If things had not changed, the class would have looked much different.
It was normal to find Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki engaging in rough-and-tumble but good natured fighting, more so even than would have occurred in an unaltered timeline. Kiba viewed Naruto as a rival but also a packmate, it was the position within that pack that was something to dispute.
It was normal to find a dark little shy girl around Naruto. She had, for several years, attempted to hide. She had, for several years, been dragged out of hiding by Naruto.
When Naruto got himself stuck in wolf-form, he'd be quietly affectionate. The first time he'd licked her face had resulted in Hinata passed out on the floor.
She still had a tendency to do that unfortunately.
Hinata Hyuga was a little more formidable at her age. That Naruto HAD been affectionate and supportive of what he viewed as a member of his own pack, though of nakama and not blood, had produced results. She hid in her clothing a little less, stepped up to the edge of crowds instead of distancing herself from them, spoke up a little more, and had a tendency to hug the wolf-pup and enjoy the benefits of fur therapy.
Naruto was still mostly avoided/shunned by the village. One exception being the Inuzuka clan who held him at a little less distance, mostly. The other exceptions being individuals like Hinata, the Third Hokage, the people at Ichiraku's, and Iruka Umino.
There were, however, other considerations.
The three ninja stood atop a building and looked towards Konoha's ninja academy. They had quickly found and disabled the little security they encountered, not knowing that their passage had been cleared by a group within Konoha.
ROOT had prepared that path because their leader hoped to destroy the reputation of a certain individual. Alone and friendless he would be easy to break down and rebuild as a weapon in their own arsenal.
The three ninja though were Kumogakure ninja.
"The brat is there in class?" asked the leader, Gotan.
"Yes," said the information specialist Bokru. "They'll be letting out for the day in a few minutes."
"We'll strike then," said Gotan. "Funaho?"
"Ready," said Funaho, holding up three poison-gas bombs.
"Stick to the plan, as soon as the target shows up," said Gotan. "If we can take her alive, she'll be a breeder. If we can't, we get her eyes. Konoha will lose this crop of ninjas one way or another."
"There," said Bokru as children began leaving the building.
"Dokukiri Jutsu!" called out Funaho, tossing her poison-gas bombs and going through the quick set of hand-seals for her jutsu. Air movement slowed around the perimeter, containing the gas to make thick walls where it could have its maximum effect around a clear area which could serve as the killing field.
"Striking Hawk," said Gotan, launching himself and drawing his twin shortswords.
"Scrambling Signals," said Bokru, sending out his own jutsu to confuse monitoring devices.
Gotan smiled as he landed, his swords poised. This was a moment to be savored as the little kids scattered and he prepared to slaughter.
There was one kid, laughable really, who immediately got between his cringing target and himself. No problem.
Naruto saw the ninjas coming forward and moved in front of his friend. He saw Kiba move to the side, he saw...
Sasuke go running off?!
"Get away boy, I won't kill your girlfriend there," said the big ninja. "Unless you make me kill her."
"No," said Naruto, practically growling. It was a full moon tonight, but what could he do? There were THREE of them and they were adult ninja.
"Your funeral, and hers," said the nin, surrounding his blades with fire as he leapt forward.
B-dumf went something in Naruto as he tried to block, only to be knocked aside with a slash that cut his arm and continued on to slice open part of his chest.
It seemed as if everything was slowing down and getting dark.
B-dumf
The big guy was moving towards Hinata who was scrambling back.
B-dumf, B-dumf.
He was bleeding to death, while the only one to really offer to be his friend was about to die.
B-dumf, B-dumf, B-dumf
HELL NO!
Hinata edged backwards as far as she could, aware of the others coughing or looking for help, aware of her only friend going down in a spray of blood.
"grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
Her eyes flicked involuntarily towards Naruto. She had expected to see him turning into that cute little doggie she could hug and bury her face in his fur without anyone thinking it was at all strange.
This wasn't that cute little dog.
Naruto stood, his wounds closing as she watched, his body changing. Fur covered it, the dog's head looking odd and shifting around on a thick neck. Muscles moved around and his body thickened and grew, shredding his clothing into little scraps of orange and blue.
He's going to need new clothes, realized Hinata, who then glanced back at the Kumo nin.
That ninja had startled at the transformation but was simply ready to use both swords to kill the obstacle.
Hinata blinked as she realized that this was HER chance. The attacker wasn't even looking at her. She could flee and hide. Her eyebrows lowered. No. I will not abandon Naruto-kun.
"Byakugan. Jyuuken! Hakke Sanjuuni Sho!"
She only got sixteen of the strikes in before the attacker was under attack from Naruto.
Sakura could hardly believe her eyes. Hinata, quiet little girl who tended to be off by herself, had managed to get up under all this killing intent and strike at the attacker who had almost three feet in height over her. More than that, she'd obviously staggered the attacker.
Then Naruto, the clown who occasionally showed up as a dog, CHANGED.
He was now at least two feet taller than he had been. He was fur covered, with his arms being longer than they had been. Long enough that he could run on all fours. Tipped with long claws. His head was a wolf's head, though thicker in the muzzle, and the neck was thick and covered in a thick ruff of fur.
What he had done was leap upon the distracted ninja and teeth bit deeply into the juncture of neck and shoulder, then ripped away. Clawed hands grabbed and sliced.
Sakura was quite aware of the noise too. Growls and snarls along with the anguished screams of the ninja who had attacked them.
Then the lead attacker ninja was scrambling away, with the wolf-man guard in front of Hinata, looking every inch the barely controlled menace.
One of the other two ninja swore an obscenity and the two bolted, but now the ANBU and teachers were arriving.
Several of those looked askance at the wolf-boy.
"CUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEE!" Ka-GLOMP!
The embarassed-looking wolf-boy who had Hinata wrapped around him in a death-glomp.
Sakura's head cocked to the side as she edited out the carnage, sagging to the ground in relief at the event being over. She realized that Hinata was doing that to protect the boy who'd protected her. That was obvious, right?
Though he WOULD BE kind of cute in a ninja engine-of-destruction sort of way, if he wasn't for the bloodstains and such.
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(Posted Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:07)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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