Chapitre 4: chapter 4
Temari was bored - and irritated - but mostly bored. She had thought that watching her future husband fight his friends would be more entertaining but with a few exceptions the fights had been extremely one-sided so far. First up had been that pink haired twit her soon to be husband was so enamored with. The fight itself was just pathetic, but as much as she despised weak kunoichi, that wasn't what had her blood boiling.
Naruto stood facing his longtime crush as she entered the area battleground. Watching her, he found himself confused - why was she walking so timidly? Her head hung down, hair blocking her eyes, every step seemingly forced. This wasn't what he expected from Sakura-chan. She was supposed to be confident and strong.
Breaking from his musings, he slid into his fighting stance when Sakura arrived. She didn't match him though, just stood there stood there fidgeting nervously.
"Ne, Sakura-chan, whats the problem?" he called out.
Sakura flinched a bit as the loud voice of her teammate intruded on her thoughts. Without raising her head, she spoke, almost a whisper.
"Naruto, I'm sorry. I never thanked you for saving me." With a bitter laugh she pressed on. "Any of the times you saved me I guess. Against Zabuza, the Exams, and then with Gaara." The girl began hugging herself firmly as if she were trying to hold back an explosion. "You keep saving me, and I just blow it off." Beginning to cry she forced herself to continue. "I suppose I'm just jealous. When our team formed, I thought I was strong, or at least stronger than you. Turns out I was wrong huh?"
Naruto was so shocked he dropped out of his stance. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as his thoughts flashed back over the events as he tried to figure out what was wrong with Sakura. With a mental shrug he decided to just wing it. He didn't really understand girls in general and Sakura was kinda strange even then
"Sakura-chan," he said pleasantly "I need you to look at me" When the girl hesitantly met his gaze, he mentally winced at the amount of pain he saw in her eyes. Letting his mask down, he gave his teammate a true smile. "Sakura-chan, I accept your apology and your thanks but that isn't why I did it." He raised his face to the sky in remembrance as he continued. "When we were in Wave, Haku taught me that someone is only truly strong when they protect something precious to them." Lowering his gaze back to he girl, he smiled again. "You are not weak Sakura-chan, you just haven't found something to be truly strong for yet. You can come train with me at my estate if you want but you will only get stronger if you truly work for it. Still, judging from the way Crazy Snake Lady over there is twitching we should start this match before she molests me again."
The final comment was too much for Sakura and she roared with laughter remembering what Anko had done before the second exam.
Temari gritted her teeth in irritation. Stupid, weak fan girl, wannabe kunoichi. Why the HELL is he so stuck on that pink haired.. argghhh. Why do I CARE! Deciding she didn't really want to continue thinking about it, Temari went back to musing over the matches.
Naruto hadn't humiliated the stupid pink menace, but it was obvious to every shinobi in the audience that he had held back. The next match was more exciting – that weapons girl wasn't so bad. Temari had crushed her in battle only because she was able to blow away all of her attacks. Once Naruto got in close, however, it was over.
The next match had caused Temari to both laugh and palm her face. Shikamaru was possibly the laziest person she had ever met, but he was skilled. Too bad for him that Naruto was simply unpredictable had refused to play along with the stall tactics. At the beginning of the match, Shikamaru had caught him with his Kagemane and in response Naruto had created a few dozen Kage Bunshin without using any seals, something that had cause a collective gasp of disbelief in the audience, and ordered them to take Shikamaru out. Shikamaru's response was fairly typical – he muttered "how troublesome" and gave up. Not surprising to anyone that knew him but what irked Temari was that in her match, she had gotten tied up playing along with the shadow user's little game instead of just overpowering him.
Temari had to save the dog boy in the next match.
Something in the prematch banter had caused Naruto to fix a maniacal smile on his face as he pulled out a kunai and began wrapping an exploding tag around it. Blanching at the memory of what he had done to her brother, Temari whipped her fan out and floated to the arena floor. Landing between the mutt and her betrothed Temari placed her hands on her hips and said one word.
"No!"
"Ahh come on Temari-chan" Naruto whined.
"No, you are not going to use that technique EVER again."
Pouting, Naruto put the kunai up after stripping off the exploding tag.
Satisfied, Temari turned to leave, only to be stopped by Anko.
"You know, you aren't supposed to be down here."
Arching an eyebrow at her, Temari continued to leave.
"I was saving dog boy from a fate worse than death you know. I know what he was gonna do with that and I never want to see it again."
"Oh" Anko replied with her trademark insane grin, "What was he gonna do?"
With a shudder, Temari replayed the events of Gaara's fight with Naruto in her head.
"He was gonna shove that Kunai up the mutt's butt. Something about 1000 years of pain and Kakashi-sensei's teachings or something. I'm still trying to forget it."
In the stands, Kakashi tried to hide behind his book as he felt everyone turn and face him.
"What? I used it as a joke during his genin exam." he said defensively. "I didn't think he would actually use it on someone, let alone with an exploding tag."
Denied the use of the 1000 years of pain, Naruto had simply thrashed the bog boy after he had tricked Akamaru into playing catch over in a corner with a Kage Bunshin. The match after was boring, the tubby kid tried to flatten Naruto and had been blown away with a wind jutsu then beaten down by Kage Bunshin. The quiet bug kid had been next, but had forfeited when Naruto had summoned several toads. Temari hadn't heard all the conversation between the two but caught Naruto apologizing and something about Shino being to dangerous to take head on.
Shaking her head, Temari glanced at the woman sitting next to her. She was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she was sitting next to the Lady Tsunade! She wasn't blind, she could see that the woman had some problems, but she was sitting next to the most powerful kunoichi in the Elemental Lands - and to make it even more surreal the woman viewed her as her daughter-in-law. Temari was amazed to learn that Tsunade viewed Naruto as something like a cross between son and grandson. She had been extremely alarmed when threatened by the older woman about what she would do if Temari ever hurt her new husband. She shuddered as she remembered the boulder that had "accidentally" exploded.
Turning back to the current fight, Temari sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose to fight back what she believed to be the beginning of a migraine. Who the hell actually gives their opponent a pep talk in the middle of a fight? Sure, he was fighting that weird Hyuga girl who had a crush on him (not that he seemed to notice) but still, a pep talk? I suppose it's a good thing he is so oblivious to it. The last thing I need is competition. I mean, it is a political marriage, and we aren't expected to be happy, but if he gets it in his head he can have an affair, it'll destroy everything. He doesn't exactly seem the type, but a lot of people don't.
Temari was pulled from her thoughts as she watched Naruto play Bunshin Daibakuha pong with his next opponent. Poor Neji was using his Kaiten repeatedly, but eventually he ran out of chakra and was blown into the air. Naruto being Naruto though, caught him as he fell and carefully laid him on the ground.
"Sorry Neji, but after our last fight, I doubted you would hold back and you're way better at taijutsu then I am."
With a groan, Neji placed an arm over his eyes as he waited for the mednin to arrive.
"I understand Naruto-san, but that was a most unpleasant experience. You should know that I am looking forward to a rematch in the future." Neji had a small smirk. "Preferably without explosive clones please."
Naruto noticed Gai and Lee arriving and a truly wicked smile appeared on his face, " Its a shame Neji, it seems that you might require more youth for our rematch."
As Gai and Lee began their usual youth rants and declared that they would "stoke Neji's youthful flames" Naruto broke down and laughed at the sheer horror on Neji's face. Ignoring the caustic glare being sent his way, Naruto decided to rub a bit more salt into the wound.
"Have a youthful recovery Neji!" he cheered. He was totally floored when the ever stoic, unflappable Neji flipped him the bird.
Naruto's blood began to boil as Sasuke strolled across the arena floor to the cheers of the civilians of the crowd. Yes,yes Naruto thought viciously, "the Last Loyal Uchiha" has come to beat the demon boy. Not happening.
Sasuke, for his part, was more excited than he had been for some time. He was finally getting his fight with the dobe. He wasn't sure when he had begun to view Naruto as his rival, but rival he was. Now he had another reason to be interested in Naruto – that man was after him, and sooner or later, he would be able to take his revenge.
"Dobe, you ready?"
"Absolutely Teme, absolutely!"
Anko turned to face the crowd, "Ninth Match Uzumaki Naruto vs Uchiha Sasuke! Hajiame!
The boys rushed forward in a flurry of taijutsu. Naruto dodged the first punch only to be caught by the backhand counter. Shrugging off the blow, he spun and drove his elbow into Sasuke's stomach, following through with a vicious wheel kick that knocked Sasuke back several feet. For several minutes the two stalemated, Sasuke's superior skill countered by Naruto's ability to shrug off the pain long enough to land punishing blows
Sasuke was getting frustrated - he couldn't copy Naruto's style because there were no set patterns. No set patterns also meant the he couldn't predict what attack would be coming. It wasn't prefect, but he could see some of the attacks shortly before they landed, yet somehow or another the Dobe had learned a style that seemed to just flow. He also had to deal with the fact that Naruto was forcing counterattacks straight through his defense, and the body shots were starting to wear him down.
Jumping back, he flashed through the seals Katon: Gaukakyu no Jutsu.
Naruto sighed as the fireball flew towards his head. Hurriedly raising his hand to his mouth in the Tiger seal he spat out an even larger fireball then the one that was incoming. The two fireballs collided in a massive explosion forcing both boys to Kawarimi to avoid being roasted.
"Dobe! What the hell was that?" Sasuke roared! "How the hell are you so proficient at using a Uchiha Katon Jutsu?"
"Its easy Teme. A truly mastered Jutsu requires far fewer seals. There are some jutsu that when mastered need no seals to use. As for how I know Gaukakyu, I've seen you use it, and figured it out on my own." Seeing the infuriated expression on Sasuke's face he smirked. "What's the matter Teme? You don't like people copying you?"
Far to angry to realize he was being baited, Sasuke rushed forward to pound the dobe into the ground, only to find himself surrounded by several dozen black and orange clad shinobi. The clones followed in their creator's footsteps and landed several powerful body shots that left him exhausted and struggling to breathe.
"Hey Teme, check this out Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He snapped his head up and to his horror he saw literally thousands of strange three-pronged kunai headed in his direction. Whipping out a kunai, he dodged and deflected as many as he could, and to his relief most of the massive barrage missed him, lodging themselves into the ground around him.
"Tch, Dobe, your aim sucks."
"Oh, you think so Teme? I think they went exactly where I wanted them."
With a vicious smirk Naruto disappeared in a golden flash. Ignoring the gasps of shock from the crowd, Sasuke scanned around trying to find the dobe, but was more than a little shocked when a powerful kick slammed into him from his blindside. Spinning around to retaliate, he blinked as Naruto disappeared in yet another yellow flash. Confidently he spun around to block the attack he expected at his back, only to once again be knocked to the ground by a strike from behind.
"Damn you, Dobe! How the hell are you doing this?"
"Well Teme, when a S class shinobi marries a S class kunoichi and they do a special little dance, nine months later the magic chakra stork delivers them a baby."
In the stands, Temari and Tsunade exchanged pained glances and emitted near identical groans. Speaking to the younger kunoichi, Tsunade was nearly dripping sarcasm.
"Hopefully he is just trying to irritate Sasuke, but I wouldn't bet against him actually believing that." At Temari's look of disbelief she continued, "Well, I really doubt anyone actually explained to him where children come from you know."
"Ah. He's so well adjusted I sometimes forget about his past. I wasn't expecting to see him use Hiraishin no Jutsu, though. You think he is trying to make a statement to those idiots screaming for his blood?"
Turning back to the match with a small amused smile, Tsunade simply replied, "Probably."
Back on the battleground, Naruto was finishing up his rather bizarre speech.
"And that Teme is the reason that Ramen is the food of the gods!"
Blinking, Sasuke stared at his rival with complete and utter disbelief.
"Dobe, there are so many things wrong with you, I just don't know where to start. But you never answered my damn question!"
With a patronizing air Naruto decided to enlighten his teammate, "Sasuke, my father was the Yondaime, otherwise known as the Yellow Flash. Now that I have people and things to protect and no one sabotaging me, I can stop hiding my abilities. Did you think I wouldn't use a family jutsu against you?"
Sasuke's rage boiled over. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why is he the one that has that power? I need it, not him.
Yes Sasuke, you need power, another voice whispered to him. Use the power, destroy your foes, become invincible.
Naruto backed off when Sasuke exploded with a foul chakra as the curse mark spread across the boy's body.
"Aw come on Sasuke, who the hell uses something an S class criminal implants on their body." He complained. Faster than Anko could stop him, Sasuke raced forward, chidori cracking in hand. "Fine, be that way Teme." Naruto used Kawarimi to swap places with a clone right as Sasuke rammed the chidori through his chest. "Hey Teme, Bunshin Daibakuha!"
Most of the audience was horrified when Sasuke was seen after his encounter with the explosive clone. His left arm was partially torn from his body, his face and chest covered in burns and shrapnel holes.
With a low whistle at the damage Anko stepped forward, "Shousa, Uzumaki Naruto" As the medics rushed in she whispered to Naruto. "You think that was a bit much there Gaki?"
An extremely cold expression crossed Naruto's face as he answered. "Anko, he just tried to ram an assassination jutsu through my chest. If I hadn't swapped with that clone, I would be dead. So no, I really don't think that was too much."
Nodding her agreement Anko glanced up at the Hokage only to find the woman on the arena floor facing Naruto with a very serious expression on her face.
Holding up his hands to ward her off momentarily Naruto began to explain.
"Baa-Chan, he just tried to kill me! I think I was perfectly justified blowing him up."
With a sigh, Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose, "Was there any other way you could have stopped him? Or failing that, used Hiraishin to get out-of-the-way?"
"No," Naruto responded, arms crossing his chest, "I barely had time to Kawarimi. I just learned Hiraishin, so it still takes me a few seconds to lock on to a seal. I stepped down the power of the explosion but when the clone detonated he had his arm shoved through its chest. For what it's worth, I'm sorry Baa-Chan, but I'd do it again."
"Damn the paperwork is gonna suck for this one." With a dismissive wave Tsunade used a leaf shunshin to return to the Hokage's box.
"Hmm, last fight Gaki, doubt you'll have to much of a problem here though." Anko said as she watched Ino walk up.
"Naruto!" the loud blonde yelled. "How dare you hurt Sasuke-kun like that!"
With a sigh Naruto faced her, "Ino, last time I'm explaining this. I barely had time to kawarimi with that clone, and he rammed an assassination jutsu into what he thought was my chest. If I hadn't gotten out-of the way, I would be dead, and I really don't want to be dead. I stepped down the explosive power of the clone, but once again, his arm was in what he thought was my chest!"
Realizing he was starting to rant, the blond paused only to be surprised when Ino chimed in.
"Yeah, I get it" she said with a long sigh. At the look of disbelief on both Naruto and Anko's faces, she raised her voice in irritation. "Look, just because I like him doesn't mean that makes it okay for him to try and kill his teammate. I'm an heir to a shinobi clan I understand this things ya know."
Grabbing her ponytail in irritation Ino stopped her rant when she saw Naruto staring at her cross-eyed.
"Gomen, Ino-san" Naruto spoke formally, for him anyway. "I was simply expecting you to be furious with me. Gomen again."
Releasing her ponytail from her death-grip, Ino sighed, "Gomen Naruto, I suppose I should have known you would expect me to snap."
"At the risk of making you snap, I would recommend you forfeit this match. You can't beat me physically and I'm pretty sure you've been told to never use your clan techniques on me."
Ino snorted, "Yeah right, like I'm just gonna give up. Even Billboard Brow fought you, so I am too."
"Hajiame!"'
Jumping back, Naruto barely had time to curse when he heard "Shintenshin no Jutsu". Nearly every shinobi in the audience had to resist the urge to face-palm, and Ino's father Inoichi was damn near having a panic attack. Naruto looked at the collapsed form of Ino and frowned.
"Seriously?" He asked in shock. "After just being told not to do it, she went and did it anyway?" He seemed to lose focus for a second before he groaned and turned to Anko. "Call the match so I can go save her please, the fuzzball is laughing and that just can't be good."
"Shousa, Uzumaki Naruto"
Hurriedly dropping to the ground, Naruto entered his mindscape as Inoichi tried to reach inside his daughter's mind. The combination of all three jutsu was too much for his mental barriers, and his thoughts began to display themselves on the nearest surface – the wall of the stadium.
Rushing through the sewer towards the cage holding Kyubi, Naruto cursed under his breath when he heard Ino scream followed by laughter from his prisoner. When the cage came into view, it was all he could do to not rip his hair out in frustration. Ino was in the cage. Ino was in the cage, with the Fox. This was not good on several levels. Currently, the Fox was amusing himself by suspending the poor girl with his tails, snapping his jaws at her. Noticing Naruto's arrival, the Fox turned and gave him a truly terrifying smile.
"Well, well the Warden comes to visit his prisoner. I should thank you for this delightful morsel here. I haven't had this much fun in...hmm, I'd say 13 years."
Cautiously moving forward Naruto forced himself to speak calmly, "Let her go Fox. You know things will end badly if you kill her."
"Oh please," the Fox replied, rolling his eyes. "I see what happens you know. The morsel was warned but didn't listen." Snapping his jaws at Ino again, the Fox laughed. "I should just eat her but these screams are just … invigorating."
Naruto carefully eyed the distance between Ino and the bars and considered ways to get the terrified girl clear. Slowly a plan formed - a suicidal plan but when dealing with Kyubi, there really wasn't much else he could do. Charging a rasengan, Naruto darted towards the bars. As he drew closer, the Fox moved to face him, dropping Ino. As fast as possible, Naruto used Kawarimi, swapping places with her. OK, that is part one completed - get Ino out of the cage. Now for the really hard part, He gulped when the Fox turned to him with a sinister grin. Getting out of this cage alive.
Realizing he had seconds at best before he was eaten, Naruto zipped forward and slammed the rasengan into the Fox's paw, trying to buy time. Sadly, Kyubi didn't react the way he had hoped, rather than drawback even momentarily from the pain, the Fox simply used the same paw to slap Naruto away. Slamming into the bars in pain, Naruto damn near didn't connect the dots in time. The BARS! Hahaha, take that Fox! he cheered in his head as he dove back out into the sewer barely ahead of what could truly be considered the Jaws of Death.
"Haha, take that you stupid fur-ball!" he taunted. "I got her out fuzzball!" Naruto walked over to the traumatized girl, he knelt and gently shook her shoulder. "Ne, Ino-chan, you're safe now, calm down."
Slowly, Ino focused her eyes and before Naruto could react the girl glomped him so hard he could barely breath.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthan kyou" she hysterically spat out. She began to cry into his shoulder, "I was so scared. I thought I was going to die."
Not really sure what to do, Naruto sort of just patted her back and stroked her hair in an attempt to calm her. "Shhh, you're okay, it'll be alright. Just calm down okay?" Seeing her regain a semblance of calm, he backed up a bit. "Ino, now that you aren't trapped in there with the giant walking carpet, can you release your jutsu please? I'm pretty sure your dad is freaking out and I'd really like to get outta here myself."
Nodding Ino concentrated, then frowned at him. "I can't." She said flatly. "I've tried to release but something is blocking my exit."
As the Kyubi started laughing behind him, Naruto palmed his face in irritation. Mumbling under his breath about giant pain in the ass fox's of freaking doom annoying the living shit out of him, Naruto turned to face his prisoner. The rather terrifying grin, wow, those are some really big teeth, being bestowed upon him was not calming at all.
"Let her go Fox" he managed to grind out through his clenched teeth.
"I don't think so ningen" Kyubi sneered. "I'm rather curious how long her body will survive with her soul stuck in here. It should be highly entertaining."
Stifling a curse, Naruto asked Ino the first thing on his mind.
"Is he serious? Your technique sent your soul into my body? That's just nuts."
Crossing her arms, Ino managed to somehow pull off a haughty look.
"Of course it does baka. How else would you be able to take over someone else's body?"
"Fantastic," he muttered glaring at the highly amused Fox. "Ino-chan, how long can you survive in here anyway?"
She hesitated in her response, "I, well I really don't know. The longest I've ever heard of was my dad spending a bit over a day during an interrogation, but he said that it took a lot out of him when he did." Pouting, she refused to look up at the Fox, "I'm not as strong with this skill as my dad yet, and I don't think he was tortured by a terrifying creature living in the guy's head. Speaking of, Naruto, what the hell is that thing?"
With a resigned sigh Naruto waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the cage.
"Ino-chan, meet Kyubi, Kyubi let her go right fucking now!" Watching the fox simply lay down and laugh at him, Naruto launched a barrage of insults at his least favorite furry creature as Ino simply stared at him in shock.
Not a stupid girl by any means, Ino quickly placed all the pieces of the puzzle in place and blurted out. "Your father didn't kill it? Oh sweet kami, he sealed it into you!"
Naruto jerked around in shock, he really hadn't been expecting Ino to yell right behind him, let alone figure out what had happened so fast.
"Yeah," he responded despondently. "My father sealed fuzzball here into me to save the village. Supposedly he tried to have people see me as a hero by holding the stupid thing prisoner but most the civilians thought I was the damn thing and most the Shinobi kept their distance cause most Jinchuriki are not terribly stable. A really good example would be Gaara before I beat him during the invasion. Anyway, enough about that, we have to get you out of here."
"Alright Fox, what do you want to let her leave?"
"Take the seal off!"
"Not happening bunny ears, try again."
"Why should I care? The only thing I want is that damn seal your father stuck on me off. You have nothing else I could want, you pathetic mortal fool."
"Heh, you think I'm stupid don't you Fox? I know what you're afraid of. We both know you could have killed me when I was in the cage but my father's seal means that if I die, you die too, doesn't it?" Naruto shot the Fox the fiercest glare he could muster, which really wasn't bad if it wasn't directed at something other than the Kyubi no Kitsune, and turned to Ino. "Ino-chan, I'm about to do something really, incredibly stupid but it should allow you to get out. When you feel that hold on your jutsu loosen, get the hell out of here okay?"
Ignoring her questions about what he was doing, he turned back to the Fox as he drew his kodachi. Heh, I so wanted to be Hokage, but I suppose this is as far as I go. At least I'm taking this jackass with me. Placing the tip of the kodachi against his stomach, Naruto called out in an almost sing-song manner.
"Last chance Teme! let her go!"
Scoffing Kyubi barely bothered to look up, "You wouldn't dare ningen. Maybe if it was that pink haired tramp you drool after, but you have no ties to this one. Do your worst."
Laughing Naruto called out, "You really don't know me as well as you think you do, Fox. Yes, she isn't really a friend but she is my comrade, a fellow Leaf ninja, and as such, she is precious to me."
Without saying anything else, Naruto rammed the kodachi through his stomach, Kyubi roared in anger and the figure of Ino disappeared from his mind
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone