CHAPTER 9: THE FIRST SIGNS OF TROUBLE
A/N: More than 250 favs and 350 follows within 8 chapters. I am really honored for the appreciation. Thanks a lot for supporting me on my first fanfic. Now I am posting the 9th chapter, this one contains a fight. I would like to thank "Naruto30" for his invaluable suggestions and support. This is my first time writing a fight scene, I know they are complicated and I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations.
Naruto was heading towards the hospital blushing and thinking about how wonderful Hinata was. Suddenly he felt a strong negative emotion. Although Naruto had trained himself with Kurama's negative emotion sensing, he was yet to feel a negative emotion so strong.
'This negative emotion is so strong, what the hell is this?'
"That would be the intent to kill, one of the strongest negative emotions ever. You have felt it when you fought that sword guy in the wave. Now you can feel it from a distance due to my special ability."
Naruto had never forgotten his first encounter with Zabuza and his first experience with killing intent from a jonin level shinobi, the experience was so stiffening.
'This killing intent must be from someone atleast Jonin level, it's even from somewhere near the hospital. Oh No! Hinata-chan!'
Without wasting even one more second in thoughts, Naruto leapt off towards the direction of the killing intent as fast as possible, hoping that the source was not in the hospital itself.
To his relief, the source of the killing intent was not in the hospital, rather it was near an abandoned building, some 1.5 kilometres away from the hospital. Upon reaching the spot Naruto found two jonin fighting. He recognized one of them as the sick looking proctor of the preliminary rounds with a coughing problem. The other one, he took some moments to remember and recognized him to be the jonin from Sunagakure that had accompanied Gaara and his team. (He didn't yet know they were siblings).
'Why is that Suna guy fighting with the proctor, aren't they supposed to be our allies?'
In the mindscape, the tenants of Naruto's brain were a bit confused about the situation. Kurama wasn't exactly aware of Hayate's fate. He knew that the jonin had died at some point before or during the events of 'Konoha crush' but he wasn't sure when and how. Since he didn't know about Hayate's fate, neither did Naruto's parents, since all their knowledge of the previous timeline was from Kurama only.
'Oh No! The proctor is quite injured and looks like he's about to get defeated, gotta do something quick! Kurama!'
Baki was about to run his wind blade through Hayate and seal his fate, when he suddenly felt a spike of chakra, similar to that of Gaara. He stopped for a moment to look back and before he could fully dodge he was hit with a punch from a reddish blur. The jonin to his credit managed to avoid the worst, owing to his years of experience and fell off some five feet away. However his wind blade was still active and Naruto was hit with it as well. Luckily for him, speed was enough to let him escape most of the cuts and the ones he received didn't get any vital organs. The blond only gut some cuts on his shoulder.
"You are supposed to be our allies, aren't you? So why the hell are you attacking a Konoha shinobi?" yelled the blonde clad in a chakra cloak with one tail.
Baki was shocked for a moment but he was not a jonin for nothing. He smirked.
"So you're Konoha's jinchuriki eh! You didn't look much in the prelims. If I kill you here it will be another bonus."
"Get away from here Uzumaki, this fight is beyond your level, he's a jonin!", screamed Hayate.
The blond turned back a little. He remembered his fight with Zabuza.
"I have fought a far more powerful jonin than him. Don't worry proctor-san, just sit back and watch." Said Naruto smirking.
Baki scowled at the insult.
He then flew through a few hand-seals.
"Wind-style: Vaccum air bullets!" the Suna jonin yelled, release bullets of air towards Naruto, who with the speed granted from the chakra cloak dodged the attack and charged at his opponent. Baki was able to dodge most of his attacks. The blonde was not a taijutsu master after all. But the Suna-jonin couldn't land any blows on him as well as Naruto was fast enough to dodge most of his attacks.
The two then briefly disengaged and flew through the same hand seals.
"Wind-style great breakthrough!" both yelled at the same time, releasing huge gusts of wind towards each other. The jutsus collided and cancelled each other.
"You seem to be a wind type. It's really saddening that I have to kill you. You do have a great potential." Baki commented.
"Heh! Just because you are a jonin, don't consider me defeated yet." Naruto replied.
The two then again leapt at each other, Baki with his 'Wind blade' and Naruto with a single kunai. Just to be safe, he increased the number of tails to two.
The two again got into close combat. To their frustration, neither could get a decisive hit.
Naruto groaned. 'Only if I had started my taijutsu training a month earlier, this guy would have been done for'
"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled making two clones, the clones immediately released two shuriken at the Suna jonin and flew through hand seals.
"Shuriken shadow clone jutsu!" the clones yelled. At the same time, the orginal Naruto completed his own hand seals.
"Wind-style: Great breakthrough!" He yelled, releasing a powerful gust of wind from his mouth which made the shuriken, which numbered 80 by that time move at binding speeds towards their target.
Baki defended himself with a quick "Great breakthrough", which slowed some shuriken. He defended himself from the rest with the 'wind balde', however, he was indeed hit with 8 shurikens, four on the shoulder and four on his left hand. Naruto smirked.
"I told you not to underestimate me Jonin-san."
"Huh! I must admit you are good. So I will get serious now." Said Baki as he unsealed a fan from a scroll.
"I didn't know that this guy could use a fan." Commented Kurama.
"I don't know but that girl from Suna, what's her name again? Yeah, Temari, she can use one and since she's his student, he must've taught her how to use it." Naruto commented in the mindscape.
'That makes sense, why didn't I think of it earlier. Oh yeah, I am relying too much on my knowledge on the previous timeline and not using my common sense. Tsk!'
"Minato, your kid is not as idiotic as he looks." Kurama commented. Naruto's parents sweat-dropped, not knowing how to respond to the comment.
"Wind release: Great Sickle Weasel technique!" Baki yelled swinging the fan releasing several currents of wind.
Owing to the speed granted by the two-tailed cloak, Naruto was able to dodge the worst of the attack but he was still thrown back ten feet away and got a several cuts.
"That was some wind Dattebayo." The blonde commented as he got up and wiped the blood on his immediately increased the number of tails to three and charged towards the jonin. Baki tried to swing the fan again but with three tails, Naruto was faster than before and got to him before he could even swing the fan and punched him hard on his gut sending him flying into a wall, which cracked upon the impact. Baki coughed up blood.
Hayate, who was watching the whole fight was shocked….really shocked.
'This kid can keep up with a jonin on his own for more than twenty minutes. Since when did he get so strong? He was hardly keeping up with the Inuzuka in the prelims but now he is on a whole different level. He is also strategizing his moves. Amazing, really amazing.'
"Are you okay proctor-san?" Naruto asked, while keeping an eye on Baki. He did know that he couldn't interrogate a Jonin and he can't kill him because the guy definitely had some important information. He had to stretch this fight for as long as possible until some other Jonin could arrive.
Hayate nodded.
"It's Gekko Hayate Uzumaki-san. I must admit you are fighting well."
"Hayate-san, can you get some other jonin here. I don't know for how much longer I can keep it up with him."
Hayte nodded but as he started limping towards the T&I department. Baki saw this.
'If that proctor gets away, our cover will be blown.'
Baki opened his fan and biting his thumb made a vertical line of blood on the fan with his bloodied finger.
"Summoning jutsu: Quick beheading dance!" He yelled waving the fan with as much force possible.
Along with the huge gusts of wind three weasels appeared, armed with scythes and moved at binding speeds towards both Naruto and Hayate, as the currents of wind destroyed everything on their path.
Naruto knew this time he had to take a chance.
'More chakra Kurama!'
This time a fourth tail appeared in his chakra as he held out his hand. Naruto had till that point only trained with up to three tails worth of Kurama's chakra. As soon as the fourth tail appeared, the blond experienced an excruciating pain all over his body and he began to tremble.
"You might be able to hold it just for 2 minutes. Your body isn't fully adapted to 4 tails worth of chakra." Kurama warned.
"Don't worry Kurama, I won't take more than a minute to get this over with." Naruto replied with a thumbs up.
Hayate's eyes widened in shock as a spiralling sphere of blue chakra was formed in Naruto's hands. Naruto poured some of Kurama's chakra into the Rasengan and it got bigger to the size of a football. As the weasels moved towards him, Naruto charged towards them head on.
"RASENGANNNN!" Naruto yelled as his jutsu collided with the weasels and threw them away, dispelling them. The currents of wind also couldn't do any damage to the blonde or the Rasengan in his hand. Within fraction of a second the blonde was in front of Baki.
For the sand jonin things appeared to go in slow motion as Naruto retracted his 'Rasengan' and head butted him with all his strength. The head butt hit him in the chest, knocked the air out of his lungs and the Jonin went flying into another wall, some twenty feet away. This time upon colliding with the wall, he was immediately knocked out for good. But Naruto was out of breath as well. He had stayed for almost half an hour in the tailed beast chakra cloak going from one tail up to four tails. He was also a bit exhausted from the training he had done the whole day.
Naruto's cloak as well as his Raengan disappeared and he got to his knees panting, he also couldn't stop trembling from the strain four tails of Kurama's chakra put on his body. Kurama's chakra was not something to be toyed with after all.
"Ehh, what do you know I just defeated a jonin by myself. I guess I should get a battle fan like that, they are really cool." Naruto said chuckling mostly to himself. Then he suddenly felt another spike of killing intent on his back.
'Shit! On my 6 o'clock!'
Suddenly he heard a cry from a known voice as he felt a hand pushing him away.
"NOOOOOO!" and then that was followed by another cry of pain.
When Naruto looked back his eyes widened in horror as a sharp pain penetrated his chest.
Lying right there where he was moments ago was Hinata, with a kunai stuck into her stomach and standing over her was Kabuto.
Naruto's mind went blank but his heart began burning in rage and even before Kurama could react, Naruto had already drawn, 4 tails worth of chakra again, by pure instinct. His body again started trembling but Naruto didn't even register the pain. His mind couldn't process anything other than tearing Kabuto into shreds right then and there.
Kabuto perhaps for the first time (or perhaps the second time, after accidentally killing his own adoptive mother figure in Iwa) in his life began having second thoughts about his actions. For the first time, the former elite spy of Danzo's Foundation and Orochimaru's right hand man was afraid for his own safety. The amount of killing intent Naruto was leaking instinctively was just that paralyzing and terrifying. To his credit, the master spy was still able to move. But before he could as much as take a step back, or start pre-emptively healing himself, Naruto was upon him and Kabuto received perhaps the most vicious punch of his life ever, right on his gut. His world went dark, even before he could feel the pain from it.
The white-haired ninja was sent flying into the trunk of a nearby tree and got stuck in it. Naruto was far from done with him. Subconsciously he was trying to pull more and more chakra from Kurama. Only due to the fox's determined resistance, could he not go up to six tails then and there.
"NARUTO SNAP OUT OF IT! HINATA-CHAN NEEDS YOUR HELP!" Kushina shouted out. Mothers do have some inexplicable influence over their children, their words work, when all else fails. Naruto immediately snapped back into attention.
"Focus on Hinata, Naru-chan, she needs you right now." Kushina repeated, this time with a more reassuring voice.
Naruto immediately ran to his girlfriend. As he saw her state, he began trembling in fear and despair. For he could make out that Hinata was stabbed in the liver, blood was gushing out of the wound and she couldn't even breathe without feeling pain. Her wound was life-threatening.
"No Hinata No! NO! NO!" Naruto yelled as tears were rushing from his eyes as he got to her and pulled her into his lap. The Hyuuga also had tears in her eyes due to the extreme pain she was in but she still managed to smile.
Hayate, who was limping towards the T&I and couldn't get enough time to save either of the two teens, quickly made his way towards the hospital, inwardly cursing himself for being so useless in the fight.
*Flashback 15 minutes earlier, Konohagakure General Hospital*
Hinata was looking forward to seeing her beloved blonde who should have been there at least half an hour before. She was feeling uneasy as well.
'Naruto-kun is not one to be late. What's holding him up?' The Hyuuga thought to herself. She then activated her Byakugan to check up if Naruto was anywhere close to the hospital. She saw him at the very edge of her vision.
'That's Naruto-kun! He is using the Kyuubi's chakra and he is fighting. His enemy looks at least Jonin level from the chakra reserves. Wait! There's someone hiding behind those trees he looks at least Chunin level from the chakra reserves. Naruto-kun could be in danger! NO!'
She then immediately jumped out of the window and made her way towards the abandoned building where Naruto was fighting. However being unconscious for almost a month and regaining her senses just the day before, Hinata was still weak and couldn't move as fast as she would like to. On a normal day she could have got to Naruto's location in a little more than five minutes but this time it took her almost double the time.
As she reached the site of the fight she found Naruto on his knees, panting and his opponent knocked out. She was relieved for a moment thinking that her love was safe but that relief was short lived as she saw the person that had been observing the fight in hiding quickly sneak his way to her Naruto. By pure instinct she charged up as much chakra into her feet as possible as leapt towards him and pushed him out of harm's way yelling "NOOOO". She didn't know earlier if she had it in her to sacrifice herself for her love but she was very proud of herself for being brave enough to do so. Even as she got stabbed that too in the liver no less, she didn't have any regrets. She was finally able to do something for him. Even if she died right there, her only regret would be not spending any more time with him, not marrying him or showing him more affection.
*End of flashback*
"Why? Why Hinata-chan? Why?"
The Hyuuga was panting. The pain was excruciating as blood gushed out of the wound. She had tears because of the pain but still she managed to get the most affectionate smile she could give Naruto as her trembling hand reached his cheek.
"Because…I…I love you…Naruto-kun."
"No….No….I can't live without you….stay with me please…Please!" Naruto cried and trembled….He didn't know what to do and he couldn't even think what he would do if Hinata stopped breathing.
"I…..can't….live without….you…either…..my….love" Said Hinata weakly in between the pants.
"Naruto! Nothing will happen to her. Do as I say!" Kurama said loudly from the mindscape. The blonde immediately stopped trembling and got his wits back.
"Pull the kunai out of her wound carefully."
"Are you sure Kurama? This might hurt her more. You better be right."
"Don't worry, although she will start bleeding more after that kunai is removed, I have a way to stop the bleeding immediately, so don't worry."
"I trust you Kurama, just make sure nothing happens to her. I am holding you on this one."
"She will be safe. Don't worry." The fox assured. Trusting him, Naruto pulled himself together.
"Hinata-chan this might hurt a little but please trust me and hold yourself for a minute. Be strong for me okay?"
The Hyuuga heiress only gave a weak nod, not knowing what her love was up to, but she trusted him no matter what.
Naruto took a deep breath and carefully held the kunai and with extreme caution pulled the kunai out. Someone whose life was far more important to him than his own depended on it after all. Once the kunai was out, blood gushed out from the wound more than before. However, before Naruto could freeze at the sight Kurama took charge. Naruto's blue eyes were replaced with red ones with vertical slits in them and a one-tailed reddish chakra cloak immediately appeared. Kurama carefully moved the tail into the wound and started putting his chakra into it. The bleeding stopped. Smoke started coming out of the wound and its depth started to decrease. First Hinata's damaged liver got patched up and then slowly the tissues above were patched. Hinata could feel the pain gradually going away as she watched in amazement at what her boyfriend was doing. After three painfully long minutes, Kurama was done. The wound was almost closed and only required a simple dressing. Kurama then dispelled the chakra cloak and put Naruto back in control once more.
"Don't worry anymore Gaki, there is no threat to her life anymore. She just needs to rest a bit and she will be fine."
"Th-Thank you Kurama. I don't know if I could ever repay this debt to you. You first gave me my parents and then saved Hinata-chan. I will never be able to thank you enough for this….but thanks from the bottom of my heart.
Minato and Kushina could only pat their son's shoulders. They knew that Naruto would consider this fight a failure instead of a success likely for a long time.
"Are you feeling better Hinata-chan?"
"Hai, just a bit tired." The Hyuuga replied.
"Let's get you back to the hospital then."
Right then Naruto heard some cracking sounds. He looked around only to find Baki and Kabuto trying to pull themselves out of the wall and the tree respectively.
'Shit. I don't think I can fight two-to-one right now, certainly not while protecting Hinata-chan. Dammit! Dammit!' Naruto cursed inwardly, but then suddenly both his enemies were paralysed in their places. Naruto also saw that their shadows were connected to another's.
"Shadow Paralysis jutsu success." a man said from above a nearby rooftop. Naruto looked around to find Shikaku Nara standing there along with Shikamaru.
"Troublesome, can't you just stay out of fights Naruto?" the younger Nara commented. Naruto simply let out a groan in reply as he picked Hinata up bridal style.
*Flashback*
Naruto made it to the spot from where the killing intent had originated and found two jonin fighting. He recognized Hayate and immediately noticed that the proctor had sustained a number of wounds. His opponent on the other hand had gotten off relatively unharmed. Naruto recognized the other ninja as the Jonin of Gaara's team.
'I thought that Suna is an ally of ours. So why is a Suna ninja fighting a Konoha ninja and trying to kill him in Konoha itself?' Naruto asked himself inwardly.
"In the shinobi world things are never all black and white son. Something is wrong here and I am sure that Suna ninja can be quite useful if captured alive." Minato commented from the mindscape.
"All right, I'll have to knock him out then." Naruto replied in a determined tone.
"Wait a minute son. I trust your abilities and I am sure that you can hold your own against that Jonin. But you are not an interrogator so it will be very difficult for you to get information out of him when you defeat him. You must also call someone for help here as it never hurts to have a backup plan ready when charging into a fight. This guy might have some hidden allies also."
"Who do you think I should go to Dad? I know Kakashi-sensei could help but I don't know where he is. I don't know where to find Ero-Senin in the night also. Sure, he is usually found near bathhouses but right now those are closed, it's useless to look there. I also forgot to ever ask Gai-sensei his address as well."
"There is one more person you can turn to in times of trouble. My old friend Shikaku Nara."
"Isn't he Shikamaru's Dad?"
"Yes he is. That guy is a pure genius unlike any I had ever seen. He was also one of the people I trusted the most, so I made him the Jonin Commander when I became Hokage. I suggest that you send a clone to the Nara clan compound and get Shikaku here."
"On it Dad!"
Naruto then quickly made a clone who dashed towards the Nara clan compound. Then the blonde charged up a one-tailed chakra cloak and charged into battle.
*At the Nara clan compound*
The clone reached the clan compound in ten minutes, running at full speed. He then saw the gates closed with two Nara chunin on guard.
'As if they will let me in if I tell that I need to see Shikaku-sama urgently.' The clone thought with a scowl.
'Well then I am not the prankster king of Konoha for nothing'. The clone then transformed himself into a cat and took to the roofs of the nearby buildings avoiding the sight of the Nara guards, he spotted a portion of the compound walls, not covered by the guards and silently snuck in. In utmost silence, the clone made his way into Shikamaru's home, he once had visited the place earlier but he had no idea in which room did the Nara clan patriarch live. As he was about to enter the house through the backdoor, he saw something very unusual. Shikamaru was sitting in the courtyard with a shogi board. The young Nara appeared to be in a deep thought.
'Shikamaru is NOT SLEEPING!I HAVE TO CHECK IF THE SUN RISES IN THE WEST TOMORROW MORNING!' the clone thought to himself. To his credit he was able to bring himself back to his senses. Anyways, his friend being awake was an advantage after all, since he did not have to sneak into Shikaku Nara's room. From what little he had heard about Shikamaru's mother Yoshino, he had no interest in facing her wrath.
The clone silently made his way to the young Nara.
"Oi! Shikamaru!" the clone whispered.
The Nara was jolted out of his thoughts and he was shocked to see a familiar blonde before him. Although he quickly figured it out that sneaking into the compound was not a big deal for Naruto as he was after all a master of stealth.
"Naruto! What are you doing here this late?" Shikamaru whispered back.
"I need your Dad's help. The boss was going towards the hospital when he saw a Suna jonin attack that sickly looking proctor. The boss decided to join the fight and hold the Suna-jonin for as long as possible and I..I mean he heard that your Dad is basically Jonin commander or something like that so he figured that your Dad might help us and sent me here.
Shikamaru's eyebrows were raised at the mention of Suna shinobi attacking Konoha shinobi, who are supposed to be their allies.
"Troublesome. Wait a minute, I'll go get Dad. Don't tell me you planned on sneaking into his room and waking him up. I am certain that Mom would have been very pissed off at you for sneaking up like that. Thankfully you are just a clone." Shikamaru lazily said as he made his way to his father's room.
Within five minutes, The Nara clan head came in full jonin uniform. Even Shikamaru was fully battle-ready.
The clone thought for moment how the lazy Naras were battle ready so quickly.
"Lead the way clone-kun", ordered Shikaku. The Naruto clone nodded and ran off towards the abandoned building with the Nara father-son duo closely following. They made it only to see a Sand ninja trying to pull himself out of the wall he was knocked into. Another figure, whom Shikamaru remembered to be Kabuto Yakushi was also trying to pull himself out of the trunk of a tree he was thrown into. They found Naruto tenderly caressing Hinata who was lying on his lap. Shikaku quickly figured out what could have happened, Shikamaru also did the same just a second later. By that time the elder Nara had bound Baki and Kabuto with his Shadow-paralysis jutsu. Shikamaru was also intrigued by the way his blonde friend was behaving with the shy Hyuuga. Of course he knew how Hinata felt towards Naruto. But for Naruto to not only take notice of those feelings but also possibly return them was something surprising. Not beyond the realm of possibilities but certainly surprising.
*Flashback ends*
"Troublesome, can't you just stay out of fights Naruto?" Shikamaru asked while he let out a yawn.
Naruto only groaned in reply and muttered something about lazy geniuses trying to act cool as he picked Hinata up bridal style, making her blush a deep shade of red.
At the same time, Ibiki, the head of the T&I division and some ANBU members, who were alerted by a shadow clone from Shikaku dropped to the ground. The ANBU proceeded to knock both Baki and Kabuto out and applied tags of 'chakra suppressing seals' on their foreheads and bound their hands with chakra-supressing handcuffs.
"You did a great job Uzumaki and thanks for alerting us Shikaku-san. Now let us take over from here. We'll get all the information out of them" said Ibiki.
"It'll be better if you get something out of them by the time the finals start tomorrow morning. I have a feeling that something troublesome is going to happen during the final rounds tomorrow. I will send Inoichi to help you out." Said Shikaku as he retracted his shadow and jumped down from the roof to the teens.
Ibiki nodded and then he and the ANBU, along with their now unconscious captives disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"It seems you two are alright." Shikaku said to Naruto who nodded with a bit of hesitation.
"Hinata-chan…she could've…"Naruto struggled to utter the next word, then his girlfriend placed a hand on his cheek which calmed him down.
"Let's get to the hospital, we will discuss everything there" the Nara patriarch suggested and the teens nodded. The four then took to the roofs as they made their way towards the hospital, with Naruto carrying a still blushing Hinata bridal style.
A/N: Another chapter done. For those who think that Naruto should not have been able to defeat Baki, well that guy was sort of a one-trick pony in the canon. Even after giving him the fan I couldn't make him any more powerful. Every time he's made an appearance, he looked like fodder to me and by accessing 3 to 4 tails worth of Kurama's chakra and a perfected Rasengan, Naruto is already mid to high Chunin level, so it is not too drastic that he defeated a fodder Jonin in a fight. As for Kabuto, poor fella didn't even get the time to react. As for Naruto not noticing his presence earlier, my argument is that Kabuto being the master spy he is, is able to hide his malice well. He also doesn't make a single move until Naruto gets done with Baki and then tires out. Being exhausted, Naruto was not fully on guard, Naruto couldn't detect Kabuto until the very last moment. In the earlier chapter, I made it clear, even when off guard, Naruto would still be able to detect negative emotions but at the very last moment and at that point, he was just too exhausted to move quickly.
I hope the chapter was able to keep you entertained, I thank you all for the appreciation and support.