AN: Some of you might have noticed that I uploaded a
new chapter for Bright eyes two days ago. Scary to think that I actually got
off my bum and did something. Though I give some of the credit to my friend
Nightrae who just became obsessed with writing and wanted me to write more as
well.
Well I did it! You happy now?! (Shows toothy grin) :B
Anyway, I’ve decided now that all skills will be
spoken in pure English except for the few that we already know such as Byakugan
and Kagemane no jutsu (unless you think I might as well spell them in English
also). Personally I would prefer to have them all in English, but first I’m
asking if everyone is okay with that.
Give me a review or send me an e-mail and tell me what
you think. I’ll consider the answers and act accordingly.
The reason I’m doing this is because I don’t have a
Japanese dictionary and I doubt that I would bother to translate even if I had
one. Secondly once you get used to it, it sounds natural so it’s really not
that big of a deal.
Chapter 9: The smell of battle
Naruto lunged, and was thrown back by a powerful arm
that grabbed him across his chest. He landed roughly by an old tree.
Painfully and slowly getting to his feet he saw
everyone up to their necks fighting. And he saw that the four sound-nins where
getting the upper hand. Neji and Shikamaru were struggling with their
opponents, Shikamaru doing his best to keep the distance to the maniacal ninja
with the katana who was hacking after him wildly with a grin on his face. Neji
seemed to panting heavily, locked in a staring contest of some sort. From the
look of things Neji was doing something with his hands as he swept them around
himself, as if fending off something sent out by the green haired-girl.
The only one faring well was Hinata who was viciously
attacking her opponent, who was by what he could tell the same one who had
knocked him to the ground a second before. She swung at him relentlessly, not
giving him an inch as he desperately tried to buy himself some time.
Naruto stared at her for a moment. Her small form
flawlessly performing the gentle fists style. He saw the energy that she still
possessed. The fire and anger that now burned in her eyes. She was the only one
winning as far as he could tell. His precious person, he thought sadly.
A couple of feet padded with bandages and cloths up to
the shin caught his attention as they suddenly appeared at the edge of his
vision, several feet from where he stood in thought about Hinata.
“You going to stand like that forever?” an elderly,
but still gentle voice asked him.
He frowned and turned his head to where she stood. Her
face showed nothing of the softness her voice contained. Her face was
emotionless and her brown eyes intent as they stared up at him.
“I have chosen you as my opponent,” she said
matter-of-factly.
“Do you accept this challenge?”
Naruto grinned coldly. “I’m sorry Baa-chan,” he
mocked. “But I don’t think you belong here.” ‘I won’t underestimate her
though,’ he thought with determination flaring. ‘But there’s no harm in
trying to fire her up.’
“Do you accept?” Was all she said.
Naruto grimaced and ground his teeth. “Heh, whatever,”
he retorted.
‘I hate you. I hate these people... For what they
did to Sasuke. For what they did to Jiraiya. They will pay. I promise that they
will pay.’ Naruto’s eyes drifted to the ground at the memories.
Seemingly lost to his own thoughts the old lady rushed
at him without blinking and delivered a colossal straight kick to his chin
which sent him flying into the air. Naruto seemed lifeless at first but flipped
quickly before landing neatly on the ground a little distance away.
Never letting her eyes off him she lowered her foot
and stood again as straight as she could.
“I see that you are a reckless fighter. Your way of
fighting will never stand up to the discipline of my style nor the damage
caused by it. Soon you will not be able to stand.”
And with that she rushed him straight as a needle,
covering the distance in a flash, and delivering a punch to his solar plexus. It
sent him flying backwards yet again but not before using her speed to spin and
lower her body around into a spinning heel kick which hit him in the jaw before
he cold even be hurled far enough back by the force of her punch.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Shikamaru dodged yet another swing from the black
haired sound-nins katana which grazed inches above his head as he ducked. ‘This
is not fun,’ he thought in frustration. So far it had been a game of dodge
and strike. The sound-nin seemed to be enjoying himself immensely as he pursued
Shikamaru and tried to hack him to pieces with his sword.
‘As things are now,’ Shikamaru thought gravely,
‘we are at a serious disadvantage. The only one who has much left to give is
Hinata, but she won’t be able to accomplish anything before she gets worn out
if things keep going like this. Luckily it looks as if they don’t have the
cursed seal.’
He took a quick glance around and noticed another
thing.‘Teamwork is about the only chance we’ve got and the only thing I’m
positive the enemy is lacking in based how they divided us up into single
challenges.’ Shikamaru jumped into a tree and dodged another wild swing. ‘At
least like this the branches will hinder him a little.’
“Why aren’t you using your shadow, shadow user?” the
man chasing him called out gleefully. “Could it be that the previous fight
drained all of your chakra? Or is there a set limit to how many times you can
use that jutsu a day?”
Shikamaru frowned. ‘Looks like he knows I can’t use
it any more. There is no set limit as to how many times I can use the Kagemane
because the amount of chakra it depletes depends on the stamina of the opponent
and increases proportionally the higher it is. Using the kagemane on all the
four sounds depleted my charka to almost nothing. I still have some left, but I
can’t afford to waste it in a desperate attack since he has already seen it. I
have to find another way, and preferably one that can free Hinata so that she
can help the others. She’s the only one with enough chakra left...’ Thinking
fast and effectively was one of his strongest points. He knew what he had to do
now, he just had to figure out how.
He pulled out his kunai and swung it in the direction
of the black-haired boy who dodged it easily but was thrown off balance because
he had to react so quickly at so close range. This gave Shikamaru the chance to
glance around at what was happening.
Naruto seemed to be taking a beating from that old
grandmother who despite her looks seemed to excel in taijutsu. ‘Not good,’
he thought. ‘If Naruto is finished we might be in more trouble than I
thought. Better do this quickly.’ Looking down in the opposite direction he
saw Neji and Hinata struggling with their two opponents. He didn’t know what
Neji or his opponent were doing, but the strain on Neji’s face was
unmistakable. ‘I better not go rushing in there, but I need Neji to stay
alive a little longer.’ He could see Neji faltering to his knees as he was
hit by something Shikamaru couldn’t see, but he raised his head again defiantly
and glared at the green-haired girl.
Shikamaru quickly pulled out all of his Shuriken and
divided them into his two hands. ‘I need to buy a bit more time. At least
Hinata seemes to be doing okay, even if she can’t get to her opponent.’ As
he leapt to another branch he saw the big red-head throwing up stone walls at
an amazing rate and Hinata was having problems dodging and getting close to her
target.
Shikamaru sighed as the katana wielding freak was back
on track. He didn’t seem as pleased anymore.
“Something wrong?” Shikamaru inquired as he bent a
little backwards on the branch to have the katana stab inches above him.
The nin smirked as he twisted his sword and let it
strike downwards without it being raised. Smoothly the blade descended.
Shikamaru’s reflexively let his legs drop him down to
roll off the branch and into free fall. In the air he quickly twisted around
and sent four of the shuriken upwards at his opponent to keep him at distance
and simultaneously sent the other four in a circling motion towards the young
girl standing concentrating in front of Neji. She noticed the shurikens and was
forced to jump back clumsily in the midst of her attack, giving Neji a perfect
opening.
Shikamaru landed and immediately jumped into the air
again predicting that the black-haired maniac would follow him, which to his
relief he did. ‘I was right, no team-work at all,’ he thought before
pulling out the scroll that the ANBU had handed him in passing before she took
off with Sasuke.
Releasing the strap holding it wrapped up with one
hand, he bit his thumb on the other, drawing blood and spreading it across the
entire length of the scroll. ‘At least with this technique I don’t need to
worry about injuring Neji or Hinata since their vision is that of 360 degrees. Since
this summoning scroll is made and not signed, anyone can use it. It only takes
a bit of blood and chakra to activate it. I guess she’s not ANBU for
nothing...’
“Summoning technique!” he yelled as a hundred different
weapons, ranging from daggers to scythes, appeared in the air to rain down upon
the people below him which was pretty much everyone except Naruto and the
elderly-looking sound-nin, who had moved further into the woods.
The boy below him grinned and disappeared as if he had
expected something of the sort. He landed and did a series of quick one-handed
seals. “Earth element, Earth merging skill,” he whispered and sank into the
ground before the missiles could hit.
Shilkamaru landed and immediately began to do hand
seals...
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Flashback:
Both Neji and Hinata had charged the big red-headed
brute once they saw him slam Naruto to the ground. Surprisingly Hinata reached
him first and began attacking him fiercely while Neji was intercepted by a
green-haired girl with a withered look about her.
She stopped him from going any further as she stood
between him and the other pair. She was skinny and not very tall. Her skin was
pale where it showed and her eyes had dark rings around them. But despite her
condition she didn’t seem affected at all as she smiled at him.
“Looks like we fight!” she said merrily.
Neji didn’t say a word.
He saw Hinata pass him by and couldn’t help but quirk
a smile as he saw the change that had happened in her. Ever since they had
started this mission she had been pale and acting jumpy. Now he saw that
something had kindled within her and was relieved. At least now he didn’t have
to worry about her. The big man was doing everything in his power to stay out
of range of her thrusting palms.
Neji turned his attention back to the girl in front of
him and lowered himself into the stance of the Hyuga gentle fist style.
End flashback.
He saw her awaiting his answer and nodded. “We fight.
I will show you the true power of the Hyuga Clan...”
With that he activated his Byakugan and began to study
his opponent. ‘Better not take these people lightly even if most of them are
only kids. She seems confident.’
The girl in
front of him smiled and pulled out a kunai from the holster on her left leg.
Neji just watched silently. ‘If she has already decided to use taijutsu I
better not convince her it’s going to be a bad idea. After all, I need to end
this quickly. I don’t have much chakra left in me.’
The little girl
grinned, threw her kunai at him and charged.
Neji dodged
and leapt to meet her oncoming attack. He easily dodged her punch and grabbed
her arm with his hand, ready to press the tenketsu on her arm with his other,
only to find that green dust spread from her arm once he grabbed it.
Leaping back
trying to avoid whatever the green stuff was he suddenly cringed at a pain in
his lungs and faltered to his one knee.
Coughing
roughly he looked up at the girl, a bit of blood running down the corner of his
mouth. ‘What was that?’ he thought. ‘It looked like dust, but it must
be more than that.’ He curled up again as pain shot through his torso.
“W-what did
you do to me?” he asked between gasps.
The sickly
looking girl smiled. “I didn’t do anything. It was just a result of you
touching me.”
Neji looked at
her and clenched at his chest with one hand as more pain gripped him from
inside.
“My clan
originated in The Hidden Village of Grass. Ever since I was young a rare type
of fungus has been growing on my skin. This symbiotic relationship works kind
of like the animal relationships of your village.” She grinned. “I let the
fungus grow and live off my skin while it protects me if someone where to come
into contact with my skin by sending out it’s pollen.”
Her small grin
widened again as if she was exceptionally happy. “Of course it’s extremely
poisonous for humans and animals who breathe it in. The pollen will settle
wherever it lands and immediately start to grow on it’s host, eventually
killing it if it is not resistant to its poison.”
She crouched
down and looked at him with her head cocked to the side. “The pollen has
evidently already rooted in your lungs, partially preventing oxygen from coming
into contact with your blood. I bet you’ll be completely dead in an hour. It’s
amazing how fast it grows.”
Still grinning
she stood up. “I guess you could say that I’m the worst kind of match up for a
Hyuga like yourself.”
Neji coughed. ‘So
she knew of my strengths. I suppose I should have guessed. But I can’t let my
self die like this. I’m not the only one who has almost depleted my chakra.
Hinata might need my help. I have to think of a way.’
“You can
hardly move now. I suppose I shouldn’t waste any time,” the girl announced
sadly. And with that she pulled another kunai from her holster and held it up
in front of her. “Too bad, you know. I don’t really enjoy killing people.”
Neji smiled
weakly as she began to run at him. ‘Just like the kaiten, only, no spinning,’
he thought exhausted. Right before she neared him he lowered his head. The
moment she was within six feet of him he sprang up with his Byakugan blazing
and released a wave of chakra at her blowing her pollen away. She twitched in
surprise and stumbled as several shuriken whizzed past her head nearly causing
her to fall forward and making her miss Neji’s throat by less than an inch.
Neji swiftly batted her outstretched arm further away and delivered a deadly
charka-infused blow to her abdomen. Because of her stumble he missed slightly,
but still he was satisfied. It was deadly enough.
The girl fell
backwards to the ground and coughed up blood, her eyes bulging.
“H-how?” she
gasped.
Neji looked
upon her coldly. “That is the price of revealing your technique. Once I knew
what I was up against I was able to counter it. When you charged me I looked
inside myself and delivered a few well-aimed burst of charka at the fungus in
my lungs with my Jyuuken.”
She retched
more blood onto the ground. Neji felt pity for this girl. She was just too
naive for a ninja.
“Every
organism needs and makes chakra to uphold itself,” he continued. “If an
organism receives or makes more chakra than it can handle it will burn itself
from the inside because it was only made to hold a certain amount. I simply
added a little of my own chakra to the fungus, effectively killing it.”
She twitched
on the ground, but managed to look up at him and smirk. “Looks like I
underestimated your ability. But, this isn’t over yet.”
She managed to
scramble a few feet away and put her hands into a quick set of seals as she
kneeled down, but Neji was already on top of her. He heard Shikamaru summoning
and knew what it was. ‘I never thought I’d use this technique offensively,’
he thought as he spread his foot and unleashed the last of his chakra around
his body.
“Hakkeshou
Kaiten!” he shouted as he began to spin and the chakra with him, creating a
shield which the approaching missiles bounced off.
The girl
screamed as she was blown into one of the nearby trees.
One of the
last things Neji saw before he collapsed was the sprawled dead body of the girl
who had been his opponent, surrounded by discarded weapons.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Hinata was
having problems getting to her opponent as he was continuously creating large
earth walls to block her path. They where hard to get around and it was easier
just going through.
Flashback:
Hinata
watched upon nervously while Naruto talked to the black haired sound-nin who
had risen from the ground to halt their escape. Suddenly the boy leapt at
Shikamaru who didn’t seem all to pleased and they began to trade blows.
Hintata
activated her Byakugan again as the other sound-nins dropped from the trees to
engage them. Turning to face her opponents uncertainly she saw Naruto spring
into the air to intercept them only to see him be hurled back into a tree by a
large kid with tattoos running up his arm. Naruto hadn’t even been aiming for
him.
She quickly
stole a glance at Naruto who lay moaning by the tree. A felt ajab of pain and
suddenly a flash of memories struck her and time seemed to slow. She
remembered. She remembered everything.
Naruto’s
confidence as they trained for the upcoming war with Sound, grinning as he
joked about their numbers. Their first date, how he had refused to let her feel
bad about herself. Him leading the attack against the outnumbering enemy as he
tried to give the rest of them time to run. Naruto’s promise to come back to
her on the day that he disappeared. All those memories and more flooded back to
her and she felt a few tears running down her cheek as she continued to stare
at his shape leaning against the tree, gritting his teeth in pain.
All those
times, he had been there for her and everyone. Always doing his best to protect
them all. His precious people. Always the one that was injured the most, but
always the first to recover and move on.
She felt
for him. Her heart ached for him. What had she done? Now she had betrayed him
too? Like all the others of his village?
No, she
wouldn’t allow it. He deserved so much better. For seeing her as she was, for
protecting her while he was there. He deserved better! She didn’t care if he
had a demon inside of him.
She raised
her head as in slow motion, staring blankly into the air in realization of what
she had done and saw the boy who had hit Naruto only now slowly descending to
the ground. A feeling in her sparkled. Now her body burned. And she could feel
herself burn with anger for the injustice that Naruto had been dealt. Her eyes locked
with that of the read-head and she saw him smirk arrogantly.
Without a
second for thought she rushed him. Her killing intent flying before her and
delivering a blow to the surprised ninja ahead of her. With all of her force
and might she closed the distance and lashed out at him.
If it was
the last thing she would do it would be to kill this man. Wipe his smirk off
his face and make him realize that the strength that had killed him and that
she now wielded she had gotten from the man he had so ruthlessly thrown to the
ground.
End of
flashback.
She hammered
chakra into the wall in front of her, never losing sight of her opponent.
Fiercely she fought her way towards him through all the barriers he barely had
time to raise. She hunted him, and she longed to kill him.
The look on
his determined, but sweating face showed that he knew what she felt. He knew
that the only thing keeping this girls hands from reaching him were the
defenses of thick earth he kept raising in front of him. He had no choice but
to wait for an opening as Hinata crumbled yet another defense. And another. And
another. They sprang up again and again. Being created somehow with the help of
the diamond-shaped tattoos on the brute’s palms.
Panting she
broke through another wall of earth that sprung up before her to block her path
and dived in fiercely trying to reach her opponent, only to be blocked again in
the last instant as he palmed the ground again without saying a word or giving
a seal. It raised yet another wall in her path. She crushed it with her palm,
releasing chakra to counteract the chakra that kept the earth hard. Flowing
through the remains of rubble she closed in on him again, her Byakugan not
allowing him to escape her sight.
She didn’t
notice what went on around her. Her focus was only on the man in front of her.
The man that she would soon kill.
Suddenly
though his expression changed and he seemed even more pressed for some reason.
As if something were coming. She wasn’t able to think about it. Her mind
seethed with fury that this person had injured someone so precious to her.
She didn’t
even notice that he set up several wall as quickly as he could and then began
performing quick hand seals. Hinata crushed through one defense and then leapt
on to the other, felling it also. ‘Soon there,’ she thought. She saw the
man on the other side of the wall move his mouth, but she didn’t hear anything.
The roar in her ears drowned in out. Everything seemed quiet except for that, it
seemed bathed in silence.
Through the
wall in front of her she saw a wall of earth raise from the ground to swallow
the sound-nin whole, creating a great barrier to protect against the shuriken
and various other weapons that rained down upon him.
She burst
through the final wall blocking her path, ignoring pain shooting up through her
left shin and right shoulder as weapons landed all around her. Rushing the dome
as it fell apart to reveal the red-head again she vaguely noticed him grinning
with his hands in a completed seal.
Someone spoke
to her left and the man in front of her froze. He grimaced in fear as Hinata
appeared before him delivering fatal blow after fatal blow to his organs,
turning them to mush. He fell, not being able to make his body function.
Flinging
herself on top of him Hinata drew her kunai and repeatedly stabbed the man over
and over. He was already dead she finally noticed in a daze. Stopping what she
was doing in mid swing she stumbled to her feet and heard sound partially
return to her ears. Just then did she realize that she hadn’t heard anything
since she started fighting and that she had completely ignored the battle going
on around her.
She looked up
and around herself. Neji was lying face down in the ground fifty feet away and
she numbly wondered if he was dead. Beginning to walk towards him slowly she
noticed Shikamaru just rising from the ground and rubbing his stomach as if it
hurt immensely. He called out to her. She heard what he said, but not the
meaning of his words. He said something again only more urgent.
Her eyes
widened as behind him she saw someone else coming out of the ground getting
ready to stab Shikamaru in the back. Forgetting her numbness she reacted on
instinct and sped over to pull Shikamaru out of the way while dodging the sword
swipe.
The
black-haired boy quickly spun around in a fluid motion to direct an attack to
her opposite side which ad been left open. His eyes widened in surprise when
she expertly twisted her body to avoid his next strike and deflected the side
of his blade with her left hand, effectively pushing it away and enabling her
to get inside his defense. She didn’t hesitate and quickly palmed him hard in
the face, sending blood spurting from his nose as he crumpled to the ground.
Her knees gave
away and exhaustion that she hadn’t even felt washed over her. ‘W-what did I
do?’ she thought and shivered. She looked down at the boy struggling to
move his body in front of her. He was saying something.
Slowly she
began to understand.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Shikamaru laid
a hand on Hinata’s shoulder. She was obviously shaken.
He shivered
slightly as he looked behind him to check out the messy corpse Hinata had left
behind. She had worked herself up into a frenzy and was just now realizing what
had just happened. He turned back again, feeling sick and looked down at the
girl in front of him.
Shikamaru
squeezed her shoulder again. People usually experienced trauma after such
things. The reality of their actions not hitting them until after they had been
able to calm down.
“Y...
Y-Yoouuu...” he heard the injured boy in front of him speak. He was dying and
his face and mouth were covered in blood. Hinata’s final blow had probably done
serious injury to his brain.
The boys eyes
where bulging, showing nearly only whites as he twitched strenuously in pain.
“You wanted me
to... To g-go underground... D-didn’t you...?” he stammered, a weak smile
painting his lips.
“Did t-that
summoning on purpose...” he swallowed in pain. Shikamaru hated to watch but he
did. Hinata stared at him to, almost as if fascinated.
“Gave that
bitch an opening with your shadow skill...” He gasped for breath and started
coughing. “I should have guessed...” Then, he was dead, a low gurgling sound
coming from his gaping and bloody mouth.
Shikamaru
sighed and helped Hinata to her feet. Behind him he could hear Naruto’s fight
was still going on...
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
Naruto crashed
through the forest not even trying to brake his fall.
Tumbling
limply across the ground Naruto let a small smile show as dust flew around him,
but it went unnoticed as the old woman was calmly readying her stance yet
again. Finally he stopped, and after a moments silence he rose up from the
ground with his back to the old woman.
The woman
frowned. Her strength and speed where the greatest. No one should be able to
stand up from even one of her punches, yet he had withstood all of them and was
still able to stand. ‘Guess I have to raise the power a bit.’ And with
that she began meditating where she stood. Her hands clasped in a strange seal
where her index fingers where curled together so the nails on her finger where
in contact with one another and her middle fingers where pointing up into
something resembling the seal of the tiger.
“Unsealing
technique, seal of strength,” she whispered.
Her short
meditation was interrupted as she heard the man in front of her chuckle. She
opened her right eye to observe him.
Naruto turned
to the old woman with the setting sun blazing above his head in something
resembling a bright halo, now outright laughter painting his face. She observed
him curiously as the laughter subsided and he became quiet once again. ‘Interesting
guy,’ she thought.
Naruto stood
thinking with his face in darkness. ‘Luckily, I’ve been able to regain a
fraction of my own chakra while she was pushing me around, enabling me to use
some techniques. Her strength is near that of Tsunade’s . Which means that I
better not get hit any more or I might not be able to move very easily, even
though I’ve made sure to avoid the worst so far.’ He looked up at his
opponent and saw her finish her meditation.
“Now,” he said
with a small feral grin. “We play my game.”
AN:
Damn, this chapter was so long that I ended up cutting it off here! I wrote
more which will uploaded (sometime) as soon as I can figure out how to write
what I want to happen. And to tell you the truth that’s not easy.
Next chapter
the identity of the ANBU will be revealed, I promise. If you’ve guessed it already
then hooray for you!
Well, I’m done
for now and I’d like to say that I would appreciate it if you review this
story. Makes me feel that it isn’t so crappy. I think you know what I mean...