Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version:
Chunin Exam Arc Part 1:
Chapter 44: Cloud of Anger
x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x
Naruto struggled to hold back a yawn of boredom; the exhaustion of the day was beginning to catch up to him. Made worse by his hunger and the long pause since Choji's fight ended. After the fight, the proctors had decided to call a break while making sure there wasn't any damage to the structural integrity of the room. Probably for the best, the fighting hall had seen better days. The once worn, but pristine, stone walls and floor were now covered in chips, cracks, and gouges. They'd done a modicum to smooth out the ground following his fight with Kiba, but Hayate's earth jutsu could only go so far before it wore down. It wasn't meant to permanently reshape refined stone and concrete, after all.
A few feet away, Choji let out a groan as his stomach let out a fierce growl. It had taken him a while to wake after Asuma retrieved him from his fight. Where many might have been embarrassed at the loss, their chubby friend had simply bemoaned the lack of food since that morning.
"Ugh, when can I eat?" Choji complained. Where many might have been embarrassed at the loss, their chubby friend had simply bemoaned the lack of food since that morning. Though that wasn't unusual, Choji usually complained if there was too big a break between lunch and his afternoon snack. In this instance, it was a bit more warranted, Naruto thought. Between the fights themselves, time spent rendering aid to participants, and the waits for teams of chunin to come in and smooth out the worst of the damage to the fighting arena, the preliminaries had been going on for three hours.
"Now, now, there's only four more fights, hang in there and I'll make sure to deliver on that barbecue promise." Said Asuma, attempting to placate his student.
The chubby boy's eyes gleamed with interest. "You mean it Asuma-Sensei? Then I can't wait for the end of the fights, all you can eat barbecue, here I come!"
Naruto shared a look and a grin with Sakura. "Same old Choji." She said with a laugh. Green eyes brightened with excitement, she abruptly pointed to the ground. "Looks like we're starting again!"
The sickly proctor, Hayate, walked to the center of the floor, stifling a hacking cough. He had to step around the now re-emerging gouge in the floor. Apparently the chunin had given it up as a lost cause. "Let the selection for the next fight begin."
At the proctor's signal, the video board began to run through the names. Naruto couldn't help but perk up, he might be bored, but there were still some intriguing fighters left. With an electronic beep, the board finally landed on the next participants.
Samui vs. Tenten.
'Speak of the devil. Let's see what you've got, Samui.' The girl showed little reaction, raising a single delicately manicured eyebrow when her name appeared.
"This should be interesting." Sasuki muttered, it was quiet enough she probably didn't expect it to be heard.
"So, you see it too?" He asked. Samui had managed to fade into the background so far, yet there was something about her that screamed 'don't take me likely'.
Sasuki narrowed her eyes in annoyance at him, though on the bright side she didn't offer any scathing comment. "Yeah … there's something about her that seems … competent."
Competent was a good way to phrase it. Samui's reserves were impressive, but not overly so. Everything about her save her looks indicated the same. Perhaps it was the way she carried herself, with a quiet self-assurance that spoke of her belief in her skills. It wasn't the over-the-top brash arrogance of someone like Kiba, but rather a silent predator.
Across the arena on the opposite balcony, the blonde-haired kunoichi pushed away from the wall. The Jonin-sensei for the Cloud, a man with darker blond hair that bore a resemblance to he—a brother perhaps–leaned forward and whispered excitedly in the girl's ear. She nodded, bob-cut hair swaying with the motion, before making her way down towards the stairs.
On the Leaf side of the arena, the reaction from Team Guy was markedly less reserved. He encouraged her very enthusiastically, and very … loudly. He flashed his student a smile with his gleaming teeth. "Yosh! Go Tenten, show your flames of youth against a worthy opponent!"
His attention was split, between encouraging her, and keeping an eye on Neji. The boy with long, brown hair was glaring daggers at Samui. Fire seemed ready to burst from his eyes. If she was aware of her teammates attitude, Tenten didn't let it show. The kunoichi walked down with a confident stride, her eyes locking with Samui's intensely. The pair created quite the contrast.
Samui, tall, elegant, and curvaceous, her blonde hair and light blue eyes at odds with the rather drab grey kimono top she wore partially open over a mesh top that didn't fully conceal her bust. She was as lady-like as a kunoichi could be, just like Kurenai-sensei. Tenten, on the other hand, was a tomboy. Lightly tanned, brown hair tied into twin buns like panda ears, dark eyes, and a slender figure. Her pink qipao dress and dark blue pants were the opposite of her more normal eye and hair coloring. She had calloused hands, not nearly as well groomed as her opponent, it probably wasn't something she concerned herself with.
Hayate stood between the two, checking that both were ready. As soon as he was sure, he raised his hand, and swept it down. "Begin!"
The second the last syllable left Hayate's lips, Samui snapped into action and performed three quick hand seals. Her stomach sucked in, and her cheeks bulged, before she spat out a soccer ball sized orb of water. It flew and splattered at Tenten's feet harmlessly as she danced backwards.
Samui drew the tanto at her waist, the small silver blade gleamed as she raced forward, slashign at Tenten half-heartedly. The Leaf kunoichi danced out of reach agilely, smirking as she reached into her pouch for six kunai. "You'll have to try harder than that!"
Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "Curious, I get the feeling she wasn't trying too hard."
The rest of the group looked at Naruto curiously, save for Shikamaru and the Jonin. "What do you mean? Tenten had to dodge." Ino asked.
"But it wasn't all that hard, was it? Both attacks were planned. Not to mention, that Water Ball jutsu can be way quicker." He replied as Tenten threw her kunai at Samui. Her aim was perfect, the kunai grouped evenly spaced to ensure one of the small black knives would hit their mark no matter where Samui dodged to.
Ching-ting-ching!
Naruto stared as Samui swung her tanto, all the kunai were knocked from the air feet before she touched them. Like and invisible giant hand swatted them away. Was it a wind jutsu, he wondered. Activating his Sharingan, Naruto witnessed a pale blue chakra rippling along Samui's tanto. It had an oddly cool and tranquil look … like water. His eyes darted to the patch of concrete underneath Samui, exactly where her water jutsu had landed. It was bone dry.
"Kakashi-sensei, is that unusual?" Naruto asked quickly.
"As far as I know? Yes. Very few shinobi use water chakra flow." The Jonin replied, having picked up the unique use of chakra with his bare eye.
Shikamaru groaned as his arms dangled over the rails, he had figured out the trick too. "Great, that makes another loss for the Leaf."
"But the match just started! Did I miss something, or do you want to explain for the rest of us?" Ino rose an eyebrow, crossing her arms in consternation.
Naruto glanced back to the fight, Samui was knocking away weapons as Tenten circled around her, trying desperately to break the Cloud kunoichi's invisible defense. With each deflection the girl's expression grew more frustrated. She probably had no clue how her opponent was avoiding her attacks.
"Those first attacks were a trap. She's using a chakra flow to take water from her jutsu and make an invisible blade. It's not as bad as a wind user like Temari, but still a bad match for Tenten." Naruto gestured, as Tenten pulled out a scroll and began to unseal different kinds of weapons with tiny puffs of smoke. Long kunai, a demon shuriken, even a scythe. Samui summoned a powerful jet of water to knock the first couple away, before forming her first visible blade of water. It was the size of a katana, and she used it to easily cut apart the weapons. "Tenten there is a long-range fighter, who uses Shurikenjutsu. If Samui can keep Tenten in her sights it'll be hard to break through that defense."
As Tenten continued to fail to strike, she became more desperate, throwing an ever-increasing array of weapons at Samui. The sound of steel clattering to the ground created a headache inducing echo through the room, as Samui sliced the weapons in half and batted them out of the air by converting her blade into a whip. It was highly impressive, showing a high degree of skill in shape manipulation.
Sasuki leaned forward in interest, her Sharingan active as she watched the fight between her fellow kunoichi. With her frustration mounting, Tenten pulled two scrolls from her tool pouch and placed them on the ground with a few rapid hand seals she crossed her arms.
"Rising Twin Dragons!"
Smoke erupted in dense cloud, spreading quickly throughout the fighting area. True to the techniques name, two smoke dragons rose, twisting and turning around each other. As the smoke cleared, they saw the scrolls Tenten had placed down unfurled and hanging to the ground. Summoning seals spanned the length of the scrolls, no doubt meant to unleash a barrage of weapons. Naruto's brow furrowed as he noticed the smoke still clearing, the upward momentum of the scrolls slowly dying. Surely, Tenten should already be making her move.
"Something is off." He muttered.
Slowly, the technique smoke died down, and the reason for the delay was crystal clear. Tenten stood still, bound tightly by five ropes of water tangled around the girls arms, legs and forehead to keep her perfectly still. Samui approached her casually with a swinging gate. The scrolls tumbled to the ground with a great rustling of paper as Samui brought her tanto up to Tenten's throat and pressed firmly into the flesh. A stray droplet of water dripped down onto Tenten's top, a darkened patch of red forming on the pink cloth.
"I couldn't just stand there and let you complete that, that wouldn't be cool. Now, please surrender."
Tenten swallowed heavily, her throat bobbing nervously. "I … surrender."
"The winner of the match is Samui." Hayate declared.
With a casual ram sign, Samui released her water jutsu to fall to the ground with a loud splat. She never looked back as she turned and made her way back towards the stairs to rejoin her team, leaving Tenten to gather her scattered and broken tools dejectedly.
"These foreign ninjas are kinda insane with how strong they are. She took down that Tenten girl like it was nothing!" Choji remarked.
"It wouldn't surprise me if that was just the tip of the iceberg for her. Any smart person isn't showing all their cards here." Naruto had to wonder what else Samui might be capable of. Her skillset was certainly a bit unique from what he knew about Cloud shinobi. The preferred lightning, and traditional sword fighting.
Raised voices down the walkway from them drew Naruto's attention to an argument amongst Team Guy. Well, there was only one raised voice. Neji had a thunderous look on his face, berating Tenten. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he tried to catch what was being said.
"…shameful. How could you lose to one of those Cloud shinobi?"
Guy was quick to step in, placing a hand on Neji's shoulder and whispering harshly into his ear. Whatever he said got the boy to stop harassing his teammate, though that just made him take to glaring hatefully at the Cloud shinobi.
Ino scoffed at the boy's reaction to his teammate's loss. "Jeez, what crawled up his butt?" Naruto narrowed his eyes; his fellow blonde had a point. Ever since they'd been here Neji had an unhealthy fixation on the Cloud ninjas. Such a furious reaction to a loss, it wasn't normal.
"Kakashi-sensei, is there something between the Hyuuga and the Hidden Cloud?" He asked abruptly.
Kakashi was cool as could be, casually turning the page of his book. "Now what would give you that impression?"
"I'm guessing the weird feeling that's been coming from the teams with Hyuuga." Shikamaru commented drily, butting into the conversation. As proof, he jerked his thumb towards where a recovered Kiba, and Shino, stood on either side of Hinata like two bodyguards. By now they'd successfully drawn the attention of the rest of the group. The most telling part was Asuma's reaction. He wasn't as good at hiding it as Kakashi. His shoulders tensed, and Naruto saw his eyes dart to Team 8.
"Let's just say there's a reason the Hidden Cloud tends to avoid us and leave it at that. The rest is more of a clan politics thing, not our business." Kakashi answered coolly. Going unsaid was the fact they should drop it.
Naruto frowned, not very pleased with the unspoken order. The Uchiha Clan weren't the only clan with issues being drug up in the exams, it seemed. He was annoyed at being asked to drop it. Perhaps this was karma for his own habit of keeping secrets, though part of him didn't want to draw that parallel. He didn't consider himself a hypocrite.
Bwwaaaan!
"That's a hell of a coincidence." Naruto's eyes snapped to the display board; the next participants had been chosen. He'd been so distracted he completely missed the cycling of names, though it was who it landed on that had him curious.
Neji Hyuuga vs. Hinata Hyuuga
'Interesting … that Hyuuga brat, he's practically bathed in negative emotions. Hatred, jealously, rage. For such an aloof looking fellow he's quite bloodthirsty.'
'I already figured out he didn't like the Cloud ninja Nine.' Naruto kept his eyes on Neji as the boy walked down to the fighting arena with a confident strut. In contrast, Hinata was slow to follow. Her every step spoke of hesitation, even with the gentle encouragement and prodding of her team. 'Odd, she seemed more confident than before, why is she so shy now?'
The fox scoffed in his mind. 'If you'd have let me finish, the reason would be obvious. All those emotions shot through the roof when the match was revealed. The one he's directing his feelings towards … is that girl.'
Naruto's eyebrows shot into his hairline, his eyes tracking Neji with confusion. Why would anyone possibly have such dark emotions towards Hinata? The two Hyuuga finally faced off, Neji standing still as a statue, boring a hole into Hinata's forehead with his unnerving gaze. She stood there shifting nervously. Hayate stepped between them, eyeing both carefully.
"Are you both ready?" He received two nods, one resolute and sharp, from Neji, and the other, hesitant, and slow, from Hinata. "Then you may begin when ready."
The proctor stepped back, leaving Hinata and Neji alone in the center of the fighting area. Neji's eyes never left Hinata. They were unflinching, unwavering, like the two angry white stones. Even without saying a word, it was like he was picking her to pieces, dismantling everything that she was.
A heavy, awkward stillness spread in the room. Nobody wanted to break the uncomfortable silence. The large arena suddenly felt a lot smaller. As if it wasn't just the people waiting for something to happen, like the room itself was leaning in to hear and witness the slightest hint of action. Finally, that torturing silence was broken by Neji's cold, harsh voice.
"Give up now, Lady Hinata. You know you've no chance of winning. The only reason you entered these exams was so your teammates could advance."
Hinata waivered. "That's not … that's not true … I'm … different, I've changed."
"What childish nonsense." Neji scoffed. "Changed? Don't make me laugh. Just like leopards can't change their spots, a failure always fails. And someone with a weak mind will always be weak. You know you can't possibly beat me, these all-seeing eyes of mine can see it all." Veins bulged grotesquely around Neji's pale eyes, the silver iris' piercing Hinata like a bird of prey. "Every little twitch you make, every dart of your eyes, I can read it all. You've already realized you can't beat me, so why bother? Why try so hard to fight fate?"
Naruto bit the inside of his cheek, barely restraining his rising temper. Something in the way Neji so callously dismissed Hinata struck a nerve with him. Part of him yearned to shout out and tell the arrogant Hyuuga to shut up. Another part, the part that remembered his annoyance at the girl during the joint training, couldn't help but wonder if he was that much different than Neji. After all, didn't he dismiss Kiba out of hand all the time?
'No, that's stupid. I do it out of annoyance. This guy … he really believes he's better than everyone else.' Naruto's lip curled in distaste. Neji was the type of arrogant he despised.
Hinata trembled, her eyes darting around nervously. Finally, they came to rest on Naruto himself. Without even realizing it, he found himself giving her a nod of encouragement. 'Kick his ass.' He tried to say with his eyes. The uncertainty faded from the mousy girls' eyes, replaced with steel. She squared her shoulders and stared at Neji intently.
"I refuse to back down. This is my chance to prove myself, and I'm not giving it up. So, let's fight, Brother!" Veins pulsed around Hinata's eyes as she activated her own Byakugan.
She fell into a relaxed stance, one instinctively mirrored by Neji, who sneered at her derisively. "So be it. I gave you a chance."
For a single moment, they stood still. They measured each other, waiting to strike. Then, in an instant they struck. The pair danced around each other, throwing strikes jabbing blows with their hands. Chakra hummed at the tips of their fingers, sinking through the skin, and attacking the soft flesh and organs inside. It was a brutal style, one that looked so gentle. That's why the Hyuuga were so infamous to those outside the Hidden Leaf.
"She's doing pretty good, they're almost even!" Sakura smiled, as Hinata twirled around a blow from Neji and jabbed him in the shoulder.
"Yeah … it look's like that, but it's not." Sasuki replied.
Sakura looked at the other girl in disbelief. "You need your eyes checked."
To the untrained eye it looked even. Hinata gave as good as she got, slipping away from blows from her cousin and retaliating with her own. But the Sharingan made something painfully obvious, Neji wasn't trying hard.
"I hate to admit it, but she's right." Naruto agreed–somewhat reluctantly–with Sasuki. He pressed his lips into a thin line. "He's not trying, yet."
The tide of the battle quickly turned. True to Naruto's fears, Neji began to pepper Hinata with more devastating attacks, at one point blocking off the chakra points in her arms, before he began to truly lay into the girl. He wasn't just beating Hinata, he was toying with her. Intentionally going for less important organs to attack with his Gentle Fist. All the while, he spoke down on Hinata.
Still, Hinata showed her heart, even with grievous injuries, she continued to get up. Naruto's hands gripped the metal rail tightly, threatening to crush the bar with raw strength alone. The way Neji berated Hinata … he could hardly stand it. With one last terrible blow, Neji sent Hinata sprawling to the ground. She lay there motionless. The long-haired boy harumphed, turning his back on his opponent.
"Look at you, what made you think you could compete with me. Give up and accept your fate for what it is. Once a weakling, always a weakling. I pity you. Proctor, call the match."
Hayate looked at Hinata, raising his hand as if to call the match. Suddenly, the girl began to tremble. Impossibly, she clawed her way back to her feet, limbs shaky, blood leaking from her mouth, and eyes drooping dangerously. Neji spun to look at Hinata in shock.\
"It's I … who pity you, brother. Even now … you're hurting, hurting because of the difference between the Main Branch and the Side Branch."
For only a moment, her whispered words made the hall silent. Neji stared at Hinata blankly, then a look of unquenchable rage overtook his features. Naruto's breath hitched as he saw what was about to happen. A mad dash, chakra gathering at his fingertips in fury, a strike to the heart. The heart seizing in her chest.
"STOP HIM, HE'S GOING TO KILL HER!"
A girls scream pierced the air. Naruto's Sharingan turned a split second into what seemed like an eternity, as his shouted warning registered with the startled proctor and the gathered Jonin. Guy and Kurenai were the first to react, quickly followed by Asuma. With every heartbeat, Neji grew closer. At the last second, mere feet away from his strike landing, Guy and Asuma appeared behind Neji and gripped him tightly by the neck and arms. Kurenai materialized to stand protectively between the furious genin and her student.
Neji thrashed in Asuma and Guy's grasp. "WHAT IS THIS, FAVORITISM FOR THE MAIN BRANCH?" The boy was apoplectic with rage, totally unaware of his surroundings.
Guy leaned in quickly, hissing something into his student's ear. The man in spandex was so quiet it was impossible to even hear the words. As Neji's furious expression slowly turned blank, Naruto felt a firm hand gripping his wrist. His eyes snapped up to meet the unusually serious gaze of his sensei, who's hand was gripping Naruto's wrist and preventing him from drawing Senbonzakura. Naruto's breath stilled. He hadn't even realized his hand was on the hilt. 'When … did I do that?'
"Easy there Naruto, no need to act rashly. It seemed like you stopped on your own, but I figured better safe than sorry."
Naruto nodded hesitantly, his head still spinning and hands tingling as the sudden burst of adrenaline finally ceased. He breathed in deeply, now wasn't the time to lose his head. In the end Neji had been stopped, now all that was left was dealing with the aftermath.
Neji had finally calmed himself, his features now schooled and blank just like before. Though his eyes still burned with suppressed rage. As he left the arena floor, medics came rushing out to tend to Hinata. They hovered around her worriedly; one nurse had already activated the Mystic Palm to diagnose Hinata as they rushed her away.
"I'm picking up at least three different compromised organs, including the lungs, we have to move fast!" The medic team began to rush about around Hinata, trying desperately to stabilize her so they could carry her out.
He tried to block out the worried mutterings of the medic team, lest it stoke his rage. It was already hard to ignore the self-satisfied air Neji now carried. 'What kind of bastard get's satisfaction from nearly killing his cousin?' His rage simmered.
The boiling point was the smirk that flashed across Neji's lips, as he looked at Hinata. Only there for a second, it would have been easy to miss. Naruto walked towards Team Guy briskly, the alarmed warnings of his team drowned out by the sound of his blood pounding in his ears.
He stalked up to Neji, passing the remaining members of Team 8, and snatched the high-collar of the smug bastard's beige zip-up shirt to get right into his face.
"What are you so pleased about, you two are cousins or something, right?"
Neji wasn't phased by his aggression. "Yes, we are. She's a failure, Lady Hinata should have accepted that instead of fighting it." He tilted his head curiously, as if Naruto was a puzzle he couldn't solve. "Why do you even care?"
"Why do I care?" Naruto's voice cracked; he couldn't believe the ass was that clueless. "Cause you think you get to decide who's a failure!" Neji simply rose an unimpressed eyebrow. Naruto's nostrils flared in anger, a fire burned in his stomach. His chest was tight. He was a hair away from slamming his fist into Neji's smug face. Before he got the chance, Lee grabbed his wrist, preventing Naruto from following through on his urge. When Naruto turned his glare on Lee, the boy shook his head.
"Naruto, I understand how you feel. But do not throw your opportunity away. There will be an opportunity to prove your point, in the finals. Who knows, maybe I'll beat you to the chance. The failure beating the genius, would that not be a great story?"
Lee's words were soothing, cooling Naruto's anger just enough. He took a deep breath in, his ribs expanding slowly, then breathed out. The worst of his rage went with it. What was left was simmering, more calculating. It had focus and purpose. Under the tense gaze of the other members of Team Guy, Naruto slowly set Neji down. He gave the boy a cold smile, smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt.
"You know Lee, you're right. I'm gonna go get a breath of fresh air." Naruto's eyes never left Neji's. Leaning in, he whispered so only Neji could hear. "You better hope we don't meet in the finals. Cause I'll show you exactly where you stand in that little hierarchy of strength."
Naruto swept past Neji, and towards the staircase. He wasn't lying when he said he needed to get a breath of fresh air. Hopefully it would settle his mind, which raced with thoughts of what he wanted to do to Neji, as well as his concern for Hinata. The medics were still working on getting her stable for transport. He threw them a worried glance from the doorway. Hopefully, everything would be okay.
x-x-x-x-x-x- NTUC -x-x-x-x-x-x
Tensions are rising between some of the contestants, and there are still matches left. Who will be the final two participants in the Finals?
As always, I want to thank my patrons for supporting my work. If you'd like to get access to chapters early, you can find me by entering the patr eon web domain and adding /rinnetaicho. Memberships start as low as $1. Chapter 45 is already up there, and I'm up to Chapter 9 on The God of Wind.
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Until Next Time,
RinneTaicho, Signing Off!
