Chapter Text
Ayyyyyy
"Is this really what we should be doing on our time off?"
Naruto rolled his eyes.
"If I'd known you were gonna be this boring, I would have never asked you along, Naori."
Naruto dodged the slap from Naori with practised ease. He laughed when she winced and pulled her bandaged arm back and cradled it. Naruto taunted her by sticking his tongue out which only seemed to make her madder.
"Guys, I thought we got over this bickering thing," Fū said as she stepped between them, "Aren't we an actual team now?"
"I mean yeah, but it's not my fault she sucks," Naruto said and it was almost too easy as Naori pushed Fū aside.
"I suck?! You suck!"
What did she just say?
"Look, injury break or not I will kick your ass," Naruto said pointing a finger at Naori, "Don't think I won't. I've done a lot of worse than beating up someone weaker than me."
"Weaker? Okay, that's it! Katon—"
Naruto was about to summon his tonfa when a heavy blow slammed into his chest. He hit the ground hard and took a few moments to compose himself before looking up at his attacker.
"What the hell was that Fū?" Naruto asked as he met her stern gaze, "Why don't you hit her?"
"Naori's injured, " Fū said gesturing to the rather heavily bandaged girl, "It wouldn't be fair for you two to fight."
Naruto looked Fū up and down. She too had a lot of bandages on her person which meant she was wearing a lot more white than usual. She even had a transparent face mask that was apparently to help set her nose back into its proper place.
"You're injured too so that makes it fair! Hit her!"
"Tsk, as if Fū would ever—OW!" Naori's smug retort was cut off as Fū stomped on her foot, "That hurt!"
"Good. Now you know what will happen if we don't get this done."
"Okay, fine," Naruto acquiesced as he dusted himself off, "No more fighting...until we get my money, that is..."
The last part was said under his breath and thankfully Fū missed it as she got distracted by...a bird or something. Unfortunately, Naori seemed to catch it immediately.
"What was that? Do you want Fū to hear that? She'd probably hit you hard enough to break some bones."
"I'd still heal faster than you."
"Ugh, whatever."
"Hey, guys!" Fū hollered at them blissfully unaware of their exchange, "We're here! This is so exciting!"
"Is it really though?" Naori asked as they walked into the Warehouse District, "This place must be filled with ruffians and hooligans. The absolute scum of the earth. I could only imagine the nonsense they get up to here... They are despicable people I'm sure..."
Fū blinked, "Didn't you and Naruto burn like thirty people alive?"
Naori paused before sighing, "That...is a really good point."
"Don't let this snob get to you, Fū," Naruto said which made Naori let out a loud huff which Naruto refused to acknowledge, "I promised you guys a fun day and this is our first stop! Now, what do you want to do first debt collection, ass-kicking or debt-kicking?"
"Debt-kicking? That's a terrible name," Naori said to which Fū agreed, "You couldn't think of anything else?"
"It was either that or ass-collection," Naruto shrugged as he led them to their first stop, "Hinata vetoed that one."
"Let's get the money first!" Fū said and she seemed a bit too excited, "This is fun! This is my first shakedown! Any tips, Naruto?"
"Yes," Naruto said as he cradled the spot where Fū had punched him, "Put anyone who tries to disrespect you in their place... and don't call it a shakedown."
They finally stopped in front of a double door that had a rather beautiful done dragon painted on it. Over the beautiful dragon were six straight lines—three on each door and two per line. The lines had been scratched out by some fool who Naruto clearly hadn't punched hard enough.
He banged on the door.
"Who is it?"
Instead of answering, Naruto banged on the door again. Even harder this time.
"Who the fuck is it?!" an angry voice yelled and Naruto smiled as he heard heavy footsteps approach the doors. The doors were swung open with an open ferocity revealing a pissed Ryoku Hyuuga.
"Who dares knock—oh! Naruto! How's it going, old pal? If I'd known it was you, I would have—"
"Shut it, Hyuuga."
Naruto looked over his shoulder at Naori who winked at him. Ryoku seemed at once confused by the two new faces. Usually, Hinata was with him so seeing the (supposedly) sweet Fū and the wicked toad that was Naori was probably a bit confusing.
"It's that time of the month again, Ryoku," Naruto said as he held his hand out, "I've been away and it's time to pay up. What was it? Twenty thousand ryo?"
"Can't we make a deal? Money has been hard to come by."
Naruto tilted his head, "What are you talking about? You know I know Hinata. You're like 7th in line for clan head or whatever! There's no way you can't cough it up!"
Ryoku paused before rubbing his head sheepishly, "You know I had to try, right? Anyways, I've got your money right over here— Hakke—"
"Fūton: Sankousen! (Wind Release: Tribeam)"
Ryoku was sent flying back into the warehouse flipping head over heels by a tunnel of wind. He smashed into the couch that was occupied by Red Dragons who were all wearing red scarves... just like the one around Naruto's neck.
"You have the Byakugan! I know that you know it was me knocking, you idiot!"
"Was that really necessary?" Fū asked as she watched the Dragons try and recuperate.
"Do you want to eat out tonight or not?"
"Never mind."
Naruto turned to Naori expecting some lip and instead all he got was a raised brow.
"What?" Naori shrugged before grabbing her shoulder, "He had it coming. That was the slowest Hakke Kusho I've ever seen. I would have burnt his eyebrows off if he'd done that to me."
Naruto said nothing, but he gave Naori a nod. She knew what it meant. He turned back to the Dragons who were now back on their feet and trying to blend into the furniture. Ryoku was in a bit of a daze as he began to count money out of a metal box.
"I saw those scarves! Give me all of them or I'll let Fū over here teach you a lesson."
"Her? The twig? She doesn't even look like she could beat an academy student let alone all of us."
Instead of responding with anger, Fū blinked, "Is that him trying to disrespect me?"
"Yes so try put him in his place, but don't go too—"
A second later, a water sword flew through the air and pegged a guy to the wall. It had happened so fast for the Dragons that it seemed to send them into quite the panic.
"—overboard," Naruto finished lamely before sighing, "Never mind. I'd do the same thing... Just add a cool line. That's the most important part."
"Next time that goes through your throat!" Fū said with a dark frown before smiling as she turned to Naruto, "How's that?"
"Great," Naruto said with a thumbs up, "Personally, I would have said something like their stomach or dick."
"Got it," Fū said as she formed another water sword, "Should I try to aim for someone's shorts instead."
"No," Naruto said a bit too quickly, "This is just a shakedown."
"I thought we agreed this wasn't a shakedown?" Naori said which made Naruto sigh.
"I will punch you in the face with a tonfa."
"Uh, Naruto?" Ryoku said finally appearing with the money as well as all the scarves, "Here you go. Twenty thousand."
Naruto counted it out and after verifying it was in fact twenty thousand—he handed it to Naori who pocketed it without a second thought. Naruto then took all the scarves and handed them to Fū before frowning.
"Twenty thousand? Ryoku, are you sure your eyes are okay? I don't see twenty thousand anywhere..."
"Come on, Naruto... don't be like this."
"You tried to blindside me with a Hakke Kusho and you guys are wearing red scarves which I remember banning after you tried to blindside me ten to one."
"...How much?"
"Twenty thousand for the rent, twenty for the scarves, twenty for trying to blindside me, twenty for Shima over there insulting my teammate, twenty because I hate you and fifty for scratching out the whiskers...which makes..."
"One-fifty thousand?" Ryoku tried.
"Pretty sure it's two-hundred thousand," Naori interjected and Ryoku looked from her to Naruto before sighing when no rebuttal came forth.
"You guys suck."
"Two-fifty!" Fū chimed in and Ryoku sighed but ultimately trudged off.
Ryoku gave them the two hundred and fifty thousand ryo and soon they were on their merry way. Naruto put all the money, including the bundle of scarves, away into a scroll.
"You guys were great! We should do this more often!"
"I don't know I feel kinda bad about that..." Naori said which made both Naruto and Fū stop.
They stared at her for the longest time before she sighed, "Okay, fine. I enjoyed the 'shakedown'. Happy?"
"You're a terrible liar," Fū said.
"Yeah, you gotta work on that. It might get you killed," Naruto said as they turned the corner into Uzumaki‐Shirotora land.
"Okay, so listen. As much as Ryoku sucks, Hashiro is way worse. He's a bigger pain in the neck than that time I broke my spine."
"..."
"..."
"...too soon?"
Jeez. So fleecing and intimidation was fine, but joking about crippling injuries was wrong. Psht, whatever. Both Kiba and Jiraiya would've laughed at that joke...
"Yeah, that was too soon. Sorry about that."
Later that day, Naruto got back to his apartment—money-scroll lighter and stomach fuller. He greeted the chuunin guard who only grunted back as he thumbed through a book of some sort. What a dick.
What was so great about Icha-Icha anyways? He swore he saw that book everywhere. Finding out his sensei wrote them was...meh.
Naruto reached his apartment and he paused as he channelled chakra to a brand new seal on his bracelet. This one was linked to a large-scale chakra detector seal. If it sensed any chakra amount above that of a rat, the seal would turn into the word: DANGER.
Right now, he was looking at 'EMPTY'.
Yeah, right.
Naruto unsealed one of his tonfas and held it long side out. He walked into his apartment and the door shut behind automatically—the beauty of a trigger seal. He scanned his apartment for any signs of life. He found none and just as he was about to put it away—
"Hey, kid!"
Naruto fired a relentless spray of needles at the voice and he didn't let up until his entire supply had been drained. He flicked the switch on and an unimpressed Jiraiya met his gaze. Naruto's needles were pooled around his feet and he held a bunch more in his hands.
"Was that really necessary?" Jiraiya asked as he placed the needles in his hands on the table, "I'm too fast to get caught by that."
Naruto knew that. He had recognised the voice immediately too and he'd known that Jiraiya was there the whole time too. Still though, what was Naruto supposed to do? Not try and inflict pain on his sensei? That was madness.
"How did you get past my detector seal?" Naruto asked and just as about Jiraiya was gonna answer he held up his hand, "Never mind. I wanna see for myself."
Naruto held a glowing hand up to the surface of his door— right where he knew the detector seal to be. Two symbols had been added— a pair of jagged lines that looked like lightning bolts.
"An interrupt? That's too simple," Naruto said as he showed his bracelet to his sensei, "It says DANGER when someone or something with notable chakra is inside, RAMEN when nothing beyond a pest and EMPTY when nothing at all is detected."
"Is that so? And what should I have done instead?"
Naruto frowned, "Like I'd tell you."
"I'm the guy who looks at the seal on your stomach to make sure you don't unleash a living apocalypse on this world."
Naruto clicked his tongue, "Point taken. You should have adjusted the threshold for notable chakra signatures. It's set to a bare minimum now to account for stuff like pests so you could change it and make it see you as the pest that you are."
"Got it in one," Jiraiya said with a smile, "That pest thing wasn't too bad either. Anyways, I'm only here to check up on you guys."
"So you're checking on Naori and Fū as well?" Naruto asked as he feigned disinterest, "How?"
"Kage Bunshin. I'm telling you, man, that thing is a lifesaver."
"Yeah, it is a fantastic jutsu," Naruto said before raising a hand to his jaw, "Speaking of which, it—"
"No, I won't teach it to you," Jiraiya said and Naruto groaned, "Tell you what. If the Team ever does something that impresses me on a mission then I'll teach it to you."
"Fū and I are known as jinchuuriki in the Bingo Book," Naruto countered unwilling to back down, "We're probably a massive target."
"Are you? How many people would go after jinchuuriki?"
"We found 4 on our last mission..."
"I mean yeah, but they're all dead or about to be dead," Jiraiya said with a shrug, "Honestly speaking, you and Fū could become immense with just that jutsu alone. "
"However," Jiraiya said cutting Naruto's protest off, "Over-reliance on one jutsu isn't good. I worry you'd stick to just clones which would go wrong against the right opposition."
Naruto raised a brow.
"Okay, fine. The real reason is that not even I can just teach kids kinjutsu just like that and there are concerns on how the jutsu would work with your seal. No matter how well-suited you are to that jutsu, Sarutobi-sensei isn't budging on this one just yet. You guys will have to impress him somehow or something."
"That sounds closer to the truth," Naruto admitted before sighing, "It's kinda messed up that he's dangling a carrot in our faces. Then again, I guess I just did fleece seven hundred thousand ryo from some losers so I don't really have a leg to stand on."
"You did what?" Jiraiya asked before shaking his head, "You know what? I don't care. Okay, listen up. Fū and Naori will be sent to Hashirama Gen for advanced healing tonight. We'll spend the rest of the week getting back up to scratch."
Hashirama Gen was really fancy. Only jounin and above really got to go there. Then again, Fū being a jinchuuriki and Naori being...on Team 11 made them pretty valuable to the village.
"What is it?"
"It's a double-header," Jiraiya said much to Naruto's surprise, "I'll give you more details, but we have an escort and we also have a bandit camp destruction."
That...sounded awesome!
"Oh, right I got you your checks for beating the Demon Brothers," Jiraiya said rolling his eyes at the moniker, "It's 20 million ryo. I'd look into finding better materials for your tonfa...or maybe a bigger place? This place isn't all that big. Houses cost at least 900 million ryo so I'd start saving up. "
Naruto choked at the exorbitant price listed.
"A house? Why should I get one of those?"
Naruto liked his apartment. It wasn't all that great, but it wasn't all that terrible and yes it was really far from the Hokage Tower and the training grounds, but it was his home. Then again, a house would allow him to expand on his security seals a lot more and have more space in general.
Plus, he wanted to start a family someday and there was no way he'd do that living in an apartment.
"Safety, convenience and that sort of thing?" Jiraiya said with a shrug before pausing for a few seconds, "Fū seems keen on the idea."
That was a weird way of phrasing that.
"Wait the idea of me getting a house or the idea of us getting a house?"
The second one didn't actually sound so bad. Naruto spent most of his time practising fuinjutsu or trying to craft new jutsu. You could only do that for so long before getting bored. Normally, he'd go train Hinata, but she was on a long-term mission at an outpost so that was a no-go.
"Both. She got 95 million for Towa's bounty so she's closer to getting one than you are.," Jiraiya said thoughtfully, "A roommate wouldn't be the worst thing, you know? Unless you hate being around Fū..."
"Of course not!"
"Naori might beat you to the punch too. She seemed pretty keen on the idea too so..."
"Naori wants in? Well, fine then I want in too!"
"Great! I'll let them know!" Jiraiya said before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.
"...He sent a clone to me?"
What the hell. Naruto never got the clone.
Jiraiya took a deep swig from a bottle as the Tsunade's breasts of all headaches washed over him. The alcohol burnt its way down his throat and only just alleviated the pain he was in. He took another swig before turning to his sensei.
"They're all on-board, " Jiraiya said as the pain finally faded away, "That was the worst pain I've ever experienced. "
"Hanzo ripped out a chunk of your stomach out in your fight with him."
Typical sensei. Didn't he know that Jiraiya was a performer? Of course, a few shadow clones dispelling would do damn near nothing to him. He was too strong for that! He'd survived getting his stomach ripped out by Hanzo, after all.
"Fine," Jiraiya groused as he sat up in his chair, "They're on board with the idea. Like I guessed, Fū just said yes, but both Naruto and Naori only seemed on-board when I mentioned the other was keen on it."
It was almost sad how predictable all kids were. They seriously needed a crash course in spontaneity or something. It was embarrassing, really. That would have to wait for later, though.
"Is this really the right thing to do, sensei?" Jiraiya asked his sensei whose small smile had faded, "I don't think I need to remind you how your meddling influences teams."
It was a bit harsh, but Hiruzen could handle it.
"I understand your reservations, but we need them to develop actual roots in this village," Hiruzen argued as he puffed his cigar, "Naori is a loner within her clan. Naruto is still feared and ostracized and Fū is not even from here. All three have had difficulties growing up and don't have many bonds."
"They will only grow stronger if they have something to fight for even if it is each other. I don't think we need to rehash why you were the best option to be their sensei."
That was not necessary. Two publicly-known jinchuuriki and the last remaining family of one of Konoha's strongest missing-nin. Each member of Team 11 would be too much of a burden for any other team let alone three. Of the current crop of jounin-sensei, probably only Kakashi and Gai would be able to handle what came ahead.
"I think it's doubly important for Fū and Naruto to have a better mental state. Especially after the last...mishap. If Naori really was able to talk them down then the strengthening of their bond may need some...stimulus."
Jiraiya sighed, "You're right. It just feels a bit wrong manipulating them like that."
"You get used to it."
Naruto sighed as he hopped on roofs towards Training Ground 3. It wasn't their usual training ground and not for the first time, Naruto wished he had a faster method of transportation. There was nothing he could do currently.
And yes he was ignoring the Shunshin out of sheer spite.
He wanted something that he could add his own personal flair to. The problem was how to get there. The Kyuubi didn't give him wings and the only alternatives to the Shunshin were esoteric ninjutsu like the Raikage's Raiton no Yoroi or even crazier ninjutsu like the Yondaime's Hiraishin.
The latter was technically fuinjutsu, but much like how both Naruto and a newborn baby were both humans, that did not mean the baby could stack up to him. He'd kill the baby before it even blinked... and that was a pretty messed up thing to visualise.
The point was Naruto was not Hiraishin level at all. It would take a whole lot of time and focus and even so where would he even learn it? As far as he knew, no one knew it. Maybe Jiraiya did, but he wouldn't teach Naruto shadow clones.
Asking for the Hiraishin would go about as well as dropping a stink bomb in the Inuzuka compound... not that he knew what that was like or anything...
Finally, Naruto reached Training Ground 3 and unsurprisingly he was the last to arrive. What was surprising was there was a whole other team there as well. He couldn't really see the faces of the other teams, though and neither of their sensei were there and it seemed as though Fū and Naori were content with being quiet.
And that wasn't normal.
"Hey, guys," Naruto said startling everyone there, "Why is it so quiet? Somebody die?"
Naori scoffed, "No. We already had a discussion about how we've been double-booked and both our sensei are late so we can't leave until then... Is it so surprising that people enjoy being quiet?"
"When you're involved? Yes," Naruto said and he turned towards Fū, "Is that really the person you want to be around more? I'm way more fun. Remember how I punched Hashiro so hard he—"
"Excuse me?"
Naruto stopped his diatribe at the unexpected interruption. He turned around and he tilted his head at sight before him. A girl with rather long pink hair was facing him and she had her hand held out to him.
"You're another Elite Genin, right? Naruto Uzumaki?"
Oh. That was it? She wanted to say hello? Please remember her name!
"That's me. Nice to meet you... Sakura, right?"
"Yes!" Sakura nodded enthusiastically and apparently unbothered with how long it took him to remember, "I never really spoke to other Genin other than Ino-chan so I'm surprised you remember my name!"
"Yet he forgot both of ours... if he ever even knew them," Naruto heard Naori say to Fū which he chose to ignore.
That would have to be Ino Yamanaka, right? He was bad at names (kind of) but even he knew all the clan heir/heiresses. It would've been hard to go through the Academy and not hear the praise that was lapped on them—they did deserve the praise too.
Especially two of them in particular.
"You're Sasuke, right?" Naruto asked the only other boy there who gave him a nod, "Tell Itachi I say hi!"
"That's two people's names he knew instead of his teammates..."
"How do you know my brother?" Sasuke asked his surprise apparent before he shook it off, "Never mind, not my business. I'd tell him, but he's gone out on a mission. I don't know when he'll be back."
"That's fine," said Naruto with a shrug, "Your brother did me a few massive favours over the years, but I've never really spoken to him that much... and that just makes things more mysterious, doesn't it?"
Sasuke nodded.
Well, damn.
Naruto turned to the last remaining member and for just a split second he thought he saw Hinata. Of course, that wasn't the case since Hinata's team was not in the village nor had they been for a few weeks now.
"How do you know my sister?" Hanabi asked as she crossed her arms, "You two have been spotted with each other quite often which... confuses me."
...Did she just insult him? It felt like she did.
"Keeping tabs on Hinata? You can ask her that yourself. Uhhh, Hamami, was it?" Naruto tried which made Hanabi purse her lips.
"Hanabi Hyuuga."
She did not look happy. Good. Time to twist the knife.
"Oh, it's Hanabi? My bad. Hinata and I never really talk about you so it's easy to forget you exist sometimes," Naruto said as he sat down on the ground, "Anyways, it's not my place to say plus I don't really like you so I don't feel like telling you—"
"Ugh, finally. Naruto, shut up."
Naori's intersection brought the broiling conversation to a halt. Fū and Sakura both seemed confused and a touch worried, Sasuke kept giving him this weird look and Hanabi was actually glaring at him...which was great.
It wasn't Hanabi's fault that Hinata was having such a hard time within her clan, but he was in Hinata's corner so by law, he had to hate those on the other side. Even if Hinata still loved them dearly because unless you were a Red Dragon or Shirotora, Hinata probably couldn't hate you.
Plus, Hanabi had this haughty attitude that just ate at him. She probably thought—
A puff of smoke enveloped the field and when it cleared, Naruto was staring up at Jiraiya in some outlandish pose and that barely registered. No, what did register was Kakashi fucking Hatake reading a book and looking cool while doing it too.
"I see you guys have met!" Jiraiya's voice boomed dropping out of his pose, "That's good! Team 11 needs to regain cohesion and Team 7 could do with some training against a team who has been on an A-rank."
"You didn't say it was an A-rank," Sasuke said towards Naori with an accusatory tone, "Why'd you lie? It would've made your severe injuries a lot less embarrassing."
What the hell was that? Sasuke had sounded so level headed and calm and now he'd just thrown a nasty shot at Naori. It was even more confusing when Naori just stayed quiet and ignored the barb— her eyes on their sensei.
"So, we're having practice fights then?" Naori said to which both Jiraiya and Kakashi nodded.
"Yes, but with restrictions. Team 11, no elemental jutsu and no special movement jutsu either...for those of you who have them."
Jiraiya's wink at Naruto totally didn't piss him off.
"Oh, right, restrictions? The same goes for you guys. Oh and no dojutsu. Except for you Sakura! Go ahead and make Team Dojutsu proud!"
"That is not and will not ever be our team name!" Sakura barked back in a sharp mood swing from her earlier demeanour, "Are you senile? I can check for that, you know. Maybe that's why you keep coming three hours late to practice?"
...Okay, so Team 7 was definitely not a normal and well-adjusted team. The most normal person seemed to be Hanabi. Sasuke had a bit of an issue with Naori and Sakura seemed all sorts of pissed off now that Kakashi had teased her.
Maybe that was the plan? Get her angry so she'd fight harder? Naruto was sure that was what the legendary Silver Wolf had intended until he giggled.
"I already told you why I'm always late, Sakura. This village has a lot of black cats so I have to avoid them. I'm more of a dog person, really."
As far as reassurances against being senile went, that was a terrible one.
Naruto was very clearly missing some context and none was forthcoming. Fū had moved closer to him and she whispered in his ear.
"It's kinda nice to know that our team isn't the only weird one right?"
"Yeah, nice."
If Jiraiya of the Sannin was a loon then of course Konoha's Silver Wolf would be too.
"Hanabi and Naruto, you're up!"
With that everyone began to warm up and Naruto moved over to Naori and Fū. He eyed Jiraiya and Kakashi before shifting his gaze to Hanabi. The good news was that she looked angry which meant he'd gotten under her skin. The bad news was that he'd gotten under her skin and she looked angry.
"So how long were Kakashi-sensei and the pervert around for?"
"Around the time you started to speak with Sakura," Naori admitted with a shrug, "Also, how the hell do you know their names, but you didn't know mine or Fū's?"
"Are you jealous?" Naruto said with a mocking smile which made Naori turn away, "You are! Wow, I didn't know you had it in you!"
"I will cut you."
"Relax, Naori," Naruto said as he gave her a friendly slap on the shoulder, "Sakura was always with Ino and Kiba found them... well you get the idea. Anyways,I know Sasuke and Hanabi because I know their older and cooler siblings... at least I think Hinata is older than Hanabi... can a twin be older or younger than the other one?"
Naori already put out from the slap he'd given her, gave him a flat look, "You know that stupid act doesn't work on me or Fū. You're just trying to distract from how wonderfully you and Hanabi get along."
Biting sarcasm laced her words.
"Yeah, I'm not her biggest fan. Hinata would probably hate me for this, but this is a good opportunity."
"Good opportunity for what?"
To kick ass.
"Well, Hinata needs to beat Hanabi someday. So, now is as good a time as any for some... research."
Silence.
"That sounded just like—"
"Yeah, I know. I know."
It was a good thing Fū was occupying Jiraiya. If he'd heard that, he would never hear the end of it.
Naruto had plenty of experience with fighting against Hyuugas. He'd seen them fight at the academy and he'd fought many as well. Ryoku was meh, Hinata was really good and only getting better and there was this one older kid who was great.
He had a feeling that Hanabi leaned more to 'great'.
Her stance was firm and unyielding and she looked completely calm on the surface. She was probably a bit pissed at him on the inside, though. So be it. Hinata was like a dear friend or kinda like a sister to him and he'd promised to help her get strong enough to beat Hanabi.
So if he had to beat his almost-sister's sister to help his almost-sister dethrone her sister from the heiress spot that had originally been his almost-sister's then that was exactly what Naruto would do.
Kakashi and Jiraiya seemed to be conferring before the latter spoke, "Since Naruto isn't coming back from injury, you guys can forget about restrictions! Go as hard as you want to!"
Awesome.
Naruto unsealed his tonfas and immediately went to work. He rushed Hanabi who had also decided on a frontal charge. She lashed out with a quick palm strike that he slapped aside with a twirl of one of his tonfa. Pressing his advantage, Naruto tried to punch her with his tonfa, but it was deflected.
Hanabi's hand glowed with chakra as she moved his strike aside. Naruto adjusted and sent a second punch which missed by millimetres. Hanabi countered this with a double palm strike and Naruto channelled chakra into his legs before leaping away.
The ground cracked as he dodged Hanabi's attack and he took a moment to reassess once he'd landed. Okay, so she definitely had a bit of grit to her. Neither of them were going all out, but clearly, Hanabi was used to fighting. It wasn't nice to say, but she had a fire and edge that he was still trying to cultivate in Hinata.
That was enough analysis for now, though. It was time to put some dirt in her eye.
Naruto held firm as Hanabi finally went on the offensive. Idly, he noticed her Byakugan was off which immediately gave him an idea. He threw his left tonfa at Hanabi and she shifted her head before it whistled right past her.
...that didn't look cool at all.
Hanabi was soon upon him and immediately Naruto was under attack from a Jūken whirlwind. Without his second tonfa, Naruto was on the backfoot as he scrambled to stay ahead. That did not last. A palm from Hanabi snapped into his face and his vision swam as the air cracked from the strike.
Naruto growled before spinning his tonfa out in a vicious strike. The long side smashed into Hanabi's face and again another crack punched through the air. Hanabi's face had turned from the strike and when she looked back at him she had a busted lip that mirrored the one he could feel growing on his face.
"What?" Naruto asked with a smirk, "You mad?"
Hanabi's eyes flashed with anger and some amusement (or maybe that was derision), "Hardly. Hakke Kusho!"
Did every Hyuuga know this move?
Instead of dodging, Naruto ran directly and then swayed around Hanabi's Air Palm. Her eyes, still inactive, narrowed as his tonfa streaked towards her. Hanabi grabbed it out of the air and held onto it. Naruto tried to wrench it free and he stumbled as Hanabi let go of it just as he pulled.
Oh boy. This was gonna suck.
Four powerful strikes slammed into him and Naruto was sent tumbling. His body sang with pain especially his stomach which had been hit twice. It wasn't great, but crucially Naruto still had his tonfa in his hand.
Naruto fought past the pain as he aimed the long side towards Hanabi. He fed chakra into the tonfa as Hanabi tried to press her advantage. She was moving in with a palm strike aimed towards his upper body but Naruto brought that to a halt. His tonfa glowed before Hanabi was caught unawares as a storm of needles was fired from his tonfa.
Numerous needles were buried into her arms, legs and torso. Hanabi grit her teeth as she was forced to abandon her attack— leaping away. Naruto held his free hand out and he smiled when he saw her Byakugan was off. Stupid. He channelled chakra into his seal bracelet and activated one of the seals on it.
Hanabi was glaring at him as she tried to remove some of the needles he'd shot at her. She got a few out, but the vast majority were in rather deep and blood was dripping onto them which made them even harder to grab and pull out.
"That was a cheap trick," Hanabi said as she settled into a stance choosing to ignore the remaining needles, "Are you taking this seriously?"
It was then that his tonfa that he'd thrown ages ago smashed into the back of Hanabi's head. His tonfa continued straight into his hand and he snatched it out of the air. Hanabi was glaring at him—fury burning in her eyes as she cradled the back of her head.
"You aren't taking this seriously either!" Naruto taunted as he sealed his tonfa away, "If you had your Byakugan on then you would have seen that coming!"
Hook.
Naruto rushed Hanabi who was moving a bit slower than before. The needles impeded her at every turn and made it supremely easy for Naruto to deliver a quick one-two punch to her stomach. He caught a sloppy strike from her. Hanabi pulled her arm back as if expecting him to let go much like she had when she caught his tonfa.
Naruto smiled before he adjusted his feet as his other hand grabbed onto her arm. He dug his heels in before lifting Hanabi and swinging her body like an axe.
"Hinoiri! (Sunset)"
In a display of her skill, Hanabi adjusted midway through the slam and her free hand was pointed at Naruto. He let go of her and intended to move away, but it was way too late.
"Hakke Hasangeki! (Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher)"
Blood trailed down her face as Hanabi roared the name of her jutsu in his face. Naruto barely had time to blink before he was sent through the air by a wall of air and chakra.
It was worse than any Hakke Kusho he'd faced in his life.
Naruto's body skipped and tumbled across Training Ground 3 before he was brought to a halt by a nice and squishy tree. Naruto groaned as pain arched through his body from the sudden stop. What was worse, he barely had time to rest as Hanabi followed in his wake.
And still, her Byakugan was off.
Fine, then. That move was awesome, yes and yes his head was ringing but it was okay. She wasn't the only one who had upgraded versions of their normal jutsu.
Now was as good a time as any to field test that. Hinata had been a big help, but he had only been able to finish it after the mission to Shirai. The fight with Fū did break his spine, yes, but that had ended in him getting some valuable knowledge.
Talk about silver linings.
Naruto first went through familiar handseals before pointing his hands at her, "Fūton: Sankousen! (Wind Release: Tribeam)"
The air tunnel barrelled into Hanabi sending her flying just like she had sent him with that souped-up Air Palm. When she landed, Hanabi looked pretty pissed off at the role reversal.
Line.
Naruto went through a slew of handseals. His team would have recognised the first three being identical to his Rinkai Hoshi, but from there it was all new. After seven handseals in total, Naruto finished with the Dragon seal.
"Hoshikuzu! (Stardust)"
Bright, blue chakra shrouded him and emanated off his body. Naruto looked down at his hands and he smiled at what he saw. His hands were constantly shifting and bouncing to and fro even though he himself was not moving.
In all honestly, Hanabi was more than a match for him when it came to pure Taijutsu so he had to change things to be on his terms. This wouldn't have been possible had the Kyuubi not given him chakra. The experience of using the Kyuubi's chakra in that chakra shroud state or whatever was the final piece missing.
He was a blur to all onlookers as he closed in on Hanabi. He was upon her immediately and he had a front-row view as she tried to make sense of his blurring body. His fist raced through the air and she tried to block it, but her hand went through it like a mirage.
"What the—"
A right hook cut her question off and Naruto followed it up with a kick to her side. Hanabi lashed out with a strike that actually was fast and precise, but she missed wildly— the Hoshikuzu living up to its purpose:
Pure misdirection.
He expelled enough chakra around his body to warp the light around him. The Rinkai Hoshi was the base that this was based on as his chakra needed to be supercharged—much like the Rinkai Hoshi.
Naruto punched Hanabi in the stomach—ignoring the pain of his own needles rapping against his knuckles. His right tonfa reappeared in a puff of smoke and he delivered a powerful strike to her stomach again. He followed it up with a thumping uppercut and Hanabi's head snapped back from the force.
A second later, Hanabi's head dropped down and Naruto smiled as he saw her Byakugan active. He sealed his tonfa away as she rushed him with new vigour. His newly made advantage was ripped away as her Byakugan allowed her to pierce the shroud his new jutsu was giving him.
He jumped away from a palm strike—faster than any she'd launched before. It made him wonder just how seriously she'd been taking him. Yes, she was about to lose to him, but she hadn't used her Byakugan all that much. Nor had she used those stupid combo chains that were just awful to defend against.
"So you're using chakra to refract light around you? I see," Hanabi said her voice sounding rather laboured, "I won't fall for that anymore. Hakke Sanjūnishou! (Eight Trigrams Thirty Two Palms)"
Thirty-two? Hinata had said Hanabi had been able to do sixty-four palms for quite some time now. Right, her body was still riddled with hs needles.
"Tch, you should've taken me seriously, " Naruto said just loud enough for the approaching Hanabi to hear. She ignored it and continued her approach not realising the mistake she was making.
At least, he wouldn't have to try and dodge all those palm strikes.
The Hoshikuzu was built on the principles of the Rinkai Hoshi— supercharging his chakra allowing for their visual effect to take place. However, that's where their similarities ended. The Rinkai Hoshi was like flicking a switch on and off to supercharge his chakra. The Hoshikuzu, on the other hand, switched on and stayed on which was not good for Hanabi—
"Two palms!" Hanabi screamed in his face as she went for broke.
Dodge. Dodge.
—since it meant he would need no handseals to use the Rinkai Hoshi while the Hoshikuzu was activated.
Naruto stepped into Hanabi's advance and he was so close he could feel her breath on him—her eyes widened, "Rinkai Hoshi! (Critical Star)"
There was a searing flare of chakra that washed over Training Ground 3. Hanabi let out a sharp scream as she grabbed her eyes in pain—the Byakugan's enhanced vision working against her. Naruto swept his feet out from under her and pinned her to the floor.
He placed a kunai to her neck and was the first thing she saw as her eyes reopened–Byakugan deactivated.
"Man, that was bright!" Naruto vaguely heard Jiraiya exclaim from somewhere. He was a bit too distracted as a wave of something rolled through him at the look Hanabi gave him.
"I missed your chakra points, didn't I?" Hanabi said with a sigh, "I never do that."
Naruto nodded, "I've been told my coils are a bit different. You should have used your Byakugan earlier."
Hanabi nodded but remained silent.
"You're really good," Naruto said and again that weird feeling rushed through his stomach as Hanabi gave a small smile to him.
"You too."
Was he sick? What was happening?
"Naruto, you win! Are you both deaf?!" Jiraiya hollered at him, "Now, get off of her before you start getting down and dirty... you know what? Stay on her! Just like that! I need my notebook.
Naruto leapt away from Hanabi so fast, he was pretty sure he moved faster than Naori's Shunshin.
One day, he'd hurt Jiraiya.
That was a promise.
Original Jutsu:
Hoshikuzu (Stardust)
Another Naruto Uzumaki Original Jutsu. Developed with the aid of Hinata's Byakugan, the Hoshikuzu is a sort of chakra shroud made by the user constantly emitting excited chakra- similar to the Rinkai Hoshi. The effect is a severe blur and distortion that makes it hard to tell where exactly certain body parts are, however, the Byakugan is immune to the effects of this jutsu. This is mitigated by allowing Naruto to use a handsfree Rinkai Hoshi which still does affect Byskugan users. B-rank.
Author Notes:
You guys still there? Anyways, I know it's been long, but it finally came out lol. I got swept up by university, other stories and I don't usually enjoy writing interludes either lol. Hopefully, the next chapter comes out sooner lmao.
Until the next one!
(I'm writing a BNHA/Naruto fic where Deku uses chakra, read it if that's up your alley!)