Naruto: Dreaming of Sunshine

There was a glint of trump in her eyes. She'd wanted to take me off guard, and she'd done it.

"You heard me," she said, a chin lift punctuating the statement. "You come to an exam like this and you spend the entire time hiding behind the men." She scowled. "We all saw you in the dining hall. And then you got carried through the second exam. Well you're out of luck here; it's just you and me now. There's no one here to protect you."

"Right," I said, uncertainly. In the dining hall? Hiding? Did she mean when we'd held Chouji back? Or was she assigning alternative motives to making friends?

I was a little lost. Which only made me feel annoyed, because we hadn't even started fighting and she was winning. This was trash talk, plain and simple, and it was working.

My annoyance bubbled higher.

Netsui gave a satisfied little smirk. "Kunoichi who depend on others to do everything for them shouldn't be allowed. It's so … weak."

I, I thought, would show her 'weak'.

And she was wrong, besides. Depending on others never made you weak. Friendships never made you weak.

Teamwork never made you weak.

I breathed in. Breathed out. Transmuted annoyance into the cold flash of actual anger and tucked it away. Shifted my feet into a ready stance and nodded politely to the referee.

The referee dropped his hand. "Go!"

Netsui clicked her sword free of its scabbard with her thumb and lunged forward. She brought the blade high, swept it up and around in an arc to come down in a beheading strike. She was fast, and it might have been a problem.

I palmed a kunai. Brought it up to block. Beneath our feet, the shadows of our blades crossed before the real things did.

She slowed down.

The blades connected with the softest of 'tnk's.

Confusion blinked across her face, clearly visible this close. She tried to pull back, but found she couldn't move.

"I'm sorry," I said, smiling thinly. "You seem to be laboring under some misapprehensions. Since you had all morning to find out about the person you were fighting, I didn't think it was necessary. But since it is, please, allow me to introduce myself. I am Shikako of the Nara Clan of Konoha. You are currently in my Shadow Possession Jutsu. If you have any means of escaping it, I'd suggest that you employ them now."

"What? I-" The struggles against my jutsu were weak, especially at this proximity, compared to what I knew I could hold.

I waited a beat. "No? Pity. Allow me to demonstrate what you should have done." I cleared my throat, made sure my voice carried. "Your name is Netsui Sato. You are fifteen years old, one point six two meters tall and seventy five kilograms. You graduated Hidden Cloud Academy at twelve years old, in the upper quartile of your class. You've done one B-rank mission, nineteen C-rank missions and thirty three D-rank missions."

And that was all information straight out of the betting book, though judging by the way her face paled, it really did sound quite impressive that I could reel it off like that.

"Your regular sensei is T, but you were picked to be team mates for Killer B's students for this exam, since you made it to the end of Hidden Rock Exam but broke your arm at the end of the second exam and couldn't compete in the tournament."

That tidbit I'd actually overheard from them. They'd been discussing it earlier in the morning; how this was the furtherest she had been in the exams and why. Of course we'd been listening in. And I obviously knew that that Karui and Omoi were Killer B's students. That wasn't even hard.

"And finally," I said. "That is a very interesting sword you have. Family heirloom, by any chance?"

Her face went tight. "Fuck you."

"Mm," I said. Jackpot. I'd found a nerve to stomp on, just as hard as she'd stomped on mine. "The marking on the blade… that's the symbol of the Naganori clan, from the Land of Lakes. Did you know? There's an interesting story there. One that's fairly well known even. The forty seven ronin."

"Shut up!" She barked.

"Oh, you have heard of it?" I asked innocently. "It was a while ago, before the founding of the ninja villages, back when there were still a lot of samurai around. See, the story goes, Daimyo Naganori assaulted Daimyo Yoshinaka and had to commit seppuku. By the laws of the time, his samurai were supposed to commit seppuku alongside him. Instead they fled. Like cowards. Is that your heritage?"

I raised an eyebrow at her, condescending.

The real end of the story was that the samurai had gone back later and avenged him, killing the other Daimyo and then dying. Undoubtedly the blade had been passed along the family, and the descendants had wound up settling in Hidden Cloud and become ninja instead of samurai. But just as obviously the story and dishonor hadn't been forgotten. That was the way of this world, where things like that lingered as though a dark cloud.

"Maybe I should help you along," I suggested and started to move. I dropped the hand holding the kunai down, rotating it around, until the point of the blade was towards my stomach.

Caught in the Shadow Possession Jutsu, Netsui did the same. The tip of the blade of her katana just barely brushed against her skin.

There was real fear in her eyes now, not just annoyance and irritation.

"Unless there's something you want to say?" I offered, calmly, pleasantly. "To the referee, maybe."

He wasn't far away; close enough to interfere. I wondered if he would, should I follow through. I wondered if there were medics around that could heal her afterwards.

She gritted her teeth and glared at me.

I let that thought transmute into chakra. Into killing intent.

What if I killed you?

"I- I surrender," she spat out, stumbling over the words. "Stop. Just. I surrender."

The referee was between us. It would have done nothing to stop me – only let me control him as well – but I took it as the signal it was and broke my jutsu.

I stepped back.

"Thank you for the match," I said, bowing politely and never taking my eyes off of her.

She stormed off the field. The referee called the match, but there was only a smattering of lukewarm applause. Most people were watching the other fight, it seemed.

I slunk my way back up to the competitors section. Chouji was apparently in full stress eating mode already, and had drawn others into it in the guise of it being lunch time. Someone – and I suspected Tenten – had produced a picnic blanket, camp table and kettle full of hot tea with mugs.

I skirted around them, joining Sasuke where he was leaning against the front railing as he watched Lee's match in progress.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked, eyes flicking towards me.

I gave a half-hearted smirk to his Sharingan but couldn't muster up anything beyond the annoyance and anger of the aborted fight. It lingered, like an itch under my skin. "There is an ancient Nara Clan saying that encapsulates this situation," I said gravely. "Talk shit, get hit."

"It is not," Sasuke said automatically. He was getting too good at calling my bullshit. "What's wrong?"

"Ino got to set the whole arena on fire," I groused, which was only half the issue and the heart of the matter all at once.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't complain because it was easy. You'll get disowned."

I elbowed him, sliding in next to him so I could watch Lee's match too. He was fighting Shiku – the other Mist twin – which was bad luck on her part.

"But really," Sasuke continued, disapproving. "A monologue? Were you trying to let her break free and attack?"

I studiously didn't reply.

He sighed. "Really? Well. There's always next round."

Down below, Lee cheered his opponent on. "A most excellent attack!" he cried, as not a single blow landed. I had the feeling that he genuinely meant every one of his encouragements, however they might have sounded. "So passionate! Please continue to attack with such youthful vigour!"

Poor little Shiku braced her hands against her thighs and panted heavily, clearly exhausted. But after a second, she dragged them high again.

"3! 7!" she wheezed, as she flew into another combo. I wondered if the puns were mnemonics to help remember them, as much as they were names of attacks. "5! 6! 4!"

Mi-na-go-ro-shi, I translated. Kill them all.

And she was such a cheerful little child too.

Lee kept encouraging her right up until the time limit, by which time she was so exhausted she could no longer stand. It was certainly one way to win.

And then he gave her a piggyback ride away from the arena, because he was Lee.

The next match was where things really started to get interesting. On one field, Kiba was facing off against the kunoichi from Hidden Rock, but on the other… Hinata had drawn Kankurou.

She looked half way terrified and halfway determined.

It did not go entirely as expected. The Byakugan was clearly an amazing counter for most of his puppeteering abilities. Hiding? Out of the question. Surprise attacks? Not a chance. Multiple opponents? Not an issue.

And she could see and cut chakra strings, which left him at a really big disadvantage when she started in on the attack.

Not just cut them. Hinata grabbed one and surged her chakra through it like an overload. And it worked. Kankurou cursed and yanked his hand away, injured or at least numb.

The gas canister felt like it was a last ditch tactic. And though it slowed her down, it did pretty much nothing to stop the fist of chakra she ploughed into Karasu and sent pieces scattering across the field.

Hinata coughed.

I waited with bated breath.

She wobbled. Then she gathered another fist of chakra and blazed across the field – straight for Kankurou.

His mouth formed words that were too quiet to hear but might well have been 'oh shit'.

Hinata collided like a train crash – pure and devastating force.

Smoke and dust billowed out, momentarily obscuring the outcome. When it cleared, Hinata knelt in the center of it, barely holding herself up.

And Kankurou.

Kankurou had been thrown clear out of the ring.

Ino gave a scream of pure and disbelieving joy. "HINATA!"

We thundered into applause, no less enthusiastic. I cast a glance at Temari and Gaara, to see how they were reacting. Temari caught my eye and raised one shoulder in an indifferent shrug. She clapped, lazily.

Gaara had no reaction. Well. It could have been worse.

Hinata wobbled once more and very slowly collapsed forward onto the ground. Two medics rushed out from the sidelines with a stretcher and bundled her onto it.

Kankurou stood, brushed himself off and collected the scattered pieces of his puppet with a flick of chakra strings, then strolled after them.

Neji pushed himself off the railing and strode towards the exit, clearly intending to make his way down to the infirmary.

"I'll come with you," Tenten said, scrambling to her feet.

"You still have your fight," he reminded her, barely even pausing.

I cast one last glance down below. On the other field, Kiba was fighting what appeared to be giant hornets. Go figure. She must have been from the Kamizuru Clan. He and Akamaru were well set with their Tunneling Fang moves, though the bees seemed to secrete some kind of sticky substance to try an pin them down.

So in other words, pretty much the same tactics that Kidomaru had used against us.

"I'll go," I said. "Good luck with your fight, Chouji. If I'm not back, Ino can cheer you on for me. Oh, and I have daifuku if you win."

His eyes lit up. I wasn't above bribery. I was prepared for bribery. A good ninja was always prepared.

I ducked out the exit and hurried after Neji, but still heard Ino's follow up. "Stop thinking with your stomach!"

The infirmary just a set of tents set up discretely behind the stadium. When we ducked through the entrance flap, Hinata had been transferred to a bed and was being looked over. Kankurou lounged nearby, turning a piece of broken puppet over in his hands.

"She's fine," he said, with a one shouldered shrug. "It was just some knockout gas. Even if I hadn't given them the antidote, she'd sleep it off in a couple of hours." He nodded. "I was more worried she'd touched Karasu – but it doesn't look like she got any of it on her."

And in that move, Kankurou rocketed up about a million points in my estimation.

It wasn't that I didn't like him. It was just that, compared to the bluntness of his brother and sister, Kankurou was so much harder to pin down. He was a puppet master, and all that meant. You never quite knew what you were seeing, there.

But these weren't actions you did for someone that was just an opponent. He'd followed her. Provided the antidote and checked that – in destroying his equipment – she hadn't hurt herself worse. And then, even after that, he'd stayed so she wasn't alone.

Neji moved closer, taking up position near the foot of the bed like a guardian statue.

"Thank you," I said, quietly. "How's Karasu?"

"Wrecked," Kankurou said glumly. "It's going to take days to fix him. That was embarrassing."

"It was a good fight," I offered, because there wasn't much to say to that.

He huffed. "No, it wasn't. Chiyo-baasama is going to kill me." He actually looked pretty bummed about it all.

I felt a twinge of sympathy. Not enough to feel sorry that Hinata had won – it had been amazing – but enough. "Chiyo?" I prompted. "She's the stand-in Kazekage, right?"

He flipped the piece of wood over again, running a thumb over the jagged edge. "Yeah, that's right. She doesn't want the position, though, and you've heard what Gaara's plans are. Somehow he convinced her to come back and take over the Puppet Corps again. I'm not sure I'd thank him for that."

"Why not?" I asked.

He smirked. "She's as batty as she is dangerous. I've been learning a lot, but it's been an experience."

I could certainly understand that.

Kurenai-sensei interrupted our conversation by ducking into the medical tent. She looked mildly surprised to see us, but didn't stop to talk. Instead she went to check in with the medical ninja.

It was still a little reassuring to have one of our Jounin here, I had to admit.

By the time Hinata was awake and the medics were willing to let her go, we'd missed two sets of matches but would just make it back in time for the last. Which were the ones I was really looking forward to, because Sasuke was on one field and Haku was on the other.

"I can walk," Hinata mumbled and slid off the bed. And kept sliding, until she was kneeling on the floor.

I knelt down next to her. "Fair enough. But it would be faster if we helped you, wouldn't it?"

I could absolutely understand not wanting to look weak or injured in a competition like this. I would probably have protested exactly the same way. It didn't mean, however, that I still didn't want to help her.

Hinata tried to get to her feet. Even when I slid under her arm and helped hold her up, it was not a particular success.

"You don't want to stay here longer?" I confirmed. I doubted it. No one really wanted to stay in hospitals, ever. It was a rule.

She shook her head into my shoulder.

I looked at Neji. He twitched forward, then pulled back again. Right. No help there.

"Okay," I said, wondering how we were going to manage. I could Shadow Jutsu, but I wasn't sure that would actually be very good for her. "Princess carry for the conquering princess," I decided. I ducked down, swooped her legs over one arm and picked her up.

It was a hold that ninja didn't particularly like to use. It blocked my hands, was unbalancing and would put us both at a disadvantage if we were suddenly attacked. There was a reason that most ninja went with the piggyback, even when carrying kids around the village.

But I didn't actually want to drop her, and it was miles and miles easier than trying to get her to stay on my back.

"Oh, but you-" she murmured and made a sleepy gesture with her hand. Other than that, she didn't appear particularly perturbed. I'd call it a win.

"Relax," I said. "It'll be fine. Neji's here looking out for you. And I've been informed I have a habit of hiding behind the menfolk."

Hinata just looked confused. Neji made the most dismissive sound I had ever heard. I recalled, very abruptly, that Neji had most likely seen my first kills in the Forest of Death, or at the very least the immediate aftermath. And had, for days afterwards, considered me a threat.

I grinned at him. The joke was funnier when people were in on it.

Hinata was welcomed back with a hero's applause. I set her down on the picnic blanket, and she was very swiftly given tea and food, and surrounded defensively in all directions. (If I sent a smile towards the Hidden Cloud group, well, it was only mildly out of spite.)

"You win?" I asked Kiba, nudging him with my shoulder.

"Why," he complained. "Is it always bugs? Shino's going to kill me. And Akamaru has honey all through his fur."

Akamaru seemed pretty happy with the situation, if the amount of licking that was going on was any indication. But I could see how that would be a downside.

Didn't stop me from laughing at his misery. But I could see.

"So did Tenten. And Chouji," Ino said. "I guess you better cough up the goods."

Obligingly, I located my bag and rummaged around until I found the right storage scroll. I didn't want to get them mixed up, at this point. The daifuku were just a store-brought box of twenty, in their own little individual plastic wrappers. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, when dealing with paranoid ninja. "Here, Chouji. Congrats. Sorry I missed it."

"Next round," he said. "It's me and Kiba."

Kiba grinned. "That'll be fun."

Chouji must have been in a good mood after his match, because he even passed out the sweets to everyone after unsealing them, even the Mist and Sand teams. Friendship, Akimichi style.

Sasuke was fighting the boy from Hidden Star village, who had some very interesting chakra. His method of attack was almost like Naruto's Jinchuriki cloak, in that it was solidified chakra that enveloped him for attack and defense. It didn't look like he could move while he was using it, because he stayed stationary and merely used tendrils of it as lancing attacks.

That was an obvious weakness that Sasuke exploited.

On the other field, Haku was fighting the girl from Hidden Grass – Ryuuzetsu. She had white hair and eyes that almost looked like Rinnegan. I'd had to do a double take when I'd seen her. Her specialty seemed to be fire ninjutsu, and while that initially seemed like a good matchup against Haku's ice style, it was unfortunately not the case.

He created one mirror to block the surprisingly large fire blast, ducked through it and out another one behind her, and barraged her with senbon.

As far as the provided information in the betting book was concerned, Haku was something of a dark horse. There was just so little information on him, mostly because the usual measures of academy scores didn't apply and that he hadn't technically been a Mist ninja for very long.

Still, there was a lot of interest in his first match, and he put on a good showing, forcing Ryuuzetsu to surrender before too long.

And with that, the first round was over.

I really hoped tomorrow would go better.