Chapter 31: Chunin Exams (3): Hyuga VS. Hyuga
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
Woooosh— thud. thud. thud.
The blue sky turns ash grey as clouds of gloom creep over and block the yellow sun. The forest was free from the chirping of birds and the crawling of insects, its tranquility only destroyed by three figures madly hopping from tree branch to tree branch
The figures leave behind a blurry shadow, leaves dancing where they land.
The trio kept jumping for another ten breaths before one of them opened their mouth. He was the one at the back of the group, watching silently as his teammates hop from tree to tree with rigid faces.
"Ken. Akemi. Why don't we follow behind Konoha's team?"
Hiroko suggested, anticipating the shaking heads of his teammates. The suggestion was wrong no matter from which angle you look at it. The two teams splitting up was the best choice, as it forces the enemy to pick one team.
And judging from the events, the enemy was likely to pursue Konoha's team.
The issue was, that logic wouldn't work on someone like Orochimaru.
As expected, Ken and Akemi looked at him with weird expressions. "No… ah, Hiroko!"
Hiroko already knows that Ken and Akemi would refuse, so he didn't bother waiting for their reply before turning around and chasing after team seven's group.
Team Seven was in a similar dilemma as team Hiroko. The only difference was they didn't have the freedom of choice.
"Sasuke, I think that man from the land of grass followed us," Benjiro said, his face turning a little white.
Sasuke's and Sakura's faces were the same, turning into sheets of paper. Sakura kept her mouth shut, but Sasuke didn't have the same patience and cursed loudly, "What bad luck! Why is he targeting us, anyway?!"
Sakura's eyes turned a little dim at Sasuke's doubts, and she stared at Sasuke's eyes before turning away. Then, she suggested, "Let's stick close to the tower at the center of the forest. That way, he'll hesitate whether to attack us."
Hearing her, Benjiro lifted his chin in thought before nodding, "It's a good idea. What do you think?"
"Okay, let's go to the tower!"
Sasuke had no better idea, so he agreed. But when they were about to change direction and head to the tower, a person emerged from the ground, tackling the surprised Sasuke in a flash.
"UGH!"
"My, my. Naughty genins trying to make trouble. If I didn't come fast enough, the fish would've slipped through the net," the man chuckled while looking at the struggling black-haired genin beneath him.
"Tsk, damn it," Benjiro spat, "Are you Orochimaru?!"
Seeing his teammate being restrained on the ground, Benjiro barely pulled the brakes, silently taking out four kunai, two in each hand. Sakura did the same, but she only took out one kunai and gripped it tightly with her right hand.
She was learning medical ninjutsu, so her priority wasn't to fight, but rather to heal any of her teammates should they get hurt.
"No, of course not. Why would you believe some random words that a genin throws…?"
WOOOOOSH—!
The tall genin tilted his head to the side, avoiding the chakra-infused kunai by a hair's width. He turned around, looking at the newly arrived genin.
"Orochimaru! I'm your fan, can you sign my book? I'd prefer it if you signed with your blood."
It was Hiroko. He had a wide grin on his face, one of his arms leisurely held his waist, while the other was holding a small, orange book.
It was his teammate's book, and Orochimaru could recognize it any day of the week.
"This is Jiraiya's book, and although I'm not allowed to read it, I still want you to sign the book. Please?"
Hearing the cutesy tone, and the puppy eyes of the brown-haired boy who threw a kunai at his head, Orochimaru's brow and lips twitched, his nerves sounding an audible pop.
'Damn this brat, I remember him! He's the one who put me in a damned genjutsu!'
"Fu-fu-fu... no wonder. No wonder!"
'No wonder he can recognize me!'
Orochimaru cackled. His laugh froze the genins, and it would've startled any nearby birds and animals if they hadn't fled already.
"Hiroko, is he really Orochimaru?"
Behind Hiroko, Ken asked, but before Hiroko could answer, Orochimaru chuckled. "So is that it? You're a spy?"
"I'm what now? I'm not a spy! I'm a genin."
Hiroko yelled with a tick mark on his head, but Orochimaru remained silent.
'The land of hot water's team must be spying on konoha. No wonder Hiroko could put me in a genjutsu back then. The land of hot water was prepared under the circumstances that the spy is caught, so after brashly stealing documents from Danzo, Hiroko left to inform the land of hot waters.'
Orochimaru believed that Hiroko's act of blowing up Danzo's base wasn't on a whim. Back then, he was puzzled by Hiroko's actions, but now the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.
'But what is the land of hot waters planning to do? What do they get from spying on konoha? Aren't they allied with konoha?'
But no matter how much Orochimaru racked his brain, he couldn't find the real reason. Because he was searching in the wrong places!
"Ken, Hiroko, Akemi, how about we team up?"
Benjiro suggested while Orochimaru was busy laughing hysterically. Their enemy was strong, even if he wasn't really Orochimaru. If he was, then there's no need to think about it, they would die, but if he wasn't, then they could team up to defeat the man.
"Sure," came Ken's response. He thought along the lines of Benjiro's logic.
When Orochimaru calmed down, he saw six genins surrounding him. Five had stern faces like they were made from stone statues, while one looked as if he was leisurely strolling around a garden.
"A bunch of genin teaming up in the chunin exams, how odd," Orochimaru mused.
'There's no need to stay here. This is my original body, and that boy Hiroko might still have that genjutsu sealing formula on him. After marking Sasuke, I should leave as soon as possible.'
"Summoning Jutsu!"
POOF!
HIIISSS—!
In front of the six genin, a giant python thicker than trees appeared in a puff of smoke, glaring at them with gluttonous desires.
Woooooo—BANG!
The giant python strikes, its head opening widely to show off its razor-sharp teeth and scarlet mouth. To avoid being turned into a puddle of blood and flesh, the genins had no choice but to jump away.
"ARGH!"
POOF!
When a pained shout echoed in the forest, the giant python vanished along with the tall man. They came and went like the wind, the genins couldn't react at all!
"Sasuke!"
When the smoke cleared, Benjiro's heart stopped when he saw a black-haired boy lying on the ground, unconscious. Obviously, team Hiroko saw this as well, making them look at each other.
"Do… you guys have an extra earth scroll?"
Team Hiroko went separate ways with team seven. The latter didn't have a single scroll, and they were a genin down, staying there was killing rabbits without eating them.
Instead, Ken used his amazing tracking skills to locate a random genin team from the land of sound, who had an earth scroll. Ken and Akemi spared the team, but Hiroko had other plans. The sound team was ruthless and bloodthirsty, completely in contrast to the land of hot water.
Hiroko fears that the land of sound will be as unreasonable as they are ruthless, and it was better to nip in the bud before the flower blooms.
Because of an extra heaven scroll, when team Hiroko reached the tower, Hiroko placed the extra scroll in front of the gates, intending to kill the genins with frustration when they learn that a free scroll was waiting for them all along.
When team Hiroko entered the tower, they realized that two teams had already passed. Team Eight, and the sand team. Team Hiroko collectively ignored the latter and went to chat with the former.
The next day, team seven and team ten reached the tower with both scrolls. When they saw the extra scroll waiting for them, they couldn't not curse. Especially Shikamaru and Team seven. Both teams started with the earth scroll, so if they just headed straight to the tower, they would've gotten the scroll they needed.
On the other hand, team seven had nothing after Orochimaru's attack, so they had the urge to strangle the person who left the extra scroll in front of the gates. It was like being forced to dig out dirt by hand, only to realize that there was a shovel waiting for you in front of your house.
After much self-control, both teams decided to leave the scroll be.
On the fourth day, two genin teams coincidentally arrived at the same time, both missing the earth and heaven scrolls respectively. They fought like wild cats when the team missing a heaven scroll picked up the free scroll. The team missing the earth scroll's logic was to steal the earth scroll from the other team.
In the end, both teams had to give up because one or two of their teammates were severely injured and they couldn't proceed with the exams.
By the time the fifth day ended, only six teams were left. There was the sand team, Hiroko's team, and teams three, seven, eight, and ten, bringing a total of 18 genins.
After the hokage gave his speech and the proctor, Hayate, gave the genins their number and the screen flashed, randomly picking the matches.
"Neji Hyuga VS. Hinata Hyuga"
"Sasuke Uchiha VS. Ken Sato"
"Sakura Haruno VS. Ino Yamanaka"
"Akemi Yamada VS. Tenten"
"Choji Akimichi VS. Temari"
"Gaara VS. Rock Lee"
"Kiba Inuzuka VS. Benjiro Suzuki"
"Shikamaru Nara VS Kankuro."
"Shino Aburame VS. Hiroko Uchiyama"
"Neji Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga, please stay. The rest will go to the balcony."
On the ground, Neji Hyuga and Neji Hinata faced each other, their eyes slowly activating.
"Hinata, you pitiful weakling. Even though fate has decided that you are the shame of the Hyuga clan, you tried to fight against it. Today, I'll show you that no matter how hard you fight against fate, fate will always win."
"Cousin… I, Hinata Hyuga, will show you that no one is bound by their fate! No matter how small or insignificant, I'll prove to you that everyone is capable of changing their fate."
"Hmph."
Seeing the two Hyuga get into their fighting stance, Hayate jumped away.
"BEGIN!"
As soon as Hayate jumped away, both Hinata and Neji charged at each other, locking in a precarious taijutsu battle. One wrong move and the match is over.
Pang!
Pang!
Neji was wide-eyed, glaring at Hinata.
Their skills were actually nearly equal!
'This can't go on.'
Neji thought and concentrated, the veins around his eyes bulging and pulsating with chakra.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Seeing Neji about to use a dangerous technique, Hinata didn't dare dilly dally and began spinning.
"Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"
"Chet!"
Seeing the spinning chakra dome around Hinata, Neji canceled his attack.
If he remained stubborn and kept using it, his poor fingers would be no more.
Neji patiently waited for the chakra dome to dissipate before charging toward Hinata, only to jump away again when Hinata repeated the technique.
"How shrewd!"
Neji scowled, but he was slightly shocked that Hinata could perform the palm rotation consecutively. You must know, the palm rotation places a heavy burden on the body, so it shouldn't be done wantonly unless the person can smoothly open and close their chakra points.
'But there's no way, right?'
Neji refused to believe that Hinata's chakra control was above his.
"It's my turn, cousin. Gentle Fist: Eight Trigram Sixty-four Palms!"
Neji flinched when he saw Hinata's figure appear in front of him.
'So fast!'
"Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"
Despite his shock, Neji is still worthy of his genius title. He reacted in a moment, forcing Hinata to retreat in the same way he did, but Neji wasn't happy.
'She'll attack me immediately after my palm rotation is over. Then, I can only face her directly!'
Just before his body stopped spinning, Neji prepared himself to launch the sixty-four palms.
As expected, Hinata charged at him with the same technique the moment he stopped his rotation.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigram Sixty-four Palms!"
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigram Sixty-four Palms!"
The two Hyuga said in unison, but instead of attacking their opponent's chakra points, they focused on parrying each other's hands like a twisted game of tag. Because they were defending instead of attacking, their technique progressed slowly, wasting more chakra in the process.
One minute later, both Hyuga jumped away from each other. Neji was exhausted, but he was able to force himself to stand. Likewise, Hinata was tired, but she was a little better off than Neji.
Her bloodline was still superior to Neji, who came from the branch family, so no matter how talented Neji was, her chakra volume would remain higher than Neji, and it was proving to be true.
"One more!"
Neji realized the problem and yelled. He wasn't blind, he knows he will lose if things didn't change.
'If it comes to this… then I'll use that!'
Hinata didn't disappoint him and galloped forward, restarting the sixty-four palms.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigram Sixty-four Palms!"
Hinata yelled, preparing to strike at Neji's chakra points when the latter furrowed his brow, the veins on his forehead popping, and his teeth tightly clamped.
"Gentle Fist: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"
Neji yelled, startling Hinata, but she was too far in to retreat. Instead, she started focusing on her eyes.
Neji has yet to perfect the technique, and Hinata has yet to even try it, but it was now or never.
Hinata said through gritted teeth, "Gentle Fist: One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!"
End Banner has something to say: The Rewritten Chapters 1 to 9 are here! You can check them out by simply rereading the first nine chapters of the story. More rewritten chapters in the future, enjoy!
If you want to read more chapters in advance (up to chapter 41) and influence the story, you can check out my Pátreón!
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