Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other series I might use for inspiration.
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Sabaku no Temari vs Tsuchi Kin
"When three stars appear on this fan of mine, it will signify the end of this battle. Are you sure you want to continue to further embarrass yourself?"Temari asked with a cocky smirk, adopting a very casual stance with her left hand on her waist and her right balancing her gigantic battle fan.
'That bitch! Just who does she think it is that she is mocking! I'll show her!'Kin thought furiously, a unable to believe the nerve of that Suna bitch. Sure, it was embarrassingly easy for her to stop her sound needle attempts so far, slicing up and blowing away her senbon long before the genjutsu inducing bells attached to the senbon could take effect, but did that bitch really think that those senbon were all she had to offer as a kunoichi?
'Ma, I guess it doesn't really matter, those who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first, and I will be the last one to laugh!'Kin thought with a nasty smirk plastered on her facial features, the Oto kunoichi whooping out a bell attached to rope string, fitting the bell around her neck like a necklace as the jingling sound of the bell echoing around the whole battle arena.
"What's with that confident look on your face? Do you really think I won't kill you if you continue to be stupid..."Temari trailed off, eyes widened in horror and disbelief at what she was feeling on the left side of her waist and the right side of her forehead, and what she was seeing at the corner of her right eye.
"Who's going to get killed again, you ugly bitch?" Kin whispered in Temari's ear, a sinister smirk plastered on her facial features, clearly proud at herself and overjoyed by the look of fear and confusion on Temari's face, the Oto kunoichi holding Temari loosely around the waist with her left arm, her right arm moulded into the shape of a gun and pointed at Temari's right side of the temple.
"How did you..."
"Sound Release: Sound Bullet Technique." Kin cut in, not allowing Temari to finish her question as she, with a sonic booming sound, fired a barely visible bullet from the tip of her index finger at point blank range, Temari breaking Kin's loose grip and throwing herself out of the way with everything that she has, barely escaping certain death in the process, but not without sustaining damage, blood gushing out of the wound on her head, though thankfully it was just grazing wood.
"H-how did you do that?"Temari asked the question that was on everyone's mind, having rolled away to what she perceived to be a safe distance from the apparently either insanely fast or teleporting Oto nin.
"How did I do what?"Kin asked casually, this time being the one casually standing with her hand on her waist, almost literally turning the tables on her opponent.
"How did you move like that?"Temari demanded in frustration, the Suna Kunoichi paying close attention to even the smallest fibre of muscle on her opponent, clearly having no intention of losing track of her opponent's movements this time around.
'I won't miss it again, I'll keep a close eye on her moves and counter attack as soon as possible. I have to get the timing right!' Temari thought with determination.
"Oh! You must mean..."
"this..."Kin retorted, whispering the last word of that sentence directly into Temari's ear, Temari's eyes widening again in fear and surprise as Kin fired another sound bullet at her from point blank range, Temari once again just barely managing to escape certain death, getting grazed again except this time from the other side of her head, the Suna kunoichi desperately rolling away to 'safety'.
'This isn't possible! I was watching her every move the whole time, I didn't see her move at all! It's almost like she warped reality itself, or maybe she teleported herself? Either way, I don't think I can deal with this kind of opponent, I'll be dead long before I figure out her jutsu, and there's no guarantee that I would win even if I did figure it out.' Temari thought with trepidation, fearing that her life would end soon irrespective of what she did, that she would either get killed now by Tsuchi Kin, or later by her younger brother for embarrassing him in front of everyone, or for being 'useless'
"Oh my, much as I hate to admit it, but you have yourself some impressive instincts and reflexes, but I won't go so easy on you next time around. The third time will mean certain death for you."Kin said spitefully, making it very clear for everyone to see that she was getting revenge for what happened earlier in the battle, mocking her opponent in almost the exact same manner that she herself had been mocked by her.
'He won't kill me in front of everyone, he'll probably do it later when there's no one around. Maybe he'll calm down by then, or maybe I'll just stay out of site until the final round of the exams, he'll have his eyes set on whoever is his opponent at that time.'Temari thought with resignation.
"I quit! Proctor, I accept my defeat!"Temari exclaimed almost frantically, the Suna kunoichi not even waiting for the proctor to announce the end of the match before hopping on her battle fan and flying to the opposite end of the balcony, opposite from her siblings that is, or more specifically, opposite from Gaara.
'I've never seen Temari quit before, nor have I ever imagined that she would do something like that. However, I've also never imagined we would ever run into an enemy like this before. Whatever it is, her power is absolutely ridiculous. Gaara is the only one who can deal with something like that, and that's only because of his automatic defense.'Kankurou thought to himself, wondering to himself if the reason Gaara seemed so calm despite Temari's embarrassing loss was because he came to the same conclusion as him, though Kankurou couldn't help it but to remind himself that logic alone has never deterred Gaara from killing before.
"Winner of the preliminary battle between Tsuchi Kin and Sabaku no Temari, Tsuchi Kin!"The proctor announced.
"Heh! So you're a coward after all, and here I thought the Suna team was supposed to be the strongest of them all. Guess I was wrong."Kin said mockingly, not feeling a hint of guilt or pity as she ruthlessly rubbed salt into Temari's wound, the Suna kunoichi bowing her head in shame and frustration.
"A genjutsu that controls an enemy's perception of space and time, a space-time genjutsu, that's quite a dangerous ability you have there, Kin-san."Naruto said as Kin walked past him, the Oto kunoichi's eyes widening slightly as she involuntarily came to a complete halt, turning around to face the readhead Uzumaki with a look of curious surprise.
"It was impressive, you had me fooled and confused there for a while, but it's much easier to decipher a jutsu when you're on the side lines, much harder to do so when you're the one having sound bullets shot at you from point blank range." Naruto said with a small smirk.
"Unbelievable. No one has ever been able to figure out my space-time genjutsu before. However, figuring out what it is and how it works doesn't mean you can stop it, because next time I won't play around, I'll go for an instant kill."Kin retorted.
"That won't work on me, I've already figured out the one weakness that your jutsu has, it's also possible that others have figured it out too, after all, you did put everyone in the arena under your genjutsu."Naruto replied, everyone listening intently at the exchange between the Oto genin and the spiky haired Uzumaki, all of them surprised for one reason or another, some because they had no idea that it was even a genjutsu, having either perceived it to be speed or teleportation, and some because they did figure out that it was a genjutsu but didn't know what kind of genjutsu, and some because they figured everything out except for the weakness that Naruto was talking about. Despite all of those different reasons, one was unanimous with everyone, and that was because of how intelligent Naruto was turning out to be, something most of them simply couldn't fathom.
"Interesting. You could have just kept your mouth shut and exploited your knowledge if and when we meet in the next round, but instead you've let me know that you'll be prepared for me in the next round, and that others might be as well. It's almost like you don't want me to lose, but I can't think of one reason as to why? We don't even know each other."Kin retorted with a confused frown.
"I find your abilities to be quite interesting. I simply want to pressure you into revealing your other powers in the next round, or maybe even to develop new abilities for the next round. I want to push you to your limits and see how high you can fly. Is that such a bad thing, Tsuchi Kin-san?"Naruto asked with a mischievous smile.
"No, not at all Naruto-san."Kin replied with a small smirk of her own, extending her right arm out for a hand shake.
"I look forward to fighting you in the next round, oh, and you can call me Kin, or Kin-chan."The Oto kunoichi said as she and the readhead Uzumaki shook hands.
"The same goes for you, call me Naruto or Naruto-kun if you want."Naruto replied, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Guren, Itachi, Sasuke, Yakumo, Dan, Tsunade, and most of the jonin all narrowing their eyes at the spiky haired Uzumaki, all spotting looks of suspicion and distrust, all of them wondering why Naruto seemed to be building bridges with foreign shinobi, at least much more than he was with local shinobi.
"What's with you and ginger over there, you have a crush on him or something?"Dosu asked suspiciously, having watched the Oto kunoichi's mannerisms as she spoke to the readhead Uzumaki, more especially the seductive sway in her hips as she walked away, knowing that Naruto would be staring at her backside.
"Maybe, not that it's any of your business."Kin retorted.
"I don't really care about your personal life, as long as you know where your loyalties lie."Dosu said with a threatening undertone.
"You don't have to concern yourself with that, my loyalties have not changed."Kin replied reassuringly, of course, failing to point out that her loyalties lied with herself and herself alone, definitely not with Orochimaru of all people.
Hyuga Neji vs Sabaku no Kankarou
"Good luck, Neji-san."Itachi said with a small but friendly smile, Neji not bothering to turn around and face him, mostly because he could see him anyway with his byakugan activated, but also because he didn't want Itachi to see that he was studying everything about him, from the flow of his chakra, to his heart rate, blood pressure, constriction of the vocal cords, and his facial expression, the Hyuga prodigy harbouring zero percent trust when it comes to the mysterious Uchiha, by natural order as a member of the Uchiha's doujutsu rival clan, and also for his own reasons.
"I won't need it, but thank you nonetheless."Neji said with a combination of confidence and politeness, though perceived as pure arrogance by most of the spectators, the Hyuga prodigy calmly making his way down to the arena.
"You're not going to wish your friend good fortune for his up and coming fight, dobe?"Sasuke prompted with a cocky smirk.
"Weren't you listening? Neji has no need for something as silly as good luck, but I do wish you good luck for when you enter the fighting arena. It seems like you might be in dire need of it."Naruto retorted amusedly, a tick mark forming on the young Uchiha's forehead at that retort, most people not knowing whether to be disgusted at Naruto's arrogance or equally amused at the counter jab he just threw at the Uchiha prodigy.
"Maybe I'll use that good luck to crush you when we meet in the battlefield."Sasuke replied casually, or at least with the farcade of it, feeling everything except relaxed at that moment, even less so when no response was forth coming from the soiky haired Uzumaki, Naruto ignoring him completely as he trained his eye on the unfolding battle below.
"I'm not going to try and reason with you, everyone who has already tried to reason with an opponent thus far has failed spectacularly, so I'm just going to kill you and let that be the end of it."Neji said as he adopted a stance that had Hanabi's mouth hanging on the floor, unable to believe that a branch member, and a genin branch member at that, had mastered that technique.
'Impossible! There's no way!'Hanabi thought in surprise.
"Hn, I know what you're planning to do with that stance, but no matter, I forfeit!"Kankurou shouted out much to everyone's surprise, literally everyone's surprise, no one having expected him to forfeit even before trying.
"You have wisdom far beyond comprehension, that wisdom is what has allowed you to survive beyond the next few seconds."Neji said simply, having quickly recovered from the shock of the suddenness of Kakarou's forfeit.
"The stance looks quite the same as the one your cousin used, and if something similar to what she did was forthcoming, then I would have had no defense against it with there being no cover in a small and open plane like this battlefield. It was the only logical choice to make."Kankarou replied with a stone faced expression, though it was hard to tell with all of that face paint of his.
"There's also the fact that your eyes give you a three sixty degree line of vision and ex-ray vision. My kugutsu relies on misdirection and hidden weapon contraptions, totally useless against someone who can see everything. It's unfortunate, but Temari and I were horribly mismatched in this round."Kankarou justified to himself and to those listening, especially his brother.
'Kankarou, Temari, you both made the correct decision under the circumstances, however, that doesn't mean that Gaara will understand, nor is it a good omen for the future of our ninja village. Everything rests on Gaara's shoulders now.' Baki thought with concern, hoping beyond hope that Gaara would pull through and win the chuunin exams, though he himself not sure if that was even possible given the skill and power of the competition, Baki starting to wonder if these competitors were really genin or not, after all, it was not unheard of for ninja villages to intentionally delay the promotion of certain fighters in order to gain an advantage in the chuunin examinations.
"Winner of the preliminary battle between Hyuga Neji and Sabaku no Kankarou, Hyuga Neji!" Hayate announced, Kankaro taking a page out of Temari's book, that being to not go anywhere near his younger brother for the foreseeable future, brother and sister standing side by side on the opposite end of the balcony, Gaara giving the two of them one of the most scary looks they had ever seen on his face, that being, ironically enough, a completely emotionless stare.
"That was not a very interesting battle."Naruto said off handedly.
"That works in our favour does it not? No one knows what I'm truly capable of."Neji replied simply, taking his original position right next to the spiky haired jinchuuriki.
"I guess so. I still can't believe you were going to use that technique on him though, isn't that a bit of an overkill?"Naruto retorted.
"Perhaps future opponents would have forfeited had they seen a glimpse of my true power."Neji countered swiftly.
"Hn, I guess I should have known better, you really never do anything without reason do you."
"Doing anything without reason is without reason in itself."Neji retorted, Naruto unable to help but to release a small chuckle from his throat, trust Neji to always have a ready made philosophical counter.
'His true power? What kind of power could he be hiding? Is there something I'm missing?'Jiraiya thought, learning the hard way that not every one of his students was going to be like Minato, who used to share almost everything with him.
Senju Guren vs Tsurugi Misumi
"Don't worry, I believe in you. You've managed to get this far, you just have to take one more step forward. Everything is within your grasp, all you have to do is..."
"I get it Itachi-kun, you believe in me, and all that's left is for me to believe in myself. I already know that, but thank you for saying it anyway."Guren replied with an angelic giggle, a genuinely happy and loving smile plastered on her facial features.
"You're a very kind person Itachi-kun, I love you, and I'm gonna make you damn proud of me. You just wait and see."Guren replied with a kiss to cheek, leaving the slightly flustered Uchiha speechless as she walked past her teammates, giving a thumbs up to her sensei as he whispered his well wishes to her on her way down, not even turning towards her two teammates, knowing that there would be nothing coming her way from them, nothing positive and nothing negative, just a plain and empty nothing.
'Just like their empty hearts!'Guren thought angrily, though deciding to put it off for now and focus on the opponent in front of her.
"I haven't killed another shinobi yet, and honestly, I can't think of a better time than now after everything that has happened today. However, you're a Konoha shinobi and I can't lose another comrade. Consider yourself lucky."Guren said with a serious and emotionless expression, a look that was far more reminiscient of the ice queen reputation that she had garnered in her somewhat short existence.
"..."Silence, that was the only response she was able to get from Misumi, the taller and obviously older Konoha genin simply staring her down as he waited for the proctor to give them the go ahead.
"Hajime!"Hayata exclaimed as he quickly jumped out of the way, Misumi channelling his chakra towards his legs and exploding in Guren's direction with right fist cocked back and ready to deliver a knockout blow. However, Guren was more than fast enough to react to Misumi's one dimensional attack, bringing her left arm up to guard against the assault, her crystal release armor already activated, the result being that her skin was as hard as diamond right now, Misumi wincing in pain as the bones in his hand shattered upon contact with the Senju Princess.
"You should feel out your opponent from a distance before you..."Guren trailed off in surprise, the emotionally deficient expression on her facial features disappearing instantaneously as Misumi coiled himself around her whole body like a snake, wrapping coil after coil after coil of himself around, literally stretching himself to his limit in order to restrain her.
"There's no need to feel out an opponent when you already know about her strengths and weaknesses. Your strength is your unholy brute force and super strength, but that is all useless if you can't even move yourself. Not even you will be able to m-move under these c-circumstances..."Misumi trailed off as he strained himself to the maximum, doing everything in his power to stop Guren from breaking his hold on, and it taking him every ounce of energy, so much so that he was quite sure that he would pass out soon from loss of oxygen if he kept this up.
'Loss of oxygen, that's it!' Misumi thought as he expanded his body just a little more, enough so that he was able to wrap his hand around Guren's nose and mouth, hoping to get her to exhaust her oxygen reserves and pass out, or at the very least distract her from her efforts to break free.
"Mmmmmmmmm...!"
"Hehehehe! Gotcha!"Misumi whispered with a cocky smirk and a jovial tone. Orochimaru-sama was going to be so proud of him for defeating the Senju Princess, so much so that Misumi was quite confident that he would be given Kabuto's esteemed position in the army, maybe an even higher position, that was of course before he felt the pain of being perforated in almost every part of his body, looking down to find spikes made entirely of crystal sticking out of everyone of said body parts.
'That b-bitch! She grew crystal release spikes from inside her own body, I didn't know she could do t-that!'Misumi thought as he lost consciousness, his body slithering away from Guren's body as he fell to the floor, his body reverting back to its original size soon afterwards.
"Haaaaargh! You creepy bastard! That's what you get for putting your filthy hands on my mouth. Only Itachi-kun is allowed to do that!"Guren said angrily, though showing concern for Misumi's wellbeing soon afterwards as she beckoned the medical team to quickly come and take a look at him.
"Winner of the battle between Senju Guren and Tsurugi Misumi, Senju Guren!"Hayate announced, Guren going back up the balcony to celebrate with her sensei and boyfriend, but only after getting confirmation from the doctors that Misumi would be alright.
"She's quite strong."Honoka pointed out matter of factly.
"She is a Senju after all, a Senju with a rare and powerful bloodline limit. She might cause some trouble later on."Fuka replied.
"What kind of problems?"Karin asked curiously.
"She clearly has some sort of attachment to the dipshit, she'll go above and beyond to stop us from taking him, or to stop him from leaving." Honoka whispered with her hand covering her mouth, causing Tayuya and Karin's eyes to widen in sudden realisation before narrowing in determination and conviction, a look that caused matching smirks to appear on Fuka and Honoka, the two knowing that the same thing was no true for those two, that they would also go above and beyond to make sure that Naruto gets to Amegakure.
Isaribi vs Akado Yoroi
'Hehehe! Just my luck! I'm quite certain that she is undoubtedly the weakest member of her team, not to mention that she isn't even a shinobi, just a silly girl trying to play ninja like all the other kunoichi here.'Yoroi thought arrogantly as he and his silent opponent engaged in a two minute stare down, everybody else fidgeting impatiently as they all wondered what the hell was the hold up.
"It doesn't seem like you have any intention to..." Isaribi trailed off as Yoroi rushed her at quite an impressive speed, though nowhere near what she was used to. She also noticed that his hands were glowing blue with chakra coating the entirety of each hand.
'Hn! We'll see who has the better nintaijutsu!'Isaribi smirked as her own hands became coated with green chakra, Isaribi blocking the first two of Yoroi's strikes before she immediately noticed that something was wrong, the green chakra that was coating her hands disappearing altogether as if it was sucked right out of her, though she was quick to escape to a safer distance before Yoroi touched any vital parts of her body.
"Hahahahaha! What the hell was that? Were you trying to imitate me? Did you really foolishly believe that my jutsu was a simple matter of coating my hand with chakra? This is my chakra absorbtion technique you dumb bitch! You don't stand a chance against me, you might as well just give up before I suck you...d...dry...d..." Yoroi trailed off as he was overcome by a painful coughing fit, blood gushing out of his lips and even spilling out from his nose, ears, and eyes.
"What the hell was that? Did you really foolishly believe that my jutsu was a simple matter of coating my hand with chakra? This is my chakra poisoning technique, you dumb bitch."Isaribi said with a condescending tone, the irony not escaping neither Yoroi himself or anyone else for that matter as Isaribi used the exact same words that Yoroi had just used on her.
"Y-you bitch! W-hat the hell are y...you..."Yoroi trailed off as his heart stopped, the tall Konoha genin's lifeless body falling face first on the ground as his soul passed on to the afterlife.
"What the hell am I? I am my father's daughter, the second coming of the salamander."Isaribi said before making her way to her teammates, not even waiting for the proctor to announce the winner of the match-up, not even paying mind to the loud gasps as those who were well informed were easily able to decipher the true meaning of her words, in other words, that she was introducing herself to the world as the great Hanzo of the Salamander's heiress.
'She's Hanzo's daughter? Unbelievable!'Everyone thought, moreso Tsunade and Jiraiya, who were even more concerned and more weary than anyone else of the possible implications of this revelation, having been the only two out of three people known to have survived a death match with Hanzo. No one knew better than they did how strong and terrifying the man was, and no one knew better than they did how scary the potential of this girl was, or how worrying it was for Tsunade that her own daughter might possibly have to face this girl in battle very soon. She didn't doubt Guren's potential of course, no member of the Senju clan had inherited this much of their blood since her own grandpa Hashirama, but still...
"Do not fret Tsunade-chan. I have faith in our daughter. All will be fine."Dan said reassuringly, the Yondaime grabbing his wiife's hand and squeezing firmly so as to reassure her.
'I hope so.'Tsunade thought, though she was sure that, however disgraceful it may look, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from interfering if she thought that Guren was going to die. She was never going to lose anyone else like she did Nawaki if it was up to her, no matter what the circumstances. Her thought trail was however cut off as the next two combatants appeared on the screen, and Tsunade couldn't help but to feel sorry for the Oto genin. If he knew what was good for him, then he would forfeit, though she guessed that wasn't going to happen when she saw him jump down to the arena, a misplaced air of confidence oozing off of him.
Kurama Yakumo vs Dosu
"I would have preferred to face off against one of the Uchiha twins, but given how strong a heritage and skill everyone else in your team have, your sensei included, I have to assume that there is something special about you too, in which case, forgive me, because I can't afford to hold back against you!"Dosu exclaimed at the end as he body flickered at quite an impressive speed towards the Kurama clan heiress, channelling sound vibrations into his bracer as he attempted to decapitate the Kurama heiress, only for Yakumo to pull out her sword, funnel a great amount of fire natured chakra into it, and swing it with full force against the sound nin's bracer.
That proved to be a near fatal mistake for the Kurama heiress, because not only did the sound vibrations flowing through the bracer nullify her attempt to destroy it, but the sheer force of impact, along with Dosu's own manipulation of sound vibrations, caused a great amount of sound waves to wash over her whole body, directly attacking her internal organs and destroying her ear drums and even popping her left eye, her right eye not faring that much better too as it was bleeding profusely. It was impressive that, despite the destruction wrought upon her body, and despite the unimaginable pain she no doubt was in, she was still able to jump away and avoid the finishing blow that Dosu tried to inflict on her, though she would surely be dead any second now irrespectively.
"I suppose I was wrong. There's nothing special about you after all."Dosu said with a tone that was both condescending and disappointed, raising an eyebrow though at the response he got from the Kurama heiress, which was strangely enough, a fit of giggles.
"Your inferior shinobi skills and your untimely death are amusing to me, though I did not ever imagine they would evoke a similar emotion from you, or has your impending death driven you mad?"Dosu asked provokingly.
"My death? Are you sure about that?"Yakumo asked as she adopted a one handed ram hand seal, a poof of smoke later revealing that Yakumo had seemingly used a mere transformation jutsu to turn herself into a similarly damaged version of Dosu.
"I only ask because, it seems to me that you are some kind of masochist that not only enjoys fatally wounding himself, but also mocking himself about it as death approaches."Yakumo said in an exact replica of Dosu's voice, Dosu, along with everyone else wondering what the hell was going on.
"My god, you really have gone senile haven't y...what...t..the...hell...!"Dosu exclaimed, or tried to as he fell to his knees, all of the injuries he had inflicted on Yakumo being transferred back to Dosu himself, the shattered eardrums, the blown up eyes, the messed up internal organs, and the fractured bones, everything.
"This hell is my ultimate expression of illusionary ninjutsu. I call it, Sakanade!" Yakumo declared as she rose to her feet, still in her transformed state, staring down patently at Dosu is he unsuccessfully tried to dispell the illusion.
"C-counter s=stroke...? What k-kind of illusion is t-this...?"Dosu managed to cough out.
"This is no simple illusion you silly boy. This is an illusion that alters reality itself, creating a world of opposites, where everything is, well, opposite of what actually transpies. Those injuries you see and feel on yourself are not mere illusions, they have really been transferred unto you. The jutsu activated as soon as I transformed myself into you, and the only way to dispel it is...well, there's no way to dispel it once it has been activated."Yakumo lied through her teeth. There was one weakness to the jutsu, but she wasn't ever going to reveal that, she wouldn't even reveal it to Itachi or even her secret crush Sasuke-kun.
"N...no way! Such a power couldn't p...possibly...ex...ist..."Dosu trailled off as he took his last breath, leaving no doubt in the Hokage's mind that there was definitely going to be a fourth shinobi war at some point in the future given how murderers the current crop of genin seemed to be, though promising himself to later, in the privacy of his homes, bend down on his knees and thank Kami that Yakumo would be on Konoha's side when that day came, because otherwise his village would have been doomed.
'It seems like the only way to beat her, unless that jutsu has a weakness she hasn't told us about, is to kill her before she activates it. In other words, to go for an instant kill. Still, I wonder if there is a range to her jutsu, or some other kind of requirement. Her genjutsu expertise seems to be, much like the Uchiha, of visual prowess. So what if you closed your eyes and didn't look at the transformation? What if you teleported away before you saw it, what if you teleported after you saw it?'Naruto pondered curiously, distinctly aware that he would have to avoid Yakumo at all costs if he wanted his departure to go down smoothly, otherwise he would probably be dead meat, or be forced not to injure her unless he was sure the wounds were not fatal, as he wasn't sure whether his healing abilities would work against injuries inflicted by a reality altering illusion.
'Either way, it's pretty clear that while all of us are genin level in terms of experience, that that is the furthest thing away from the truth in terms of ability. These exams are only going to become more bloody and more dangerous come the final round, all the more reason for me to quit.'Naruto thought, deciding that he would rather keep his strength for any battles he might have to fight on his way to Amegakure as opposed to wasting it on the chuunin exams in a potentially difficult but meaningless battle.
"Congratulations Yakumo-chan. I sincerely hope I don't have to face you in the next round of the examinations."Itachi said with a small smile, the young Uchiha prodigy running a quick inspection on the Kurama heiress and marvelling, along with everyone else, at the fact that all of her injuries had disappeared completely after she had cancelled the transformation on herself.
"Hn, flattery will get you nowhere Itachi-kun. Besides, it doesn't matter which one of us wins if we meet in the next round. I don't mind as long as one of us wins the tournament."Yakumo replied.
"I suppose so."Itachi replied, Guren subconsciously clinging on a little tighter to her man as she carefully inspected the behaviour of the two teammates, though unable to detect anything more than mutual respect and a decent bond of friendship.
"Yakumo..."Sasuke trailed off, all of a sudden finding it weird the fact that he didn't know how to express his feelings to her.
"I know, and thank you. I wish you all the best of luck for your battle. It's the last one, and it is against one of the Amegakure shinobi. Watch your back okay."Yakumo said affectionately as she unexpectedly caressed the Uchiha prodigy's cheek.
"I will, and we'll win the tournament together."Sasuke said with a small smile, the Uchiha prodigy gently caressing the left cheek of the Kurama heiress.
"I know."Yakumo replied as she returned the gesture, a content and loving expression etched onto her facial features, most of the other Konoha genin quite honestly surprised by the blatant public display of affection, not quite able to believe that two of the most stoic people in their class could share such a beautiful moment, though Yamanaka Ino would argue otherwise with regards to the beauty of the moment, the Yamanaka heiress feeling broken and helpless at not only losing her two teammates today, but also seemingly losing the battle for the affections of one Uchiha Sasuke, having lost the one for his twin to Guren long ago already.
Uchiha Sasuke vs Ranmaru
Silence, total pin drop silence was all that could be heard in the preliminary arena, for a full ten minutes now. Most of the gen...no, even most of the jonin were starting to get impatient at this point in time. In fact, in all honesty, most of the people had been fed up within the first three minutes of the staring contest that was taking place in the battle arena, the only reason protests hadn't broken out was due to Itachi's explanation that, given the fact that the Ame genin seemed to have a doujutsu of his own, and that what appeared to be a staring contest was taking place, then in all likelihood a genjutsu battle was taking place between the two young shinobi. He'd also mentioned that he, Sasuke, and even their mother could be found engaging in such staring contests during their genjutsu training.
That had helped to pacify any oncoming protests from the viewers, who were obviously tired from not only spending five sleepless nights in the forest of death, but then also having to do further one on one battle and to then be forced to watch two people staring at each other. However, even Itachi at this point was starting to get a little fidgety, this genjutsu battle was taking too long even by his standards, though admittedly his ability to manipulate time and space in his genjutsu would not have helped to build up any appreciation for drawn out genjutsu battles. Fortunately for everyone, including Itachi, his twin brother was just as fed up as everyone else with the genjutsu battle, possibly even moreso.
"Enough with these genjutsu games already, clearly this isn't going to get us anywhere!"Sasuke said with exasperation traced all over his tone and body language, Ranmaru on the other hand looking as calm and carefree as ever.
"Ehehehehehe! I guess you have a point. I'm sorry Uchiha-san, it's just that I've never met anyone who could match my genjutsu prowess before, the Uchiha clan really lives up to its reputation."Ranmaru apologised with a sheepish smile.
"Hn!"was Sasuke's only intellectual response.
'He's acting as if this was nothing at all for him. He even managed to pressure me into activating the mangyeko sharingan and yet despite that, his ocular powers were still able to match even my own. This guy, just what is he, and what the hell is that eye technique anyway? I've never heard of it before, is it only good for genjutsu, or does it have other qualities as well? Why have I never heard of it before?'Uchiha Sasuke pondered over the many questions he, his brother, Neji, and everyone else who wasn't an Ame shinobi had, though most people were just as equally curious and others confused over the new pattern his sharingan had taken during the genjutsu 'negotiation'.
"Hmmm...earlier you made a promise to your girlfriend, do you remember? Do you still think it will be easy to win the tournament now, do you think you will even make it past this round?"Ranmaru asked mockingly, the innocent smile on his facial features morphing and reshaping itself into a more devious and mischievous one.
"You think that just because you're on my level just because you matched me in genjutsu? Hn, your pathetic doujutsu is a mere parlour trick compared to the Uchiha clan's sharingan."Sasuke retorted with the classic Uchiha patent stare.
"Okay, lets find out then!"Ranmaru exclaimed as he body flickered towards the Uchiha prodigy, kunai in hand and ready to perforate the Uchiha prodigy and end his life with one shot.
'He's fast!'Sasuke thought as he whooped out his own kunai and just barely managed to block the attack, Sasuke's eyes widening in surprise at the power behind the strike as he was pushed back a fifteen metres despite his best attempts to ward off the Ame genin's offense.
"You should have met me halfway in order to diffuse my momentum with your own, or was I too fast for your precious sharingan to keep up with my movements?"Ranmaru asked with a taunting smirk.
"Hn, and what about you? Should you not have known better way to guard against my blade?"Sasuke asked as he streamed lightning into his kunai, cutting right through Ranmaru's own kunai and perforating the Ame genin right through the heart, well, at least that's what he envisioned would happen, reality however not matching up with his imagination at all as Ranmaru countered the lighting enhanced kunai with his own lightning release.
"You mean like this?"Ranmaru asked rhetorically, that ever present look of excitement and arrogance dancing in his eyes again, causing young Uchiha Sasuke to scowl at the Amegakure genin.
"You impudent little!"Sasuke growled as he pushed his doujutsu nemesis away from him, Ranmaru doing a series of quite elegant and impressive back flips as he landed a safe distance away from the Uchiha prodigy, however, said distance became unsafe only moments later as Sasuke launched a seemingly endless barrage of lightning enhanced kunai and shuriken at the Amegakure leader's heir, the lightning enhancing both the speed and penetration properties of the kunai/shuriken barrage.
However, much to Sasuke's chagrin, and to the crowd's awe, Ranmaru was able to match him kunai for kunai and shuriken for shuriken, the Amegakure genin using his own lightning enhanced shurikenjutsu skills to diffuse Sasuke's own shurikenjutsu attack, the battlefield turning into deathly yet beautiful display of sparks and lightning bolts as kunai after shuriken, after kunai clashed in mid air, until both combatants ran out of weapons in their respective kunai pouches. At times, Sasuke would use the shadow shuriken jutsu in order to hide some of his shuriken and kunai in the shadow of another, however, Ranmaru's visual prowess proved too superior to be outwitted by those kind of tricks, and what frustrated Sasuke the most was the lack of information he had regarding the doujutsu, heck, he didn't even know what it was called.
"My eye is the true definition of an all seeing eye. It would not be a stretch of the imagination to say that both the Hyuga and the Uchiha clan's visual prowess pale in comparison. Do you understand, Uchiha Sasuke? You're going to have to show me the true power of your ocular powers if you want to have any hope of attaining victory today, and if this is the extent of your visual prowess, then there is absolutely no hope for you."Ranmaru said matter of factly.
"Hn! How arrogant you are for someone with such a trashy bloodline. You want to see what I am truly capable of? Fine, let me show you the true power of the Uchiha clan."Sasuke said as he closed his eyes momentarily.
"Do not worry, you will not live to regret your words, Amateresu!"Sasuke whispered with a sinister undertone as he reopened his eyes, a butterfly of black flames appearing right in front of the Amegakure genin at point blank range and burning him into a pile of ash, though once again the death of his nemesis only taking place in Sasuke's own mind as Ranmaru, in an inhuman and down right miraculous feat, not only sidestepped the black flames but moved so fast that Sasuke's eyes couldn't even track him, the Kuro-Ame prodigy appearing right behind Sasuke and aiming a devastating knockout punch to the back of the Uchiha prodigy's head.
However, even though he couldn't properly track him, Sasuke still had the presence of mind to activate a ribcage Susano'o, which, though was enough to prevent him from taking damage, was still not enough to completely diffuse the force of Ranmaru's attack, the Uchiha prodigy sent flying away and crashing to the ground on his back, the force of the blow having flipped him over.
'How can he be so fast and so strong? He's even faster than before, much faster, and stronger too!'Sasuke thought frantically, eyes widening even further as Ranmaru came flying down at him with a lot of ration chakra gathered around his hands in the form of a long sword, the oscillations in that jutsu so extreme that Sasuke, fearing his ribcage susano'o might actually be perforated, created spikes made out of black flames all around his susano'o as both a defence and a counter offense stategy.
"Enton: Kagetsuchi!" Sasuke exclaimed, Ranmaru however cancelling his attack and substituting himself with a slab of debri that had been caused by previous battles, the Uchiha quickly righting himself and preparing for the next wave of attacks, his eyes narrowing as he noticed that jolts and sparks of electricity that seemed to be circulating all throughout his opponent's body, his hair even standing on end as if he had just been electrocuted.
"How?"Sasuke asked with both curiosity and frustration.
"How...?"Ranmaru trailed off with a confused expression.
"How can you move so fast? Just what the hell are you?"Sasuke asked, though it sounded more like a self entitled demand more than anything else.
"Oh I see, you're wondering about the electricity running through my system aren't you? Well I wouldn't worry about my wellbeing if I was you, my god speed technique doesn't hurt at all, in fact, it only makes me faster, and stronger."Ranmaru bragged.
"Kanmaru no jutsu? I've never heard of this jutsu before."Sasuke said almost as if in denial.
"Of course you haven't. It's a self made ninjutsu. I'm the first user and my future son or daughter will be the next."Ranmaru said as if merely speaking about the weather, completely catching everyone off guard with not only the magnitude of his achievement but also his nonchalance thereto.
'This is unbelievable. How can a guy like this possibly exist! He even managed to dodge my amateresu, how is that even possible!'Sasuke thought wearily.
"My amateresu has never been dodged before. Truthfully speaking I didn't even know it was possible. For that feat alone I give you credit, you have incredible talent, and your speed by far surpasses anything I have ever heard of before..."Sasuke trailed off with an ominous tone.
"You give me too much credit. There's no way I could have dodged your technique if it wasn't for my doujutsu...if I hadn't seen the incredible build up of chakra in your right eye with my doujutsu. Thanks to that I was able to activate kanmaru just before you launched the attack, thank goodness too, otherwise I would have been human toast right now."Ranmaru said in a manner that made it seem like he was acknowledging Sasuke's strength and visual prowess, whereas actually he was bragging about the visual prowess of his own doujutsu.
"I grow tired of your thinly veiled insults. It's time for you to learn your place."Sasuke said as his chakra spiked much more than it had before, what had only been a ribcage growing into a half bodied, fully armoured warrior complete with a bow and arrow, a chakra so ominous and powerful washing over everyone in the arena, everyone stunned and awed by what they were seeing, the reality settling in for everyone, if it hadn't already, that this was far beyond a battle between two genin, in fact, it was quite honestly far beyond a battle between jonin either, more akin to a battle between two kage level shinobi really.
'This is unbelievable! How long has Sasuke been this strong? No, how long have all three of them been this strong? I was put on this team because all three of my students are considered to be dangerous and flight risk. Dan-sama thought that my sharingan would help me against Yakumo's genjutsu and would also help to counter against Itachi and Sasuke's sharingan. However, by the looks of things, would I even stand a chance if any of them decided to go rogue, much less all three of them?'Kakashi thought, his experience, strength, heart, and pride as the legendary copy ninja telling him that he could, and in fact would put a whooping to them and drag them back home, but the more logical side of him, his mind and more calculative side of him not so much agreeing with that sentiment.
"Witness the true power of the Uchiha, and bow before it!"Sasuke exclaimed almost frantically.
'Wow, what incredible chakra, and not to mention that apparition has become even bigger and armoured up to boot. There's no way I'm going to be able to penetrate that thing now.' Ranmaru thought as he assimilated the information his doujutsu was collecting.
'There seems to be a profound weakness though. The apparition is hollow on the inside in order to accommodate his body and it doesn't seem to protect him from his feet and under. In which case an earth style jutsu would have sufficed, that is, if I knew any earth style ninjutsu...'Ranmaru trailed off as he dodged a lightning fast arrow that Sasuke launched at him, the bow launching the arrow so fast that a sonic booming sound could be heard as it ejected.
The power, speed, and sheer destructive force of the arrow was so much that the fuinjutsu enhanced wall behind Ranmaru was completely eradicated, forcing the Hokage and his entourage to move out of the way or risk getting killed by the Uchiha prodigy's attack, all of them needing to be saved by Dan's spiritualisation clones as they were nowhere near fast enough to avoid the gigantic arrow, Dan himself spiritualising himself in order to move fast enough to survive.
"That arrow is fast, faster than the amateresu, however, unlike amateresu, it doesn't simply appear in front of the opponent unexpectedly, it actually needs to travel from your location to the opponent, thereby making it easier to anticipate by a doujutsu user like myself. So in essence, back to square one, where you can't land an attack on me."Ranmaru pointed out condescendingly.
"Big words, for someone who can't even touch me."Sasuke countered.
"So I can't touch you because of your defence, and you can't touch me because of me speed..."Ranmaru trailed off.
"Then the winner will be the one who can outlast the other. I wonder how long you can keep that god speed technique activated before chinks in your invincible facade start to appear before my visual prowess."Sasuke retorted.
"Hmmm...maybe it doesn't have to come to that."Ranmaru said nonchalantly, causing a concerned scowl to appear of the Uchiha prodigy's facial features, an expression that caused a smirk to appear on Ranmaru's own face.
"Earlier you said that you would show me the true power of the Uchiha clan's sharingan, and now I have seen, and am honestly impressed, more than impressed really. That is why I will return to you that honor. Uchiha Sasuke, bare witness to the true power of the fuingan!"Ranmaru said theatrically, nothing of note happening to his doujutsu in terms of appearance, however, fellow doujutsu users Neji, Itachi, and Hanabi were able to see that there was an increased inflow of chakra to his eyes, and moments later Sasuke was able to feel the full impact of Ranmaru's power as his susano'o fizzled out of existence.
"W-what's happening? What did you do!"Sasuke exclaimed with fury and anxiousness as his mangyeko sharingan was deactivated, his eyes reverting back to their three tamoe state, unable to re-activate his mangyeko sharingan no matter how hard he tried, despite the fact that he was sure that he still had enough chakra to maintain that form for a few minutes still.
"How interesting..."Ranmaru trailed off with his chin on his right hand, a relaxed but thoughtful expression on his facial features.
"Y-you, what did you do?"Sasuke demanded.
"Did you really think that my doujutsu was called the fuingan for no reason?"Ranmaru asked rhetorically, loud gasps escaping many throats at such a revelation, that including Sasuke's own throat.
"Don't look so worried, the effects are not permanent."Ranmaru said reassuringly, despite the fact that he knew that didn't even matter as he had no intention of allowing the Uchiha to live past this battle.
"And besides, you're lucky you haven't gone completely blind. You see, my doujutsu gives me the ability to seal off one of the human senses. Taste, touch, pain, sound, sight, smell, and even chakra sensing. However, I can only seal one sense at a time, which is why I always try to find out which sense the opponent relies on the most before I decide which sense to seal. The effects remain for as long as I still have chakra to maintain the jutsu. Usually my opponents will go completely blind when I seal away their sense of sight, but I guess the rules are different for fellow doujutsu users..."Ranmaru trailed off. Of course, he already knew the rules were different for doujutsu users from experiences with uncle Nagato, however, he wasn't about to let his lips run freely on the fact that he'd battled another doujutsu user before, in case said information might end up revealing that Amegakure had another doujutsu user.
"..."was the only response Ranmaru was able to get from one Uchiha Sasuke, the Uchiha clan prodigy trying to think of all possible ways for him to somehow get out of the pinch that he was in but his mind only able to come up with one solution, that being forfeiture. However, his Uchiha pride would never allow him to do such a thing, even if his very life depended on it, which it now did.
"Hmmmm...time to die!"Ranmaru said with a sinister smirk as he dashed at the Uchiha prodigy, coating his hand with lightning style chakra as he prepared to rip out the Uchiha prodigy's heart right out of his chest, all this while using kanmaru to exponentially increase his speed. However, he was forced to cancel his plans as a butterfly of black flames once again appeared at point blank range, except this time coming from his left hand side, the Amegakure prodigy swiftly dashing out of the way and retreating to a 'safer'distance.
"What the hell do you think you're doing Itachi? I had everything under control!"Sasuke exclaimed furiously.
"I know what you were about to do, but it wouldn't have worked. The fact that he dodged an amateresu coming from his blind spot is proof enough of that. He obviously has a three sixty degree line of vision just like the byakugan. Remember what he said earlier about his visual prowess surpassing both that of the Uchiha and The Hyuga clan?"Itachi rhetorted, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen suddenly in realisation.
"I see that you are the smarter one of the twins."Ranmaru said with a curious gaze, he and Itachi locking eyes as an intense stare down took place between the two geniuses, though Itachi was quick to break the link as he redirected his focus on his twin brother.
"I know how you feel, but the jutus you were planning to use, like I said, would have given you no advantage, instead, it would have been a complete waste, and would have hindered our upcoming ummm...training schedule, moreso mine than yours if you sit down and think about it."Itachi said cryptically, everyone else misinterpreting Itachi's words to referring to the fact that he was still in the exams and that Sasuke was about to be disqualified, whereas he was referring to something else entirely.
'S...Izanagi would have been useless, and not only that but it would have hindered Itachi's eternal mangyeko sharingan prospects. Kuso!'Sasuke thought with a combination of shame, regret, embarrassment, anger, and frustration, unable to believe that he, and Uchiha heir, had lost to some no name trash in the preliminaries of all places, and even had his life saved in order to survive on top of that.
Izanagi had been his last play. He would allow, well, not really allow as he could do nothing about it anyway, but anyway he would die at Ranmaru's hands, at which point Ranmaru would likely let his guard down. Izanagi would activate and Sasuke would reappear on Ranmaru's blind spot and chop his head off. It was sure fire strategy, or at least appeared to be before the three sixty degree line of vision revelation, which meant that it was practically impossible to approach Ranmaru from his non existent blind spot.
"Winner of the final preliminary battle between Uchiha Sasuke and Ranmaru, Ranmaru!"
Chapter End
PHEW!
Finally done with the preliminaries. I swear I'm never doing this arc again. WAAAAAAY too many battles to write out. I do hope I didn't do too badly though.
I understand that some people have grievances about the power scaling, but as I have already told others before, I ALWAYS use cannon as a benchmark for my work. I never do anything that hasn't already happened in cannon, often more than once. So I am going to address the issue in random order below.
YAKUMO IS OVERPOWERED:
Not true ladies and gentlemen. Yakumo is in fact weaker in my story than she is in the anime. In the anime she was suffering from a physical condition that hindered her from becoming a shinobi and she was a mere civilian, yet she was able to singlehandedly take Konoha to the brink of extinction, a feat only Pein has achieved in cannon. So compared to that, this Yakumo I feel is severely underpowered [relatively speaking of course}
ITACHI AND HISN GENIN TEAM ARE OVERPOWERED NOWAY THEY CAN BEAT OROCHIMARU AT THAT AGE:
Not true at all. Itachi was actually only one year older in canon than he is in my story when he FIRST fought and defeated Orochimaru, and he only used a mere three tamoe sharingan genjutsu and a mere kunai to do it too.
In my story he is only one year younger, and I accounted for that age gap by the fact that he had to use his mangyeko sharingan and sword of totsuka as opposed to canon where three tamoe and mere kunai was enough to do the job on Oro. There is also the fact that he had more help from two other geniuses in order to pull it off in my story as opposed to canon where he did it alone.
YOU'RE LYING, ITACHI WASN'T THIRTEEN YEARS OLD WHEN HE BEAT OROCHIMARU !
Wrong! I'm not lying. Itachi is five years older than Sasuke, and Sasuke was eight years old when the massacre happened. That means that Itachi was thirteen when he massacred his clan. Now some have tried to argue that Itachi didn't join Akatsuki immediately after the massacre, but that is also a lie, he did in fact join immediately. Why do I know this? Two reasons. One, he was still wearing the same ANBU outfit he was wearing when he massacred the clan when Pein introduced him to the Akatsuki, and two, he had already agreed to join the Akatsuki when he and Tobi met BEFORE the massacre, in fact Tobi agreed to help him massacre the clan on that premise alone, that he would join Akatsuki. So unless you guys believe that Itachi continued wearing his ANBU uniform years, months, or even weeks after the massacre [which is downright crazy}, then he most certainly went straight to Akatsuki base after the massacre.
Now some have argued that just because he was thirteen when he joined doesn't mean that he fought Orochimaru that same year. That is also false! Itachi is 21 years old at the beginning of shippuden and Sasori mentions that it has been almost 10 years since Orochimaru defected from Akatsuki. Now we all know Oro ran away from Akatsuki after Itachi schooled him, and that is eight years ago from that 10 year statement. That means that Itachi could not have been in Akatsuki for more than a few months at best before he took Oro to school, plus we so how greedy Oro was when Pein introduced Itachi, the guy was literally licking his lips with that long ass toungue of his. There is no way he would have waited years to go after Itachi, wouldn't be surprised if he did it the same week, the timeline certainly seems to support that.
SASUKE IS OVERPOWERED, AND HE IS NOWHERE NEAR AS TALENTED AS ITACHI AS YOU MAKE HIM OUT TO BE:
False, both Orochimaru and Tobi, who had vast knowledge about the sharingan and a huge as investment in Sasuke's development, said that Sasuke's eyes held more power and potential than Itachi's .
There is also VERY VERY IMPORTANT detail that everyone seems to forget, that being that Sasuke in fact awakened his sharingan during the Uchiha massacre and Itachi suppressed it seemingly by making Sasuke forget that he had awakened it. Go back and watch that scene as many times as you want. Sasuke awakens his sharingan and chases down Itachi, the two of them exchanging shuriken. Then Sasuke collapses on his knees and sees Itachi crying before he passes out.
For much of the series we are lead to believe that Sasuke merely passed out from physical and mental trauma. But Tobi explained when he was telling Sasuke the truth of the massacre that Itachi used his genjutsu on him to make him only remember the flow of events as he would see fit, which is why Sasuke only later re-awakened his sharingan against Haku.
We all saw how much of a power boost Obito got when he awakened his eyes as a child, went from being a useless dobe to being stronger and better than Kakashi immediately. Sasuke went from being Haku's punching bag to pressuring so much so that Haku had to use Naruto as a distraction in order to get an opening. Even when he initially awakened the sharingan at age eight, Sasuke went from being completely helpless to being able to catch Itachi and hold his own for a while, even managing to knock Itachi's forehead protector off {though Itachi was obviously not going all out, but still an impressive feat} .
Itachi stunted Sasuke's growth in canon with what he did [ I'd have been pissed when I found out if I was Sasuke} and I think it's safe to say that Sasuke would have been a monster by age twelve if Itachi hadn't done that. In my story shishui did nothing of the sort, which is why both Sasuke and Itachi are so strong.
Also remember that Sasuke trained alone in canon, here he has his twin brother and mother to aid him.
THIS IS BULLSHIT! EVERYONE ELSE IS OVERPOWERED EXCEPT FOR NARUTO. THIS NARUTO BASHING! I'M REPORTING YOUR ASS YOU QUEER!
Calm down guys, Naruto hasn't shown everything that he can do yet. I got some awesome gravity jutsu in store for him. Also, even without showing the other stuff, how the hell can anyone accuse me of underpowering Naruto? The guy was able to keep up and overpower an five gates user, whereas in canon he couldn't even keep up with freakin Kiba and had to be saved by a freakin fart in order to survive. There is absolutely no comparison here guys come on! If anything he is overpowered compared to canon.
Also, Naruto has mastery over his healing ability and has already implied that he has weapons that if mastered, can give someone the power of a kage {key word, 'if' mastered}, you know, the weapons he instends to give to Tenten. So I don't understand how anyone can accuse me of underpowering the guy. Also, at the start of the story, in chapter one, he already used shinra tensei on Mizuki when he awakened his bloodline limit. So by now you should know he has shinra tensei and bansho tenin, on top of the other gravity jutsu I intend for him to show case.
Tendo was not only the strongest path, but had he been an individual shinobi, he alone would have still be high Kage level. So I don't understand when I give Naruto his powers and get accused of underpowering him compared to his comrades and enemies, I honestly feel like I have overpowered him, but I'm also not one of those authors that will have him inexplicably lose battles he is supposed to win or struggle against opponents he is supposed to stomp just because I want to 'prove that I didn't overpower him.' I totally hate when an author does that shit. I'd rather give the opponent an ability that will match up to the main character rather than illogically retcon the main char's power.
SPECIAL CANON REFERENCES:
Uzumaki Nagato had already mastered the five elements at the age of ten according to Jiraiya. According to Kakashi, a shinobi is considered jonin level when they have mastered two of the five elements. So what do you call a ten year old who has mastered all five elements? Also, adult Obito, an Uchiha who had senju dna, said that he wasn't strong enough to handle two rinnegan, yet Nagato has been bossing this ish since he was 10. This is canon ladies and gentlemen
Next, Deidara was already considered an S rank criminal at the ripe old age of twelve, which is also when he became a member of the Akatsuki.
Hatake Kakashi was promoted to jonin at age twelve and had already created the raikiri at said age. We all know this one though.
Namikaze Minato, at age 10, and as an academy student, defeated three kiri jonin in order to save future wife Uzumaki Kushina from being kidnapped.
And finally, remember what Kakashi said to Naruto when Naruto was frustrated by how strong Haku was compared to him? "In the shinobi world, there are those who are younger than you are and stronger than me."
It what it is ladies and gentlemen, it is what it is.
Anyway yeah, sorry guys not much of Naruto in this chapter, but at least I have finished the preliminaries. Next chapter yawl will find out about who is facing who in the final round and I will focus more on Naruto and Tenten development, along with other characters and events, but the main focus will be Naruto.
Thanks everyone and I hope the chapter was at least readable.