AN: Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, I updated this soon (at least for me). This chapter is short, but is serves as a interlude for the next couple of chapters.

To answer some reviews:

devilzxknight86: yep! Benkei took advantage over Naruto's shadow clones to help him to speed up his training. But more than speed up, was like a catch up with everything that Naruto failed to grasp during his Academy Days (a.k.a as biased teachers with a collective sabotage mission against our blond hero.)

c im am a dragon: Believe me, better things are yet to come.

war12345: Here is more for you.

Caelen12: Thanks.

wacko12: Thanks, and I think that the title of the story is self explanatory, but wind will not be his only skill in his arsenal.

note: This chapter is unbetaed.


4th Wind: Gale


(The present)

After Sabaku no Kankuro suspiciously forfeited his match against Shino, and after Shikamaru pretty much owned Sabaku no Temari in his long (and in Naruto's opinion, totally boring) match just to forfeit as well, the crowd was ready for blood when Sabaku no Gaara, jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku, Susa Shunshin himself to the arena. Naruto was completely sure that, if he was the one being late, he would have been disqualified on the spot, but this is The Uchiha that we are talking about, thought Naruto bitterly.

And just for the sole purpose of making an entrance Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke appeared in front of the waiting Sunanin just in time.


Giving his half assed excuse, Kakashi flashed away to the spectators' stands where the jounin-senseis stood.

The genins didn't waste time and started right away, with the proctors shunshin-escape as cue.

Sasuke, wanting the upper hand, launched a frontal assault of shuriken, that were met by a raising wall of sand, but that wasn't his purpose. Not waiting for a retaliation, the Uchiha changed his charge to the left, this time with a Great Fireball Jutsu, which was meet with a wall of sand, again.

Suddenly, the Uchiha appeared at Gaaras left, in the opposite direction, and threw a batch of kunais. When the sand reacted in Gaara's defense, a sudden explosion engulfed the area, dispersing the sand all way through the arena. And, like before, Sasuke appeared right in front of Gaara, midway of a upper kid. The redhead eyes widened for a second by the surprised proximity and couldn't react to the kid that connected at the side of his neck.

A loud sickening crack was heard through the stadium, telling about a really dangerous set of bones breaking, surprising the spectors. Bu8t none of them were as surprised as Sasuke himself when, a second later, the stunned Gaara crumbled in a pile of hollowed sand.


"So, he he took me seriously, after all." Murmured, calling the attention of the others in the stand, but he paid them no mind while still focussing on the battle below. "This is already over. Sorry Sasuke, but you wasted your opportunity." The blond finished in his thoughts, while preparing himself to go over there and find out which answer between he and his fellow Container was right.


Before Sasuke could land on the floor, sand raised from the ground at a tremendous speed, enclosing of the Uchiha, while Gaara emerged from the ground like his was made of earth and sand themselves.

"You are too weak." Said the monotone and psycho voice of the Sunanin, before raising his hand, ready to crush his caught pray with his signature move. Sadly, he was about to be denied, because as soon as his open palm closed, the sound of crushing wood could be heard.

It seems that the Konoha genin was demonstrating why he was the rookie of the year. The crowd was cheering loudly for the Uchiha, excited for the amazing display of skill that the fighters were showing. Gaara saw himself in the middle of incoming kunais and shurikens with explosive tags attached to them. Like before, the sand came in his defense, protecting the redhead from the heat, the shockwave and the metal that seemed to swallow him whole.

And before the sand could fell down back to the earth, the chirping sound of thousand of birds was heard through the station.


"Kakashi, you taught your student a A-Class Assassination technique?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"Ma ma, Kurenai. You should know that I didn't do it lightly. Sasuke had demonstrated that he was ready for it. And it is obvious that he would need it in this battles. Still, he could have used in a better way."

Sakura, who wasn't far ahead seated with Ino and Kiba, had listened the discussion between the jounins, also as Asuma told a bossy Ino how Kakashi-sensei had created the jutsu that Sasuke was displaying at the moment and how their sensei had cut a lighting with it, hence it's name as the Lighting Edge.

It was a sight to behold: Uchiha Sasuke standing vertically on one section of the stadium's walls, with visibly lighting around his bandaged right arm. And Sakura, for a reason, had a flashback about something that her other teammate told her a month prior.


(Flashback)

"It is not like that Sakura-chan." Her raised eyebrow clearly said how much she believed his statement. "It is that Kakashi-sensei disappeared to train Sasuke-teme somewhere, and had forgotten about us..."

(End of flashbakc)


Watching his blond teammates display, and her crush's, Haruno Sakura started to realize how weak she was in comparison with her teammates, and was starting to regret her brush off of the only one of them that paid her some attention.


After a paused, that gave the sensation of lasting minutes, Sasuke launched himself from the wall, at speeds that were impossible to follow with normal eyes, with his right arm , sustained by his left though the wrist, covered by the lighting singing a requiem with thousands of birds as one.

Gaara, with his stoic face never wavering, raised his left arm, like it was a sword, while particles of sand floating around the extended arm, in rapid swirling patterns, before lowering said arm in a severing motion in front of him directed at the incoming genin, whispering in his even deep voice the name of his attack.

"Sabaku no Ken"

Sasuke was running so fast that he only noticed with his actived Sharingan the ground opening in a clean cut below his feet. Suddenly, pain exploded from his shoulder while he continued his mad raced against the impenetrable sand that was raising in the redhead's defense.

An it was then that he noticed, to his horror, how the Sharingan registered with painful exactness and precision, how his now severed arm was falling to the floor, lighting dissiping now that its connection with its source was cut.

"AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHA". The Uchiha screamed, before being hit by a wave of sand.


Naruto knew then and there that, if he didn't did nothing, his teammate, no matter how annoying he was, would be dead in the next few seconds. Reacting on instinct, the blond channeled chakra to his feet and launched himself to the arena at the same time that the proctor with a sembom needle on his mouth, called of the match, giving the victory to the Sunanin.

Naruto, for the surprised of Genma, as well as the other ninja, spectors, and other participants, who haven't registered the blonds disappearance yet, reappeared next to the sand- engulfed Sasuke, and pulled him out of it forcefully, throwing him at Genma with one swing, as Gaara retreated the sand that was ready to crush the Uchiha like an insect.

"Next match: Uzumaki Naruto vs Sabaku no Gaara. Hajime!" Before shunshin out the way with the bleeding Uchiha over his shoulder, taking him to the medics for emergency treatment, somehow taking the severed arm with him as well.


Kabuto, hidden among the public, was genuinely surprised by the turn of the events. Remembering the last minute modification of the invasion plans, did a long string of handsings, before slamming his palm on the floor. As cue, a dome of light surrounded the fighting arena, trapping both jinchuurikis in it in one of the most powerful barriers that Orochimaru's wight hand knew of: a Spiritual Ward.

A barrier specifically designed for dealings with jinchuurikis and demon-like beings.

Immediately, taking advantage of the stunned surprise of the people in the stadium, he did another set of hand signs, casting a wide area genjutsu, while the Hokage stand exploded in flames, signalizing the beginning the joint invasion of Hidden Sound and Hidden Sand to the Hidden Leaf.

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An Cut.

How evil I feel, leaving hanging you with such a clif. Anyways, this is the beginning of the the real plot going on. Many of you will notice how things seemed out of place or way too different from the chuunin exam battles. Well, that was the point. Don't worry, any of the discrepancies that you may find will be explained.

By the way, the attack that Gaara used is based on a sand attack from one of the characters in the One Piece anime. Any guess he/she could be and what's the original attack's name?

And yes, Gaara pretty much cut clean form the shoulder Sasuke's arm.

R&R