Chapter 7: A rock never bends, beaks, or folds.
Naruto arrived next to Hinata just in time to give her a parting message before she was announced to fight Yugito Nii. "Show them how strong the matriarch of the clan is hina-hime." Naruto said quietly in Hinata's ear. Hinata needed no more motivation than that, she was already planning on showing how strong she'd become. She had been given an advantage that few shinobi have ever been lucky, or unlucky, enough to have and she would show that it hadn't been a mistake.
She would be the strongest in the world alongside Naruto. She would make everything into her own and help lead her new clan to be feared like the senju or uchiha. She was soon to be Hinata Namikaze-Uzumaki and a jinchuriki wouldn't stand in her way. Hinata used her unique shunshin to appear in the arena opposite of Yugito.
Yugito smirked and goaded the leaf genin, "You should forfeit girly, you have no idea what you're getting into." "If you're referring to your jinchuriki status, I'm well aware and I'm not concerned. You should thank the nibi though because Naruto-kun probably wouldn't appreciate me killing you. You'll survive this match." Hinata said plainly.
Yugito was taken aback but wouldn't show it. Genma took this time to signal for the start of the match. Hinata loved to play with opponents' minds and she hoped Yugito would bite. "Not sure how you know so much but if I use my biju's chakra there won't be much of you left. But Enough talk, you will pay for my teammates' lives Hyuuga." Yugito wouldn't fall for the taunts this time, she could still feel the fresh cuts from the aburame that even the medics couldn't heal. Hinata figured
Yugito was more focused than when she fought Shino so she would keep her cool but it wouldn't hurt to try one more shot. "Come then little kitty, I'll show you why those genin died in vain. Everyone will fall to the Namikaze-Uzumaki clan." Hinata chided. Yugito barely kept her cool but decided it was time to shut up the girl. Yugito charged at Hinata with her claws extended.
Stands. "Jinchuriki, Nibi. Wait, is that what Gaara is too? It means they hold a tailed beast. Does that mean Naruto is one too?" Shikamaru said, finally figuring out what was going on with Gaara and the nasty chakra he'd felt during the previous match. The gathered jonin were hoping to avoid the topic of jinchuriki but Hinata had other plans and shikamaru was smart enough to connect most of the dots almost instantly.
"What's a jinchuriki?" Choji asked. Asuma sighed before responding. "Jinchuriki means, power of human sacrifice. A jinchuriki is what we call the people who have one of the 9 tailed beasts sealed inside of them. Gaara was the one-tails jinchuriki, and apparently this kumo kunoichi is the 2 tails jinchuriki. I'm sure you all know what the tailed beasts are." Asuma said with a sigh.
"What about Naruto-kun?" Ino said. "For that answer you'll need to speak to Naruto directly." Kakashi spoke firmly, giving Ino and Shikamaru a look to say he meant it. The younger generation of the konoha group began to wonder if he held the kyuubi and if maybe that's why he'd had to kill others at such a young age. "Did you just hear what else she said? Namikaze-Uzumaki clan?" Ino asked, confused and dreading the logical answer to the situation. Kakashi giggled and suddenly had his favorite book covering his face.
"Oh wow the gaki works fast, maybe the CRA won't be a problem. Ahh" Asuma said and was elbowed by Kurenai. "What's going on, what are they talking about?" Demanded Ino towards Haku. Haku giggled before responding, "I guess that was the announcement, Hinata-chan is moving to the compound if she's promoted to chunin. Her and Naruto-kun are engaged." Haku said happily.
Sakura knew about Haku's new relationship with Naruto and about his relationship with Hinata but was surprised to see he was engaged. She wondered if Haku was engaged to him as well. Sakura's mother had explained all about the CRA in case they were able to push it onto Sasuke since he was the only who currently held the sharingan. Ino was quiet thinking about the CRA part, she was sure she'd heard something about it.
Yugito launched a flurry of slashes with her claws tossing in slicing kicks but was surprised at the ease of which Hinata danced around her blows like she was an unwilling ballet partner. Yugito sped up her strikes yet was only able to cut a bit of the leaf genin's hair. Yugito suddenly noticed a light tap and remembered she was fighting a Hyuga before flipping backwards and then creating further distance.
She saw Hinata smirk and Yugito took a look at her arms and legs. There were a few purple spots on each of her arms and a couple on her legs and she was beginning to feel a sharp pain in her limbs. She could still use chakra but circulating it past the closed tenketsu hurt. "Don't forget, I'll always be a hyuga too little cat." Hinata said.
Yugito cursed her arrogance at believing she could take on a hyuga in close combat without the nibi but she had a lot of tricks left. Yugito performed her Katon mouse hairball jutsu and sent three flaming mouses towards the cocky hyuga. Hinata had seen this jutsu used against Shino and it wouldn't work against her. Hinata swiftly dodged the flaming mice and continued to dodge the following hairballs on her trail.
While evading the dozens of flaming hairballs, Hinata began gathering water from the air and ground. She stopped running and with a single ram seal she muttered, suition all encompassing waterwall. A funnel of water pooled and swirled around her as the flaming hairballs collided with her jutsu. Steam filled the air and the hairballs were washed away.
Hinata continued her jutsu pulling from the reserves on her arm guard and expanding the volume of water forming her defense. After going through a few hand seals, she muttered suiton exploding water wave, and the water surrounding her was propelled outwards all around her in crushing waves. Yugito watched Hinata pull off a water jutsu followed by a larger water jutsu with no water source in sight, something she'd never seen before.
She charged the leaf genin's defense and barely had time to jump backwards to avoid the crushing blow of the wave, her catlike reflexes and agility coming in handy. Yugito was searching for Hinata when the hyuga jumped from the remnants of the water jutsu and engaged Yugito in taijutsu. Yugito extended her claws and used her reach to keep Hinata at bay until she found an opening.
Yugito was able to sidestep a quick jyuken strike from Hinata and sent a slash towards her exposed shoulder before the slippery hyuga danced off. Yugito had a fleeting moment of victory when her claws tore through Hinata but the leaf genin dispersed into water. Yugito's shinobi senses were screaming for her to move and Yugito listened. Yugito dodged to the side but felt a few more light taps before she'd created some distance. Hinata charged Yugito to push her attack and was able to close off the tenketsu in Yukito's left leg completely and was aiming for Yugito's arms next.
Yugito had no choice but to reveal her own defensive technique and sacrificed a few tenketsu in her arm to complete 3 hand seals at her fastest speed. "Raiton proximity sparks!" Yugito yelled. After clasping her hands together, Yugito let loose sparks of electricity that jolted from her body creating a perimeter of a few meters where she shocked everything including Hinata. Hinata had attempted to close off Yugito's tenketsu before she completed the Justu but she'd underestimated the Kumo genin's seal speed.
Hinata was caught in the middle of Yugito's jutsu and bit back a scream as she used as much chakra as she could to withstand the jutsu. Hinata was too slow to stop the jutsu and now she was in a predicament. After a few seconds, it was clear that Yugito wasn't going to stop the jutsu so Hinata fought through the pain long enough to perform a ram seal and channel her chakra into the ground.
A spike of ice erupted from the ground and nearly impaled Yugito forcing the Kumo genin to retreat. Hinata pulled herself to her feet and took some much needed deep breaths. "What's wrong, you seem shocked" Yugito laughed at her own joke and gave Hinata a devious smirk. "Alright little kitty, it's time for you to chill out," Hinata replied motherly.
The konoha genin went through a short set of hand seals before gathering all the water from her last jutsu around the arena. The water began to freeze and take the shape of jagged spikes, Hinata preferred this version of the ice needle jutsu because it was more deadly. Yugito was trying to figure out how a hyuga could create ice, as far as Yugito knew, it was a bloodline or used by those in the snow.
She was slightly worried when she saw jagged spikes of ice surrounding her but wouldn't panic. She saw that the jutsu wasn't completely formed and used this time to jump away then ran to create a bit of distance. Hinata saw her target escaping and sent her jutsu towards Yugito in a deadly rain of ice. Yugito used her distance to run through hand seals for, katon great blue torch, and sent a light blue blanket of intense flames towards Hinata's jutsu. Yugito was sure her flames would decimate the ice but wasn't prepared whatsoever when smaller ice shards made it through her blanket of flames.
She tried to dodge the half melted shards of ice but was impaled in a few non vital places and received some deep cuts. As her fire jutsu died down she looked across the arena to see an impassive Hinata breathing slightly harder than normal. Hinata saw the damage her jutsu caused and smirked inwardly. HInata charged in to keep pressure on Yugito but had to dodge blue flaming kunai that slowed her down.
After dodging a particularly close one that singed her sleeve, she noticed a heavy buildup of chakra in Yugito's stomach and lungs. She instantly stopped running and ran through hand seals for hyotonice wall. She gathered the water around her and raised a meter thick wall of ice just as Yugito let loose a scalding torrent of blue flames from her mouth. With no hand seals or warning to Hinata's surprise. The jutsu collided with Hinata's ice wall and it became a test of wills. Both kunoichi kept up their jutsu attempting to outlast the other.
Yugito turned up the flames and they became a bright light blue. Hinata tried to hold her ice wall together but the longer they fought the hotter Yugito's flames burned. Hinata jolted away before her wall exploded. She settled a small distance away from her opponent and was unbothered. She'd taken everything Yugito threw at her yet she herself was just getting started. It was about time for her opponent to use her biju's chakra and Hinata would crush her trump card before finishing it with a new jutsu she'd created with Haku. Now she just needed to give a little push.
"As I said, your comrades died in vain, only a couple even had a chance to beg for their pitiful lives before we rained their blood over the forest. I can see why Kumo wanted to kidnap a little hyuga girl. Standards can't be too high nowadays if you're the best kumo has to offer. Maybe it's time for the little kitty to take a nap." Yugito was feeling smug and somewhat in control before the bitch of a kunoichi had to go acting all nonchalant and mighty. "You think having two bloodlines will save you? You think your clan or clans, whatever, will save you? You've barely been skating by but have the audacity. Ugh, enough. We'll see if Namikaze needs a little kitty when you're dead," Yugito said through barred teeth.
Kage box, "I'm assuming the hyuga with hyoton is engaged to the Namikaze by her declaration." Onoki said through gritted teeth. He wouldn't allow the Namikaze to continue their clan with all these bloodlines to form a powerful clan, let alone if they learn the 4th hokage's two signature jutsu. "There hasn't been an official clan announcement but we are hoping to build the Namikaze-Uzumaki clan to be one of the strongest in the village." Hiruzen said, showing the village's support for Naruto and Hinata.
Hiruzen was old but wise and he knew Onoki. The old thick headed kage still had a vendetta against Naruto's family. Hiruzen would be worried for Naruto and Hinata in the exams if it weren't for how strong Naruto was. Kurotsuchi would no doubt be a ringer for Iwa, personally trained by Onoki and was a young prodigy according to his spies. She wouldn't be a genin at 16 but Naruto could more than likely handle it.
Either way it wouldn't be good, Onoki probably wants his prodigy granddaughter to kill Naruto and end the Namikaze line making her a perfect candidate to take his hat once he makes her strong enough. If and when Naruto kills her, Onoki will be furious. It's well known the 4th hokage killed Onoki's son, Kurotsuchi's father. Dark times were ahead of the Ninja world, Hiruzen wouldn't stop this. It would only delay or worsen the situation.
Tsunade and Jiraiya were of the same mindset and with Hinata painting a target on her back with Naruto fighting Kurotsuchi next, they barely had time to take in Hinata's use of hyoton. The next match would possibly be the catalyst of the next great world war. "That hyuga is gifted, Hokage-sama, and the hyoton is surprising but the match isn't done yet." A, said angered and disappointed at konoha's show of strength while disrespecting kumo and his ringer had yet to make her pay. But Yugito still had her trump card. Too bad for the hyuga. "The hyuga seems too calm and her disrespect is calculated. I can see it in her eyes, she has a plan." Darui said contemplatively.
Stands, in the hyuga section the hyuga clan elders were in an uproar about letting such a gem get away from the clan, Hiashi ignored them in favor of watching his daughter proudly. Nee-san is strong and I've never seen a ninja use Ice," Hinabi said. "Yes, she's no doubt a genius and her ability to use ice is 'rare'. I'll have to ask her about it when the exams are over." Hiashi said.
Konoha group, Asuma started channeling chakra to his lips in an effort to keep his cigs from falling every time he was shocked. "Hyoton? Since when did a hyuga have the yuki clan's bloodline?" Kurenai asked, baffled at something that should be impossible. Everyone looked at Yamato who once again took up his dejected expression. "At this point, I'm just a team leader, I know nothing about my genin apparently. Might I advise you to ask the last remaining member of the yuki clan. She'll know more than me as usual."
"How would we do that? If I'm correct, the yuki clan is from Kiri." Shikamaru said. "You're right but we have the last known member of the yuki clan here in konoha and she was previously the only known holder of the hyoton bloodline. There are hidden techniques to use Ice in the land of snow but it isn't the real hyoton like Hinata's using. Isn't that right Haku," Kakashi said with an eye smile.
Haku sighed before responding, "Originally, I was the last hyoton user and I'm the only remaining member from my clan. I won't tell you how Hinata can use hyoton, it's not my place but hers is the real thing and honestly, she may have more talent in it than I do." "I don't know how but I have a hunch that Naruto has something to do with it." Kakashi said. Haku simply smirked at the silver haired jonin before returning her attention to the match.
Contestant's box, Sasuke was feeling left out and ignored as the only other members in the contestants box were in a never ending glaring contest trying to see who had the stronger killing intent. He tried to copy Hinata's jutsu but he couldn't perform any and he only got one raiton jutsu from Yugito so far. The kumo girl's fire jutsu had special chakra he couldn't recreate.
He'd memorized Hinata's movements but dealing with them would be, different, to say the least. He was still sure he'd win his next match though. Naruto was twitching in anticipation until Hinata was finished with Yugito. He was following the match with his senses and the future matriarch of his clan was entering the final stages of her battle. Then he'd have his prey.
Kurotsuchi didn't fear the Namikaze, she was nothing less than a jounin with large reserves and jutsu so she wouldn't be intimidated by the leaf she was about to crush.
Yugito was bleeding more than advised by medical nin, she couldn't mold chakra in her left leg, and her chakra control was horrible due to so many tenketsu closed. Her seamless cat's breath jutsu should've done the job but the damned hyuga could probably see her molding the jutsu and had a heads up. Yugito decided her pride would be fine with a little help.
"Nibi, can I borrow some of your chakra to shut this bitch up," Yugito said inwardly to her biju. "Here you go kitten, but be careful, she seems crafty, prepared.'' Matatabi, the Nibi replied. Yugito paid no attention to the warning as a shroud of bubbly blue chakra with black swirls engulfed her. Yugito was furious and to Hinata's dismay, her wounds were healing and tenketsu were open.. Hinata watched as Yugito prepared to try and rip her apart knowing she'd have to suppress the kunoichi with the tag quickly.
With no warning Yugito lounged towards Hinata at a frightening speed. Hinata barely had time to maneuver her body in an attempt to dodge a slash from Yugito's bijuu enhanced nails. Hinata received a deep cut along her side and then a few more slashes from Yugito's continued onslaught. The kumo jinchuriki couldn't believe how slippery her opponent was despite being able to land hits. Having enough, Hinata forced chakra from all of her tenketsu and began to spin, performing her clan's ultimate defense, the rotation.
Yugito was blown backwards and hit the ground in a large crash. Hinata stopped her jutsu and prepared for the salty kittens attack. From the ground the Kumo kunoichi spat multiple blue fireballs at Hinata who dodged them narrowly and returned a taunting gesture. Yugito popped back up and charged Hinata again with more power behind her strike. Yugito landed a solid hit into Hinata's chest with her claws.
Her excitement was short-lived when Hinata shattered into thousands of ice shards. Yugito's bijuu cloak was enough to defend her from the exploding ice clone but she was distracted long enough for Hinata to jolt step behind her and place a sealing tag on her back. Since the tag took a couple seconds to bind Hinata used the chakra molded in her stomach to spit a giant glob of water on Yugito while using a ram hand seal to freeze it.
By the time the seal bonded, the ice had melted and a leaf kunoichi had severe burns on her hand. Hinata had created and switched with an Ice clone in the moment she had before Yugito resumed her attack and prepared for her opportunity to place the bijuu suppressing tag Naruto had given her. Yugito's bijuu cloak dissipated, she couldn't contact Matatabi anymore and she began to panic. Her wounds weren't healed yet and now she had the exhaustion caused by Nibi's chakra along with her injuries. "How?" Yugito asked after a few heavy breaths.
"My fiance's an Uzumaki, I'm sure you can do the math." Hinata said impassively. Yugito's eyes widened, she didn't think any genin would be carrying a bijuu suppressing seal when the seals were so rare in the first place. Hinata gave Yugito a smirk before going through hand seals. "Night night little kitten," She said as she performed hyoton fish frenzy jutsu.
Dozens of sharp fish shaped pieces of Ice floated around Hinata before rocketing towards Yugito in waves. Yugito couldn't use her biju but her tenketsu were reopened by the bijuu cloak so she could still fight. Yugito dodged the first wave of fish and realized how damaged her body was, she'd lost a lot of blood and was beginning to feel weak. She could try to finish it with a last jutsu if she could survive the one on her trail.
Yugito dodged the next wave of fish and was overcome with a sense of dread when she noticed that the fish followed her and would continue attacking until they hit something, just like her jutsu. "The audacity," she thought. Yugito started a set of hand seals but had to abandon them when another wave of fish came flying in her direction. She used kunai infused with fire chakra to destroy some of the incoming fish but there seemed to be more than she remembered. The fish were leading her right to Hinata and that'd be the end for her so she used a kunai with a paper bomb attached to create an opened.
Once switching directions, she noticed that there were even more fish following her and they were closer than before. Yugito dodged once again but was caught on the leg and her back by a couple of the fish. Instantly, Yugito's leg began to freeze and her back was doing the same. Yugito tried to dodge the next wave of fish but was too slow with her frozen leg and was hit by a few more. Hinata continued adding more of her frozen buddies because it took relatively low chakra and they'd follow Yugito as long as the girl had Hinata's water on her.
Hinata watched approvingly as her jutsu connected a few times and knew her opponent's mobility would be weakened so she sent all of her frozen fishies towards Yugito to finish the jinchuriki. In all 14 years of her life, she never been outclassed by someone her age. In kumo, Yugito was nearly unrivaled among her peers, but even they couldn't keep up when she used Nibi's chakra.
She was finding out just how reliant she was on her bijuu, it was pathetic. After a quick substitution and a foiled attempt to hide, she was out of options. the jutsu was closing in, and fast. The kumo kunoichi ran through hand seals for a last ditch effort. "Katon, Feline's Scorn!" She screamed while gathering the lingering chakra form nibi and infusing it into her last jutsu. A massive jet of blue flames erupted from the kunoichi's mouth and evaporated a path through a school of frozen fish towards Hinata.
While Hinata didn't expect her opponent to have any fight left, she wasn't unprepared and jolted away with her lessened version of the jolt step. It was good enough to for her to cleanly dodge the poorly aimed jutsu. Hinata even had time to direct almost half of her frozen fishies out of the line of fire.
Once the jutsu died down and her opponent was clearly exhausted, Hinata sent her fish to finish the job. Yugito could see Hinata's jutsu converging but there was nothing to do but cover her vitals and use her chakra to try and withstand the attack. All her fire jutsu's strong enough to melt the ice used nibi's chakra.
The remaining fish began pelting Yugito, cutting her with shards of ice and freezing her skin where the fish made contact. Yugito couldn't help but scream as the pain became unbearable but the fish kept attacking until Genma intervened. Moments later Yugito was encased with a thin layer of bloody ice. Alive but completely incapacitated.
Before the resolute finish, Genma had nearly face planted when he'd seen Hinata suppress a jinchuriki with a seal. Even if a shinobi is able to get ahold of the tag, being able to properly place it on a rampaging jinchuriki is a problem in itself and this girl did it like it was a training session. He looked to Yugito and saw her frozen in bloody ice and called the match in Hinata's favor. "Winner, Hinata Hyugaâ or Namikaze-Uzumaki... Hinata."
The crowd cheered even louder than they did for Naruto, it was obvious they were enjoying the event. As medics arrived in the arena to thaw Yugito and heal Hinata, Tsunade appeared in the arena via shunshin next to Hinata. "I'll handle things here," Tsunade said to a couple medics while shooing them away. "Hinata-sama you don't have to heal me yourself, my injuries aren't that bad." Hinata said somewhat sheepishly at her new Idol.
She'd done her research on Tsunade Senju and the woman was rightly a legend. Hinata would be stronger than her. Tsunade looked at the cuts on Hinata, the blood dripping down the girl's side, and her charred hand. It made her take a deep breath. After the last war, Tsunade had a phobia of blood for nearly a decade but one day after too much sake, she and shizune quite literally stumbled into the middle of a sex trafficking and slave ring. Men were mutilated and beaten while some of the women who'd been raped were beaten and bloody.
Tsunade was having a panic attack until a missing nin appeared and grabbed Shizune. Tsunade snapped and killed everyone responsible gruesomely, ending her fear of blood. Tsunade activated her mystical palm healing jutsu, taking Hinata along out of the stadium and a few minutes later, Hinata's wounds were completely gone. "Congratulations on your win but with your announcement, you'll have to be wary of iwa from now on. I'm impressed girly, now go on, you're done." Tsunade said before returning to the kage box. Hinata smiled brightly before returning to the contestants box. Where she interrupted Naruto's staring contest. Naruto was holding onto his sanity just enough to flash Hinata a bright smile that was a combination of him being proud of Hinata and being able to finally improve his chances of survival.
Kage box, A, was visibly stunned at his jinchuriki's loss. Who could've anticipated a genin having a jinchuriki suppressing tag. Only one man in kumo was advanced enough in sealing to create one and the fact that the hyuga so easily placed the seal was astounding. How the genin even knew of Yugito's status of a jinchuriki was beyond him, he thought it was a tightly kept secret.
"It seems young Hinata was well prepared. I'm impressed at her ability to control the flow of the battle and she has a wonderful grasp on her abilities. I believe it's safe to say chunin is guaranteed. Yugito-san is definitely chunin material as well but she will need to think more thoroughly when in battle. Power is only as useful as its wielder." Hiruzen said sagely, inwardly he was smirking up a storm.
Representatives from the entire elemental nations would see the hidden leaf dominate the exams with such a high level of young shinobi competing, regardless of the repercussions. Konoha will never trim it's branches for the benefit of other villages, Kumo, tsuna, and Iwa made the exams into what it was in an attempt to use the last Namikaze, A surviving Uchiha, and prodigy Hyugas to show their strength.
Fortunately Konoha was standing tall and proving their place in being the strongest village in the elemental nations. "I must agree with you, it is surprising to see a genin be prepared and able to deploy such tactics but Yugito put on a good showing for Kumo. It is only a shame, as you said, that she does not think more tactically. Her focus as a chunin will be to improve her battle planning and strategy." the raikage said.
Hiruzen nodded while the tsuchikage remained silent. Tsunade had returned from healing Hinata and was receiving questioning looks from Jiraiya. Jiraiya noticed the lack of surprise coming from Tsunade even more than the Hokage and wondered how much she knew. As far as Jiraiya knew, Tsunade had only seen Naruto a couple times and received the same briefing from Hiruzen as he did.
Aye wanted to leave but he respected power and wanted to personally watch the remaining matches. "It's unfortunate to see a jinchuuriki defeated so soundly although suppression tags are a powerful tool. My granddaughter will not need such things to put down a jinchuriki." Onoki added smugly. A, took the comment with a grain of salt because Onoki's genin would have to back those words.
Tsunade gritted her teeth at the poorly veiled comment of Kurotsuchi killing Naruto but was beaten to the punch when responding. "Maybe so but I hope she is aware of when to forfeit if things get out of hand. As you know jinchuriki can tend to straddle the line of sanity." Hiruzen said, willing to play Onoki's game rather than allow Tsunade to play a violent one. "A boulder does not bend or fold and certainly doesn't forfeit. It crushes all those foolish enough to be caught in its patch." Onoki responded in a low voice.
"Yet a boulder will still crumble in the face of unparallelled force." Hiruzen responded in the same tone while tensions rose in anticipation of the next match. The raikage could see that the next match meant more to the two villages than was good for the shinobi nations. While he had no problem with the two going to war over a chunin exam match, he wasn't the type to ignore the elephant in the room. "Those are two powerful genin with a deep history for both your villages. Don't be surprised if only one comes out alive," Aye said seriously. "So be it," was the reply from both the hokage and tsuchikage.
Arena. Genma felt a definite tension in the air whether it was from the kage box or the killing intent coming from the contestants box, or even the anticipation of those in attendance who knew the son of the Yondaime would be fighting the grandson of the Tsuchikage. Genma was planning on announcing the brief intermission when Kurotsuchi and Naruto appeared in the arena.
After giving a look to the Hokage and receiving a nod, he decided the intermission wasn't going to happen. This was the fight the shinobi world had been waiting for, more than anything especially after Naruto's defeat of gaara "For the first match of the semifinals, we have Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, versus Kurotsuchi of Iwa," Genma announced. The crowd roared in anticipation, Genma could barely hear his own thoughts.
"Your death will make me a hero to my people Namikaze and you'll pay for all the teams you killed in the forest. Some of them were friends you fucking psychopath, just like your father." Kurotsuchi spat out with venom in her voice. "Haha, like my father, ha aha ha. My father had remorse for killing so many ninja. Ha ha. He had nightmares of the people he killed including your father. Hahahaha. I remember all the iwa blood from the forest. I have no remorse. Like them, you will IMPROVE MY CHANCES OF SURVIVAL."
Naruto had lost it. He would improve his chances of survival now. Kurotuchi was somewhat hesitant to fight a clearly unstable jinchuuriki. Iwa's spies were easily able to point out who it was by the treatment of the boy. Kurotsuchi prepared herself when Naruto gave her a manic smile. Naruto unsheathed furaijin and activated his seigan. After channeling raiton chakra in his sword and limbs Naruto blurred away and reappeared swinging furaijin in an attempt to decapitate her.
Kurotsuchi was prepared for Naruto's quick attack and was already jumping away, narrowly avoiding a slash through her neck. She removed a kunai with an explosive tag attached and threw it on the ground between her and Naruto then jumped away. Naruto noticed the explosive tag and simply jumped over it towards Kurotsuchi and cocooned himself in his chains.
The explosion sent Naruto flying towards Kurotsuchi forcing her to quickly dodge the odd projectile. Naruto landed on the ground harshly but was unharmed from the explosion thanks to his chains. Naruto launched towards Kurotsuchi from the ground, twisting and thrusting his sword towards the Iwa kunoichi. Kurotsuchi used her flexibility to avoid his sword while removing a kunai from her pouch.
Kurotsuchi thrusted her kunai to Naruto's exposed side but was blocked by a barrage of chains that left her with nasty cuts along her left arm before she was able to jump away. Naruto jolted close before sending a bolt of lightning at the girl. Kurotsuchi was having trouble with Naruto's pure speed so when he sent a small raiton jutsu from his sword with almost no forewarning, it Kurotsuchi with burns on her chest nearly exposing her small but still private breasts. Still, she was resilient like a boulder and didn't hesitate when Naruto continued his charge.
Kurotsuchi ran through hand seals while she was on the ground and when Naruto drew closer, she was consumed by the ground avoiding another slash meant to kill her. Kurotsuchi resurfaces a good distance away from Naruto who immediately charged her position which she was counting on. Kurotsuchi went through hand seals for her Yoton sekkaigyo no jutsu, Lava release, quicklime congealing jutsu.
Kurotsuchi spit large globs of a quickly hardening cement like quicklime at Naruto. Naruto saw the globs of something coming in his direction and was even more excited to be able to collect and study another kekkei genkai, it was never his plan but it's become somewhat a hobby. He was trying to improve his survival and those globs of something would get in his way so he began to use erratic jolt-steps to avoid Kurotsuchi's jutsu.
Kurotsuchi saw the slippery Namikaze dodging her jutsu on his way to 'improve his chances of survival' as he'd say, so Kurotsuchi switched tactics. Kurotsuchi began spitting her quicklime in her vicinity and when Naruto was near, she jumped high into the air and used a quick suiton jutsu to spread her quicklime. Naruto was caught when her suiton jutsu spread the quicklime and was more irritated than worried.
Despite the water that was there, the jutsu hardened almost in an instant when he was caught. Kurotsuchi smirked when she'd caught the crazy Namikaze. She landed gracefully on top of her quicklime and ran through another set of hand seals then muttered Yoton, Fiery rock bullet, and spat out half hardened globs of lava towards the trapped Naruto. Naruto sped through his own seals and clasped his hands together before roots broke through the quicklime around his feet and large trees grew out of the ground in the path of Kurotsuchi's jutsu.
Naruto jolted away then sent a bolt of lightning towards Kurotsuchi. The Iwa kunoichi gracefully flipped away and continued sending globs of lava towards Naruto. Naruto was able to avoid the barrage but regretted using his sword to block because it cut cleanly through and he was hit with part of the lava rock. Naruto laughed as if he didn't receive deep burns on his shoulder before running through more seals for futon vacuum sphere bullets. Naruto began spitting out twice the projectiles kurotsuchi was in the form of large compressed balls of air that exploded on contact.
Kurotsuchi was put on the defensive when her jutsu was overwhelmed by the Namikaze's and Kurotsuchi was forced to perform her great stone wall jutsu. A thick wall of rock erupted from the ground covering Kurotsuchi but Naruto's continued barrage of vacuum spheres was quickly demolishing the defense. Naruto sensed Kurotsuchi coming towards him from underground and jumped away and sent a bolt of raiton chakra when she surfaced. His attack landed but Kurotsuchi crumbled into pieces of rock.
Naruto sensed Kurotsuchi charging from behind him, probably having traveled underground once again. Laughing, he shot out his chains channeling a large amount of raiton chakra through them. Kurotsuchi was cautious in case her opponent could sense her presence so she was prepared when chains erupted from Naruto's back and used her flexibility to avoid being impaled. Naruto's chains shot around Kurotsuchi and into the ground in a circle. Naruto didn't expect to catch her with his chains so he set up a trap.
Kurotsuchi noticed the positioning of Naruto's chains in a circle around her and knew she'd been caught when she heard the cackling of raiton chakra. With no need for seals, Naruto created a field of electricity with his chains being the conductors around kurotsuchi. With little time, Kurotsuchi made a single half ram to complete her jutsu as Naruto's raiton jutsu came to life shocking her to Naruto's apparent delight.
Kurotsuchi's jutsu allowed her to sink underground but slowly due to the extreme shock she was receiving. By the time she was able to retreat further underground she felt as if her brain was at its boiling point. The damn Namikaze could outlast her in a drawn out battle and despite his demeanor, he was smart. She couldn't lose in front of her grandfather and daimyo. She'd have to play things smarter and finish the fight before she made a mistake with the maniac from konoha.
After a moment or two when Kurotsuchi's body stopped spasming, she returned to the surface to find a grinning Naruto. Naruto chuckled before speaking, "poor Onoki, to lose his son to the yellow flash, just to lose his granddaughter to the yellow flash's son. Ha ahaha. Such a failure for Iwa haha hahi. You sent so many teams, grouped together through illegal means, you trained so hard, all to kill the last Namikaze.
Hhaaha haha hahihaa ha. I showered in their blood! People have been trying to kill me for years and they all improved my chances of survival. When I kill you, I'll have one less enemy for good." "Enough!" Kurotsuchi interrupted. But Naruto continued. "When I kill you, I'll become stronger!" Kurotsuchi interrupted again "For my father, for Iwa, I'll kill you Namikaze!" Kurotsuchi glared fiercely as she thought of how best to kill him.
Kurotsuchi saw Naruto charging again and created ten rock clones to buy her time. Naruto didn't care that they were there to distract him. He could make a thousand shadow clones but he wanted carnage. Naruto lashed out with furaijin and his chains destroying all her clones in a matter of seconds but that was all Kurotsuchi needed to finish a long set of hand seals. The Iwa kunoichi seemed to be chewing on something then she spit them into the sky saying "doton, pebble rain."
It looked like she spat out a bunch of pebbles high into the air that were poised to land near Naruto. He could tell they had a lot of chakra in them but didn't exactly know why until the first pebble rapidly grew into a Naruto sized boulder. The other pebbles followed suit and Naruto was forced to dodge over a dozen insta boulders. With his speed it wasn't much of a problem but it almost felt too easy despite nearly being crushed multiple times.
He'd even been peppered with pieced of rock when one collided to the ground too closely but he continued moving. When he sensed a massive pool of chakra beneath him, he cursed himself for being so careless. "Doton, four corner magnificent prison jutsu! Kurotsuchi screamed. The ground around Naruto caved in forming a massive and deep four cornered pit.
The iwa kunoichi stomped her feet and the pit was covered with a thick sheet of stone except for an opening in front of herself. Kurotsuchi wasted no time in running through another set of hand seals while Naruto looked on inquisitively. Rather than panicking, Naruto began placing triple layered explosive seals on the ground all around him. Kurotsuchi finished her hand seals for Yoton scorching lava fountain and began spitting out a constant flow of lava which looked like a fiery waterfall. She didn't see much resistance until she heard screaming which was music to her iwa ears.
The rock pit walls she'd made were impossibly strong and hopefully it was enough to keep the Namikaze in. Kurotsuchi quickly followed her lava release jutsu with a low rank suiton jutsu to harden her lava. The lava hardened with no sign of Namikaze's escape. Kurotsuchi watched on warily. Had she done it? She took some deep breaths but stayed alert while waiting to see if Namikaze was dead.
Kurotsuchi's newly hardened pit of lava exploded in her face, out of nowhere, sending Kurotsuchi rocketing towards the arena wall. The iwa kunoichi slammed into the wall with enough force to leave her dazed. Naruto stepped out the trunk of a tree and looked across the arena at his opponent with an eerie smile donning his face. His explosion was bigger than he'd expected, and a dust cloud was picking up in the arena. With a swipe of furaijin, Naruto kicked up more wind which doubled the dust obscuring visibility in the arena.
Naruto's sanity wasn't the most stable, but he at least knew when not to take an attack head on. Right before she'd activated her trap, he'd created and substituted with a clone while he hid in one of the trees he made earlier. He didn't want to think about what would've happened if he wasn't such a good sensor but he was so he decided to just be grateful. Naruto took this time to create distance from the pit and activate his explosive seals.
Kage box, no one spoke due to the tension in the arena and after Kurotsuchi slammed into the wall, Onoki looked ready to kill Naruto himself. Hiruzen and his two sannin guards all believed Naruto would win because despite his bloodlust, he was using his brain. Naruto was a true prodigy, through and through. They wouldn't act like it, but no one knew the boy was this strong.
They knew he was beyond his years and incredibly gifted, but this was somewhat unique. While Kurotsuchi was wildly talented and groomed to be the next kage, she still just wasn't strong enough. Their main concern was Onoki's reaction.
The raikage along with his guards Darui and Killer bee were seeing the extent of Konoha's jinchuriki's power without even using his bijuu. A and Bee could even tell the difference when Naruto was strictly trying to kill his opponent, unlike the first two matches. He wasn't playing around despite all the laughter and even if Kurotsuchi was a jonin level shinobi like they suspected, she was the overpowering type. If it didn't work for the sand jinchuriki, it wouldn't work for her, she simply didn't have the chakra or overwhelming experience to deal with such a monster.
The kid would have to stay on Kumo's radar, he can't be allowed to grow too strong. Onoki was seething, he wouldn't stand for Kurotsuchi's failure. Iwa wouldn't stand for it. They were already outraged at the death of most of the participants of the second stage at the hands of Namikaze and his team. Onoki had assured his village his granddaughter would kill the Namikaze and if she couldn't, he might have to himself. Just in case, Onoki would keep an eye out for his prodigy's safety. She was the future of iwa regardless of the outcome.
Stands, "How is he a shinobi, look at him, he isn't right in the head" Kiba said, trying and failing to keep the fear out of his voice. "I somewhat agree but he's still toying with her. That Kunoichi moves like a seasoned shinobi and her use of ninjutsu and that bloodline is beyond the average jonin though she's still inexperienced like Naruto. It's starting to make sense why so many genin died in that forest." Kurenai said.
"Those kids are monsters. And somehow that Naruto can be incredibly cunning yet still at the same time mentally unstable. It's actually pretty admirable." Asuma added. Ino saw this as a chance to defend her new crush, "Naruto-kun isn't mentally unstable, he's just, 'excited', right now." Ino said using Haku's description from earlier because she could think of no other. Haku nodded in affirmation as if Ino just delivered a divine message.
"Don't you think it would be bad if Naruto killed the tsuchikage's granddaughter with their families previous history?" Shikamaru asked. "It could be catastrophic. In all honesty it could lead to the 4th great shinobi war, but we must allow things to play its course. It was too late to change anything with the importance of these exams so there was nothing we could do. This will probably be the last chunin exam for a few years at least." Kakashi said in a solemn tone and the surrounding jonin nodded in confirmation.
"But why, I mean, how?" Tenten asked in shock, speaking what was on the mind of the younger of the konoha group. "I'm sure it will all be explained in due time, but I will say that Iwa has been embarrassed in these exams by the son of Yondaime and his team. If, and I suspect, when Naruto kills Iwa's prodigy, there'll be an outrage in Iwa not to mention the girl's grandfather, the tsuchikage." Kakashi responded.
As realization sunk in on the Konoha group, Sakura was a voice of optimism. "Haku-san, you said Naruto was really a nice guy and a thoughtful person. Do you think he'll allow her to live to avoid conflict?" Sakura asked hopefully. "No, Naruto's going to kill her. She threatened him and the clan, not to mention they were fated enemies. He's not the type to let a future threat live as I'm sure you've heard by now. I wouldn't interfere, it wouldn't be safe for you at the moment." Haku said, crushing everyone's hopes of a peaceful outcome.
Kurotsuchi pulled herself out of the wall and coughed up blood after she fell to the ground. She couldn't figure out how the blonde escaped so she had to assume he was never caught. There's no way someone's sensory abilities are that good, her trap was perfectly laid and executed, he shouldn't have had the time, she thought. The proud iwa kunoichi had one more jutsu left in her, the strongest jutsu in her arsenal. One last chance to kill the Namikaze because it'd take the majority of her remaining chakra.
"This is where you die Namikaze and when I'm done, I'll kill that pretty little hyuga who claims to be a part of your clan." Kurotsuchi said before going through a long set of hand seals. All joy was sucked from Naruto's world as he heard the threat on his Hina-hime. There would be no more games and Naruto dropped his smile. Kurotsuchi would improve their chances of survival now.
Naruto sheathed furaijin and created three clones and they all went through hand seals. Kurotsuchi finished and the ground began to rumble. The rumbling increased until a massive geyser of Lava erupted in front of Kurotsuchi. The crowd gasped and Onoki looked on proudly as the lava kept pouring out and swirling into a lava dragon that could rival, manda, the great snake summon in size. Kurotsuchi's nose bled as she pumped more chakra and hardened her concentration. Naruto and his clones finished their seals and created a wooden dragon comparable to the iwa kunoichi's jutsu.
Naruto usually didn't make it that big but he liked to show off. His clones added wind and fire creating his own flaming beast of a dragon. The temperature in the arena was almost unbearable so anbu was forced to raise barriers. Spectators rose to their feet at the spectacle of such a clash deafening the stadium with screams and cheers. Kurotsuchi cursed the Namikaze for always having an answer but refused to lose with her greatest jutsu. She screamed and they released their jutsu. The two jutsu collided in a great explosion throwing fiery debris and tearing wind around the arena.
Anbu were forced to raise additional mudwalls and barriers to protect spectators as deadly elements rampaged the stadium. The two jutsu continued to battle for dominance. Kurotsuchi's lava dragon and Naruto's flaming wood dragon battled ferociously, neither giving ground. Naruto wasn't waiting for the result of the jutsu and, after pinpointing her location, he used a shunshin to appear on the highest point of the arena wall behind her while suppressing his chakra. He'd left about 20 clones to keep her occupied until he had an opening to finish the fight.
Naruto observed Kurotsuchi still funneling the last bit of chakra she had to hold her jutsu together and it paid off when Naruto's began to crumble. She was forced to end hers as well after having to dodge a blade coming for her head. Kurotsuchi could barely see through all the dust and debris in the air but she did sense her opponent near her. She was out of breath and out of chakra but he had to be too after all his matches. Kurotsuchi was the future of iwa, a rock that wouldn't break, bend, or fold, especially not for a puny leaf.
She performed a couple seals before submerging her hands and feet into the ground. When she pulled them out she had a thick layer of rock covering her limbs. "Come, let's finish this, now!" She screamed. The kunoichi saw movement out the corner of her eye just in time to dodge another slash. She side-stepped the next then delivered a crushing kick to Naruto's skull.
She was beginning to grin when he popped into smoke. "A clone," she thought. Two more Naruto's engaged her and she assumed a defensive position while using her flexibility and agility to dispel the clones. The clones released smoke when they dispelled and further reduced visibility in the never ending dust cloud. Naruto looked down through the smoke his clones were kicking up and all the burning debris in the air.
He could tell she was on her last legs, he wasn't much better in the end. His chakra coils were nearly fried. His own body wasn't able to keep up with his chakra pool. And he was exhausted, so much so. Naruto released the chakra in his feet allowing himself to freefall off the wall while angling towards Kurotsuchi's location. The rest of his clones were still engaging the kunoichi, keeping her right where he wanted her.
If her chakra reserves were anything to go by, she'd be too exhausted to notice his approach from high on the arena wall. Kurotsuchi blocks a clone's kick before smashing it into smoke with a rocky fist and jumping over the next charging clone and dispelling it with a high kick. This had to bher opponent's last ditch effort to tire her out, overwhelming her with clones.
All he had left, she thought. Kurotsuchi was a rock, and these clones were weak. She wouldn't fold or bend and would crush them until the final and real Naruto fell to her hands. Naruto's fall was peaceful and gave him a sense of calm before the exhilarating experience of improving his survival. Naruto would be on top of the girl by the time she dispelled the last clone and she'd probably never even know.
He created a rasengan in each hand as he fell very close to the iwa kunoichi. Kurotsuchi was down to the last few Naruto's and though she was slowing down, her enemy was weak and vulnerable. She planned on taking full advantage and finishing off the last and real Naruto. The mist was so thick Naruto still couldn't physically see her but had a lock onto her chakra.
As the last clone popped, Naruto slammed both rasengans into Kurotsuchi's back. He crushed the girl into the ground and grinded through her torso with the swirling masses of chakra. She screamed for only a second before she entered the eternal darkness of death. The crowd was only able to see Naruto fall from the top of the wall but he'd disappeared in the cloud of debris, smoke, and dust.
The next thing they heard was a short scream from a kunoichi and it had them on the edge of their seats not knowing exactly what was happening, except for the hyuga spectators who could still see as long as they focused into the right spot. Naruto's jutsu tore through Kurotsuchi's back splattering Naruto with blood but he continued his jutsu until he grinded through her spine, her lungs, her heart, and until he reached the ground underneath Kurotsuchi.
Naruto's upper body including his hair was soaked from the iwa genin's blood as he stood over the fallen Kunoichi. His fathers jutsu was acceptable, he thought. He sealed away the last of the kunoichi's chakra and rejoiced in the improvement of his survival. The dust had begun to settle and the prevalent sound in the arena was a maniacal cackling from Naruto. The crowd grew disturbingly silent.
The crimson blonde had made his appearance which promted Naruto to laugh louder and less restrained. It'd be agreed by the crowd, by general consensus, that it was eerie and unnerving. The dust was clearing up and those in attendance were finally able to see the results of the match. The crowd remained silent as they saw the blood covered blonde standing over the mutilated corpse of Kurotsuchi.
The girl's upper body was hardly connected to her lower, and most in the crowd had never seen something so gruesome. Genma was stunned as Naruto's laugh echoed throughout the stadium. "Shousa, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumakiâ The Crimson Blonde." Genma didn't even notice he added Naruto's moniker. Naruto sensed a quick incoming chakra signature, a strong one.
Naruto jolted away from Kurotsuchi's corpse as Onoki crashed into the ground where he was standing. Onoki's two guards appeared next to him and Hiruzen along with the two loyal sannin appeared in front of Naruto. The anbu guarding the arena surrounded them all, ready to defend their kage or attack Onoki and his group. "Naimkaze, you will pay for this with your life!" Onoki screamed while projecting massive killing intent."
Onoki wasn't able to see after the two jutsu collided or sense out Kuotsuchi's location because of all the chakra in the air. He'd heard her short scream and was mortified to see her mutilated body. He'd jumped down to kill the boy himself but couldn't due interference. "The girl had every opportunity to forfeit and he was well within his rights to fight as he saw fit. You will not threaten one of my shinobi in my village, Onoki." Hiruzen responded, matching his killing intent.
Onoki paid no attention to Hiruzen and glared at Naruto, Naruto glared back with Kurotsuchi's blood still dripping from his body. Kakashi, Yamato, Asuma, Hiashi, Anko, and other konoha shinobi jumped into the arena to back their kage. Onoki was furious and near tears at the death of the last person carrying his blood, effectively ending his family line, his granddaughter. "Iwa will not have this. I will not have this. I demand his head!" Onoki replied, now floating a few feet above ground.
"You will get nothing. You knew the risks! Gather her body and leave konoha and the land of fire NOW. Anbu, toss them a corpse sealing scroll." An anbu wearing an all white robe and a cat mask appeared in front of the hokage and tossed a scroll to the large Iwa guard, Akatsuchi. Akatsuchi quickly sealed Kurotsuchi's body and looked to the tsuchikage.
"From henceforth any peace treaties or trade agreements with konoha and its allies are null and void. You will pay Namikaze, you and everyone you love." Onoki said. "Kurotsuchi said the same." Naruto replied with another chuckle. Onoki's chakra flared yet he paused when Danzo appeared in the arena behind the tsuchikage's group with two odd looking anbu.
"Now Onoki, last chance." Hiruzen said, mentally cursing the unstable blonde for making things worse. Onoki growled before motioning his guards to follow him as he left the stadium and eventually Konoha, via shunshin. "Squads 2 and 6, follow him to the border of the land of fire, make sure he leaves." Hiruzen ordered and his anbu wordlessly jumped to their assignment. Naruto and Danzo briefly made eye contact and Danzo gave the most subtle of nods. It went unnoticed by all except for Kakashi and his sharingan.
Hiruzen gave Naruto a stern look that seemingly went unnoticed and after a long sigh he motioned for his shinobi to disperse and gave Genma the ok to resume the exams. Tsunade turned to Naruto, still soaked in blood and raised an eyebrow. The gaki looked happy, she'd have a lot of work to do with him when the exams were over, she thought. "Good match Naru-kun," Tsunade said to see how far gone Naruto was.
Naruto's smile fell and a tick mark appeared on his forehead, why'd she have to ruin his moment like that. Naruto gave Tsunade a glare that she saw as a pout and laughed as she returned to her seat in the stands. Naruto returned to the contestants box and received a congratulations from Hinata in the form of a bloody kiss that made sasuke want to vomit. He'd be lying if he said he could ever get used to the two psycho's in front of him.
Genma magnified his voice to apologize to those in attendance and assured that the exams would continue smoothly. After things calmed down he called the next match. "Last match of the semifinals, Sasuke uchiha vs Hinata hyuga," Genma said.
Kage box, "My apologies raikage-sama, I had hoped the last match would end more amicably but things are never easy in this world of shinobi that we live in." Hiruzen said once he and his guards returned to their seats. "There is no need to apologize hokage-sama, the boy's strength was no secret when they fought. It would've been wise of the girl to forfeit yet old grudges have clouded her and onoki's judgment. Grim days are ahead of the shinobi world but kumo will remain neutral unless forced otherwise."
A, knew the strength of konoha, and kumo's best option to become the strongest of the elemental nations was to let iwa and konoha fight it out in the war that's sure to come. Kumo would reconsider their options after reevaluating Konoha's strength. Hiruzen simply nodded, he wouldn't say it, but he was glad to hear kumo's intentions to mind their business even though it didn't mean they wouldn't have to keep an eye on kumo. "Number 9's got style but his mind's a little wild, Yo." Killer bee said to A's dismay.
Stands, the jounin were back in their seats as if nothing ever happened. "Did the tsuchikage just all but declare war on konoha?" Shikamaru asked. "Yes he did kid, it'll be at least a year or two before he's prepared to declare war officially but things are going to be changing in the near future." Kurenai said. "Gaki has balls the size of Gamabunta to say what he did to the Tsuchikage's face. He's going to have a huge target on his back from now on." Asuma said.
Trying not to think of the scary idea of a war, Ino asked a question. "How did Naruto-kun become so strong and why is he so 'off'? I know he's the fourth's son but didn't he grow up as an orphan? And he's the same age as us." "Ino you have to understand that Naruto's one of the most gifted shinobi to come from Konoha and he's a prodigy on top of it all. He was only 6 or 7 when he unlocked his unique dojutsu and his uzumaki chakra chains in an effort to fend off a mob of villagers intent on killing him.
He killed over 20 people and the Hokage was forced to give him a temporary sensei to control his abilities. I'm sure he trained almost everyday since as if his life depended on it because it did. He's survived multiple assassination attempts by civilians, shinobi, and shinobi hired by members of the civilian council. Everytime he was forced to kill, I'm sure it took a piece of him and he pushed himself harder because of it.
At some point along the way he started training with Hinata and I've heard he's even been accepted by her clan. His strength was a necessity and his fragile sanity is a byproduct of the village's hate." Kakashi said grimly. "But why? I've always heard horrible things about him and if he's the yondaime's son then why did everyone hate him. He had to have done something." Sakura said.
"The only thing he did was save a village that didn't deserve it without ever having a choice in the matter. You people sit here and call him crazy and a monster when if he was any of those things he would've repaid the village for their 'kindness' by now." Haku snapped at her friend. "Relax Haku, the younger generation don't understand and have been fed lies from the civilian council," said Kakashi.
The younger generation would soon have to be informed because of his importance in upcoming conflicts but Kakashi wouldn't tell the ones who can't figure it out just yet. Sakura was indignant, "My mother and the council aren't liars. They tell us the things shinobi don't and give us a voice," she said. "The civilian council is corrupt and one of the main reasons for Naruto's treatment and the assassination attempts. Your mom's one of the worst on the council, girl." Asuma interjected. Sakura scoffed and looked away, was her mom really one of the causes of Naruto's horrible life? She thought.
"How did this happen to the fourth's son? He should've been seen as damn near royalty by how much the village reveres the 4th." Shikamaru said. The jonin and mostly Kakashi fell silent but Haku's intense glare demanded an answer. She knew Kakashi was the 4ths student. She and Naruto talked a lot at the compound when she moved in. "Naruto's heritage was supposed to be a secret. Naruto didn't even know until after he found out on his own a few months after becoming genin. As you can see, his family has many enemies and for his protection, he was treated as a random orphan." Kakashi said in a regretful tone.
"Yet he still had to fight for his life, nearly losing himself in the process. And why is that Kakashi?" Haku demanded, her voice beginning to raise. Kakashi hesitated, but answered. "The civilian council leaked a village secret regarding Naruto and twisted the truth which led to the villagers' hate towards him. The hokage made a law to ban any mention of the secret to the younger generation in hopes that he'd be able to have somewhat of a normal life but in the end. The older generation simply passed on their hate to Naruto without giving them a reason. That hate is what led to villagers and some shinobi attempting to take the boy's life." The surrounding genin were shocked.
"The hokage passed a law but did NOTHING to protect him. Not even allowing him to live in a house he legally owned. A place where he could sleep soundly without worrying about a konoha shinobi, paid by the council, breaking into his rundown apartment in an attempt to slit his throat. No one was there to help him. No one gave him the truth, not his father sensei, not his father's student, not his father's predecessor.
Konoha made this so-called psychopath who's never actually killed an innocent, yet he's the monster. Right?" Haku nearly screamed iwich surprised those around her who'd seen her as very calm. Haku was right but Kakashi didn't like the way she was speaking of the Hokage. "Hokage-sama did everything he could, he even executed three council members he could directly connect to an attempt on his life. He also strictly made it clear it would be the death penalty to anyone who made a lethal attempt on the boy's life." Kakashi said slightly less confidently than he expected.
"After how many assasination attempts? How many times did Naruto have to kill before the hokage intervened when he was in the academy? Over 30!" Haku said in a tone of finality. The regret that was always cramped into a corner of Kakashi's mind made its way front and center. He was at a loss for words because there wasn't anything could say unless he lied like the civilian council.
Those of the younger generation were at a loss of words at how many people Naruto had to kill before he'd even graduated the academy, while they were playing at the park. Yamato and Asuma nodded in confirmation and Sakura suddenly questioned everything her mom had even told her. Choji had thrown up the snacks he was eating so he left to get more. Kiba was advised by Akamaru to keep his thoughts about the, now, crimson blonde to himself.
Arena, Hinata stood opposite of a smirking Sasuke. "It's time I prove the uchiha clan is the strongest in the village. Hyuga, Namikaze-Uzumaki, aburame, inuzuka, yamanaka, Nara, Akamichi, sarutobi and every other clan will once again be second to the Uchiha. You and your pet maniac aren't in my league anymore." Sasuke said as if he'd already won. "Aww the wittle uchiha feels strong." Hinata said with a giggle.
"If by some chance you do beat me, Naruto-kun will probably kill you. He's a little 'excited' at the moment and he won't play with you. But don't worry little uchiha, I'll save you from the big bad prodigy. Your run ends here." Hinata said, indulging in her mind games. Genma sweat dropped and weakly signaled for the match to start. He needed some sake. Sasuke had trained his speed to its peak to compete with Naruto and put it to use by charging Hinata so fast it seemed as if he blurred away. Sasuke appeared in front of Hinata, sending a roundhouse kick to the kunoichi's face.
Hinata was surprised at Sasuke's speed but she was used to sparring with someone faster. Hinata ducked and stepped towards Sasuke's side, under his kick. Hinata sent a flurry of jyuken strikes but only landed the first two due to her opponents sharingan and predictive ability. Hinata moved quickly sending more jyuken strikes, dancing around Sasuke preventing his retreat.
The Sharingan bearer was hard pressed to keep most of his tenketsu open because of Hinata's ability to dance her way out of his sharingan's sight which left gaps in his predictions. Sasuke was furious that he'd have to unveil his sensei's gift so soon but had no choice. Sasuke channeled chakra into a seal on his lower back and a katana in a white sheath appeared on his hip.
Sasuke quickly unsheathed the katana and slashed at Hinata. Hinata was simply gauging sasuke's ability to track with his Sharingan and she was surprised he was avoiding most of her strikes even though he couldn't counterattack or retreat. She'd seen the Katana appear and was already jumping away when her opponent's sword sliced through the air.
Sasuke channeled fire chakra into his sword making it glow white. He smirked and blurred towards Hinata again then delivered a downward slash. Hinata side-stepped the slash but stepped right into a white trail, left by the sword. She was able to stop before going too far but had to restrain a scream when she received a shallow slash surrounded by burns, diagonally across her body. Sasuke sent another slash at Hinata but the pale eyed Kunoichi swiftly dodged and jolted away.
Hinata used hyoton chakra to stop the light flow of bleeding and sooth her burn before analyzing her situation. Sasuke's sword combined with his sharingan made it hard to win up close even for her. Her biggest problem was, she didn't know exactly what the sword did. It obviously left a trail of some white cutting flame but she couldn't risk the possibility of it having more abilities. She created and sent a few ice clones to engage.
The clones were destroyed like a hot knife through butter but she learned that his sword left a trail of fire. Slashes from his sword lingered in the air, tough but she could deal with it. Hinata quickly went through hand seals, knowing Sasuke would press his attack. Sasuke appeared next to Hinata, slashing his sword in an attempt to behead the hyuga. Hinata had been prepared with chakra molded in her stomach and performed suiton tearring torrent at point blank range.
Sasuke could see her chakra build up but thought he'd have more time. At the last second he attempted to move out of the way but half the jutsu caught him and blew Sasuke to the side. Hinata wasn't finished, after a couple more hand seals, she muttered, suiton multi-water whip jutsu. 5 water whips appeared out of thin air in each of Hinata's hands and lashed out at Sasuke.
Sasuke hit the ground and immediately corrected himself. He saw all the water whips and was able to avoid or cut through most of them but he took a couple searing strikes across his chest. Sasuke scowled before charging Hinata again and attempted to impale the blade in her chest. Hinata sidestepped the blade and closed the distance with sasuke before he could deliver another strike. "8 trigram palm rotation," Hinata said while creating a spinning dome of dense chakra that sent sasuke flying.
Kage box "Your next generation is talented indeed and is that the blade that gave Sakumo Hatake his moniker, the white fang?" Asked A. "Yes it seems it is the white fang Katana. I'll admit, I never thought to see it returned to its original state. And this generation will be even more powerful than the sannin, I can tell you that." Hiruzen responded.
Stands, Shizuka was ten and in the academy, she was the second oldest of the surviving Uchiha and the rest were between 5 and 7 years old. Sasuke had insisted she bring the remaining survivors with her to see him bring back honor to their clan. She'd seen how strong the genin here were and if it weren't for one of their jounin guards explaining that these genin were extremely talented and shouldn't be genin at all. She'd be wondering if she could ever make it as a shinobi. Her cousins were worried about Sasuke but she assured them Sasuke was strong and would be ok. There were only 5 of them left after all.
With the Konoha group, Sakura was experiencing a moment of weakness watching Sasuke fight. She'd even let out an encouraging screech to everyone's annoyance. Haku was watching closely in case she needed to step in if things went too far. Kakashi was thinking along the same lines because of how ruthlessly, Hinata killed her opponent in the prelims.
"Every match makes me feel like a bad sensei, my genin are getting put through the works when this is over. This is ridiculous. Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke could take me out if they worked together. Shit, team 7 could probably take me out on their own without Yamato, Shino's good too." Asuma said. "How the fuck does Sasuke get a cool white sword too? What is that?" Kiba said annoyingly.
"It's my fathers sword. It's called the white fang. It was originally shortened into a tanto but I remade it into a katana to fit Sasuke's style. It's a 'unique' blade," Kakashi said proudly. "Who do you think will win? They're both strong," Tenten questioned. "Hinata," Said Yamato. "Sasuke," Said Kakashi. "I wonder who's tactic is better, the lazy sensei, or the absent sensei?" Kurenai asked mockingly because she didn't have a team anymore. She received light glares but it seemed to have sparked some ingrained rivalry.
"Would you be willing to make a wager on who wins?" Kakashi asked? "What were you thinking?" Yamato responded. "The loser's sensei has to treat everyone to barbeque!" Choji screamed out. "Deal" Yamato said with a smirk, he might not have trained Hinata but he knew just how strong she was and even more, how smart she was. He was betting a large sum of ryo but he doubted he'd lose.
Kakashi paused for a moment trying to calculate how much ryo he'd lose but decided there was no way a hyuga who'd barely been trained by her sensei would beat his gifted student. The student he'd hand crafted himself. Hyuga section, "Tou-sama, do you think Hinata will win? I heard he's Kakashi Hatake's apprentice." Hinabi asked. She was in the academy with Shizuka and heard a lot about the uchiha.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Hinata has many tricks under her sleeve. She's never fought like a traditional hyuga and it seems she was right to explore other avenues. I just hope that we in the clan follow her lead in the future. She will win, she is nothing like the shy weakling she used to be. " Hiashi said proudly. His daughter was exceeding every expectation he'd ever had of her and he was struggling to maintain his stoic hyuga expression in favor of releasing a tear.
Arena, Sasuke pulled himself up and took a few deep breaths to calm his mind. He wouldn't beat her fighting like a berserker he thought. Sasuke took out some shuriken from a seal on his wrist and ran towards Hinata. Once he was closer, he began throwing shuriken repeatedly. She dodged all the shuriken but was alarmed by how easy it was.
She then noticed the ninja wire connected to all the shuriken scattered around her. Sasuke went through hand seals and screamed, "raiton tiger's den." He then sent potent raton chakra that created a strong electrical current through the ninja wire and shuriken. Occasionally dangerous sparks of electricity would jump from the wires on the ground. Hinata's mobility would be hampered because every step could be perilous but Sasuke wasn't done. "Katon flame tiger bombing jutsu," he screamed before shooting out half a dozen large balls of flame.
The large balls of flame landed in front of Sasuke and took the shape of tigers before charging at Hinata. The tigers ran through the ninja wires and shuriken conducting sasuke's jutsu and grew bigger with raiton chakra dancing in the flames. Hinata's eyes widened and she began to jolt-step around to avoid the uchiha's tigers. Sasuke was able to control his jutsu to an extent and didn't allow Hinata to leave the perimeter of his raiton jutsu.
Hinata was forced to continue to dodge and jolt for her life until she figured out a way to stop his jutsu. She couldn't use her suiton defenses and her rotation would only trap her in Sasuke's raiton jutsu once she stopped spinning so she was somewhat in a bind. She noticed that the lightning jutsu extended to the wall behind her and it was the only side the tigers didn't block and it gave her an idea.
Hinata used her speed and flexibility to maneuver her way close to the arena wall without being caught in Sasuke's jutsu which would've been nearly impossible without her byakugan. Once she'd placed all the tigers somewhere behind her, Hinata went through hand seals for suiton severing wave, one of the nidaime's jutsu. Hinata sent a compressed stream of water, strong enough to cut through boulders, and sweeped her head from left to right covering the entire area in front of her.
The tigers had her cornered, ready to attack from all sides until the jutsu cut right through them causing them to explode in fire and lightning. Hinata wasn't expecting such a volatile reaction and was caught in the edge of the explosion. The force of it cause her to collide harshly with the arena wall behind her herl. the burns she recieved weren't too severe but caused a lot of pain and her collision with the wall probably gave her a concussion she thought.
She looked around and saw that Sasuke's jutsu was dispelled by the explosion and she could move more freely but noticed she couldn't see sasuke on the arena floor. She found him with her byakugan on the arena wall above her racing to her position. She flipped away just quick enough to avoid being impaled by Sasuke's sword. Hinata jolted back to create more distance and take a deep breath.
"What's wrong Hyuga, not so talkative now are we? If you forfeit, I might even save you from the crazy blonde with a chain fetish, " Sasuke said smugly. "I wonder, do you hate Naruto-kun because he's more like your brother than you ever were, or is it because he has the stregnth you wish for everyday? And how do you Naruto-kuns the one with the chain fetish?" Hinata spoke innocently but with a telling smirk on her face.
Finding it time to get serious, Hinata ran through a set of hand seals pulling a large amount of chakra from her arm shield that've been sustaining her since her fight with Yugito. "Suiton Suiryuudan, Dragon water whip jutsu." Hinata clasped her hands together as if praying and pulled a massive amount of water out of the air making a ball of water the size of a fireball jutsu. The ball of water quickly made its way towards Sasuke.
The ball of water was surprisingly slow to Sasuke and he easily dodged but was caught off guard, even with his sharingan, when whips of water erupted from the ball and began lashing out at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged the quick barrage before jumping away but the ball of water maintained a fixed distance from him while sending whips of water that tore at his skin and muscles. Sasuke dodged and slashed through water whips until there was steam picking up in the arena. He attempted to use his speed to create distance but only received painful cuts on his attempts.
Despite his doujutsu's ability to predict movements there were constantly new whips and they were fast and relentless. The cuts on his body were beginning to hinder his movements so Sasuke slashed his way to the large ball of water and impaled his sword as deep as he could inside. He channeled a large portion of chakra through the blade and the white hot flames eventually evaporated the jutsu from the inside out but Sasuke took more damage in doing so.
Hinata used a jolt step to appear behind Sasuke and sent a powerful Ice-covered kick to the Uchiha's head, sending him flying. Hinata followed in another jolt and appeared next to him as soon as he'd landed. Sasuke quickly looked Hinata in the eye and implanted a genjutsu to immobilize her. Hinata felt as if stakes were placed in all her joints and could even see them but instantly knew it was a genjutsu and disrupted her chakra flow.
Sasuke used that moment to blur through a few hand seals before channeling and condensing raiton chakra into his hand. "Chidori!" He screamed before thrusting his lightning-covered hand towards Hinata's midsection. Hinata broke from the jutsu just in time to turn away enough that the lightning blade only cut through her side. Sasuke brought back his hand to thrust it again but Hinata redirected his arm by hitting his elbow with a jyuken strike and sent an jyuken, air palm that blew Sasuke backwards yet again.
He landed ungracefully and tumbled around the ground until he righted himself and came to a knee. He'd taken on some damage and his head was still spinning from that kick. He'd have to end it soon. Hinata was losing blood fast and needed to keep the uchiha at a distance so she went through hand seals for Hyoton fish frenzy. She only sent about a dozen frozen fish to Sasuke because she knew he'd be able to handle them but it'd buy her time.
"It's pointless, you're done hyuga," Sasuke said as he stood and engaged the oncoming projectiles. Hinata used hyoton to create ice over her wound and stop the bleeding before going through hand seals for her final attack. Sasuke dodged and cut through the frozen projectiles with a smirk on his face as if he was doing a victory lap.
He destroyed the last one just in time to see Hinata forming two massive dragons made of ice that were swirling around her and growing by the Second. He could see that Hinata could barely stand and once he dealt with this jutsu, he'd end the fight. He had to save the rest of his chakra for Naruto which left dodging and using one last chidori as his best option. His body ached but it was nothing Tsunade couldn't heal quickly if he demanded, Sasuke thought.
"Hyoton Dance of the twin reflective dragons!" Hinata shouted. The two very long ice dragons began swirling around Hinata furiously and then launched at Sasuke. Sasuke watched carefully with his sharingan but still lost sight of Hinata as the dragons charged his position, side by side in a frontal attack. Sasuke performed seals for his chidori and dodged the dragon on his right while running his chidori through the dragon coming from his left.
The dragons continued their advance and Sasuke continued destroying one while dodging the other dragon while looking for Hinata. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a hand emerge from the dragon on his right. He only had time to turn his head and see Hinata's upper body emerge from the one he was dodging holding a swirling ball of chakra in her hands.
Hinata slammed the rasengan into Sasuke's back as she emerged fully from her Ice Dragon. Sasuke was slammed into the ground as the rasengan grinded into his back but Hinata released the jutsu before it tore through his spine. She then fell to a knee from the result of her injuries and exhaustion. To end things, she removed a kunai and placed it at Sasuke's neck while her ice dragons dissipated.
Sasuke was in too much pain to even think of resisting. He could only curse himself for not thinking that she could hide in any kind of ice other than a mirror. Genma used a shunshin to appear next to the two genin and called the match. "Shousa, Hinata hyuga Namikaze-Uzumaki," he really didn't know what to call her but didn't care at this point. The crowd cheered louder than they had all day. Apparently the hyuga and uchiha heirs lived up to their expectations, win or lose.
Kage box, Tsunade jumped down, once again to heal Hinata's wounds. "I've never seen such a versatile hyuga and that uchiha brat is no pushover," Jiraiya said. "Yes, maybe one day they'll carry the same title as you and Tsunade." Hiruzen mused. "I will admit, Hiruzen, that I no longer believe there was foul play in the forest. I was originally under the impression these exams were rigged in order to weaken future generations of other villages, but now I see. The next generation of shinobi will surpass us sooner than I thought." A said sagely. "Yes, but unfortunately due to older generations they will be the ones to face the brunt of the storm surely to come. I can only hope they find better solutions when it is their time to lead." Hiruzen responded.
Stands, "To think the uchiha learned your signature jutsu and still lost. Hinata's one tough kunoichi." Asuma said with a chuckle. "Was that really the fourth's jutsu?" Kurenai asked. Kakashi was pissed, not only had his apprentice lost to his sensei's jutsu. He had to treat a large group of shinobi which would no doubt cost more than an A-ranked mission's pay.
"Yes, it was but what, I want to know is how." Kakashi said while motioning to Haku. "Clan business, if you want to know more you have to speak to Naruto-kun." Haku said firmly. This only furthered Kakashi's bad mood but he remained silent. "What's your relationship with Naruto?" Kurenai asked because it'd been on her mind. Ino listened intently. Haku blushed but saw no harm in answering.
"Naruto-kun is m-my boyfriend." Haku said in a moment of embarrassment at being put on the spot. "Your what? But Hinata, How? Why? What!" Ino responded. "I think she means to say how are you dating Naruto when he's engaged to Hinata." Kurenai said while restraining the urge to put Naruto in the Nastiest genjutsu known to ninja. "He intends to restore his clan and it would be faster if Hinata wasn't his only wife. We've already spoken and come to an agreement." Haku responded kindly.
Her agreement with Hinata was a better deal than everyone would think. Her make out sessions with Hinata when Naruto was gone were just a bonus but she wouldn't mention anything like that. Asuma and Kakashi were trying to hide nosebleeds to Kurenai's ire and Ino was lost in thought. "Naruto's more troublesome than I thought," Shikamaru said with a smirk. Sakura didn't find anything wrong with it, she'd figured if she ever got with Sasuke she might have to share him so it wasn't a foreign idea to her. Though she didn't think she loved Sasuke like she used to.
Arena, Tsunade was tending to Hinata's wound caused by Sasuke's chidori after having healed her smaller ones. "You did a good Hinata but you're done for today. Your body is exhausted and your chakra coils are worn. Any more stress today and there'll be damage. From now on you're my apprentice. You don't have a choice." Tsunade said firmly with a contradicting smile on her face. "ok um sensei" Hinata weakly responded.
Sasuke had lost consciousness and was carted away by medics. Genma made his way to Hinata to see if she'd be continuing but found his answer when Tsunade shook her head at him. Naruto used a shunsin to appear next to Hinata. He bent down to speak in her ear. "Good job hina-hime, you always amaze me." Naruto said quietly.
Hinata's face went tomato red and Naruto smirked at his payback for her using his nickname in front of other competitors earlier. Genma was bewieldered at the genin covered in blood yet acting casually as if he didn't just seemingly have a manic episode. After resolving to drink until his toes felt fuzzy later that night, Genma led Naruto to the center of the arena before raising his hand and announcing Naruto as the winner of the chuunin exam tournament. The crowd rose to their feet clapping and cheering at the display from the 4th Hokage's son. It was as if the monster or demon they always thought he was and treated him as such was never there to begin with. The crowd cheered as if they'd always loved him and knew he'd win. The Stadium shook with the approval of the shinobi nations.
Naruto was disgusted, he didn't want to be in the presence of these fake people. Naruto searched the crowd with his senses until he found Haku and gave her a nod. Hinata was standing next to him with Tsunade having healed her wounds already. "I'll bring sake to celebrate tonight Gaki." Tsunade said. "I wanna see you and Haku there too, Hinata." After receiving nods, Tsunade returned to her place in the kage box in time for Hiruzen to begin a lengthy speech. Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and used a shunshin to take them to the med bay to check on Shino. Not too long after, they left for the NamiUzu compound.*
