"Normal Speech"
'Normal thoughts'
"Bijuu cloak speech"
*sound effects*
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
This chapter has several flashbacks in it kind of bounces around but it is intentional. I hope you at least get the idea I was trying to convey. I know I might get some flack for it but I hope most of you enjoy it regardless.
Also, you can imagine Naruto being 12 or 16. Either one works since I didn't give their ages in the present
Chapter: it all led to this
Sounds of cheering could be heard throughout the entire village as most of the denizens were gathered in one location.
It was the finals of the chunin exams and citizens from Konoha, Suna, Oto, and a few others that had chunin hopefuls, were there watching as the two combatants made their way to the center of the arena.
This is where it all led up to.
Up in the audience was a specific group of individuals watching with just as much enthusiasm. However, they had more in-depth thoughts on this fight.
Sakura was looking down at the combatants with a thoughtful look. "Hey, Ino, what do you think about this match? I mean, I know my teammate's abilities and know the best bet to go with but you never know."
Ino huffed as she shook her head and crossed her arms. "I don't know. I don't know either of their skills since neither of them are on my team. You have a better idea than I do."
Hinata raised a hand to get everyone's attention. "We shouldn't doubt either of them. Both have a chance in this match."
Sasuke scoffed as he put his hands in his pockets. "Please, the match can only go one way."
Shikamaru sighed as he didn't want to agree with the Uchiha but with everything he knew, he could do nothing but agree. "I hate to say it, but Sasuke is right. With everything we know…."
Kiba smirked as he crossed his arms and looked at the two in the arena. "He doesn't stand a chance."
~elsewhere in the stadium~
The Senseis of the genin teams were having their own discussion about the upcoming match.
Asuma took out a cigarette and put it in between his lips only to find it swiped away by Kurenai as she glared at him. He gave a simple chuckle before he looked at Kakashi. "So, what are your thoughts about this match? That is your student down there."
Kakashi looked at the bearded man before shrugging. "I taught as best I could with what I knew was within limits. Though I have to admit that progress was exceptionally fast. Though, it shouldn't be surprising."
"YOSH! THE FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY! We should make sure our faith in them can be heard all the way from Iwa!"
The other senseis couldn't help but sigh in exasperation at Guy's usual exuberance.
Kurenai looked back down and hummed in thought. "I do have my concerns since I don't know of any training done by them but from what I know, your student should be fine, Kakashi."
Kakashi nodded. "I'm not worried."
Asuma shrugged before saying. "Let's just see how this fight goes. You never know what could happen."
~arena floor~
Genma chewed on the senbon in his mouth as he looked around at the audience. 'Sheesh, all of them are about to tear themselves apart with all the excitement. And they aren't even the combatants' he sighed as chose to move things along before a fight started outside the arena. Channeling chakra into his throat, he spoke with an amplified voice. "ALRIGHT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WE WILL BEGIN THE SEMI-FINAL MATCH OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS." He allowed the crowd to cheer for the one they were excited for before he continued. "AND NOW, WE WILL HAVE THE MATCH BETWEEN NARUTO AND NARUKO NAMIKAZE!"
In front of Genma were two genin facing each other, ready to begin this fight.
Naruto was a boy that had spiky blonde hair, ocean blue eyes, and three whisker marks on each side of his cheeks. He was wearing a black form-fitting turtleneck shirt that had no sleeve on the left arm while the right arm only went halfway down his bicep. Around his waist was a burnt orange sash being used as a belt of his dark blue Anbu-style pants. Around his ankles were white tape, keeping the hem of the pants tight on his legs and he wore black shinobi boots. His kunai pouch was strapped tight around his right thigh and he had his weapons pouch clipped to the back of his hip. He had tight-fitting fingerless gloves that had metal plates on the top of his hand and wrist. The final piece he had was a Konoha headband with black cloth around his head.
Naruko was a girl of the same age as Naruto with hair the same color but was long enough to reach her legs when tied up. She had the same color eyes and the same whisker marks as Naruto. She was wearing a tight black tank top that showed off her figure and midriff with a high collar orange jacket that had white trim and seams that stopped just an inch below her tank top. The jacket was open as only the top button was clipped giving it a flipped V opening. For her lower half, she wore an orange short skirt that was held up with a black belt that had a Konoha symbol on the buckle. Underneath the skirt, she wore black biker shorts that reached halfway down her thighs. For footwear, she had black Anbu-style shinobi boots that had metal plating over her leg and the top of her foot. Around her forehead was her Konoha headband that had blue cloth. She had her hair set up in a high ponytail instead of her usual pigtails and she had two bangs framing her face. Her weapons pouch was clipped to the back of her skirt and her kunai pouch was tied to her right thigh.
Genma was looking at the two and could see the tension between them. He raised his arm in the air as he called the beginning of the match. "ALRIGHT, LET THE MATCH BEGIN!" He jumped back towards the wall so he could stay out of the way of the fight. 'Let's see how long this takes.'
The two stood there for a minute before the female of the two spoke.
"Naruto, forfeit the match. We both know you can't beat me." She looked right into his eyes as she gave her plea.
Naruto only stared back at her as he lowered himself into a stance. "Why would I ever throw a match? Why should I throw the match?"
Naruko scowled at him for his response. "Damnit, Naruto, this isn't a joke! You know full well that if we fight, all that will happen is that you will be humiliated!"
Naruto sneered at her. "Is it humiliating to fight with everything you have? Is it humiliating to die fighting? Shinobi die all the time on missions. Whether because they ran into someone stronger than them, more skilled than them, or because they throw their lives for the mission or for someone else. Tell me, Naruko, is that HUMILIATING!?" He reached into his weapons pouch before throwing six shurikens at her.
Naruko scowled as she pulled out a kunai and deflected the shuriken before she charged at Naruto.
Naruto met the charge as he pulled out his own kunai. He swung upward to deflect her kunai and throw her off-balance before he did a horizontal slash at her.
She bent back with her off-balanced stance and avoided the slash. She back-cartwheeled a few times before pushing off the ground and backflipped. Once she landed, she reached into her weapons pouch, wrapped a tag around the handle, and threw her kunai at Naruto
Naruto deflected the kunai but his eyes caught sight of the tag that lit up. He was able to leap back as it went off but was slightly relieved to see it wasn't an explosive tag, but a seal tag used as a smoke bomb
Naruko watched as the kunai exploded before she ran into the smoke where she knew Naruto to be. But she was surprised when Naruto met her earlier than she thought and felt a kick to her stomach. The kick had some strength behind it but not enough to stun her. She grabbed the leg before she spun around and threw him behind her.
Naruto flipped in the air and landed in a crouch as he dug his kunai into the ground to slow his momentum. He looked up at Naruko and growled. "Still looking down at me."
Naruko stiffened at the words. She was holding back but she was doing it for a reason.
She didn't want to hurt him.
Naruto got up and stared at Naruko. "Am I not worth your time either?"
Naruko winced at those words. "Naruto, it's not like…"
"LIKE HELL IT ISN'T!" With impressive speed, he charged at Naruko and punched her in the face, sending her flying. "What would you call how you acted around me for years, huh?"
~flashback~
A 5-year-old Naruto was running through the house as he was looking for Naruko since he wanted to train with her. He heard that Naruko was starting her training and was excited to join her so they could both be great shinobi.
The problem was that he couldn't find any trace of her. He checked her room, the kitchen, the dining room, the front yard, and the backyard, but there was no sign she was there.
He tilted his head at that as the house was empty. He wondered where she could be but figured that she went out shopping. Figuring that they could start when she came back, he chose to sit down and wait for her.
It had been a few hours till he heard her coming back and he hopped up off the couch to meet her at the door. Though when he saw her come through the door, he frowned as he saw that she was walking tiredly and with some scuffs on her. "Naruko, are you ok?"
Naruko looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't know training would be this tough."
Naruto gained a look of slight shock. "Training? But I thought that we were going to train together."
Naruko shrugged as she walked into the house. "I was told that you weren't ready for this training."
Naruto moved to help her as she was wobbly on her feet.
Naruko nodded to him as they made their way to the couch.
It was then that a man came into the room. He moved over to stand next to the couch and spoke. "You did well in your training, Naruko. We will continue it next time."
Naruto looked up at the man and asked with excitement. "What did you start with? Do I start with the same training or are you going to teach me something different?"
The man looked down at Naruto with a look of strained contemplation. After a minute of silence, the man spoke. "Sorry, Naruto, but we are going to have to hold off on your training. Naruko has to be trained harder because of what she has."
Naruto frowned in slight disappointment before he tilted his head and looked back at Naruko. "Why? What does she have that I don't?"
The man looked back and forth between the two younger blondes till he took a breath and spoke. "I'll tell you when you're older." The man then walked deeper into the house, leaving the kids to just look at each other
~time skip~
A 10-year-old Naruto was stumbling through his room as he was late for something he had planned on doing. If he didn't get there fast, he wouldn't have as much time s he could for it and he didn't want to waste a second of it. He opened the door and ran out into the hallway trying to put on a hoodie. He rounded the corner of the hallway and bumped into someone, causing him to fall to the ground. Once he shook the shock off, he looked up to see who it was that he bumped into.
Naruko stumbled from the sudden collision and looked down to see Naruto on the ground. "Naruto, what was that about?" She said with clear frustration in her voice.
Naruto got up from the ground and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Naruko, I was in a bit of a hurry."
Naruko shook her head as she gave an agitated sigh. "Well, so am I, and unlike you, I don't have the free time to goof around. I have to train to get stronger; while you go around and waste time."
Naruto frowned at her immediate assumption of what he does in his free time. "Hey, you don't even know what I'm going to do!"
Naruko waved her hand dismissively as she walked past him. "Yeah, I'm sure you're going to do something productive. With how hopeless you are in the academy, it's no wonder that you aren't trained like me. No hope to measure up to anything."
Naruto was now scowling. He shoved Naruko before getting in her face. "Don't act like you know anything about me! I train just as hard as everyone else!"
Naruko pushed back as they were pushing their foreheads against each other. "Oh yeah, then why the hell won't you be trained like me!? Everyone is telling you that you should never be a shinobi so why don't you just quit and find a safe way to live!" She insinuated the word "safe" because, despite this interaction, she didn't want Naruto to be in danger. He was her younger brother and despite how they butt heads most of the time, she does love him.
She just didn't know how to say it to him truly.
She had a duty to do and she was going to do it.
Naruto growled before he shoved her back. "Some sister you are."
Naruko felt hurt by what he said but before she could say anything, someone else spoke up.
"Hey, Naruko!"
Naruto looked down the hall with Naruko looking over her shoulder to see Jiraiya standing there.
The man crossed his arms as he looked at her impatiently. "What's the hold-up?"
Naruko's mood changed before she nodded to the Sannin. "Sorry, Pervy sage." She then ran past Naruto to head to her room and get what she forgot.
Naruto watched her leave before huffing and moving to leave. He didn't even glance at the man as Jiraiya didn't even acknowledge him being there. He made it to the backdoor before he put up his hoodie and walked through an alleyway to avoid the people.
~flashback end~
Naruto grunted as he felt her fist hit the side of his face but he pushed through the pain and countered with an uppercut.
Naruko brought her hand up and caught his fist. Using the force of the fist, she jumped up and spin-kicked Naruto, forcing him off his feet.
While Naruto was in the air, he threw a kunai at Naruko, who barely tilted her head to avoid it.
Naruko wiped her cheek as she felt the blood from the cut his kunai made. She ignored it as she knew that it would be healed in seconds. She charged at Naruto and began to assault him with a flurry of fists.
Naruto crossed his arms to block the assault and began to run backwards to try and get some room, but Naruko was keeping up with him as her fists continued to fly. He was able to get a split second of space, allowing him to begin to deflect the punches and throw his own.
The two continued to throw punches as both kept getting hit every now and then in the face and torso.
Naruto, however, was getting the worst of it which was becoming clear as he started to bleed from the mouth and felt some blood coming from a cut he got on his head.
Naruko had some blood on her face as well, from getting hit by his fists and cut from the metal plating of his glove. But after a few seconds, the wounds she would get would heal up and stop bleeding.
Naruto then caught her left fist with his left hand while she caught his right wrist with her right hand. The two were now in each other's face with the metal of their headbands scraping on each other.
"Naruto, it wasn't like that! I had a duty that I plan on fulfilling. We both know why I had to be trained!" She growled out as she tried to push him back
~Flashback~
Naruko was sitting on the couch as she thought about the news she was told. 'The Kyuubi is sealed inside me?' she didn't know how to handle this information as she was sure no one else had to deal with this kind of thing.
Jiraiya stepped forward before kneeling down and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know this is a lot to handle but know that we plan on getting you ready. We are going to help you master this power you have so you can become strong enough to protect all those important to you. When you finally get a hold of it, you'll be hailed as a hero of Konoha"
Naruko looked up at the toad Sannin as she parroted. "Hero?"
Kakashi nodded as he stood behind Jiraiya. "Well, that is a little bit of a stretch but the four of us are going to make you the best kunoichi in Konoha. And with some hard work, you can even become Hokage."
Naruko looked at the four adults in front of her before she jumped to her feet and pumped her fist. "Yeah, no stupid fox is going to stop me from becoming the best kunoichi in the world! I'll show you that I can master anything you throw at me!"
The four adults chuckled at her enthusiasm.
Naruko smiled up at the adults till she caught a glimpse of Naruto in the hallway behind them before he disappeared from sight.
~flashback end~
Naruto began to push back harder causing Naruko to slide back. "Yeah? Is that why I was left behind?! Ignored?! Treated like I was nothing but a nuisance?" He pulled his head back before he headbutted Naruko in the nose, causing an audible crack to be heard.
Naruko shut her eyes in pain as she stumbled back and lost her grip on his wrist.
Feeling her let his wrist go, he grabbed the fist already in his hand before he spun around, lifted her over his shoulder, and slammed her to the ground. He wasn't finished with this as he shifted his grip on her arm and lifted her off the ground before tossing her slightly and bringing his leg up to kick her in the side. Seeing her launched away, he mumbled to himself. "You don't even know the real reason."
~flashback~
Naruto was running through the halls, with excitement on his face. He was going to ask to be trained while Naruko was visiting some of her friends. He felt that this would be the best time for him to do this since Naruko wasn't around and he could use the time in his training to surprise Naruko with what he learned. He thought about what he could do to help Naruko in her burden of being the holder of the Kyuubi. He thought that Naruko wouldn't need to deal with this alone but since he is never allowed to train with Naruko, he figured he can do it separately. When he made it to a specific door, he paused as he heard someone speaking.
"Kid, we need to focus on Naruko's development with how she fits all the requirements of the prophecy."
"Jiraiya, are you absolutely sure that she is the one that the prophecy speaks of? Let's not forget who you thought it was before."
"Who else could it be? She holds the Kyuubi, which matches the part of the prophecy: one born of the leaf who holds the burden that could affect the world will either bring it peace or light the flames to its destruction."
"That sounds too ominous for a prophecy of peace, Pervy sage." came a third voice that was clearly familiar to Naruto
Naruto stopped outside the door and stood there as he heard what they were talking about. He heard Jiraiya sigh before continuing
"I don't make these up, I just hear them. But don't forget that it also says: This being will withstand the hardships within the tree of its birth and face the dark tree from beyond and within the home of all. If I had to guess, there is something within Konoha that will cause trouble for her….. And then there is the other part: the mirror image of the chosen one will stand between the chosen and the choice."
The other male voice spoke up. "What would that last part mean?"
There was a silence in the room before Jiraiya gave his thoughts on it.
"I believe it means that Naruto might stop Naruko from achieving the peace she could bring. He is the mirror image of Naruko, seeing how he is her twin."
"...what does that mean for Naruto?"
"I think it means that Naruto is going to be a problem. So I think we should do what we can to avoid that. No training and you should hold him back as much as possible without making it seem obvious."
It didn't take long before an answer was given. "Alright."
Naruto was shocked to hear what the adults were saying about him. Not only that but the answer was given so quickly. No hesitation or defending him. His look of shock turned angry before he ran off.
~flashback end~
Naruto's eyes widened as Naruko appeared out of nowhere and kicked him in the stomach. "Oof!" He was sent flying till he slammed into the wall, causing weblike cracks in it. He groaned in pain as he cracked open an eye to see Naruko standing where he once was and looking like she wasn't even hit before.
Naruko watched as Naruto pulled himself off the wall before she sighed. "This is stupid. Why are you trying so hard? Are you trying to prove that you can beat me?" She said the last part as an accusation.
Naruto landed on the ground and rubbed his stomach in pain. Once he could, he scoffed. "I don't have anything to prove to you." Naruto charged at her ready to continue the fight.
Naruko shook her head at the charge. She got into her stance and waited for Naruto to get closer. Seeing him pull back his right fist, she shifted her feet and waited. Once Naruto threw his punch, she twisted her body to go with the punch with her left arm pivoting Naruto's punch. She then grabbed his wrist with her right hand and did a quick tug to get him off balance. Seeing how he was off balance she took a half step before she jammed her right elbow into his face and she followed up with the back of her fist in the same spot. Waiting for a second as Naruto stumbled back from the double hit, she bent forward and threw her right leg back, and slammed her heel into his chin, hard enough to send Naruto into the air. She put her hands into a hand sign and summoned two shadow clones.
One clone jumped into the air after Naruto. The clone went with a flying kick to his side and caused him to spin as she kept going into the air.
The second clone grabbed the original before spinning her and sending her into the air. Once the original was in the air, the second clone jumped into the air after her.
The original flew past Naruto and towards the first clone. Once she was close enough, she reached out and grabbed the clone's arm and was spun around by the clone before being sent back towards Naruto, as the clone dispelled. With her momentum now being directed down towards Naruto, she flipped into a flying kick.
Naruto stopped spinning in the air and saw Naruko coming down at him with a flying kick. He brought his arms up to block the hit but he dropped them when he felt a hit at his back and moved faster toward his sister.
Naruko slammed her foot into Naruto's stomach, causing him to cough up some blood, as the second clone still had her foot on his back. The clone though dispelled and Naruko followed her flying kick with a stomping kick using her other foot and sent Naruto back down, creating a crater as he slammed into the ground.
Naruto gasped in pain from Naruko's last attack. He heard the cheering of the crowd and scowled. 'Yeah, cheer for her, you self-centered bastards!' He cracked open one of his eyes to see Naruko land a few feet away. 'Damn her and her clones!' He shimmied his body to see if anything was broken. Thankfully, nothing was but that didn't mean he was anywhere close to fine. He laid there as Naruko made to stand over him.
~Rookies~
Sasuke shook his head. "He's finished. He did better than I thought he would but after a hit like that, he won't be able to continue."
Ino nodded. "I'm surprised that he was able to hit her at all. He had no skill in the academy but he showed that he had gotten better." She thought back to the prelims and how Naruto was given a genin from Kiri. Naruto had shown some skill there but not to this level. She had to say, she was impressed. 'But Sasuke was right, Naruto is finished.'
Sakura shrugged. "It makes sense. Naruko is the heavy hitter of Team 7 with all the training she got early on."
Sasuke begrudgingly nodded. "Now Naruto should know where he stands."
Tenten gave a noncommittal shrug. "At least he showed us an entertaining match. But I think the only ones that stand a chance against Naruko are Neji, Lee, or Sasuke. But he did a good job."
Most of the others agreed with her but one of the rookies had other thoughts.
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes on Naruto as he had a feeling that the boy might still have something up his sleeve. After all, no one had ever seen the blonde boy train before, yet he was showing that he had trained, and intensively, if he was able to not only land a hit on Naruko, who had a major advantage against all of them, but send her flying.
~senseis~
Kurenai gave an impressed hum. "Naruto did well against Naruko. But I was under the impression that Naruto was on the reserved list of genin since there was no placement for him on the teams. Who trained him if he doesn't have a sensei."
Asuma pulled out the toothpick he used as a replacement for the cigarette he wasn't allowed to smoke and looked to Kurenai. "I heard the same thing. As far as I know, no one took him as an apprentice either. Which brings up the question as to how he was able to get into the chunin exams since he has no sensei to nominate him."
Kakashi spoke up from here. "Actually, he put in the request himself. He came into the Hokage office around the same time the exams were announced and gave the form to the Hokage. He was about to be denied till he made the argument that if the others are allowed to participate, why couldn't he. The Hokage told him that they had senseis who trained them and nominated them but he brought up how he was never given a sensei and yet he was still doing E and D-rank missions on his own and had successfully completed all of them. He continued to say that he would have already gone on a C-rank mission if he had a team and sensei, but with this being the case, all he had was himself to nominate himself. The Hokage was still going to deny him this till Naruto said, and I quote, 'just let me participate in the exams and if I can't even pass the first part, then it's obvious that I don't deserve to be in them'."
Guy gave an impressed nod as he could see that the boy would accept if he failed and would most likely strive to get better. "Admitting that if you fail means that you are not ready is the first step to getting better."
Kurenai looked back down to the arena with a look of admiration. "And yet, here he is in the finals of the chunin exams. Goes to show how far he must have pushed himself."
Asuma nodded. "Kid's got the skill to make it this far on his own. Though, I still think it was irresponsible for the Hokage to allow him to participate on his own."
Kakashi sighed with a shake of his head. "To tell you the truth, we didn't believe he would even pass the first exam."
~arena~
Naruko looked down at the prone form of Naruto before she took a knee and placed her hand on his chest. She gently spoke to her brother as she gave him a pitying look. "Naruto, that's enough. You did good to make it this far but it's over."
Naruto took a few deep breaths as he looked at Naruko. He clamped his mouth shut as he thought to himself. 'Yeah…. right.'
Naruko thought that he was about to call his loss, but she was unprepared for him quickly sitting up and slamming his forehead protector to hers. She was more stunned than hurt but that gave him the chance to grab her by the collar with both his hands.
"I'm not done, yet!" Naruto then threw her over his shoulder and away from him. "I'm done holding back!"
Naruko flipped in the air and landed in a crouch and looked up at him in shock.
He put his hands into a tiger seal causing several seals to appear on his arms. The seals then faded away before Naruto shook his arms and legs as they also had the same seals.
Naruko was surprised that Naruto had seals on him and wondered who put them on him. She was no good with seals so she had no idea what they did but she didn't think about this long as she was frustrated that Naruto was still going to fight. She was about to charge him to knock him out but she paused when she saw him take a familiar pose.
Naruto stood up with his back straight, one hand behind his back while the other was held in front of him. He was in Lee's taijutsu pose.
~Rookies~
Lee gaped at the sight of Naruto using his Taijutsu style. "I was not aware that Naruto knew the strong fist style. When did he learn to use it? It is a very intense fighting style that requires a lot of time to master."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes on Naruto before he spoke. "I don't think he mastered it?"
The rest of the genin looked at Sasuke before Choji asked. "What do you mean?"
Sasuke didn't answer as his eyes remained trained on Naruto.
~senseis~
Asuma looked at Guy and asked. "When did you teach him Lee's fighting style? With how I know you spent your time doing the month, I didn't think you had time for anything other than helping Neji."
Guy sat there with his arms crossed as he had a serious look on his face. He shook his head before looking at his fellow senseis. "I didn't." He then looked back at Naruto and said, "I don't think anyone taught him."
Kakashi spoke up after this. "He's right." seeing that the rest were looking at him, he elaborated. "Despite how Naruto is in that pose, it isn't perfect. In fact, it looks imbalanced and misaligned, almost like a bastardized version of it."
The other senseis looked back to the arena to see what Naruto had planned.
Naruko shook away her shock as she remembered what Lee did during his fight with Gaara and could only wonder how Naruto learned to do what Lee was able to do. But she was not going to take chances with this. Thinking quickly, she brought her hands into a hand sign. "Shadow clone jutsu!" She was then surrounded by a circle of clones as they faced outward to be used as a pseudo version of Gaara's sand defense. Naruko looked past the shoulders of two of her clones at Naruto as she got ready for what he would do next.
In a blur of speed, he disappeared from his spot before he reappeared in front of the clones behind Naruko.
Naruto slammed his foot into the side of one of the clone's heads but brought his hand up and used the metal plating of his gloves to deflect the kunai strike from the clone to his left. He then threw his fist into its face before doing a corkscrew spin to avoid the clone to his right. Once his foot touched the ground, he sped to another side of the circle of clones and slammed his fist into one of its stomachs. He then threw his other arm upward and hit the back of his fist into another clone's chin before he sped to another side and attacked that set of clones.
Naruko kept turning to where Naruto appeared as she was able to keep up with his speed and continued making clones to replace the ones he dispelled. She was doing this to tire him out and watched for a chance to counter.
Naruto was seeing that this was getting him nowhere so he chose to switch things up. He then saw his chance as he threw a straight right into one clone's face as another on his right was aiming to punch him in the side. As his body lowered to the ground, he sped his drop once his foot touched the ground.
The Naruko clone that was going to hit Naruto in the side of his head was surprised when he dropped further than she thought. She didn't even get the chance to look down as she was dispelled.
The other clones looked down at Naruto to see him take a familiar stance to Kiba's four-leg style.
While Naruto was low, he swiped at two clones' ankles to throw them off balance. He didn't have the claws that Kiba did, but he can still use his hands to attack. He jumped to the side as a third clone came down on him with a kunai. While mid-jump, he pulled out some shuriken and threw them at the clones he threw off balance. He then pulled out a kunai in one hand before he lunged forward and slashed at another clone's ankle.
Naruko was surprised to see Naruto switch from Lee's style to Kiba's. She had never seen someone do something like this before since people tend to just stcl with one fighting style. But she needed to end this fight. Following his movements, she pulled out her own kunai and brought it down on him when he used his kunai to slash at a clone's ankle.
Naruto dug his hand and leg into the ground to get some stability and shifted his upper body to the right to avoid the kunai, but he was too slow to dodge the kick a clone brought to his face. He rolled on the ground before righting himself and dug his feet into the dirt before he went through some hand signs. "Lightning style: tunneling dragon!" His palms lit up in lightning before he slammed them on the ground and sent two streams of lightning through the ground towards the circle of clones.
Naruko saw this and jumped into the air in time to avoid the jutsu.
Her clones, however, were not so lucky. two medium size dragon heads made of lightning burst from the ground before striking a pair of clones and sending a strong electrical current through all the clones. They screamed in pain before all of them were dispelled.
Naruko landed on the ground with a look of shock. "Who taught you lightning jutsu?"
Naruto stood up as he looked at her. "No one taught me. No one would teach me. Unlike you, the golden girl, I was restricted in everything while everything was given to you on a sliver platter. And why not? Everyone lo~ves you."
~flashback~
Naruto walked into the library as he wanted to check out the shinobi section to see if there were any jutsu he could learn. Since he didn't have anyone teaching him, he had to work with what he could get and since he could now go into the shinobi section, it wouldn't hurt. He walked up to the receptionist, who was reading a magazine, and spoke to get her attention. "Excuse me, where is the shinobi jutsu section? Mainly for the E through C rank jutsu."
The woman lowered the magazine to see who spoke only to scowl at the boy. "There is no shinobi jutsu section in this library."
Naruto frowned at the clear disgust she had on her face and the bite to her words. He wanted to snap back but chose to hold his tongue for now. "But I was informed that there is a section in this specific library for shinobi to check out jutsu gathered to learn."
Her sneer got worse as she spoke. "They lied, now leave."
Naruto was really tempted to punch her but that wouldn't help his case. "But I …"
"Security!" A pair of chunin came into the lobby to stand next to the desk. "Escort this….person, out for disrupting the library occupants."
Naruto didn't get a chance to say anything till he was lifted up by the back of his shirt and thrown out onto the street. He picked himself off the ground and scowled at the two chunin as they chuckled at him. He heard some snickering and looked to see the villagers laughing at him and his misfortune. He grit his teeth as he was pissed at how this always happened to him. Getting up, he walked away and out of sight from all the villagers. Ignoring the clear jeering coming from them
He made it to an alleyway before he henged himself to look like Naruko. He took a few deep breaths to calm down so he wouldn't have a scowl on his face. Once calm, he put on a happy smile and walked out of the alley and towards the library. He was so tempted to scream in anger as he saw that all the people that were laughing at Naruto just seconds ago, were now smiling and bowing in respect at Naruko.
And why not? She was the hero of the village. The one holding back the Kyuubi from attacking again. The one protecting all of them just by breathing. Why wouldn't they kiss her ass to gain favor from her and her family?
Naruto on the other hand was seen as a stain by everyone. A hindrance. A curse on all those nearby. All because he was born the day the Kyuubi attacked. Like he was the reason for the attack.
Naruto hated how hypocritical these people were since Naruko was born the very same day. But the difference is how the Hokage portrayed them.
She was treated like a princess.
He was treated like an enemy.
He walked into the library and saw the receptionist smile and bow to Naruko.
"Welcome, Honorable Namikaze, how can I help you?"
Naruto had to strain to hold the smile. 'Why not slam your head into the desk, you hypocritical bitch!' "I need to train in some elemental jutsu and was told that I can find some scrolls here."
The receptionist nodded with glee. "Of course, right his way." She walked out from behind her desk and began to lead Naruko to the shinobi jutsu section. Once they made it to the section, she turned and gestured to the shelves of scrolls. "Here they are. Let me know if you need anything else."
Naruko nodded. "Thank you very much." She watched as the woman left and dropped the smile once alone. Naruko turned to the shelves and looked around for something that would be useful. It took some time before something of interest was found and Naruko grabbed a few to borrow. 'these should help me out in a lot of situations.'
Naruto didn't have to worry about Naruko actually coming here since she never would come to the library. And why would she when she was being trained by several powerful and legendary shinobi?
~flashback end~
Naruto went through some more hand signs before shouting. "Lightning style: lightning sparrow!" Out of Naruto's palms came several balls of electricity before they took the shape of sparrows and began to fly toward Naruko,
Naruko jumped back as the sparrow-shaped electric balls impacted the ground and burst into large sparks. She flipped backward to avoid the last one as she called out. "You're not the only one that can use elemental jutsu!" she ran through her own hand signs before calling out. "Fire style: fire bullet barrage!" putting both hands near her mouth and creating circles with both index and thumbs, she breathed out a flurry of fireballs that flew towards Naruto.
Naruto jumped to the side to avoid the first few fireballs that exploded on impact. He had to run as the barrage continued on him and he looked toward Naruko to see her continue to send out fireballs. He quickly reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a tag that he had prepared for something like this. Maybe not this specifically but just in case Naruko used a fire jutsu. Bringing up the tag, the seal of it glowed before it burst, releasing its contents. He ignored what came out as he did a quick set of hand signs. "Water Style: Water whip!" He did a small leap before he twisted his body and swung his right arm to bring a thick whip of water to strike a set of fireballs. He began to twirl around to bring the whip at the oncoming fireballs and dousing them before they could explode. He prepared to counter fire-style jutsu by bringing seal tags that had water within them so he wouldn't have to worry about not having any nearby.
Naruko stopped her barrage as she was surprised to see Naruto use a water jutsu against her fire jutsu. 'Lightning jutsu and water jutsu? I know he doesn't have either of those affinities! And one of them is The element that beats my fire while the other boosts it! like my wind affinity can boost my fire. It's almost like he learned these just to counter me? But why!?' She growled before she summoned one clone and brought her hand up while the clone began to spin her hands around the original's. 'This ends now!'
Naruto let his water whip drop as he saw the Rasengan in Naruko's palm. He didn't have anything that could counter the jutsu since it was a powerful A-class jutsu. He had been counting on her not using it due to its danger but now, he was stuck. He began to sweat as he tried to think about what he could do. It was then that he came up with something that would work. He brought his hands up and went through some more hand signs before calling out. "Earth style: earth dome!" he crouched as a dome of earth enveloped him on all sides.
Naruko scoffed as she saw the defense Naruto was doing as it was nowhere strong enough for the Rasengan. Once her jutsu was done, she charged at the dome. She didn't need to aim since the dome was small and restricting his movements so he would not be able to dodge. "Rasengan!" She thrusted the jutsu at the dome and smirked as she saw the earth shatter under the power of the jutsu. But her smirk dropped when she saw that it was empty. "Where…!?" She got her answer when she felt something grab her ankles. "WHAT!?"
"Earth style: headhunter jutsu!"
Naruko soon found herself being buried up to her head and Naruto digging himself out several feet away. She looked up at her brother as he looked down at her indifferently.
Naruto was really glad that he learned that headhunter jutsu as it really helped him against her. He saw Naruko struggle in her earth prison and sighed in relief. "You lose."
Naruko felt her emotions spike at how he said that. She didn't want to fight him, she didn't want to hurt him, she really didn't want to do this, but Naruto was pushing it. And with who would be the opponent in the next round, she could not allow it.
Naruto turned to look up at Genma, who was sitting on the wall, and was about to wave him down but paused when he felt the spike of chakra behind him. 'Damn it.'
Behind Naruto was an explosion of chakra that caused the crowd to go absolutely silent.
Naruto turned back to Naruko to see her now standing there with the famous cloak that she was known for using during desperate times.
Naruko's hair tie burnt away causing her hair to splay behind her and wave slightly. Her whisker marks became thicker and scruffed, her teeth sharpened along with her getting fangs, her eye color turned red with a black marking appearing around her eyes, and her nails sharpened into claws. This all along with the one-tailed cloak she gained using the Kyuubi's chakra.
~Rookies~
Sakura began to get really worried at the sight as she had only ever seen the cloak once and that was during a training session to get them used to the pressure it gave off. She made a promise to herself that she would never do anything that would cause Naruko to use it against her as she could barely stay on her feet the first time. "Naruto is going to die."
Sasuke gulped as he could do nothing but agree. "He needs to give up now. He may be stronger than we thought but this is beyond any of us. Even Kakashi said that he would have trouble fighting Naruko like this, and would most likely lose in a straight-up fight."
Akamaru buried himself in Kiba's jacket as he felt his instinct scream at him to hide from the danger.
Kiba was no different as he gulped in nervousness.
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome, I agree that this is where the fight really ends."
Hinata looked down at the fight nervously. She saw how stubborn Naruto was being and had a feeling he wasn't going to end it just yet. "I don't think he is going to stop here."
Shino looked at her with a tilt of his head. "What makes you say that?"
Hinata pointed down to the male blonde. The rest of the rookies looked back and saw what she meant. "He is facing her."
Sasuke shook his head in slight disapproval. "He really is going to die."
~arena~
"Well, looks like this is the end game."
Naruko let out a huff as she spoke in a rough voice. "Naruto, I can't let you continue from here."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at her before he lowered his center of gravity and lowered his arms, getting into a stance. "What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"
Naruko growled as she lowered to her animalistic stance. "As your older sister, I have every right."
Something in what she said pissed Naruto off. "The 'right'?!" He took a step forward, ready to attack her, only to find Naruko's fist in his stomach. 'Shit!' He was sent flying by a spinning kick to his face but while he was still in the air, Naruko appeared over him and ax kicked him to the ground. He vomited blood as he crashed into the ground but he didn't have time to deal with the pain as he saw Naruko jump into the air and come flying down at him. He tried to move his arms and legs to get out of the way but those last three kicks did more damage than he thought. 'Come on, move. Move!' he saw her almost on him and his eyes widened. 'MOVE!'
*BOOM*
The crowd went silent as they watched Naruko decimate Naruto. They were surprised that she had to use the Kyuubi cloak against someone like him but they cheered at the show they got from the fight. Despite how they couldn't see the two, they couldn't imagine anything other than the fight being called in Naruko's favor.
Genma hummed in thought about the fight. 'Kid did good against our jinchuriki and in my opinion, he has the skill to be a chunin. Might put in a recommendation if he lives.'
Naruko was panting as she was doing her best to reign in her anger. She had to force herself to hold back on that last attack as it would have killed him if it was full power.
But something was wrong.
*clink clink*
Naruko looked up in time to see something slam into her face.
The crowd was silenced once again as they saw a red blur come out of the dust cloud.
Naruko dug her claws into the dirt to stop her momentum and looked up in shock. All the while, the portion of the cloak that was hit regrew as it was ripped off. She looked back to the smoke that was made from her previous attack to see Naruto standing there with a few new additions.
Naruto was in a low stance with his left arm hanging limply while his right was flexed. But the new additions were the six golden chains waving like serpents coming out from his back.
Naruko couldn't believe this. 'The adamantine chains? And six?' She couldn't think about it anymore as two chains flew straight at her with the kunai-like tips poised to stab her. She jumped to her left as the two chains destroyed the spot she sat at. She growled at Naruto and launched herself at him.
Naruto saw this and grabbed one of the chains with his right hand, brought it over his head, and spun around, using the chain like a whip to create a small spiral shield around him. The chain he used shattered from the claw swipe Naruko gave it. With that, he grabbed the other chain he sent out with his now free right hand and swung it at her while shrinking it enough for the kunai tip to slam into her. He then sent another of his chains to wrap around her waist, with satisfaction that the chain disrupted the cloak. He then pulled on the chain with his one good arm and began to swing Naruko around the arena. Once there was enough momentum, he dispersed the chain, sending her flying.
Naruko felt her chakra flow disrupted by the chain and didn't have the chance to catch herself before she broke through one of the trees in the arena and into the wall. She was sure that without her cloak, she would have broken a few bones from the impact. Seeing her cloak reshape itself, she took a deep breath before she sent out a sonic roar towards Naruto.
Naruto dug two chains into the ground in front of him to keep him in place as he used his one good arm to cover his face. His eyes widened as a massive chakra claw appeared and came down towards him. He manipulated two of his chains to swipe vertically down on the claw while a third swung horizontally. He was pleasantly surprised to see that the chains cut through the claw, dispersing it. Catching movement in front of him, he looked down to see Naruko appear inches from his face with her claw poised to strike him. He bent back at a 90-degree angle to barely avoid the strike. He grabbed another of his chains and let it go limp before he brought himself up and wrapped the chain around her neck, causing the chakra cloak envelope her head to disperse. He ignored the burning her cloak was doing to him as the right half of his body was touching it, as he controlled the chain to tighten by itself and pull back his fist before punching Naruko in the face. He then forced her down with his chain and brought his knee into her nose.
Naruko was too stunned to stop the combo but she did peek through one eye to see Naruto jump into the air before bringing her with him.
Naruto yanked the chain, flipped forward, forcing the chain to follow his pull, and then slammed Naruko's back into the ground.
Naruko was the one to cough up blood this time till she opened her eyes to see Naruto throw his hand forward as if commanding the chains to attack her. She wasn't able to move in time as the kunai tips of four chains pierced both of her shoulders and one in each thigh. "ARGH!" She grit her teeth as she looked again to see Naruto coming down at her with one chain still free.
"IT'S OVER!"
She closed her eyes in preparation for the last stab. But instead, she felt something slapped onto her forehead. She opened her eyes to see there was a slip of paper placed over her face and soon felt her chakra cloak disperse.
Both blondes were panting, bleeding, and with one of them looking worse than the other.
Naruto couldn't feel his left arm, his right arm was slowly going numb, his legs felt like they would give out at any time, and his chakra was critically close to zero. But with that tag he put on Naruko, this fight was over. He had prepared that tag in case Naruko used the bijuu's chakra and he was very thankful he did. Because now, with how the seal is sealing away the bijuu chakra and the chakra disruption effect of the chains, she was done.
And he had won.
"Why?"
Naruto looked down at Naruko with a raised eyebrow.
"Why go so far? Why wouldn't you listen to me? I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't fight Gaara. He'll kill you. I …..just wanted to protect my brother."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at her before he used what strength he had to bend down and lift her by the solo buttoned-up part of her jacket. He brought her face closer, ignoring her wince of pain at the chains still stabbed in her, and spoke. "You still don't get it, do you, Naruko? The proctor gave you the biggest hint at the start of the match. 'Naruto vs Naruko Namikaze'." His grip loosened a bit as he finished. "We stopped being siblings years ago." He dropped her onto the ground before looking up at the Kage's booth and glared at the occupants. "Well….here's your golden girl. Your child of prophecy. Beaten by the one you all abandoned."
In the Kage booth, Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, and Jiraiya stood there in shock at what they had seen. Naruko, the one they put all their time into, was beaten by the one they tried to hold back.
Minato looked at Kushina and asked in worry. "Did you teach him how to use the adamantine chains?"
Kushina was crying at what she had seen. Though whether it was from guilt at what she had done to Naruto or sadness at what happened to Naruko, no one could say. She looked at her husband and shook her head. "No, and with no other Uzumaki, there was no one else who could teach him."
Jiraiya gulped as he spoke. "Which means that he taught himself how to use them. But what about all the other skills he showed?! His seals? That taijutsu?"
Minato thought about it till he spoke. "With how much I tried to keep him behind, no one would have been able to teach him. Does that mean he taught himself just from watching the other fights?"
Jiraiya eyed Naruto as he mumbled. "Then Naruto is the one that will stand in her way."
Genma landed on the field next to the two and looked them over. Despite how Naruto looked dead on his feet, he clearly had Naruko pinned and at his mercy. Doing his job he announced to the audience. "WINNER OF THE SEMI-FINAL MATCH: NARUTO!"
There were a few cheers coming from the visitors from other villages but the Konoha residents were dead silent.
No one from Konoha had faith in Naruto winning the fight. Yet there he was, standing over the Princess of Konoha with the official proctor announcing him the victor.
Jiraiya was about to jump in if Naruto did anything to harm Naruko anymore, but stopped as he watched what Naruto did next.
Naruto dispersed his chains and turned around to walk to the stairs that lead into the stadium seats. Not caring about the cheers he got or the silence from the villagers.
"Naruto, wait."
The boy continued without looking back.
Naruko rolled herself onto her stomach and lifted up her torso as best she could. "Naruto, please!" He still didn't turn. "WHY!" She felt tears fall down her face as she watched her brother walk away from her as if she was nothing more than a stranger. In a soft pleading voice, she asked. "Please…..tell me why? I just wanted to keep you safe."
Naruto stopped at the doorway that led to the stairs. He looked over his right shoulder at the sight of a crying Naruko. Not changing his look of anger, he pointed to the Kage booth. "You want someone to blame, then blame your parents and godfather." With that, he turned back and walked up the stairs as the medics came to take Naruko away.
Naruko's gaze never left Naruto's back as she tried to think about all the things that drove them apart. 'What was I training so hard for?'
Naruto made it to where the rest of the genin were and walked past them as they separated to give him a path. He stopped a few feet away from them as he leaned on the railing to try and get some of his energy back. He didn't care about the next match since the previous fight was all he wanted. To leave a message to the ones that abandoned him, that belittled him, that saw him as a waste of space. His eyes went to the Kage booth and saw Minato and Kushina staring at him. He gave them a scowl before it turned into a cruel smirk, as he proved to them, that all their hard work was for nothing.
"How's that for dead last?"
End
I made this one shot because almost all the neglect fics I've read have Naruto forgiving either parts of his family or all of it. And I personally don't like that. I am a forgiving person to an extent but in almost every neglect fic, I just don't have it in me to forgive them.
I'm not sure how I did since this is a one-shot with flashbacks to a story that does not exist. Sure there are some elements from other neglect fics but I think I did a good enough job separating this from them.
I don't think I did a good job at the prophecy bit since I never did a prophecy part before. But let me explain my thought process of it. The mirror part of it was a reference to Obito being somewhat of a mirror image of Naruto. Obito acted like Naruto when he was younger before he turned into what he became. But I did try and put a red herring on it since Naruto and Naruko are mirror images, from their gender to their elements, and even the color of their clothing. the dark tree part is in reference to the ten tail tree, with Konoha being the light tree.
I came up with their wardrobe on the spot and liked how it came out in my head. Might draw them at one point
Anyway, I hope you liked this little one shot.
I also made this as I am in a bit of a funk right now. I'm feeling a bit down, so I am in the middle of a little vacation. Only did some editing for this while I tried to recover from the excessive walking I did, (damn, my feet hurt and I can't feel my legs, XP).
I will try to get back to my other stories as I have a horde of half-finished chapters, when I get my creative spirit back. I'm sure a bunch of you authors know the feeling. Anyway, I will see you in one of my other stories and hope to hear what you thought about this or any other store I made in a review.
Flames will be ignored.
Criticism is accepted
Ideas are taken into account and considered
Positive reviews are appreciated
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And your enjoyment in reading this is the goal
So please Read, Favorite, follow, and review