Chapter 7, A bloody scene

Hikaru had performed well in the other exams. Top of his class in the physical part and he knew he was good at the theory. Despite all that he was concerned ahead of the final exam, the taijutsu.

He knew that this was the one they placed as the most important and he had to perform a lot better than any of his classmates could, just to graduate.

As Hikaru was standing in the line there were plenty of surprises. He wasn't surprised that his friends made it though of course but the fact that only 8 people graduated before him was a shock. If they had such a hard time then his plan would have to succeed, or he'll be kept behind for a year for sure.

It was finally time. He walked in through the door, meeting Mirai as she was coming out with her headband. When he got in front of his three judges he looked at Guy-sensei who gave him a massive thumbs up, which Hikaru returned to show that the plan was on. Now it was time for Hikaru to take his position and start performing.

He wouldn't be fighting the wooden pole they had set up for him, he will try to open the first gate for the first time. These last few years have been spent trying to prepare his body for the insane amounts of tearing which might occur during these moments.

He started building up the chakra inside him. He could feel the gate he was going to open and since it had never been opened before it put up plenty of resistance. Hikaru though, wasn't close to done with his attempt.

For a few minutes he kept building more and more pressure in his body. All of his chakra nodes were feeling this and he could feel that the gate was soon to be opened. Seeing this, Guy was overjoyed while Iruka was getting more and more worried. He understood that if this opening went wrong, with Hikaru's condition, he'd never be able to use chakra in any shape or form again. And that's when it happened.

Hikaru made one last push with all he's got and the gate opened. The pressure on the chakra nodes were now at the extreme and suddenly all 361 nodes just made an audible *pop* and then, there was only pain.

Excruciating pain in all parts of his body. Hikaru couldn't stop himself, even if he tried, from screaming. This was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He could see the chakra escape his body but his it felt as if someone was ripping his skin from his body, over and over, every second.

Hikaru felt like this went on forever, probably hours. Then suddenly it was over, everything was black and for a second, he felt nothing. Sweet, beautiful nothing.

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Mirai and the others had burst through the door only to see Hikaru bleeding for all over his body and with chakra flowing out in massive volumes. 'What has happened? What did he do? What did they tell him to do?!' Was all she had time to think of before Hikaru collapsed on the floor and she ran up to him only to be stopped by Iruka-sensei.

"I'll take him from here." Iruka said and a second later he was gone. It's incredible how fast real ninjas are.

The four brand-new genins ran up to Might Guy to question him. Tsukune first went "What have you been teaching him?! What was that?" before he could answer Mibuna added "Is he okay? Was that supposed to happen? Is he at the hospital?". Once more just before he had time to answer Mirai asked the last questions "Did he make it? Is he a genin now?"

Guy was of course ready for all of these questions. He had prepared for this in case Hikaru turned out like this. It seemed a bit more painful than he had hoped it would be but Hikaru did it, he opened the gate for the first time in front of his teachers! They couldn't fail him after that! "Tell you what, you roll my wheelchair to the hospital and I'll answer all questions on the way."

Mirai instantly ran behind Might Guy and started pushing his wheelchair out of the academy. He was asked all sorts of questions along the way and explained their plan to open the gate in order to both graduate and hopefully open his chakra nodes at the same time.

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Sakura was having a very calm day. Many high ranked missions had just been started and no one had come back yet so there was almost no one for her to treat and that was when the door to the hospital burst open.

Iruka-sensei was carrying a child in his arms with blood pouring out from top to toe. "I need help RIGHT NOW!" Iruka yelled and Sakura burst into action. She opened the door to an empty room. "In here Iruka-sensei!" and then she yelled out loudly "Now I want some pills against blood loss and a nurse to help me clean this kid up!"

Once Iruka had carried Hikaru inside and placed him on the bed, a nurse started cleaning him while Sakura was closing up the wounds. "What happened Iruka-sensei?" Sakura didn't take her eyes off the job as Iruka explained.

"He opened the first gate, he was Guy's new apprentice. He's always been unable to get chakra out of his body but it seems like there was just something blocking it." Sakura took a closer look and yes, it looked like he exploded all of his nodes open with the holes he had around his body.

Sakura yelled out to the hall "Someone call for a Hyuuga to help out. Hinata should be close by, get her here now." The pills for blood loss arrived and even though she hadn't closed all wounds and he was still leaking much blood, he had to start producing more. Sakura crushed the pill and connected him to a drip with the solved pill inside the liquid.

Once she had closed most of the holes Hinata arrived and saw who it was laying there. She remembered what she had told him and Guy but it seems they didn't heed her warning. Sakura looked up and saw that Hinata activated her byakugan.

"How's his chakra flow? Are the nodes too damaged or is it recoverable?" Hinata looked chocked but the sides of her mouth were slowly rising. "Stop the bleeding and he'll be able to recover from this."

"It seems luck was on his side this time. I can stop the chakra from exiting how body for the moment so it can focus on his recovery, but he'll be able to control it on his own later on." Sakura nodded and Hinata began closing the nodes.

Hearing this Iruka felt tears running down his cheeks. He had seen Hikaru training with Guy and knew of his struggles. He had pretended not to see that Hikaru showed up some days covered in bruises and the occasional wound and/or broken bone.

Hearing that he could use ninjutsu in the future, even though he was already very talented in taijutsu, made sure that this little student's potential was incredibly large. He could reach his goal of a new clan if he kept up! Iruka was completely in his own mind while Sakura still worked on closing the last few holes.

Finally it was done, and that was when what Sakura assumed was the boy's friends showed up with Might Guy. Hikaru was still bloody but they saw that it was no longer pouring out. All five of them looked at Sakura with anticipation. She smiled and said calmly "He'll be fine. He lost most of his blood and will have to remain here for quite a while because of the damaged nodes but he'll recover."

It was at this time Iruka brought something out of his pocket. "In fact, when he's recovered, he'll even be joining you all as genins." Iruka showed them a green headband with the sign of Konohagakure on it and tied it around Hikaru's left arm.

The first step towards his goal was completed and he couldn't even celebrate it.