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Chapter 350:

The honest sentiment then made her heart ache because she knew

what was expected of her. She knew many Konoha Shinobi would die

today. Walking on the grass toward the viewing gallery, Temari gazes

up between her brothers and Naruto, and in addition to feeling

defeated, she felt nauseated. Every weak step up the stairs to the

holding area seemed to threaten her with a violent urge to vomit. Of

course, it didn't help the moment she cleared the staircase, Naruto is

right in front of her, happy as a clam. Closer to her than he's been in

over two days, he looks so powerful and feels so strong but he still has

his smile. Being forced to crush his cheerful heart nearly makes her

hyperventilate.

"Wow, Temari, your fan is soo awesome," Naruto beams. "I know you

showed it to me before but I've never seen it in action…"

Over his shoulder, Kankurō is standing next to Gaara who's sinister

grin is all the signal she needs. In that revolting moment, her heart

hates her brothers, her father, and her village for making her do this.

It's a spike of emotional distress that even makes her hate Naruto for

being so amazing, and herself for choosing this vile darkness over love

and hope.

Mechanically, Temari walks over to her brothers as Naruto follows to

ask, "since we're both wind-users, can I hold it?"

Gaara steps in front of Naruto, glaring with his cold dead eyes as he

proclaims, "she doesn't love you."

Naruto pulls up, humming, "Hmm?" He examines Gaara a moment

before looking between the Sand siblings. Temari's remains as silent

and still as an emotionless porcelain doll.

"She. Does. Not. Love. You," Gaara slowly repeats, trying to let each

word sink in as he steps closer to Naruto. Gaara whispers, "all this

time, she's been lying to you. She betrayed you; betrayed your trust."

Realizing this is the moment, Naruto hates that this is happening. He

always suspected but he hoped maybe he could've changed her mind;

even if he knows that would've made her a traitor to her village.

Though a small part of Naruto recalls her funny smile—like a girl who

never does it—he can't help but confidently tell Gaara, "no she didn't."

"Of course you'd believe otherwise," Gaara replied, taking a step back

and standing next to his older sister despite glaring at Naruto the entire

time. "Temari," he commands.

"…He's right Uzumaki," Temari hesitates to starts. Recalling the need

for eye contact, her teal eyes snap to his blue ones as she practically

growls, "d-didn't you ever ask yourself how someone like me possibly

fall in love with someone like you? I never l-loved you; no, not such a

weak, ugly, m-monster like you! I faked everything when we were

together—my attraction, my joy, my desire for you, all fake." Temari

takes a heavy breath as she fights to add, "a-and I laughed! Laughed

at you after you left! We all laughed at how pathetic you are!" Kankurō

chuckles from Gaara's other side as Temari finishes, "someone as

pathetic as you should honestly just d-die!"

Even though Naruto knows Temari is lying, watching the three stand

united as someone he cares about reviles him still hurts to see and

hear. Naruto couldn't even put on a brave smile even when he's had a

lot of practice throughout his life doing so. She said the words he fears

the most and regardless of how false they were, he's grown to cherish

Temari, her laugh, her cocky attitude, her intelligence, and her drive to

prove herself. To hear her mouth say those words simply hurt.

"Tell them all," Gaara commands, and Temari looks surprised to hear

the command.

She tightens her jaw before calling out for all of Naruto's friends to

hear, "t-this guy is so pathetic, so weak, he thought he deserves love."

Temari yells louder, "it was so easy to toy with him. Show him a little

affection, and he became my p-pet; did anything I wanted like a lost

little puppy. I turned him into my bitch. I'm- Uzumaki is a monster…

That n-no one could possibly lo-ve and deserves to d-die."

Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, Hinata, and Neji all stare at Naruto and the

sudden drama unfold. Though Sasuke and Neji didn't care much,

Shino remained quiet, and Kiba actually looked offended, Hinata felt

anger within her rise higher than even when she fought Sakura.

Hinata's anger triggered her Byakugan to focus on the sandy-blond

kunoichi and what she saw made her calm down some. Something

about her posture and erratic chakra flow told Hinata that Temari was in

turmoil and possibly being dishonest.

Publicly humiliated in front of his colleagues—in front of his rival—

Naruto attempted to laugh it off but it didn't even sound convincing to

himself. Despite knowing she likely doesn't mean it, it still hurts to hear

and Naruto takes an uncertain step away from Temari. Gaara steps

closely in front of Naruto to assure him, "this is why I will kill you today."

Maniacally gleeful by Naruto's pain, he continues happily, "because

you foolishly believed that someone you trusted would return your love.

When you love others and are betrayed, it's the worst pain this world

has to offer and you will beg me to relieve you of it moments before I

crush you in my sand."

Eying the redhead without much reaction, Naruto sadly turns and walks

over to the corner of the observation deck, away from everyone, and

leans heavily on the railing. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino join him to keep

him company, though Kiba is still pissed on his behalf, and yells, "you

fucking bitches better pray you don't meet me in the finals, cuz if I see

you in a round, I'm drilling ya six feet under!"

Chapter 351:

NEJI VS HINATA

"Hyūga Neji," Genma begins to call. "Hyūga Hinata. Please come

down."

Neji ignores everyone as he coldly walks down to the battle arena.

After Shino and Kiba give her their support, Hinata follows Neji's

direction. She's by the stairs leading down to the ground floor when

Naruto slowly calls her name, missing his usual liveliness. It made

Hinata angry to think people he's been trying to be friends with would

go so far to hurt him and nearly wish her match was with Temari rather

than Neji.

"Hey, Hinata," Naruto voices drawing her attention. Naruto knows this

match will be difficult for her but she doesn't seem overly nervous in his

estimation. It reminds him of Naru-nii assertion that she'll be a top-tier

kunoichi in the future and with a small but genuine smile, he shares, "I

wanted to say it properly… thanks for helping me earlier; in the training

grounds. I believe in you too, so, no matter what, give it your all, and I

know you'll be happy in the end."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. Her face blushes as she gasps, "thank

you, Naruto-kun." With stern resolve, she adds, "for everything."

With a tight fist-pump, he encourages her, "show him what you got."

He expected her to nod and leave, but she stays and asks, "when this

is over, can… w-would you still like my h-help… with ch-chakra control

exercises?"

At the thought of mastering the Hiraishin next, Naruto genially answers,

"definitely. I've been itching to get to that."

Though she couldn't profess to him, 'please, watch me,' she does nod

and bow before making her way down. Naruto returns to his fellow

Konoha shinobi and spies a glance toward Temari and Gaara. Gaara is

happy to see Naruto's hurt expression, but Naruto knows it isn't for the

same reason. Though facing away from him, Naruto can see Temari's

conflicted and low-spirited appearance in her rigid posture. It was as if

someone broke her instead of him. Sighing in sympathy, Naruto

relocates that energy and saves it for his fight with Gaara, eager to

unleash everything he has on him.

—

As Hinata follows her cousin to the center of the arena below, Kurenai's

mind curses, 'fuck!' as her eyes widen in gut-sinking fear. Her knees

buckle, her skin heats, and her chest tightens in shame and agony.

With her full sight on Hinata, the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha has only

just realized that she's in love with the same boy her most cherished,

daughter-like student loves.

'Oh, fuck… fuck, fuck fuck,' her mind constantly repeats, panicking over

this scenario playing out in the most obvious way; her absolutely

decimating Hinata's heart. Kurenai wants to rip her hair out for finding

herself in such an absurd predicament. 'Being in love with Naruto

would obviously mean betraying Hinata,' her mind painfully addresses.

Watching her uncharacteristically focused and confident student stand

opposite her biggest challenge to date, the choice between her love as

a woman and her love as a mother-figure should be clear. Rationally,

there shouldn't be a debate about this, but her mind is silent. Her

options are simply what needs to happen and what she wants to

happen, and it makes the tortured Kurenai horribly sick to her stomach.

—

Observing Neji in the center of the battleground, Hinata understands

why Neji demands she forfeit, and even why he arrogantly breaks

down her insecurities one by one to the credit of his irrational gospel;

Destiny. The Hyūga heiress knows why Neji firmly believes people

can't change and that their future has been destined since birth. He

had proclaimed that, 'a failure will always be a failure,' but Hinata isn't

that same girl who graduated the Academy six months ago or even the

girl who suddenly learned she'll be facing her genius cousin a month

ago, or even the girl, who only a few minutes ago, offered to teach

Naruto some of her clan's extreme chakra control techniques.

Momentarily imagining him calling her, 'Hinata-sensei,' her cheeks

blush and her whole body breaks out in electric goosebumps.

Naruto's faith in her felt as if she were being blessed by the sun itself

and she couldn't even think of failing him. Feeling Naruto watching her,

Hinata knows Neji is wrong, because if her jaded cousin was right, then

the nine-year-old Naruto who rescued her from older bullies would've

never thought to protect her or proclaim to one day becoming Hokage;

let alone the greatest of them all. Quitting because of destiny has no

sway over a man with conviction, and if it's not Naruto's way, then it's

not hers either.

"You're wrong, Neji-niisan," Hinata asserts, setting her stance. "You

can choose your destiny. And it's because you don't know this that I will

stop you."

With a snide grin, Neji asks, "do you actually believe you stand any

chance of defeating me?"

"Not of defeating you," she answers, shaking her head. "Of stopping

you."

"Neji versus Hinata," Genma speaks, booming through the speakers.

The wind and birds around them fell as silent as the crowd before

Genma speaks, "begin."

'Byakugan,' both Hyūga members mentally chant, protruding veins

around their nearly white eyes as their all-sight shows their opponent's

chakra network and nothing else. The stands of spectators disappear

from their view and even the proctor becomes irrelevant to them as

they focus solely on proving to the other who is right.

In less than a second, they're crossing gentle fists with light physical

taps but bursting with perfectly timed chakra out of their tenketsus,

aiming to damage the other's chakra network and internal organs

rather than deal external muscular damage. For no matter how much

chakra an opponent has, if they can't use their immense power, they're

as vulnerable as an academy student. Using their wrist and forearms to

block or sway strike after strike away without losing their footing to the

other, they seem evenly matched from a layman's perspective, but

Hinata knows better.

Her cousin is hiding his true speed. He's toying with her, waiting until

she's confident in his timing, dropping her guard so he can surgically

cut off her chakra flow. It's a strategy she might have missed if not for

Kurenai's diligent strategy planning. Neji may have beaten her

completely if they faced each other in the preliminaries. 'He may even

now,' she thought, but with time and Kurenai-sensei's tutelage, she

won't be defeated.

Chapter 352:

Masters of their style, they each know how to attack and defend, yet

Hinata is being pushed back by his fast strikes. It was difficult to

maintain her footing and balance when Neji's skill and ability was better

than her in nearly every way. 'He's faster, stronger, and a genius in

taijutsu,' she mentally analyzed. 'But he doesn't have Kurenai-sensei.'

Kurenai knew that, in general, the Hyūga clan tends to have average

chakra reserves and after testing each of her students, Hinata had

above-average chakra capacity. That along with a strong

understanding of the Gentle Fist, Hinata could only see one way of

besting him; chakra endurance.

Neji is moving faster tapping her chakra points one at a time, but rather

than let the obvious continue, Hinata takes an explosive tagged kunai

from her pound and flicks it at the ground between them. The small

flash of light igniting has an alert Neji leap back but the tag didn't

explode.

The moment the crowd and Neji realize it's a feint, they all witness

Hinata, her eyes closed with her index and middle finger together,

parallel with the length of her dainty nose and concentrates on the

technique she's learned from her father. Like he taught her, she

envisions herself within the center of balance between the forces of

peace and chaos, love and hate, offense and defense, and she sees

the eight trigrams symbol, and Neji within range.

It also means Hinata is within his range and he recognizes her stance.

Smirking cockily, he raises his arms, inflating his lungs before thrusting

his palms in front of him, setting his resolve. He spreads his stand

along with eagle-spreading his arms and tilting his balance forward.

Neji's mind delighted in showing the main house how wrong they were

and still are as he mentally yells, 'Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!'

Hinata felt his sliding approach, mentally calling, 'Shugohakke,

Rokujyuu Yonshou!'

Unlike the offensive Hakke Rokujūyon Shō that attacks sixty-four

tenketsus within the body to incapacitate an opponent, Hinata's Eight

Trigram, Sixty-four Palms is a defensive technique. She can create,

strong, flexible, arcing chakra blades that project outwardly, defending

her from his incoming attack from a distance.

Hyūga techniques clashed and as strong as Neji is in his offense,

Hinata has just as much passion for her defense because it won't hurt

him but it will stop him. Though she still can't get more than four cross-

sectioning blades to protect her, it's just barely enough to stop Neji's

chakra covered fingers from shutting down two tenketsus on her torso.

A sizzling flash behind Neji alerts him that there was a second

explosive note wrapped underneath the dud, but whether it was also a

feint or not, it was enough of a distraction for another of Hinata's four-

section cross blades close three of Neji's tenketsus. Focused solely on

stopping Neji, helping him, proving to him he can break out of his cage,

Hinata manages to two consecutive cross-sections before Neji flips

back, snatching the kunai she stuck in the ground and flicking it at her

with enough strength to clang loudly when she deflects it.

Neji flexes his fingers and looks around his arms at the ten closed off

tenketsus. It's not enough to completely impede his attacks, but a few

of his fingers won't receive chakra… 'the embarrassment,' his mind

cruelly whispers. For someone like the meek, weak, and fragile Hinata

to hinder him even this much in front of the whole village, in front of the

main branch, is a disgrace he won't ever live down. The cage bars of

destiny have never felt so cold and Neji can't remember the last time

he was this angry.

Though Kurenai's minor panic attack from observing Hinata execute

their strategy perfectly has subsided, she still feels unwell at the sight

of her beautiful student trying so hard. Then Neji resumed his attack

and he looked furious even from where she was standing, compelling

her worry for Hinata to triple.

Neji attacked ferociously with his superior speed and strength, but

Hinata continued defending herself with her Eight Trigram defense. He

attacked her constantly, and though she was getting tired from her

constant use of chakra, she manages to close a few more of his

tenketsus without even touching him. After several moments of visceral

attacks, Neji finally managed to break through her defense and attack

her organs with the few chakra covered ringers remaining.

Neji beat her internally, striking her liver, stomach, kidneys, and heart,

but it was with less than half his usual strength, and when she fell, it

wasn't enough to satisfy him. She struggled to her feet but she was

within his range and he reignited his Sixty-four Palms. Though he

started with two strikes, then four strikes, followed by eight strikes, and

on until he struck her chakra network with sixty-four strikes, less than

half his strikes actually closed her tenketsus.

After his onslaught, Hinata falls to her knees, coughing up blood, but

she doesn't stay there. She tries to get up again. She looks at him,

sweating dripping around lavender-white eyes brimming with a strength

and determination he's never seen before, making him believe that

destiny is once again showing him his place.

Neji can't help but yell, "you're beaten! Stay down!"

Hinata only shakes her head, causing drops of sweat and blood to drop

on the ground as she struggles to return to her stance. "You can't

know… what you can really do… until you've tried… and failed… and

tried again… a thousand times."

Neji practically teleports in front of her before landing every attack he

hits her with, despite strained inability to stop him. Hinata holds her

breath as she tries to push her body beyond her limits. Despite her

best efforts, Neji strikes her liver with minimal chakra, though it was

enough to shock her entire system, and even then, he heal-palms her

in the face, sending her flat on her back several feet away.

Disappointed with his performance, Neji curses as he begins walking

back to the observation deck when the silent crowd gasps in unison.

The young genius turns around and to his staggering disbelief, Hinata

is battling just to stand up. Like a new-born baby attempting her first

steps, Hinata's hands push off the ground onto weak and unbalanced

legs.

Chapter 353:

"You've lost already, thus have nothing to prove or gain," Neji calls to

her, feeling his anger swell in his chest. "If you don't stay down, I will

attempt to kill you."

"I'll kill you first," Naruto's lone voice yells from a large distance away,

making Hinata smile a bit.

"Your problem… isn't destiny… Neji-niisan," Hinata gasps through

wheezing breaths. Sweating profusely, freely bleeding from her nose

and mouth, fire in her lungs making her wince as she pants, "or that…

you're weak… Your problem… is that… you give up…"

Anger rolling off of him, Neji sprints after her. His tenketsus were

closed in the most inappropriate places, weakening his attacks, and

forcing him to use Lee's Iron Fist to combat Hinata's smaller weaker

body. With closed and angry fists, Neji punches Hinata down to her

knees, and with a clean punch across her temple, he's certain he's

knocked her out.

Hinata drops to the floor with her blurry vision of her cousin, the sky,

and the stadium as gone as her equilibrium. She sees only darkness

surround her with an unstable floor that feels like sleeping on a rocking

boat. Above her is a single ray of light, warm and inviting like a

celebration dinner with family. Hinata doesn't know how to reach the

light, but she knows she can. She knows she will and unbeknownst to

her, she's standing to reach the light. Hinata knows nothing else, not

the awe of the crowd, the medical observation of the proctor, or the

shock of her father. She stands in the Gentle Fist's ready stance

without being conscious.

Neji looks shocked as Genma mumbles with respect, "even

unconscious…"

Despite lacking consciousness, Hinata's pure will to never stay down

permeated the muscle-memory of her limbs to move regardless of

position or orientation to will herself upright. Even if she couldn't

consciously feel the pain standing up flared through her ravaged

muscles and chakra network, she wobbled and struggled to lift her

open palms to the ready position. It might have pained Hinata to lose in

front of the person she admires most in the world—she was simply too

far behind her dear cousin in nearly every way—but she wasn't going

to show Naruto the sight of her staying down. More than anything, she

will never stay down in front of him.

Around the silent or gasping crowd, both Kurenai and Naruto couldn't

be prouder of Hinata. This match was obviously a win for a genius of

Neji's caliber, but for her to push him so far… for her to stand even

beyond consciousness, impacted both Naruto and Kurenai—everyone

in fact—deeply. She may have lost but her character molded a special

place in the hearts of many that will not be forgotten anytime soon.

After Genma declared Neji the winner, Hinata receives a standing

ovation for the depths of her tenacity despite overwhelming odds and it

hurt Kurenai to think of Hinata's future pain when she learns of her

Sensei's betrayal.

—

"Go," Kurenai hears Asuma tell her. "I'll cover your section."

Kurenai was hesitant, to say the least. Conflicting feelings of disgrace,

shame, pride, and concern tore at her insides, but mechanically, she

takes Karin's hand and they walk to the infirmary. Opening the door to

Hinata's room, Hiashi walks away from his daughter's bedside and

stops before the ebony sensei. Eyes locked on one another, his hard

face says nothing and Kurenai isn't sure how he'll address their

individual pledge for Hinata; spoken in what feels like a lifetime ago.

The arrogant man does something unexpected to her and bows deeply.

After Hiashi leaves, Karin waits in the corner of the room while Kurenai

looks over her bruised and slumbering student. Lamenting discovering

both her great love and her great shame on the same day, Kurenai

doesn't stay long. She didn't need to be near Hinata longer than a few

seconds to feel the adult decision inside her clash fiercely with the

selfish woman inside. She places a gentle kiss on her daughter-like

student's forehead before exiting the room and running into Naruto.

Kurenai's heart beats incredibly fast at the sight of him and for the life

of her she can't understand why she's blushing; after everything

they've done together, she shouldn't feel so hot and happy to see him.

Curiously, Karin calls to her cousin with the implication of asking why

he's here, "Naruto?"

"Hey Karin, Kurenai," the blond returns with a happy salute.

"If you're worried about Hinata, she'll be fine. She's resting now,"

Kurenai relays, managing to keep her voice neutral but failing to keep a

small smile from her face. He was two feet away from her and the fact

that it felt too far, made her want to smile like a complete fool. Feeling a

more relaxed joy settle her anxiety, Kurenai asserts, "you should be

focused on your own match."

"It's all good," Naruto tells them as he moves to the door. "I'm just a

clone. Boss-man wanted me to stay with her, just in case."

As he walks into the room, Kurenai's conflicting emotions knots her

stomach once again. Looking at the blank door, her mind recites, 'we

all love each other, even if Naruto doesn't love her in the same way, but

only one of us can be with him… and it's obvious who it should be.' The

painful truth creeps into her heart like giving up the warmth of the sun.

'Unless I end my relationship with Naruto, none of this will end well,'

and she hates it; hates it so much she wants to cry.

Compartmentalizing her chaotic emotions, Kurenai and Karin return to

the stadium.

—

In the infirmary room next door, Neji is looking over the many tenketsus

Hinata managed to close with sheer frustration. Though two-thirds of

his tenketsus are functional, Hinata managed to close off many of the

most important openings utilized best for offense. So focused on his

injuries, he hardly noticed a person walk into the room, who he

assumes is a healer.

"Your tenketsus will remain closed for a minimum of an hour," Hiashi

points out. At the sight of his clan's Head, Neji quickly lowers his arms

and stares at the man indifferently; nearly glaring at him as Hiashi

adds, "you will have to forfeit your next match."

Long past honorifics and courtesy, Neji bitingly retorts, "what do you

want?"

Chapter 354:

Taking a breath, Hiashi walks around the room as he explains, "soon

after Hinata graduated the Academy, her Jōnin-sensei approached me

in a foolish attempt to goad me into allowing her free range to instruct

Hinata. She rightly believed I would seal my daughter for the good of

the clan. Hinata showed no promise and could never best her younger

sister—mentally, it would seem—which is of paramount importance

when you become the leader of a clan as great as the Hyūga, so I paid

no mind to Yūhi-sensei's scheme and permitted her folly." Ending his

pacing in front of Neji, his clear eyes strong and genuine as he admits,

"I had not expected to see such… tenacity from her."

"You must be so proud," Neji retorts hostilely. "Am I supposed to have

more sympathy for your daughter than my father?"

"There is nothing I would not do for our clan," Hiashi softly admits. "As

would my brother-"

"Don't," Neji growls before recalling the seal on his forehead. In a much

more calmer tone, he replies, "nothing you say will make up what I've

lost to the main branch."

"To think my eyes were blind to your pain as much as my own

daughter," Hiashi sadly states. "Anyone with a modicum of ability can

see she would not have been able to best you and yet her will… her

strength of heart stood her up against a superior opponent regardless

of consciousness." Turning to Neji, "will you, nephew, continue?"

"…I can do no less," the genius genin answers.

"Neither can I," the elder returns.

Neji is surprised when the leader of the Hyūga clan kneels and bows,

forehead to the floor before apologizing for his loss. Hearing the rest of

how his father died, Neji stands and walks to the window, looking up at

the birds flying in the sky.

SASUKE VS KIBA

Sasuke and Kiba meet in the battleground, and in full view of their

Kage and village, Sasuke proves yet again why he's considered a

genius shinobi. Kiba may have had Akamaru and his sharp sense of

smell, but Sasuke only needed his Sharingan and taijutsu to defeat the

Inuzuka heir in less than a minute. Though Kiba lost, everyone could

see he tried his best and that the Inuzuka clan are still strong.

However, throughout the match, the way Sakura paid extra attention to

Sasuke's match made Ino worry.

After getting over her initial shock about Naruto, Ino was imagining all

the ways she can tease her blond stud between observing the

matches. Hinata's match moved her the most and gave her such a

sense of resilience, she felt her own blood boil to prove her worth. It's

why she was so concerned after noting Sakura's reactions to Sasuke's

match. It was clear that her pink-haired sister wasn't completely over

the Uchiha. From an intellectual standpoint, Ino can understand Sakura

not being over Sasuke but with all the progress she's made in her

training and her relationship with herself and Naruto, she had hoped

Sasuke was firmly behind her.

'Matters of the heart aren't that simple,' Ino thought with rising concern,

only for a second voice to declare, 'but I also love Sakura.' Considering

Naruto's polyamorous admission, Ino couldn't be sure in what manner

she loved Sakura, be it the loving sisterhood or the sexual intimacy she

can't deny she enjoyed—even if it's not on par with Naruto. Glancing at

her sister beside her, Ino mentally admits, 'more than sister but not fully

into girls.'

Regardless, Ino loves Sakura, and as she watched Sakura cheer for

Sasuke, she knew what was best for her wasn't Uchiha Sasuke.

Observing the cold Sasuke returning to the viewing gallery as the next

match is announced, Ino wonders what she can do to convince Sakura

of that once an for all. Her mind immediately declares any manipulation

is off-limits. She's learned that lesson quite painfully.

'I'll do it… but it has to be honest, like Kurenai-sensei would,' is her

final thought before noticing the blond love of her life enter the dirt and

grass stage below. With his white coat flapping in the wind, making him

look too cool, Ino is smitten. Taking Sakura's hand, they both smile as

Ino excitedly focuses all her bubbling attention of her dear friend and

love.

—

Gaara body flickers to the center of the arena using his sand-jutsu,

kicking up the dirt around him. Naruto gives the stern and conflicted

Tenmari one last look before taking the stairs down. In passing Sasuke,

the raven-haired avenger demands, "you better not lose to him."

Naruto is a bit taken by the blunt encouragement, until Sasuke clarifies,

"it's going to be you and me in the end."

Smirking at Sasuke, Naruto assures him, "heh, no it won't." At Sasuke's

confused brow, Naruto answers, "be ready, Sasuke," and as he walks

down the stairs, Sasuke yells, "for what?"

"For whatever Orochimaru has planned," Naruto calls back as he walks

out into the sunny arena. All the while Sasuke stares at the blond,

wondering what he knows and how he can possibly come to know it.

HAKU

From atop of the nine-story, half-completed, construction site that used

to be Naruto's old apartment, Haku observes the stadium several miles

away longingly, wishing he was there to see Naruto dominate his

opponents and show the world the feats of his vast strength. Since his

time in Konoha, he's learned that much of the village has treated

Naruto unjustly, to say the least. Haku wanted to be there to witness for

the first time, on such a large stage, Naruto finally having the chance to

show them all how wrong they were about him.

Despite being alone, Haku still felt fortunate. Not only did he find it

amusing he was being paid to guard Tazuna and his family while they

rebuild Naruto's old apartment bigger and better than even the most

modern building in the village, but he's also able to listen to the Chūnin

exam's broadcast over the radio on the floor next to him. Additionally,

when he senses a familiar chakra land right behind him, he feels both

better and worse at the same time.

Chapter 355:

"They won't let you in the stadium because they feel you pose too high

of a security risk," Kabuto explains. He steps beside Haku and they

both watch the village landscape as he adds, "Konoha will never be

your home, Haku-kun. They won't accept you."

"Home is where the heart is," Haku tells Kabuto, looking directly at the

distant stadium and imagining Naruto's smile.

"Then come with me," Kabuto pleads, turning to him.

"Don't you mean, 'come with us,'" Haku asks, considering the bit

Naruto has told him. "Orochimaru is your master, isn't he?"

"He's a great man," Kabuto defends. "He only asks you to be strong

and loyal, and he'll ensure you won't be used and discarded. He would

never ask you to betray someone you love simply because you've

become a liability. He only wants the strongest soldiers because he will

always be stronger; as any true leader should be. Join us, Haku… and

we can be together."

The moment of silence between them allows the radio to statically

inform them that Uzumaki Naruto is raising quite the uproar over his

attire for its similarity to that of the Yondaime's, making Haku smile. "I

can see you wander the world like a monk on a mission of self-

discovery, Kabuto-san," the beautiful boy remarks. "But I know who I

am and I'm incapable of abandoning Zabuza-sama and Naruto-sama."

Recalling Naruto asserting, 'I can't see you,' with irritation makes

Kabuto coldly react with, "and if they died?" Though he instantly

regretted it.

"Then the best part of me dies along with them," Haku returned, turning

to the silver-haired boy. "And sadly, I'd be forced to kill anyone

complicit in their deaths, whether that be someone I love or Kami-sama

himself."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Kabuto reinforces, trying to settle his

turbulent emotions. "I can convince Zabuza-san to join us easily

enough. Naruto-kun… will take some time, but if you come with me

now, I promise I will bring him over to our side. You have my word."

"Thank you," Haku says with a bright smile. "That makes me happy to

hear but I cannot embrace a love that would betray them. I hope you

rediscover your center, and more than anything, I hope you don't regret

the lengths you sacrifice in the process to get there."

Clenching his fist, Kabuto tells him, "don't do this, Haku. You don't

know what tomorrow will bring or how you will need to adapt, and I'm

telling you now, after today, you will need me to survive."

As they gaze at one another—one in affection and the other in ache—

the long silence is only interrupted with the radio's continued

announcement, "this rookie genin is certainly raising questions, ladies

and gentlemen. Just who is the boy we thought we knew? An orphan,

certainly—one who's gone ignored or unnoticed for so long—but as if

reinvented, it's shocking to see the Uzumaki Naruto before us today. As

of yet, none of our sources can confirm his genealogy, but this could

very well be a battle between heirs of the Sand and Leaf, and I feel

confident we'll learn much more in this fight!"

GAARA VS NARUTO

The flat battleground feels wider to Naruto as he walks to the center

underneath the big blue sky. The grass crunches under his foot as the

crowd murmurs all around him. Wind wipes up his coat as he eyes the

glaring redhead, feeling the same weight he felt when he faced Haku.

This mattered a great deal to him and it may have only been like this

because of Naru-nii, but that didn't take away how important this was.

Naruto knows Gaara's pain, and more than anything, he wants to

relieve him of that burden.

Reaching the center of the field with Genma between them, the proctor

looks between the pair as silence descends the spectators. Genma

can feel the anticipation in the air; a buzzing charge like static

electricity, makes him pay more attention than with any other fight.

From the stands, everyone is staring intently, unable to gauge an

outcome of the match because even if Gaara is the son of the

Kazekage, it appears that Naruto may be the son of the Yondaime. It

was an impossible and unprecedented situation to consider for rational

and bias observers alike and everyone was fully invested in the event.

"Keh keh keh keh," Gaara insanely laughs to himself which irks Naruto.

After being inspired by Hinata's match and hating what Temari was

forced to do, Naruto pronounces to Gaara, "you didn't have to do that

to Temari-chan." Though Naruto was a mixture of feelings, he felt

certain, "she loves you and her village very much and you used that for

nothing. Can't you see you hurt her?"

The top from Gaara's sand gourd pops off as he glares at Naruto,

professing in the meantime, "fighting only for oneself, living while only

loving oneself, thinking that others exist only to allow you to experience

that feeling of superiority, nothing else matters but that world."

"Enough," Genma calls to the boys. "Gaara versus Naruto: Begin." The

majority of the crowd cheers for the official start of the match for

everyone was eager to see physical proof that Naruto is the Fourth

Hokage's son. But Gaara and Naruto don't start. Staring each other

down, they reject this show for the crowd because this meant more to

them.

Thinking of Temari's anguish, Naruto demands to know, "why'd you

make her do that?"

"One must have a reason to exist," Gaara growls. His face morphs into

something demented as he maniacally declares, "mine is to kill

everyone besides me. Hers is to be of use to me. But you… I could

not simply kill you without destroying your belief that love means

anything more than weakness."

"You're wrong," Naruto retorts, clenching his fist. "Temari loves you.

Both your brother and sister love you-"

Growing irritated with that word, Gaara's sand explodes out of his

gourd. High and wide-reach sand tendrils shoot out to stab Naruto from

multiple directions. The blond was quick on the uptake, gathering

chakra under his feet and avoiding every strike while retreating far

enough away to eye his feral opponent from a distance.

"Come," Gaara yells. "Or are you too much of a coward to face your

death!"

Chapter 356:

Naruto creates two clones of himself, both of whom rush and hide

behind the few trees at the forested edge of the arena. Only a few in

the booing arena can see them sitting and meditating as Naruto draws

out his chakra knuckle blade from his lower back. Naruto easily adds

his Fūton chakra to the blade, creating a longer sharper blade of

chakra as he calls out, "the only coward here is you! Someone who

can't even hear how much other people love him cuz they're too scared

to feel anything!" Naruto begins walking toward him, growing more and

more confident with every step. "Talking about blood and existence is

absolute crap but I'll show you you're not as alone as you think!"

Gaara's missiles of sand attack fast and precise from above, straight

on, and the sides, but Naruto is much faster and his blade cuts through

each tendril of sand he doesn't dodge as he rushes the redhead. With

his arms crossed, Gaara remains rooted in place as his sand

effortlessly conforms to his great need to kill, attacking Naruto from any

angle he can draw blood but the blond only gets closer. Like sand

spears coming from eight different sides, Naruto easily extends his

chakra blade longer, sharper, to cut the sand spears to finally enter

within range of Gaara for a strong punch to the head.

Unconcerned, Gaara's sand automatically absorbs Naruto's fist and

tries to crush it when the blond's chakra blade cuts through the sand

and he leaps out of the way. Naruto leaps back, dodging and cutting

sand bullets until he's far enough. They stare at each other for a

moment before Naruto rotates his shoulders and stretches, twisting his

midsection as he tells Gaara, "not bad. You're sand's faster the closer

to you it is." Snickering, Naruto notes, "if anything, at least your sand

loves you."

Glaring at Naruto, Gaara voices, "is that all I can expect from you?

What happened to all that power I saw? Show me what your words of

love mean so I can crush them! Show me!"

Naruto extends his right hand ahead of him, palm facing toward the

blue sky. For a moment, what Naruto is doing is almost imperceptible

to the naked eye, but very soon, blue chakra begins to spin in multiple

directions at once. Naruto knows it took his father three years to

master Rasengan, and from Jiraiya, he knows that's roughly seven

thousand hours of pure training time. In the five months since Naruto's

learned the Rasengan, he estimates he and his hundreds of clones

have logged-in just over seven thousand hours, since in his palm, in

front of hundreds of witnesses, blue spinning chakra brightens and

broadens as it forms into a perfect sphere.

From merchants to villagers to shinobi and everyone in between, none

dare blink for fear of missing a single moment of such an unexpectedly

extraordinary event. For many years, the history that's always

associated with Uzumaki Naruto is that of the rampaging Kyūbi killing

and butchering many loved ones, shinobi and civilian alike. At the

moment, no one rational can deny seeing Naruto as the son of their

beloved Fourth Hokage who died protecting their village. Many had to

accept that the boy they've hated with all their being for years was in

fact the son of the Fourth, while many others were proud.

Iruka, Hiruzen, Kurenai, Ino, Sakura, Kakashi, Genma, Guy, and many

other shinobi who knew the truth looked on with pride, amazed by the

boy's death-grip on perseverance despite years of systemic negligence

and abuse. Observing Naruto in this moment, who looks so much like

his father, wearing a similar cloak, using his signature technique, was

mind-boggling. Without even being from Konoha, Temari, Mabui, and

Samui were entranced by the display while Mei grows much more

intrigued with the blond.

"That's some defense, I'll give you that," Naruto champions with his

chakra blade in his left hand and Rasengan in his right. "How about I

just break those walls down!"

Naruto sprints faster than before, narrowly avoiding heat-seeking

spears of sharp sand from piercing his flesh. Juking from side-to-side,

cutting away, and dodging sand spears the closer he gets, Naruto

manages to spin from the side into position for his Fūton covered blade

to cut right through his last defense. It was a small break in his sand

Naruto used to bury the miniature tornado into Gaara's armor-covered

gut. His blue Rasengan expands spherically, carving ceaselessly into a

surprised Gaara's sand until it cracks and breaks before the redhaired

shinobi is launched perfectly vertically through the air. The gourd on his

back reforms into softening sand to alleviate the tremendous force of

the impact as Gaara smashes against the arena's wall.

The sand was sufficient protection and Gaara remained conscious

even if all of the sand layered over his skin is cracked and crumbling.

The sand and clothes over his midsection were completely gone and

his stomach was bleeding from many little scrapes. Gaara coughs a bit

of blood and struggles a moment to glare at Naruto with absolute

hatred. The crowd remains stone silent even as a wounded Gaara

lazily pushes away from the arena wall and claps his hands together.

The sand hisses as it makes its way to it's weakened master and forms

into a sphere made of sand around him. Naruto knows what that

sphere of sand means and looks high to his right, above the crowd to

the Kage's viewing balcony, directly at Rasa. They hold stern gazes

and Naruto can tell they're only moments away. Naruto creates a clone

that immediately annuls itself and one of the two clones in the arena

disperses, immediately sending all of the sage chakra it was gathering

directly to the original. As he feels the tremendous force of power flow

through him, an orange-red pigmentation around his yellow, toad-like

eyes, leaving no doubt to those viewing that Uzumaki Naruto was the

son of the Fourth Hokage.

Naruto rushes to the sphere of sand against the wall and with a clear

mastery of sage chakra, creates a large claw-like hand that bull-dozes

and digs through the ground and concrete wall to lift the sand sphere.

Though sand spikes pop out to try to pierce his chakra grip, Naruto

feels no pain, and with his enhanced strength, launches the sand-

covered boy miles into the air. A stadium full of stunned spectators

gawk at the sand sphere rocketing far into the forest beyond the

village's wall with wide eyes and hung mouths. Naruto hops onto the

arena's wall, turns around to the nearly silent crowd, unironically

displaying his white Fourth Sun cloak. He smiles at his village before

leaping high into the sky to follow his fellow Jinchūriki.

Chapter 357:

THE INVASION

Since this turn of events isn't against any rules, Genma makes to follow

the genin when unbeknownst to Konoha, the village is struck with

perfectly synchronized attacks. In the span of one second, many of the

villagers, whether civilian or weaker shinobi, begin losing

consciousness to the power of a sleep-inducing genjutsu. The Sound

Four and Orochimaru move into place and Kabuto detonates an

explosion at the protective barrier of the village powerful enough to

cause minor tremors. Even worse is the perfectly timed giant three-

headed snake that's summoned just outside of the destroyed section of

the wall.

Shrugging off the sleep genjutsu, Ino, Sakura, Choji, and Shikamaru

stand gaping at the incredibly large snakes beyond the destroyed wall.

They're never seen a summon the size of a small mountain and look

over to Asuma and Kurenai for directions or clarity of the situation

when more deafening explosions splinter the air with concussive shock

waves. "What's going on," Ino asks Sakura when smoke bombs

screens are popped off throughout the stadium to limit visibility. In sage

mode, Naruto and Jiraiya can sense an additional three hundred

combined Sand and Sound nins invade the village on top of the

hundred or so elite enemy forces already inside the village.

In the seconds after the explosion, many many Sound and Sand

shinobi begin closing in on those still awake and confused, not giving

them a chance to catch up to the situation. Throughout the main

sectors of the village—the wall, the Tower, the Stadium, and main

street—villagers young and old who are asleep are momentarily

ignored so the Sound and Sand nins can focus on killing all the

confused, directionless, or situation-assessing Konoha shinobi they

see.

From rumbling explosions to genjutsu'd civilians and gigantic

summons, it's enough of a stupor for two teams to ambush Kurenai,

Karin, and Asuma, for Genma in the arena below to be rushed by a

coordinated team of his own, and for the first Chūnin sentry to fall to

the blood-splattering kunai of an enemy. Within the brief moments of

surprise and directionless engagement, Sound and Sand sprint

through the streets and attack without reservation, and above all, it

allows Rasa to slip behind the Leaf's Kage and spirit Hiruzen to the

wide-open roof above them with a kunai to his throat.

Leaping through the trees rushing directly for Gaara, Naruto can feel

the fighting begin and creates a clone to give everyone in place the

signal. The final clone with sage chakra disperses, infusing Naruto and

his clones with the last amount of nature chakra he'll have until the end

of the invasion. Split between his three clones, Naruto worries how he'll

fight Gaara or Shukaku when his sage chakra runs out. Promising to

fight without Kurama's power makes the outcome feel uncertain to him.

All he knows is that he won't stop until he wins or he's dead, which

feels gravely like the latter without additional power.

'Bah,' his mind hurls. 'Guts is more than enough!' Speeding from

treetop to treetop, Naruto has faith in his clones and prays they finish

as fast as they can.

With the infusion of empowering natural energy, the three Naruto

clones that are already with Jiraiya on the wall, in the stadium covering

Hinata, and at the tower with Iruka smile before they each concentrate

on calling forth over two hundred clones each with all the sage chakra

they have.

Hardly any enemy shinobi hears Naruto yell, "Tajū Kage Bunshin no

Jutsu," but they all stop fighting when hundreds of puffs of white smoke

pop into existence all around them. Out of the dissipating clouds, only

spiky-blond clones in a white cloak remain. They puffed into existence

on the barrier all-around Jiraya—stuck on railings, the wall, filling up

the space between shinobi teams—extending out dozens of yards.

They popped all around the stadium—on columns, railings, walls,

around other Konoha shinobi—to protect those asleep as well as

Sakura, Ino, Chōji, Shikamaru, and Hinata. They appeared all around

the exterior of the Hokage Tower where Iruka's talent as a leader was

assigned, ready to take orders and assist civilians. Each clone had its

mission and none planned on failing to the likes of Orochimaru and the

Kazekage.

The hundreds of enemies in the stadium and on the perimeter couldn't

believe the sheer number of clones suddenly appearing to challenge

them and matching their numbers, spreading a wave of unease

through their forces like a virus. But the seasoned and desperate

invaders hardened to Naruto's show of force, because even if the

hundreds of shadow clones looked as strong as the fourth Hokage,

logic dictates that this many would be slow and pop with even the

weakest of punches.

Sound and Sand forces continue their attack, and without delay, each

clone begins charging up Kurama's chakra from the pit of their seal,

exponentially amping up each one's strength, speed, durability, and

jutsu. Suddenly sensing the spike in rising power, the enemy shinobi

focus on attacking any clone they see with ranged weapons and

puppets but it's too little, too late. They may have popped a few clones

with kunai, shuriken, swords, arrows, or puppets, but with practiced

ease, the rest of the army of Narutos gathered enough of Kurama's

bubbling chakra to form a visible red shroud around their bodies. It's

not one-tail's worth of power but they certainly equalize the battlefield.

At the destroyed section of the wall, one clone notices a Sand shinobi

swallow hard in nervousness, making him smile before yelling out

fiercely to his brethren, "Yosha! Let's beat these bastards back!

Charge!" Like a tidal wave of white and blond encased in bubbling red,

the heavily empowered clones attack the enemy forces straight on. In

the stadium, the battle storms with Naruto swarming the enemy, though

they seem trained enough to stick together and fight as a unit.

On the large roof above the stadium, Rasa holds the Hokage hostage

while the Sound Four land at the four widest corners of the large roof

and quickly begin erecting their demon energy barrier. Hiruzen's

bodyguards fight off Rasa's guards but are unsure of how to proceed

with their leader being held hostage by a powerful Kage and a

notorious missing-nin, Orochimaru, between them. As the barrier finally

rises, a four-man team of Narutos yell as they leap within the

inescapable perimeter, locking them in.

"Stop, you fool," the masked leader of the bodyguards yells. "You'll get

Hokage-sama killed!"

Chapter 358:

The four clones try to rescue Hiruzen when they're obstructed by a

grinning and battle-ready Orochimaru. "You impress me, Naruto-kun,"

the snake-nin quips. "Perhaps I should take you after all. You can

never have too many test subjects after all." Opening his mouth wide

as he turns his head toward the sky, a snake rises out of his throat for a

sword to then ascend out of the snake's maw. Though grossed out,

each clone takes out their knuckle blade and the team attack as one,

much to Orochimaru's delight.

One takes him from the front, one from each side, and the fourth trails

the first. Though the fourth clone seems to be focused lining up a

following kick, he, in fact, hurls a kunai at Rasa, hoping to distract the

Kazekage long enough for Hiruzen to free himself, but the Sand Kage

simply tilts his head to the side, easily evading the deadly snipe that

embeds itself in the rising shingle of the curved roof.

As they watch Naruto's clones attempt a multitude of attacks, Hiruzen

has to know, "why?"

Through his hard countenance, Rasa asked with genuine curiosity, "did

you not know, Hokage-sama?" Hiruzen tilts his head a bit, then Rasa

clarifies, "did that boy truly not tell you?"

Looking over to the remaining three clones try to tag the slippery ninja,

Hiruzen asks, "Naruto?"

Rasa can't help but smile at his fortune before asking, "he kept such a

thing from you, didn't he?"

The Kages continue to observe the fast clones of Naruto being

systematically dismantled one at a time with patient efficiency by

Orochimaru and his enduring sword. Through the red shroud of chakra,

Hiruzen notes Naruto's fiercely determined face as he fights in defense

of his Kage and village. The trust in the boy he's personally witnessed

grow into a young man flows through him easily as he explains, "even

if he had told me, I would never believe a shinobi of your integrity

capable of betraying his allies."

"I respect your faith in a piece of paper, Hokage-sama," Rasa replies,

"But my village cannot fill their bellies with platitudes or quench their

thirst on empty promises. As their leader, they look to me for growth

and prosperity, yet your country denies them a life of fair work for fair

wages… I cannot allow this to continue any longer. You will die today

Hokage-sama, and in deference to your title, I, the Kazekage, will kill

you."

"Rasengan!" Naruto cries, finally hitting Orochimaru in the stomach

with an orange-tinted white ball of densely spinning chakra. However,

out of his mouth, another Orochimaru slithers out to stab the last clone

through the back and chest, defeating the last of Naruto's clones.

Orochimaru's slimy husk spins like a propeller to the demon barrier

before disintegrating into nothingness. Orochimaru sucks his teeth at

the loss of another skin before promptly turning to Rasa. With a

broadening grin, he levels his nearly indestructible sword point directly

at Rasa. Even Hiruzen's guards outside the barrier were surprised.

"Sarutobi-sensei is mine to kill, Rasa-dono," Orochimaru's scratchy

voice happily states.

Glaring at the Oto leader, Rasa calmly but dangerously states, "first

you attempt to assassinate me and now you betray the terms of our

deal."

With a smile, Orochimaru playfully wonders out loud, "should I dare

pretend you didn't implement plans of your own to assassinate me?"

Unperturbed by Rasa's murderous glare, Orochimaru appears as if

he's enjoying himself before pointing out, "with its resources split

among our villages, what's left of Konoha and most of Fire country can

still be yours… or, you can challenge me on this one insignificant little

matter and risk spoiling your people's reward. So long as I kill Sarutobi-

sensei, I will be satisfied with nothing else. Can you say killing him will

satisfy the dire needs of your village?"

Rasa considers his countrymen, the lives he's responsible for, and their

growing demand for more work above anything else. With a sigh, Rasa

concedes, "as you wish," clearly choosing his village's needs over his

duty to his title. Rasa removes the kunai from the elder's throat and

moves to the side between them, like the third point of a triangle as he

expresses, "my deepest apologies, Sarutobi."

Orochimaru smiles wider and Hiruzen enters his combat stance, ready

to fight.

—

Laughing from high above the battlefield by the wall, Jiraiya, in his

sage form, on the head of the dual sword-wielding toad, Gamahiro, halt

the three-headed snake's movement by landing on top of it. Using

earth style, Jiraiya creates a swamp to sink it in the earth as Gamahiro

draws steel to cut off two heads at the same time. Leaping off the large

toad, Jiraiya drills through the last head with a large Rasengan, killing

the snake summon.

In the forest below, the invading forces outnumber Naruto's clones two

to one, but only because a third of Naruto's clones are actually fighting

along with Konoha's first wave of defense. Some teams of clones are

made of all offense, other four-man teams are made of all Fūinjutsu

healers, and the majority of clone teams have two offense and two

healing cells.

The teams entirely made of offense deal with the enemy advance

along with the many Chūnin and few Jōnin, confronting the most

dangerous poison and puppet attacks. The platoons of puppeteers and

their multitudes of puppets were the worst for Naruto to fight, as he has

no experience with their capabilities and is tricked and surrounded

easily. Though he's durable enough to survive most attacks, as well as

fast and strong enough to fight back, the longer the battle rages the

longer it'll be before the primary Naruto can use Sage chakra against

Gaara.

The clone teams made of all Fūinjutsu healers are only focused on

slapping his pre-made Fūinjutsu tag over the wounded area and

pumping a lot of chakra to stabilize them before taking them to the

hospital. Several clones reply to various shinobi how the tags act like a

cauterizing agent, only it uses chakra to hyper-activate the injured

body's natural healing process and create more collagen enzymes to

heal the afflicted wound as best he can. It takes a lot of chakra, so

much so a single clone is out of chakra by the third injured person

healed. Additionally, it requires focus for Naruto to do this, and in the

midst of battle, he's vulnerable attack.

The clone teams made of both offense and healers, try to assist where

ever they can, however, all the clones find it hard to ignore certain

aspects of battle. If he's healing, he can't fight. If he's carrying

someone to safety, he can't heal or fight. If he's ambushed and

dispelled, that's one less defender for Konoha and her people. People

are suffering and this is the first time it feels as if he can't help

everyone. It makes all the clones maintain desperate effort.

—

Chapter 359:

In the close proximity of the stadium, short to midrange attacks are to

be expected and to Kurenai's delight, that was Naruto's bread and

butter. With his knuckle-blade, Rasengan, and enhanced speed, he

can get by all the Chūnin-level invaders and even some of the Jōnin-

level enemy to one-shot them to the wall with his devastating attack, or

at the very least, destroy their weapons. Konoha's counter-attack didn't

last long, however.

Many of the Oto-nin took notice of Naruto helping the wounded.

Kurenai herself thought it strange he even helped wounded Suna

shinobi. That is until the Sound-nin began stabbing the villagers under

the slumber genjutsu and when Naruto would rush to help before they

bled out, he'd immediately be ambushed. The elite enemy forces would

do this over and over and would even do so to other Konoha Jōnin as

well; using the villagers as wounded bait to prey on their compassion.

Kurenai wasn't just disgusted by the tactic, she was outraged, and that

dark side all seasoned ninjas have is easily tapped. It was as if she

shut off her humanity and became an instrument of death. It wasn't

necessary at the start of the surprise attack, but that was before they

started harming innocent and defenseless civilians. With her elite

Jōnin-level skill and mastery of genjutsu, Kurenai disappeared from the

enemy's senses—just as she had done with Karin in the beginning—

and stealthily stained her kunai wielding hands red with the blood. She

runs on all instinct and pure chakra flow to weaponize her senses,

chakra, and body and she isn't the only one. Kakashi, Guy, Asuma

among other elite Jōnin in the stadium were fighting to kill.

Kurenai only paused her blade when she heard from behind her,

"yeesh! Nai-chan, ease up on the Suna guys." Turning to the body she

had just dropped, she was stunned to see Naruto healing his neck

wound with one of his healing tags while another clone watches his

back.

"I don't care about the Sound guys," he tells her. "To tell you the truth,

they're really pissing me off. But for Suna, try to keep it non-lethal if

you can. I'll take care of the rest."

Despite being in the midst of battle, she's confused and asks, "why?"

Smirking, he explains as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, "it's

about teaching them, not killing them." She raises her eyebrows in

stunning disbelief as he further adds, "don't worry about the wounded.

You just be my sexy badass and wreck."

Kurenai watches the clone pick up the wounded Suna-nin—alive,

despite stabbing him in his neck—and leaps away. That moment of

distraction allowed a Sound-nin to appear within lethal striking range,

but before she could guard or he can slit her throat, a fiery clone slams

his Rasengan into the shinobi's guts, shredding through his abdominal

skin, muscles, and organs underneath, spraying blood radially before

Naruto lets the Rasengan go, propelling the enemy to the wall with a

hard thud and wet splat.

Naruto practically growls, "I'm not losing you, Nai-chan." Turning to her,

he adds, "so don't go leaving me so easily."

Despite the heat of battle, that sentiment struck her throughout her

entire being—heart, mind, body, and soul—more completely than

anything she's ever felt… because Kurenai didn't want to leave him

either, making her want to cry for the lengths she's willing to sacrifice

for Hinata.

—

Mabui, Samui, and Atsui are fighting as a unit on the streets outside

the stadium. Samui didn't want to fight near so many Konoha jōnin as it

would only draw unnecessary attention and questions to them, so she

commanded her team to flee at the start of the invasion. They fought

off both Sound and Suna shinobi on their escape of the stadium and

into the streets outside.

Without their weapons, they each had to steal a kunai, which still kept

them at a disadvantage. Fortunately, they work well as a team and

Samui is as elite as they come. It almost unnerved Mabui how

effortlessly she can kill without a hint of remorse on her blood-stained

and neutral face. Mabui didn't know why she forgot that Samui could

pass the salt or kiss her as easily as she can stab a person through the

heart.

The Kumo-nin rush through the streets to find a safe place to hide

when they're ambushed by a team of Sound shinobi. Atsui and Mabui

are dropped to the ground by a tripwire and snare snagging their ankle

before being ganged upon. "Quick," one of them yells as Samui, who

managed to avoid the trap, is surrounded by six armed attackers.

"Before that red bastard shows up-"

The leader barely finishes his sentence when he's suddenly stabbed

from behind, pushing the reddish-orange bladed chakra bursting out of

his chest. There's only one clone but Samui immediately observes how

different this one is from the others she's seen. The others were

covered in a shroud of red chakra. This one looked far angrier and

though also covered in red chakra, he had a single tail swirling behind

him. The squad of Sound-nin noticed the difference as well.

"If you Oto-nin want to live," Naruto growled. "Let. Them. Go."

Nearly all of the Sound-nin focus their killing intent on Naruto, targeting

him with raised swords, tantos, and kunais. Two of the enemy ninja

brought kunais against the necks of the downed Mabui and Atsui but

this only angered both Kurama and Naruto more; making Kurama

scream from within his seal. The Sound nin are stunned when their

body's instincts scream at them to flee as Naruto's power soars,

forming an additional bubbling red tail behind him.

His angry irises were red split by black slits, his hair along with his

whisker-birthmarks was longer and more feral, and he didn't hesitate to

launch a giant red hand made of pure chakra, of which a dozen more

hands sprang out like missiles to grab all of the frozen Sound-nin by

their entire torso. With all of them in his chakra hands, Naruto yanks

his arm back hard, pulling the hostiles toward him with the spine-

bending snap of a powerful rubber band, while his other hand prepares

his chakra knuckle blade. Naruto wanted to dice them up like a chuck

of meat dropped in a blender, however, his sixteen binding-fast slashes

only cut them deeply as their bodies flew past him. They tumble and

slide on the hard ground, groaning pain and bleeding out, but alive.