Chapter 17: Chunin finals part I
"Orochimaru-sama how do you wish to proceed?"
"We'll continue with the plan for now Kabuto." Orochimaru said sitting on his bed with a smirk on his face. "During the Sand attack I'll take Sasuke-kun away in the chaos then it will be a matter of time until I break his will and make him give into the curse mark."
"Are you sure? Kakashi has been keeping very close to the boy."
"Kakashi is no match for me. He's scared of me, he was when I first met him and he still is now. He wont be a problem." He said and chuckled.
"Alright, I meet Baki at midnight tonight so we can fix out details of the plan." Kabuto said, Orochimaru nodded.
Suddenly Orochimaru grunted in pain and let out an agonizing scream and gripped his head. "Orochimaru-sama!" Kabuto said reaching out to touch the man but stopped short.
Orochimaru screamed and groaned gritting his teeth. "Orochimaru-sama what's wrong?" Kabuto asked shifting closer to the man.
Finally Orochimaru's screams stopped, he slumped slightly taking in gulps of air, sweat dripped from his face and his body shivered a little.
"Damn him." Orochimaru cursed lowly gripping his head tight.
"What happened Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked.
"His mark is gone." He said quietly lowering his arms.
"Th... that's impossible, h.. how?" Kabuto asked in shock.
"That bastard Itachi."
"What?" Kabuto whispered.
"I saw it all. Itachi pulled the mark from Sasuke. I no longer have a grip on him." He said and sighed.
"W...well... wh-"
"Get out." Orochimaru hissed, Kabuto gulped.
"But-"
"Now!" Orochimaru barked leaking sakki making Kabuto shake in fear and scramble out of the room and shut the door.
Orochimaru closed his eyes and began to focus carefully. 'There's no doubt about it, the mark is gone.' He thought and growled lowly.
He searched for the chakra and watched what happened to his mark. 'So Itachi has the sword of Totsuka hmm.' He thought.
"I regret not telling you everything before it'd come to this Sasuke.' Itachi's voice echoed, Orochimaru frowned and focused listening in to what his mark had heard while still on the boy.
"I killed the clan and took the title as a rogue ninja. I was sent as a spy to the Akatsuki group to make sure they never could complete their goals."
Orochimaru smirked hearing that. 'Well well, seems like Itachi is as his name says a weasel." He chuckled darkly. 'This could work in my favor.' He thought as a plan formed in his mind. He stood up and walked out of his room and found Kabuto in a room.
"Kabuto." He hissed, the boy jumped slightly and turned to him.
"Orochimaru-sama." He said. "I was about to head out."
"Don't."
"Orochimaru-sama?" He questioned.
"I have a new plan in mind. Forget the old plan."
"But... what about Sasuke? And Suna?"
"I have a new plan, leave Suna alone. Sasuke will come later. Right now we have a journey to make." He said.
"Where?"
"Rain." Orochimaru said and walked down the hall, Kabuto blinked before walking quickly after his master.
It took the sannin nearly a day and a half to reach the border of Rain.
Two ninja wearing hooded cloaks appeared in front of them. "What do you want?" One asked in a rough voice.
"I need to speak with Pein." Orochimaru said. "Konan can you let him know." He said looking up at the bridge were a series of white butterflies sat, they pushed up and flew away, Orochimaru smirked standing there.
"Orochimaru-sama what are you planning?" Kabuto whispered.
"Something." He said curtly making the boy frown a little.
"Go ahead." The man said moving to the side letting Orochimaru and Kabuto continue down the bridge and into the village. They were led to a huge tower and traveled up the stairs slowly before coming to the final door where a young woman with blue hair, yellow eyes stood wearing a tall collar black and red cloak with red and white clouds on it.
"Konan it's been a while." Orochimaru said with a smirk.
"What do you want?"
"To speak with Pein about a proposition." He said.
"What?" Pein said, Orochimaru looked up at the man who appeared wearing the same cloak as Konan, he had orange spiky hair with black rod piercings in his face and bright purple ringed eyes. "You left this group so if you are up to something-"
"Actually I'm here to offer my help."
"Why should I take it?" He asked.
"I can work it out for you to get your hands on Kyuubi." He said, Pein's eyebrow arched slightly. "And I happen to know you have a rat in your midst."
"Come." Pein said turning and walking into the room, Orochimaru smirked and followed, Kabuto frowned slightly but followed none the less.
~o0o~
Deep in the training grounds outside of Konoha a loud blast sounded, tree shot up from the ground, the group ripped up spun around in the swirling wind before falling around.
"Excellent Naru!" Jiraiya said.
The girl stood to side huffing and puffing, she held her fan in a tight grip, sweat poured down her face. She moaned and fell to her butt and gulped for air. Jiraiya walked up to her and crouched down next to her. "You've gotten more power." He said. "But you use it all at once so it's still not great." He said, she nodded and gulped for air, Jiraiya pulled out a bottle of water and pulled the top off, she gulped half of it down and sighed.
"I feel the power as I pull it in but it just comes out, I don't know how to control that much..." She said.
"What about when you dip into his chakra?"
"Well it's usually only small bits and I'm usually riled up letting it out right away." She shrugged.
"Okay." He said. "Well I want to try a few more things with you..." He said. "These chunin exams are tournament form meaning you could end up having four or five matches." He said, she nodded. "You'll need a lot of chakra because of your sensing." He said. "But there is an easier way to do it."
"How?" She asked.
"Everything has chakra in it, plants, water, wind everything." He said, she nodded. "So you instead of making a whole huge area wasting chakra put your chakra to each part then the chakra in that will react with yours." He said.
"Like a chain reaction?"
"Exactly!" He said, she smiled. "Ready to test it?"
"YES!" She said jumping up before she moaned and her eyes rolled in the back of her head, Mamoru caught her before she hit the ground. Jiraiya smiled gently as they headed back to camp to let the girl rest.
'At this rate she'll be a greater ninja than you...' Jiraiya thought looking up to the sky with a smile.
-*o*-
"Okay." Jiraiya said. "Pour chakra into your feet and send it out ever so slightly." He called, Naru stood in the field with her eyes closed as she sent it out and instantly felt a ripple of chakra. "Feel anything yet?" He asked.
"A little." She said. "The grass..." She said with a frown. "It's too fuzzy." She said with a slump, Jiraiya hummed a little. "I can't really make out much." She said, he walked up and she twitched a little and looked in his direction.
"Let's try something here." He said, she relaxed waiting. "Pull your shoes off." He said, she frowned before kicking her sandals off. "Are these the kind you usually wear?"
"No, I'm getting my usual ones fixed, the soles are thinner and kinda empty so I can feel vibrations." She said.
"Try the chakra now." He said.
She brought her hands together and focused, the chakra of the grass hit through her and traveled around before she reached a tree then another and another, she found Mamoru's chakra and Jiraiya's.
"Wow! I can feel everything!" She chuckled.
"How far away?"
"I can feel the lake." She said pointing in it's direction.
"About 11 meters, that's excellent." He said. "Now I want you to walk away but keep your chakra flowing in your feet, not a lot." He said, she gave a nod and began to walk away and felt each blade move around and the chakra points of it shift with her own. "Run." He said, she began to run through the trees dodging the branches and the rocks and roots.
"This is amazing!" She yelled jumping in the air and landing on a tree branch before jumping out seeing the chakra points of the trees, she chuckled before heading back and landed in the field again.
"This is so cool." She said flexing her toes in the grass, Jiraiya chuckled.
"How do you feel?" He asked.
"Okay." She shrugged. "My body is tingling." She said.
"You have to be careful about how much you pull in." He said. "It could backfire on you." He said, she nodded.
"Okay." She said.
"Alright cut the chakra off." He said, she focused and let the chakra stop flowing, she sighed and wavered a little but caught herself. "See? The more you take in and send out the more your energy will disappear once you free it." He said, she nodded. "What is your go to jutsu?" He asked, she frowned.
"I used a lot of wind style jutsu's." She said. "And I have an original jutsu that Mamoru and I use in attacks."
"What?" He asked.
"Inazuma furasshu yusō." She said. "We disappear and the chakra released looks like a lightning bolt." She said.
'Sounds like a variation of the Hirashin no jutsu..' Jiraiya thought.
"Okay." He said.
"I was also given this jutsu that uses a special powder that dulls all the senses." She said.
"I have some jutsu's I want to work on with her." Mamoru said. "We introduced it in the preliminary rounds." He rumbled.
"I heard about that, you can share your chakra with her?" He asked.
"Yeah." Mamoru nodded. "It's the contract seal she signed, I can share my chakra and so can she. It's a way we always know where we are." He said. "Its how I can show up at her side when needed no matter the distance." He said, Jiraiya nodded and frowned. "Her main style is defense." He said.
"So your attacks are weak." He said. "You know what I may know what I will perfect in the rest of this time." He said, she cocked her head. "The rasengan, at least the first few steps." He said.
"How?" She asked. "What is it actually?"
"The rasengan is the highest form of chakra forming." He said. "It was created by the Yondaime Hokage." He said, Naru's eyes widened slightly. "You spin your chakra into ball and when you thrust it as an opponent or target it spins and explodes." He said.
"Sounds cool." Naru said. "How do I get started?" She asked.
"We'll start that tomorrow." He said, she whined and gave a pout, he chuckled ruffling her hair. "Mamoru you can practice with her for the rest of the day, I have some things to check out." He said and walked away.
"Alright let's get started." Mamoru rumbled, Naru nodded standing up right getting ready.
-o0o-
Two Weeks Later*
"Alright do you have your weapons?" Mamoru asked as Naru strapped her fan on her back.
"Yeah." She nodded and felt for her gloves and slid them on her slightly blistered hands.
"How are your wounds?" He asked.
"Healing … slowly." She muttered at the end, Mamoru sighed and nodded. "All ready!" She smiled, he slid up and she got on his back and adjusted slightly before he walked out of her apartment and headed to the area.
Today was the final part of the chunin exams, Naru had been training under Jiraiya for nearly three weeks and had gotten a better control on her sensing and chakra control along with a few tricks.
Both arrived at the arena that was filling up with spectators who were chatting about the matches and who they were eager to see battle.
"Where do we go?" Naru questioned.
"Oye." Shikamaru's voice sounded, she turned her head in its direction, he walked up and bumped her. "You're alive. I haven't seen you at all." He said.
"Yeah, I'm been working hard so I can pass these exams." She said. "What about you?" She asked, he let out a sigh.
"Asuma and my dad were drilling me about it." He huffed. "It was a pain." He muttered, she giggled a little. "I just mainly worked on my clan jutsu." He said. "Anyways come on, I'll show ya the waiting room." He said, she nodded and both followed the lazy teen through the halls before coming to a large room. Naru slid off of Mamoru's back and walked in.
"Naru!" Hinata said walking up, she smiled back at the girl. "How was your training?"
"Exhausting but fun." She said with a shrug. "Yours?"
"Exhausting. That's it, there was no fun." She said, Naru smiled gently.
"So what's going on now?"
"We're suppose to wait here until a our proctor shows up and lead us out, then our matches are announced and we start." She said. "Come sit." She said pulling Naru to the chairs, she sat down with a sigh.
Everyone talked with each other waiting until the door opened and a jounin with short brown hair and a senbon in his teeth and a hitai-ate worn over his head, appeared with a clipboard. "Let's go." He said leading them out into the center of the arena, cheering sounded all around, the genin were lined up in a row. "I'm gonna be your proctor for this part my name is Genma." He said nodding his head. "Now, roll call." He said.
"Aburame Shino?"
"Here." The boy said.
"Hyuuga Neji?"
"Hm." He said.
"Hyuuga Hinata?"
"Yes." She said.
"Inuzuka Kiba?"
"Yeah!"
"Kinuta Dosu?"
"Hm." The boy said.
"Nara Shikamaru?" The boy gave a grunt.
"Rock Lee?"
"Here sir!"
"...Uchiha Sasuke?" He asked and looked around but the boy was no where to be found. "Uchiha Sasuke?" He asked louder. "If you are in the arena please report down here!" He said. "Moving on, Uzumaki Naru?"
"Uh..here." She said wondering where her teammate was.
"Yamanaka Ino?" He asked. Another chunin appeared behind him and whispered in his ear making him nod his head.
"Gaara?"
"Here." The boy said.
"Temari?"
"Here." She said with a smirk.
"Alright, we have two no shows." He said. "The matches will be announced now." He said writing on the paper before showing it, Hinata let out a quiet grunt. "The first match is Uzumaki Naru versus Temari." He said. "Next will be Rock Lee versus Inuzuka Kiba, followed by Aburame Shino versus Nara Shikamaru then Hyuuga Hinata versus Hyuuga Neji." He said, Naru looked towards her friend and felt how nervous she was. "Finally Gaara versus Kinuta Dosu." He said. "The match will be held here, the rest will head up to the waiting balcony up there." He said. "I will call your names for each match. You have the choice to forfeit, if you continue your battle will continue until one or both is unable to fight, surrenders, or dies." He said. "Get moving, Naru, Temari you remain here." He said. The genin began to move towards the stairs. Gaara walked up to Naru and touched her shoulder, she looked towards him.
"Good luck, be careful." He said, she smiled and nodded.
"Thank you." She said, he nodded and walked away, Shikamaru frowned slightly at the red head and bumped Naru and wrapped his hand around her arm, she blushed a little as he pulled her close to him.
"You be careful you understand me?" He asked. "Don't over do it." He said, she smiled with a blush.
"I promise." She said and found Hinata's chakra who still stood there. "Hinata." She whispered. "Are you ….. I mean … be careful." She said, Hinata smiled a little and sighed.
"I will, you be careful too, this girl is pretty ruthless." Hinata said glancing at Temari who stood across looking bored.
"I will." She said, Mamoru bumped her, she climbed on his back and sighed.
"Are you both ready?" Genma asked.
"Yes." Naru nodded.
"Let's go." Temari said, Genma looked between the two.
"Begin!" He said jumping back, Mamoru jumped back and flexed his shoulders, Naru held on tight.
"Fine I'll make the first move." Temari called and ripped her fan from her back. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" She yelled swinging her fan, wind shot out whipping around them, Mamoru rumbled digging his claws into the ground, Naru groaned holding on tight, rocks scratched at her cheek before it began to die down.
'Focus around me...' Naru thought and took in a deep breath before connecting to the area around her, she grabbed her own fan and opened it. 'Let's go for a distraction.' Naru thought.
"What do you wanna go for?" Mamoru asked.
"Let's send it back." Naru said. "Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" She yelled swinging her fan, Temari smirked and slid backwards as the wind slammed into her, she slammed her fan into the ground holding it tight.
"Now." Naru said. "Let's go for the clone." She muttered quietly.
"Jujin bunshin!" Mamoru growled, smoke enveloped them both, Temari peeked over her fan looking as both Naru's stood there before running towards her.
"Now it's my turn." Temari said. "Fuusjin!" She yelled swinging the fan, Naru cried out as the sand under her feet moved and pulled up, she fell to the ground and groaned as the sand whipped around her. She flinched as sand flew in her eyes, she rubbed them quickly and sighed. 'Eyes shut.' She thought.
She ran forwards following the chakra signals on the ground.
Temari watched her carefully before she jumped in the air as Mamoru appeared behind her swiping catching her dress edge, she groaned flipping backwards and panted. Naru skipped back slightly and let out a sigh and focused to Mamoru's chakra and nodded finding him out of the way, she took in a deep breath and focused.
'Zankuuha!' She thought and shot out air and it barreled towards Temari who pulled her fan up and opened it protecting her but still pushed back from the blast and it sent vibrations through her body, she grunted blinked out the dust and looked to see Naru gone, she looked around and even noticed Mamoru was gone.
"HA!" Naru said appearing above her, she spun out of the way as Naru slammed her closed fan on the spot she had been in, the ground broke up leaving a large deep hole. Temari cursed as she left her fan stuck in the ground, she growled and ran forwards towards Naru and swung her leg towards her, Naru bent backwards and kicked up tripping Temari and she hit the ground but grabbed her fan and sat up.
"Kamatachi no jutsu!" Temari yelled swinging her fan, Naru yelled out as she was lifted up in the air. It spun rapidly around her and cut at her body, Temari smirked watching and panted wiping her cheek.
"Naru.." Shikamaru said, Hinata bit her lip watching the fight.
Mamoru ran out from the trees and looked up at Naru and roared loudly, the tunnel shook and Naru dropped a little more.
"Suiranreppu!" Naru said, Temari frowned and watched carefully, she gasped as a series of kunai came flying at her, she flipped back and dodged them.
"You'll have to do better than that!" She yelled taunting Naru and gasped as the weapons moved again hovering with chakra and shot towards her, she moved back and cried out as her foot fell into the hole and she hit the ground.
The tunnel of air collapsed and Naru fell, Mamoru launched up and caught her and skidded slightly. Naru groaned and stood up wobbling a little holding her cut up arm. Temari sat up and growled her eyes burning in anger.
"I've had enough of this!" She yelled. "Dai Kamatachi no jutsu!" She yelled swinging her fan, the wind barreled towards Naru and Mamoru tearing the ground up. Genma groaned covering his face trying to watch with the others.
"Futon: Reppushou!" Naru yelled, the tunnel of wind shot apart and Temari's yell of pain sounded.
The dust cleared closing making everyone cough and fan it away and looked to see Naru sitting on the ground panting heavily, Temari laid on the ground unconscious, Mamoru was laying on the ground crouched before standing up, Naru groaned and pushed up on wobbly legs.
"cough … cough... Winner is Uzumaki Naru!" He said, everyone began to clap in awe that the Kyuubi child won the match. She smiled and waved around before she wobbled and fell against Mamoru and sighed.
"One down." She said, he purred and licked her cheek.
Medics rushed out carrying stretchers, two ran to Temari and carefully lifted her up and rushed her out, the others came to Naru and helped her stand up and she hobbled slowly away with them followed by Mamoru.
Two ninja came out collecting the weapons from the battle and cleaning up as fast as possible. Genma marked on the paper on the clipboard before getting the signal from the others.
"Alright!" He said loudly gathering everyone's attention once again. "The second exam will begin now!" He said. "Inuzuka Kiba, Rock Lee, come down." He said.
A loud cheer sounded before Lee jumped from the waiting area and marched in place with a big grin on his face. He was followed by Kiba who had a smirk on his face thinking about how easy this would be.
"Alright, both ready?" Genma asked holding his hand up looking at both, they nodded and shifted into an attack mode. "Begin!" Genma said and jumped back.
"This is too easy, the loser who can't use ninjutsu!" Kiba barked with a laugh, Akamaru yapped at him to pay attention.
"We shall see." Lee said and shot forward quickly while Kiba was still laughing his head off. "Konoha Reppu!" He said sweeping his leg knocking Kiba up off his own before giving a strong kick to his stomach. Kiba cried out and hit ground harshly and groaned, Akamaru whined at his owner, the audience laughed mocking Kiba, he sat up with a growl glaring at Lee.
-o0o-
Shikamaru walked through the halls towards the medic department. He opened the door and looked inside spotting Mamoru laying on the floor by a bed. He walked in quietly and looked to see Naru laying on the bed with her eyes closed, Mamoru let out a quiet yowl stretching and stood up.
"She's asleep. Her chakra is exhausted." He said, Shikamaru nodded his head. "What match is going on now?" He asked.
"Kiba and Lee, hard to say who will -"
The door opened and two medics walked in carrying the stretcher with Kiba laying on in unconscious. "I guess Lee won..." Shikamaru said.
Mamoru chuckled and sighed quietly and stood on the bed and licked Naru's cheek, she moaned and opened her eyes. "Moru?" She asked.
"Feeling better?" He asked, she nodded holding her head and sniffled before perking up.
"Shika?" She asked.
"Yeah Naru." He said. "Good to see you awake." He said.
"What match are we on?" She asked.
"Shikamaru Naru and Aburame Shino, report to the arena."
"Mine." He chuckled. "I'll see you in a bit." He said and walked out quickly.
Mamoru looked at her and stood up on the bed. "How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Still tired." She sighed.
"Do you wanna go watch the rest of the matches?" He asked.
"Yeah." She said with a groan and sat up wavering slightly.
She stood up wavering before Mamoru nudged her and she crawled on his back. "Thanks Moru."She said rubbing his ear earning a purr. He led her through the halls and to the waiting area with the other genin, Naru leaned against the railing listening to the cheers and focused on the fight listening hearing the bugs of Shino's making signals and move around.
'Go Shika...' She thought.
"GO SHIKAMARU! YOU GOT HIM!" Ino's voice sounded, Naru smiled and cheered with them not even seeing the fight, Mamoru smirked.
Shikamaru had Shino's bugs captured in his shadow making them immobile leaving Shino defenseless
"I give up." Shino said making everyone murmur before Genma called Shikamaru the winner.
Naru pounced on the boy as he walked in, he chuckled with a stumble. "Great job!" She said, he chuckled with a blush.
"Thanks." He said. "Right now, you need to cheer someone else." He said walking her back up, she sighed feeling Hinata's anxiety for her own match.
"Hinata." She said quietly. "You can do this, you can beat him." She whispered.
"Thanks Naru." She said and sighed shakily.
"Hinata Hyuuga, Neji Hyuuga, come down." Genma called, Neji huffed and walked out, Hinata sighed and bit her lip, Naru held her pinky out.
"Promise you'll be okay." She said, Hinata smiled and wrapped hers around Naru's and nodded.
"Promise." She said not believing it herself but walked down and into the arena standing across from her cousin.
"You may as well surrender now, save everyone's time." Neji said, Hinata gulped. "Don't shame yourself further in front of the clan and the village." He said, Hinata shook a little and panted.
"GO HINATA! YOU CAN DO IT!" Naru cheered making others cheer with her, she smiled a little and nodded her head shifting into a ready position.
"Fine." Neji said closing his eyes before opening them again. "Byakugan!" He said the veins around his eyes bulging slightly, Hinata gulped activating her own.
"Ready?" Genma asked holding his hand up. "Begin!" He said jumping back. Wind whirled around the area lifting leaves and dirt around them, both stared each other down.
Hinata and Neji launched at the same time and began to jab at one another quickly, Hinata gave a palm swipe but grunted when Neji managed to dodge it, she skidded back and focused. 'This one...' She thought focusing chakra on her hands and shot forward and everyone gasped as they heard the thud of contact, both Hyuuga's froze and everyone leaned forward trying to see.
Hinata coughed up blood her eyes widened in shock as Neji had his right hand on her chest and his left hand turned hitting her point on her left arm.
"Is this the power of the main branch?" He asked taunting, Hinata growled and pulled back shaking and gasped holding her arm. "You finally feel it eh?" He asked, she pulled her sleeve up to see bruises on her arms.
"He hit her chakra points.." Shikamaru muttered, Naru gasped already knowing the power of the Hyuuga.
"Hinata.." She said her voice lanced in worry and she gripped the bars tight.
"Someone as weak as you has no hope in moving on, you're not fit to be a ninja." Neji said.
"You're wrong Neji, I may be apart of the main branch and have the title of 'sama', but that doesn't define me." She said. "I've learned, it's not the outside or your first perception." She said shaking. "True I may not know the pain you went through losing your father, but I know the feeling of being locked up." She said. "You judge others-"
"SHUT UP!" Neji snarled. "You have no right to preach to me!" He snarled rushing at her his byakugan activated, he roared and shot his palm out at her, she focused and grabbed his wrist just in time flipping over him and he stumbled forward, she hit his back making him grunt in pain, she jumped back and pulled out shuriken and threw them quickly focusing chakra in them.
Neji watched before he smirked and focused. "Hakkesho Kaiten!" He said, a dome of chakra surrounded Neji deflecting the shuriken, Hinata stared in shock as it disappeared and Neji stopped.
"Neji... you.."
"Hm..." He said and ran toward her still in her shock and gave a yell thrusting his palm out. "Hakke Kusho!" He yelled, Hinata coughed up blood and flew back slamming into the ground, Neji panted.
"What did he do?" Naru asked in a panic.
"He hit her straight contact with Hakke Kusho." Shikamaru said, Naru gasped and bit her lip in worry and shook.
"Hinata... come on..." She whispered.
Hinata groaned stumbling up and spitting up blood again and wobbled. "I'll finish you!" He yelled rushing at her.
Hinata stood up and cried out as Neji hit her again this time hitting her chakra point her arms.
"Why wont she just quit?" Gaara asked standing next to Naru making Shikamaru look at him warily.
"Hinata's got a lot to prove, her whole clan treats her like trash because she wont be ruthless as them. She lost to her little sister so they labeled her the black sheep... Neji can't see that." Naru said.
"He's blinded by hatred..." Mamoru said, Naru nodded her head and sighed wishing there was someway she could get a reading on Hinata but was too far away. 'Use it Hinata... you got to..' She thought.
Hinata stood on her feet and glared at Neji and sighed quietly as Neji ran towards her again with a roar. "Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho!" Hinata yelled a bright white flash of chakra shined from her palm, Neji cried out as he fell back holding his burned wrist, Hinata panted glaring at him.
"What is that?"
"A gift from a friend..." She said smirking. Neji pulled out some kunai throwing them quickly watching, Hinata swiped her hand and sliced the kunai in half with the white chakra from her hands. "That..." He whispered and sighed, the veins that already stuck out from his head seemed to grow bigger in his rage. "Grahh!" He yelled rushing forward tackling Hinata back, she coughed harshly as she hit the ground and a crack sounded, Hinata's world spun and she rasped for air.
"Screw the main branch." Neji said bringing his palm up about to give a full strike to Hinata with the full intention of killing her.
Smoke filled the area and he grunted as he looked to see his uncle; Hinata's father Hiashi standing there, he grunted and cried out as he shoved the boy back with the Hakke Kusho.
"W...why?" Neji rasped holding his stomach shaking.
"I may of judged her too soon..." He said looking at his daughter that was unconscious but had a tiny smile on her lips. 'You've grown since being around her...' He thought and sighed.
"Due to interference on Hinata's part, I declare Hyuuga Neji the winner of this match." Genma said walking up, the audience gasped and talked loudly in shock. Neji watched as Hinata was carefully rushed out with her father by her side, he gripped dirt in his hand and punched the ground before taking in a calming breath and walked forward brushing past the medic ninja.
-o0o-
Naru and Mamoru walked into the nurse office quietly and Mamoru led her to Hinata's bed who was by the window, she was laying unconscious on the bed. Naru gently felt for her hand and grabbed it gently.
"You'll be okay Hinata, I promise he wont get away with this." She said quietly. "I promise." She whispered and sighed quietly. "I'll make sure I get him." She said and gave one more squeeze before walking out and into the break room where they had the remaining genin getting patched up, or getting food and water.
Naru walked in sitting on Mamoru's back, Shikamaru walked up as she climbed off and handed her a water bottle. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked.
"Yeah..." She said quietly and sighed. "I swear I better be paired against him." She said glaring towards Neji's chakra.
"Don't do it." Shikamaru said lowly. "He's not worth it."
"I know he's not, but he wont get away with it." She said shaking. "I'll make sure to cut him down.."
"You Uzumaki..." Neji said, everyone went quiet, Naru glared towards his location. "You'll need to learn something quick, give up when it's hopeless." He said. "Someone like you will never make it farther than this. You got lucky with the hothead from Suna, when partnered with a real genius, you wont stand a chance." He said.
"And you learn something, just because you're a so-called genius doesn't give you the right to act all high and mighty." She said. "You of all people should get the feeling of not being as high as someone else." She said, Neji twitched a little. "And if you can't figure it out on your own, then I'll knock into your sealed head." She said, he stiffened a little and looked at her and snorted.
"You talk big but you can't do anything without your cat. You and that little weakling Hinata are pathetic and nothing." He said. "She deserved it and you deserve to lose, you're nothing but a germ, she's half of that." He said.
Naru jumped off Mamoru and ran towards him, he dodged her punch, she growled and spun around on her heel tackling him to the ground, he grunted in shock as she went to punch him.
She yelped as Shikamaru hauled her up off the boy and Gaara held her wrist tight.
"Enough Naru!" Shikamaru said as she struggled. "He's not worth it." He said. "Stop." He whispered, Naru panted.
"Tsk... why stop her she couldn't do any damage anyways." Neji said standing.
"You say that when she knocked you to the ground." Gaara said. "And even if she doesn't hurt you, I can promise I would." He growled.
"You-"
"Neji enough!" Lee barked, Neji rolled his eyes and walked away.
"Useless losers." He said walking out of the room.
Naru struggled before sighing and slumping, Shikamaru released her, she huffed and glared at the ground shaking.
"Naru.." Shikamaru said.
"Don't get in my way again." She said looking at him with tears in her eyes. "I don't always need to be helped." She said. "I'm not hopeless." She said glaring at him, he sighed.
"Naru-"
She shook her head and walked out of the room, Mamoru trotted out after her.
Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest and huffed slightly looking at the door thinking about Naru and Neji and everything that happened. He grumbled and rubbed his head. "Troublesome." He muttered and walked out of the room.