DOUBLE UPDATE: yay, I actually did it! To be honest Easter turned out to be much more troublesome then I first thought and I had doubts if I'll manage to finish the second chappie. But in the end everything turned out okay and here I am, bring you another double update of "Naruto: Next Generation"! Sorry it didn't get uploaded on Friday (both chapters were done by then), but FF seems to screwed up a bit and I couldn't upload the documents until now.
However, on the other hand, there's also some badder news: my first exam's this Tuesday and I need to sit down to my writing works for collage, so there's a possibility (I'm not saying that it will happen, but just in case I want you guys to be prepared) that there may not be an update next week. I'll do my best to finish chapter 77 till next Friday, but can't promise a thing here.
As always I wanna thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter and hope that you'll review these two as well. I do hope that at least few will decide to review both 75th and 76th. New reviewers are always welcomed. And without further to do, lets get down to the arena:
Chapter #75: Blood of the Hyuuga
Title Page: out front Kumiko is standing in an Arabian female dress and a little in the back Hitomi stands with a similar dress on
"Home already?" Tenten asked with a smile as Neji slowly walked into the kitchen, where the weapon mistress was preparing lunch. She turned around and kissed the Hyuuga genius on the lips before returning to cooking the meal.
"Yes" the man replied simply, smiling back. "For the time being I'm done, however I'm afraid that in the near future, I'll have more work then before" and the instant he said so, a worried expression crossed his wife's face. Immediately she shook it off and then changed the subject:
"You know the eliminations have already started? I've seen the teams that made it out of the forest safely. Hitomi was among them" and with that she smiled widely, proud of her child. The white-eyed man only nodded and after a moment of silence, he replied: "I've expected nothing less from her… after all she is the first of the Hyuuga…"
"First of the Hyuuga?" Tenten repeated, a little confused.
"Back when I told her that, she made a promise to me" Neji continued, almost as if he ignored her question. "She declared that she'll prove that it was a wise decision to combine the two families… since she's the first Hyuuga born into the Branch family, rid of the cursed seal, she made an oath that she won't lose to no-one in order to show that whether it's Branch or Main family, it makes no difference… that is why I knew she'll make it out of the forest… and that is why I know she'll also make it through the eliminations…"
---Back to the eliminations---
As the ice spikes came straight at her, Hitomi only shut her eyes, opening them an instant later with chakra suddenly bursting out from both her hands and legs, shattering the ice around it. She dropped to the floor and crawled down as the spikes shoot at the place she was imprisoned just a moment earlier, going over her head.
Immediately the white-eyed girl hit the spikes with her finger tips, making the break and as the shattered, ice pieces came falling to the ground, Hitomi began spinning, emitting chakra from her entire body. In a flash the ice pieces stopped at the sphere that surrounded her and the second she yelled 'Hakke Shou Kaiten' they got blown away, heading straight at the surprised Aisu.
The snow-nin only managed to cover her face from the small icicles as her own ice cut her body. The instant the storm was over, Aisu lowered her hands in order to see what was going on, but her opponent was already standing behind her, bended forward in a stance Hinata immediately recognized.
"Jyuken po Hakke! Rokujuyonsho!" the young Hyuuga called out before her hands shoot straight at Aisu at such a speed the snow-nin didn't even manage to form a block. "Hakke Nisho!" Hitomi's voice hit her ears as she felt two, sudden hits reached her body, instantly closing her tanketsu points.
Less then a split second later four more hits connected as the speed of her adversary's attack increased, making it impossible to even follow the white-eyed girl's hands with her eyes: "Yonsho! Hassho! Jurokusho! Sanjunisho! Rokujuyonsho!" and with the last call Aisu got blasted away, falling onto her back several meters away from Hitomi.
"I guess I should've told you before" began the young Hyuuga as she stood above her fallen opponent. "It's not just my hands, I can release chakra from any opening in my body. And when it comes to yours: I just closed every, single one of your tanketsu points. You can get up and try to continue, however you won't manage to perform any technique…" and the instant she said so, Aisu seemed to lose consciousness.
Lee walked closer to the two and after a short examination, she announced loudly: "Winner: Hyuuga Hitomi!" The white-eyed girl only placed her hands in her pockets and slowly headed back to the platform while the medics took Aisu away.
"So that Leaf girl didn't used this whole Kaiten thing before on purpose" Karame concluded as he thought to himself. "She wanted that snow-nin to get confident and lower her guard. Then she attacked with full force once she saw an opening. And above all, she managed to avoid all those icicles from before… that white-eye will certainly be hard to beat…"
"Nice job, Hitomi-san!" Taki yelled cheerfully as she patted her teammate on the back once the white-eyed girl returned to them. Funbo merely gazed at her and with a simple: "Yeah, it was okay" he got back to looking at the screen. Shino simply nodded to his student as the young Hyuuga glanced at him and returning the nod, she got back to her spot from before the match.
"Boy, just the thought of facing her in the final exam gives me the creeps" announced Kogane as she shivered slightly. "With such skills she could probably take most of us down on her own" but at that instant an event from few days before flashed in her mind: "But it's still nothing compared to that shadow-nin from the forest…"
"It's hard for me to admit, but in actuality you're right" Kumiko agreed with the blonde kunoichi as she set her eyes on the young Hyuuga. Takaru merely narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. Meanwhile Lee broke the tension, gaining everyone's attention, as he announced: "Lets move on to another, elimination fight!"
Immediately Kusari's eyes turn to the screen, where the names began changing at an incredible speed. And then, all of a sudden, two names were revealed. Takai merely narrowed his eyes at the sight and then glanced over at Sabure and her team, noticing what the screen read: DEKAI versus KASANO YOUJI.
"Finally" the Sand swordsman let out a relief as he propped his foot on the rail, ready to jump down, but just then he received a pat on the back. As he looked back surprised, he realized the one who did it, was Sabure: "Good luck, Dekai-kun!" the redhead girl gave him a thumbs up, making the boy's eyes widen slightly.
"Great, she switched again" Horamaru sighed disappointed, but said nothing. She glanced over to Kankuro, yet the puppeteer only shook his head as the sign that he shouldn't do a thing. Dekai merely nodded to Kazekage's daughter and then jumped down onto the arena, where his opponent, a Rain kunoichi who carried three umbrellas on her back: two wooden and one metal.
"Do your best Youji-chan!" Nazaa yelled from the platform with his nose and cheeks a little red. Lee instantly recognized that look: the redheaded boy was a little drunk. Ryo only narrowed his eyes behind his glasses as a tiny smile appeared on his face. "This might be interesting" was his only thought as he threw Tsuino a quick glance and then returned to observing his female teammate.
Seeing who the next pair was, Kitsune gave Toku a worried expression, yet the blonde didn't seem to make anything of the next fight and just stood there with his arms crossed, just like before.
"Twenty match: Dekai from Suna against Kasano Youji from Ame!" Lee announced, raising his hand up. "Ready and… BEGIN!" and the instant he said so the sand-nin picked out his huge sword, while the kunoichi threw her two, wooden umbrellas into the sky.
"Ninpou: Jouro Senbon!" Youji called out and instantly hundreds of senbon shoot from her umbrellas, each heading straight at Dekai, who merely smirked and then began spinning his katana above his head, creating a small tornado that caught all the incoming needles and blew them away to his opponent's surprise.
As the umbrellas landed back in Youji's hands, she pointed the tips of them at the sand-nin and in a flash their hats got blasted away, turning into even more senbon, leaving the Rain kunoichi with only two sticks in her hands.
Dekai still didn't made much of it and simply raised his sword up, to bring it down with its blade forward. As the katana speed up, wind embraced its blade and upon hitting the floor, the crush lifted up rocks that covered the swordsman, making all the senbon hit the stones. The kunoichi only clenched her teeth while throwing her sticks away and reached for her final umbrella.
"What is going on?" Kai asked confused, glancing at his companions. "That Sand guy just moves his sword around and all of a sudden wind currents change? What's that all about?" Hari merely smirked before cutting in: "What surprises you so much? Suna is known for rising many, talented wind users…"
"Yeah, but that guy ain't forming any hand seals!" Tsume noticed, pointing at Dekai. "How can he use an elemental ninjutsu without seals?" but at this point Reiji burst into laughter and as most of the Leaf gennin turn towards him, the bald shinobi responded: "You guys are really clueless! That Sand guys isn't using ninjutsu at all!"
"He's not?" repeated Hanamaru, as confused as Kai. Ibuki only narrowed her eyes and without looking at her companions, she replied: "It's his sword. Its handle is built in a way that any chakra that sand-nin gathers in his hand immediately gets absorb by it and gets stored in it…"
"Okay" Kai responded slowly. "So what?"
"Every time you swing the sword, its blade creates weak wind currents" the weapon mistress began explaining calmly, still not taking her eyes of the match. "The chakra that this guys stored in the handle, accordingly to his command, can suddenly charge the katana's blade. With its surface covered in chakra, the blade can make the wind currents it creates with a swing stronger then they'd normally be…"
"I still have no idea what you guys are talking about" stated Kai, still clueless.
"Maybe an example will help" Hizoku cut in, gaining the blonde's attention. "Back then, that Sand guy spun his sword above his head and a small tornado got created. Normally if someone does that, he can create a very weak, circling wind above his head, yet with the blade covered in chakra, this whole Dekai fellow managed to make the currents strong enough to form a small tornado…"
"So it's like that metal-nin who fought Hanamaru-kun?" Mikka asked shyly, but the one to answer her was Akira: "Not quite. In that bald guy's case, he send his chakra into the air, creating wind slashes, but was incapable of controlling wind. That sand-nin is somewhat the other way around: he's capable to bend wind according to his will, however he can't make real damage from the distance…"
"Does it really matter how it works?" asked Aoru calmly with an emotionless face. "The important thing is that it works" and the instant she said so, everyone got back to observing the match bellow.
"Boy, those brats sure get excited over nothing" Dekai stated with a smirk. "I haven't even gone all out yet" and as he said so, Youji smiled as well: "Neither did I…"
"Well then, lets show those brats how this should be done" the sand-nin purposed and instantly charged forward, dragging his katana behind him.
---swords and umbrellas… the battle goes on---
And so this chapter is concluded, but don't go anywhere, coz the next one is already on it's way! But before that, a quick look at the jutsu encyclopedia and an updated list of gennin (noticed that with all the snow-nins defeated, Yuki team is not even written down anymore):
Ninpou: Jouro Senbon (Ninja Art: Raining Needles) – technique used by rain-nins. It comes from the manga, so there's not much for me to say here. You probably know about it just as much as I do.
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4: Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Hatake Senkou, Kobushi Galu
Konoha: Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1: Aoru, Torune, Honemaru, Tarakudo, Takai
Suna #2: Sabaku no Sabure, Hari, Dekai (in progress), Horamaru, Karame
Kusa:Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Ame: Kasano Youji (in progress), Eshaku Ryo, Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu: Azarashi Kawa, Abura Tetsu, Makko Shita
Tsuki:Junsei Teela, Tenka, Kihako Tasuki
Hane:Ono Reiji, Sentou
Kumori: Kyuu