Scarlet Justice - ep. 38
"Strange Aviaries"
[Chuunin Exams: Third Round Finals 2]

The match starts as I expect; Temari plays keep away with long range wind attacks, and Shino's insect attacks are rebuffed before they can hit their mark. He moves around the field, attacking from different angles with a mix of his insects and shinobi tools. Temari effortlessly remains in place and blows everything away.

"Is this all you have? What?! If I knew Leaf shinobi were so pathetic, I would have taken this exam seven years ago!" Temari yells.

"Why that little...! How the hell can she say that?" Naruto growls.

"Be calm," I say to him. "Shino is my right hand for a reason."

"Right...hand? Eh?"

"Hina...you can see it, can't you?"

She smiles and brushes back some of her hair. "Yes. Shino is strong, and very clever as well."

"What? What do you mean?" Naruto asks, leaning over the railing to peer at the fight. "What's going on?"

"Preparations are complete," Shino says from the field. "Now...it's time to put this one away. You see, I don't underestimate even the smallest opponents. Why? Because anything can happen in the heat of battle. You only focused on what you could see in front of you, Miss Temari. That is going to be your downfall."

Temari smirks. "Oi, don't get cocky, bug boy. I've already guessed that you can send your little friends underground, so don't go thinking-"

"Who said anything about the ground? Today...I decided to be bold, and invade your domain."

"What...?"

Shino's head tilts upwards, and Temari finally notices the shadow quickly materializing beneath her feet. Her head then snaps up, and her eyes widen in horror.

"No...no way! This is...how?!"

A massive sphere of insects has formed in the sky above her.

"How did they...get there so fast?!" Naruto yells. "Shino! He's really freaky!"

"You should always have a trump card," Shino says as he adjusts his glasses. "I guess you didn't think it strange that I kept using my insects at such a long range...since you assumed I only had a few modes of attack. But your wind attacks were helpful in scattering them all around the arena, and into the sky. It took a large amount of insects from my body, but it seems I have you in check at this moment."

"Tch...!"

"Oh, and you were right the first time...I do have insects stored underground as well."

Temari pales and Shino draws a kunai before charging. "And now...to seal you in three dimensions." The insects start to emerge from the ground around Temari, and the massive insect sphere starts to descend at high speed. She's frozen in panic. Unless she has a big move in reserve, it's over...but she surely-

"Shit...shit, shit, shit! Dammit! I give up! I forfeit!"

"!" Shino stops his advance and the insects all stop moving.

"What?!" Naruto yells.

"..." Shikamaru is deathly quiet for once as he looks on. He's thinking about something, definitely.

"You win...alright?" Temari drops her fan and raises one arm to the sky. "I quit."

"..." Shino is nonplussed. And frankly, so am I. What the hell is happening?

"The winner of this match...Shino Aburame," Hayate announces. I hear the crowd cheer Shino on, but I can spot some of the reactions of the chuunin and jounin, and they're...unsure what to make of it all.

"She had way more in the tank."

Lee turns to Shikamaru. "What do you mean?"

"Her jutsu usage was conservative for this fight. Stationary, barely any energy use. If she put in more effort, she could have retreated and blown away Shino's last attack. But she didn't...either she didn't have enough energy, which I can't believe would happen so early, or she was trying to conserve it. But even then, you can just pop a soldier pill and cool down after the fight."

"What are you suggesting, Nara?" Neji asks gruffly.

"She was saving herself for...something else. But I can't think of what it could be. Maybe she assumed she wasn't going to make it for the next few fights?" Shikamaru groans and scratches his head.

"..." I hope Anko is watching all of this. There's something screwed up. More than a few somethings, in fact. The direction of the press box is annoying me...I can only sense the two contracts in the area clearly, both from my older sisters. If this sensation is the third, then...well, that's stupid. Orochimaru wouldn't be in the damn press box with the Hokage.

"You okay, Kobayashi?" Shikamaru asks.

"Fine. Just...thinking about the same things you are right now."

"Yeah. Real pain in the ass."

"For once, I agree with you." I really can't wait for my fight. Anko is too far away to talk to and I can't readily leave my area in case something happens. "It's possible she threw it...but her actions are way too inconsistent for that."

"Possible..." Shikamaru rests his arms on the railing and sighs.

"Guess it's my turn next! Yosh!" Naruto jumps over the railing and down into the arena without a care. Neji glares at Hinata before making his way down using the stairs behind us.

"Naruto and I talked a bit before we arrived here," Hina says. "I felt really encouraged by his words."

"I see..."

"I know that Brother Neji has his own views on the world and how things are. But...someone like Naruto, I think this encounter with him will change that sort of attitude. Naruto said that his nindo is to never give up or go back on his word...and that's my nindo as well. I won't turn back or run away from anything...not ever again."

"I can see it, Hina. Let's see how this one plays out," I say to her. "Personally, I'm in Naruto's corner."

"Same here," she says with a smile.

The two stare at each other intensely before Hayate gets them ready to start.

"Begin!"

Naruto starts off as expected, calling out Shadow Clones and attacking directly. There's a slight difference in how he's attacking compared to a month before...focused attacks in waves, more movement and decoys. Still very reckless and his taijutsu is as gross as ever, but there's some difference to be found.

But then Neji starts to get serious.

"Brother Neji...really is talented. That technique is called Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, or simply Heavenly Rotation," Hina explains. "It's a very strong technique...a defense that is comparable to Gaara's strange shield of sand, I would say."

"That seems par for the course as far as your clan is concerned."

"Yes...but there's something else," she says as she looks at me. "That technique is only taught to members of the Hyuuga Main Family. Specifically, only the clan head would know it."

"...!" I look back towards the field. "You're saying this guy learned it by rote?"

"Yes. Not only that technique..."

"Huh. I see...so even the Sixty Four is restricted to just your part of the clan..." So Neji has also been pointlessly thrown away. I still don't quite understand everything, though...if Neji is so talented, then why...? Does it have anything to do with why Hina was discarded?

He steps it up further and disables Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms. True to his nature, though...Naruto gets up. It would take more than sealing chakra points to put him down. But he's in a bind at this point, unfortunately.

"He's in trouble..." Hina clasps her hands together nervously. Maybe the writing isn't on the wall yet, but she's right to feel that way. There's an exchange of words between Naruto and Neji before the latter mentions a 'Hyuuga curse' and removes his headband.

A seal placed on his head when he was only a child, carved into his very being. It reminds me of the seal that is on my left arm...but whereas this one set me free, his pulled him into captivity for the rest of his life. I had a choice, and he never did. Calling it a 'caged bird seal' is certainly apt, then.

"So that's why he hates you so much," I say to Hina. "Your clan really is filled with savages posing as nobles."

"I want to say that's harsh..."

I yawn. "Is it? Is that seal meant to protect clan secrets, or is it just meant to exert dominance? Your clan saw something that your forefathers did, accepted that flimsy justification, and then applied it mindlessly for generation after generation. Men, women, and children treated like animals...all because they were born a second too late. Is that compassion? Is that humanity? Is that what the Leaf should strive for?"

"..."

"Perhaps it is harsh, Hina. But it's what I feel. And even if I still dislike him for his disgusting arrogance...I can't hate him after this."

"You mean..."

"Yes. He's just a victim. He always has been. A child with pure talent, forced to lick the feet of his inferiors just because of a stupid technicality. Clinging to the rules of the clan damaged him, even if the Hyuuga legacy was all he ever had in the end. He's also confused, though."

"Confused?" Hina asks. "What do you mean, Lili?"

I narrow my eyes as I look out at the battlefield. "That story...there's something else to it. If your father was faced with that decision, with dying to protect the clan, would he surrender? Would he run away from that responsibility?"

She thinks it over.

"Even that man has his pride to consider. Not solely for himself, but for Hyuuga as well. Even beyond that, for the sake of the Leaf...and then beyond that, martyrdom in the name of justice. Though I speak harshly of Hyuuga, I know that they must have their own ways of living."

"What do you mean to say, Lili?"

"That things aren't as they appear. Neji's talk about destiny is obviously garbage, but he needs a wake up call. This fight will provide that. You remember what Naruto's worst jutsu at the Academy was, right?"

"...clone arts..."

"Yes. And you completed a secret technique after being abandoned by your father. To say that destiny is some inescapable thing, that we will remain the same people our entire lives and that nothing matters...could you believe that?"

"I couldn't. Not after what I've been through," Hina says.

"Destiny is not decided by those who already have power...but by those who strive for it. Your cousin has become complacent because of his beliefs."

From up here, I can feel something building up in Naruto's body. Something strong.

"And that is why he's already lost."

It bursts out. A shifting, dangerous feeling chakra. Something that stirs me up ever so slightly before I push those feelings down for another time.

"What the...is that chakra?" Lee mutters.

"Yes." So this is it, then. The power of the Nine Tails. It must have been what he was working on over the month break, and even the Hokage looks surprised. Was Kakashi splitting his time between Naruto and Sasuke, after all? Or was someone else involved? Either way, Neji couldn't have prepared for something so ridiculous. They clash with each other repeatedly, before there's a dramatic explosion of chakra. Neji emerges first, and it looks like it's over.

But it's as I said. Complacency would be his downfall.

Neji declares himself the winner, only for Naruto to emerge from the very earth below his feet, and deliver a victorious uppercut.

The power of belief. The strength to carry yourself through the pain in your life. The drive to think forward in all situations. These things shape what your destiny is.

And that is why those who choose to never give up will change the world. They are the peacemakers, the ones who will inherit the earth. I feel...as if I am finding my place. I know where I would be in that sort of world, and what I would be doing. Not as a charismatic leader, but...something else entirely.

It's something for later, either way.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Yeaaaaaaah! I did it! Did you see, I won! I'm the greatest!"

He's more than a little injured, but still has enough energy to celebrate and take victory laps around the arena. Seriously. What a guy.

"Naruto did it...he really is amazing," Hina says with a bright smile. I'm understanding more and more why she's in love with him. He's a pretty great influence, and this really was a manly performance on his part.

"He really is," I say to her.

"The next match is about to start, Boss," Shino says to me.

Yes, that's right. I'm up against him. Gaara stares into me, and I feel 'that' side stirring before he breaks eye contact and makes his way down the stairs.

"Everything alright, Boss?"

"It's fine," I say to Shino. "Just the usual intimidation before things start..." My dark half reacts to projections of murderous intent too...that much is an interesting discovery. It must be part of my evolution as a predator as well. I can't say that I'm bothered by it.

"Lili, I'll be waiting for you. Good luck," Hina says. She kisses me on the cheek.

"Thanks, Hina. Remember not to look away. I'm going to show you all of me in this fight."

"Yes. I understand."

I nod to Shino before taking the short way down to the battlefield, vaulting the railing before skipping down the wall until I hit the bottom. Naruto greets me as I near the middle of the arena.

"Hey, Lili! Good luck with your fight, though you probably don't need it! But be careful, that Gaara guy's pretty crazy!"

"Thank you. That was a good win, Naruto. Congratulations."

"Hehe, thanks!" I hug him tightly and give him a kiss on the cheek. He grins and blushes a bit before taking off.

Gaara slowly approaches as the crowd starts to settle.

Two killers, meeting in battle at last. It's finally time to show myself to the world.