I've been cutting the deadline real close these days, haven't I? Oh well. I currently have a bad case of writer's block, but I think I'm coming out of it, so please, bear with me. Thank you! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
OwOwO
Hinata hobbled along awkwardly next to Naruto. It was the day of the finals, and after a full month, she could walk on her own with one crutch. She had gotten pretty good at it too, well, until she tripped down the stairs. She had avoided them ever since, opting to stay on the first floor of the hospital. In the first week of her stay, she had gotten several notes and little gifts, mostly from Naruto and Sasuke when they couldn't visit her in person, but also from Sakura, Ino, and Tenten, the latter two feeling slightly guilty for their teammate's actions.
But after a while, due to training, she heard less and less from her fellow genin, and, so, decided to push to the walking process, so she could go to them. The first thing she did, of course, was visit Lee, who was badly injured. Compared to him, her own injuries seemed miniscule. She was already given a full chance of recovery, if she didn't over exert anything for a while, of course, but Lee…
She shook her head. She didn't like to think about that. She, instead, glanced at Naruto who was being unusually quiet.
"Naruto?" Hinata asked, her gentle voice breaking the tension. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, yeah, uh, I'm just a bit, uh, nervous…" Naruto, unlike his usual character, stuttered along with his words, wringing his hands out anxiously. He turned to Hinata, eyes wide with nervousness. "What if I can't do it, Hinata? Neji is just so…"
Hinata sternly placed a hand on his shoulder, supporting her own body with the other. "You can do it, Naruto. You have to believe in yourself."
Naruto nodded, as if trying to convince himself. "Yeah…"
"The training with Jiraiya-sensei has not been for nothing, no?" Hinata raised a delicate eyebrow. "I believe in you, Naruto."
"But…" Naruto looked down, scuffing his feet at the ground a little, as he walked. "Neji is a prodigy, and I'm…"
"A proud failure," Hinata finished the sentence for him. "You're a proud failure, and that's why you'll win."
She stopped, looking at the gate. They had reached the stadium. She turned to Naruto and gave him a bright smile. "You can do this," She encouraged him. She then turned and walked up to the audience to watch him from there. She saw Naruto take a deep breath, and then smile. He would do it. For Hinata.
That's the Naruto I know.
She turned around, and then fearfully saw her worst enemy. The staircase.
She took a deep breath. Come on, Hinata. What kind of shinobi can't even climb the stairs?
She stepped up slowly, carefully placing her crutch in the middle of each step. Surprisingly, it was easier to do with one crutch than two. She sped up tentatively, before going to where the rest of the rookie nine were watching.
"Hinata!" Sakura waved her over. "Come over here!"
Hinata walked over. "Hi, Sakura, Ino."
"And me too," Tenten chimed in. She looked at the other three and sighed. "Looks like all of us girls got kicked out."
"Yeah," Ino pressed her chin against her palm. "Kind of depressing how I lost to Sakura."
"HEY!" Sakura protested. "I'm your rival for a reason, you know!"
"Yeah, yeah," Ino muttered. She perked up. "I hope Shikamaru wins though. He'd better win!"
Hinata smiled and looked down, trying to find her teammates. There was Naruto, all bright yellow and orange, and Sasuke…
Where was Sasuke?
"Hey, is Sasuke here yet?" Hinata whispered. The Uchiha was nowhere to be found, and nor was Kakashi.
"My question is where Dosu is," Ino looked down, a frown creasing her brow. "Shikamaru is supposed to go up against him."
Hinata worriedly returned her attention back to the waiting contestants.
"Welcome to the final rounds of the Chunin Exams!"
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Naruto peered at the opened paper in front of him, confused.
"There's been a change in the final matches," The dry voice of Genma said. He had replaced Hayate as proctor after a little…incident.
So that Dosu guy dropped out, Shikamaru thought. Gaara glared holes into that paper from afar, his hand twitching from a memory.
Genma took the paper away, and he stepped back to address the group as a whole. "Every match stops when the other person is unable to continue, or acknowledges defeat. Remember, if I decide to stop the match," He focused on Neji when he said this. "It will stop."
Neji scoffed and looked away.
Genma looked back up. "The first match will be Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyuga. The other participants may leave to the waiting area."
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Naruto stood in front of Neji, everybody else had left. Neji looked down at Naruto, as if assessing him. He then smirked and said, "Any last words?"
Naruto shook. But it wasn't from anxiety or nerves. Oh no, he was not nervous.
He was angry.
He raised a shaking fist up to Neji, his nails cutting into his palm. "Only what I said last time." His eyes narrowed. and his mouth twisted into an ugly snarl. Any apprehensive he felt before was gone, replaced instead by fury. Fury directed at the person who dared hurt his teammate.
Neji's smile quavered a little, but he hid it by activating his Byakugan.
"That promise is impossible to keep," He mocked Naruto.
"Are you just going to stand there all day?" Naruto growled. His hands were itching to fight.
Genma eyed the two of them and raised a hand. "Let the first match begin!"
The crowd cheered.
As soon as Genma started the match, Naruto sprang into action, molding his hands into the seal for Shadow Clone Jutsu, and then charging at Neji. Neji met his clones gracefully, grabbing two by their ankles and slamming them into the ground, and then met the last shadow clone with his Gentle Fist.
Naruto leapt back, and then rushed forwards, throwing punch after punch and kick after kick. Neji moved his hands furiously to block and dodge Naruto's relentless attacks. But the blond kept going.
Does this guy have a limit? Neji thought, ducking under yet another kick. Yes, these assaults were sloppy and easy to dodge or deflect, but they were fast and had power behind them. There was no way someone could keep that up for long. He quickly jumped back when Naruto attempted to land a punch, spinning around and using the momentary imbalance as an opportunity to land both of his palms into Naruto's chest, sending him flying.
"You think you can become Hokage," Neji sneered. "As if."
Naruto got him shakily. "Not this crap again," He said, glaring daggers at Neji. "You can't decide someone's destiny."
"You think that you can achieve that with just a little "hard-work"?" Neji mocked. He looked up to the very visible stone faces. "You see the past Hokages? They were chosen by destiny." He turned his attention back to Naruto. "Every man has his path to walk, and he must follow it. Obediently. To the end."
Naruto had enough. "You can think that if you want," He said, the volume in his voice rising from his barely restrained anger. "But I will not give up." He brought his hands back up again. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
With a yell, all the shadow clones took turns attacking Neji, going at him five at a time. Neji spun around, blocking and attacking at the same time.
I don't have time for this, He thought, impatient. He searched the back, finding a Naruto who was unresponsive. There he is.
He charged through the crowd of Narutos, finally reaching the one at the back, and before he could react, stuck two fingers right where his heart would be.
He smirked. "My eyes can see everything, Naruto. The more that your clones attack, the more I see the real Naruto. The unresponsive one."
All around him, clones started flickering out one by one with poofs, aiding to his theory. Blood dripped out of Naruto's mouth as he stared dumbstruck at Neji and then–poofed away as well.
Neji leaped back, shocked. "But how?"
"You think I'm too chicken to attack on the front lines?" Naruto leapt straight at Neji, readying a punch that was meant to be solid.
Neji's eyes flashed. He had to use it now. When Naruto came closer, he spun around, knocking him away and onto the ground.
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Hinata watched, astonished when she saw what Neji did to Naruto. That…That was a technique that was only for the Hyuga main family members. Rotation. And yet, she was not all that surprised at Neji mastering it. She had of course seen his training sessions, seen the prowess he had. But what surprised her was that…he deemed Naruto a worthy enough opponent to let out what he had been doing in secret.
Hinata smiled. Naruto can do this.
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Naruto groaned, but dragged himself back up. However, Neji wasn't done yet.
He crouched down, placing one arm in front of his body and the other behind, leaning into a low stance.
"Gentle Fist Art: Six Trigrams 64 Palms," He spoke, smirking at what would be Naruto's expense. He charged.
"Four palms!" Naruto hurriedly tried to dodge, do anything to get away from those small, subtle, devastating taps.
"Eight palms!" Neji's speed increased, his hands and arms becoming a blur.
"Sixteen palms!" At this point, Naruto couldn't think. Everything was too fast to comprehend.
"Thirty two palms!" Neji was hitting Naruto's chakra points with deadly precision, each jab made a little "thunk" noise that resounded Naruto's soon to be defeat.
"Sixty four palms!"
Neji spun out of his attack, panting a little, holding his stance. Naruto flew in the air, and then landed on the ground with a thump.
Neji took a deep breath, straightening up to stand regularly.
Genma walked forwards, observing the fallen body before him to decide whether or not to call the match over.
"I have now struck all sixty four of your chakra points," Neji said coolly to Naruto. "You can no longer wield or mold chakra." His mouth twisted into an unpleasant smile that looked more like a grimace, looking down at Naruto as if disgusted.
Naruto grunted, opening blurry eyes to focus on Neji. He remembered Hinata, even Lee. Both had gotten back up, and he would as well.
"I…just don't know when to give up," He spoke, voice staggering a little from all he had endured. But he would do this. He had to do this.
Neji eyed Naruto cynically. "Just surrender. I do not have any personal feelings against you, and I do not want to kill you."
"Pfft, how touching," Naruto sneered. "You're going to make me cry. Guess what? I have something against you! Main family, branch family, hah, that doesn't decide who you can be. I don't give a damn about your "destiny" crap!"
"Have you heard about the Curse Mark Jutsu?" Neji interjected coldly. "That may change your view on things."
Naruto glared at him. "I've heard of it alright. Hinata–"
"–told you," Neji said smoothly. "As expected, she's always brushing her burdens onto other people."
Naruto shook with fury. "SHUT UP!" He yelled at Neji, pointing a finger at him. "All she wanted was your respect, your acknowledgement, and she tried so hard to get it! And all you do is disrespect her and treat her like crap!"
"She'll never know what it feels like to have a permanent seal on you, one you can never wipe away," Neji retorted coldly. "And neither will you."
Naruto thought back to those times, those many, many times when he was yelled at, bullied, and discriminated. "Oh yeah?" He said, challengingly. "You think you're the only one who has challenges in their life?"
Neji, frustration now invading his system, reactivated his Byakugan. "Failures will remain failures, Naruto. The main will remain the main, and the branch the branch. It's funny that you sympathize with Hinata because you'll share the same fate as her."
And then–Naruto snapped.
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"Naruto, do you remember the different types of chakra we talked about yesterday?" Jiraiya patiently asked the boy, kneeling to be eye to eye with him.
"Huh?" Naruto was confused, racking his brain for any memories from yesterday.
Jiraiya sighed, now not so patient. "The red and blue chakra, remember?"
Naruto perked up, now knowing the answer. "Oh yeah! I remember. So what about it?"
"Alright," Jiraiya nodded. "Try building up that red chakra right now."
Naruto nodded, and then put his hands together. He closed his eyes and concentrated. After a moment, Jiraiya asked him, "Well? Did it work?"
Naruto shook his head. "Nope."
Jiraiya sighed. "Well, try again."
And so Naruto tried and tried.
And he failed and failed.
"Are you sure I need it?" Naruto asked, now a little annoyed. "Can't I just use my regular chakra?"
Jiraiya tutted and shook both his forefingers in Naruto's face. "Nuh uh. I have a special jutsu that can only be done with your red chakra. Your other chakra is much too weak for it."
Naruto protested while being pinched on both his cheeks by his perverted mentor. "Hey, stop that!"
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Naruto was falling. He was falling because Jiraiya wanted him to use the chakra of the ninetails after finding out that his regular chakra could only summon tadpoles and half-formed baby toads. And somehow his sadistic teacher thought that causing death would let the chakra arise. Truth be told, Naruto didn't want to use the chakra. All the time he did, he felt so bad. All the hate that came with the chakra…he didn't like it.
But he supposed that if it was done with him in control then it would be okay.
And it was then he realized that he didn't know how to pull out the chakra, like it or not. And so…he screamed.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
If I go on like this, I'll really die! He thought, arms flailing for support. This was the first time he really wanted the ninetails' chakra to come out. And then his heart pounded and he was transported to a different world.
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It was like a sewer. That was his first thought. There were pipes connected to the metal walls and ceilings, and the floor was submerged with water that was lapping at his heels. Guided by instinct, he explored room after room until he came across one with a giant cage. Curious, he walked into the room, standing right infront of the cage, and then slowly stepping closer.
"How I wish to eat you, brat," Came a voice from the cage. Naruto saw a red eye surrounded by chakra. "This damn cage."
Boldened by a force that would surely get him killed one day, Naruto decided to blatantly state his request. "Hey, you stupid fox," He said, pointing a finger at the offending being. "Since you're staying in my body, you might as well give me chakra as rent."
The ninetails bristled from the disrespect. "The audacity you have–." He sighed and took a deep breath. It didn't matter, giving the brat chakra would only aid his plan in escape. His lip curled up from the thought. "Very well. I will give you chakra from making it this far."
The last thing Naruto remembered was being wrapped up in suffocating, stifling chakra before being kicked out of that place.
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If Naruto thought back to the moment from before, that moment of strength he had when he summoned Gamabunta, the chief of the toads, the strength that came from seeing the nine-tails, he would've connected it to the sudden energy he felt now. All his chakra points felt unaffected, and all the weariness he felt before was gone, as he charged at Neji, teeth bared and claws out. But this time, this strength had an emotion. Wrath.
Neji stood there, shocked for a moment. This chakra… It was too late for him to react. He was kicked, pummeled, and bashed, his body was being tossed left and right.
But how? He thought. These attacks had chakra to aid this speed, and even though he somehow managed to unblock his chakra points, Naruto never possessed this much power.
It ended with Neji on the ground, and Naruto on top of him, blindly punching him. Neji, now immobile, layed there in dismay, his bruised face not hiding his surprise in any way.
It took a few calls from the proctor that was running over to jolt Naruto out of his trance. He stopped, breathing heavily. The chakra left his system. Neji stared dumbly at him, his eyes searching for the will that led to this anger.
"W..Why?" He croaked out through bloodied lips. "Why do you do this?"
"It may be the Hyuga way to cave into destiny, but it's not mine," Naruto said coldly, standing up to look down at Neji. "I failed the graduation exams three times. You know what was the problem with me? My clone jutsu. That's right. I flunked the clone jutsu every single time. So don't come crying to me about this destiny crap. I'll change the way of the Hyuga clan, after I become Hokage. I'll do it for Hinata, at least, just as I beat you for her."
He left his body without another word, going to confirm with the proctor that, yes, he did win this fight. Genma let out a small smile for the boy, and he raised his arm to announce the match over.
"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!"
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Naruto looked at the cheering crowd, bashfully scratching his head. He had never…never gotten this applause. He might as well put on a show, he supposed. He smiled widely at the audience and put up a peace sign.
"Yeah!" He exclaimed, adding to the cheers. And then deciding that was not enough, he ran around, yelling "yeah"s out of pure excitement, blowing kisses at the spectators.
Neji listened to his happy yells as he laid on a stretcher.
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Neji was resting in a hospital bed when he heard the door click open. He raised his head to see his uncle walk in. He quickly got out of bed to bow in. Hiashi looked down at his nephew. He might've lost to the Uzumaki rascal, but oh how he wished that Neji was in Hinata's place… He curtly placed a scroll in front of Neji and left, leaving those thoughts in the room.
It's true, Hizashi…I have taken your rightful place in the main family…
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Neji placed the scroll down, taking a heavy breath. His eyes flickered over the scroll ruefully. He owed some people an apology.
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Hinata couldn't stop grinning. But the smile faded when she realized that the people around her were protesting…protesting about the absence of a certain someone.
Sasuke.
She straightened up immediately, scanning the arena, the crowd, anywhere.
"What's going on?" Ino asked, twisting her head left and right. "Why is everyone so agitated?"
"Sasuke is late," Hinata replied. "If he doesn't come soon…he'll be disqualified."
Hinata looked down to see a man approach the proctor. They were talking about something, and it ended with the proctor nodding his head. With a sigh of relief, Hinata heard the news that Sasuke's match would be postponed.
"Okay, now Kankuro and Shino, you're next!"
It immediately ended with a "Proctor, I withdraw." from Kankuro.
Shino tensed a little, but he did not let any other external reactions go through.
"Okay, then," Genma moved to the next match. "Temari versus Shikamaru! Contestants, come down!"
Temari threw out her fan, spreading it open, and then riding on it to land gracefully on the ground next to the proctor.
Genma, now a little impatient, looked upwards at Shikamaru. "You there," He yelled. "Come down!"
Shikamaru, half hanging over the railing, groaned. "This is such a drag."
"Hey, Shikamaru!" Naruto's cheerful voice met his ears. "You got this, believe it!"
The blond then pounded him on the back so hard that he fell, all the way from the waiting stands, landing with a thud on the ground.
Naruto, Shikamaru thought, annoyed, as lay on the ground. Spectators were throwing trash in his general direction, probably because they couldn't watch Sasuke fight. What a drag. And to make things worse, I'm fighting a girl.
Oh, the agony.
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Temari was confused. She had clearly drawn the line of his shadow, so why was it crossing it? She looked up at the sky, and the realization hit her.
"Now I see what you've been up to," Temari accused Shikamaru. "You're waiting for the sun to get lower, and the shadow from the wall to get longer."
Shikamaru glared at the Sand kunoichi, struggling to make the shadow go longer. Any time now…
Kankuro was watching the match rather intensely, when he noticed something above his sister. "Temari, above you!" He shouted, warning her.
Temari's head shot up, looking at a floating jacket that was wrapped around a kunai like a parachute. As the jacket neared the ground, a shadow was formed right in front of Shikamaru's shadow, allowing it to reach farther. Temari stumbled to get away, disbelief and shock making her actions clumsy.
Shikamaru concentrated, willing his shadow to go out farther. At the end, it was the same as last time, and it reached its limit, remaining as a stagnant, quivering black line on the ground.
Temari leaped back, running away. She glanced at the sun's position, and the new problem she now had. The longer this match, the more of a disadvantage she was at. Coming to a decision, she slammed the top of her half way spread fan into the ground, and she crouched down, thinking. Maybe if I make a clone…She pondered. It'd give him more things to worry about, and as the clone distracts him, I can use a wind jutsu.
Coming to a decision, she slammed her hands together. "Now, Clone–"
She froze. Not from fear or from anxiety, but because she couldn't move. Every part of her body was immobile, and she was stuck in that position. Slowly, almost painfully on her part, her arms began to part, matching the movements of the sly Nara in front of her. Gone was the worried expression on his face, and Shikamaru now boasted a triumphant smirk. It was clear to both sides who had won.
"Took a while," He said. "But my Shadow Possession finally worked."
Temari was shocked. What? How?
Shikamaru smiled smugly at her expense, and then answered the question she had in her mind. "You really think that I'd be honest with you on how far my Shadow Possession Jutsu could go? The jacket, the sun setting, they were all ploys to make you think that I had reached my limit. In reality, I just needed to bide my time to catch you off guard."
Temari gritted her teeth in frustration that she'd lost due to "being faked out".
Shikamaru stood up, mimicking a few motions to cause Temari to throw away her fan, and then walked closer, causing her to copy him and come closer as well. He then raised his hand and sighed. This was inevitable.
"I give up," He said tonelessly, as if he were bored. "Just can't help it."
Silence reigned over the crowd for a few seconds before Naruto broke it with a confused "huh?". And then chaos erupted. The audience was filled with protests and "he's kidding me"s, and "are you serious?"s. It was quite the stir-up. Ino, who was right next to Hinata, was pounding her head into her hands.
"Shikamaru!" She wailed. "Why?"
"And here I was planning the next two hundred moves in my head," Shikamaru said ruefully. "But my chakra is running low. Anyway, if I did win this thing, it'd just be more work." And I don't really want to fight anymore. What a drag.
Temari stared at Shikamaru, blinking a few times to check if she was dreaming or not. Genma was hosting a grudging admiration for him, as he called the match over.
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Naruto was shocked and furious. So much so that he ran down to the arena to yell at Shikamaru who was stretching and rolling out his neck from the exhausting fight.
"Hey, I want to talk to you, you idiot!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at the Nara who couldn't care less. "I mean, are you really that lazy, or are you just a big chicken?"
Shikamaru, who was currently stretching out his back, answered Naruto nochalantly. "Hey, it's okay–"
"No, it's not okay!" Naruto yelled back, interrupting him. "You had that match right in the palm of your hand, you could of just…"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes crossly, talking over Naruto's ranting. "Could you just cut it?" He said, annoyed. "Save it for the other match."
Naruto stopped at that. "Another match?" He then remembered Sasuke. "Oh yeah!"
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"There's still no sign of Sasuke Uchiha," Raido whispered to the Hokage. "He hasn't arrived at the arena."
"Ten more minutes," Came the voice of the Kazekage sitting next to them. "Surely we can give him at least that much?" He inclined a graceful head at the crowd. "They're certaintly very excited for this match. Imagine the disappointment. I myself want to see the last Uchiha's skills against Gaara's."
Hiruzen reluctantly nodded. "Fine then. Ten more minutes."
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Naruto was darting around the battle grounds, looking around desperately for a certain dark-haired someone.
"I swear, if he doesn't come, I'll kill him!" Naruto said, clenching his hands into fists. "I'll straight up kill him!"
Genma checked his pocket watch. Thirty seconds left, and then Gaara wins by default.
"I bet he's planning some "big entrance" or something," Naruto muttered, pacing back and forth. "Well, I'm not going to be impressed."
"Time's up!" Genma announced. "So I'm going to have to declare this match–"
Suddenly, a small tornado of leaves whipped into the arena, cutting Genma off. When it stopped, Sasuke and Kakashi were standing in the middle, back to back. Kakashi had his hands in his pocket, and his closed eye curved into a cheerful smile when he said:
"Sorry we're late, you wouldn't believe the traffic."
Naruto sighed in relief and grinned. Hinata shared both his smile and relief.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said, in case nobody knew.
"Ah, so he came on time," Lee spoke, causing both Sakura and Hinata to jump.
"Lee!" Hinata said. "You made it on time!"
Sakura gave him a once over. She had admired his determination to prove himself to her, although he had been quite…ecstatic sometimes. He was considered a friend in her eyes, although her first impressions of him were…not very good.
"Wait," Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head. "How late are we?"
Naruto groaned. They would never know.
The crowd burst into cheers now that the star of the show had arrived. Shikamaru looked up at the crowd, slightly disgruntled. And here I am, yesterday's news already.
He looked at Naruto, and they both made their way up the stairs back to the waiting room.
"I can't believe you lost," Naruto groaned. "But I also can't believe that Sasuke and Kakashi arrived right on time and made it seem cool at that…" His voice drifted off when he saw something ahead of him. There were two people, from the Hidden Mist Village, talking to Gaara. A few minutes in their "conversation", and he heard chilling screams rebound from the hallway.
Naruto and Shikamaru both froze, their blood running cold. Gaara approached the stairs, coming from behind the two. He stepped in between them, no emotion visible on his face. Naruot and Shikamaru remained frozen as they both watched the red-head coldly make his way to his match. Only a few seconds after he left their view did they relax and sit onto the stairs, breathing heavily.
"That could've been us just now," Shikamaru said. He could've peed his pants then and there.
Yup, Sasuke was screwed.
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"Alright, since we're all now here," Genma said, looking pointedly at Sasuke. "Let the match begin."
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"Hey, Guy," Kakashi greeted. "Oh, hi, Hinata. How's the heart?"
Hinata replied cheerfully. "Doing well. The nurse said that as long as I don't do anything extensive I should be okay."
"Still using crutches?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah, but I can do without them," Hinata assured him. I'm still scared of stairs, though. "Did…did you take care of the mark on Sasuke's neck?"
"Yeah," Kakashi replied calmly. "It's under control now."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"Well, I'm going to be watching your pupil closely," Guy said, giving a brilliantly shiny smile. "To see just how effective your training was."
"Huh?" Kakashi played dumb. "What did you say?"
Guy then went through the five stages of grief.
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"Begin!"
As soon as Sasuke saw sand drift out of Gaara's gourd, he leapt back, keeping as much distance between him and the substance.
So this was the sand Kakashi was talking about.
Sasuke paused and narrowed his eyes when he saw Gaara suddenly double over, a hand over his left eye. He could faintly hear what he was saying.
"Mother. I'm sorry I made you taste bad blood. But this one…this one will be better."
Sasuke jolted. What the hell was this guy spouting? He threw two shuriken at the red-head, only to get blocked by the sand. The sand created a clone of Gaara that shot bursts of sand at Sasuke.
He raced forwards, landing kicks and punches on the clone, making it crumble away, and then attacked Gaara, only to be blocked by more sand.
The motion happened quickly. So quickly that Gaara was reminded of a certain somebody he fought in the preliminaries. It was a slight movement of the foot, and then a blur. Sasuke went from his front to his back in a movement too fast for his sand to follow. And then, he felt a force in his cheek, similar to the one he felt in his earlier fight a month ago, and cracks in his sand armor appeared.
Gaara flew back from the force of the punch and landed on the ground, sand cushioning his fall. Sasuke stood triumphantly, a hand in front of him, much like the pose that Lee liked to strike.
He didn't wait for Gaara to recuperate, instead, running circles around his sand and landing kick after kick, always leaping back to avoid getting caught by the substance.
Gaara had had enough. He stopped, putting his hands together in a seal. The sand on the ground rose up to wrap around him in a cocoon, locking him away from anything external. Sasuke quickly ran forwards, trying to grasp a chance to land a punch, but the sand closed up too quickly, forming spikes when Sasuke tried to attack. He leapt back, breathing heavily, the hand he had used was hanging at his side, blood dripping out of his knuckles.
Meanwhile, inside of the darkness of his sand, Gaara concentrated, holding his hands together in a seal and chanting. "Ni saru ne saru tori saru tatsu…"
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Naruto was having fits. He couldn't believe that they were letting Gaara fight Sasuke.
"You gotta stop them!" He protested. "That guy is not normal! You gotta believe it!"
Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, it's going to be alright. Sasuke is more than capable."
"I can keep a watch on him with my Byakugan," Hinata suggested timidly. If she was being perfectly honest, Gaara also gave her…chills. "I can see inside of sand if anything abnormal is happening."
"I thought Naruto meant his fighting skills," Kakashi said, tilting his head slightly. "What do you think's going to happen? He's not going to transform or whatever, is he?"
Hinata bit her lip. "If…If I'm being honest, on the first day we met him, I sensed…a chakra. A chakra just like the one inside Naruto."
Naruto was confused. "What? What do you mean just like mine?"
Hinata looked away. "It felt like the nine-tails."
Naruto stayed silent for a moment. "I think you should keep a watch."
"And I agree," Kakashi said. "But we can't stop this match." He turned to Naruto apologetically. "Don't worry, Sasuke's got it under control."
Hinata turned to Gaara, activating her Byakugan. "Oh wait, Naruto, I forgot to congratulate you for your win." She turned back, smiling proudly. "I hope you proved to Neji that destiny doesn't define you."
Naruto grinned. "You bet I did."
And then they both turned back to the match.
OwOwO
Sasuke stared at the globe of sand that contained Gaara, rather frustrated. He tossed three kunai, testing the boundaries of the protection, before leaping forwards, only having to dodge quickly as spikes of sand were thrusted his way. He could faintly hear Gaara muttering something in the sand, and it was slightly disturbing.
Eyes on the prize, He reminded himself. Well, he can stall all he wants. I could use the time.
He raised an arm, red Sharingan glowing, unbuttoning one of the many straps circling his arm.
He flipped backwards several times, using chakra to climb high up the towering walls that were circling the arena. He took a deep breath and flashed through signs. He held his hand at the end, summoning the chakra needed.
OwOwO
"He's not following the plan!" Temari said, frustrated.
Kankuro nodded, gritting his teeth in both worry and anger.
OwOwO
The sound of birds chirping, and the smell of ozone burning invaded Sasuke's senses. The bright lightning crackled around his hand, illuminating his face in an eerie light, as he drug his hand back, creating a shallow crater in the wall that followed his hand, as he ran down towards Gaara. He raced in between the spikes that shot his way before stabbing his hand in the sand, watching the tawny grains split before him, as he met his target.
Got you.
Naruto watched with a grudging awe. Chidori, as Guy had called it, was Sasuke's new jutsu.
"It's a dangerous technique," Guy said, narrowing eyes at Kakashi. "It's not one to be taught lightly."
"Yeah, you're one to talk," Kakashi said dismissively. He then leaned towards the boy right next to Guy. "Right, Lee?"
Lee gave him the saddest look ever.
"It looks…" Hinata searched for the right words. "...like it might do the trick." She turned to Kakashi, Byakugan still activated. "But somehow…" She shook her head.
"What?" Naruto asked. "What's wrong?"
"I-It's nothing," Hinata murmured. "I'll just continue to watch Gaara. It's fine."
Naruto was suspicious, but he brushed the matter off.
It was going to be okay. Right?
OwOwO
Sasuke smirked, his hand still in the round sand shield. He had made contact. He knew that for sure. He froze when he felt Gaara say something.
"It's so warm…and wet…" Gaara muttered inside of his sand shell. "What is it, Mother?" His voice faded when he came to a realization. "Blood. IT'S MY BLOOD!"
He let out a chilling scream, and at that, Sasuke pulled out his arm with all his might, leaping back as the arm of something followed his, falling limply to the ground after being unable to reach its prey and pulling back into Gaara's sand.
What the hell?
OwOwO
Hinata let out a small scream, pointing at Gaara's sand. She turned to Kakashi, eyes fearful. "K-Kakashi-sensei, Gaara's–he's–it's–"
"Hinata, calm down," Kakashi said, trying to placate her. "Take a deep breath and tell me."
Hinata shuddered, doing as Kakashi said before speaking again. "Gaara…he turned into something..for a moment. It has the same chakra when…when Naruto uses nine-tails…but it's different." She turned to Naruto who was watching, eyes worried. She looked back to see the sand around Gaara falling, revealing him clutching his bloodied shoulder. She focused on that, but sensed something else…it was a disturbance in chakra, sensed by her Byakugan.
Genjutsu.
She put her hands together in a seal. "Release!"
She looked at Kakashi and Guy who had both done the same. Kakashi turned and gave her an appraising look for noticing the disturbances in chakra. She then turned around to see Sakura, who was also out of the genjutsu.
"They seriously think that a simple genjutsu can defeat us?" She grumbled. "Can you believe it, Hinata?"
Hinata smiled sheepishly, and then pointed at Naruto, no other words spoken.
"That idiot!" Sakura exclaimed. "I can't believe it!"
Kakashi looked around warily. "Hinata, Sakura, be careful."
At his words, several Sound ninja leapt out of the audience, confronting them. Hinata glanced at the arena, turning to Kakashi quickly.
"Sasuke is following Gaara out of the arena, and he's chasing him along with two other Sand ninja," She said, focusing on them with her Byakugan. She could follow them with her eyes into the forest, but sooner or later, they'd go out of her range. "Should I do anything?"
She was cut off when she had to duck from a sudden attack from a ninja, hurriedly sliding into the Gentle Fist stance.
"First, go wake Naruto and Shikamaru up," Kakashi said. "Sakura, you stay here and protect the civilians."
"Yes, sensei!" The two kunoichi's said.
Hinata immediately jumped into action, first releasing Naruto from the genjutsu he was in, holding her hands into the release seal.
"Release!"
Naruto woke up with a start. "Who's there?"
"Should I wake anybody else up?" Hinata asked, glancing at Ino and Choji who were both asleep.
"No, no time," Kakashi said. "But don't worry, I got a fourth member for you." He swiftly flashed some hand seals. "Summoning jutsu!"
Pakkun appeared, a little disgruntled, but nonetheless ready for action.
"Okay," Hinata said, too hurried to worry about the specific species of the additional team member they had. She leaned over Naruto, quickly releasing him from the genjutsu.
Hinata quickly dragged him over to Shikamaru, going to the Nara to wake him up from the genjutsu, and then realizing…
He was already out of the genjutsu.
Pakkun walked over to him, promptly biting him in the calf. There was a moment of silence, and then Shikamaru was up, shaking his leg in pain.
"..." Hinata was speechless. "Why, Shikamaru?"
"I didn't want to get involved," He said grumpily, pulling Pakkun off his leg.
Hinata sighed and turned around to Naruto, just to see a Sound ninja right behind him, kunai up and poised to strike.
"Naruto–behind you!" She yelled, getting up as well.
Before Naruto could react, however, a green blur flashed by, throwing the ninja into the wall behind them with such force that cracks formulated around where he did so. Guy quickly moved the ninja away, opting to kick away the rest of the wall and creating an opening for the three, four if you counted Pakkun, to escape.
"Go this way," He said, voice serious for once. "Kakashi and I will handle the other Sound ninja, and Sakura can protect the audience."
Hinata nodded, and then raced out Naruto on her heels. Shikamaru groaned at the thought of having to work, but nevertheless followed them, Pakkun right beside him. They all leaped to the forest and started searching for Sasuke.
Hinata moved to activate her Byakugan, but Pakkun stopped her.
"I have his scent," He explained. "Don't overuse your Byakugan."
Hinata nodded, a little bit uncertain, but continued on.
"Wait!" Pakkun suddenly perked up. "We have people following us."
Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan, not paying even the slightest heed to Pakkun's words before. "Yeah, eight–no nine, ninja. I think they're all Sound."
"I could've told us that, dammit!" Pakkun protested.
"Oh, what a drag," Shikamaru complained.
"Let's retrace our steps," Pakkun said, suddenly stopping. "It won't do much, but it'll help at least a little."
Hinata nodded, eyes urging the rest of the team to do the same. They all tediously stepped backwards, matching their footprints neatly.
After doing so, they continued on their way, full speed.
OwOwO
"It's an ambush," Shikamaru said after five minutes of running. "And our team is composed of people who are not fit for it." He turned to assess every single person in their hurriedly made "team". "We have a fool–" At this, Naruto glared at Shikamaru, deeply offended. "–a kunoichi who is still recovering from cardiac arrest, and is currently pretty much useless–" Hinata's head dropped. She technically couldn't exert herself, and therefore, was useless. "–and me. A shirker who doesn't even want to be here. So we need a decoy." He suddenly came to a stop, having the two other people, and the dog, land with him. "Who's it going to be?"
"I can go," Hinata said softly. "You're right, Shikamaru. I'm in no state to be doing anything…strenuous. I don't want to burden you two. Besides, you have Pakkun to guide you–"
"I'm the only one who can do it," Shikamaru interrupted Hinata, surprising the kunoichi. He flipped over Hinata and Naruto's heads. "After all, we all want to survive, no?"
"Shikamaru…" Hinata whispered. "Are–Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Shikamaru turned around, putting a hand up as a "good-bye". "I'll catch up with you later."
"Okay, then," Naruto said. "We believe in you!" He gave Shikamaru a thumbs up, as the boy walked away.
OwOwO
"The ninja are still on our trail," Pakkun reported after some time of running.
"Shikamaru!" Hinata realized. "Is he okay?"
"I'm less worried about him being "okay"," Pakkun growled. "And more about his loyalty."
"Don't say that," Naruto protested. "Shikamaru is lazy, yes, but he'd never betray us."
"If you say so," Pakkun said, shrugging as much as a dog can shrug.
After a while, Pakkun gave out more news. "The ninja have stopped, looks like you were right, Naruto."
Naruto beamed. Of course he was right.
They were all in the middle of running when Hinata's eyes widened and she stopped. Right in front of them was evidence of explosions, paper bomb explosions.
"Sasuke…" She whispered. "Is he…?"
Naruto grinned at her reassuringly. "Of course he's fine, Hinata!" He declared in full confidence. "If Sasuke can't take a few paper bombs, then he wouldn't have been able to make it so far into the preliminaries and final rounds, no?"
Hinata smiled back. "Of course."
OwOwO
Sasuke glared at the three Sand shinobi in front of him, brandishing a kunai threateningly, stance ready to jump into action at the drop of a hat. He was ready to handle them. Their paths would stop here.
"This is as far as you go!"
OwOwO
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