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Hello again! Hope you all had a Happy New Year! That being said, this update is arriving around the New Year as I said it might, and it's gonna have a fair deal of action for all the action junkies. Hopefully, you all will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Action is one of my favorite things to write so I always enjoy whenever a chance comes around to write it. Now, without further ado, enjoy the chapter. :)

P.S. If anyone reading this is also following OTY, that will probably be updated next. It was supposed to be updated along with this, but to be honest, I didn't feel like it was ready. Hopefully, it is soon.

A Fighting Dance

"I'm glad I'm here with you, Hinata."

"Me too."

As she stood some yards away across the field, I let another sly grin come to my lips, at the same time lifting my hands to guard myself. "But, uh, don't think that means I'm gonna take it easy on you."

"I will keep that in mind," she smirked, raising her hands just the same.

My smirk growing as the wind blew between us, I nodded at her, and she did the same. "Begin!" we both shouted.

My first move was one uncharacteristically like myself. Instead of bum rushing and attacking with overwhelming force, I started to stalk to the right in a bit of a circular path. Her skill set was the reason for this change of tactics. I had learned over the years that when it came to dealing with her and Hyugas in general that distance was kinda like your best friend. Close quarters...well let's just say that was the opposite. As I stalked the circular path, she refused to move from hers, only allowing her body to continue facing me as she shifted one foot to keep me directly in front of her. Her guard was very closed, I noticed, likely to guard against my heavier blows. It wasn't anything I wasn't used to though. I'd just have to find a way around it like always, or maybe through it… Grinning to myself, I decided to take the plunge.

"Alriiiiiiiiiight!" I yelled, the ground exploding under my feet as I launched forward, the veins around her eyes becoming more pronounced as I neared. My first attack was a swift right hook, which she raised her left arm to block, and then I sidestepped to the right, pushing away her right arm with my left. Said right arm had already been on a collision course with my stomach and let me know that she was a lot quicker than she used to be. To counter so quickly was a feat in and of itself, though most certainly not enough to beat or best me. I grinned a bit to signal this fact and used the momentum of her failed strike against her, directing her towards the ground. Her body was only halfway there when she let two fingers from the left arm that had blocked my right hook fly downwards into my shoulder.

"Ugh!" I grunted lightly, hopping back as my arm started to tingle. Great, just loved the Hyuga tinglies.

Making sure my retreat was short lived, she bum rushed me in an attacking style similar to mines, both of her hands now covered in rushing blue flames shaped like lion heads. "Mmm..." I inwardly groaned. Then came the whizzes. First, a whoosh as I ducked under a swipe to the head, the potent blue leaving a trail of curved energy I wanted no part of. In my squatted position, I could feel my eyes sharpening as my alertness skyrocketed. She was way too close and way too deadly to do any different. My body tensing all over and dancing oddly to both sides as I crouched, I prepared myself for the onslaught.

Next was a whizzing in my ear as I dodged a blow to the head, her open palm coming dangerously close to knocking me unconscious; then came a sharp whistle as she tried to land a strike on my upper chest, my reflexes having allowed me to turn sideways while already having blocked the blow with my left arm; then a jab at the side of my neck, my head reflexively moving back to keep out of her reach. Solar Plexus, abdomen, jugular – the world shifted into a mess of rushing, swiping blue. The amazing part of it all was how composed she looked, not even breaking a sweat, that eerie fighting calm surrounding her all around, a chilling reminder that this was what it was like to fight the beautiful terrifying. But then came a jolt in my upper arm, and I could feel it falling slack. Crap, that one connected, and it was a left shoulder tenketsu. Grunting and grabbing my shoulder a bit, I hopped back using a series of backflips, Still, she rushed me, both hands coated with those raging blue lions. Groaning again, I readied myself for more combat. Keeping the distance would really be the better move, but with my arms only at half strength, I had struggled to even do those few backflips. Trying to get out of range would be more likely to land me in even more trouble at this point. But that was ok. I knew what I'd do…

Holding out my open palm in her direction, I yelled, "Big Ball Rasengan!"

The explosion of whirling blue chakra shot out towards her, it's size easily dwarfing a house. Her eyes widened as it did, and I could sense her jumping back. When I was sure the ball was blocking her view, I smirked and set my plan into motion, my fingers falling into the familiar hand sign.

A series of poofs rang through the air as my clones popped up in spades. With perfect chakra distribution, this should make things a lot tougher on her. Letting the ball fade into nothing, I smirked at how, even from here, I could see her widened eyes. I had only made a hundred clones, but still.

"Welll!" we all started to say, running towards her. "Here we gooooo!"

Her eyes growing sharp as we neared, she squatted low and let the blue lions coat her hands once more. What ensued was absolutely glorious. The field turned into a light show of streaks of blue, the violent swipes battling against the much too energetic army of me.

The first clone got slugged clear across the face in a streak of blue and disappeared almost immediately. The next one suffered a similar fate, a blow straight through the upper chest dispelling it in an instant. The most promising attack had been a trio of clones that were trying to sneak up behind her, but then I could see her eyes widening and with a violent spin, she decked all three of them with that familiar streak of blue. I frowned a bit at the sight. That nearly 360 degree vision thing was really annoying… Still, it wasn't unbeatable, and fighting a massive army was a lot easier said than done. Capitalizing on this fact, I jumped up over the clones and held my hand over my head, a ball of chakra starting to spin and whirl over my palm, the sharp whirring of the Rasen-Shuriken echoing all across the field. Her eyes widened at the sight of it, and that was all my clones needed.

Right then, she caught a blow to the stomach, a grimace on her face as she stumbled back a bit. She tried to raise her guard as soon as she realized what had happened, but another clone hit her dead across the face. From my position in the air, I smirked and let my Rasen-Shuriken dissipate to nothing. Now that my clones had found their opening, there was no need for it really. By now, I was pretty sure she had suffered at least four more blows, maybe even five. Overkill wasn't really my style.

Landing back amidst the army of me, I dashed forward in a run to try to get to the action. If I could get close to her among the clones without her noticing, this fight was over. But then came a familiar sound like a gust of building wind. Crap…

The air around her exploded in a swirl of whitish blue, the clones that had been assaulting her tossed aside in various angles skyward as if they'd been thrown into a tornado. At the sight of it, I frowned. Great. Eight Trigrams of all things. But then my eyebrows shot halfway up my forehead. It was expanding. Way more than usual. She had enhanced it somehow, found a way to make it bigger, the whirlpool of whitish-blue devastating the ground beneath and violently tossing the air above, the visual that of a rapidly increasing circular ball of whitish blue chaos. At the moment, it was approaching the size of my big ball Rasengan.

Groaning my frustration and jumping out of the path of the destructive swirl headed my way, I landed some hundred feet back, a multitude of poofs ringing through the air as the violent white spin cut into the clones that couldn't hop away fast enough. Frowning a bit, I immediately shifted to pondering my next move. Maybe some more clones would work. Wearing her down type thing. We most certainly weren't gonna be getting through that eight trigrams defense, it was basically unbeatable, especially with me limited to my base. Fortunately, its downside was the fact that it was chakra based. If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that my clone spamming could outlast her multiple spins any day of the week. Kind of a wack strategy, but a whole lot better than nothing. And I could always think of something better after. For now, I'd just have to use it to buy me some time.

As my strategy musing ended, I could see the swirl dissipating into the wind, and then a spinning Hinata coming to a stop a fair distance away, her hair and body in a furious spin until she stomped one foot down in my direction, the veiny eyes focused and alert as she dropped down into her stance with more grit and determination showing on her face than I had seen from many others in my lifetime. Well, if one thing was true, it was that she had the will of fire...but so did I. Smirking and putting my hands into the familiar hand sign, I prepared to launch my second wave, but then came something treacherous in my midst…

"Watch out!" yelled one of the clones to my left, pointing to the right.

My head swiveling in the direction of the pointed finger, I set my alertness to max, yet I was met with confused looks from my other clones and no danger in sight.

Right then, from the corner of my eye, I could see the clone that had warned me land in front of me in a flicker, his form oddly that of a charged squat. As he squatted low and charged an open palm backwards, my confusion crystalized to a clear focus. Aw, dang it…

The palm sent crashing into my stomach made me feel like my insides were somehow flying out my back, and I could feel the usual vibrant potency of my chakra system flicker to nothing, my body feeling more like a corpse than a living being. Grunting and stumbling back, I tried to force more chakra through to reopen the pathways she had closed. But then another blow, right under the left side of my chest. "Ugh!" I grunted. And then another on my right arm. Through my teeth, I grimaced.

Coughing and with no breath left in me, I staggered back, not even getting a chance to raise my good arm in my defense. A blow to my core again, and then to my lower hip – I fell onto one knee. Grunting as I fell onto my back with little to no control over my body, I had barely touched the ground when she scrambled down on top of me, her hands pinning down my arms, her hips pinning down my abdomen.

"OK," I strained and half-wheezed. "That actually hurts."

The transformation jutsu ended with a poof, revealing sharp white eyes that held no trace of her previous kindness. "Do you yield, Naruto-kun?!"

A series of angry grunts left my throat as I squirmed rigidly, my left hand started to twitch as I channeled chakra to it. Before I could even get to a hand sign, I felt two knuckles driving down into my wrist and then my hand falling limper than a noodle.

"Naruto-kun, do you yield?!" she asked again.

Pouting rather distastefully, I struggled to say, "Naruto Uzumaki...urgh...doesn't yield!"

"But you are beaten," she said, eyes still sharp and focused.

"I am not beaten," I declared, still squirming as much as my body would allow. "Cause Naruto Uzumaki doesn't yield."

Finally, the faintest of smiles graced her lips and her eyes softened. "You look beaten to me."

As soon as she said that, my pout grew. "Then get your Byakugan checked because I'm not beaten!"

"Fine," she smirked proudly. "I will sit on you until you yield."

"Hey!" I groaned. "You can't do that!"

A half-grin danced on her lips as she leaned down. "Then yield."

My lips did an odd pouting frown and I looked away to the side. "No…"

Her bottom lip jutted out. "You are very stubborn, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah," I said, turning back to her. "It's one of my better qualities."

"Not today," she chirped, proud smirk still in place. "Now yield," she said, thrusting her knuckles into my abdomen without warning.

"Ow!" I screamed. "What was that for?!"

"Trying to gather sage chakra."

Managing a sort of grimacing grin, I chuckled, "Ehee...You noticed."

"Yes," she grinned. "I did. Now yield."

A constipated grimace on my face, I squinted hard. "Never."

"Stubborn and resolute," she commented, smiling lightly.

"Believe it."

"Fine," she smirked proudly. "I will go around telling everyone Naruto Uzumaki was a bad sport."

Eyes squinting til they were just about closed, I responded, "You're a lot meaner than I thought you'd be."

"On the battlefield, anything goes," she said innocently. "At least, that's what they taught us at the academy."

Grumbling lowly as I looked away, I mildly considered allowing the stain on my reputation. In the end, I decided against it. Looking back to her, I mumbled lowly, "Fine...I yield."

Immediately, I could see the smile stretching across her lips. "Then I win, yes?"

"Yeah, I guess, whatever…"

Only staying on top of me for a moment longer, she rose to her feet with her grin still in place, an outstretched hand held out towards me as if to help. Using the hand that wasn't limp to support myself and ignoring her attempt at sportsmanship, I continued with a groan. "Please let it be noted that I wasn't using sage mode or the Nine-Tails."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "It was you who agreed, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved dismissively.

Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of clapping from a few feet away, and I turned to my right to see Kakashi, Tsunade, Iruka, and Sakura walking up. My eyes couldn't have rolled harder. Brilliant. I had not only been spectacularly beaten, I had been spectacularly beaten in front of my sensei, my academy teacher, my former crush, and the freaking Hokage. Very unfortunately, Kakashi was the first to speak, his tone even and calm.

"I'm disappointed, Naruto. It seems all those power amps have dulled your battle senses."

Still brooding, I let a flash of the yellow chakra coat my body. Fortunately, that was all it took to reopen my chakra pathways. Sighing a bit, I rose to my feet and replied, "If you want, we can duke it out right now. I'll show you how dull they really are."

Holding up one hand lightly, he said, "That's ok. If you were fooled by a shadow clone jutsu being combined with a transformation jutsu, I can't imagine the fun I'd have with you."

I could hear Tsunade, Iruka, and Sakura chuckle.

"Whatever sensei," I smirked. "Laugh it up. We'll spar again eventually."

He simply shrugged, a small smile apparent under his mask.

"You tried to cheat too," Tsunade added. "Trying to stealthily gather sage chakra? Tsk, tsk tsk…"

"Aw, can it, Granny. Getting grief from Kakashi is more than enough punishment for today.."

She shrugged nonchalantly and smirked ever so slightly. Rolling my eyes with a small scoff, I turned to Sakura, a half smile on my lips. She only shrugged a bit and smirked.

"Gotta say," Iruka chimed in. "Getting beat so soundly like this… Hmmm… Not really befitting someone who wants to be future Hokage. Sure you up to the task?"

"Hahaha," I drawled. "Very funny."

"Hey," he said, holding his shoulders in a shrug and smirking only a little. "I'm just saying, Hinata might be a better prospect at the moment."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I said, resolving to ignore their mild teasing.

"All jokes aside," I heard Sakura say. "That was pretty impressive, Hinata. Maybe we've got another kunoichi who can keep Naruto in line."

At her words, I could see Hinata smile a bit, her gaze falling ever so slightly. Smirking a bit, I chimed in. "Don't be shy about it, Hinata. You fought a good fight."

Looking at me only a little, she nodded in agreement.

"I learned something new today too," I continued, my gaze falling to the ground. "Most times people fight me, they're either good enough to fight all the clones at once or they find some way around them or they just stop me from even making them." Looking back up to her, I continued. "You didn't do either. You somehow created a clone and transformed into me without me knowing."

"It was when I started my rotation," she clarified. "Or rather, right before it. I knew the Eight Trigrams would cause a scene as it got bigger so I made a shadow clone right before I started the spin, then I used the transformation jutsu to act like one of your shadow clones hopping away."

"Genius," I said simply. "Just genius… How'd you know I was the real one?"

"When you jumped up to charge that Rasen-Shuriken, I figured you were my best guess. Clones don't usually strategize, they just do what the user was thinking at first."

"Ah," I smiled. "You were tracking me since then?"

She smiled and nodded. "The Byakugan can do many things."

"Ah, well," I said. "I guess I gave myself away."

"Only a little. I could've been wrong."

The silence only lasting for a moment, Sakura asked, "So what are you two doing out here anyway?"

"Oh," I said. "Well, uh...to be honest, we were both kinda out here for different reasons and found each other, I guess. What about you guys?"

Tsunade was the one to reply. "A cool midnight walk is something of a tradition for me and Sakura. We've done it every year since I first started training her. Kakashi and Iruka happened to be around and decided to tag along. We were actually going to come get you, but we sensed you over here before we got to your house."

"Ah, I see. Yeah, that explains it..."

"Well, how about it?" Sakura chimed in. "You two wanna join the party? We've got room for two more."

I didn't really need to think about it, but I pretended to nonetheless. "Uh...nah," I finally said. "I actually like being alone at times like these. I might head to the Hokage Monument. Just chill out there for a bit."

"Yeah, I got you," Sakura said, something understanding in her voice. "What about you Hinata?"

"Mmm," she said, seeming to ponder it. "I will pass. Like Naruto-kun, I was seeking to be alone tonight."

"Oh, ok,' Sakura said, yet before she could say more, Hinata spoke again, her gaze already back on me. "Yet I did want to finish our conversation from earlier. If you don't mind, I would like to join you on the Monument."

My eyes only the slightest bit wide, I answered, "Yeah, that's cool, I guess."

Her response was a gentle smile and a light nod.

"Well," Tsunade said. "If that's the case, you all better get to it. We may all be night owls, but 2 o'clock might be pushing it a little too far."

I grinned lightly and said. "We're not old. We can take it."

"Oh, ho, ho, hooo," Tsunade said, smiling through gritted teeth and balled fists. "If Hinata hadn't just wiped the floor with you I would slug you so hard."

"Slug me?" I chuckled. "Whoa. Never knew your age, but slug me...Tch, at least 50." Kakashi's single eye went wide, Iruka smiled and shook his head, Sakura rubbed at her eyes with a grin, and Hinata stifled a giggle.

"YOU BRAT!" Tsunade yelled, an open fist already sent careening from above.

"Whoa!" I yelled, sidestepping the blow and grabbing Hinata's hand. "Come on," I rushed, holding back laughter as I pulled her into a sprint. "We gotta get outta here." Her face reddening in the slightest at the sudden change of pace, she soon nodded with a grin of her own and ran right alongside me.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Tsunade yelled. "You come back here and get pummeled this instant!"

"Bye Baa-chan! Love you! Oh, yeah, and the rest of you too, I guess… Uh...Merry Christmas!"

Tsunade stood where she was, watching him run away with beady eyes. When he was finally out of sight, she let the faintest of smirks come to her lips, then a proud huff. "Merry Christmas, kid."

"Now all they need is a mistletoe," Kakashi chirped.

Tsunade and Iruka burst into laughter, and Sakura rolled her eyes comically, a light smile on her lips.

"Oh, Kakashi," Tsunade laughed. "I'm glad we brought you along. I needed that."

Kakashi shrugged simply, his face apparently blank underneath his mask.

As the group started their walk again, Iruka spoke into the silence. "You really think it'll go there though? He did say he wanted to be...you know-"

"Alooone," Tsunade interjected.

"Well, yeah," Iruka replied. "Though he didn't really say it like that..."

"But what if she wants to be," - she curled up next to Iruka, rubbing against him and batting her eyelids up towards his - "Alooone with him."

Only holding her pose for a second, she burst into laughter, Iruka doing the same right after.

"Then I guess they'll be alooone together," Iruka replied.

"Aw," Tsunade cooed, leaning into him more and making a baby face. "So romantic!"

Cackles of laughter could be heard from almost everyone in the group.

Author's Note:

Hope you all enjoyed this update! I really enjoyed writing this chapter through and through and I hope you all enjoyed reading it the same. Tsunade was a highlight for me and I hope she was the same for you all lol. Please do review! I would really appreciate hearing you all's thoughts and comments, especially about certain parts of the story lol. Community is a part of the writing experience I've always loved so I hope to see more reviews so that the community experience is really at its best. Now with that out of the way, I do want to say that there will be some romance next chapter so look forward to that if that's your thing. Should be pretty fun for all of us. Alrighty then, peace out, and I'll see you all in the next one.