Blood upon the Risers

"Person Talking"

'Person thinking'

Chapter 7 negotiations part 3

A/N Sorry that some of the fights might not be exciting enough for a chunin exam. I have no viable excuse… just saying.

The big day was here, the chunin exams. Hinata Hyuga, perhaps in another life would have been shaking like a leaf in the face of a hurricane, but this wasn't another life and now she stood as still as a rock in a down pour. Hinata stared in the mirror and looked herself over, in the month that she had been training with the Captain she had gained weight. It wasn't fat but muscle. The hyuga smiled as she put on her Beskar. It was five thirty am, three hours before the exams would begin and by Mandalore she would be early, but it would be worth it. The looks on her comrades faces when they learned that Hinata Hyuga, once the shyest girl in all of Konoha was now a fighter. At least according to all of her teachers and the Jedi obi-wan Kenobi. In the preceding month she learned hand to hand combat and the basics of blasters. Now she was a force to be reckoned with, according to Rav Brelor whom had instructed her to call her "Ba'buir" which meant grandmother as she would dote on Hinata like one would. Hinata finished getting dressed as she thought of her teacher, an honorable warrior that would go out of his way to help her with her old confidence issues, she called him "Ori'vod" once and he smiled and laughed then proceeded to train her harder. Hinata left her room and snuck quietly into her sisters without rousing anyone else from sleep. Hinata stood over her sister's prone form and kissed her on her forehead. The older sister left the room and exited the house where she donned her helmet and headed to the arena as fast as she could.

Across town the Republic envoy met with the Mizukage, a lovely woman by the name Mei Terumi. She had instantly agreed to join the republic, this turn of events put the three senators at ease. That was until their meeting with the Tsuchikage, he had made fairly rude comments about the republic and threatened to put all of them in the bingo book if all of his demands weren't met. One of which was the body of Naruto's father at his feet. Obi-wan was quick in answering "Lord Tsuchikage, let me be the first to tell you that if you did that you would have four of these nations breathing down your neck, on top of that the republic army backing them, not only that but the son of the fourth Hokage who would be out for blood. Even though I'm one of his commanders I don't think that even the tightest of leashes would be enough to hold him back." Onoki scoffed then replied as he backed down "The yellow flash killed my shinobi, I will not let him live for the casualties he caused." It was then that Sylvar spoke up "You do realize that the conflict that you mentioned was a war don't you? Enemies kill each other, and to hold a temper tantrum over the fact is idiocy." The meeting continued for a few minutes before the kage stormed out, and the leader of Kumo stepped into the room.

Obi-wan's eyes widened as the kage entered. The mustached man listened to Padme Amidala's opening pitch of an alliance with Kumo and the republic patiently before he leaned back and said "Well, that's quite the generous offer. Kumo would definitely prosper from this agreement. I will cast my vote to join the republic… on one condition." Padme raised an eyebrow and asked "And what will that be?" the Raikage grinned like a maniac and pointed to Obi-wan as he said "he's a member of this Jedi counsel right?" Obi-wan got a very bad feeling about this and replied for himself "Yes, I am." The Raikage spoke again "I want to fight him sometime." Obi-wan sputtered for a moment before the senators agreed. After the Kage left the envoy was directed to the arena where they met Rav Brelor who hugged her son and left them to go the Kage observation tower where they met with the two soldiers who stood at attention beside them. The matches would begin in thirty minutes, and the crowd was restless. Then most of the separatist envoy showed up and sat in the seats that were open to them all save for one.

"Where is General Tarant, Gunray-san?" asked Hiruzen Sarutobi. He was concerned for the Harch that had become his friend. The two would trade pipe for cigar when they met and had gotten along ever since. Voe Attel answered him with a lie "He was sent back to Secunda… for a family event. He would have liked to say goodbye but it was urgent." The Hokage looked at her for a moment before responding with a nod. Then the old Hokage stood up and raised his hands, which signaled that the audience should quiet down. They did and he addressed them "Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf of all of Konoha I would like to thank you all for attending the chunin exams. Now let's see who stands victor." With that sentence spoke the audience cheered and roared in approval as the contestants stood shoulder to shoulder on the arena floor below.

Hinata zoomed in to her "Older brother's" face to see his helmeted gaze directed at her. She smiled at him as the proctor told the group. "Will Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka remain on the ground level and the rest go up to the observation deck." The other ten contestants went up and left the two teammates on the arena floor. Kiba raised an eyebrow at the armor that Hinata was wearing and said "Hinata, don't think that armor will help you against me. You're out matched." Hinata simply cracked her knuckles in response then she got into the gentle fist stance. The proctor looked in between the two and asked "Are you both ready?" the canine user nodded and got into his family stance, while the proctor looked to the armor clad Hyuga whom also nodded. The proctor raised his fist and shouted "Haijime!" and the match began.

It was then that the headstrong Kiba made his first mistake, he charged. "Gatsuga! Fang over Fang!" he shouted and the two partners spun and headed straight for the mandalorian who used Kiba's momentum against him. Hinata dodged the canine, this made her go into the young shinobi's path. Kiba grinned as he got closer to his friend but he didn't expect Hinata's reaction. She ducked then when the boy was over her she used the muscles in her legs to spring up and grab hold of Kiba. Hinata used her own weight to flip him and make the boy taste the dirt. Kiba groaned and sat up dazed as he asked himself "What was that?" the young Inuzuka didn't get to expand on that thought as when he was getting on his feet Hinata tackled him to the ground. The hyuga was heavy, too heavy to push off as the tackle knocked the wind out of him. She then drove her fists into the boy twice before getting off of him. Kiba got up and snarled angrily as he gathered his chakra and performed his family jutsu again. This time he aimed himself at her top half and Akamaru at her bottom half, they charged at the same time before colliding with her. Kiba rolled as he got out of the jutsu and turned only to have Hinata's booted foot driven into his stomach. A wet sound of pain tore from his throat as he landed on the ground. Hinata's icy voice was heard through his gasps for breath. "Never drop your guard Kiba, and never underestimate a substitution." Said boy growled angrily at her and unleashed a flurry of the "Fang over fang." attack some of which actually landed. Then he tried to knock the hyuga off of her feet but the dazed female had enough sense to roll away. By now Hinata was tired, she had been dodging for a good ten minutes when she rolled out of the way. Kiba then decided to go in for the kill, the boy drew a kunai and was intending to try and scare her into surrendering. He looked at her prone form and kneeled by her and said "Just give up."

Hinata's eyes snapped open as she pictured in her mind that her grandfather was there kneeling over her and holding a kunai to her throat. The fire that she felt from when she proclaimed her dream to her teacher and brother lit anew and she grabbed the kunai by the blade and wrenched it out of her friend's hands. Then she stood as a frightened Kiba stood and backed away slightly. Something snapped inside of her as she marched up to the now paralyzed Kiba and proceeded to jump then drive both of her legs into his chest. The blow sent him to the ground and the onslaught continued. An angry Hinata gripped Kiba by the shirt and buried her fist into his face over and over again. The fourth time the proctor decided to call it. "Hinata-san stop the match is yours." She looked up at the adult sharply and backed off as the medics rushed to Kiba's aid. She stared after her friend for a moment before she went to the observation deck.

Hiashi and Hanabi, who were up in the stands looked like fish out of water. Hiashi had no idea that a shy girl would be so fierce. This made him ever so slightly afraid of her, while Hanabi was happy that her sister had gotten out of her shell. Hiashi then noted to keep his father away from her or risk his eldest getting killed by the more traditional man.

In the Hokage look out Naruto smiled from beneath his helmet at his student's display of her will. She had surpassed all expectations of his and more. Moreover she hadn't used chakra so her reserves were fine. 'Let's see what you can do in the next match Hinata.' He thought as Sylvar's voice reached his ear "A very impressive display. From the jaws of defeat to victory." The Kage's save for one nodded in approval at the praise. No one noticed however that the separatists had left in the middle of the match, and were now long gone from the village but the "Presents" that was there had been deposited in a forest.

Hinata sat down on a bench as a genin from Suna congratulated her on the win. She took off her helmet and gave a thankful nod to the blonde girl then was brought out of her musings by her cousin who bowed to her and said "Hinata, please forgive my behavior to you in these past years. It was cruel of me to put you down like I did I'm sorry." The Hyuga boy held his head down in shame as he prepared himself for the bird seals activation but was surprised when Hinata hugged him and said "I forgive you cousin, now get to your match and be safe please." Neji nodded and jumped down to the arena floor to begin his match against a war paint clad puppeteer from Suna.

The two new combatants stared at each other for a moment then the match began and Kankuro, the Suna ninja smirked and unleashed his puppet from his back as Neji activated his Byakugan. The eight limbed thing charged at the Hyuga who dashed towards it and delivered a jukin strike to its abdomen. Much to the shock of nearly everyone 'Kankuro' seized up and fell to the ground, this revealed that at some point Kankuro switched with his puppet and intended to trap the hyuga by poisoning him when he got close enough. The match's length made some sigh in disappointment. Neji then went up to the observation deck and two more combatants went down. This time they were the red headed Gaara and Dosu the genin from sound.

Gaara spoke to his fellow genin "Forfeit, you know you can't beat me." Dosu replied with a charge with his melody arm drawn. Gaara closed his eyes and waited for Dosu to spring his trap. The Genin closed the distance and was intent on making Gaara's head explode via the sound waves in his melody arm, but was stopped in mid-air by Gaara's sand. Gaara looked at his opponent and tried to have him surrender but to no avail. With a sigh Gaara tightened the sand that constricted Dosu's right arm. The boy grunted in pain but stopped when the pressure lessened and the weapon on his arm fell off, Gaara had disarmed him in a nonlethal fashion. Without his weapon Dosu gave up.

Up in the kage box the Kazekage raised an eyebrow at his son, he had put the Shukaku inside of him for the boy to be a weapon for the village to grow stronger, and he didn't count on his wife's survival. This put their marriage on the rocks and she had even handed him divorce papers this morning, thus was why she wasn't here in the box with him. Karura, whom was up in the stands smiled warmly at her son for the victory and the way that he carried it out. The blonde counseled all three of her children as to what a shinobi was.

Flashback

Karura sat on a rock in front of her children after their first C-rank mission. Their father had told them that ruthless efficiency is what made sand shinobi strong but she was determined to rectify that mistake. "Your father is wrong, being nothing but ruthless eats the soul away until you have nothing left but an empty shell. Having mercy on others is what makes a good shinobi, for if you do so you prove that not all of us are mindless, unfeeling monsters." Her three children listened to her and all especially Gaara who took the lesson to heart.

Flashback end

Karura smile increased in size as her daughter was now in the Arena, she had trained her well and she was looking forward to seeing what she could do. Temari faced her opponent the konoichi from Iwa Kurotsuchi. Temari breathed easily before getting into a battle stance, which made her opponent get into one of her own. The arena was now silent, one could hear a pin drop as both fighters glared at each other. At the command to start Temari jumped back and swung her fan. Instead of backing away from the blast Kurotsuchi ran and ducked underneath the wind attack. Thus closing the distance and avoiding being injured. As she came up from the duck the Iwa konoichi threw a kunai which was blocked by Temari via her fan. Temari then folded her fan and brought it down like a club.

Kurotsuchi dodged this and tried to gut her opponent with a Kunai, only for a log to take the blondes place. Temari was now over on the other side of the arena and she charged up her most powerful attack thus far. "Tornado Drop." She shouted and soon the Iwa Konoichi was swept up in a whirlwind and dropped on her back from a great height. The blow knocked the wind out of her and she lay there dazed and dizzy. The woman tried to stand but then the business end of Temari's closed fan was right by her head. "I… surrender." She said with a growl.

The arena cheered for the konoichi before the next match was to be under way that was until "Proctor, I forfeit." Shikamaru Nara said making the crowd boo and for his opponent Date grimace because he was denied a fight. Then the proctor moved onto the next match "Will Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame please enter the arena." Both ninja appeared and faced each other. With the given command Shino unleashed his bugs as Sasuke jumped away. The swarm of insects hovered over him as Sasuke got into his family's interceptor stance. Shino dodged a kick from Sasuke who tried to land a hit on him only for the bug user to continue to dodge his attacks. This went on for about five minutes before the Uchiha began to tire. His movements became sluggish and slow. By now Shino wasn't moving fast, in fact he was moving at a normal pace while Sasuke panted and slowed still. The Uchiha looked tired as he staggered then fell to the ground. Shino spoke to his downed fellow leaf ninja "I would have hoped that you'd be a challenge Sasuke-san." The entire audience was quiet and waited for the explanation of how Shino won. The sunglasses wearing genin spoke again "You rushed me, as you did so I left a few of my bugs on you. They simply ate your chakra to the state you are in now. You cannot get up and fight me for thirty minutes I'd say."

Up in the Kage box Obi-wan smiled as he listened to the praise from the Kage's around him. Then Hiruzen looked at the Jedi and said "A good match master Kenobi?" Obi-wan answered "I find his strategy similar to that of the form Soresu, which wears down the opponent. I am most impressed." The aged kage laughed and returned his attention to the audience. Hiruzen raised his hands and announced "We'll take a five minute intermission then continue with the exams."

The crowd was going to exit the stadium but to their surprise Super battle droids and Battle droids blocked the exits. And Magna guards jumped onto the box, while the bounty hunter Durge was on the roof behind them. Naruto's eyes widened as the Gen'dai aimed a blaster pistol at Padme, he reacted without thinking. He grabbed the senator and pushed her aside as the alien pulled the trigger on his weapon the bolt hit Naruto in the shoulder. Then all hell broke loose. The droids began to fire on the crowd making some of the shinobi attack back. But more and more were coming through the corridors and stare cases.

Obi-wan ignited his lightsaber and blocked the blaster bolts as he ordered Naruto and rex to protect the senators, but two ANBU on orders from the Hokage took Bail and Mon Mothma to the safe havens in the Hokage monument. Naruto grabbed Padme and with their new jetpacks both soldiers went down to the arena floor with the senator. Durge ignored the Jedi and ninja as he jumped down from his perch into the arena. Rex turned to Naruto and he shouted as Hinata and her cousin came and joined the fight. "Naruto, Go!" the blonde nodded and tossed one of his pistols to Hinata who fired at the droids as Neji hit them in the joints hard enough to make their wiring malfunction. Then Naruto picked the senator up and rocketed away in the opposite direction from the bounty hunter with Durge following in close pursuit. Naruto flew away as fast as he could with the senator in his arms, the blonde remembered Durge, the mandalorian boogeyman. His loathing for mandalorians was greater than that of Jedi, the Gen'dai slaughtered many, and Naruto had the unfortunate pleasure of having Cal Skirata tell him a bedtime story involving the deranged killer. Naruto pushed his fear down as he landed in a clearing. The blonde handed a pistol to senator Amidala and said "I'll hold him off, and divert his attention away from you. Link up with any of the leaf shinobi, they'll take you to-"he didn't get to finish his sentence as a metallic voice rang out. "Take her to the bunker on the other side of the monument? What do you think I've been doing all this time, mandalorian trash? Sitting idly by?" Naruto spun to the voice's owner and saw Durge a few meters away.

Durge resumed speaking and said to the Senator "I'm going to make the last few minutes of your existence the most painful you've ever experienced after 'having fun' with you. But first I'll deal with the trash before me." Naruto took off his jet pack and helmet, then he unsheathed his sword and took out his pistol as a red aura swirled around him. Naruto spoke in a voice that wasn't his own "You will not touch her. I won't allow it even if it kills me." Then almost as fast as the Gen'dai himself Naruto pistol whipped the bounty hunter in the face which made his helmet fly off. The alien roared in defiance and grabbed the blonde's wrist and slam him into the ground. Naruto rolled to where he wasn't in a twisted form and slashed Durge in the face with his sword. The Gen'dai roared in pain and tossed the blonde into a tree which was knocked over. Naruto rolled to avoid a tentacle like fist that smashed into the tree and made space in between the two. The blonde fired his pistol to no avail and Durge charged, then he grabbed the human and slammed him into the ground again. But this time Durge heard the smashing of wood and discovered that instead of his prey there was a log. The alien screamed in frustration but closed his eyes soon afterwards. He felt two heart beats and honed in on the sound, he discovered the two humans in a thicket and Durge pounced onto them. Only to hear two pops and discovered that he hit nothing.

Durge was about to scream again only to be impaled by the blonde's sword. Durge rolled with the blow and flung the blonde off of him. Naruto crashed into a tree and was about to recover when he was wrenched into the air by a very angry Gen'dai. Durge spoke again in a menacing tone "You know I was going just kill her, the whole having fun with her was just a bluff, but now that you've really pissed me off. I'm going to make good on that threat, but I won't kill her. She'll be a slave of mine to use and abuse." Naruto opened his eyes and unleashed his most recently learned technique. The blonde focused his chakra and created a swirling ball in his hand and slammed it into the Gen'dai face. The force of the impact knocked Durge off of his feet and made him stumble as he let go of the blonde. Then Naruto retrieved his sword as he whispered "I'll kill you." then something happened that the Gen'dai nor the genjutsu hidden senator understood. Naruto's eyes turned red, his nails lengthened and tore his gloves then the canines followed, and the whisker marks on his cheeks got darker and expanded slightly. The mandalorian got down on all fours and took off at speeds that even the Gen'dai couldn't track. Then Durge was flung back into a thicket as his attacker clawed at him with his free hands. The bounty hunter punched him off of his body and attempted to suffocate the blonde by enveloping him into his body. Only for the blond to claw his way out of him and proceed to try and claw the gen'dai's eyes out.

Naruto stood up, covered in his opponents fluids and raised a fist at the now shredded and nearly unrecognizable Durge. But Padme put a stop to his rampage. "Stop." She shouted and ran out of the Genjutsu field much to the shock of Kurenai who had shunshined to their location and up until that point was the bodyguard of Padme. The brunette hugged the blonde from behind and whispered "Please stop Naruto, he's beaten." Naruto looked at her in a shocked expression then after a few moments gained control of himself, and the changes that he had faded away. Naruto looked back to Durge and said "Get off this planet, now." The Gen'dai nodded and let the blonde turn before forcing his tendrils forward in an effort to impale the blonde and his charge only to have an older human push the two out of the way and take the blow. Durge blinked in surprise as his healing factor regenerated him and he slinked away unnoticed due to Naruto holding his fatally wounded father in his arms as he yelled for a medic.

In the stadium

Rex fired his blasters into the droids as they were now in the stadium floor, they blasted the civilians to shreds and were now working on the shinobi. The clone ducked under an electro staff and was about to shoot the droid in the face but it was enveloped in sand and crushed. Rex looked at the owner of said sand and nodded at the red head before turning his attention back to the fight and blasted a few more battle droids. Rex rolled on instinct when he heard Karura's voice shout a jutsu name "Wind scythe jutsu." Then he watched in astonishment as the droids were thrown into the arena wall and upon impact they smashed apart. Karura stared at him before grinning then she got back to work and used the fan as a club to knock droids off their feet and Rex followed her and blasted them into scrap.

Hinata was separated from her cousin and was now with her friend and crush Date who was in his family's samurai armor. The genin hacked and slashed at the droids that were in his path as she shot the droids that were aiming for him. In the end both of them were covered in droid lubricating fluid as Date gave her a smile. Hinata smiled back, then took a chance by grabbing him by the breastplate and crashing her lips to his. The two genin stayed like that for a moment before they felt eyes on them and blushed but were brought out of their victory by the Jedi tensing then jumping away.

The Jedi on the upper balcony had just mopped of the few remaining battle droids left when they felt a disturbance in the force. The two Jedi turned and saw that the droids were gone and leapt as fast as they could in the direction of the source. Sylvar and Obi-wan reached a clearing where Naruto was holding his now dead father.

Two hours later

Naruto stood in the rain as thousands of people gathered at his father's funeral. Each Genin laid down white roses on his casket. Naruto stared at it in an attempt to possibly go back and redo the fight with Durge. The blonde balled up his fists as he blamed himself for getting off track and not being situationaly aware. Rav saw this and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, Naruto looked at her and nodded. The blonde indicated that he wasn't going to cry, at least not here. The funeral progressed for forty five minutes and Minato's friends shared stories about him, and his enemies showed their respect to him, well most anyway. Naruto really wanted to tear Onoki a new one for bad mouthing his father at his own funeral, but he restrained himself. That was until after the funeral, as the former ANBU Kakashi Hatake, gave him information on a traitor within the leaf village. "Mibuki Haruno was caught walking towards the stadium right before the attack started, we found a holo recording and a message from a count Dooku. As well as a large sum of credits. she even admitted to casting a large Genjutsu to cover for the droids." He said as he stood beside the blonde. Naruto nodded in acceptance of this information. He turned to leave but was stopped by the silver haired man. "Naruto, I have a copy of the key to her cell if you want it." Naruto shook his head at the offer, he was above revenge killing. "It wouldn't bring him back." He said quietly as he left for the suite. Naruto reached it and went to his room, he entered it and changed out of his armor. Then he proceeded to weep periodically throughout the night.

The next day

The five Kage summit began early in the morning, and continued throughout the day with the five kage's going back and forth on the agreement. Four Kage's had extolled the professionalism of the senators who had insulted no one, thus far at least and had voted to join the republic. The Tsuchikage had threatened war but was cowed by political pressure. Now the subject was on the issue of a Senator. "Hiruzen mused "Now whom to send, Tsunade for all of her negotiating abilities, isn't qualified because of her drinking." The Kazekage made a move by saying "My ex-wife should be the senator, she isn't attached to the sand village any more. She handed her headband to me this morning." The Kage's mulled it over but each save for the Hokage nominated their own choice. Hiruzen now had the cards in his lap and now had the leverage to vote for anyone of the choices thus resulting in an argument, or even a deadlock if he nominated his own. "Mizukage-san, Tsuchikage-san, and Raikage-san. Did you know that the Suna konoichi that Kazekage-san here is speaking of wrote the treaty to end the third shinobi war?" he asked and got the expected result; surprised looks. He remembered the treaty well, it outlined fair borders for patrol operations and no sanctions against former enemies. Fair all around, and none could argue with that. Hiruzen leaned back in his chair as he gave his answer "I vote for Karura-san to be our senator." The Republic envoy including Naruto who had composed himself waited to hear the verdict. The doors to the meeting room opened and Hiruzen stepped out with Karura who bowed to them as the Hokage said "Senators, meet the senator of Ninjato Miss Sabaku no Karura." Padme smiled warmly as they had a lot to discuss and she and the two others entered the meeting room to start with the arrangements and paper signing. Outside Obi-wan sighed in relief this prompted Sylvar to ask "Obi-wan, are you ok?" the Jedi master nodded and replied "I'm just happy that the meeting didn't end in a five way tie."

Three hours later most of everyone was set to leave the senators and the soldiers got onto the boarding ramp after the Hyuga clan had checked for bombs. The senators then boarded while Naruto looked back to Hinata who said "Ba'buir Rav will be taking me and my cousin to Mandalore for our safety. Since Master Jiraiya removed the caged Bird seal from Neji-nisan things have been tense." Naruto nodded with a smile but asked "What about your dream to unite the Hyuga clan?" Hinata grinned and said "Hanabi will take care of that while I'm gone." Naruto chuckled as he gave her a hug and said "You take care of yourself Adiik." The bluenette nodded and replied "And you Ori'vod." Then he boarded the ship and it blasted off into orbit. Naruto reached the crew quarters and sat down in a chair as Rex followed him. The captain sat down opposite of him and saw his brother's sullen expression. Rex asked "How are you holding up?" Naruto breathed deeply and replied "All and all, I'm ok. Time to keep moving you know? Jiraiya handed me a scroll with his techniques in it and his jacket, so I'll have a piece of him." Rex nodded and both then settled in and mentally prepared for this war to get a whole lot tougher.

A/N Ba'buir means grandmother, Ori'vod mean older brother and Adiik means kid. All of which was created by Karen Travess. Please review and tell me how I did I like hearing from all of you.