Preliminary Round!

Naruto for the last four days stayed out of sight of every ninja present at the Tower of which most of his time was spent in his room meditating to calm himself. In just a single day inside the forest, his life was changed. Meeting with the Old White Tiger had opened a new realm of jutsus for Naruto to get acquainted with and add to his arsenal in his near future. Though he never expected to come across tigers who were part of the Tiger Clan of the summon realms just out of the blue.

Unexpected or expected, to Naruto acquiring the right to summon members of the Tiger Clan was one of the greatest treasures he had received in his young life. Acquiring a summoning contract was one of the toughest tasks in the Shinobi World as only a few shinobis throughout the world held the contracts and were mostly passed down family line or to the ninja's apprentice. Also acquiring the contracts not only gave you the right to summon the animals to your aide, but it also allowed one to learn some of the summon clan's unique abilities. It really made him want to try out the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) at this moment, but as he promised to the Old White Tiger, he would wait till the break in the Exams.

Also there was the matter of Orochimaru on his mind. To learn that he was here at Konoha made him feel a bit antsy… for the past six months he had at least come across a dozen of Oto-nins who had come to him with a proposal to join Orochimaru. He had been able to easily avoid them or a couple or so times had taken them down seeing that they were not living his tail even after his refusal. It was the last ninja from Oto that he had come across had made it clear how much serious was Orochimaru in making him join him. The person was Kimimaro, one of Orochimaru's elite. Apparently Orochimaru wanted him for something big he had planned for Konoha and it was only because of what seemed like a diseases infecting Kimimaro in middle of their fight gave Naruto the perfect opportunity to strike him down and escape after hearing of the Sound Four being close by… he had no intention of letting Orochimaru know his true capability and secrets and so had toned down in his encounter with Kimimaro. It was one of the reasons that he had joined the Chuunin Selection Exam.

For the time he moved out of his room, he mostly stayed in the shadows as he had no interests of alleviating the tension between him and Gaara. Gaara and his siblings had arrived at the tower in less than two hours as per his information and when he had come across the red head, it was clear that his urge to kill someone was clear as sunlight with a clear summer sky. Seriously he had to wonder as to what was holding him back from hurting someone.

As for his information network, his Fūton Kage Bunshins had gathered a good amount of data on all the participating teams. Information on which of the teams had passed the exams to the skills they used, thus giving him an estimate of the possible skills of the teams who were left in the exams. This certainly would prove favorable to him.

Currently he was standing alongside the 8 teams that had passed the second test. Those eight teams consisted of five teams from Konoha and one from Suna, Oto and Iwa each. In front of them stood the Sandaime Hokage along with the Yondaime Hokage to his right and his students – Senju Tsunade and Jiraiya to his left and Uzumaki Kushina to the right of the Yondaime. They were accompanied by the proctors of the exams in the front row while the second row was occupied by the jounin-sensei of the teams that passed the second round.

"Congratulations on passing!" Anko's voice could be heard through the speakers.

With the proctors, jounins and kages…

'Hehe… Among the 91 participants, for 25 to get this far… I said I'd cut them in half, but I was expecting single digits…' thought Anko as she eyed the teams. She certainly was impressed.

"Good, your team passed too Kakashi…" Gai spoke as he kept his eyes fixed on the contestants "… they are good. But as long as my team is around, getting any further is impossible. Since from now on it's all about real ability and I am certain that my team is more skilled than yours…" his eyes then shifted towards Kakashi "… Well, with youth there are sweet times and there are sour times, eh Kakashi…"

"Huh? You say something, Gai?" asked Kakashi with a look that clearly said that he didn't hear a thing.

'Heh… Not bad, my rival Kakashi… You're cool in that way and it really gets on my nerve…' thought Gai as he looked away from Kakashi and cursed the masked-jounins hip attitude.

'Gaara is unscathed… of course… but for Naruto to be here… I hope Gaara stays to the orders passed on by Kazekage-sama…' thought Baki as he eyed his team and Naruto.

'Akamaru is strange…' Kurenai Yuuhi thought as she watched the small white dog shaking a bit as he was hiding in the jacket of Inuzuka Kiba.

'At least the three put their differences aside and passed this test… after all it is important for both the future of Konoha and Iwa' thought the Iwa-jounin as he looked at his team with a proud look.

Meanwhile the Oto-jounin had his eyes fixed on genins which were not his own, them being Uchiha Sasuke, Yakushi Kabuto and Naruto.

'For this many to make it this far and most of them being rookies…' thought Sandaime Hokage as his eyes travelled through all the genins that had passed.

"… No wonder they all nominated them…" Sandaime spoke the next words out loud enough for the people standing next to him to hear as looked at the jounins behind him.

"True enough", said the Yondaime Hokage as too shared the same thought as the Sandaime.

"It makes me remember the time when Minato took the exams… he too passed the exams on his first time", said Jiraiya as he remembered those days.

"And it certainly seems likes that some of the rookies here are going to accomplish what Minato did at the Chuunin Exams…" commented Tsunade as she eyed a few of the rookie genins.

All this while Kushina just stayed silent as she just had her eyes out for three genins out of the lot, one being her daughter Ran and the other being the one she considered as important as her daughter – Hinata and last was the ronin Naruto who she was certain was her son.

"HOKAGE-SAMA WILL NOW EXPLAIN THE THIRD TEST! LISTEN CAREFULLY!" Anko shouted through the microphone for all present to hear.

With Naruto…

For years Naruto had wondered why there existed something like the Chuunin Exams in which Konoha and its allied nations would bring their genins together and compete. What was the true purpose of the Exams? That question had always plagued his mind since he heard of the existence of the Exams. It was clear that the old man knew the reason, but he never shared it with him. But today everything had been clear when the Yondaime Hokage spoke as he clarified the true reasons of the exams (the same speech as the Sandaime Hokage). Such a brilliant way of avoiding wars, Sandaime Hokage truly deserved the title of The Professor.

It did come to him as a surprise when the proctor of the third round made his appearance and mentioned that there was going to be a preliminary right here, right now. The reason given of the sudden round was sound, but he had to wonder whether the proctor was ready to take the exams. He looked seriously ill.

When the option of quitting was given, only one of the 25 present took it. The one to quit was Yakushi Kabuto, which didn't come as a surprise to Naruto as he from the beginning had felt that there was something clearly going on with him. It seemed that even the proctors shared his view point.

Then there was the case where he saw the Uchiha's pink-haired teammate ask him to quit in concerns with the curse mark, which the Uchiha declined. But when she tried to open her mouth to tell the proctors, he shot her down by his words weaving a tale of him being an avenger and wanting to face strong people. Seriously that Uchiha was too much of a stuck-up to not see his condition.

Finally the preliminaries had started and now he stood on the balcony like upper level as he watched the first match going underway. Uchiha Sasuke versus Akadō Yoroi. From the get-go the match was one-sided with Yoroi dominating the fight. The jutsu which Yoroi was using seemed to be draining Uchiha's chakra and without use of chakra, the Uchiha's movements were very restricted. The Uchiha was forced on the defensive. It was only after a sarcastic comment by his blonde teammate which she shouted out for all to hear did the Uchiha go on the offensive. The taijutsu maneuver that the Uchiha pulled off next ended the match in a couple of hits, but it was also clear that was an on-the-go thought up move since his body didn't seem to take the strain of the move. Also judging by the reactions of the green-jumpsuit genin-jounin duo, there was more to the move than met the eye. But the plus point of the match was the ability the Uchiha showed by suppressing the curse seal which had activated in middle of the taijutsu maneuver. As soon as the match was over, the Uchiha was taken away by Hatake Kakashi, who seemed to be the Uchiha's team's jounin-sensei to seal away the curse mark.

Next was the fight between Aburame Shino versus Zaku Abumi. Just like the previous match, this too was completely one-sided. Though unlike the first match, the one having the disadvantage pulled no miraculous victory as even Zaku's act of being handicapped by one arm proved worthless as Shino was always a step ahead of him. It was complete strategic victory on part of Shino. He had previously heard about Konoha's Aburame clan, but finally to see one in action was completely different, it was a bit creepy.

The next fight was one that Naruto was looking forward to, or to be exact to see how far one of the fighters had come in term of skills. It was Kankurou versus Tsurugi Misumi. Unfortunately Kankurou's opponent wasn't able to differentiate between Kankurou and his puppet and that turned out to be his loss. Though Misumi's Nan no Kaizō (Soft Physique Modification) jutsu did intrigue him.

It was during this match, he saw Kakashi return to the arena without the Uchiha. It seemed that whatever seal Kakashi might have used to seal away the curse mark must have rendered the Uchiha incapacitated. It was also during the disappearance of Kakashi and the Uchiha; he had seen the Oto-jounin also take his leave.

The next pair-up by was the most interesting as the electronic board paired the granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage – Kurotsuchi and the student of the famed Copy-nin Kakashi – Haruno Sakura.

With everyone…

'This isn't going to be good…' thought Kakashi as he saw that one of his students was paired with an Iwa-genin which happened to be the granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage. If it were either Sasuke or Ran, he knew that it would be a match to watch, but he couldn't say the same for Sakura. He just hoped that the girl had taken her training seriously and learned a couple of things from the scroll he had handed to her.

'I hope you take her seriously Kurotsuchi… Even though that girl doesn't seem much, but she is the student of Hatake Kakashi…' thought the Iwa-jounin as he watched Kurotsuchi and Sakura stare at each other.

Those two were not the only ones eagerly waiting for this match to start as almost all present had their eyes on this match as everyone wanted to see the true caliber of the granddaughter of Ōnoki.

Even though on the outside Sakura looked completely calm, but on the inside she was a bit afraid of the girl standing in front of her. The way the Iwa-kunoichi carried herself screamed of her confidence in herself and her skills and being the intelligent one, she was certain that the Iwa-kunoichi would be skilled seeing that she was the member of the only team from Iwagakure no Sato to participate in the exams. But she held onto a faced of the calm on the outside as a victory here would solidify her path towards the heart of Sasuke-kun and she will also show Ino that she was no pushover.

Meanwhile Kurotsuchi eyed her opponent with a calculating gaze. She could already tell that the pink haired girl had no such skills that she had to worry about and was a fan girl to boot, but also knew that it was not good to judge her by her appearance since the pink haired girl was the student of the legendary Copy-nin Kakashi. She decided to hold her judgment on pinky after initial confrontation.

"BEGIN!" Gekkō Hayate called out loud to start the fourth match.

Sakura was the first to make her move as she charged at Kurotsuchi. While charging at the Iwa-kunoichi, her hands weaved through a set of seals for one of the most basic jutsus.

'Bunshin no Jutsu…! What is she planning?' Kurotsuchi wondered as she saw the pinky weave through hand seals and producing two clones that charged at her along with the original. She stood her ground as she watched the pinky and clones steadily approaching her trying to figure out the girl's plan as using something as basic as the clone technique wasn't going to work against her. She didn't have to wait long as she watched the pinky form the Ram hand seal and focus her chakra on the sole of her feet.

'All chakra to the feet…' thought Sakura as she formed the Ram hand seal to focus her chakra to the sole of her feet as Kakashi-sensei had taught them during the tree climbing exercise.

'And explode of the ground' Sakura thought as she felt her chakra focused at the sole of the feet which she used to greatly increase her speed as she charged at the Iwa-kunoichi.

With the spectators…

Kakashi was quite surprised by the maneuver Sakura pulled as it showed that she too had potential of thinking quickly on her feet. Also it reinforced his belief that she had perfect chakra control.

'Beautiful movement, Sakura-san…' thought Rock Lee with awed look as Sakura's fist connected with the Iwa-kunoichi's face.

'Fast' thought Ino as she saw her long time rival execute the taijutsu maneuver. She had to hand it to the girl as she had grown strong in the past years, especially since the teams were formed.

But the joy of everyone who supported Sakura didn't last long as they watched that the Iwa-kunoichi that had stumbled back by the punch turned into a block of wood.

Back with Sakura and Kurotsuchi…

"Wha…?" Sakura said completely surprised that the one she punched happened to be a block of wood.

Sakura didn't have much time to think on some new strategy as a very powerful punch was delivered to her guts making her cough out some blood as she kneeled on the ground holding her stomach.

"What did you think that only you were capable of outsmarting your opponent by a basic ninjutsu?" asked Kurotsuchi as she stood a few steps away from the kneeling figure of Sakura. She was thoroughly disappointed in the girl as the girl was bowled down by a single punch which showed lack of physical training.

"Quit now if that was the best you could do…" said Kurotsuchi to the pinky.

Somehow Sakura got up despite the pain she was feeling through the punch. This was not the time for her to give up even after she knew that she had no other useful skills to go against the Iwa-kunoichi. She cursed herself for neither taking her physical training seriously nor trying to learn any of the jutsus from the scroll that Kakashi-sensei had given her as she instead spend her time trying to vow or follow Sasuke-kun. With the will to not loose here, she charged at her opponent and engaged her in a close quarter combat.

With the spectators…

It had been a couple of minutes since Sakura engaged Kurotsuchi in close quarter combats and it was evidently clear that Kurotsuchi was way better than Sakura. Be it taijutsu or use of weapons, Kurotsuchi outclassed Sakura in all expects as Sakura was unable to land a single hit on Kurotsuchi, while the superiority of Kurotsuchi could be seen with the bruises all over Sakura's body.

'It is clear that Sakura skills have grown from the time she became a genin, but they seem to be no match to the granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage…' thought Kakashi as he watched his student being completely dominated in the fight against a superior opponent.

'Sakura-san is good… but her opponent seems to be far away from her reach…' thought Lee as he looked at the one-sided match.

'Sakura…' thought Ino as she looked worried at the fate of her another friend whom she had deserted because of Sasuke.

'Troublesome… Sakura never stood a chance against that Iwa-kunoichi…' thought Shikamaru with a bored look.

'Ran did report me that Kakashi was not at all acting like a jounin-sensei should as he always kept busy himself with reading his books or slacking off… I brushed of her comments thinking he gave more focus on the other two seeing we were there to teach Ran… but seeing Sakura now… I need to have a word with Kakashi…' thought Minato as he watched the fight.

'Is she truly the student of the Copy-nin Kakashi…?' thought the Iwa-jounin.

With Kurotsuchi…

Kurotsuchi was getting frustrated with the girl she was fighting. The pinky was a stain to the name of kunoichis who stood in toe-to-toe with their male counterparts in her opinion. Even after being the student of the famed Copy-nin, the girl had no notable skill to boot… heck, the pinky's skills were not even close to that of a genin, even pinky's taijutsu skills could not be considered on par with an average genin. She had enough and with one powerful punch to the pinky's face, which knocked the daylight of the pinky causing a frown to appear on her face as she was declared the winner. She just wished that the next time she had to fight it better be someone with skills or she was certain that she would go berserk.

'What did I deserve to get a weak opponent…' she though with a frown on her face as she made her way towards the balcony to join her team as the pinky's jounin-sensei took the pinky to the side of the balcony they were on. After all she hadn't hurt her to the extent that she needed medical attention as she thought that the girl was not worth her time and skills.

With Naruto…

If he thought that the first three matches were not much to watch or one-sided, he just had no words for the match between Kurotsuchi and Sakura. The pink haired Konoha-kunoichi stood no chance against the black haired Iwa-kunoichi.

'Seriously, didn't she learn a single thing from the Copy-nin?' wondered Naruto as he watched the masked jounin carry away his student.

The next match between Kin Tsuchi and Nara Shikamaru was the most laziest yet strategic match he had seen after the match of the Aburame. With the use of the surroundings, he watched the Nara score a simple yet a very clever victory even after being at the disadvantage of his enemy already knowing his jutsu. Looking around he found that it was not just him, but almost all jounins, proctors, Kages and some genins also seemed impressed by the victory.

The next match pitted Temari against Tenten, a match he certainly was eager to see. Unlike couple of rookie Konoha-kunoichis in this round of whom he seriously doubted had the skills to be here, he knew the bun haired girl had skills and as he had thought, Tenten had skills. But unfortunately for Tenten, Temari was the worst opponent she could have gotten as the Fūton jutsus that Temari wielded through her giant folding fan completely negated all of Tenten's weapon skills. It was the worst matchup. The match ended with Temari using the fan to trap Tenten in a cyclone and propel her into the air with the help of the Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Sickle Weasel Technique). He watched with a small scowl on his face as he watched Temari made sure to land Tenten on her closed fan rendering the bun haired girl unconscious.

He had come to know Temari well enough in his time he had spent at Sunagakure and had been one of the few who had seen past her cruel side. Temari had a caring side to her which he was certain that something that only he could boast about that he was the only one to see it. To almost everyone she was the personification of cruelest of kunoichis. But seeing Temari acting in such a cruel manner during this exam where there was so much at stake did make him wonder as to what she was up to.

The confrontation that happened between the Konoha-genin wearing green jumpsuit and Temari after Temari threw Tenten off of the fan in an attempt to have her land on the many weapons on the ground. He seriously wanted to step down there, especially when Lee charged at Temari, but didn't as his mind told him that something bug was going on for Temari to act in a such a way. He knew that Temari held people with skills in high regards and even though the match was one-sided, Tenten had shown some impressive skills.

'What is going on?' he couldn't help but wonder.

With Temari…

She didn't like what she had tried to do with her opponent, but she knew it was a necessary action. She along with her siblings were here to make a point before the big plan took place and for that she had too show the cruel side of her. She just wished that her opponent had been that pink haired Konoha-kunoichi instead of the bun haired girl she faced as she wouldn't have minded doing the same action with the pinky. The pinky in her eyes was a disgrace to the name of kunoichis all around. It was this reason that it was a bit harder for her to be cruel to the bun haired girl that showed skills and talent, something she respected.

As she made her way to join her team on the balcony stand, her dark green eyes met bright blue eyes for a glimpse of a second. She would have been content in seeing either anger or disappointment in those blue eyes for what she did; at least she knew in her mind that what she did was necessary action for the stand of her village. Also she knew that there was no way that she would see pride or happiness in those eyes after the stunt she pulled as even as short they had known each other, she knew that he never approved of hurting others without a rational reason. So one could easily tell how surprised she was when she saw the neutral look in his eyes, those blue orbs held no warmth or cold and not a single hint of emotion.

With the spectators…

The next match decided by the electronic board pitted Suzumebachi against Hyuuga Hinata.

"If I am not mistaken, isn't that Suzumebachi girl of the Kamizuru clan of Iwagakure?" asked Jiraya to the people standing next to him.

"Yes", replied the Sandaime.

"This doesn't look good for Hinata… If I am not mistaken some of the secret techniques of the Kamizuru clan are very effective against close combat practitioners", said Jiraya with a small bit of worry for his goddaughter's best friend.

"Yes they are… but you don't need to worry about Hinata as while training alongside Ran she developed some jutsus with the help of the gentle fist completely unique to her", replied Tsunade which caught curiosity of both the Sandaime and Jiraya.

"Just wait and watch Jiraya… wait and watch…" added Kushina with a small smirk gracing her lips as she was confident in Hinata's skills.

Meanwhile Kurenai watched her student with a bit of concern as she just learned from Kakashi of the opponent she was going to face. As most who knew Hinata, she too was confident in her student's skills, but learning that her opponent had ability similar to another one of her student and specialized in long range combat, she couldn't help but be concerned as Hinata specialized in close range combat.

"Don't worry Kurenai-sensei, Hinata will definitely win this", Ran said to Kurenai as she saw the small look of concern of Kurenai's face. Whatever the situation, she was going to stand by her best friend side no matter what.

"Indeed", Kurenai replied with confidence.

'It is time for you to show the world that you are no pushover, Hinata' was the same thought that ran through Ran and Kurenai's mind.

As this match was called to begin by Hayate, a lot of eyes were fixed on the result of the match. Most present eyes were focused on the Hyuuga heiress and see her skills as a few of them cheered for her. One Hyuuga Neji looked down at the match with a small scowl on his face as he watched the fight about to go underway.

With Hinata and Suzumebachi…

"Begin", Hayate called out.

The moment Hayate called out for the match to begin, Hinata hands quickly flipped through some seals as she activated the Byakugan and slid into the basic Jūkenstance.

As for Suzumebachi, the moment she saw her opponent activate those eyes and slid into a unique taijutsu stance, a small smirk spread on her lips as she was now certain of her victory.

"Give up girlie, you are no match for me", said Suzumebachi with a haughty tone.

"That I won't know until we try…" said Hinata in a confident voice as she charged at her opponent.

Suzumebachi was completely caught off guard at the sudden charge by the dark-blue haired girl. She knew that her clan's jutsus were one which were the most potent against shinobis who relied on close range combat and thus it was a well known fact that the Hyuuga clan which highly relied on the Jūken and closed quarters fighting were easy targets for them. But now facing a Hyuuga did she finally understand that why it was always encouraged that it was never wise to engage a Hyuuga in a close quarter fight. She was hard pressed to dodge the fast and lethal strikes of the girl who somehow was able to twist and turn at surprising speeds showing that she had great flexibility. All the while she tried to dodge the girl and regain some distance from her; the girl had managed to hit her with some of her palm strikes. Though none of her strikes were lethal as they were just small taps on her body and didn't hit any vital organ, the pain where the girl had struck was unbearable.

"Why you…?" growled Suzumebachi in a bit of pain as she was finally able to acquire some distance from her opponent.

"Remember this… I may not be the strongest among the genins present here… but I won't give up without a fight…" declared Hinata loud enough for all to hear.

With the spectators…

Kurenai couldn't help as a small smile full of pride appeared on her face as she watched the shy princess stand for herself with confidence. Hinata had come a long way in her eyes since the day she was in charge of looking after her from the time of the academy. She knew that it was only through the help of Kushina-sama, Tsunade-sama and Ran that she was able to see the Hinata currently fighting.

"That's the way Hinata! Show them how awesome you are!" shouted Ran as she channeled her mother.

"Whoa! Was Hinata ever that cool!" said a surprised Ino as she remembered the shy, timid and soft-spoken Hinata from the academy days and even before that.

"Hohoho… That is some declaration… but can she back it up…" said Jiraya as he saw the colony of bees that now surrounded Suzumebachi.

With Hinata and Suzumebachi…

"Brave words, but can you back them up", Suzumebachi said in a challenging tone as her hand weaved through a set of seals.

"Hachimitsu no Jutsu (Bee Honey Technique)" Suzumebachi called out as she finished weaving through the seals and held her hand outwards in the direction of Hinata. From her sleeves were released a countless numbers of bees that made a beeline to attack Hinata.

"Bees!" said a surprised Hinata as she quickly removed a kunai from her pouch and defended herself against the bees as she was uncertain as to how the Jūken would fair against the bees. She completely missed the small smirk that graced the face of Suzumebachi as she removed the kunai.

Hinata finally realized her mistakes of using her kunai to cut up the bees heading her way. First was that there was a numerous amount of bees for her to target and secondly being that each time she cut up a few of the bees, they would turn into sticky nectar which was falling on her and slowly restricted her movements.

"No…" Hinata muttered as her movements were restricted by the sticky nectar.

"So you finally noticed… that the nectar has the same properties as the glue", said Suzumebachi with a haughty tone as she was now certain of her victory.

"Now to end this…" Suzumebachi said with a sly smirk on her face as her hand weaved through a set of another hand seal.

"Hachi Senbon no Jutsu (Thousand Bee Stings Technique)" Suzumebachi called out as another colony of bees were released from her sleeves.

All those bees floated next to Suzumebachi with their stingers pointed out at Hinata and fired their poisonous stingers at the Hyuuga heiress.

Hinata watched with a small bit of dread as those stingers approached her and it was only the worried shouts of her friends that snap her out of her fear and act. She knew that she had just recently started learning that jutsu and chances of it succeeding were minimal, but she also knew that it was the only jutsu that was going to help her out of this predicament. Focusing her chakra through all the chakra points of her body, she used the Jūkenpō Ichigekishin (Gentle Fist Art One Blow Body). Luckily for her the jutsu worked and broke the hold of the sticky nectar on her body and because of that she was able to avoid the stingers at the very last moment.

"Wha…? How…?" shouted Suzumebachi completely surprised seeing that her opponent was not only able the break free of the sticky nectar, but was also able to avoid the stingers.

"I already told you… that… I won't give up without a fight… and know this… that I will give my all to win…" declared Hinata as she was panting a little as the jutsu took a lot out of her.

"Big words", snarled Suzumebachi as she looked at the girl with distaste in her eyes. A lot was riding on her shoulders in this exam as this was a chance for her to improve her standing of her clan in Iwagakure and bring back the honor they had lost during their very disappointing lost against the Aburame. Though before she was sent with the team to attend the Chuunin Exams, she was briefed by the Sandaime Tsuchikage that this was her big chance to show that their clan still hold to its former glory and at the same time was also strictly warned that she should not be acting with the intention of revenge against any Konoha-nin for their clans losses against the Aburame clan, after all this was a way to show that Iwa-Konoha peace talks were going in a right direction. But she couldn't control her anger at her opponent as she easily moved around her attacks and the girl's bold declarations made her feel as if she was mocking her. She was going to show who was the superior here in the fight as a very big colony of bees left her sleeves as they circled around the girl ready to strike at her command… and it only came as a bonus as she was a teammate of a Aburame.

With Naruto…

It had been the most interesting match he had seen so far and it was clear to him and all present that both the girls were skilled than an average genins. It was a match of complete opposites as the Hyuuga clan was famous for their close-range abilities while the Kamizuru clan was famous for their long range abilities. Though with the abilities of the Kamizuru clan, the match at first seemed one sided, but somehow the Hyuuga heiress was able to counter her opponent's bag of tricky jutsus.

He was a captivated by the Hyuuga heiress. It was not the skills of the Hyuuga heiress that captivated him, but it was her fierce determination. The Old Man had always mentioned to him that a person would only go far to achieve his dreams/goals if the person the mental strength and the will to stand to his belief and here in front of him was a girl who stood against an opponent which had clear advantage over her with fierce determination.

But at this moment the Hyuuga heiress seemed to be in a pitch as she was being surrounded by hordes of bees, there seemed no escape. It was the calm and determined expression on her face that clued him that she still had an ace in her sleeves and it seemed he wasn't going to be proven wrong. He watched as the Hyuuga heiress closed her eyes as she formed a half Ram seal with her right hand and stood her ground. He could sense her chakra stirring in action and knew she was going to do something he certainly wouldn't want to miss.

With that in mind he focused his on the Shizen Enerugī (Natural Energy) surrounding him with his eyes closed… it was an ability of his as his body was able to draw in Natural Energy… very similar to the ones who were trained in the art of Senjutsu… but unlike them his body was able to draw in Natural Energy on his instincts and emotions… and it was because of that he had a very peculiar abnormality while growing up. He had trained to control this ability under the guidance of the Old Man seeing he was able to harness Natural Energy to empower his Kekkei Genkai jutsus. Though he was nowhere close to the power of the one trained in the art of Senjutsu and attained what the Old Man termed to be Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode)… he had gained some perks while learning to control his abilities… one of that was his sensory ability as he was able to feel the natural energy around him.

Finally drawing in enough energy to force his sensory ability to its farthest limit where he could not only feel, but see chakra too did he open his eyes. He was certain that if anyone were to look at him they would find his eyes radiating a golden-yellow glow.

He knew pulling such a stunt wasn't the wisest of his decision as he could feel a few eyes turn to him when they saw the change in his eye, but he couldn't stop himself. His gut feeling told him that he was going to witness something new here and he was never to refuse the words of his guts.

...With Hinata…

She knew that it was now or never. All her hard work, days and moths of training her chakra control to finding something that would suit her. Only a few people knew about the jutsu she had developed and they were all here. This was her time to make them proud of her and show that she was not a damsel in distress.

'I know I haven't used that move in actual combat yet, but now I have to use it here' she thought as she closed her eyes to mold her chakra to perform her jutsu.

Her eyes opened with her Byakugan flaring with intense determination.

"Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō (Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!" she called out as her hands moved fast enough to become blur for most of the people in the arena as she chakra created sharp chakra blades.

Counting her natural flexibility she was able to strike most of the bees with sharp chakra needle cutting them in half while those that had approached her were destroyed by the almost invisible dome of chakra formed around her by the sharp chakra blades of her jutsu.

She could easily see the shock of most of the people around, but at this moment she was completely focused on her opponent who to had been shocked at the display and just stood there gaping at how easily her bees were being dispatched.

As soon as she destroyed the threat of the bees surrounding her, she charged at her opponent not giving her the time to regain herself and hit her with Shōtei (Palm Bottom). The strike took instantaneous effect of rendering her opponent unconscious as she had unknowingly put more force behind the strike.

Being declared the winner, she couldn't help as her shy self started to emerge as she was being congratulated by most of her friends for her victory. Amidst those shouts of congratulations, her eyes shifted to the four people whose opinion mattered to her the most. Standing next to the two Hokages the sight of the pride-filled smile on the faces of Namikaze-Uzumaki Kushina and Senju Tsunade made her feel that this was her greatest achievement and that feeling further intensified as she saw the same smile adorning Kurenai-sensei's face and the large grin of Ran's face.

With the spectators…

"That was a very youthful jutsu", commented Gai to his fellow jounins as he truly was awed by the Hyuuga heiresses changing the Jūken to fit her body structure. He always believed that every individual had his own style of fighting and shouldn't be restricting himself to something because it was tradition.

"Indeed", replied Asuma as he too was awed by the jutsu.

Meanwhile the jaws of Sakura, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru were hanging a bit loose as they watched the performance and couldn't help but be awed by the performance of the Hyuuga heiress, especially Sakura who had lost so easily.

"Yup… you showed them Hinata…" cheered Kiba for his teammate.

"A powerful yet graceful display", commented Shino.

Both her teammates were also surprised seeing that they didn't know much of the secret jutsu Hinata had developed during her training with Ran and her family.

Meanwhile Neji was seething with anger on the inside as he watched Hinata perform the Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō. He just couldn't digest the fact that the loser of the clan was able to learn something akin to Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven).

"That was an impressive jutsu", commented Temari. This was another girl she would certainly like to fight with.

Meanwhile with the proctors, Hokages and other…

"Now that was something completely new and definitely powerful", commented Jiraiya.

"Hinata-chan was always conscious about her skills and always felt inferior to others, so she asked our help to help her train. During her harsh training, she found her own style, her own jutsu. The Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō is the result of the training. Combining her natural flexibility with precise chakra control, she has a complete range of attack. An absolute defense. It is different from the Hakkeshō Kaiten. This jutsu only belongs to Hinata. She honed it by training with water", replied Kushina with a smile full of pride for the young blue haired girl.

"Impressive!" said Jiraiya.

"That aside… did you see…" asked Tsunade as her eyes turned towards the masked red head whose eyes mow seemed to have lost the glow.

"Yes… I wonder what that was… was it a new form of a Dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai…" commented the Sandaime.

"I wonder too… but I don't think that was a Dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai… I felt something when his eyes were radiating the glow… something I can't pinpoint at the moment…" replied Jiraiya.

"Me too… like I had felt something like that before", added Minato.

"And neither can you two remember what that feeling exactly was?" asked Tsunade.

"No", answered Jiraiya and the Yondaime agreed with him… they knew they were right though something was odd about those glowing eyes.

Meanwhile Kushina too felt something similar with those eyes… something she hadn't felt or seen in years… then it clicked her…

"I-It's the same feeling… but it seems more controlled…" the voice of Kushina spoke up in a very low tone.

"What are you talking about Kushina?" asked Minato.

Kushina finally raised her voice a little higher enough for those four to hear as tears stated forming in her eyes, "the feeling… it is similar to Naruto-chan… when he would be too emotional… when his body would go berserk… and we all had seen on occasions Naruto-chan's eyes glow in that state."

The eyes of the others widened… the glow of the eyes of the ronin Naruto was similar to that of baby Naruto when his ability went berserk… the only difference was the color of the glow…

With Naruto…

The next match that had been decided by the electronic board pitted Gaara against Dosu Kinuta. This match had ended in a blink of an eye as it seemed Gaara had no desire to play with Dosu seeing that the moment Hayate called the match to begin, Dosu was caught by the sand from the sand gourd on Gaara's back and engulfed the Oto-nin's body. A large intake of breath was heard at the speed which Gaara had captured his opponent and by the eyes of three of the Konoha-genins, it was clear they knew what was coming next. Luckily for all present, they were spared from the sight of Gaara crushing his opponent using the Sabaku Sōsō (Sand Burial) as he only used his sand to crush the Oto-nin enough to knock him unconscious and with heavy injuries which would certainly destroy his carrier. But the highlighting feature of the match which he had noticed and it was evident that everyone had noticed too, that being throughout the match the emotionless eyes of Gaara were focused on him instead of his opponent.

If the match of Gaara was swift and destructive, the next match could be considered to be swift and graceful. The match pitted Hyuuga Neji against Akimichi Chouji. The chubby genin had no desire to fight the Hyuuga whose eyes seemed to be boring holes in him. It was only after the persuasion of the chubby genin's jounin sensei and also the promise of giving him a full course barbeque dinner for free, did he decide to fight. Unluckily for the chubby genin, before he could even use his clan's trademark jutsu, the Hyuuga acted swiftly and gracefully attacking with palm strikes knocking the chubby genin out.

The next match pitted Inuzuka Kiba of Konohagakure against Akatsuchi of Iwagakure. It started good with the Inuzuka trying to outsmart his opponent by making use of his heightened smell senses and usage of smoke bombs. But the plan was futile as none of the strikes of the Inuzuka made a strong impact on Akatsuchi who was showing a great deal of resilience and sturdy body. At some point in the match, the Inuzuka lost to his bestial instincts and the match became a competition of strength. Unfortunately for the Inuzuka, his strongest jutsu Jūjin Taijutsu Ōgi: Gatsūga (Beast Human Body Technique Secret Art: Fang Passing Fang)was unable to penetrate the golem of Akatsuchi and neither could the Inuzuka stand the punch from the golem.

Ten matched were over and ten winners were already declared. Only four genins were left. Namikaze-Uzumaki Ran, Yamanaka Ino, Rock Lee and him. If one were to ask him the one of the three he would like to be pitted against, he answer would be that he would love to have the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage as his opponent. From what he had come to know from his ink creations was that the girl had gone up against Orochimaru and was able to surprise the Snake-Sannin with one of her combo hurting the man in the process, that itself made her a powerful opponent. Aside from Ran, he would love to be pitted against the boy who was continuously chanting about 'Youth' with an older version of himself. For some reason he felt the boy to be a dark horse of the tournament.

Finally the electronic board declared the opponents of the second last match of the preliminaries as it pitted two blondes against each other. Namikaze-Uzumaki Ran vs. Yamanaka Ino. That left him to face off the boy with those bushy brows to fight against. As his eyes met with the boys, he was surprised by the determination in the boy's eyes, an intensity which could be seen in those who wanted to prove themselves to everyone. Now that got him eager as he could feel that the boy had skills to back his determination.

With Ran and Ino…

"I don't wish to fight you Ran", said Ino as she had no desire to fight her friend and also in back of her mind she already knew that this was not going to be her win.

"Neither do I want to Ino… but we have to, to see who proceeds further in the competition", replied Ran.

"True enough…" replied Ino.

"Just so you know Ino… I already know of the Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique)…" said Ran with a serious look on her face as she stared down at her childhood best friend.

Ino cursed mentally as she tried to figure a way to get her fellow blonde and childhood-best-friend to fall for her only useful jutsu.

"Begin!" Hayate called out as he looked at both the blondes taking a fighting stance.

As the match was called on, both the blondes charged at each other and engaged each other in a taijutsu bout. As the duo exchanged punches and kicks it became evident to all present that the daughter of the Yondaime was superior to her fellow blonde and seemed at more ease using both her hands and legs in the taijutsu bout while the taijutsu style of her fellow blonde only revolved around punches. Also the daughter of the Yondaime seemed to house more power and speed than her fellow blonde, but that didn't mean the Yamanaka heiress was any less as she too managed to get a few good hits on her fellow blonde.

Finally the two blondes separated from each other after the daughter of the Yondaime was able to nail her fellow blonde with a nasty right hook to her face which sent her skidding a few feet back. Both the girls sported some injuries, but the amount on the Yamanaka heiress was far more than that of her fellow blonde and the last punch had forced some blood to be drawn from her mouth.

Ino was heavily cursing herself for the lack of her training. In front of her was a girl with whom she had joined the academy and had also started training with her family around the same time when her fellow blonde started hers with her family. Yet here she was clearly superior to her. She knew the reason behind the vast difference… her fawning over Sasuke. It wasn't the boy's fault for her current situation; rather it was her own as she joined her classmates at the academy wasting her time to impress Sasuke and gave little time to training and more time to beautifying herself to look good for Sasuke. Also her guilt further increased remembering Ran trying to talk her out of her fan-girl-mode and had been unsuccessful which later caused a drift between them. But here was the moment for her to prove herself to Ran that she no longer was the fan girl that she once was. But at the same time the problem remained that she only had one offensive jutsu outside the academy ones and was certain that Ran new the weakness of the jutsu. Steeling her resolve she prepared to use the only jutsu in her arsenal worth this match.

"You can't be serious Ino… I know the quirks of that jutsu and know of its biggest weakness Ino… You know that using that jutsu you will practically be forfeiting the match…" commented Ran as she watched Ino perform the specific hand seal for her clan jutsu.

"I know you hated it when I turned into a stupid fan girl and from there our friendship went downhill… but I am no longer the fan girl you came to know through the academy… I am Yamanaka Ino… the one who wishes to be the best interrogation specialist like her father…" declared Ino stunning the entire crowd.

"So you say you changed from the girl who only worries about growing her hair and looking pretty…" said Ran with an impassive look on her face, though inwardly she was truly happy. This was the Yamanaka Ino she was ones friends with.

"What you don't believe me! Is it my hair the reason for not believing me? WELL HERE…" shouted Ino as she removed her kunai from her pouch and cutting her long hair and throwing it in the ground between herself and Ran.

With the spectators…

"She is lost it… not only she is willing to use the Shintenshin, but she also cut her hair in a fit of rage… that troublesome girl has stopped using her head…" said Shikamaru as signs of frustrations were visible on her face.

"I understand that she wants to go back being friends with Ran… but there are better ways to do that instead of snapping out in a match to prove your point…" muttered Asuma.

"Ino!" muttered Sakura as she heard the words of long time rival.

With Ino and Ran…

"Well if you are going to be this serious, then perhaps (forming the hand seal for her favorite jutsu)… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu…" said Ran as two clones of her formed next to her.

This was something that Ino was certainly not expecting, but seeing that she had the real Ran trapped without her knowledge she decided to quickly activate her jutsu.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino called out as she activated her jutsu. She watched as all three Rans quickly tried to move from their place before her juts could take effect, but only the doppelgangers succeeded in their attempt.

With the spectators…

"What is going on?" asked Shikamaru as he watched all the three copies of Ran suddenly stopped in their tracks and had also not missed that one of the three Ran had not moved from her place.

"It seems like that snapping was an act…" replied Asuma as a sigh released his lips.

"An act!" Sakura asked out loud.

"Yes an act… the act to cut her hair as she used them to trap Ran…" Kakashi said.

"That means…." Sakura said letting the words hanging as she didn't believe it was possible.

"It is a possibility…" said Kakashi.

With Ran and Ino…

Ino couldn't help but feel really giddy with zest as her silly little idea with her hair had worked and now she had her mind transferred to Ran's body superseding Ran's mind. She knew that she had less time before Ran's clones again set in action as she was unsure of how they would react with her being in the original's body and she didn't know of the way to dispel them. Quickly raising her-Ran's hand with a smirk of victory over her-Ran's face she spoke out loud.

"I Uzumaki-Namikaze Ran would like to for…"

Unfortunately for Ino she couldn't finish her sentence as she was violently thrown out of Ran's body back to her own as the body of Ran burst into smoke.

"Wha…! But how?" Ino couldn't help but ask as she felt one of the two remaining Ran standing behind her with a kunai pressed to her neck.

"You didn't think I wouldn't see through your act Ino… We were ones best of friends and one of the things I learned about you that time was that you simply adorn your hair… so it was clear that you cutting your hair was a ploy, especially after you took precaution to see that the hair fell in between the two of us… so at the very last minute I substituted myself with a clone of me… Now forfeit!" said Ran as she pressed the Kunai on Ino's neck.

"I forfeit…" Ino said with slumped shoulders. Her best jutsu and best plan had been foiled and she knew that fighting any longer was not going to work against Ran and the girl would also not fall for her jutsu even if she tried another time.

"The winner is Uzumaki-Namikaze Ran!" declared Hayate which followed by shouts of congratulations from the balcony where Konoha-nins were.

With the proctors and the Hokages…

"Sigh… that was some intelligent thinking by both of them…" Jiraiya said as he was really grateful of knowing that Ran had advanced to do a smokeless substitution.

"It certainly was", commented Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"It was a good match…both Ran and Ino did good job…" said Minato.

"Yes it was… but it is good to see the two back to being friends like when they were small", commented Kushina with a big smile on her face as she watched the two girls' hug each other putting their differences aside.

"Yep that was the best highlight of the match", replied Minato with an affectionate smile on his face as he looked at his daughter.

"All that aside… it is time for the last match to start", said Sarutobi as he watched the remaining two contestants walk down in the arena.

This was one of the most awaited matches, especially to the five of them. It seemed like they weren't the only ones who waited for the match. It was to be predicted as the red head to fight in the match had already made a name himself throughout the Elemental Nations by being one of the youngest to be admitted in the Bingo Book. There was a lot of curiosity for many to know about his skills. The basic information stated was that the boy was skilled in Raiton ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu… also there was a rumor of him being skilled in Suiton, Fūton and Iryō (Medical) ninjutsus. Then there was the matter of the glowing eyes that many had seen him use during the match of Hinata and Suzumebachi which to most was a completely unknown factor.

But the importance of this match to the five transcend the boundary of learning the skills of the red head, rather it was their desire to learn more about the boy, the boy who shared so many qualities with Minato and Kushina and a very close semblance to their dead son. To Kushina he was her little boy and she had not a single doubt about it.

"Finally we will get to see what the brat is capable of…" said Jiraiya as he looked towards Naruto.

"Still sore about the beatings you received because of your own stupidity", commented Tsunade.

"I know whatever I say you aren't going to believe me even after I swear that I didn't make the brat accompany me…" said Jiraiya.

"I still don't understand why you are still angry about getting beaten even if he didn't accompany you?" asked Minato.

"Minato you don't mean to say you believe the pervert…" said Kushina as she glared at her husband.

"I don't… am just asking", replied Minato as he flinched seeing the glare of his wife.

"He escaped righteous woman fury…" Jiraiya finally answered the questioned that had plaguing the mind of the four for the past week and caused them to burst in laughter. But being the main judges, they schooled their features before anyone could catch the sight of them, but it was going to be a tormenting next few days for Jiraiya.

With Lee and Naruto…

"To be able to face someone of your reputation this early… I couldn't be happier", said Lee as he stared down his red head opponent who seemed completely relaxed.

"It certainly will be fun to against the student of the renowned taijutsu specialist Maito Gai… I wish this to be certainly to be a good match -ttebayo", said Naruto with a grin behind his mask.

"YOSH! NOT ONLY ARE YOU SKILLFUL, BUT YOUTHFUL TOO!" shouted Lee to the heavens above.

"What beast did I unleash…?" Naruto muttered to himself as he watched bush brows shouting about youth and the worse being the way his teeth and eyes sparkled.

With the spectators…

'So it finally comes to this…' thought Kakashi as he eyed the red head masked genin. Being close to the Hokage's family he had learned of their doubt that the ronin participating in the exams could possibly be their long dead son. That was just completely insane to him, but the fierceness behind Kushina-sama's word told him that she had not a single inch of doubt in her mind and heart.

'Is Lee-san going to be alright?' Sakura wondered as she looked at Lee face of the red head masked boy. The boy had seemed good to her as he was one of the few that had come to the rescue of her team and even helped Ran with whatever seal Orochimaru had placed in her. But there was the part of him being in the Bingo Books of two countries and from what she learnt was that you had to be either really strong or had done something offending to get in them.

"So we finally get to see what he is capable of…" commented Kurenai as she too eyed the red head boy gaining the attention of all genins around her. She had heard of the boy from Anko and a few others and was truly intrigued to learn what the Bingo Book ronin was capable of.

"Yes it will certainly be a match to watch", commented Asuma.

"Indeed, his skills are a complete mystery", replied Kakashi.

"I don't know much about his skills, but I know that he certainly is very skilled in Fūinjutsu", Ran piped in catching the attention of all jounins and genins.

Fūinjutsu was an obscure art and there were only few practitioners of the art seeing it was very complex. In this very room there were three ninjas who are well renowned for their mastery over Fūinjutsu and the one to speak was the daughter of two of them.

Seeing the questioning look of the jounins she decided to elaborate further, "After fighting Orochimaru in the Forest of Death… the man placed a seal over me… and I for one know that the seal he placed was very efficient and I would need to get to tou-san, kaa-chan, Tsunade-baa-chan, Ero-jii-san or Sandaime-O-jii-san to get it removed… but he removed it without any hitch. He was even willing to seal away the curse mark on Sasuke's neck and only didn't because it would render him unconscious which wasn't a wise choice seeing we were in the Forest of Death in middle of the Chuunin Exams."

This was big news to all jounins. To hear that the boy was capable of unsealing something which Ran believed to only be capable of people who were well versed in the art of Fūinjutsu and also his willingness to seal away the curse mark which was very hard to contain, that certainly spoke of the boy's ability in Fūinjutsu.

"What seal did Orochimaru place on you?" asked Kakashi.

"Gogyō Fūin…" was the short reply of Ran which caused the eyes of the jounins to widen seeing the logic behind her words.

'This Gogyō Fūin must be some seal for the jounins to be surprised and to think he had unsealed it so nonchalantly… and the way he admired the seal work of Yondaime-sama… Troublesome… he is someone to not mess with…' thought Shikamaru.

"That aside… did you see the glow in his eyes?"Kakashi whispered to his fellow jounins.

"Yes… that was something completely new", replied Asuma.

Meanwhile with the Iwa-nins, the trio of two genins and the jounin had their eyes focused on the match with what the genins had heard during the first part of the exams and orders from the Tsuchikage to the jounin.

"Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi keep yours peeled for every single detail on this match", ordered the jounin to his genins.

"Why?" asked Kurotsuchi, though she already had a good idea.

"Orders from Tsuchikage-sama!" replied the jounin.

On the other side all the eyes of the Suna-nins silently waited for the match to start. The red head masked boy was listed in the Bingo Book of Suna after his fight with Gaara, where the masked boy had not only gone toe-on-toe with his fellow red head in the desert, but was also able to seriously wound Gaara before making his escape. But that wasn't the reason of them being focused on the match; it was because the boy had become somewhat a significant part of their lives during his four months stay in Suna, even if they would deny it.

'That boy… he won't stand a chance against Naruto… he definitely had speed, but his kicked lacked power… and I don't think he will be able to surpass Naruto in speed if he decides to go all out' thought Temari.

"Finally it is time for your boyfriend's match…" said Kankurou with a sly smile on his face, but stopped in mid sentence as he felt a shiver run down his spine. He turned around to find Temari glaring at him with her patent 'I-am-the-eldest-and-I-have-the-right-to-kick-your-ass' glare.

"I m-mean th-that guy with bowl cut won't stand a chance against him", Kankurou quickly changed the topic.

"That he won't", replied Temari with a small smile on her face as she turned towards the fight which seemed to start in few seconds.

'Saved… but she didn't deny my words' thought Kankurou as a sly smile graced his lips.

Not caring about the bickering of his siblings, Gaara's eyes were completely focused on the match as the inner demon of him was shouting to take action and end the runt from the face of the earth which he decided to ignore for the time being.

The KONOHA NO KEDAKAKI AOI MŌJŪ (KONOHA'S SUBLIME GREEN BEAST OF PREY) who had stayed silent throughout the discussion of his fellow jounins as he had his eyes fixed on his student and his opponent finally spoke up, or rather shouted destroying the ear drums of those around him.

"YOSH! LEE! LET THE POWER OF YOUR EXPLODE!"

With Naruto and Lee…

Hearing those words of his sensei's words Lee couldn't help but shout back in enthusiasm, "INDEED, GAI-SENSEI! I WILL SHOW EVERYONE THE POWER OF MY YOUTH!"

'Seriously, what kind of beasts does Konoha have in its sanctuary… if this are to be go by… then I shudder to meet the others…' thought Naruto as he was really feeling a bit anxious about the student-teacher duo with all their shouts of youth.

Luckily for Naruto that eccentric attitude of his opponent didn't last for long and his face turned serious and he took his taijutsu stance (Lee's Gōken stance). Seeing this he breathed out a sigh of relief and stood in relaxed stance with his hands to his side. He never had formal training in one form of taijutsu styles and loved his random attack style.

Lee raised his eyebrows seeing the relaxed stance of his opponent and for a split second felt a bit insulted, but the teaching of Gai rang in his mind. Never underestimate any opponent. And his opponent was certainly not to be underestimated if what he had seen and heard of him was any indication.

Seeing that both the opponent seemed ready Hayate called out, "NOW, THE 12TH, THE FINAL MATCH, PLEASE BEGIN!"

The moment the match was called on, Lee shot towards his opponent with impressive speed as he covered the distance between the two in matter of seconds.

"Konoha Senpū (Konoha Whirlwind)!" Lee shouted just a couple of feet away from the red head as he attacked his opponent with successive high and low kicks.

To the surprise of Lee and the spectators, each and every successive low kicks and high kicks were blocked by the red head. Even while blocking the barrage of the successive kicks, the red head was only moved a couple of inches from his spot and above all he was able to find an opening and ram a powerful elbow into Lee's guts making him stumble back which was followed by a nasty haymaker to his jaws.

Lee was astounded by his opponent. Not only was his able to see through the feint attack of Konoha Senpū, but was also able to block the continuous barrage of kicks. He had even found opening into his attack and planted an elbow and a haymaker which were really powerful if the pain her was feeling on the point where they struck. But one thing had been ascertained in the span of the few seconds, the red head was a very powerful opponent. With that thought in mind, he charged his opponent with a barrage of powerful punches and kicks.

With the spectators…

It was painfully obvious to all that whatever Lee tried, Naruto had him outmatched. The red head masked ronin was able to block, parry any punch or kick the bushy-brow Konoha-genin threw at him, at any angle. None of the taijutsu endeavors of Lee bored any effect as nothing had yet connected with the ronin. Meanwhile the few strikes the ronin had unleashed had successfully found their target.

Ran couldn't believe what she was seeing, for the red head masked ronin to so easily brush of Lee's attack, the same Lee that had had literally humiliated Sasuke before the start of the first exam, it was surreal.

"Impossible… None of Lee-san's fast attacks are having any effect… his opponent is faster than Lee-san… then why is Lee-san still using only taijutsu? Shouldn't he try to fight from a distance with ninjutsu", Sakura spoke up.

"It's not that Lee doesn't use ninjutsu… he can't use them", Gai spoke up shocking the close by genins.

With Naruto…

Through the minute of exchange of fists between him and his opponent, he learned one thing and that was his opponent was a restless attacker. It complimented the taijutsu style he used which seemed to be centered on fast and hard strikes. The only downfall to this style he could see was that the style would be useless against someone who was faster than the user and had quick body reactions. Hence to Lee he was the worst opponent. He was not only faster than Lee, but through the harsh training with the Old Man his reaction time was very sharp.

"Konoha Daisenpū (Konoha Great Whirlwind)!" he heard Lee shout and charge at him to deliver a barrage of kicks.

It was clear that the taijutsu maneuver to him that Bushy-Brows was going to pull was going to be a stronger and ferocious version of his previous move, Konoha Senpū. The name suggested it. He had blocked the previous one which had left his hands sore for a few seconds and as such had no desire to face this technique.

Forming the Tori (Bird) hand seal, he molded his chakra to mold the wind around him to form an almost invisible whirlwind barrier and a satisfied smirk graced his lips as he watched the shocked face of Lee who was stopped in mid strike and then was flung away as he was hit by the force of the invisible gale. It was a jutsu he had developed during his days in Suna watching Gaara's sand defense and Temari's wind jutsus.

Deciding not to give his opponent any time to recover from his sudden offense… his hands sped through a few hand seals as he took a deep breath… finished with the hand seals he exhaled small blasts of wind chakra towards Bushy Brows and over an expansive range.

Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere) was a jutsu that was difficult to avoid as the small blasts of wind chakra were exhaled in such a manner that they were dispersed over an expansive range… and if one was able to avoid the small blasts of wind, he/she would certainly take some damage. So was the case with Lee as even though he was able to avoid the small blasts of wind jutsu, he had a lot of cuts and pierced skin as evidence that he didn't escape unscathed.

With the spectators…

"This doesn't look good for Lee-san", Sakura commented.

"Yes… it doesn't look good… his opponent Naruto is superior to him in both speed and power and has some powerful ninjutsu skills… and with Lee-san only capable of using taijutsu…" said Ran as she stopped at the end of her statement as just a few seconds ago they learned about Lee's incapability of using neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu.

"But what happened when Lee-san charged at Naruto with Konoha Daisenpū…?" asked a confused Ino.

Ino wasn't the only one with that question as almost all the genins had that question on the minds of all the genins.

"An invisible wind wall…" answered Kakashi as he had removed the hitai-te over his left Sharingan eye.

"That is some advanced skills with wind manipulation", commented Asuma as he was highly impressed by the red head.

"Do you think you can stand against him Kurotsuchi?" asked Akatsuchi.

"Indeed I can", replied Kurotsuchi in a haughty tone as she was proud of his skills.

"That will have to wait and watch. I don't think that is the extent of his abilities", spoke up the Iwa-jounin making Kurotsuchi to scowl even as she already was aware of it.

"Sheesh… he is playing around with that Konoha-genin. He should simply end this instead of playing around", said Kankurou.

"You don't get it Kankurou… he isn't playing… it is as if he is waiting for something", replied Temari.

"And how do you know that?" asked Kankurou.

"It is in his eyes", said Temari as her eyes were focused on the match or to be specific were focused on Naruto.

"Who am I to challenge you about him…? After all a girlfriend knows her boyfriend better than the others…" Kankurou said with the last statement he barely spoke above a whisper and was happy that Temari didn't seem to hear. He feared the retaliation of his elder sibling if he tried to speak of her relationship with Naruto. Speaking of siblings, his eyes turned towards the youngest of the three. He didn't know how but Gaara seemed completely as his eyes were simply locked on Naruto and only the increasing bloodlust that he felt indicated that Gaara was very eager to go down there and settle his score with the fellow red head. He shuddered thinking the result of their confrontation. The first time they had fought, the desert area was thoroughly damaged and now that both had grown in skills, he didn't even want to think of the damage the two could cause.

With Lee…

Whatever he tried, nothing seemed to be working on his opponent. He had pushed himself to the fastest he could go and tried to hit from the blind spot of the ronin and yet it didn't work. He only had two options and both had some rules set behind by Gai-sensei which he didn't wish to break. His mind tried to process the possibility of ways he could attack the red head. His line of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by the shout from Gai-sensei.

"LEE! TAKE THEM OFF!"

He turned towards Gai-sensei to wonder was he joking, but to his immense surprise he seemed completely serious. But it couldn't be true… the rules…

"BUT…! BUT GAI-SENSEI! THAT'S ONLY FOR TIMES WHEN I HAVE TO PROTECT MANY PRECIOUS PEOPLE, ISN'T IT!" Lee replied.

"IT'S ALRIGHT! I'LL ALLOW IT!" said Gai with the good-guy-pose.

He couldn't believe it; Gai-sensei wanted him to remove them. With them removed he knew that his speed would increase by a huge margin and it was clear that he needed that kind of speed to go against his current opponent. His current speed was already found out to be useless as his opponent trashed him in the contest of speed.

The smile on his face could not be stretched any longer as it was now went from one ear to the another as he slid down the leg warmers to take them off. There they were strapped to his legs … weights… the things he used to go extreme with his taijutsu training. On the weights was carved the word 'KONJŌ'… it was truly a match that was going to test his guts and spirit.

"ALL RIGHT! NOW I CAN MOVE EASIER!" he shouted as he removed the weights from his legs.

With the spectators…

"Weights!" was the collective questioning words of most of the genins present.

'What an old style training method… Gai…' thought Kakashi as he looked onto the mini-Gai removing the weights from his legs.

'Pft… Something like a little weight isn't going to help you against Naruto… A speed contest with him should never be taken as an option…' thought Temari.

But what happened next took everyone by surprise and shock as the place where the weight collided with the ground it formed two large craters. This was crazy.

'Isn't that a bit too much…' Kakashi wondered seeing the impact of the weights.

'That's some weight… but will it be enough' wondered Temari.

With the proctors and the Hokages…

"Leave it to Gai to take things to the extreme", commented the Sandaime seeing the impact of the weights.

"Mini-Gai certainly will need that extra boost if he wants to go toe-on-toe with Naruto… the boy is been playing with Mini-Gai", said Jiraiya.

"Well… we'll get to see if now the speed of Mini-Gai surpasses that of Naruto or not", commented Tsunade.

"Yes it will be interesting to watch", replied Minato.

Meanwhile Kushina just silently watched as her eyes stayed focused on Naruto.

With Naruto…

Naruto's eyebrow twitched a bit at seeing the impact of those weights… speak of going to extreme. But he had no room for complaint as he too had gone to training which would be called 'going-crazy-extremes' by mundane standards. The Old Man had worked him through the ground.

"LEE! GO!" he heard the older version of Bushy Brow say to Bushy Brow and with that Bushy Brow moved into action.

The result was what he had anticipated… Bushy Brows was holding himself down on speed. With the weights gone the speed of Bushy Brow had drastically increased where he was only a blur to most of the genins present, but he could easily track his movement.

He watched with a grin on his face as Bushy Brows moved behind him, in his blind spot with his fist cocked back. His grin widened as the fist moved to connect with his face from his blind spot. He waited till the last movement to catch on to the fist of Bushy Brows… though he was surprised by the force behind the punch. The shock was evident on Bushy Brow's face.

He took that moment to hit Bushy Brows with a round house kick sending him flying across the arena. The moment Bushy Brows skidded to a halt after receiving the round house kick… Naruto for the first time in the match took on the offensive as he charged at Bushy Brows.

He moved at the speed almost equivalent to that of Bushy Brows as he engaged the Konoha-genin in a clash of fist in which neither of them was willing to give anyone any inch in the clash.

With the spectators…

"This is crazy!" Ran shouted watching the high speed taijutsu fight between the two genins in a bit of awe.

"Both of them are so fast!" Sakura commented sounding completely awed.

"Wow! Their attacks are so fast my eyes can barely keep up…" commented Ino with the genins agreeing with her.

"They are equal in speeds…" added Hinata.

"It indeed seems so… but the way Lee-san's opponent is enjoying himself…" added Shino.

'What Shino is thinking is indeed true. It is clear that even now Naruto is still on the front foot' thought Kakashi. He wasn't the only one with the similar train of thoughts as it was on the minds of all jounins.

'It is as I thought… it is still not enough' thought Temari with a smile on her face.

"What about now Kurotsuchi?" asked Akatsuchi.

"I can…" answered Kurotsuchi with a bit of uncertainty in her voice as she too could see that the red head masked-nin was enjoying himself.

With Naruto….

He was enjoying this. This was real fun. Exchanging punches and kicks with a boy around his age who moved almost as fast as his normal speed… the adrenalin rush was surreal… it was as if he was back fighting with Gaara.

If he wanted he could end the match with a snap of his finger. It was a matter of using one of those jutsus and he would be out of Bushy Brows grasp in term of speed. Hell! Only the jounins and the Hokages could match him at that speed. But he decided to not use that jutsu. The reason was the look in the eyes of Bushy Brow.

It was clear to him that the weights were not the only trump card in Bushy Brow's arsenal. And it certainly wasn't just the trick he used on the Oto-nin according to his information of his ink creations. There certainly was something more.

Blocking Bushy Brows spiraling kick and planting his elbow followed by round house kick, he forced some distance between the two of them. He returned to his relaxed stance which he had taken before the start of the match while Lee stood back up from the kick and stood in his Gōken stance.

The look in Bushy Brows eyes brought a predatory grin on his face. It seemed like he was going to use his trump cards.

With Lee…

Even with his weights removed he was unable to match his opponent. Though to all it may look like they were equal in speed and he was also able to plant some hits on him… but he understood better. His opponent was still superior than him both in speed and power.

At this moment only one option was left to him… that was to break the rules set forth by Gai-sensei on those Kinjutsus. He understood that directly using that jutsu wasn't an option at this moment.

His only option for the time being was the Renge(Lotus).

His head turned towards the Gai-sensei's direction where he silently asked for the permission to use that jutsu and by the look on the face of Gai-sensei, it seemed he too was thinking the same thing. He couldn't help the large smile that erupted on his face as he received the permission.

He failed to notice the predatory grin on his opponents face as he started unrolling his bandages.

Once the preparations were ready for him to execute the jutsu he charged at his opponent with renewed vigor.

But unlike the times he used the jutsu on Sasuke and Dosu, he didn't charge directly at his opponent as he had greater speed and better reaction time then the other two and there was a possibility he might dodge his attack. It was something he didn't want to happen since the Renge is a double-edged sword.

With that thought in mind he ran circles around his opponent who silently observed his movements. At a sudden movement in between him running circles around his opponent, he charged at the red head ronin and was able to successfully plant a vicious kick on his jaws kicking the red head upwards. Using the Kage Buyō (Shadow of the Dancing Leaf) he appeared directly behind his opponent who was ascending further upwards.

But what happened next completely took him by surprise…

He was about to wrap the ronin with the bandages to execute the jutsu Omote Renge (Front Lotus)… it was then it happened as he watched the red head move in air with such agility as if standing on ground and was now facing him and before he could react a chakra enhanced palm thrust met his stomach which sent him stumbling towards the ground and go onto crash with the statue of the hands.

That hurt much more than Neji's Jūkenstrikes.

He didn't have much time to recollect himself as he watched the red head that had landed on the ground speed through a couple of hand seals and finally ending the hand seal sequence by clapping his hands together while he bend a bit backwards with his cheek inflating as if gathering a huge amount of air. He watched with horror struck eyes as his opponent fired a concentrated, destructive blast of lightning from his mouth which proceeded towards him at a very fast pace.

It was only because he had opened the first gate Kaimon (Gate of Opening) to execute the Omote Renge (Front Lotus)was he able to dodge that a concentrated, destructive blast of lightning jutsu. And even then he wasn't fast enough as he was sent hurling towards the side-walls of the arena and crashed into it as he was still close to the jutsu to experience its power which sent a small amount of shock through his body.

"Oops!" he heard the words leave the mouth of his opponent in a sheepish and guilty tone and also the gasps of few people from his position.

Wondering what caused the reactions he turned to look towards the direction where that a concentrated, destructive blast of lightning jutsu had struck which caused his eyes to widen in awe and horror.

The statue was on the verge of collapsing and above all there was a big hole the size of the hurricane through the wall behind it giving a view of the Forest of Death with about two dozens of trees uprooted in its path.

"Sorry didn't mean to try and hit you with the Raiton: Narukami no Hōkō (Lightning Release: Roar of the Thundering Deity)… it was just the spur of the moment, -ttebayo…" he heard his opponent say and turned around to find the red head scratching the back of his head with a small sheepish smile and looking a bit embarrassed.

His opponent was completely out of his league…

And he couldn't help but smile as he got to face such a strong opponent.

With the proctors and the Hokages…

"Oops! Sorry! He just now almost destroyed the building and damaged the forest and the only word that left his mouth was OOPS AND SORRY!" said Anko completely befuddled by what had just taken place and the red head's reaction.

"Well, he seems to be actually sorry about it", commented Ibiki.

"Had any of you ever heard of Raiton: Narukami no Hōkō? Sensei…?" asked Jiraiya to the four people standing next to him and the question was mostly directed towards his sensei, The Professor – Shinobi No Kami – The Sandaime Hokage – Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"No!" answered the Sandaime while the others simply shook their heads.

"Does it by any chance mean that it was Naruto-kun's own creation?" asked Kushina in a soft voice. She clearly though it to be a possibility. Though it seemed that he acted more like her, he seemed to have inherited Minato's brains.

"It is a possibility…" answered Minato with a small bit of awe in his voice.

"To think he is capable of creating or even using something that strong and destructive… he is easily at high chuunin or low jounin level…" commented Tsunade to which they couldn't help but agree.

With the spectators…

No words were leaving the mouths of the Konoha-genins as they still were focused on the destruction caused by the red head's jutsu. Only one thought ran through the minds of most of them… they had no wish to fight the red head.

"It is over for Lee!" said Kakashi as he slid his hitai-te back down covering his left Sharinganeye. The boy's bout with using the Omote Renge had failed and it was clear to him that he was currently suffering from intense pain which would cause him unable to move along with the injuries from being hit by the backlash of being close to the red head's jutsu.

"What do you mean sensei?" asked Sakura.

"The Renge jutsu is a double edged sword…" Gai spoke up as he grind his teeth in frustration.

Kakashi continued where Gai had left onto, "It's a Kinjutsu… all the high speed movement causes a strain on the legs and body… right now he must be feeling so much pain, he can barely move… couple with the injuries and paralysis from the backlash of Naruto's jutsu…"

No one could respond to that, it was already clear that Lee was completely outmatched.

Meanwhile Gai couldn't help but feel sad for Lee. The boy had never left hope in himself even with his handicap and strived hard for being a respectable ninja. Here was his chance to prove himself as he was pitted against the ronin who had made a reputation for himself. During the fight he had surprised all present genins and jounins and had certainly earned respect from them for his skills. But all his skills paled in front of his opponents who always stayed two steps ahead of him. He wondered how this would match was going to result on his life.

Suddenly eyes of Gai and everyone present as they watched Lee stand up and seemed ready to fight with a small smile on his face.

"What is going on? Lee-san is smiling…" said Sakura completely astonished at Lee's sudden change.

Only Gai seemed to understand what that meant and the next words he spoke shocked the one-eyed jounin next to him.

"The Lotus of the leaf blooms twice!"

With Naruto…

He watched with a bit of surprise as Lee was back to his feet and seemed ready to fight. All his fatigue washed away and all the pain that he was enduring opening the Kaimon seemed to vanish away. It didn't make sense.

Suddenly it clicked to him… in front of him was one of the few shinobis capable of opening the Hachimon (The Eight Inner Gates) as it explained his sudden recovery by opening the Kyūmon (Gate of Healing). Unfortunately (?) for him his ears caught onto the words of the Konoha-jounins about Lee's ability of opening the gates and it didn't look good for him when he heard the boy to be capable of opening five of the eight inner gates.

He understood the need to prove oneself to someone… to stretch one's boundaries… he too felt the same… to prove himself worthy to had studied under the Old Man… the Old Man that had saved his life when it was on the brink of Death God's grasp… the Old Man that had been his support to life as a child when he had no one to call his family or friends… the Old Man – Senju Hashirama.

It was evident from the face and eyes of Bushy Brows he was in the same boat… but at this moment he didn't care… because the damage he would receive from his attacks now would be very severe.

There was only one way for him to stand against Bushy Brows now and that was to use that jutsu. The jutsu which he had developed after three years of harsh training as he trained to control the abnormality his body developed due to the ability to draw in Natural Energy which stimulated his high affinity to the Lightning element… something that had forced people to stay away from him and fear him as a child.

With the proctors and the Hokages…

One thing was certain in the minds of all of them; the match had gone beyond the level of a fight between two genins. But now watching Lee ready to open the eight inner gates… it had just jumped to another level.

"What was Gai thinking teaching his students to open the Hachimon… those are suicide jutsus and not to be taught to the genins… the Omote Renge was acceptable… but to go further and teach Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus)…" growled Tsunade as she certainly didn't like the idea.

"It is up to the jounin-sensei to decide what to and not to teach their charges…" stated the Sandaime.

"But…" Tsunade tried to say but was interrupted by Minato.

"Yes, it is indeed the job of the jounin-sensei… but I will have a word with Gai later to make him understand when such jutsus are to be used", said Minato in a serious tone.

"But you have to hand it to the boy… to be able to open the gates… it takes talent", commented Gai which no one could disagree too.

Suddenly they along with everyone present heard the crackling of lightning making their and every ones' eyes turn towards the source of it. Their eyes widened when they watched the source to be Naruto as pale white lightning shot outwards from his entire body.

To most it would be a sight to behold as the lightning crackling outwards of Naruto slowly regress back towards him into his body and slowly the red head started to glow white, but for those five, especially two of the five there was more to it. While pale white lightning shot out of the body of the red head, in their minds an image of a small child barely older than a year with blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker-like marks on his cheeks overlapped the red head with lightning to crackling out of the infant's body.

It was a problem with which Uzumaki Naruto was born with as somehow when the young infant would be over anxious, sad, happy, hungry or crying his chakra would respond to his emotions. And being born with a high affinity to lightning element his chakra would unconsciously on such occasions turn into lightning shooting out of his body. The stronger the emotion he would display, the stronger the white lightning releasing out of his body would be.

Tears started streaming down the eyes of Namikaze-Uzumaki Kushina. This was another proof that the boy in front of them was her own flesh and blood, her son.

With the spectators…

It was surreal to watch… the transformation of both the competitors. Lee was emitting a green glow while his skin had turned red. Meanwhile Naruto's entire body was glowing white with what could be said an armor of white lightning surrounding his body.

'Naruto's jutsu… so similar to that of the Yondaime Raikage's Raitonno Yoroi (Lightning Release Armor)… and at the same time so different… Such a surreal creation… but there has to be some very strong repercussion for such a jutsu…' thought Kakashi who had his Sharingan eye uncovered. In case of the Yondaime Raikage's jutsu, the man was surrounded by an armor of blue chakra and lightning while there seemed to be no change to his body. Then here was Naruto, whose entire body was glowing white with an armor of pale white lightning surrounding him. And the Sharingan was able to dissect the difference in the two jutsus with Naruto's turning his chakra from the inside of his body into lightning.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you have any clue what is the jutsu Naruto is using?" asked Ran with awe filled voice as she looked at the boy in question.

"Not exactly… but I have seen something similar…" answered Kakashi.

"What jutsu?" asked Ran.

"The Yondaime Raikage's Raiton no Yoroi", answered Kakashi.

Ran's eyes bugged out of her sockets. She had heard about the Yondaime Raikage from her father… a person whom her father considered to be the fastest shinobi with the use of the jutsu that Kakashi-sensei just mentioned.

"I don't know what is the jutsu that the bowl cut kid is using, but him using that jutsu… the match is over", commented Kankurou.

The lightning jutsu that Naruto was using was the same that he had used to fight Gaara in the desert after Gaara was ordered to capture the fellow red head by their father.

With Naruto…

He was ready for Lee and just was waiting for him to charge. If he wanted he could easily charge and end the match before Lee could make his move, but it just didn't feel right. He was here for competition and Bushy Brows was certainly giving him one.

He watched with raised eyebrow as Lee opened the Fourth gate Shōmon (Gate of Pain) and by the blood running down the boy's nose and his severe pained expression, his body was unable to bear the force of releasing the gates… forget the after-effects. But before he could make a decision to either let Bushy Brows go further and let him open the fifth gate or stop him now before he damage himself more… Bushy Brows charged at him.

The speed at which Bushy Brow moved would be something beyond any of the present genins could hope to follow and would be hard pressed to see… and then there was the force behind his movement that shattered the ground beneath him… but Naruto was no ordinary genin. He wouldn't be hard pressed to see the boy move at his current speed, but certainly wouldn't have the ability to react that fast. This certainly gave Bushy Brows the edge.

Unfortunately for Bushy Brows he was now using Shippuu Jinrai (Lightning Speed). A jutsu created from harnessing control over his unnatural ability of the pale white lightning born by his body able to draw in Natural Energy he was capable of using when he was on an emotional high and his chakra responded to his state born by his body able to draw in Natural Energy. Using this jutsu, he forced the entire chakra running through his chakra system to transform into that of lightning chakra and having the ability to use white lightning gave his body a white glow along with a shroud of white lightning surrounding his body. The jutsu electrically stimulated his nervous system to increase his reaction time and physical prowess to their absolute limit and granted him pure raw speed… and since the ability was born through his body's ability of drawing in Natural Energy, his perception and sensing abilities were further enhanced.

So he was able to block the upward kick from Bushy Brows aimed at his jaw by bringing his hand in an x-shape pattern to block the kick. Even if he was able to block the kick, he did feel the pain from the kick even after it had to first bypass the shroud of lightning around him. While he blocked Bushy Brows kick, he felt the boy flinch as he was zapped a bit by the lightning shroud surrounding his body.

For a split second he just stared at Bushy Brows, who just stared back at him with those white eyes which was one of the characteristics one achieves after opening the third gate. Even in those blank white orbs he could feel the determination lurking in them. A large grin spread across his face as he once again clashed fists with Bushy Brows.

Unlike last time where Bushy Brows tried to match him with kicks and punches, this time he tried his earnest to avoid his assault. It seemed that Bushy Brow learned that the lightning surrounding him had a stunning effect. But even then he didn't seem deterred from landing hits on him which really had some serious force behind them.

His right punch connected directly to the face of Bushy Brow, while Bushy Brow's right punch was also able to make connection with his face. He had put enough force behind his punch which sent Bushy brows skidding backwards about 10-12 feet. But for him, Bushy Brows to had put enough force behind his punch sending him skidding backwards the same distance as his opponent.

That punch from Bushy Brows seriously hurt… more than his previous few… it was as if he had put all the force behind it… and looking at Bushy Brows it seemed that he seriously did put all force behind the punch as he watched the muscles in his right hand snap from the force.

His eyes suddenly widened as he felt Bushy Brow's chakra once again building to take a new rise… that idiot was forcing another gate open even after all his injuries… it was completely suicidal act… and he decided to put a stop to it… stop Bushy Brow's foolishness. The boy had already proven he was a skilled ninja and didn't need to go any further by hurting himself to the extent that he might lose his ability to as a shinobi… or worse lose his life.

"THIS IS…" he heard Lee shout, but interrupted the boy from saying anything further as he transcended the distance between him and Bushy Brows in a flash of lightning leaving a trail of lightning behind his wake causing the eyes of Lee to widen and certainly that of the everyone present here too.

"Yes! This is the end!" said Naruto as he placed his right hand on Lee's stomach.

"Byakuraishō (White Lightning Palm)!" he said.

"AWWWW!" Lee shouted as the jutsu took its effect encompassing Bushy Brows in white lightning.

The jutsu worked not only damaging his opponent from the outside but also from the inside where it attacked his nervous system and having the reverse effect of Shippuu Jinrai had on him. It was a devastating jutsu. And it was a good thing for Lee that he could alter the power behind the jutsu and had kept it at level where it would not do any serious damage and only land Bushy Brows to the land of unconsciousness.

With the entire arena…

There was a stunned silence ringing through the entire arena at just what had happened and only the Suna-nins didn't seem to be surprised by what they had seen. They didn't react when the proctor Hayate declared Naruto the winner and neither did they react when they watched Senju Tsunade along with Maito Gai rushed to the arena to check on the Konoha-nin.

All the while the ronin stood to the side with white lightning shroud as he stared on Tsunade use a diagnostic jutsu to check on the amount of injuries his opponent received.

The Lightning jutsu… so much similar to that of the Yondaime Raikage's Raiton no Yoroi… but movement similar to that of the Yondaime Hokage's Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)maybe not as fast as those two… but still…

… A LIGHTNING FLASH!

TO BE CONTINUED…

The mystery of the Old Man is revealed… Senju Hashirama… You all may wonder how? Do wonder… I will reveal HOW as the story progresses.

For the 4 Kekkei Genkai Naruto possesses:

1 – Unnamed Kekkei Genkai: has the ability to let the body draw in Natural Energy

2 - ?

3 - ?

4 - ?

If you are capable of identifying the techniques used by Naruto… a brownie for you.

Skill level -

Naruto:

Taijutsu – High Chuunin

Ninjutsu – Low Jounin

Genjutsu – ?

Fūinjutsu – Mid to High Jounin

Kekkei genkai – ?

Hiden (Secret) – Mid Jounin

Medical Ninjutsu – ?

Weapons – ?

Intelligence – 159 IQ

Stamina – 9/10

Hand Seals – 7.5/10

Speed – 7/10 (without Shippuu Jinrai)

Strength – 6.5/10 (without Shippuu Jinrai)

Overall – Mid Jounin (without Shippuu Jinrai)

Ran:

Taijutsu – Low to Mid Chuunin

Ninjutsu – Low to Mid Chuunin

Genjutsu – Non Existing

Fūinjutsu – High Chuunin

Kekkei genkai – ?

Hiden (Secret) – High Genin

Medical Ninjutsu – ?

Weapons – High Genin

Intelligence – 125 IQ

Stamina – 9/10

Hand Seals – 6/10

Speed – 5.5/10 (without the chakra of the Kyūbi)

Strength – 6/10 (without the chakra of the Kyūbi)

Overall – Low to Mid Chuunin (without the chakra of the Kyūbi)

Hinata:

Taijutsu – Mid Chuunin

Ninjutsu – High Genin

Genjutsu – Low Chuunin

Fūinjutsu – High Genin

Kekkei genkai – Mid Chuunin

Hiden (Secret) – Mid Chuunin

Medical Ninjutsu – High Genin

Weapons – High Genin

Intelligence – 112 IQ

Stamina – 4.5/10

Hand Seals – 4/10

Speed – 5/10

Strength – 4/10

Overall – Low Chuunin

Kurotsuchi:

Taijutsu – Low Chuunin

Ninjutsu – Mid Chuunin

Genjutsu – High Genin

Fūinjutsu – Mid Genin

Kekkei genkai – Mid Chuunin

Hiden (Secret) – High Genin

Medical Ninjutsu – Low Genin

Weapons – Low Chuunin

Intelligence – 118 IQ

Stamina – 5/10

Hand Seals – 5/10

Speed – 4.5/10

Strength – 4/10

Overall – Low to Mid Chuunin

Akatsuchi:

Taijutsu – Low Chuunin

Ninjutsu – Mid Chuunin

Genjutsu – Low Genin

Fūinjutsu – Low Genin

Kekkei genkai – Non Existing

Hiden (Secret) – High Genin

Medical Ninjutsu – Low Genin

Weapons – High Genin

Intelligence – 101 IQ

Stamina – 6.5/10

Hand Seals – 4/10

Speed – 3/10

Strength – 6/10

Overall – Low Chuunin

The stats of the other genins are similar as per the Naruto manga/anime Chuunin Exam arc.