Naruto's focus, slowly expanding in size until it was the size of a small building. Naruto used his other hand to produce small strings of chakra that attached to the technique and held it in place, suspended in midair. Naruto hopped off his feet and used his chakra to float around the technique, keeping up with its rapid speed as he began forming a smaller Rasen Shuriken on the end of each blade, and forming an extra on the blades of the first set. Soon, he had a massive sphere with rotating blades, each of which had a set of smaller, similar bladed spheres rotating in the reverse direction of the hub sphere, with an additional set on each of the smaller blades spinning the same direction as the larger hub. Naruto smirked wickedly as he released the chakra strings and hoisted the thing above his head.
"Let's see how you like this one, Wedding Crasher! HOSHITON: CHO KYODAI GINGA NO RASEN SHURIKEN!" he shouted, jumping with it held over his head. He was soon in position over the structure.
Hinata sensed extreme danger and used her eyes to teleport herself out of range of the attack in the nick of time.
Naruto thrust the attack into the top of the structure, whistling in appreciation as the attack rapidly sheared its way through the crystal barriers, which were easily more than fifteen in total. The attack managed to last a good five seconds before, upon making contact with the crown of Guren's head and earning another screech of pure pain, the structure went out of control, sealing up the crystal walls immediately around her head and holding the attack in place. As the crystal began sucking out the chakra in the attack, Naruto followed Hinata's lead and used his eyes to transport himself to the same place she'd gone.
He arrived in The Dimension, a sub-dimension formed of their shared chakra, to find Hinata standing five feet away, her eyes crossed in an angry glare, her arms crossed over her chest, and her left foot tapping FURIOUSLY. The pace of the tapping alone told Naruto that his new bride was IMMENSLY angry with him.
"What," she began, "was the point of THAT? You've just alerted the ENTIRE village to the situation, and now they're ALL going to come here and try to find us, or else SERIOUSLY hurt themselves trying to break that thing open!" Naruto winced as her voice raised four octaves over the course of her questioning.
"WELL? WHAT WAS THE IDEA BEHIND THAT?" Hinata shouted, her voice getting louder and shriller, causing Naruto to not only wince, but also avert his gaze.
"I-I thought I could overload the crystal with chakra and make it blow around her. I hoped we could cut off her healing by making her own technique backfire," he said sheepishly, his gaze turned to the floor.
"Was that all?" Hinata asked, sounding as if she were accusing him of something. Naruto's gaze lifted up to look her dead in the eyes.
"And what, exactly, is that supposed to mean?" He asked, feeling insulted, "What is it you want me to say, Hinata? That all of this was planned? Huh? Do you want to say that, for some reason not even I could possibly comprehend, I conspired with a KNOWN ENEMY of our village to take you away from OUR WEDDING – OUR WEDDING, HINATA! – And remove you from the equation somehow? YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU! I WOULDN'T EVER DO THAT!" Naruto's voice dropped in pitch slightly and gained a level of bass. Hinata backed up a step; she hadn't exactly planned this far.
"You know how I am, Hinata!" Naruto said, the outrage in his voice becoming more and more apparent with each passing second, "You know how I feel; men who cheat on their wives or girlfriends don't deserve them in the first place! That's my policy! I've sworn to be a married man, and YOU, AND YOU ALONE, are the woman I chose for my bride. After all we've been through together, how could you even conceive of that as an option? I couldn't ever leave you! Moreover, might I remind you, since you've quite obviously forgotten, that due to the Kyuubi's chakra being a part of BOTH of us and linking us together, if one of us dies the other goes too. Remember that? It was only six months ago that it happened! You couldn't have forgotten that quickly!" As he said the last word, he felt his knees buckle and collapsed, hitting the ground on his hands and knees with tears in his eyes.
Hinata shook her head. She hadn't intended for this to turn out this way, not at all. Her only intention had been to find out what had spawned the idea behind that devastating attack that could have killed them both, and with a single slip of the tongue, had reduced her beloved Naruto to tears with an implied accusation.
The situation was rapidly turning into a massive misunderstanding.
'Where did he get that thought come from?' she wondered. The thought hadn't entered her mind at all beforeshe said it. She knew from over a year of being with him that he despised men who mistreated their girlfriends or wives in anyway… there was no plausible way he'd ever do that to her. He'd sooner kill himself than sink to that level.
She knew it had been a constant fear for the first two months of their relationship, but she'd shed that fear when they started seriously dating… and the first time Naruto kissed her in public, she'd seen the lengths he'd go to in order to defend her from others.
The person had made an idle, scathing remark about Hinata being "the demon's whore". Without a second's thought, Naruto had left Hinata's side, walked over to inform the unfortunate citizen that the Hokage's penalty for comments of that nature was death…, and proceeded to LIE about having been given permission to carry out that same penalty. The civilian had paled instantly and backed away, apologizing profusely. That hadn't stopped Naruto from violently twisting the man's arm around mid-arm, all but severing the man's arm at the elbow. He held the man that way for several minutes, applying a steady increase of pressure against the injured limb as he FORCED the man to apologize not to Naruto, but to Hinata.
The man spent seven minutes on his knees with his face buried in the dirt, apologizing to Hinata in pained sobs and whimpers while Naruto held his arm above his head and kept slowly twisting. When he finally let go, Naruto announced to everyone present that from that moment on, anyone who attacked Hinata in any way was going to deal with him PERSONALLY, which caused everyone to fall away from the area in terror. No one EVER dared to say anything mean-spirited or ill-mannered to the two since, because they knew Naruto was capable of more than an embarrassing punishment.
This hopeless blonde boy was willing to go to extremely physical lengths to defend her honor… so why would she think he'd leave? She couldn't understand it at all.
Naruto managed to calm himself down after a good couple minutes and stood slowly, turning to transport back to the battlefield. Hinata shook her head and rushed over, clamping her arms around his stomach and forcing his hands to stay at his sides. Naruto could feel her tears leaking into his shirt and closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry…" she cried into his back, her own knees buckling, "I didn't mean it the way it sounded… I thought… I thought that maybe you'd had another reason; like wanting to test your strength, or to see how much chakra you'd have left… I didn't…" her voice stopped there. All Naruto could hear was the sound of silent gasps and sobs. He shook his head.
'I jumped the gun… I JUMPED THE GUN AGAIN! DAMN IT, why is this happening?' he asked himself, mentally cursing himself for doing this to Hinata. He slowly turned around when her grip began to weaken and slid down in front of her to wrap his arms around her and hold her close. She returned his embrace and latched on tight, almost burying her fingernails in the fabric of his suit. He sat there and let her cry until she couldn't anymore.
"I'm sorry, Hina-chan…" he said, whispering softly in her ear, "I got ahead of the issue again. I should have just left it alone and stopped talking, but I couldn't stop myself. I should have just asked you to clarify your question and go from there… and, once again, I jumped the gun and hurt you. I'm a fool and an idiot…" Hinata calmed down and coughed quietly.
"It's not just your fault… I should have made it clear from the start what I was asking. I was too vague…" Hinata said, her face buried in his shoulder.
"I still didn't need to be so defensive about it," Naruto said, "I could have just ASKED what you meant and left it at that. By all accounts, I SHOULD have done that, but instead I went over both our heads and screwed it all up. I'm sorry, Hina-chan. I'll work harder at thinking before letting my emotions lead me from now on." Hinata smiled a bit.
"I'm sorry too, Naru-kun… I'll try and be clearer from now on so we can keep this from ever happening again," she said. Both moved to look each other in the eyes and kissed. They relaxed in each other's arms, allowing their first argument EVER to pass like water under the bridge.
After a minute, Naruto broke away and asked, "Wait a minute… I never finished up that last story, did I?"
Hinata, still slightly dazed from the kiss, shook her head and numbly mumbled "No". She snapped back to reality when she felt Naruto shift position and move behind her. When she felt his arms gently wrap around her stomach, she smiled and leaned back against him.
"Well, since I wasn't finished, I'll continue," He said with a smile, "So… After the hospital came recovery and my entry into the Academy…"
_
CHAPTER 3: GALAXY SHURIKEN AND BUNSHIN THEORY
OP: "SOUL DYNAMITE" - ACCESS
~~ For the next couple weeks, my life seemed to move by slower than a snail's crawl. My mind wasn't in anything I wanted to do, so naturally, I'd fail at whatever I tried. This included, but wasn't limited to, the academy graduation test's jutsu list. Specifically, I couldn't seem to maintain a proper Bunshin. The Henge was fine and all, but… nothing else seemed to work.
By the end of the month, I began thinking about things in a different way: I thought that if I let things keep going, my dream of being Hokage would be no more than a pipe dream. Letting what happened keep me down would kill my chances of even getting into the Academy. I couldn't let that happen. So, what could I do about it? Simple; work through my pain and strive to be better. And that's exactly what I did. ~
A few months after the incident, Naruto was accepted into the Academy.
It had taken him three weeks to work through the bulk of his anguish, but the thought of failing in his dream to be Hokage drove him on.
However, as many people can tell you, there are some times in life where things just DON'T go the way you'd hoped.
It hadn't taken him longer than fifteen seconds on his first day to figure out where everyone stood in the class, and who everyone was. He even had a nickname for almost all of them, drawn from a year of his life where he'd enjoyed watching a program in the theaters about people who transformed into colorful suits of armor and fought off monsters.
First, there was Sakura Haruno, a pink-haired girl he'd chased after for a year-an-a-half before his incident. After seeing her with new eyes, however, he realized exactly what she was: A FAKE. The poor girl hid who she really wanted to be just so she could fit in with the popular group. Not only that, but her voice was so loud that the first time he tried to greet her after his arrival in class, she'd nearly blown out his eardrum with a disgusted scream of "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE?" For that reason, Naruto had began referring to as "Banshee Pink".
Next, her immediate superior in the Sasuke Fan-Club, Ino Yamanaka. Despite being a fellow blonde, albeit a much brighter shaded one, he could easily tell where HER loyalties lay. He could tell that with all the fawning over Sasuke, he'd never be able to ask her for ANY form of favor. Therefore, he'd started calling her "Useless Yellow", much to her annoyance and everyone else's enjoyment.
Tenten Takeshi was another of the girls in the class, but, like only one other, a young Hinata Hyuuga, Tenten didn't affiliate herself with the fan-club AT ALL. In fact, most people who knew her at all knew she was an extreme weapons fanatic, often bringing several sealed scrolls FULL of them to school to use as threat material in case ANYONE tried to bother her. It was for this reason that she and Naruto got along rather well, and thus, with her permission, Naruto had taken to calling her "Brownie", or, if he were feeling especially happy on any given day, he'd call her "Buns" to fluster her. She didn't seem to mind.
Next was Hinata Hyuuga, the eternally shy indigo-haired girl who stayed mostly to the back of the class. She barely spoke a word to anyone, except an apology if she got in someone's way in the hall. This bothered Naruto for several reasons, but mostly because ALL of these incidents weren't Hinata's fault at all; the fan-club girls would purposefully knock into her and make her drop whatever she was carrying. Naruto didn't interact with her much, and therefore had no nickname for her. However, he did enjoy sneaking long, unseen glances at the pale-eyed girl, making sure to look away long before she noticed his gaze.
This, of course, left him with the absolutely, undeniably STUNNING cast of other boys in the class, starting with the class "big shot", a term many used in the broadest sense. Kiba Inuzuka liked to believe he was a tough, macho guy, but he'd managed to prove otherwise after engaging Naruto in a brief practice spar in class one day. During this spar, which had soon devolved into an all-out brawl, Naruto had managed to get in a solid punch to the boy's jaw, which had sent Kiba spinning back several steps. When Kiba, who still had plenty of fuel left in his tank, reached his hand up to check his mouth and pulled away blood-covered digits, his eyes had rolled up in his head… and the boy had fainted on the spot. It was no surprise to ANYONE when Naruto started calling Kiba "Wet Mutt".
Shikamaru Nara, being a high intellectual, soon found a good source of entertainment in Naruto, who spared no expense in many senses to alleviate the pineapple-headed boy's ample boredom; it was because of their friendship that Shikamaru let it slide whenever Naruto called him "Pineapple Cortex". In fact, it even made the bored-as-all-hell boy laugh on occasion, which made Naruto smile.
In both a literal AND figurative sense, Naruto gave Shikamaru's other friend, Choji Akimichi, who was more than just a LITTLE plump. No one was EVER brave enough to call Choji "FAT", or even say the word around him… well, no one except Naruto, who always made sure to present Choji with a peace offering of a bag of barbecue chips. Therefore, Choji simply smiled and took it in stride whenever Naruto called him "Fat Boy".
Naruto developed an instinctual habit of avoiding Rock Lee at any and EVERY opportunity. The boy and his teacher Might Gai were known as freaks all over the village, and Naruto could EASILY see why. Between the green jumpsuits, orange leg warmers, bowl-cut hairstyles and THE THICKEST EYEBROWS NARUTO HAD EVER SEEN, it was obvious some strange things happened whenever the two were involved. Therefore, Naruto had only one thing to say any time Lee approached… "GET AWAY FROM ME, FREAKY BROWS!"
Naruto also avoided Neji Hyuuga, Hinata's cousin and half of the class's "Brooder Duo". However, where the other, one Sasuke Uchiha, believed he had nothing to prove and NEVER trained for ANYTHING, Neji believed he had EVERYTHING to prove and trained at ALL hours of the day in an effort to improve himself. Naruto silently referred to Neji as "Face Crater", but only because of what happened the first time Neji and Kiba had fought. As expected, Kiba had lost, but, as opposed to his forfeit at Naruto's hands, Neji waited until Kiba was within reach, grabbed him by the neck, and forced him into a small crater the size of Kiba's head… which Kiba had made solely with the impact of his head with the ground. Kiba had spent three weeks in hospital recovering from a fractured skull. From time to time, the boy still complained about massive headaches.
Next to last on Naruto's list was Shino Aburame, a silent boy who delved a little too deep into the world of logic for Naruto's liking. Despite the boy's heavily analytic speech and inability to act like a normal preteen, Naruto had struck it off quite well with Shino after some of Shino's kikaichu took a liking to his chakra. As such, Naruto was the ONLY one Shino trusted with a secret: Shino, unlike many other members of his clan, had been declared blind at birth, and used his chakra and kikaichu as a means of getting from place to place. Due to this, Naruto refused to give Shino a nickname, feeling it would be taken as an insult. Shino understood and didn't press for one; frankly, he felt it was better that way.
Finally, the last of the year's students, the famed Sasuke Uchiha, the only survivor of the Uchiha Massacre. The boy used his status to obtain and do much anything he pleased, believing that the "last Uchiha could walk where he pleased". He and Naruto had butted heads on many occasion, and NEVER saw eye to eye; despite this, the two built a sort of friendly rivalry between them. Whenever Naruto wasn't off studying, or Sasuke wasn't busy sitting under a tree perfecting his "Badass Brooder" expression, the two would strike out against each other and see who was stronger. Surprisingly, Sasuke only managed to beat Naruto once, because by the time Sasuke had realized something was wrong, he'd already nearly suffocated Naruto to death by holding the blonde's legs crossed in the air and using his feet to hold Naruto's head away while yelling for him to concede defeat. Despite this, Sasuke constantly believed Naruto won that scuffle. With all of this in mind, Naruto could only find a single, fitting nickname that would constantly rile up the raven-haired boy: "EMO BLACK".
On this particular day, about a year-and-a-half into his classes, Naruto was sitting at the back of the class, laying his head on his desk silently as he waited quietly for their teacher, Umino Iruka, to arrive. He'd spent the entire night staying awake to try and complete a Bunshin, and with increasingly promising results. Despite this, however, the fact remained that he'd stayed up ALL night, and had only been informed of the time when his bedroom alarm clock began screeching from across the flat, informing him that he would be late for school in five minutes. He'd bolted out the door without any regard for his books or food, and had stumbled into class looking worse for wear. All he wanted was even a few short minutes of sleep before Iruka showed up.
However, he still had to deal with the Sasuke Fan-Club, who seemed to take greater joy in their activities this day than most others, making it almost a spoken law that they had to raise their respective voices another octave whenever one of them spoke over another. By the time Naruto was about to drift off, he was jarred awake once more by the deafening racket. Soon, he couldn't take it anymore, and his voice betrayed him in all but thought.
~ Even to this day, I'll never understand what they all saw in that emo-teme. But still, they were FAR too annoying. ~
- Why did you never give ME a nickname, Naru-kun? –
~ It was because of how often we spoke to each other. When we were in the academy, you never approached me, so I took it to mean you wanted to be left alone. You were always really quiet and shy, too… I didn't want to risk having anything happen because I didn't know how to handle the situation properly. ~
- I see. Well, I can forgive you on those grounds, then. –
~I'm glad. Now, while we sit here smiling at each other, I should continue the story.
So, Like I said, a night spent studying instead of sleeping had made me slightly cranky, and VERY exhausted. After all that screaming, I just HAD to say SOMETHING. ~
"What did I do to deserve this fate?" Naruto mused aloud, though more under his breath than out loud, "I stay up more than twenty-four hours studying up on hand seals and jutsu to prepare for our mid-term examinations… And what do I get? NOW I'm being forced to stay awake even LONGER because a group of half-wit harpies can't spare five minutes of their day NOT sinking their screeching beaks and talons into SASUKE, OF ALL PEOPLE! Kami above, my life just sucks out loud today," Naruto said aloud, not even caring if anyone heard him.
Unfortunately, the entire fan club heard him and walked over. Ino stepped up and grabbed Naruto by his collar, yanking him roughly from his seat, and slapped him hard across the face.
"What'd you say, BAKA?" Ino, asked. Naruto raised his gaze just enough to meet her glare with one of his own.
~ THAT tore it. I was fine leaving her alone, but ONE off-hand comment nets me a slap in the face? Nuh-uh, I don't think so. ~
Grabbing Ino's wrist in his left hand, Naruto applied just enough pressure to make her let go and idly sat back in his seat.
"First off, stop glaring at me like that; you'll make yourself look fifty if you keep it up any longer," he said, smiling to himself when Ino blushed crimson and looked away, "And second, I said I'd like to get some sleep. I'm surprised you even managed to hear ANYTHING I said! However, had you BOTHERED to listen to EVERYTHING instead of JUST my comments about you and your little girl gang, you'd know I stayed up all night researching hand seals and jutsu, only to be denied even a few minutes of rest because you and the rest of your troupe have to dote on the Uchiha kid. Seriously, how dumb are you all? He's no better than the rest of us. He can't even make a solid Bunshin yet!"
This attracted said Uchiha's attention, and as Sasuke stood to push his way through the throng, he glared at Naruto, saying, "Repeat that last statement for me. I don't think I heard you right."
Naruto shifted his gaze to the raven-haired boy in front of him and sighed.
~ I hated that jackass. Even to this day, I hate him. Nevertheless, despite that, I respect him. Even though he was weaker than I was, he was ALMOST at my level. ~
"Fine, since you appear DEAF as well as LAME," Naruto said, boredom dripping like honey from his voice, "I said that you aren't any better than the rest of us hopefuls JUST because you came from the Uchiha clan. If you knew who MY father was, you'd be recoiling in despair of how hopeless you are. I'm not allowed to tell you who my father is, but I'll let YOU try to figure that one out. Right now, I'd like to catch a few minutes of rest before-"
"GOOD MORNING, CLASS!" a voice said, signaling the arrival of a happy, smiling, brown-haired man with a visible scar across his nose and cheeks: their teacher. Naruto raised his head, a stunned, unbelieving look growing on his face before his head sagged, slamming HARD into his desk.
~ I couldn't believe it… I'd wasted my only chance at even a few minutes of rest by arguing with Sasuke and his fangirls. That was the ONLY thing I could think of to do. ~
"DAMN IT!" he shouted, slamming his head into the desk a few more times. Sasuke and his fan club stared at their classmate a few times before scampering off to their seats.
~ And OH, how my head hurt for hours after that… Not one of my brighter moment, given how tired I was. ~
As the class progressed, Naruto found himself less able to focus, and slipping into nigh-unconsciousness every other minute. Finally, about half an hour in, he lost it and let his head let the desk quietly.
"Alright, who would like to explain to the class the concept behind the Bunshin technique? Is anyone at all interested? … NARUTO, WAKE UP!" Iruka shouted, throwing a chalk-board brush at the sleeping blonde boy. The brush hit the crown of his head, and Naruto shot awake with renewed vigor.
~ I normally kept my guard up, even in my sleep. So, to be hit by something, even an object as mundane as a chalkboard eraser was an INSTANT freak-out moment. ~
"WHO-WHAT-WHERE-WHEN-WHY-HOW-HOLY-CRAP-WE'RE-BEING-ATTACKED?" he shouted, flailing his arms about in a desperate attempt to ward off the imaginary attackers, only to find his face meeting the floor moments later as he fell from his chair. Sitting up and holding his head, he looked up at the frustrated look on his teacher's face.
~ I didn't know what else to do, you know? Caught completely off-guard, and completely unawares. Making a fool of myself by accident was just a bonus for the class. ~
"Sorry, Sensei, I didn't sleep much last night… I stayed up all night reading and practicing chakra control and jutsu. I'm JUST," Naruto said, making an almost complete circle with his index finger and thumb, "THIS side of finishing off a standard Bunshin. ALMOST had it before my alarm went off and I rushed out the door to get to school." Iruka looked at the spiky-headed blonde boy in wonder.
~ I like to consider that revenge for Iruka-sensei catching me with my pants down. Give him a little bomb of his own to handle, you know? ~
"You… you're almost DONE learning the Bunshin?" Iruka asked. Naruto nodded.
"Well… I suppose you'd be in a position to explain it to the class then?" Iruka asked. Naruto nodded and, pushing himself up off the floor, stood to speak.
~ I don't really know why he asked. I TOLD him I was almost done working on it, so why would he ask me again? At the time, I was thinking, 'Well, I shouldn't keep them waiting.' ~
"Basically speaking," Naruto said, "The concept of the Bunshin technique is to create an almost identical copy of yourself using your chakra and your surroundings. In fact, using the technique in varying environments can help you learn a multitude of versions of the technique, and each version is useful in its own right. For instance, Mizu, or Water, Bunshin are useful for dodging attacks and fleeing battle, as they allow you to substitute yourself with a clone made of water. Rai, or Lightning Bunshin are useful for attacking WHILE fleeing a battle, as the electrical discharge that comes when the Bunshin is dispelled can be used to electrocute the foe. I've only ever HEARD about a method called the … Shadow, or Kage Bunshin, which I GUESS would use the wielder's shadow to create identical clones, and that was from my ANBU friend… Let me think… AH! A Bunshin made from Doton, or Earth Release chakra, is useful for not only blocking attacks, but trapping foes as well, since the clone doesn't exactly dispel, but remains rooted in place, leaving the enemy open to an attack afterward. That, of course, is just the theory behind it. I'm still working on the practical application."
Iruka and half the class, including Ino, who'd verbally attacked him before, stared at the blonde boy in awe. Sasuke, however, had a wicked smirk plastered on his face.
~ And then came Sasuke with another of his show-off-ish questions. Had to look like a smart person despite his inexperience. ~
"Oi, dobe…" Sasuke said, "Did your research glean any information on, say… a Honoo, or Flame clone?" Naruto gave the boy a bewildered gaze.
~ I should have just clocked him out. Waiting for the inevitable was fun and all, but if he hadn't tried he wouldn't have MADE me deck him for it later. ~
"Why in the name of all things NINJA would you EVER think of that as an option? You can't control fire to that extent! Water, electricity, earth, even your own shadow… you can control those to a useful extent. But fire… DON'T YOU EVER TRY THAT! You're more than likely to wind up in the hospital because the thing backfired on you!" Naruto said. He walked from his desk to right next to Sasuke and pulled him up by the collar of his shirt with one hand.
"If I ever find out you tried to pull off a Fire Bunshin, I'll come after you after you healed and put you RIGHT BACK in the hospital, understand? I don't want to see anyone in this room injured because you decided to try and show off. GOT IT?" Naruto said with a warning tone. Sasuke gave him a sardonic grin.
"And what would you do if I managed to make it work?" Sasuke challenged. Naruto raised his other hand and slapped the boy across the face.
~ I will NEVER understand why he felt the need to show off and make himself look better than everyone else. I don't even think I want to know what he was thinking. ~
"DID YOU NOT EVEN HEAR ME?" Naruto asked, his voice gaining a dark, foreboding tone, "DON'T EVEN TRY IT, UNLESS YOU WANT ME TO PUT YOU IN THE HOSPITAL!" Sasuke looked into Naruto's blue eyes and saw them slowly turning red.
"A-ALRIGHT, I WON'T TRY IT! NOW PUT ME DOWN! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?" Sasuke asked. Naruto slapped him again and dropped him in his seat.
~ What kind of stupid question was that to ask? EVERYONE and their DAMN CAT knew who he was. He wouldn't shut up about it. ~
"How can I NOT know who you are? You walk around announcing your status of being "THE LAST UCHIHA" every minute of EVERY SINGLE DAY! I have to carry a bottle of MIGRAINE PILLS in my pocket every day just to be able to handle hearing you TALK!" Naruto said, walking back to his seat. As he sat down, he took one last look at Sasuke and closed his eyes.
"Like I said before Sensei came in, you aren't better than the rest of us JUST because you're the last of your clan. You want to know something, SASUKE? I watched a cousin I didn't even know was alive DIE, IN MY ARMS. Compared to simply walking into a room and finding your parents dead, MY situation puts YOURS to SHAME! So stop thinking everyone should be kissing your ass all the damn time!" Naruto said, seconds before his head sagged again and slammed into the desk. A second later, soft breathing could be heard, and Iruka resumed the lesson as if nothing had happened.~
Naruto stopped abruptly and turned around in place.
"CRAP!" he exclaimed, "WE FORGOT TO SEE HOW MUCH DAMAGE I MANAGED TO DO!" He said, grabbing Hinata by the hand before both vanished in a flicker of light.
Seconds later, they arrived back in the forest. Naruto did a quick scan for any other chakra signatures, and found they were still alone. Looking at the crystal structure, his anxious expression faded. With a less-than-impressed look on his face, he did the only thing he could think of to do…
…He walked to a nearby tree and slammed his head into the trunk, putting a deep dent in the wood. He continued to do this for a minute, cursing with each successive slam.
"DAMN!", SLAM "DAMN IT!", SLAM "DAMN IT ALL!", SLAM "DAMN-" SLAM "-THIS-" SLAM "-ALL-" SLAM "-TO-" SLAM "-HELL!" SLAM.
SLAM!
SLAM!
By the time Naruto opened his eyes, he was literally seeing red; the continuous slams had opened a large gash in his forehead, which was now bleeding profusely into his eyes. Not only that, but he'd managed to not only break the tree off the stump, but also propel it through three more with his last slam.
He allowed himself to fall onto his back. He lay there and allowed gravity to pull the blood down the sides of his head while his chakra worked quickly to close and heal his head wound.
Hinata dropped down on her knees next to him with a look of "I told you so" written all over her face. Naruto looked her dead in the eyes and sighed.
"Go ahead, Hina-chan… say it. I deserve it," he said. He closed his eyes… only for them to slam open two seconds later when she leaned over and kissed him. She pulled away moments later, leaving him dazed with a blissful look on his face.
"You DO deserve it… but you just took care of it yourself. I'm not going to add insult to injury, Naru-kun," She said with a smile. Naruto smiled back and closed his eyes.
Suddenly, for no reason at all, he heard music pop into his head, and for no reason, he reached his right hand up to cup her cheek and smiled. Hinata felt herself melt a little as he began to speak the lyrics both had been preparing to dance to at the reception:
"Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there's no one else above you
Fill my heart with gladness
take away all my sadness
ease my troubles that's what you do."
Hinata smiled and leaned down to kiss him again as, inexplicably, the music to the song began to play in her head. They stayed there for almost three minutes after she pulled away, softly humming along to the song as the music synced in their heads, wide smiles plastered across their faces.
~ THE END… FOR NOW… ~
Hope you liked it! ^_^ By the way, in terms of Naruto's nicknames, a box of cookies to the first person to guess what show those names came from! ^_^
For those wondering, the various technique names are thus:
Hoshiton: Chou Kyodai Ginga no Rasen Shuriken=Ultra Supermassive Galaxy Spiral Shuriken: As described, it's a massive Hoshiton: Rasen Shuriken, fully loaded with stars for added cutting power. On the tip of each blade is a another Hoshiton: Rasen Shuriken, half the size of the original and loaded with stars. On the ends of each of the blades of the smaller ones is another full set of regular-sized Rasen Shuriken, once again loaded with stars. The first set of extras rotates counter-clockwise to the main hub, and the second set rotates the same direction as the main hub. It can be said, as this is an attack Naruto thought up on the fly, that NO ONE will be able to escape the dread destruction of this attack. The reasons for Naruto and Hinata being able to survive the attack are listed in the previous chapter.