Chapter 21: Round 2 – Water vs. Fire

## Crowd ##

"You're ready for your match Hinata?" – Naruto asked.

"Of course" – she replied kissing him much to the jealously of the other females who were now interested in said blonde.

"Who does she think she is?"

"Naruto-kun will be mine"

"Naruto-kun…"

"Looks like you got some competition" – Naruto said chuckling while holding her.

"Let them come. I'll juuken their butts to the ground" – Hinata said it loud enough so they could hear her. No one would take her Naruto-kun away.

"You know I'm kidding. You are the only one for me" – Naruto said squeezing the life out of her.

"Awwww" – the newly created fan girl club said.

"How are your chakra levels?" – Naruto asked Hinata.

"I'm about full, I didn't spend much against Neji" – Hinata replied. She sensed her chakra levels and estimated she was about 99 % full since she didn't use any heavy chakra demanding jutsu besides de Kaiten and that was only momentarily.

"Good" – Naruto said and leaned forward and whispered to her hear "Try to end the battle quickly. You can't waste much chakra since you know what will happen".

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, I have soldier pills if need be" – she replied and he nodded. Naruto never really ran out of chakra because if he did Kurama would simply replenish him and he would be back on his feet. It was one of the reasons Hinata was able to train with him all day long during the early days. Thanks to Kurama, he would simply replenish Hinata's reserves so she could go on. In time her chakra reserves increase and she no longer needed that to keep up with Naruto.

"Are you ready kitten?" – Naruto asked Yugito in a mocking tone.

"Shut up whiskers" – she replied and he laughed. "Hey I have a question?" – Yugito asked.

"Shoot" – Naruto said.

"Why did you hide your sharingan and powers?" – Yugito asked not understanding. Jinchuuriki were treated badly no matter where they grew up. She didn't understand why he would hide his strength and be mocked even more.

"Actually is very simple. Most of the civilians treat me as a demon and tried to hurt and kill me on several occasion" – Naruto said and got gasps from his fellows classmates. "What do you think they would if they saw me as a 'smart' demon?" – Naruto asked rhetorically.

Yugito nodded knowing very well what life was like. She wasn't physically abused in Kumo but the glares and words of hate were always there. Her dream was to become like her 'big brother' killer bee. Killer Bee is treated as a hero by their people and they all know he's a jinchuuriki. I guess she just needs to prove her worth to them.

"About the sharingan I never really had a choice. I awakened it when I was five so I could have gone to the Uchiha Clan however they would have treated me as a weapon and used me for their personal goals. And after the Uchiha Massacre if I came forward with the Sharigan they would think I killed the Uchihas and stole their eyes for me" – Naruto explained.

"I guess…" – Yugito said trailing off.

"People are blinded by their hate but…one day we shall rise above that" – Naruto said with a small smile as he inspired another soul into the right path.

"No offense little kitten" – Zabuza said making Yugito's eye twitch in annoyance and Naruto stifle a chuckle. "But Hinata" he said looking at her "you better win this as I have money ridding on you" – Zabuza said making her raise an eyebrow.

"Just in whom else have you placed bets?" – Naruto asked.

"Just you and Hinata since I know very well these wet behind the ears gennin don't stand a chance against you" – Zabuza said laughing while counting a pack of bills in his hands.

"I take offense to that" – Yugito replied but Zabuza shrugged her off.

"How are the odds for the next matches?" – Naruto asked.

"We are still on break so they might change but I guess they were impressed with both of you. Yugito and Hinata both have equal odds since Hinata defeated the Hyuuga Prodigy and you" – Zabuza said pointing to Naruto "have slightly lower odds against Gaara since he's hailed as undefeatable and he's son of the yondaime Kazekage" – Zabuza said.

"Ironic" – Naruto muttered. "Gaara and me…we are both Jinchuurikis and both sons of the yondaime of our villages" – Naruto thought.

"What?" – Zabuza asked not getting what Naruto said.

"Nothing" – Naruto replied but Hinata got the meaning from that single word.

"By the way Naruto" – Ino said getting his attention. "Who was your father?" – Ino asked as if it was a normal question.

Maybe Naruto would have stiffened at such random question but not anymore. "One day I will tell you…but not today" – Naruto said.

"Why not?" – Ino asked whining.

"Because my father was a very powerful man and had many enemies that I would like to keep away for now but one day…I will take my family name" – Naruto said smiling.

"You will take the Uchiha name?" – Ino asked.

"No…I don't want to be mixed up with them. I may have Uchiha blood and respect my grandfather but I won't take that name" – Naruto replied.

"Why not? The Uchihas are respected and feared everywhere even though there is only Sasuke left…and you" – Ino said.

"Because I never liked their attitude to put it simply. The Uchihas were feared true but they were also known for their arrogance and willingness to do anything for power" – Naruto said.

"When I choose my clan name it will either be my father's name or my mother's name" – Naruto explained.

"Wait…You mean Uzumaki isn't your real name?" – Ino asked not believing her ears.

"Yes… my real clan name was hidden to protect me so I was named after my great grandmother who was an Uzumaki" – Naruto replied. He really did have one hell of a lineage.

"Wow" – Ino said. "They must have been great people" – Ino said in awe. The sandaime did so much to hide Naruto's true family so they must have been very important and strong.

"They were" – Naruto replied in a low voice. He wondered what would have been like to grow up with his parents. Having breakfast with them when he woke up…having them buy him ramen…walking with them through the streets…being tucked into bed…and making them proud of him.

"Enough with the depressing mood, if you keep this up you might start brooding like the Uchiha" – Zabuza said making Naruto snap from his thoughts and laugh.

"The break is now over, we will now start round 2 of the chunnin's exams finals" – Hayate yelled from the arena the crowd quieted down and focused on the proctor. "Nii Yugito and Hyuuga Hinata please make your way to the arena" – Hayate called out.

"Good Luck" – Naruto said and pecked her cheek.

"Do I get good luck as well?" – Yugito asked in a teasing tone.

"Nope" – Naruto simply replied making Yugito sweat drop.

"Bad whiskers" – she replied and both of them made their way to the arena to begin their match.

## Kage Box ##

Up in the kage box the kages were making small talk while they waited for the round 2 to begin.

"So…" – Kazekage started "Who do you think will win the next match?" – the Kazekage asked trying to sound interested when he really wanted to see Naruto match against Gaara.

"My girl of course" – The Raikage said quickly.

The hokage chuckled but replied "I have faith in Hinata-chan. What about you Kazekage-dono?" – the hokage asked.

"I have to agree with the Raikage. She might be good but Yugito is a jinchuuriki who can use her bijuu. Even though the hyuuga girl seems to have elemental advantage that won't help her if Yugito uses her bijuu" – the Kazekage explained his point of view.

"We will see" – the hokage said. They kept talking when an ANBU appeared in the kage box trough shunshin and went to whisper in the hokage's ear.

"How is everything?" – the hokage asked.

"Everything is prepared. The Clan heads are prepared and will rendezvous at their compound to organize their forces. The defensive seals are ready and chunnin were assigned to power them up and there are already shinobi ready to evacuate the civilians Hokage-sama" – the ANBU said and the hokage nodded.

"Everything alright Hokage-dono?" – the Raikage asked.

"It was just a report on Hyuuga Neji, Fuu and Uchiha Sasuke. They are all awake but recovering from their matches" – the hokage replied smoothly. He didn't tell the Raikage about the incoming invasion because he didn't know which side he would take and that could prove catastrophic.

"Looks like the match is about to begin" – the hokage said and they focused their attention in the arena.

## Arena ##

"Nii Yugito vs. Hyuuga Hinata, both fighters ready?" – Hayate asked and they both nodded.

"HAJIME" – Hayate called out and jumped back.

"Be careful kitten. She might look weak but I sense she isn't" – Nibi said and Yugito nodded.

They both dashed towards each other and started exchanging attacks. Hinata quickly found out that Yugito abnormal flexibility allowed her to dodge her juuken strikes rather well.

Yugito ran towards her and jumped in the air and performed a drop kick. Hinata placed her arms above her head in an x formation and blocked the kick. Hinata quickly grabbed her foot and slammed her to the ground and jumped back to give Yugito some space.

Yugito easily got up and brushed the dirt of her clothes before dashing once again towards Hinata. Hinata fell into her defensive stance as Yugito approached her and started to attack.

Yugito channeled Nibi's chakra to her fingernails in hands and feet and they elongated a couple inches turning them into very sharp weapons like senbons. Yugito tried a horizontal slash but Hinata couldn't dodge in time with her gravity seals activated and was forced to perform a Kaiten to block the attack.

Yugito seeing the Kaiten jumped back. Hinata channeled chakra to her storage seals and her daggers poofed to life. They were like Asuma's trench knives made of conductive chakra metal with 7 inches long one sided blade. Hinata quickly channeled wind chakra through them and rushed Yugito.

They both exchanged blows but Hinata's chakra enhanced blades quickly chopped through Yugito finger nails like hot knife through butter. Yugito picked up a kunai and channeled raiton chakra through them but they were also overpowered by Hinata's wind chakra, leaving Yugito without choice but to dodge the swings.

Yugito flipped back and tried to kick Hinata's chin but Hinata jumped up and back flipped landing graciously in her feet a couple of feet away from Yugito.

Hinata saw that she clearly had the advantage with weapons since Yugito couldn't block Hinata's daggers with anything. Hinata quickly sealed the daggers back in her seals and took her juuken stance.

Yugito dashed towards her and tried a right hook. Hinata side stepped it and quickly and graciously she closed all of Yugito chakra points of her right arm making it completely limp.

Feeling her right arm completely useless Yugito jumped back to gain some distance.

"Damn I really can't engage in Taijutsu against Hyuugas" – Yugito thought.

Normally after seeing this Hinata would ask for her to surrender but she knew her juuken was pretty much useless against a jinchuuriki.

"Don't think you won just because of this" – Yugito said smirking even after her having a useless arm.

"I know you can open you chakra points again by channeling Nibi's chakra but it still is very painful" – Hinata explained as she watched with her byakugan red chakra flood her right arm and forcefully open the chakra points.

Yugito winced and flexed her arm to get rid of the stiffness and numb the pain. She quickly forgot Taijutsu and decided to focus solely on Ninjutsu because her being a jinchuuriki made genjutsu pretty difficult for her to learn. She envied Naruto in secret due to his sharingan being able to cast illusions very easily.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Great Fireball technique)" – Yugito called out and sent a medium fireball towards Hinata. Hinata easily jumped to the side to avoid them and flashed trough hand seals and said "Suiton - Teppoudama (Water Bullet)". Hinata sent multiple small water bullets towards Yugito who managed to avoid them all.

"Suiton - Baku Suishouha (Great Exploding Water Wave)" – Hinata pumped her chest full of chakra and expelled a giant wave of water. Hinata rose from the ground from the amount of water being released and rode the wave that came crashing on Yugito leaving the poor cat drenched.

"I told her to preserve chakra and she pulls an S-rank jutsu" – Naruto said shaking his head. "I guess I'll refill her when she comes back" – Naruto thought.

Hinata took a deep breath to regain her breathing after changing the battlefield to her advantage. Both Yugito and Hinata eyed each other and they stood above the water that was a couple inches high and covered the entire arena ground.

Hinata decided to break the tension and began with "Mizu Shuriken no Jutsu (Water Shuriken)". Hinata said and the water rose in the air and took the form of shurikens who gained speed and went towards Yugito who blocked all of them with a kunai.

"I'll give her something she can't block" – Hinata thought before going trough hand seals and saying "Sensatsu Suisho (Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death)" and sent a thousand water senbons towards Yugito who couldn't dodge all of them all.

"Katon - Kaen Senpuu (Flames Vortex)" – Yugito called out and fire started spinning in front of her suddenly exploding towards the incoming senbon completely vaporizing them.

"Katon: Ao Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Great Blue Fireball technique)" – Yugito called out and using Nibi's chakra sent a massive fireball towards Hinata who couldn't dodge in time.

"Suiton - Suijinheki (Water Wall)" – Hinata called out and enveloped herself in water to block the fireball. The blue fireball collided with the water wall and erupted a cloud of steam the covered the center of the arena blocking the vision of the crowd.

"I can't compete in Ninjutsu against a jinchuuriki; I'm only stalling this match" – Hinata thought as the cloud of steam began to disperse and showed Hinata unharmed and Yugito facing her a couple of feet away.

Hinata suddenly came up with the perfect plan. She placed her right arm making half tiger sign while holding her left arm vertically.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu" – Hinata called out and the entire arena was covered in a mist that blocked the vision of everyone. Hinata could see rather well due to her byakugan and Yugito being a jinchuuriki she was like a candle during the night. Hinata knew this jutsu from the training she did in Suiton jutsus with Zabuza.

"This can't be good" – Yugito said to herself as she tried to relax her senses and find where her adversary was.

"Damn I can't sense her anywhere" – Yugito thought as she tried to feel anyone around her but she could only sense the proctor. She saw a small shimmer of light before jumping to the right and avoiding a volley of shurikens that were thrown by Hinata. The shurikens were concealed by the mist and even Yugito with enhanced senses couldn't hear or see them.

"What do I do to clear this mist?" – Yugito wondered when she felt a very sharp pain from her shoulders and legs. She looked at her body and saw four senbon sticking out.

"Where did that come from" – Yugito thought until a realization hit her. "The shurikens were only a distraction… I need to find her soon" – Yugito thought wrecking her brains out to find some strategy to counter this mist. She was thinking but she was started to feel very weak and sleepy.

She removed the senbon from her shoulder and smelled the tip detecting a faint metallic smell. "Poison" – Yugito concluded.

"Nibi I've been poisoned" – Yugito said to her partner.

"Already on it, it looks like a sleeping poison but it seems highly potent and she hit a blood vessel with those senbons injecting it directly into the blood stream. Those eyes are very dangerous in the middle of this mist. You need to find a way out of this" – Nibi replied as she powered a bit of her chakra into Yugito to flush out the drug.

"I know but what can I do. I'm not a futon user so I can't clear the mist" – Yugito thought. They were both trying to find ways to take away Hinata's advantage. To be able to use the juuken one needs a very good chakra control which can be applied to stealth by suppressing your own chakra signature.

Yugito sensed a presence behind her and extending her nails she quickly ducked and turned around slashing trough Hinata's chest until she dispelled into water.

"Mizu Bushin (Water Clone)?" – Yugito asked surprised by that and turned just in time to see Hinata speeding towards her through the mist.

"Hakke Hyakunijuuhachishou (Eight Trigrams One Hundred and Twenty Eight Palms)" – Hinata called out as she got in her stance.

"Two Palms"

"Four Palms"

"Eight Palms"

"Sixteen Palms"

"Thirty two Palms"

"Sixty four Palms"

"One hundred and twenty eight Palms" – Hinata finally said and Yugito was thrown backwards coughing with half of her chakra network closed. Normally this would have been enough to knockout anyone but not a jinchuuriki.

"Damn" – Yugito said in her mind as she was having trouble breathing.

"I told you to be careful" – Nibi said.

"Yeah yeah just give me chakra so I can win this" – Yugito said.

"If it wasn't for me you would already have lost" – Nibi flatly said but gave her the chakra anyway. Yugito was enveloped in a red chakra cloak with two tails swinging in the back.

Yugito let out a roar that completely cleared the mist showing everyone Yugito in all four with blue slited eyes and her nails elongated. She was covered in a red charka cloak with two tails swinging.

Yugito seemingly disappeared from view but Hinata could easily track her thanks to the byakugan. She blocked a straight punch from her and quickly deactivated her gravity seals so she could match Yugito new found speed.

"I need to use it and end this" – Hinata thought as she prepared to permanently end this fight.

They were both still engage in a Taijutsu fight at high speeds when Hinata went for a leg sweep making Yugito jump up. Hinata seeing Yugito in the air and unable to properly maneuver she quickly rose up.

With her byakugan she found where Yugito's seal was placed in her body and it was in the stomach like Naruto. She channeled chakra to her fingers until they started glowing and showing kanji in them.

"Gogyou Fuuin (Five Elements Seal)" – Hinata called out and slammed her right hand on Yugito applying a five element suppression seal above Yugito's main seal completely cutting off her access to the Nibi's chakra.

"Yugi…to…I've…be…en…cuto…." – Nibi tried to say but couldn't as she was completely cut off from Yugito making her lose the cloak.

Hinata took advantage of Yugito's weakened state from forcibly loosing the chakra cloak and got into her stance and said "Hakke Sanbyakurokujuu Isshiki (Eight Trigrams Three-Hundred-Sixty-One Palms)" and started attacking her chakra points since she couldn't open them now.

"Two Palms"

"Four Palms"

"Eight Palms"

"Sixteen Palms"

"Thirty two Palms"

"Sixty four Palms"

"One hundred and twenty eight Palms"

"Two hundred and fifty six Palms"

"Three-Hundred-Sixty-One Palms" - Hinata said and finished her attack completely closing Yugito's chakra network making her fall to the ground unconscious. Hinata took a few deep breaths and raised her head towards the proctor.

"Winner by knockout: Hyuuga Hinata" – Hayate called out and Hinata started making her way towards the crowd slowly regaining her breath.

## With Crowd ##

"Would you look at that?" – Kakashi said as he watched Hinata place a five element seal to disable her bijuu and win the match.

"What did she do?" – Sakura asked obviously not knowing what happened.

"She placed a seal over Yugito's main one to block her ability to use the Nibi's chakra" – Kakashi explained.

"Wow" – Sakura said. She and everyone else were in awe as they watched a gennin win against a jinchuuriki using its bijuu. Obviously it wasn't full power otherwise Hinata wouldn't stand a chance with that particular seal.

"I guess Naruto must have taught her since he knew she might be facing a jinchuuriki since there were four in the exam" – Kakashi said looking towards Naruto who nodded.

Hinata finally made her way up to the stands and joined her friends and senseis.

"That was AWESOME Hinata, you kicked her ass" – Kiba yelled.

"Thanks Kiba" – Hinata replied and then looked at Naruto who knew what was coming.

"So…you need a refill right?" – Naruto asked.

"Yes, my chakra levels are slightly above half" – Hinata asked.

Naruto switched with Kurama. His eyes became blood red and slited, his whiskers marks more pronounced and his fangs increase in length and sharpness.

"You know what to do" – Kurama said and Naruto picked her hand and held her while Kurama transferred chakra to her, it was a matter of seconds before Hinata was back to full.

"Who's that?" – Ino asked fearfully, that voice wasn't Naruto.

"The Kyuubi, he was refilling Hinata's chakra reserves for her next fight" – Naruto explained.

"He c-can use your body?" – Sakura asked.

"Well he's inside of me…so we can switch anytime I want" – Naruto asked and Sakura gulped drily.

"S-scary" – Sakura said shivering from the thought.

"By the way Naruto-kun I think I need another taijutsu style besides the juuken" - Hinata said.

"What brought this up?" - Naruto asked.

"My match against Yugito. My juuken was pretty much useless until I disabled her bijuu chakra and my taijutsu style is again useless if the enemy can form some protective shell around their bodies. I need something that gives real damage like the Goken (strong fist) but I will have to train my strength" - Hinata explained.

"Careful with what you say" - Naruto whispered to her.

"Why?" - Hinata asked not understanding.

"If you announce that the juuken style is flawed Hiashi might haunt your dreams" - Naruto said trying not to laugh.

"That's true" - Hinata laughing. "I'm just picturing his stoic face hanging in the air like a ghost" – she said making him chuckle.

"All kidding aside I think I know what you want. We will talk about it after the exams" - Naruto explained and she nodded.

"I'm up against Gaara next" – Naruto said.

"I'll enjoy spilling your blood Uchiha" – Gaara with a twisted smile that made his brother step away from him.

"You only care about killing" – Naruto said shaking his head. "I will prove you wrong when we face each other" – Naruto said.

"I will be waiting to prove my existence" – Gaara emotionlessly said.

## Kage Box ##

"I didn't expect that" – the Raikage said when he watched Hinata seal Yugito's bijuu chakra.

"Naruto is talented with seals so he must have taught her." – the hokage said.

"I suppose" – the Raikage said ashamed that none of his gennins would win the chunnin exams. Not that it would even reach the finals but he didn't know that.

"You have talented gennins this year Hokage-dono" – the Kazekage said.

"Yes but you do as well. We both have two gennins each competing in the semi finals" – the hokage replied.

"Yes but I don't think my Temari can win against the Hyuuga girl however I am confident that Gaara will win against the blonde brat, even if he's has the sharingan" – the Kazekage said.

"Like I said I have faith in them, they are very talented young shinobi" – the hokage said.

"Due to this being a double bracket tournament we will have Uzumaki Naruto vs. Sabaku no Gaara and Sabaku no Temari vs. Hyuuga Hinata for the semi finals" – Hayate explained.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara please make your to the arena so we can begin the semi finals" - Hayate called out and they both shunshined to the arena, Gaara used his sand and Naruto used his lightning shunshin.

"Both fighters ready?" – Hayate asked and they both nodded.