Whispers In The Dark

Homete Kureta, Homete Kureta, Hinata-chan Ga Homete Kureta, 'ttebayo!

Chuunin Final.

Naruto stood among his peers, his blue eyes finding Hinata's Byakugan sitting with the other Genin that didn't make the cut. She smiled at him encouragingly with tiny wave. He grinned back. Someone's missing but he didn't care about that. He needed to show Hinata his good side after all. He shifted the red katana weighing on his back, the weigh more familiar after a month of carrying the live steel everywhere.

Naruto had on black Shinobi standard pants with high Shinobi standard sandals. But he decided to put on an older version of the ANBU uniform from before the 3rd Shinobi War, when everything just about boiling to a head. A more form fitting turtle neck that covered everything from the neck to his wrist with forearms and elbow guards. His hands covered by the standard black Shinobi standard fingerless gloves that left everything after the first knuckles exposed. But over that he put on his usual orange vest with the hood, one that he managed to find the exact like to the one he once wore to the Academy until a scuffle with a particularly feisty pest ripped it.

He couldn't find any more clothes with that exact orange beside the odd orange Shinobi standard jumper with the white collar that he had worn until his Genin career started. He couldn't just buy any clothes because civilian quality would not be able to handle his lifestyle, his ruined beloved vest a testament to that depressing fact. He liked it because Hinata once blushed seeing Naruto in the vest and he supposed he looked good in it.

It was only a few days before the final that he found the hooded orange vest. He quickly changed his style after that and just to screw with people's head, as was his past time's hobby that didn't end up with someone dead, he wore something that's a nod to the one picture he saw of this ANBU in Kakashi's bedroom with a painted ANBU hummingbird mask. He knew from a glance that it was a picture of his dad. They were somewhere in Kaze if the desert behind them was any indication.

A red sash tied around his waist held Akkorokamui in place.

He went to his place as the proctor guided them to stay in the arena as his turn came first. He looked to see Hyuuga Neji barely even glancing at him in acknowledgement. That's fine. He won't kill the boy so he won't bring out Akkorokamui. But he will take pleasure in hitting him to a pulp.

He tilted his head.

Well, maybe not a pulp. Hinata would only give the jerk more attention than she would Naruto otherwise. That won't do. Neji needed to earn her attention but Naruto felt that he will get it much too easily. He huffed. This is the problem with family. Hinata's all about them. Naruto don't get it, he never had any after all. But Hinata's loyal to her family even though they treated her like the blight of their clan. So in the end Naruto had no choice but to play nice with all of them though...he had his eyes on this one guy in the clan.

His instincts screamed danger whenever he saw the Hyuuga and whenever his instinct screamed so, he knew that this man has some connection to the danger surrounding Hinata's life. Whether he had anything to do with the human traffickers sneaking into Konoha 'legally' or not he has yet to find out. But at the moment, Naruto has a stubborn chicken named Neji to wrangle.

"...ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?!!"

Naruto blinked and dig his ear, "Huh...are you saying something?"

Neji fumed, "No respect at all,"

Up on the stand Hinata blushed at the similarity as Gai crowed, "HE MADE A MINI-ME!!!"

On the way to the arena with threat of having his Icha-Icha Series being burned to ashes by Naruto that morning to be early or else watch him as he did it, Kakashi felt an incomprehensible pride.

Naruto don't know what that was all about but he'll just roll with the palm strike coming for his face. He tried to keep up but Hinata wasn't lying when she said that Neji's strikes are fast. Though Naruto had faced against the likes of Haku the Oinin, Neji would have won over the fake Oinin in terms of speed attack. Clearly the crazy daily training that Gai wringed his Genin through was not just mindless gimmick. Neji's strikes even blew Naruto's hair back even though he didn't touch the blond. Naruto blinked as he leapt back to keep a distance.